Ink: An Urban Fantasy Adventure (Tribe Book 1) by Jobie Baldwin

Author:Jobie Baldwin [Baldwin, Jobie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-10-05T18:30:00+00:00

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

I was on the phone with Ben before 8am the next morning. He wasn’t awake when I called – in fact, he was barely awake for the first five minutes of the conversation. But when he heard how upset I was and why, he leaped into action.

He’s a trooper, always has been, and he quickly agreed to come to Oxford straight away.

‘Can you walk from the station?’ I asked.

‘No need, I’ll get a taxi. I’m flush. Can’t talk about it but we won’t be short of cash for a while, or even this century,’ he reassured me. God knew what he’d been up to, but just hearing his voice was cheering me up.

We skipped classes that morning to catch up on the events of the previous evening. The others had a similar experience to us: paragon Settlers tending to the poor and huddled masses.

After lunch we went out into the garden to do some training. Zack was worried about Pax and Kai.

‘Their powers are cool and all but they’d have no hope in a brawl,’ he explained. ‘They need training and you need to improve your fitness, Christian.’

‘Don’t worry about me,’ I argued, but I couldn’t deny my smoker’s lungs and my previously idle lifestyle were a real hindrance. Thankfully, I hadn’t had a cigarette in days, hadn’t wanted one.

‘Okay, let’s all power up,’ I said as I touched my hand to my tattoo and watched the others do the same.

We were so engrossed in our training that none of us heard Ben’s taxi arrive. He told me later that he’d bumped into Uncle Simon in the house, who’d muttered something like, ‘They’re fooling around in the garden, dear boy,’ and wandered off into his study.

We were all draped in our ink and Lexy was fighting hand to hand with Kai, who was improving but constantly frustrated as her own limitations were written all over her face. Truth be told she was probably hugely disappointed not be skilled enough to land a punch on Lexy’s happy-go-lucky face.

And that is how Ben found us. The first I knew of his arrival was an audible gasp from behind me. I swung round, growling and ready to fight before I recognised my friend. The others snarled and hissed behind me.

‘Don’t worry,’ I calmed them. ‘This is Ben. He’s on our side.’

Right up until last night, when I’d learned to control my emotions without Lexy, I’d been ashamed of my lack of control over my powers. But now that I didn’t feel so sensitive, I was happy to tell them about Ben’s and my experiences on Lavender Hill all those weeks ago.

‘. . . so, you’ve known about us for weeks,’ said Kai. She stared daggers into my chest and I wondered whether she was rooting around in there, looking for a weakness.

‘I’ve known about you since before Pax and Lexy were even a twinkle in a Rune God’s eye,’ laughed Ben. ‘Chris is hilarious when he’s out of control. To be honest I’m a little sad to hear he’s got the hang of this super-hero thing.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.