Chapter 41: *CHAPTER 41*

She blinked behind her glasses coming back to the task in front of her, glancing at one of the monitors set out on the table, "Yeah, we're all booted up. Just about ready."

"I'm going to get snacks," Caleb announced, shuffling away from the computers, "Anyone want anything?"

I had no idea how he was eating after the brutal workout this morning--the thought of touching any food had my stomach twisting uncomfortably.

My phone buzzed in my back pocket, and I ignored it, moving closer to the pile of computer monitors lining the table to watch Penny as she navigated through the screens on her computer.

She smiled sunnily up at me, as I approached, "I'm usually the only human, so it's nice to have someone like me around."

I wasn't about to correct her about having Magic. Richard and Malcolm that we should keep the details of my Magic a secret for now. I glanced down at her, surprised, "You don't have magic?"

She gave a small shake of her head, her braids flopping against her shoulders, "I mean, technically I do. According to the Placement test, I carry about a point two percent on the charts for Water Affinities. So, I still have the gene, it's just not active. Most of my family is Magi. These days, more and more we've been seeing members of the coven born with passive Magic genes rather than active ones." She shrugged, like it wasn't a big deal, but there were some creases by her eyes that hinted that it bothered her more than she was letting on.

Jenna had said something similar to me when I first got here—about the Magic gene slowly dying out over time. Penny's fingers continued their clacking over the keyboard as she typed a few lines in her black code box, "I was the only one in my family who went to human school. I can't complain about it though, going to human school got me into programming."

I felt a tug of empathy for her, growing up the odd one out in her family of Magic. I knew what it was like to grow up on the outside. I was the one of my friends who lived on their own, who had to be working constantly. The one worried about paying the bills while everyone else was worried about dances and parties. Both of us being the odd person out in one sense or the other had me feeling a sense of kinship for this girl I'd just met.

I wondered if was that odd person out mentality that had her working so hard at programming. A way to prove something to herself.

"Anyway, did you say you're starting at Valley View University in a few weeks?" She asked

I nodded.

"Okay, don't take this in a weird way. I'm not a creep or anything. But my cousin and I just got into a house right next to campus. We were looking for a third roommate, but it's hard to find someone who knows about Magic, you know?" She glanced over at me, fidgeting a little uncomfortably in her chair, "You'd have a private room and bathroom. And splitting a place is much cheaper than living in the dorms, so if you're interested—" she trailed off with a hopeful look my way.

I did already have a place lined up, but, with the way the bills had laid out lately, cheaper was always the better option for me. Not to mention that the prospect of having my own bathroom had me warming to the idea quickly. Where I was set to live now, I'd be sharing with five other girls.

"You don't have to agree to anything right now," she rushed to assure me, blushing crimson again, "but, if you give me your number I'll send you the information so you can look over it."

I smiled in an attempt to ease her obvious discomfort, "Sure, send it over."

"I'm sorry," Her nose wrinkled sending her glasses shifting around on the bridge of her nose, "I'm not usually so forward with people I just met, but we've gotten desperate enough that Andrea just put an ad out online, and I'm not interested in getting murdered in my sleep." She shuddered delicately, adjusting her purple rimmed glasses.

She handed me her phone so I could put my contact information in, and as I pulled out my own phone from my pocket, the notifications on my phone had me blinking in shock.

David had just called. My Uncle David who I hadn't heard from in months.

He hadn't called just once, but twice.

I handed Penny her phone back as I pulled up the text message that just came through from him. His text to me simply said: Call me when you get a minute.

I grimaced. Crap.

The sight of our text thread, reminded me of the message I'd sent him before the vampire attack. How I'd begged him for help with the bills. He hadn't responded, and I'd assumed I was on my own for now. I guess he was finally getting back to me. Days later.

With slow steps, I made my way out of the dining room. I stepped out the front door not wanting anyone to overhear the conversation I was about to have. Morning sunshine shifted over the front porch and I eyed the car pulling out of their driveway across the street, letting the hot morning air puff over me. It had been hot this morning when we went out for our death jog and it was even hotter now. It wasn't too horrible in the shade from the porch, so I settled down onto the top concrete step.

Without bothering to listen to the voicemail he'd left, I pulled up his contact page on my phone. My thumb hovered over the call button on the screen for just a moment before I pushed it.

The line only rang twice before David answered. That was a first.

I braced myself at the familiar sound of his voice on the other end of the line.