Asking Lucy to rest.

I wanted to stand up and pace around the room just to process it all. It was a little too much all at once to begin with, but the weight of it…

We were being targeted? Four times? And they wanted Fern? The guy that was harassing her back in the coffee shop was sending his goons to kidnap her? It all made my blood boil, but it also made me… less upset about Luke sending someone to watch us.

I decided that the situation called for full blown mind reading. I’m sorry for the breach of privacy, but there are some things I’m not willing to risk. Reading someone’s mind is not such a taboo in my list that I’m not willing to use it when I need to. I admit, though, that knowing she approved of me doing it lessened whatever mild guilt I was feeling over it.

The woman was being honest. Lucy White was telling the whole truth, not even attempting to lie by omission. I could sense she was wary of me, but that was normal. What was a little more interesting were the feelings of gratitude over the breakfast I served her and the sense of pity she felt towards us.

I don't think I’ve ever considered myself particularly prideful, but I don’t enjoy being pitied. It used to add to my low self-esteem, making me believe that I was so pathetic that people had to pity me. These days it makes me want to prove people wrong, show them that I can handle myself.

I suppose those were still immature feelings. The woman… Lucy wasn’t looking down on me. She simply believed we didn’t deserve to be in this situation.

I sighed. “I should tell you. I apologize, but I’ve been reading your mind as we talked,” I admitted.

Lucy wasn’t surprised and nodded firmly. “As you should be, if you have those powers.”

“...Thank you. Thank you for watching over us. For protecting us.”

Lucy stiffened and pursed her lips. “I-It’s my job,” she said after a moment of silence.

I nodded. “Still. Couldn’t have been easy.” I sighed. “You’re tired, aren’t you? I can tell. You’ve been up all night. Luke’s coming over later, so… you can take a nap here, if you’d like. Or is it hard to trust me that much?”

“...” Lucy breathed deeply. “I probably…”

She was cut short by a nosy cat jumping on the table out of nowhere. I frowned but swallowed my need to scold Cake for it. She knew she wasn’t allowed to jump on the table… but she immediately jumped down from there to Lucy’s lap.

Lucy’s eyes went wide as plates and she was fighting back a huge smile. I could even hear Cake purring from where I was. I chuckled.

“I think that’s a first,” I said. “Cake’s not normally too friendly with strangers.” I didn’t sense any magic this time, either, like I sensed when she talked to Red. Meaning Cake just up and approached Lucy on her own.

Lucy reached out carefully, hesitantly, afraid that the cat on her lap would run away if she touched her, but Cake let her scratch around her neck. I could see Lucy visibly holding back a squeal.

“So you really like animals, huh?” I said, chuckling.

“I’m… always on the move, so I can’t have pets,” she said, smiling down at Cake. “Always wanted to.”

“I’m not going to lie to you and tell you that Cake has a great smell for people. She used to hiss at my girlfriends, after all. But it IS rare for her to take to someone so quickly.”

Having Cake on her lap made Lucy relax, and that in turn made her drop her guard once more. She became aware of her exhaustion, of how sore her body was and how heavy her eyelids felt.

“We have a spare room. Nobody will bother you and we’ll wake you up when Luke arrives, which… should be in about five hours.

Lucy didn’t say anything at first, but… [I shouldn’t, but… I’m tired. I don’t want to ride my bike all the way back. I didn’t even make my bed and I spilled some ramen on it. I don’t know what I’ll have for lunch, either. I had two cups of coffee to keep myself awake, but coffee doesn’t do anything anymore. I… don’t want to leave, honestly. Hell, this could be my chance to… Oh, shit, he’s reading my mind!]

Lucy tensed up and kept her gaze down to avoid my eyes. In turn, I decided to stop the mind reading and to ignore that… flash of lust at the end there.

“I’d… like to accept your offer, if it’s not much trouble,” Lucy said.

“Good. I’ll make sure to consider you for lunch, too. I was thinking of making a quiche today again. How does that sound?”

I didn’t read her mind, but I did feel some giddiness from her.”Y-Yeah, sounds good. Thank you.”

I was about to stand up to show her to the room, but then I remembered something else I had to ask.

“Oh, I’m sorry, but I have one more question,” I said. Lucy raised her head and looked at me, immediately in business-mode again. “You’ve been watching us for a few weeks and we’ve already been… targeted four times. You’re not planning to do this permanently, are you?”

Lucy shook her head. “I don’t know the details, but this was always meant to be a temporary guard job. Mr. Allen wants to personally put an end to it.”

I suppose I’ll have to ask him later. “I see. Well, follow me. I’ll show you to the room.”

The girls were all still inside my bedroom as I led Lucy to one of the unused rooms on the second floor. Cake actually followed her in and Red lay on the floor just outside, guarding the room.

After leaving her there to rest, I went back to my own bedroom.

Now I had to explain everything to the girls.

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