Faith Revisited by Madelyn Ford

Faith sighed softly.
    “For once, can you not be such a sarcastic bitch?” she asked without rancor.
    “All right,” Hope replied, grinning broadly, not the least offended by her twin's comment.
    “I've never heard mention of anyone needing sex after transfiguring. Are you sure there isn't something wrong with you? Or him?”
    With a groan, Faith rolled her eyes. “Can you really see Dad explaining that to us?” she asked with a derisive snort. “Shit, he probably still lives under the delusion that we are both virgins.” She grinned when Hope snickered.
    “Good point.” Hope's gaze rested on the empty side of the bed, and the smile slid from her face. “So what do you plan on doing about you know who?”
    Faith's amusement fled out of the room right behind her sister's. “Nothing, other than getting the hell out of here.”
    “Are you sure you shouldn't move to another room? Feed from one of the other males?”
    Faith shrugged, glancing away from Hope. She knew the answer should be “hell yes.” But she couldn't get the words past the lump in her throat, because the thought of leaving Bale made her nauseated.
    Hope studied her quietly for a moment and then nodded her head. She seemed to grasp that Faith no longer wanted to talk about Bale, because she asked, “Was the Transfiguration as horrible as we've been told?”
    Faith considered her words a moment. While she was unwilling to lie to her twin, she also did not want to frighten her. Hope had at least a year to fret over her own Transfiguration, which was a long time to dread something you had no control over.
    “I really only have vague memories of the whole thing. But yeah, I think it was. I remember fire, as if I was so hot my skin literally felt like it was burning. Whether it was due to the poisoning or transfiguring, I don't know, but I feel as if I should be thankful I don't recall the worst of it.”
    “Oh, the joys I have to look forward to,” Hope mumbled.

    36
    Madelyn Ford

    With a weak smile, Faith silently agreed, but with nothing worthwhile to add, she changed the subject. “Any chance you can get me some clothes?”
    “I've heard mention of a chick who lives here. I'll see if you can borrow something from her.”
    Overcome with an odd sense of jealousy, Faith bit her lip, unwilling to dig for information concerning this female. It certainly would not help her current situation to demand answers. It would only advertise the fact that she was feeling possessive of a male she had no business expecting anything from.
    “Good. Now, how about I get you something to eat? You must be starving.” At Faith's vigorous nod, Hope grinned and jumped to her feet, jostling the bed in the process. “Then I'll just go down and bother the boys.”
    The eagerness in her voice brought a smile to Faith's face.
    Hope paused, her hand on the doorknob. “Wait until you see this place. It's like a medieval castle downstairs. Very cool.”
    Then she charged out of the room, leaving Faith shaking her head. She almost pitied the males…almost.

    * * * *
As Hope trudged down the hallway, passing the room she'd woken in only a couple of hours before, she contemplated Faith's Transfiguration with a mixture of trepidation and relief.
    Her twin seemed to be doing remarkably well. Maybe too well. Something about it just didn't sit right with her, but she couldn't quite put her finger on the problem.
    And her own Transfiguration loomed over her head. Maybe wishful thinking on her part, but she had always assumed because she was older, though only by three minutes, that she would go through the process first. That was how it should be. Now she was the odd man out, and that bothered her.
    Then there were the males in this abbey. There was something about them that sent her radar spiraling out of control. And Faith's quick recovery only added to Hope's suspicions. It annoyed her that she owed Bale and Arak her gratitude, because she didn't trust them. And Faith's