Lightning In My Wake (The Lightning Series) by Lila Felix

truly perplexed.
    “Help me? No one helps me.”
    That sparked a dangerous rebellion in Colby’s eyes. Her personal disdain for the Synod was mostly about herself and because of the way Rebekah was now treated in their shadow. But then again, Colby was defiant to anything and anyone who tried to rule her—she had a real deep rooted issue with authority.
    “Yes, we will.”
    He met her stare with an equally resilient one. “I can help myself, young lady. I was going to offer my services to who I believe is the Eidolon.” He turned to address me, “It would be my honor to help you on your quest for more answers and information, Theodore.”

    Chapter Ten
    Colby
    The Synod is the governing body over the Lucents.
     
    Already, I hated the behemoth—mostly because he wasn’t letting me have my way. He offered to help Theo with his quest like Theo was Link from Zelda.
    I should’ve taken pictures of Collin’s face while he talked to Theo. He was in the presence of greatness, or so his expression revealed.
    It was just Theo, for crying out loud.
    A miniscule bolt of fear meandered through my veins as Theo agreed to let Collin go with him.
    Because he said me, not us.
    ‘Sure you can come with me.’
    Who in the hell does this skunk ape think he is?
    “Don’t even think about cutting me out,” I whispered, ashamed of the emotion it carried.
    “Hey,” Theo sidled up next to me, using a soothing tone. “Have I ever cut you out?”
    He probably meant no harm by that statement. He would never purposefully hurt me.
    But I read between the lines anyway.
    W hat he was really saying was that I had constantly cut him out. And I had. I cut him out of my life time and time again, only to summon him back when I needed him. But Theo had always been stronger than me. He could take getting cut out and drawn back in. I couldn’t. The minute I had felt my defenses being penetrated, I cast him away.
    I needed to grow up.
    I looked into Theo’s deep blue eyes as he waited for a response.
    “No,” I answered. This wasn’t the time or the place to have my pesky feelings get in the way. I shuffled away from him and found what seemed to be the only standard sized chair in the place. This Collin guy must’ve had custom furniture brought in.  I dug through my bag and found one of the apples I’d stashed. I’d intended to eat it right away, but I had no idea that getting into this place would entail pulling on a huge rope using all my body weight.
    The apple crunched as I sunk my teeth down in it. The sound of my own chewing and kept me from hearing the hushed conversation going on between David and Goliath. I was more of an action kind of girl.
    After a while, my apple was diminished and I was itching to go again.
    “So how are you gonna get to Tibet?” I asked Collin.
    Both of their heads jerked in my direction. It wasn’t that hard of a question. He couldn’t flash like us, so travelling would be an issue.
    I was just being logical—practical—in a mean girl sort of way.
    “I have my own plane. All Guardians do in case there is an emergency meeting.”
    Apparently there were a lot of idiosyncrasies about the Guardian world I had no idea about.
    Like the fact that they had planes and had secret meetings.
    All this time I thought they were just loners.
    Theo and Collin flowed back into their conversation about logistics and USB drives. This wasn’t turning out to be the diabolical and high danger journey Theo had made it out to be. So far it was slush puppies and giants.
    “Can I see the books? ” I queried simply out of boredom. Whatever was in those books had been cataloged in such a detailed manner by Theo and now Collin that I doubted I found any new information.
    But Theo had trouble finding ketchup in the refrigerator.
    Boys.
    “Of cours e,” Collin waved his arm toward the back of the place. Theo chuckled into his fist.
    “What are you laughing at? Isn’t this what we’re supposed to be doing?”
    “Yes, just