Free Forever and Always by H. T. Night Page A

asked.
    “Of course I am, you shit. I'm just really glad to see you.”
    I leaned over and kissed her gently on the lips.
    “All right, you two,” Yari said, “remember you have an audience. You are more than welcome to hit the back room and do whatever it is you kids do.”
    I smiled at Yari and said, “We'll have plenty of time for that. Right now, I want to hear about everything that’s happened since I’ve been gone.”
    I looked over at Wyatt. He got up and shook my hand. “It's good to see you, Josiah.”

    “You too, you big lug!” I hugged Wyatt and he returned my sentiments by giving me the most awkward hug I have ever received in return. I think it's probably been years since this guy had hugged someone.
    We all made our way to the living room and found places to sit. I sat on the couch with Lena.
    “All right,” I said. “So what's been happening?”
    Yari looked at me with a look only she could give. It was a strange glance and I had no idea what it meant. I locked in on her thoughts and tried to read what she was thinking, but she was way too powerful. There was no getting into her head, not even a super power like myself could get in there uninvited. As a matter of fact, everyone in this room was probably too powerful for me to read their thoughts—everyone, except for Lena. I knew there were some lines I couldn't cross and reading her thoughts was probably one of them.
    Finally Tommy said, “Not much has been happening here. We’ve all been waiting around for you to return.  It's like all of our lives went on hold.”
    Yari shot Tommy a look that implied ‘No they hadn’t’. Something was up between the two of them. They weren’t even looking at each other.
    I decided to ask specific questions. “How is a werewolf getting along with a house full of Mani? Speaking of which, where is Hector?”
    “Who knows?” Yari said. “He's been going off by himself lately and if we ask him where he’s going, he just shrugs us off.”
    I looked at Wyatt. “You two are usually joined at the hip, do you know what his deal is?”
    “Don't ask me,” Wyatt said. “That guy has some serious secrets. I think it’s better if we don't know.”
    “Secrets? Like what?” I asked.
    “If we knew, they wouldn’t be secrets,” Wyatt said.
    “All right, fair enough.” I took a deep breath and enjoyed the room. “It’s good to be back,” I said.
    “So, what about you, Josiah?” Tommy asked. “Did the blue gnome do unthinkable things to you?”
    “Actually” I said. “The blue gnome is pretty awesome. I actually don’t think he is a gnome. I’m not exactly sure what he is. He just isn’t human. His name is Goshi and he is a Mani.”
    “A Mani? Really?” Yari asked. “Are you sure?”
    “That’s what he told me. Why? Have you never heard of other creatures being Mani?”
    “Seriously, other than humans, I didn’t know other life forms existed.  I thought he was only a figment of your imagination and when you actually got there it was going to be a typical Mani.”
    “Well, he definitely wasn’t a typical Mani. That little fucker trained my ass off.”
    “He was the one who trained you?” Tommy asked.
    “Yup. He might be tiny but he is one of the toughest guys I ever sparred with.”
    “I could take him,” Tommy said.
    I looked at Tommy. “Maybe, after you drop ten pounds.”
    “Okay that does it,” Tommy said. “I'm starting the Atkins diet in the morning! Josiah keeps implying I'm fat.”
    “Who’s implying?” I said, jokingly.
    “Oh, that does it.” Tommy got up and grabbed me playfully.”
    “Sit down Tommy!” Yari said. Then she rolled her eyes at him and he gave her a weird look back. I might not be able to read their minds. But I damn well know there was tension between those two.
    The five of us continued to catch up for the next couple of hours. I was getting real sleepy and decided to excuse myself. “Is that back room occupied?” I asked.
    “Nope,” Yari