Chapter 36: Accusations Fly

Ellie

Another dinner. This time, at least Ellie had some idea who she wanted to sit close to and who she wanted to steer clear from. Of course, she'd already had a feeling about River the first time they'd all eaten dinner together. It seemed like a few weeks ago, but in reality that had only been a few days before this event. Her father was wiser, though, and when he made the place settings, he sat Ellie between River and Ulysses with Blade and Strand all the way down at the other end of the table.

The first thing out of Blade's mouth when he saw the names on the little cards in front of the plates was, "Hey, wait a minute. Why am I all the way down here?" He picked up the tiny card and turned to look at Michael, his eyes narrowed with accusations.

"Oh, uh, it was random," Michael said. Ellie could tell by the way her father was rubbing his palms together that he was agitated and trying to be polite. He didn't like Blade any better than the rest of them. Maybe Michael would be on the