A Reborn Bride Pearl Emerging from Dust by Sally Garcia

"Uh, n-no, it's nothing!" Ryan stammered, quickly shaking his head. He tried to smile at Calliope, but it was the kind of forced, crooked grin that pretty much screamed something's up.

Calliope saw right through him. She knew Ryan too well-when he got anxious, his eyes darted everywhere, and right now, he was practically begging Neil for

help with his gaze.

Neil had already set down his fork and gotten up from the table. "Callie, really, it's nothing. I'll go talk to him. You guys finish your dinner, okay?"

He started to lead Ryan away.

But Calliope stood up right away, her chair scraping against the hardwood.

Silas followed suit, towering over the table.

tone leaving no room for argument. "What's going on that you can't tell me? Weren't we best friends growing up? If you need

you wouldn't want to mess with. "Yeah, seriously, Ryan. If you've got a problem, say it.

helplessly at Neil, whose look said, "You're not getting out of this

his shoulders slumping. "It's the people from Ivory Town. You know how jealous they've been since our town started doing better? They keep saying we 'stole their luck' or whatever,

out, but they went straight to throwing punches. I was with Jacob

to be in the army? He basically flattened Jacob and then they wouldn't even let us take him to the clinic. To top it off, now they're saying we have to give them

shook with anger. "It's ridiculous! When we first started turning our town into a tourist spot, we asked them to partner with us. They said no.

he's really hurt. The others are still facing off with them, and it could get ugly. That's why I

to go check

everyone had gotten up, half-eaten plates of roast chicken

more than patient," someone