Karla curled up in her seat. “Party pooper.” She sighed.
Jake laughed softly and then leaned over to kiss her on the cheek.
“Sorry, babe. But you know how these jobs are. Especially yours—if I’m not mistaken. Gotta keep up the good fight with the New Republic and all.”
The woman groaned. “At this rate, it’s going to be another hundred years before I am finally freed of this damned curse my mother put me under! I should have called that bitch‘s bluff from the onset and arrested her!”
Her boyfriend looked over at her patiently. “Is that what’s been eating you since you got back?”
Kara nodded miserably. “Damn these rules and regulations!” She snapped. “If I had my way, that little witch and her friends would be spending the rest of this week in chains and in solitary getting interrogated by the Council’s enforcers. But nope…I had to let them go on a technicality. Also—” she stopped for a second to consider her next words.
“I wasn’t sure if her weapon was real or not. It was absolutely archaic.”
“What was it?”
Kara looked at the tray of chocolate crème puffs with a slightly glazed expression. Then she shook it off.
“A Gatling gun.”
Jake’s eyebrows went up at that bit of information. “A Gatling gun? Like in those museum pieces that are on display at the 20th Century Repository?” He asked.
“Yeah.” The woman mused. “Why she would conjure that up, I have no idea. But I think it’s because of her type of magic.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, the rumor mill has been going into overdrive of a magical familiar—excuse me…witch—that has control over the elements and anything made of metal.”
“Do you think it’s this girl?” Her boyfriend pressed without even knowing the full story.
Kara shook her head. “I honestly don’t know. I thought it was my distant cousin all along—Greta Freeman—but she didn’t exhibit any special control over either the elements or metal. She was more of a lightning bug than anything else. Electricity was her forte.”
Jake chuckled. “That must’ve been a little shocking.”
His girlfriend giggled. “Stop it. Greta meant well at first—before she ever found the Dragon’s Tear. But then she started to change because of its overall influence on her.”
“I heard stories that she was more corrupt than any witch around after a time. Kept seeking more and more power.”
“Legend had it that she found three more of the stones. But nobody was brave enough to confirm it.”
Jake whistled softly. “The stones belonging to the First Beings. Even one by itself is awesome. But three more? What would that make her? Omnipotent?”
Kara sighed. “Who knows.” She said—opening the passenger side door. “But at any rate, I’ve spent enough time here. I’ll bring these in and come back out and help you with the rest. Then get you a couple aspirin and a cold ice pack for that face of yours. It’s a little swollen.”
Jake felt himself gingerly—then looked at himself in the driver‘s side mirror. “Damn. A high speed belt buckle was able to do that much damage in a short amount of time?”
Kara leaned in and kissed him quickly. “Yep. Hurry up. Okay?”
Jake nodded distractedly—still scrutinizing himself closely.
“Yeah. Sure. Won’t be but a minute.” Then he laughed some more to himself.
“Man…that’s going to leave a mark.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
Collision Course
Charlie didn’t need a barometer to figure out that the atmosphere at their assigned table had dropped a few degrees since they all took their seats—Tillie Gunderson across from him and Roz sitting next to him on his immediate left facing traffic.
He took the “bucket seat” option which had him pressed up against the wall with the “Dogs Playing Poker” painting hung up above his head; complimented by what his best friend mentioned was overhead “mood lighting”.
Well…
Roz was right to a set degree. But he didn’t want to complicate things by adding more fuel to the ongoing fire. None of them had said much since entering the restaurant and bar—except to hear Tillie’s excited squeaks and such over the furniture and table décor of plated steel tables and wrought woodwork benches and high chairs for the regulars that came through on some nights.
For now, they got an assigned booth completed with menus and drinks and all that it took now was for someone at the table to break the ice and order something in the next ten minutes.
But Tillie hadn’t said a word since sitting down and the older boy was trying to figure out if she was going to say something or keep her silence for the entire time that they were here.
Charlie sighed patiently before glancing down at his menu card and spying out his order of choice.
“The steak and mushroom melt is really good paired.” Charlie suggested then to the teen girl.
“I’m not allowed to eat meat.” Tillie countered knowingly. “Not since I awoke as a witch.”
“Really?” The boy said with interest. “Why not? Are you a vegetarian by nature?”
“No,” Tillie returned evenly. “It has something to do with the Dragon’s Tear.”
“So take it off.” Roz suggested out of the blue.
“Can’t.” The girl countered again, showing her what she meant. “Once the fragment in me is joined with the Dragon’s Tear, the whole enchilada becomes permanent.”
“So the necklace is bound by…gravity?”
“Magic. Mine to be precise.”
Roz nodded slowly. “Interesting. I never thought such magical items had that ability.”
“Some do. Some are cursed. Like this one for example.” Tillie offered freely, before frowning.
“Does this place have a salad bar I can scope out?” She asked.
“There’s one down on the lower level—down that one flight of stairs that leads into the entertainment bar.” Charlie said, pointing in back of him.
Tillie stood up and grabbed her plate.
“I’ll be right back. Keep my seat warm.”
Charlie nodded—watching her go for a moment. Then he turned around and found Roz looking at him with a calculating eye.
“What?”
“You like her.” She charged right off.
“Yeah. So? I like everyone. Even you.” Charlie fired back smoothly.
“But not like that.” The other girl stated knowingly with a small bob of her eyebrows. Then she sighed.
“You used to give me the same look awhile back—right before we both hooked up.”
Charlie snorted dismissively. “I don’t think so. You’re just my best friend since we were kids. I don’t think we have any time to start fooling around just yet.”
Roz shook her head.
“That’s not what I mean, stupid.” She countered with some annoyance on her part.
“What then?”
“I mean…you liked me more than just a passing friend. In the beginning. I still remember all the flowers you gave me in the drink cups whenever we got together to play.”
Charlie nodded distantly. “Yeah. The red Indian lilacs. The blue Possums. The orange Sunrise…”
“The Orange Sunrise was my favorite. Reminded me of the bouquet my dad gave to my mom the last year we were together as a family. Before the war tore us apart.”
“That was decades ago. And you kept telling me that—while teasing me relentlessly about your age.”
“Maybe I had a good reason too, Charlie.” Roz laughed some. “I wanted you to know how special you were to me. In the beginning.”
“Yeah, well, that drunken stupor episode of yours kind of freaked me out a bit.”
“I wasn’t going to bite, man. I just wanted you to kiss me. Like that one time when my parents weren’t looking. Remember that game we played together?” She hinted softly.
The older boy nodded. “Yeah. I remember. It was more of a Truth and Dare va
riation for Elvan folk. But usually couched in endless ritual and traditions.”
“The Cup of Promised Rain?” Roz inquired with a wistful sigh of her own. “I had you drink that on a dare—telling you it was filled with a powerful elixir.”
“It was orange juice mixed with bat spit. Or so your mother told me.”
“My mom was just pulling your leg on the last part.”
“So what was it?”
“Like you said: Orange juice mixed with bat spit.” Roz giggled then. Then she sighed wistfully.
“No matter what happens between us, you always remain out of reach for me.”
“I just don’t want to complicate things too much. Especially in the here and now.”
“Are you talking about the witch?”
“Her name is Tillie. Tillie Gunderson.” Charlie responded, tight-lipped.
The other girl snorted somewhat.
“Don’t get your boxers in a bunch. I was just playing with you on that one.”
“How do you know I wear boxers? Have you been looking?”
Roz shrugged a bit in a not so innocent way.
“Maybe. Would it be okay to say you have such a cute butt?”
“As long as you don’t try to kiss me again. Then I’m okay with it.”
“Fine.” The other girl said easily enough, earning that little hard won victory. It was progress after all and she wasn’t going to complain. But she needed to see her as more than a friend at some point—to which she had plenty of options and whole lot of ideas to play with.
Patience.
Patience.
Patience.
A flash of movement interrupted the two and Charlie glanced over to see that Tillie had returned with a full plate in each hand while having the long tip of a carrot rose in her mouth.
“Since when did horses become part of the culinary experience?” Roz threw out jokingly—earning a dirty look from Tillie herself.
Charlie tapped his friend on the arm. “Be nice, Roz.” He warned lightly.
“I am being nice,” Roz chortled. “I was asking because I wasn’t aware the restaurant even served carved vegetables.”
“It’s a vice.” Tillie told her—after sitting down. “There’s a whole serving station at the end of the bar that has all kinds and types of carved vegetables in their own chilling buckets.” Then she continued to eat what was on her first plate.
Roz leaned over a bit to see what was there.
“A small serving bowl of vegetable stew, spinach and quiche, two slices of cantaloupe, a sprout filled salad with ranch dressing—”
”—with nuts.” Tillie said—pointing them out.
“I can barely see them under all this green.” Roz muttered.
“White with green tips actually,” Charlie corrected graciously. “Your glasses—remember?”
Roz nodded—sitting back and producing a glasses case holder from the travel purse she carried with her.
Popping it open, she pulled out a set of thin-rimmed glasses and put them over her face.
“Okay, that’s much better.” She said with a bit of personal relief.
Tillie watched the whole thing with a bit of curiosity on her part.
“Nearsighted?”
“Farsighted actually.” Roz revealed. “It’s a pain in the ass when I’m not wearing these every day.”
“You know you could get corrective eye surgery for that in a cinch.”
Roz shrugged at the suggestion. “I could, but then I wouldn’t be as drop dead gorgeous to Charlie here in a heartbeat. I would lose half my allure in the process.”
Tillie looked over at the older boy who didn’t seem to appreciate his best friend’s standoffish comment.
“So…she’s your girlfriend I take it?”
Charlie snorted, before shaking his head. “Hardly.” He bit out uncomfortably.
Tillie smiled a little upon hearing that bit of welcome news.
“She seems pretty determined for a quarter elf.” The other girl observed blithely.
“Look who’s talking, witch.” Roz retaliated fiercely.
“Corners.” Charlie reminded the two at the table. “No sniping.”
Tillie paused on her next retort and then nodded.
“Fair enough. I’ve seen enough bad blood in my short life as a magical familiar and I don’t want to keep adding to the fire.”
“It’s not that,” the other girl said with a bit of a sulky look of her own. “It’s just…”
“I came at a bad time?” Tillie hazarded to guess. Then she nodded. “That’s okay. Happens to be the story of my life—especially when things are about to get interesting.”
“Sorry.” Charlie offered in apology.
“Hey! No skin off my back. I’m not the type of girl to go intruding in on a potential relationship. I’ll stick to my corner and be a bachelorette. Like always. You won’t see a thing.”
Roz looked at Charlie who remained decidedly uncomfortable by the notion of his best friend hitting on him more often than once in a given session and sighed.
“No getting out of this one, am I?” He ventured guardedly.
“It only depends on how you look at it.” Tillie threw out supportively. “I don’t know much about your friend here, but me, I like to take my time in cultivating a relationship—that is…if I had one. But that’s what I would do.”
Roz looked at her for a moment. “You mean to tell me that you never had a boyfriend?”
Tillie hesitated for a moment. “Well…there was this one guy I liked from way back. But he was older than me by a light year and a half. Came from a powerful family and very debonair.”
“So what happened?”
“Nothing. I decided not to pursue the relationship. Mom was crushed though when she heard the news.” The girl said, swallowing the bit of cantaloupe that she had in her mouth. Then she looked at Charlie and added: “Then your friend comes along and I thought I would have a shot at having someone new in my life. But I didn’t know was that he was already spoken for.”
“That remains to be seen.” Roz said with a sigh. “Right now, we’re just…friends.”
Tillie nodded, before smiling. “So…no roll in the hay yet?”
Roz giggled before shaking her head.
“Oh Blessed Mother, no. Charlie’s is about as exciting as watching one of my mother’s memory crystals.”
Tillie’s eyebrows rose ever so slightly on their own.
“You’re telling me he’s that dull and boring?” She managed to say before dissolving into laughter.
“Oh man! I would’ve liked to have seen that in action.”
“You haven’t seen me on my best day.” Charlie offered gamely. “I’ve been known to put her to sleep with a reading of The Last Crystal Night.”
Tillie nodded in quiet recognition.
“I know that book. It’s one of my mom’s personal favorites.” She said—before glancing over at Roz.
“That book is not exactly light reading. But a real door stopper.”
“It’s a fairy tale romance between the Orcus Queen and a half-fae. Long winded and very dull at times.”
“For beginners maybe.” Charlie said in light defense of himself—earning a frosty look from his friend himself.
“You put me asleep at page 112.” She reminded him coldly.
“You were sleeping in my bed don’t forget. With the pillow under your head and one of my heavy blankets. The heater was on full blast.”
“In the dead of winter.”
“In the dead of winter,” the older boy graciously acknowledged.
Tillie felt a pang of jealousy at the image their conversation was generating in the back of her mind—but kept her silence as she attacked her plate with a vengeance—while pretending that she didn’t even hear this.
While their conversation went back and forth, a waiter came up to them and asked the table if they were ready to order.
Charlie glanced over at Tillie whom was stuffin
g her face with her salad at a frenzied pace—stopped eating; looked up for a moment—and then made a grab for her water glass in the next second.
Even from here, he could feel the storm clouds beginning to build up between the space between them and he started to wonder if the stories he heard about her were actually true.
He sighed.
“Um…yeah. A New York style sirloin steak with a side order of mashed potatoes and onion rings.”
The waiter nodded and wrote down his order with professional accuracy.
Glancing at Roz, he asked: “And you?”
“Canberra-style steak cutlets, a side order of roasted vegetables, and a bowl of New England clam chowder.”
The waiter nodded expertly—jotting things down at lightning speed and then dared to look at Tillie who hadn’t said a word since this all started.
“What about her?” He wanted to know.
Charlie shrugged. “I think she’s vegetarian.” He revealed at that point. “She can’t have meat.”
“That means she’s a vegan.” Roz corrected on the fly.
The waiter didn’t seem to be put off by that news. “Well, we do have a vegetarian menu which she might like—when she’s finished eating that is. Would you like me to fetch your friend a menu card?”
Charlie looked at Tillie whom had resumed eating what was on her first plate.
“Yeah.” He said. “It’s on me.”
“Very good. I will take your orders and come back with a new menu card in a bit. Please enjoy yourselves in the mean time.” The waiter returned with a slight bow as he gathered up their menu cards and departed effortlessly.
Roz glanced at Charlie whom was still studying Tillie from a casual distance.
“I’m going to go to the ladies’ room for a moment, Charlie. I’ll be right back.” She announced—sliding out of her seat and leaving the two alone.
The older boy nodded just the same, but inwardly he had a new problem to deal with: The affections of another girl.
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
Order 66
Jake helped put the last of the groceries away while his girlfriend fetched the first aid kit that she had under the sink and placed it on the counter next to the bottle of wine and empty glass.
“When you’re done…take a seat on the chair over there.”
Generation Witch Year One Page 29
