How It Started

by T. S. Joyce

  “You Change again and I’ll let the Banes have you. There won’t be enough of your carcass left to bury. Rein him in!”

  “Did Nuke keep the dragon in?” Krome asked.

  “Barely. Stupid bear charged him. I pulled Divar off, but Nuke took off. He was human last I saw, but he’s shaking pissed, and Divar is still here pacing like he’s going to change again. I got my kid with me. I can’t leave him, but I can’t chase a dragon down with him either. What do you want me to do?”

  “You have a kid?”

  “Krome!”

  “Trina is already Changed and coming for Nuke. Let her handle the dragon this time. You stay with Divar. Where are you?”

  “Amos?” Trev said in a small voice.

  “Stay there, boy. Divar ain’t done yet. You can fly down when I say.”

  “I cain’t fly.” He said it with this little squeaky accent.

  “What?” He looked up at the boy, and he could see it in his eyes. They had lightened to a dark whiskey color instead of black. The bird was close.

  “I don’t feel good.”

  “Where are you?” Krome demanded through the phone.

  “Thirty-third and Foster. Blue house, open clearing, half-finished deck in the back.”

  “I’ll be there in a few. Don’t let Divar Change again.”

  “Oh yeah, I’ll just be a magician, no problem,” Amos muttered as he hung up.

  His chest burned. Full of fury, he screeched a curse into the mountains that echoed and repeated back to him.

  He took a few steadying breaths and climbed the deck stairs to stand under where Trev was still crouched on the roof. “Do you need to Change?”

  “Into my crow?” he asked. Poor kid was crying.

  “Yeah.”

  “I don’t know how to make him come out when I want.”

  “That’s okay. You’ll figure that part out. It took me a long time to learn, too.”

  “Your bird is really big. And he has sharp claws. And there’s a bear and he hurt you.” Two more tears trailed down his little face and his puckered bottom lip quivered.

  “Aw man, you’re ripping my guts out, kid. You shouldn’t see that stuff, because you’re just a kid, but it’s the way life is for us. Jump down and I’ll catch you.” Amos reached up.

  “I’m scared.” His breath hitched and he repeated it a few more times. “I’m scared, I’m scared, I’m scared.”

  “Boy, you gotta face those fears.” He pointed to Divar. “The bear is put away, the dragon is gone, you didn’t get hurt, and now you know how important it is to learn how to fly. You should be flying by now.”

  “Nobody taught me. I tried but I can only get up on windowsills.”

  Okay. Okay. This was good, now he was figuring out where the boy needed work. “Jump now. Come on. The homeowners are going to be home soon and we still have work to do.”

  Trev nodded and sidled to the very edge, then hopped down. Amos caught him easily and set him on his feet on the deck. It hurt his claw marks, but he didn’t show any pain because the kid was traumatized enough. Stupid Divar. It was going to take him three days to heal gashes this deep.

  “Caw, caw, caw!”

  “There’s crows in the sky,” Trev observed.

  “Yep. Looks like Krome, Bron, Ren, Tory, and Logan. Krome must’ve called them in. Divar’s dumbass pulled everyone from their work.” He pointed up to the crows in the sky. “That’s what you’ll look like someday, when you’re all grown up.” He didn’t like the taste of those words, but Trev needed to be proud of his animal. The faster he embraced it, the better off he would be.

  Beside him, Trev clutched onto his jeans as he stared at Divar, who was pacing back and forth between two giant pines on the edge of the woods, talking to himself.

  “I wish I was like you,” Trev said so softly, Amos almost missed it.

  He swallowed hard. “Me too, buddy.”

  Chapter Ten

  What in the cheap tequila was she doing here?

  Leanna had already had two shots because Miranda, Holly’s maid of honor, kept buying them and making everyone take them together.

  “To Holly and her forever,” Miranda said, holding her shot glass up in the air to tink it on the other women’s. “It’s about dang time! I can’t believe you’ll finally be walking down the aisle next weekend. You’re my best friend, and I can’t wait to be standing up there next to you. Thank you for picking pretty dresses for us and not something awful, like coral or teal.”

  Holly was crying, and a couple of the others were tearing up as they laughed at Miranda’s lame joke, and this all felt so weird.

  The girls took their shots, and Leanna did what she’d done for the last couple. She hurried and dumped her tequila into the half-full water glass beside her on the bar. The bartender busted her, but she didn’t judge. She just gave her a knowing smile and went back to wiping down the counter.

  These fourteen ladies were well on their way to drunk-girl bonding and holding each other’s hair back by the end of the night, and that wasn’t a circus Leanna wanted to ringmaster.

  “Hey, weren’t your bridesmaids’ dresses coral?” asked Ally Borgue from science class sophomore year of high school.

  “Yes. Yes, they were.”

  “Oh, I didn’t mean they were ugly,” Miranda said, backpedaling.

  “It’s fine.” Shoot me.

  “Look at those cowboys,” Ally said, pointing across the bar.

  And that was the first time she’d ever thanked God for cowboys, for they sucked up all of the drunk women’s attention and left none for Leanna. Well, almost none.

  Holly was staring at her, and she looked mushy. “I’m so glad you came tonight,” she slurred as her bridal party swarmed the cowboys.

  Leanna smiled. “You know, I’m glad I came too. I’m happy for you and Tyler. You seem good together.”

  “You think so?”

  “Of course.”

  “My mom didn’t think so. Or my dad or my friends. Not in the beginning at least.”

  Leanna sipped her water, which was actually half-full of the shots she’d been pouring into it, so she choked a little. When she recovered, she said, “Well, maybe they were just being protective of you.”

  “No, they were being protective of you.”

  “Can I get another water?” she asked the passing bartender.

  “Of course, I’ve got you,” she answered.

  “Protective of me, how?” she asked Holly.

  “Holly!” Miranda called. “This is Jonathan and he wants to meet the bride-to-be.” She waved her over.

  “I wanted to tell you so many times,” Holly said, lowering her slurring words. She grabbed Leanna’s hands. “I’ve felt so guilty, because I stole your wedding from you.”

  Leanna frowned. “What? No, you didn’t. I think you’ve probably just had a little too much to drink, and emotions are high, and—”

  “No,” Holly said, her eyes filling with tears. “I stole it. Tyler and I have been together for four years.”

  Leanna laughed, because this was a joke. Right? It had to be some prank, and Holly was going to start laughing and say she was just kidding. Four years. Tyler had only left her two years ago, right before their wedding.

  “I was there,” Holly whispered. “And I guess I just need to say I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you or take anything away from you. He kept telling me he was leaving you and I loved him, and then it just snowballed, and—”

  “Wait.” Leanna stared dumbly at her, shaking her head because none of this made sense. “You guys didn’t date until after Tyler and I were done. I respected him because he waited a while.”

  “No. We just hid us. We were quiet.”

  Leanna flinched back and pulled her hands from Holly’s grasp. “What do you…why did you…why now, why not just let me…” She huffed a steadying breath and tried to make sense of the jumbled thoughts in her head. “Why are you telling me now?”

  “Becaus
e everyone’s talking about your stolen wedding and it’s taking away from Tyler’s and my big day. I just need you to forgive me and to make everyone stop talking about you and Tyler. It’s not about you anymore. I just need this week to be about us. And I really need you to say you don’t care. That you’re better off and you don’t hate me and that we can be friends when we see each other in public.”

  “But…I do care.” She looked around the bar, at the table of food that was being brought out for the bachelorette party, at the women crowded around the smiling cowboys, at Holly, and at the glowing red sign above the door across the room that read Exit.

  She couldn’t breathe.

  “’Scuse me, I just need to step outside for a minute,” she huffed out.

  “No, no, no. Leanna! Miranda is going to kill me for bringing this up to you. Everyone said I should just let it rest, but I can’t!”

  She grabbed Leanna’s hand, and Leanna rounded on her. “Don’t. Touch me. Holly, you’re drunk, and I’m trying my very best not to knock you through that fucking window right now. Let me have a minute to think.”

  Holly was crying, and the stupid soft-hearted part of Leanna hated it. No matter how they got here, it was Holly’s bachelorette party and a very special week for her. She didn’t want to be the cause of anyone’s tears, so she told her, “Everything is fine. I’m just surprised is all. Please go have fun.”

  The exit sign was her salvation. She aimed for it, kept her eyes on it, kept her legs moving.

  “Where are you going?” Ally asked. “Hey, Leanna! Are you okay?”

  Don’t show them your tears.

  The handle of the door was cold against her palm, and the night air even colder. The temperature was dropping, and as she rested her back against the wall of the Messy Moose, her breath freezing in front of her face.

  She’d been tricked. Tricked and lied to, and now a dozen things about the end of her relationship with Tyler clicked into place.

  It was too much. Too much, too much, it was too much and she didn’t want to feel so alone with this.

  With shaking hands, she opened the text thread for her sister, but Carrie had just messaged that she was too busy to come out tonight. Carrie had her own life, her own problems. Swallowing a sob down, she called Amos instead. When he picked up, she strode around the corner of the building into the shadows and slid down the brick wall.

  “Hey!” Amos said. After a few seconds, he asked, “Are you there?”

  “Amos?” she uttered, but it came out weak and trembling and she hated her voice right now. She hated how vulnerable it sounded.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “The town…they’re talking about…and I didn’t even know. I didn’t know! And Holly told me Tyler was cheating on me with her and that’s why we didn’t get married and I dealt with the leaving! I dealt with it, Amos. I went to counseling and I sent all the gifts back and I kept my chin up high in public and hid all of my falling apart. I backed out of everything that felt like home so I could escape stupid memories of Tyler and now she’s saying she stole my wedding.” Her voice hitched and two tears fell to her cheeks. Ashamed, she dropped her head. “I’m sorry.”

  “Holly said she and Tyler were cheating on you?” he said in a deep, growling voice.

  “This isn’t your problem.”

  “Are you hurt?”

  Her breath hitched again. “I don’t know.”

  “That’s a yes, so this is my problem. Ghosts have power, Leanna. Even if it happened years ago, it still happened and you still got burned.”

  “But it’s not your burn to deal with,” she whispered.

  “Says who? I’m not fragile. You’re confused about your feelings for something in your past. You know what that makes you?”

  “What?”

  “Human. Where are you?”

  Leanna sniffed and rubbed the back of her hand across her damp cheeks and looked around. “Sitting by a smelly dumpster outside of the Messy Moose.”

  “Okay, well I’m about three minutes away.”

  “W-what?”

  “Some of my friends are watching Trev tonight, and I’m in town waiting to see if you needed a ride.”

  Her mouth plopped open. “You got a babysitter and you’re just waiting around in case I call?”

  “Yep. Now dry those tears, chin up, chest out, walk back inside, and I’ll be there soon. You aren’t getting chased off from anything. The night isn’t a wash.”

  “But everyone will be staring at me.”

  “Good.”

  The line went dead, and Leanna watched her phone screen fade to black.

  He was so confident, and on top of things, and understanding. Just the thought of him being on his way made her feel safe. Safe. Safe with a person.

  Amos made her feel more confident, and he was right. What good would it do her to run out of there like that and disappear into the ether? She belonged here. She belonged in her hometown, and it didn’t matter the wrong done to her, she was going to keep her dignity and handle this with class.

  Okay. She stood and patted her cheeks with the sleeve of her tight sweater, and then pinched her cheeks to give them some color because she’d seen it in a movie once. With one final sniff, she lifted her chin higher and strode around the corner to the front door.

  She was wiser now than she had been ten minutes ago. These ladies all knew a story she had only just learned, but she was a fast catch-up. Mmmm, ketchup. She knew what would fix this. Chili cheese fries not paid for by the bachelorette party.

  After a short pit-stop to the bathroom to make sure she didn’t look like a complete train-wreck, she put in her food order at the bar and plastered a smile onto her face as the beautiful bevy of hornballs retracted their claws from the cowboys and moseyed on over her way to sort out the drama they had all clearly been talking about. How did she know? Because Holly looked guilty as hell, and the first words out of Miranda’s red-painted lips were, “We all told her not to talk about it tonight, but you know Holly. A few drinks in, and it’s like truth serum.”

  “It’s fine. I took my moment to think about it, and now I just want to move on.” She scrunched up her face. “I don’t miss what I had. I like where I am.”

  “Yes,” Ally said, with an echoing clap. “This is awesome. Everything is out in the open, everyone is good, it’s a great night and everyone looks gorgeous. Now we can make some real memories!”

  The front door opened and an immediate, “holy shit,” fell out of Miranda’s mouth.

  As the bachelorette party fell silent to ogle the man who had just walked in, Leanna got all wrapped up in it too. Amos was wearing dark wash jeans and a thin black V-neck T-shirt that hugged every ripple of muscle he had across his chest and shoulders. He’d trimmed his short beard even shorter, and his chiseled jawline was obvious in the bar lighting. His short hair was mussed on top with product, and he had to duck slightly under the doorframe to even get inside. He paused there, looking around the room like he owned it. As his bright, strange colored eyes landed on her, his lips curved up into a crooked, wicked smile.

  Leanna sat frozen in place as he sauntered over to the bar.

  “Hello, handsome,” Miranda murmured.

  “Ladies,” he said with a nod and the most charming, heart-stopping, panty-owning smile she’d ever witnessed on a man’s face.

  Oh, he was good.

  “Let me guess,” he rumbled in a deep, powerful voice. He eye-fucked Leanna up and down her curves, and paused on her sash. “Bachelorette party? Are you the bride?”

  Leanna pursed her lips and shook her head, and then gestured to Holly, who wore a wide-eyed, blank smile for Amos. “She’s the bride.”

  Amos dragged a look to Holly and then back to Leanna. “Good. Ladies, this round is on me.” He pulled out his wallet and made his way to the bar, right between Ally and Miranda, and put in an order for tequila shots as smooth as could be. And while they were being poured, he turned and said to Leanna, “You’re
different. What are you drinking tonight, Shot Queen?”

  Never in her life had Leanna’s cheeks burned quite this much. The girls were hootin’ and hollerin’ around them.

  “The sash doesn’t really suit me. I could go for a beer, if you’re buying.” Damn the slight tremble in her voice. Keep it together. Be cool.

  “A beer girl,” he rumbled. “That’s sexy.”

  Okay, this man could turn on the charm when he wanted to. He ordered them both the same beer, and she leaned in and whispered, “Hi.”

  Amos bumped her shoulder with his, and smiled down at her. “Hey, pretty girl. You doing okay?”

  “I’m much better now. I have chili cheese fries on the way. I’ll share them with you.”

  “Woman, you have already figured out how to seduce me, haven’t you?”

  “With liquid cheese, canned chili, and undercooked bar fries?”

  “If we weren’t in public right now…” He let the rest of the tease die off for her to imagine the ways this man could ravage her. Ooooh, she had a crush.

  The beer bottles were opened by the bartender, and the drink was cold against her sweating palm as she tinked the lip of it against Amos’s drink.

  “To date night,” he said with a wink, then drank a swig along with her.

  “Wait, is this really a date night?” she asked.

  Amos leaned against the counter next to her, chest and body language completely open and focused on her. He shrugged. “Why not? We don’t have the kid tonight and I’m definitely buying your cheese fries and beers.”

  “Such a gentleman,” she teased.

  And the smile faded just a little at the corners of his sexy mouth. “For you, I think I could be a gentleman.”

  “Where are you from?” Ally asked from behind them.

  “I’m from here,” Leanna said in confusion. “We had math class together all through high school.”

  “Not you, dork,” Ally said with a giggle.

  “Ooooh,” Leanna murmured, cheeks catching fire again with a deep blush. “You’re talking to the tall, handsome, muscled man who just waltzed into the middle of our group, not me. Ha. Haha.”