My mother had been badgering me since Christmas to do a video chat. I’d been able to avoid it in Guam, citing the time change and the sucky internet connections on island, but I didn’t have those excuses now that I was back in California. Besides, with my mother, it was usually best to just give her what she wanted. Get it over with. Like ripping off a Band-Aid.
Now that it was done, I sat back against the couch cushion and sighed. She hadn’t asked me about friends specifically, not after she’d said hello to Brittany. At least with Brittany around, my mom wasn’t too overbearing about my lack of socializing. And she hadn’t mentioned noticing a difference in me even though this was the first time we’d spoken on camera since I’d had my memory restored.
Strange since everyone else I knew had noticed a difference. Apparently, I was the same, distanced person with my mother no matter what. She seemed to prefer keeping me at arm’s length anyway.
“Are you almost ready?” Brittany asked and I blinked, surprised to see her standing over me, a makeup brush in one hand.
I hadn’t even heard her approach.
“Yeah,” I sat, shoving to my feet as I went in search of a hairbrush. “Five minutes,” I added, hurrying to make my hair behave and throw on clothes.
“Five is all you get. Rush hour traffic this time of morning isn’t pretty,” Brittany warned.
I didn’t answer. I was antsy enough about the day without her rushing me.
Twelve minutes later, I was the one threatening to leave without Brittany. She stopped me at the front door just before I could yank it open and wedged herself between me and the knob. “Are you crazy? You can’t just walk out there into whatever’s waiting.”
“Britt, it’s fine. RJ is already out there. And I checked through the peephole,” I said.
She glared at me reproachfully. “The peephole only shows like five feet straight ahead, genius. Now, move. I’m going first. Don’t come out until I tell you.”
I sighed as she slipped around me and out the door, keys in hand. RJ was less bossy. But he was already outside somewhere scanning the perimeter of the house. That guy slept less than anyone I’d ever met—a fact for which I was grateful. He also cleaned up after himself, refolding and stowing his pillow and blanket from his place on the couch each morning before I even woke. He did dishes, cooked—although only ever breakfast foods—and never nagged me for leaving my shoes in front of the door. As couch surfers went, RJ was the best roommate I’d ever had.
I hadn’t mentioned that to Brittany.
I waited just inside the door until I heard Brittany’s muffled yell from outside. “Coast is clear, let’s ride!”
Hitching my bag higher on my shoulder, I slipped outside and hurried to the car. My eyes scanned the area with quick, darting glances. My shoulders relaxed when I noted there weren’t any recently dead werewolves being discreetly removed from the yard. At least that I could see. Yesterday, when we’d left for the post office, I hadn’t been so lucky.
RJ was waiting in the backseat of the car when I got there, the motor running. “She still isn’t letting you drive?” I ask.
He glared. “Don’t want to talk about it.”
Brittany climbed in, oblivious to RJ’s annoyance, and buckled up with a smile. I shook my head.
The drive to the airport was uneventful. Brittany cranked the radio high and sang loudly to some Chainsmokers song.
I rolled my eyes until Brittany accused me of being a buzzkill.
“Britt, it’s before eight in the morning. And you don’t have a buzz.” I pinned her with a look. “Right?” I asked.
“Please,” she snorted. “I just meant that you’re no fun since you stopped getting laid.”
I stared at her, disbelief making it hard to form a response.
“To be fair,” Brittany continued, as if realizing something was wrong with what she’d just said, “You weren’t much fun before you were getting laid either.”
“Maybe because it has nothing to do with getting laid,” I pointed out, finally finding my own voice. Did having sex once count as “getting laid?” I wasn’t sure and I definitely wasn’t going to ask. Or admit that I had been thinking about it a lot lately. Remembering what it felt like to be with Alex. To have him want me that way. Or any way.
RJ was noticeably silent in the backseat.
Brittany tilted her head and seemed to weigh my explanation. “Doesn’t change the fact that you could stand to loosen up.” She shot me a look that said I was to blame for everything not fun in her life.
Distractedly, I wondered if RJ had spoken to Alex. But I wasn’t going to ask now. I decided to let it go and turned to stare out my window at the passing shoulder as we sped along down the highway. Maybe I could get him alone later and tell him about my theories on Indra. Maybe Kiwi would have answers.
True to Brittany’s prediction, the airport was crowded and the parking garage a nightmare. In the end, we did laps around the curbside pickup area until Kiwi texted me that she was on her way out.
The moment I saw her, something inside me relaxed. I hadn’t even known I was anxious. Not for her. I was used to Kiwi’s frequent travels by now. But when Brittany pulled to a stop, I grinned and jumped out, wrapping Kiwi in a tight hug.
She dropped her bag and hugged me back, laughing softly in my ear. “It’s good to see you, too, darling,” she said warmly, hugging me back.
She smelled like saltwater and sage—and I felt my eyes glistening with tears in comfort and relief at the scent.
When she drew away, she kept her hands on my hair, smoothing it as she studied me carefully. I wondered what her sharp and knowing eyes really saw but then her smile warmed as she inhaled deeply. “You look beautiful,” she said simply and then gestured to the car. “Shall we?”
“You take the front,” I said, nodding.
Whatever else she’d spotted would have to wait.
RJ was ready and waiting with the trunk open, swooping in and grabbing her bag before stowing it and holding the passenger door open for her. “RJ, it’s good to see you up and around,” she said, giving him a quick hug. “How’s the leg?”
“Almost good as new,” he said brightly and then she climbed inside and he closed the door for her before opening the back door for me.
Brittany and Kiwi were already chatting away easily as I climbed into the backseat. RJ slid in beside me and then we were off, Brittany navigating toward the exit in the stop and go traffic.
I glanced over and found RJ’s knuckles white as he gripped the armrest beside him. I smirked. “You okay?”
He shot me a glare. “I’ll be better when we’re home,” he muttered.
I muffled a laugh.
Up front, Kiwi gave Brittany directions to Mirabelle’s and then turned back to me. “Any more word on who might have broken into my house?” she asked.
I shared a look with RJ and then shook my head slowly. “No, Aunt Kiwi, nothing yet. Sorry.”
“Well, I’ll stay a night with Mirabelle, but I can’t promise more,” she said. “That woman has the strangest habits. Do you know she rides a dirt bike around her yard seven times clockwise and then seven times counter-clockwise every day at lunchtime?”
Brittany turned to look at her with wide eyes. “Seriously?”
“Yes,” I said, barely containing an eye roll. “I know.”
“Why?” Brittany asked.
“Oh, who knows. Probably to keep the Earth spinning on its axis. That woman is strange as they come.” Kiwi winked and I laughed.
Kiwi calling anyone strange was… well, strange.
Mirabelle was out front when we arrived, bent over a flower bed that was covered in more weeds than anything flowery. She climbed to her feet as we pulled up and came forward, a spade in her hand and a wide-brimmed hat on her head. She wore a flannel button-down coat and what looked like long johns with slippers. I shook my head and got out, happy to see her despite the usual weirdness of seeing Mirabelle in her home environment.
>
“Sam,” she said, holding her arms out in a warm hug when I got close.
“Mirabelle, it’s good to see you,” I said, hugging her back and inhaling the scent of dirt and wood smoke. I tried not to let my anxiety spike at the thought of Mirabelle lighting anything on fire.
“How are you?” she asked and when she pulled back to look at me I could see the concern lacing the question in her knitted brows.
“I’m okay,” I assured her. “Brittany and RJ are taking good care of me. And keeping me busy.”
Guilt tugged at me for how little I’d seen Mirabelle since coming back from Guam. But everyone insisted it wasn’t safe spreading my scent and energy signature all over town. And the last thing I wanted was to send feral werewolves to Mirabelle’s doorstep. We’d made an exception today in order to drop Kiwi off and to have a sort of training session about my magic with the two women I trusted most about all things supernatural.
And Kiwi had alluded to some big reveal where my magic was concerned. I wasn’t sure whether to be excited or sick at the idea there was more I still didn’t know.
“I’ve been without my best employee for too long,” Mirabelle said now and I blinked sharply.
Something about her words made me wonder… “When was the last time you opened the store?” I asked.
Mirabelle ducked her head and then turned from me, her eyes lighting as she spotted something behind me. “Kiwi, there you are.” She smiled broadly, stepped around me, and walked off.
The two friends hugged and I decided to let my interrogation go for now. Mirabelle was probably safer out here anyway with my scent all over Oracle and rabid werewolves hunting me down all over town. I’d have to speak to RJ to see that she was protected if she did decide to open the store. Or maybe get her some additional help. And even though I’d cursed my job more times than not, the idea of giving it to someone else made me a little sad.
I looked around but RJ and Brittany were huddled close near the hood of the car. When they broke apart, they both headed off in opposite directions without another word or explanation to anyone. But I didn’t need one. I knew they were going to patrol the area. We’d done this enough times already it had become routine. I also knew that if they weren’t back in fifteen minutes, I should call for backup using the emergency phone number RJ had programmed into my phone.
I glanced down at the time and made a mental note, already counting as the two of them disappeared into the trees at opposing ends of the yard.
Mirabelle grabbed my hand, squeezed it, and let it go again on her way past, cutting a trail toward her front door. With a wave of her hand over her shoulder, she motioned for Kiwi and I to accompany her. “Come on you two, we have a lot of catching up to do. Let’s go have some tea.”
Kiwi and I exchanged a wide-eyed, deer-in-the-headlights look and both shook our head subtly at one another. Catching up? Yes. Tea with Mirabelle at nine in the morning? Hell, no.
And as Brittany would probably complain, that is what made me a buzzkill. Literally.
Granny rubbed against my legs as she settled herself on top of my feet where they rested on the rug in front of the couch. I looked down and ran a hand over her dark hair, earning a purr for my efforts. She draped herself over my shoes, settling in for a nap if her droopy eyes were any indication. The message was clear: I wasn’t allowed to leave before she woke up.
It made me smile affectionately at my favorite feline.
I was glad to see that Mirabelle hadn’t forgotten about her at the store.
Outside, the whir of a dirt bike motor could be heard and I listened as it revved and then slowed, revved and then slowed, as RJ undoubtedly made his way around Mirabelle’s dirt track. He’d been unable to deter when he’d come back from his patrol and Mirabelle was only too happy to let him use her course—and her bike—for as long as he wanted.
Brittany had stayed outside too, ranting that “someone has to keep an eye out for Sam’s safety while everyone else slacked off.” RJ had just revved the throttle and sprayed a cloud of dust in his wake. The dynamic between those two was getting more and more sibling-like in their drive to annoy or fuss at the other. It was an amusing distraction from the stress of everything else.
Across from where I sat on the couch, Mirabelle and Kiwi sat knee to knee facing me with the coffee table between us. It was littered with teacups—Kiwi had caved in and drank two glasses of the sketchy tea to Mirabelle’s four—Oracle cards, incense, candles, and stones. Mirabelle’s scrying pendant lay beside her on the hardwood. I wasn’t touching that for all the tea in the world. Not since she’d admitted to dropping it in the toilet during her last scrying session.
My own epidote stone lay closest to me, perched daintily on a velvet carrying bag Mirabelle had just given me. To replace the sock I’d carried it inside before, she said. Apparently, a sock as a protective barrier against the stone’s powerful energy wasn’t very witchy.
“Okay, we’re here and we’re hydrated,” Kiwi said to me while Mirabelle nodded in agreement. “Tell us everything we’ve missed. Start with Guam so Mirabelle is caught up too.”
“Okay,” I said on a deep breath. “It’s a lot,” I warned.
They shared a look and a careless shrug. “We don’t have anywhere to be,” Kiwi said.
Mirabelle nodded and let out a burp.
I hid a smile. “Right then. Here goes.”
They sat quietly while I told them about Guam—about Taotaomona and the scars and the three-eyed wolf. Mirabelle started to interrupt more than once but Kiwi shushed her every time, nodding at me to continue.
When I described the Obupa, Granny stirred and I swore she shuddered, growling a bit. But then her eyes shut again and I chalked it up to a bad cat dream.
I continued slowly, telling them both all that had happened in the ten or so days since I’d been home from Guam. It was cathartic, laying it all out there. More so than when I’d told Brittany about myself. These women knew me. They knew all of my secrets and faults and magical talents—and they knew about the world of supernatural in a way that comforted me even as my chest tightened over the memory of the horrific pain Sushna had caused me as Alex had carried me out of her forest and her grasp.
Finally, I told them about Indra. The way she’d healed Alex and then his unexplainable behavior since then. And lastly, the warning he’d given me about her magic and its hold on him. And his lack of caring about me.
Both women looked more and more troubled as I spoke. It made me feel better to sense their worry. To know it wasn’t just me that felt Indra had plenty to hide.
“Have you seen her since that night?” Mirabelle asked when I was finished. “Indra, I mean?”
“No. Simon, the man I spoke to at CHAS, told me she declined their inquiry to help,” I said. “And he refused to look into her more deeply. Told me all their resources are being diverted to me and Alex has to ask for help before they’ll reach out to him.” I sighed in frustration just thinking about it. “It’s the same thing RJ told me too. But if Indra really has worked some sort of spell on him, he won’t be able to ask for help.”
“If what you say is true,” Mirabelle said, frowning, “She’s more powerful than we knew. How the hell did I miss that?”
Kiwi nodded. “Mirabelle’s right. We need to find out more about what she’s capable of before we send anyone storming in there.”
“But they won’t even look into it,” I said.
“Then we will. But we go slow and we don’t take chances, okay?” Kiwi said meaningfully.
I huffed but I knew she was right. “Okay,” I said finally.
“And Alex?” Kiwi asked, a little more gently.
“He and I aren’t… He’s taking some time for himself,” I said quietly.
“Do you believe what he said about being numb?” Kiwi asked.
“Traitorous little piss-ant,” Mirabelle muttered. “I knew the moment he walked into Oracle that day, he’d be trouble.”
“Mira
belle,” Kiwi scolded. “Not helping.”
“Calling it like I see it,” she said.
“Something’s definitely different with him,” I said slowly. “He and I were… on a different track before.” I wasn’t about to tell them how hot and heavy Alex and I had been. Especially since we’d ended up doing the dirty inside Kiwi’s moon circle. That was one thing I didn’t need supernatural support for. “I’ve been reading up on magical bindings, entrapments, things like that. It’s not quite the same but close.”
“And CHAS? What do they say about your magic and the goddess?” Kiwi asked. “You said you had a meeting the other day with the higher-ups?”
I nodded and told them quickly about my meeting with Simon Brooks III.
“He had this whole file on me and it was just weird and… so much pressure,” I admitted. “They have the ancestry research you did, Kiwi, and a bunch of stuff from these analysts that all say I’m the real deal or whatever. They say I’m their only hope, but I’m just… one person. And I don’t know what I’m doing. I’m afraid I’m going to fail them and then what? The moon goddess comes back and destroys everything and it’s all my fault.” My shoulders drooped and I stared miserably at my hands.
“Maybe I should have tea after all,” I muttered, suddenly too dejected to continue carrying this feeling around.
“That’s the spirit,” Mirabelle said, picking up her cup and holding it out to me with an encouraging smile.
I took it and gulped the entire contents at once. The liquid was warm and bittersweet, and I wrinkled my nose as I set the empty cup aside.
I looked up to find Mirabelle watching me with wide eyes. Like maybe I was either brave or stupid for gulping so much tea at once. Before I could ask which, Kiwi was climbing onto the couch beside me and taking my hand in hers. “Sam, you are not a failure. And you are worthy of their hope.”
“How do you know?” I almost wailed as all of my fears came rushing to the surface.
“The lowest and most dejected thing of fortune, Stands still in Esperance, lives not in fear.” Mirabelle’s voice boomed, her finger stabbing the air in a dramatic pose.
Esperance: (New Adult Paranormal Romance) (Heart Lines Series Book 3) Page 9
