by Apryl Baker
“Chin up, girl.” Gramps hugs me tight. “He’s only doing his job, same as your father.”
“Yeah, but my dad’s job is to hurt people.”
Gramps’ lips thin. “True, but you can’t help that either. Doesn’t do you a bit of good to take that burden on yourself.”
Maybe not, but it’s hard not to feel responsible when it is my father doing bad things and there’s nothing I can do to stop him.
“Get a move on, El! Daylight’s wastin’!”
Gramps snorts. “Best git going before he shouts the neighborhood down.”
I don’t mention he doesn’t live in a neighborhood.
“Thanks for these, Grandpa Marco.”
He makes some sort of noise between a thank you and hmph. “Git goin’ before that boy of mine comes and gets you.”
“Yes, sir.” I kiss his cheek then make my way over to the Jeep.
“How’s the leg?” Eli opens my door for me and picks me up so I don’t have to climb. He’s always doing things like that. Probably why I’ve grown very protective of him too. He needs someone to look out for him, even if he doesn’t think so.
“Better. Where are we going?”
“It’s a surprise.”
“You already said that.”
He flashes me his famous wicked grin and shuts my door. He’s whistling when he gets in, starts the vehicle, and backs up.
All without a word to me on where we’re going.
Huffing, I open the brownies and take a large one out. I can get over my anxiety with chocolate.
At least until we arrive to wherever he’s going.
I just hope it doesn’t land us in jail. So far, so good, but he did tell me he was usually arrested at least once a week.
But I don’t buy it. He wouldn’t be on the football team if that was the case.
Taking a huge bite, I sit back, buckle up, and enjoy the ride.
Chapter Four
Eli
She hates not knowing where we’re going, but it’s good for her. She’s so quiet and drawn into herself that she’d practically be a hermit if not for me and her sister Cecily. Cec told me even before the accident, Ella could go for days without saying a word to anyone, preferring to spend her time with the characters in some book rather than in the real world. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve gotten lost in a book before too, but the real world is important, and she needs to get out there in it.
A friend of mine works at the ski resort a couple hours away, and I know they’re closed for the season. It’s beautiful up there, and Ella will enjoy it. Yes, we might need to do some sneaking, but it’ll be worth it. She needs to learn to embrace her inner troublemaker. Being perfect all the time is boring, and she’s not boring. I’ve spent enough time with her to know she’s funny and cares more about other people than she does herself.
I thank the cashier at Panera Bread and head back out to the car. I wish we had a Panera in Jacob’s Fork. Thankfully, they have one in Beckley. I only have to backtrack about ten minutes to get to the ski resort, so I wasn’t concerned with how long this was going to take. She loves their fuji apple salad, and I’m always down for their turkey BLT minus the avocado. I despise avocado. Nasty stuff. I figured since I was talking her into breaking and entering, I should at least buy her something I know she loves. I didn’t get either of us food at The Coffee Shoppe since I planned on bringing her up here today. I might have gone with fast food, but she likes to eat healthy, so Panera it was.
She’s been quiet the entire drive. I know she’s thinking about her dad and the sheriff’s questions. So am I, honestly. I understand why his first thought was Major Banks, but it might be something else entirely. Yes, look at the Army, but don’t dismiss all other possibilities. Ethan’s a good officer, but it sounded to me like his first and only thought was Ella’s dad. What if it’s something else, and he doesn’t look into all other aspects of the crime until the trails gone too cold to find other suspects?
Part of this is me being the son of an FBI agent and listening to my dad, and part of it is me trying to protect Ella. I don’t want to see her hurting like this. I can feel how upset she is, and it bothers me.
“Where are we going?” Ella’s head swivels when we drive past the sign for the ski resort.
“Blue Springs Resort.”
“Aren’t they closed for the season?” She worries her bottom lip with her teeth as we drive around to the back side of the resort. I know where to park my Jeep so it can’t be seen by anyone casually passing by.
“Yup.” I park and get out, grabbing our food and the two big bottles of water I’d gotten as well. “Come on, Shortcake. Let’s go have a lazy day and watch the clouds.”
“But, Eli, the place is closed. We can’t go in.”
“Sure we can.” I toss the food over the fence and put my hands out together for her. “Put your foot in here, and I’ll toss you up.”
“Absolutely not!” She balks, and I laugh. Instead of doing it the easy way, I pick her up, and she squeals. “Put me down.”
“Nope. You get to be a monkey since you don’t want to climb over.” I shift her so she has to cling to my back. It probably wasn’t the best idea to suggest she climb over, considering her healing leg.
“Put me down, Eli!”
“Nope. Hold on, Shortcake.” I take several steps back and then take a running go, leaping into the air and grasping the top of the fence. She barely weighs a thing, so it doesn’t take much effort to climb up and over the fence.
She’s huffing when I land on the other side and let her down.
“You just made me commit a crime!” Her finger is wagging in my face, and she looks horrified. This girl is the complete opposite of Mattie Hathaway, the only other living reaper alive and the girl I love who doesn’t love me. Mattie would have jumped the fence and laughed. Ella, not so much. She looks mad enough to try to give me a beatdown.
“Relax, Ella. There’s no one here to even report us.”
“That doesn’t make it right, Elijah McGreggor.”
I hate that I can’t even tell her who I really am. I hate that I can’t see my family or let them know I’m alive. Part of coming back meant I wasn’t allowed to contact anyone from Eli Malone’s life. Not my parents, my sister, or my brothers. Sucks balls.
“But it makes it fun.” I wink and pick up the bags. “Jump back on. We need to hike up a hill, and I know your leg is bothering you.”
“Aren’t you tired? I can try to walk.”
It’s almost comical she thinks she’s too heavy for me to hike up a hill with her on my back. She might weigh a hundred pounds soaking wet. I bench three times that every day during weight training.
Squatting down in front of her, I motion for her to hop on my back. She looks doubtful, but she finally climbs on, hooking her legs around my middle. We’re both extremely careful of her still healing leg.
“There’s my girl. You ready?”
“Uh…maybe?”
Laughing, I set off running. I run faster than most people, and the guys on the team are always harassing me because I even run faster than the shifters. Not sure why, but I’ll take it. I’ve always run fast, but it seems since I was brought back to Earth, I’ve been able to do more than I used to. Not looking a gift horse in the mouth.
Ella’s grip tightens when I start up the hill. Nervous Nelly, that’s what she is.
“Are you looking?”
“No.” Her whisper-soft voice tickles my ear, and a shiver runs through me. It startles me so much I almost stop right there and then. A girl hasn’t made me do that since Mattie. I don’t want a girl to cause that reaction either, especially not my charge. My feelings for Mattie forced so many problems that didn’t need to be there, and I won’t do that with Ella. I will be her best friend and protector, but that’s all.
“Open your eyes, Shortcake. Part of the fun is watching the trees fly by.” My voice is rougher than I meant her to hear, but it is what it is.
“A
re you okay?” She sounds hesitant, and I don’t want her to ever wonder about our friendship.
“Yeah, just tired.”
“Then put me down and let me walk.”
“Nope. Besides, we’re almost there.”
“You run really fast.”
“I love to run. Helps me to destress. As soon as you’re able, you’re going running with me every morning.”
“Says who?”
“Says me, your guardian. You need to get into shape, Ella. It’s not just ghosts you need to worry about. There’s a lot of bad things out there. Sure, the Supes here in Jacob’s Fork aren’t so bad, but there are ones out in the world who’d slit your throat as soon as look at you. I’m going to make sure you can take care of yourself for when I’m not there.”
I slow as we crest the hill, and the lake below us shimmers in the afternoon sunlight. It’s quite beautiful. That’s why I thought Ella would like it. She’s been too quiet lately, and I plan on making sure she doesn’t retreat into herself. If she starts to think too hard about how much her life has changed, I’m worried she’ll spiral downward into a depression deeper than we can pull her out of. I can’t read her as easily as I could Mattie, and that gives me reason to pay closer attention to her.
“This is beautiful,” she gasps, and I let her down but don’t let her walk away. I left her cane in the Jeep, and if she puts too much pressure on her leg, she’ll be hurting later. We’ve been through this one too many times.
“Thought you’d think so. Now aren’t you glad we hopped the fence?”
“I plead the fifth,” she says piously.
Snorting, I plop down in the grass and pull her to sit beside me. “Hungry?”
“Starving. I didn’t eat breakfast this morning.”
“Why not?”
“Wasn’t hungry,” she mumbles, and I know there’s more to it than that. Ever since she found out what her father did for a living, she’s been hesitant to spend time around him. I think it’s more out of fear that she’ll tell him she doesn’t respect him anymore. From what she’s told me, she’s always been a daddy’s girl, and finding out he’s been kidnapping and experimenting on people her whole life bothers her.
“Then be glad I remembered which salad you liked at Panera.” I hand her the food, a fork, and a bottle of water before digging out my own.
“Can I ask you something?”
“Sure thing.”
“Do you think my dad took that shifter lady?”
I knew this was coming. I’m still not sure how to answer her.
“Honestly, I don’t know, Ella. Chances are his people did, but then again, maybe not.”
“It sounds like Sheriff McReynolds thinks he did.” She frowns, her teeth worrying her bottom lip.
“You’re going to draw blood if you don’t stop that.”
She smiles. “Bad habit. I just…Daddy said he was going to talk to his supervisors about trying to work with the Supernaturals instead of taking them.”
“He probably did bring that option forward, El, but you have to remember, he’s a soldier. If they tell him to continue the mission as is, he’s duty bound to follow orders. He might not agree with them, but that’s the life of a soldier.”
“He has to agree with them.” Her frown deepens. “He’s been doing the same mission for more years than I’ve been alive. You don’t keep doing that if you don’t believe in it.”
She’s got me there.
“How could he willingly hurt people?”
“Maybe he doesn’t see them as people,” I suggest gently. I’m right there with her on this, but my job is to ease her worries, not make them worse.
“But they are people!” She sets her food down and faces me, her green eyes full of emerald fire. “How can he not think they’re people?”
“The same way I didn’t understand they were people until I came to live here. To me, anything that wasn’t like me was evil, in need of putting down. Didn’t matter if they had lives or a family. If they came to our attention, we put them down. Granted, by the time they came to our attention, they’d done something horrible enough to be put down for.”
“Policing is one thing, but to just murder or torture someone because they’re different is wrong, Eli.”
“I agree. I came to understand that when I moved here and had to interact with various Supernaturals. At first, I was always on guard, but as I got to know people, I understood how wrong I’d been. These people have become my friends, my family. Maybe by realizing you’re still a person, still human, your dad will change his way of thinking, too.”
Her shoulders slump. “I didn’t tell the sheriff this, but Dad’s been late getting home almost every day this week except for yesterday. He’s been secretive, taking phone calls where we can’t hear him, and he’s been on edge. I think he might have taken the dragon lady.”
Well, crap.
“Maybe not, Ella. Maybe he’s trying to convince the higher ups to work with us instead of against us, and it’s putting him in the hot seat.”
“Do you think so?”
There’s so much hope in her eyes, I don’t want to disappoint her. “Maybe.”
She lies back on grass, her food forgotten, and I do the same. The clouds are extra fluffy today, the shapes ranging from an ice cream cone to something I can’t define.
“I don’t like feeling this way about him,” she whispers.
I worshipped the ground my father walked on growing up, so I can understand how she’s feeling. If my father had done something to make me question everything about him, I’m not sure how I’d be able to have the same relationship with him. It would be a life-defining moment.
“It’ll be okay, Shortcake.”
“Will it?”
“It will.”
“Promise?”
I can’t promise that, and she knows it.
“I promise we’ll do everything in our power to make it be okay.”
She sighs, and it sounds like she’s carrying the weight of every Supernatural creature in the Forks. I wish I could take it away, but I can’t.
Which is weird.
With Mattie, all her worries bled away in my presence. I’ve come to learn the minute I left, they all came back and swallowed her up, causing more damage than I actually helped. It’s not the case with Ella. I can take the edge off her fears, but they don’t go away. I’m not sure if that means I’ve grown as a guardian or if she just doesn’t need me to take her fears away.
It’s a question I need to talk to an actual Angel about, but I hate calling on them. They are backstabbing creatures with their own agendas.
But if it means I can be able to better help Ella, then I’ll do it.
“Eli?”
“Yeah?”
“Do you think the sheriff’s actually looking into the woman’s disappearance, or is he focused too much on my dad?”
The same thoughts I’d had earlier.
“Honestly, I don’t know.”
“What if something bad happened to her that has nothing to do with Dad and his job? What if she’s hurt somewhere, and no one’s looking for her? At least not in the right places.”
“I can have Gramps talk to Ethan, see if he’s following up on any leads besides the Army.”
“Would he tell him that, though?”
“Yeah. Gramps used to be the sheriff. He retired when Ethan was ready to take over. It’s common courtesy ’round here to fill in your predecessor if asked.”
“Really?”
“Yup, Shortcake. Small town life is different from big city life.”
“Huh.”
“Now, be quiet and let’s enjoy the rest of the day relaxing and not worrying about the things we can’t change.”
She sticks her tongue out at me, and I laugh. She can be as goofy as me when she wants to be. It’s part of why we became fast friends.
Closing my eyes, I tune everything out but the sound of her breathing, and before long, it lulls me to sleep.
<
br /> Couldn’t ask for a better afternoon.
Chapter Five
Eli
“Yo, Gramps!” I holler as soon as I come through the front door. Even though Marco McGreggor isn’t my real grandfather, he feels like he is. The old man has grown on me. When the Angels brought me back to life, they put me into his care because he’s a Nephilim, half Angel, half human. I guess they thought I’d vibe more with him because we share the same heritage. It took a while for us to get used to each other, but we eventually did.
“Boy, how many times have I told you not to be shouting in this house?” The snarled words come from down the hall, so I wander that way and find him in his study, buried in some ancient text.
“I’ll stop shouting when you do, old man.”
He grunts.
“What are you looking for?”
“Things that can get the jump on a dragon shifter.”
“You don’t think Major Banks took her?”
“He might have, but taking down a dragon isn’t the same as taking down a shifter. Fire is a whole other beast to contain.”
“Yeah, but couldn’t they have just tranqued her first?”
“Possibly, but you have to remember there is truth in the old legends. They hoard treasure, set traps to guard said treasure. They’d know long before a shifter caught an intruder’s scent that something wasn’t right.”
“Have you found anything?”
“No.” He shuts the book and sits back. “Far as I can tell, there’s nothing that has ever gotten the jump on a dragon.”
“Something has to have. There’re too many stories about knights slaying dragons.”
Gramps snorts. “That was just tales told to young ladies to make them swoon.”
“Do girls actually swoon?”
He shrugs. “You get her mind off things?”
“Not really, but I did make sure she had some fun. Took her up to the resort, and we snuck in over the gate.”
