"He is the gummi bear of guys," Mim agreed with a sigh.
"Gummi bears?" Dare questioned.
"They're candies," Mac informed him. "Bright colored chewy candies shaped like little bears."
That made Dare frown for a minute. "What am I, then?" he pretended to sulk. "Milk duds?"
Mim turned her violet gaze on him. "You're more like dark chocolate," she said in a soothing murmur. "Which I actually like even better than gummi bears."
Dare's eyes softened like they always do when he looks at Mim. And I sensed a kiss in the making. Which is exactly what happened next.
While Dare was busy with Mim, Havoc gave MacKenzie an accusing look.
Mac smacked her forehead. "I haven't introduced you guys to gummi bears? I'm sorry, Havoc. We'll look for some at the bowling alley."
"I'll hold you to it," Havoc promised her as we made for the cars in the garage. He wore his pink polo unbuttoned at the collar with a very slim, red-striped tie looped around the neck. Somehow, he pulled the look off. And that's something I'm sure nobody else in the world could have done.
Out on the road, the drive to Boulder seemed longer than usual. I was in the Jeep's backseat while Victor and Havoc traveled with Dare in Mim's car. Watching Valor and Mac together just made me moody. I couldn't help but wish I had something like they shared. Too bad I'd made the mistake of falling for the wrong girl. It was my own fault but that didn't stop me from feeling darkly dissatisfied about the whole situation.
In front of the bowling alley, we met up with Reason and Elaina and hung out in the parking lot until we saw Torrie and her sister pull up. Then we followed the girls into the building and waited behind them at the counter. The place was empty at noon, so we had the place to ourselves.
"We're with them," Elaina told the attendant when it was our turn to pay, tilting her head toward the two girls who had just left and were moving off toward their lane. I couldn't help but smile. Elaina always manages to get what she wants and she doesn't mind being devious to get it. Anyhow, her little ploy worked and the guy gave us the lane next to Torrie and her sister.
You should have seen Havoc's eyes light up when the attendant started handing out bowling shoes. Havoc's always talking about girls, but I've never seen him look at a girl the way he looked at those two-toned shoes. MacKenzie calls him a shoe hound but he's really more of an addict when it comes to footwear.
As we made our way across the alley, he took in the wide expanse of wooden flooring. The golden surface gleamed with a high polish. "To bad Sophie isn't here," he remarked. "We could make a fine racket on these floors with our wooden clogs."
MacKenzie turned a little pale at the idea. "They wouldn't let you on the lanes with your clogs," she told him in a low undertone. "You can only wear smooth-soled bowling shoes down here."
Havoc gave this some thought. "I guess we could dance in bowling shoes," he finally decided. "Though it wouldn't be the same without the noise."
Down at the lanes, Torrie was sitting in the scorekeeper's chair and Reason immediately slipped into the seat beside her. Per our plan, he acted like he didn't have a clue about bowling—which was the truth, actually—but it gave him a good excuse to talk to Torrie and ask her how to set up the game.
The rest of us clumped around Reason until MacKenzie broke us up, shooing us away. "Spread out," she hissed, and shoved a heavy ball at me. "We look like we're ganging up on her. Her sister's gonna freak."
"What am I supposed to do with this?" I asked, frowning down at the black ball in my hands.
She pushed me toward the top of the lane. "Get started."
That wasn't exactly the most informative directive in the world so I sent a questioning look in Mim's direction.
"Take some practice shots," she advised in her quiet voice. "Try to knock down the pins."
"Okay," I muttered, and checked out the wooden pins at the end of aisle. I hefted the ball up to eye level and wrapped my fingers around it. Then I dropped my arm and swung it in an arc…
"Defiance!" MacKenzie screeched.
Somehow, I managed to stop the ball before it left my hand. "What?" I shouted back at her, more than a little rattled.
Her face was like a storm. "You're not supposed to throw the ball!"
I looked at her then down at the ball. "I knew that," I lied.
She paced over to me, looking all annoyed. "You're supposed to roll the ball. On the floor. Down the alley."
I gave her a nod like I had everything under control. Swinging my arm a little lower this time, I released the ball and watched it flash down the aisle. The neat arrangement of pins exploded, pieces of wood flying out and littering the lanes beside us. "Better?" I asked her with a lifted eyebrow.
MacKenzie did not look pleased. Mim's eyes were about as big as bells. Elaina was cracking up on the blue plastic bench that curved around the top of the lane. "You're supposed to knock them down, not smash them to kindling," Mac huffed. "Would you try to restrain yourself? Please?"
"I'll do better next time," I muttered, making my way to the bench so that Havoc could have a go. 'Course he had to wait for the staff to come and clean up the mess I'd made. MacKenzie started to apologize to them but Elaina took over and accused the management of supplying cheap pins. She demanded they bring us a new set then gave me a knowing smirk as she flopped back into her seat.
Once we were up and running again, Havoc cupped the big ball in his hand and rolled it gently down the alley. When it wobbled across the lane and dropped into the gutter, his face took on a puzzled expression. "Is it supposed to do that?"
Mac rolled her eyes and joined Havoc beside the ball return. "See these holes? They're for your fingers."
"Fingers," Havoc echoed flatly. "Aye, well that would make things easier."
Shaking her head, MacKenzie turned back to the seats.
"MacKenzie?" Havoc murmured before she could get settled.
"What?" she hissed, and wheeled back to face him.
"Gummi bears?" he reminded her with an insolent grin.
She rolled her eyes and veered off toward the snack bar at the end of the building.
So, yeah, we all liked the gummi bears. The dark yellow ones were my favorite. Unfortunately, Havoc liked them too, so we spent a lot of time fighting over them. When we accidentally split the bag open, the candies went flying all over the seats. We collected them up again and returned them to the ripped plastic bag but Elaina took them away from us. And after that, Havoc sent me a lot of dark looks, which I ignored.
Every time Torrie's sister walked to the ball return, Victor was right there beside her, flashing his charming smile and asking her questions like, "Is this how you hold the ball, m'dear? Am I doing this right?" Eventually, he found out her name was Samantha.
And every time Samantha walked to the ball return, Reason got a chance to ask Torrie a few more questions about what had happened to her up at that mine with Chaos and the harpy. We all listened in, at least those of us with gargoyle hearing. Several other bowlers had trickled into the alley by this time, and the noise was beginning to pick up as the lanes filled, but we could still overhear most of what she said without any trouble.
So I was surprised when Victor slumped into the seat beside me and murmured, "It's not working."
"What's not working?" I asked as I watched Torrie take her turn on the alley.
"She doesn't…like me."
"Samantha?" I questioned. I was surprised. They seemed to be getting along fine, but I said, "She doesn't have to like you. You just have to distract her so Reason can talk to her sister."
Havoc leaned forward in his seat and butted in. "Are you sure you wound up your charm-o-meter this morning?"
Victor eyed him critically. "You're living in the past, Havoc. Nowadays everything runs on batteries."
"Maybe your batteries have run down," Havoc suggested without a hitch.
"Maybe," he granted. "And I'd have asked to borrow yours but I know they ran down a while ago."
"Ouch," Havoc said, but grinned as he slouched back on the seat.
Victor's gaze drifted over to Torrie's sister with the long tumble of thick brown hair. "How old do you think she is?"
I shrugged. "I don't know. Elaina's age, maybe?"
"That would make her…?"
"Nineteen," Elaina supplied, watching him with an amused look on her face. "Why? Are you interested?"
"Nay," Victor answered quickly but not too convincingly. "I'm just curious. She's a nice lass."
"Very nice," Havoc agreed sagely.
"Too bad she's too old for you," Victor pointed out as he got up to take his turn bowling beside Samantha.
"Why don't we let her decide for herself?" Havoc countered quickly. "Maybe she has a thing for boarders like me."
Victor lifted a golden eyebrow in his direction. "So you're a boarder now, then?"
"I will be…as soon as I get the hang of it. After that, you'd better watch out."
"Well, let me know when I should start worrying," Victor said dryly as he sauntered away and got back to work.
Chapter Ten
In all, we bowled four games, most of us getting a chance to try our hand at knocking down pins. But Victor played every game alongside Samantha, keeping her occupied while Reason talked to Torrie. By the time we were done, we'd only broken two more pins. So MacKenzie was proud of us. But I thought Havoc was going to cry when it was time to turn in his bowling shoes.
Victor was disappointed he hadn't been able to charm Samantha's phone number out of her but we were all touched by Torrie's last words to Reason. "Please help Chaos," she whispered. "And contact me if you learn anything. Anything at all. Call or text me. Please."
"We'll keep in touch," Reason promised.
After Samantha and Torrie got in their car and drove off, we stood around in the parking lot for a while, discussing everything we'd found out and bringing the girls up to speed since they hadn't heard everything that we'd heard. Even though the sun was out, it was a bit nippy but the guys kept their girls warm, wrapping them tightly against their fronts and pulling them between their legs as they leaned back against the cars…and making me feel again that I was missing out on something. Something that was always just out of my grasp no matter how often I reached for it.
Yeah, it was the whole Whitney effect messing with me again.
I shook off the dissatisfied feeling and focused on the conversation going on around me. The most important thing we'd learned from Torrie was that Chaos had made a deal with the harpy in return for his rune and other promises. Not only did he negotiate for Torrie's freedom, he made Vilschka swear that she'd never capture or harm another human. 'Course that wouldn't stick if we managed to get him away from the harpy, but we could probably count on it holding up until then. For us, it was a big tactical advantage.
Torrie also told us that when she was captured, the harpy traveled north over the city before turning west. She remembered a few landmarks she'd seen during the trip and we thought they might help us locate the mine.
"What about clothing?" Valor asked. "I didn't hear what she said when you asked what Chaos was wearing."
"Dark jeans and hoodie," Reason answered. "Same as when Elaina and I saw him."
"'Course the hoodie was tied around his waist," Elaina volunteered helpfully. "So he could get his wings open."
"Shoes?" Val questioned.
"No shoes," Reason reported. "His feet were bare."
This wasn't exactly surprising since most of us prefer to go barefoot and don't seem to feel the cold as much as humans do. Havoc was the exception to the rule, even wearing shoes when he was at home.
Needless to say, we were keen to start looking for the mine in the foothills outside Boulder, but we couldn't risk flying until it got darker. We considered driving up in that direction but decided we'd have a better chance identifying the landmarks Torrie had described from the air. So we went back to Elaina's apartment to wait until dusk.
Havoc rummaged around in the kitchen while the rest of us checked out the art tacked up on the walls. Reason's always been able to draw. Back in our time, he used bits of charcoal saved from the fire and sketched on any flat surface he could find. Once he did this amazing drawing on the Ouse Bridge, and as you floated toward it on the river, it looked like you were entering the mouth of a huge fish. People talked about it for months afterward. 'Course it didn't survive the first rain but it was great while it lasted.
But Elaina's work was impressive, too. Very dark and moody. And Reason had been offered a scholarship at CU after one of her professors noticed him auditing her classes, so he was studying art with her…which meant he needed to catch up on his reading and writing big time if he didn't want to blow his grades.
A dramatic sigh came from the other side of the studio apartment and Havoc proclaimed the kitchen a lost cause. He said we'd have to order take out. "Don't you guys eat anything besides soup, hot dogs and frozen pizza?" he asked, looking horrified.
"Hey, we're busy," Elaina protested. "You try going to classes all day, labs in the evening then coming home to draw half the night."
"That still leaves you half the night," Havoc pointed out.
Reason picked up Elaina's phone to order Chinese but paused long enough to answer Havoc. "That's booked," he smirked.
Anyhow, the food was amazing. We'd had Chinese once or twice before with MacKenzie, and we'd enjoyed it, but Boulder has some great restaurants and this stuff took Asian cuisine to a whole new level. Right away, Havoc decided that he needed a Chinese cookbook.
MacKenzie promised to find him a used one online if he'd learn to make egg rolls.
"Guess where Samantha goes to school?" Elaina asked all innocent-like after we'd filled our plates and were crammed around her coffee table. I say all innocent-like, but her eyes slipped across the room to Victor.
"Where?" Victor asked, taking the bait without taking a breath.
"I talked to her in the ladies' room after we finished bowling," Elaina continued, mischievously delaying her response.
"Where does she go to school?" Victor cut in a little impatiently.
"She's studying veterinary science," Elaina added.
"Where?" Victor demanded a shade more forcefully.
Elaina smirked at him and gave in. "Here at CU. Same as me and Rees."
Victor didn't say anything but I could tell he was pleased that Samantha went to school in Boulder where Reason and Elaina lived. "Where will you go to college?" he asked MacKenzie casually.
Mac gave him a wide-eyed look. "Haven't thought about it. I have two more years of high school before I have to worry about that."
But I could tell that Victor was thinking it would be way convenient if our girls ended up going to school in Boulder. I know he was hoping the pack could stick together as long as possible but that would only happen if the girls were in the same place. Because if any of the guys were forced to choose between the pack and his lass, the girls would win every time.
When it was finally dark enough, we took off from the landing outside Elaina's door, beside the house. A couple of big cottonwood trees shielded the small deck from the neighboring houses, so it was pretty strategically located for our purposes. We were armed with our long knives, recently sharpened, and we each carried an ice pick as backup.
Reason had been our second-in-command for years and we were used to letting him lead us in dangerous situations. But since he'd started living in Boulder, I'd taken over his responsibilities, so it was my place to lead the mission. And it made sense to leave Reason to protect the girls because he was our best fighter. Obviously, we wanted our best man with the girls.
We had flashlights that we'd collected from the girls' cars, but we were counting on Valor's night vision inside the mine.
"Night vision?" MacKenzie exclaimed and gave Valor an accusing look as we gathered around the open door. "You told me you didn't have any super powers."
"Being able to see in the dark i
sn't exactly a super power," he argued with a low rumble of laughter.
"Just how well can you see in the dark?" she insisted on knowing.
He rolled his shoulders in a shrug. "About as good as a cat, maybe."
Mac's jaw dropped open and she gave him an awed look.
"Hadn't you noticed his eyes were different from the rest of ours?" I asked.
"Well, yeah," she answered like that was a dumb question. "That would be hard to miss. The color's almost electric."
"Wait a minute," Elaina cut in. "Chaos's eyes are different too. Does he have the night vision as well?"
"That's right," Victor answered as he stepped outside and opened his wings.
Elaina gave a satisfied nod as she snuggled under Reason's arm and watched Victor stroke his wings a few times, lifting away from the deck and gliding off toward the north.
One at a time, the rest of us spread our wings on the small landing and took to the skies. Following Torrie's directions, we traveled north then angled west, looking for the green metal rooftop she'd mentioned when we were at the bowling alley. Once we zeroed in on that, we drifted over toward a tall, double-bladed windmill that stuck up above the treetops on a distant ridge. We traveled in that direction until we reached a lone chimney standing in the ruins of a burned out cabin, then we started searching the ground below.
There's no way we'd have found the mine without Torrie's help. It was hidden beneath the shadow of a low overhanging cliff. A few tough old thimbleberry bushes leaned out over it, further obscuring its presence. And the only thing that kept us looking was the fact that we knew it was there somewhere.
The entrance was covered by the heavy sheet of metal Torrie had told us about, but a bunch of loose soil and dirty snow had slid down in front of it, making it look as if the door hadn't been opened for a while. So we weren't optimistic about finding anyone inside. But we cleaned the mess away as quietly as possible before we pried at the door's edges.
The heavy metal creaked open on one side as we held our breaths and listened closely for any movement or the sound of breathing within the dark tunnel. But we couldn't pick up any noise other than the faint patter of dripping water. Afraid that we were too late and the place was deserted, we stepped inside, Valor leading the way.
The Greystone Bundle (Books 1-4) Page 63
