by J. J. Neeson
“To Vegas? Nope. I traveled close by, particularly around Arizona, but I never felt a pull towards Vegas. Dodger loved it, though. Maybe you two passed each other from time to time. Two strangers on the Strip.”
“Yeah, maybe. You never know.” Up ahead, a metal bar poked above the trees. “I think we’re almost there.”
The substation was fenced off, but there wasn’t much to it. Standing tall, like a giant’s ladder, was an H-shaped switch tower, which overlooked a transformer and lots of cables connecting the two.
“What exactly are we supposed to do?” Reigh asked, grasping the chain-link fence.
Thorston gently pulled her away. “First of all, avoid touching anything metal.”
“Got it.”
He closed his eyes. “Go to your happy place, and I’ll go to mine. When the lightning is about to strike again, feel the change above us and direct it towards the transformer.”
“But won’t it blow up?”
“Possibly. But this isn’t exactly a normal resurrection.”
Fed up with asking questions that had no definitive answers, Reigh closed her eyes. She searched for her happy place, but her mind was muddled. All she could meditate on was how tired she was. She was exhausted, in every way possible—an exhaustion that was only heightened by the rain that fell upon them.
“I don’t think I can,” she said, opening her eyes in time to watch as Thorston raised his arms into the air then threw them towards the substation, just as lightning crackled across the sky. Accepting his command, it hit the transformer, causing a hum of electricity to fill the air.
“It’s done,” he uttered, suddenly looking as weary as she felt.
“I wasn’t much help.”
“I didn’t think you would be.”
Reigh didn’t take it as an insult. “What do we do now?”
“We head back. It’s not safe here.” Putting his arm around her shoulders, he guided her away. He didn’t say it, but she knew part of the gesture was because he needed the support.
“Magic really takes its toll, doesn’t it?” she asked.
“Yeah, it does. I guess it’s like any release of energy.”
“You were beautiful how you commanded the lightning, almost as if you were conducting a symphony.”
“I didn’t command it, not in a military kind of way. Nature is an extension of us, and we are an extension of it.”
“Kind of what the Native Americans believe,” she mused.
“When I was traveling through Arizona, I stayed with a Native American tribe for a while,” Thorston recalled. “They greatly revered the Thunderbird—a sacred, winged creature that could ignite a storm with the beat of its mighty wings, creating the thunder and the wind, which provoked the rain to fall. The Thunderbird was incredibly intelligent, but it was also wrathful, in a way, believing in honor, justice, and vengeance.”
“And what is the moral of that story?”
He stopped and faced her. “That how long you know someone is irrelevant. You can know someone a lifetime, and they’re a stranger. Or you can know someone a short time, and you’re certain they’re the one for you. That they know you. And you know them.”
“That had absolutely nothing to do with the story,” she said, breathless under the intensity of his gaze.
“I know.”
A familiar desire coursed through her body, the same she had tried to suppress, ever since their kiss at the biker rally. Being so close to him now, the rain heavy around them, it was a desire she could not suppress any longer. Standing on her toes, she kissed him hard, passing all the hunger in her soul onto him. He gather her into his arms and kissed her back, but it wasn’t enough.
She needed more.
And so did he.
Reigh pulled his shirt over his head, admiring how powerful his arms were, both safe and dangerous. She wanted the safety. She wanted the danger. She wanted him. Together, they fell onto the wet earth of the woods, commanding more than just the storm.
Chapter Eight
Waking on Lu’s couch under a white afghan blanket, Reigh pulled a twig from her hair, a souvenir of the… complication she had made last night. She didn’t need to look in the mirror to know she was a hot mess. Her body was smudged with dirt in places she didn’t even want to think about. And the T-shirt she wore had a slight tear in it, thanks to tossing it carelessly on top of a massive thorn bush. She hadn’t exactly been thinking straight when she’d ripped it off, Thorston’s body pressed against hers.
She hadn’t been thinking at all. That was the problem. Now, with the early morning sun pouring in through the den of Lu’s beautiful home, all Reigh could do was think.
“Morning, runaway,” Lu hummed, carrying a large mug of coffee into the den with her.
“Is that for me?” It wasn’t a question. It was a plea.
“I figured you would need it, seeing how you were running through the forest naked last night.” Lu handed Reigh the mug.
As was custom, she pressed it against her cheek, enjoying the warmth through the ceramic. “I wasn’t running through the forest naked. I was only naked part of the time, and you seem pretty damn chipper considering who I was naked with.”
Lu flopped down on the couch next to her and smoothed the lines of her electric blue blouse, which she wore with skinny jeans. “I should be worried that Thorston is going to break your heart, the same way he did my sister’s, but he wasn’t the one who came pounding on my door last night as if she were being chased by a bear. Please don’t tell me you left Thorston alone in the woods.”
“Thorston can handle himself,” Reigh alleged. “But no, I didn’t. After… everything, we were passing through town on the bike, and I told him I wanted to check in with everyone regarding the shield. He let me off at Odd Wonders. As soon as he was out of sight, that’s when I ran here. Sorry, by the way, for knocking on your door so late.”
“It wasn’t that late,” Lu noted. “Samuel had just put the kids down, and I had barely returned from the library.” Her face suddenly fell.
Reigh knew why. “Hey,” she said, taking Lu’s hand. “The new shield will hold. And Mama Blanchet’s decree to the town that magic should be used only when necessary is a good idea. The threat will have less to feed from. Nothing is going to happen to your family.”
“Thanks,” Lu said, squeezing her hand, but she didn’t look at all reassured.
Reigh took a sip of her coffee as deliciously indecent images from the night before invaded her mind, no matter how much she tried to push them away. “It was a mistake,” she mumbled to herself.
“Probably,” Lu agreed. “But probably less of a mistake than if it was Calder.”
Reigh shrunk with guilt. “Calder.”
She couldn’t believe she had betrayed him like this. It didn’t matter that they had only been on one date. Their relationship was embedded in the years they’d known each other. And with the gift of the Northern Lights, she was beginning to realize that whatever feelings Calder had for her, he’d had them for a long time, longer than Broken Ridge.
“I can’t face either of them,” she moaned.
Lu rubbed her legs. “Don’t worry about Thorston. After what he did to my sister, I’d call it poetic justice if you never spoke to him again.”
And she’s back to blatant disapproval.
This was good. If she finally knew the full story of Eva and Thorston, then she could block him out of her mind before thoughts of him traveled down to her heart. “What exactly did happen?” she asked, moving part of the white afghan that covered her across Lu’s lap. The air conditioning was strong in the den.
“Are you sure you want to know, given what happened between the two of you last night?”
“I think that’s why I need to know.”
“Alright,” Lu consented. “I’ll tell you. I don’t think Eva would mind. But there’s not a whole lot to tell. Thorston’s behavior was so routine, it became predictable. Eva was a bit wild, her walk a piro
uette. She used to hitchhike all the way from Mexico to come visit me, back when I was a trainee at a garage in Brockwell, still only dating Samuel, who lived in Broken Ridge. We’d have such fun, but Eva scared me a little. Her fun didn’t seem to have any limits. She would have jumped off a cliff blindfolded if the right person convinced her she had wings.”
“And that person was Thorston?” Reigh guessed.
“No,” Lu replied. “Not at all. The opposite, actually. We met Thorston at a barbeque Samuel threw one summer. They’d been friends for a long time, but I’d never met Thorston before because he’d been off traveling on his bike. By the early morning hours, when the whiskey spilled over and the music was slow and seductive, the only person Eva would dance with was Thorston. They couldn’t keep their hands off each other. It wasn’t long before they moved into the shack together.”
“Wait, does that mean Thorston owns part of it?” She panicked. “Am I living in his house?”
“Goodness no. It’s all Eva’s. She says she won the property, as tiny as it is, in a bet with the mayor’s son, a bet she still refuses to tell me about. It might be true. With Eva, it’s hard to know.”
“That’s a relief,” Reigh confessed. “My situation with Thorston is complicated enough. Go on.”
“At the time, with Thorston by her side, my sister regarded the shack as if it were her own little island. She was happy, happier than I’d seen her in a long time, enough so that she began to settle, no longer satisfied with the vagabond lifestyle. Thorston was a large part of it, but also Eva was just growing up, finally breaking free of her adolescence, even though she was well into her twenties. I think after Samuel and I got engaged, she realized she also wanted a husband and a family. She wanted to build a home.
“Thorston loved my sister, no one has ever doubted that, but he had other ideas as to their future. He wanted to live free, to roam across the land. I can’t blame him for it. That’s the type of man he was when Eva met him. But I do blame the way he handled telling Eva. Or rather, how he didn’t tell her. She woke up one morning, and he was gone.”
“That’s awful,” Reigh murmured, though it didn’t surprise her. Thorston wasn’t the type to stand still, for better or worse.
“It was. Eva knew he’d come back, so she waited, locking herself into the shack as if it were a tower. It wasn’t healthy, but it was better than Eva going off the rails, of returning to her more reckless ways. And he did return for her, right before my wedding. Letting himself into the shack, it was like he had never been gone. He stayed for a little while, but one night after Eva returned from her shift bartending, he was gone again.
“It continued like this for over a year. Eva tolerated it at first, but eventually her patience ran out. The morning of a deadly hurricane, when we were all preparing to take refuge in our cellars, they got into a huge argument. I found my sister outside in her nightshirt, clenching the grass until her knuckles bled, shaking with tears of anger and grief. Thorston was gone. We knew one day he would come back, but when he did, it wouldn’t be for her. And we were right, but thankfully Eva was already back in Mexico dating a respectable man when Thorston did show up in Broken Ridge again.”
Reigh closed her eyes, trying to take it all in. But she couldn’t. Eva’s story was tragic, but it conflicted with the tenderness Thorston had shown her last night. Sleeping with Thorston had been more than physical. Emotions were involved. And that, more than any other reason, was why it was a mistake. Her feelings for Thorston were the biggest betrayal of all towards Calder.
So instead of processing it, she changed the subject. “I haven’t heard Tallie speak at the meetings. Is she shy?”
“Tallie, shy?” Lu smiled, forgetting the heartbreak of the past. “She’s a former cheerleader, so no. She’s not shy. But she does commune with her spirit guide when the pottery circle meets. It’s only the rare occasion that she speaks, otherwise she breaks the connection.”
“Makes sense,” Reigh replied, even though she had no clue how a spirit guide worked. “Does that mean her spirit guide can tell us about the threat instead of Calder?”
“Spirit guides are very much in this world, so I’m afraid not.”
Setting her mug on the carpet, Reigh stood and stretched. “I guess I better get moving. I have work today.”
“Do you want a change of clothes?” Lu offered.
“I don’t think there’s time. I’ll cleanup in the bathroom at the store.”
“Thanks for everything,” she added when Lu walked her to the door. “You’ve made my transition here possible. I’m not sure where I’d been right now if it weren’t for you.”
“Like I’ve said before, this town has a strange way of pulling people together, and usually for good reason. I’m glad we met, Reigh. I have a feeling you’re going to remain an important part of my life.”
With an uncontrollable smile on her face, despite her dilemma with Thorston, Reigh stepped into the sunlight, embracing the warmth of the day. She felt good, better than she had in a long time. It was a short walk to Odd Wonders. She was glad she was going to work instead of home to the shack. She wasn’t ready to face Thorston. It was too fresh and too awkward.
Arriving at Odd Wonders, the door was unlocked, but Mrs. Florence was nowhere to be found. In her place was a note on the front counter that shimmered slightly when Reigh walked past it, to catch her attention.
Run the shop today. Keys under register. You can have tomorrow off.
It was written by Mrs. Florence, but there was no explanation for her absence. Reigh hoped everything was alright, while part of her was relieved. It meant she didn’t have to answer any questions regarding the previous night. And she kind of liked the responsibility of manning the store, like she had done so many times before in Vegas.
What if she used her psychic abilities to see what I’d done with her adopted nephew! she suddenly thought, blushing.
Reigh wasn’t modest when it came to sex, but unlike her conquests in Vegas, when she would stroll down the streets the morning after, unashamed in her tight dresses and smudged makeup, her night in the woods with Thorston had significance. She knew that. It’s why she wanted to push it far away, to hide it within the grasp of the woods.
Needing her usual distraction, she went to the radio and turned on a classic rock station. Her hand momentarily lingered over the dial, preparing for it to change to a rumba station, but it remained where it was.
“Small blessings,” she uttered, moving to the register, exhausted. Lu’s couch had been comfortable, but she barely slept. Her mind would not quiet. And when it did, she’d dreamt only of Norse women crumbling away into dark shadows.
Perhaps Thorston was right when it came to magic. Why go through years of training to light a fire with your breath when you could just spark a match with your hand? Were unknown threats, violent storms, and sleepless nights worth it? Even if magic came from within, it was all starting to feel like a misuse of the universe’s energy.
She thought of Lu. With her family at risk, she wondered if her friend could go back and change her involvement in magic, would she?
If she could go…
A thought occurred to Reigh, one that was bittersweet. She held onto it, saving it for when she saw Lu again.
Sitting on the stool, her eyes began to droop, so she stood back up, wondering how to teleport coffee from the bistro. The tea Mrs. Florence kept in the back wouldn’t be enough. It was likely coffee wouldn’t even be enough. Her exhaustion was that great.
It was a welcomed release when the time came to close. Eagerly, she locked the doors, taking the keys with her, knowing that even if they weren’t a spare set, Mrs. Florence could find her way into the store the next morning. The woman had magic on her side.
Her exhaustion continued to drag down her shoulders like a stockade, but knowing she was an hour’s walk away from her bed put a hop in her step. She hurried through the woods, her plan to avoid an uncomfortable conversation with Thorston b
y going straight to sleep.
She had nothing to worry about. Thorston wasn’t there. The way the yellow blanket was still where it had been the day before—slung half-hazardously over the side of the couch—told her she wasn’t the only one who didn’t come home last night. She had no energy left to contemplate what it meant. Instead, she dove under the quilt and fell into a sleep so deep, there was no room for light or dark.
***
Nothing felt real.
Waking, Reigh refused to leave her bed. She was still tired, despite sleeping soundly through the night and into, from what she could tell, the afternoon. Wrapped in the comfort of the quilt, she thought back to when she was six-years-old, to the day her mom had driven her out to the desert near Nellis Air Force Base. Lying on the hood of their car, they waited for a plane to touchdown so that they could see its underbelly. As they waited, her mom told her about her grandparents who had lived in Norway, and of the wonders around the world, especially the lost temples in the jungles of Cambodia.
“When you’re older, we’ll travel together, my sweet daughter,” her mom had said, a far-off joy in her eye. “We’ll search for the lost temples, just the two of us.”
A plane never came, and her mom had left to see the temples of Cambodia without her. Reigh was glad her mom had finally found the happiness motherhood had not delivered, but she missed her, especially on days like this, days when all she wanted was the normalcy of a daughter who could talk to her mother.
It was magic. She should be empowered by it, but it made reality diluted and blurred.
Allowing a grey cloud to surround her so that she didn’t have to think or feel, Reigh managed to defeat her torpor, rolling out of bed. She took a shower then changed into a tank top and red flannel. Needing fresh air, she went on the pier leading out onto the bayou and sat, allowing her feet to dangle above the water while she kept watch for the ripples of an approaching gator. The sun blazed down, sanitizing the land to the point of dehydration, adding to the haze of the day.
