by V. M. Marsh
Two heads swung towards me with eager expressions. “There’s a way to interrupt his power transfers. We didn’t find exactly how to do that, but I have some ideas. Anyway, if that happens, it messes him up somehow and weakens him for a while. I don’t know if he just needs time to recover or if he has to absorb new magic. Either way, it’ll take him out of commission for quite some time.”
Their faces lit up with excitement. I knew I had something good.
“How do you think we could do it?” Lars asked.
Charlie spoke up before I could respond. “I bet a magic neutralizer gun would work.”
“I thought they were highly regulated and only M.E.A. could get ahold of them.” Lars frowned.
“I have connections. I could get my hands on one if we thought it would work.”
Lars’s brows rose impressed. “Charlie, my man. I had no idea the friendly neighborhood bartender had shady connections.”
Charlie stared back, unimpressed. “I never said they were shady connections. Sorry to burst your bubble, but it would all be completely on the up and up.”
Only one brow lowered as Lars nodded. “Intriguing and mysterious. I like that even better.”
Charlie chuckled and shook his head as I rolled my eyes. He turned to me.
“People are stirred up and scared. Not just here, but in Wildwood too. Word is spreading about what he’s doing down there and here. That’s what has scared them the most-that he was able to find and access the Sanctuary. I think many of them had been counting on taking refuge up here if things got bad enough in the city.”
I sighed. “A lot of guests have checked out and said they were getting as far away from here as they could. Most of them have the resources to make good on that too.”
“It feels as if the weight of the world is on my shoulders.” Lars leaned back to take a swig of his beer. “Frankly, I’m already tired of it and want to do something about it.”
“We need to be prepared if we want to succeed. Don’t go off on a suicide mission.” I paused. “I just got you back.”
He grasped my hand beneath the bar. “Don’t worry. I won’t go after him without a good plan in place. One with high chances of success.”
I opened my mouth to respond when Charlie’s head snapped up towards the door. Glancing over my shoulder, I saw Zoey enter the lounge.
“Keep me apprised of your plans. I want in.” Charlie leaned down to tell us in hurried hushed tones before Zoey arrived.
“Hey, everyone. What’s going on?” She asked perching on the stool beside me.
“Hello, Zoey.” Charlie said huskily, and my heart welled with glee.
“We were just finding out how Lars’s new job with Emma’s dad is going.” My heart immediately sunk at how smoothly he executed that lie. I knew it was part of his job to be natural and convincing, like it was mine, but I still didn’t like him doing it to her.
I internally rolled my eyes at myself. Like I was one to talk. I lied to everyone except my parents, the Circle, and now Lars. I turned away to hold back tears welling in my eyes. Geez, I was emotional today.
However, it felt so good to have someone outside of the Circle on my team-someone whose main agenda was me. Even my parents had to weigh the needs of the Circle against mine before choosing. But with Lars, I was his main priority.
Guilt zapped through me like a jolt of electricity when it hit me I couldn’t say the same. I was trying to put him first, but like my parents, I still had to consider the Circle and the greater good. To make it worse, I wasn’t free to follow my decisions as I saw fit.
Lars cleared his throat and squeezed my hand. “Yeah, I was just telling them how surprised I am that Stone is being so nice to me. He wasn’t like this when Emma and I dated in high school.”
“Well, you were a trouble maker from the wrong side of the tracks on a mission to impregnate his teenage princess.” I laughed as he choked on his beer. “I’m not saying it was true. That’s just how he saw it.”
Zoey giggled. “Men can be so overprotective. Cade says he isn’t, but that is clearly a lie. My dad is more relaxed about my dating than Cade is. Outwardly, anyway, so I could be wrong. Maybe my dad is the one to sic Cade on guys so I’ll be more willing to bring one home for our dad to lay into.”
“This Cade guy is sounding better by the minute.” Lars chuckled.
“You’d really like Scarlet then. It’s hard to get through her hard shell, and she isn’t all sweet and gooey once you do. However, she cares in her own way.” Zoey said.
Lars cleared his throat while I shifted uncomfortably wondering how he was going to handle this. It might cause problems later if Scarlet came to visit and let on that they already knew each other.
“Actually, I know Scarlet. She used to date an old boss of mine back in California. You’re right-I do like her.” He played it off and swigged his beer.
She jerked back. “What a small world,” she marveled softly after collecting herself.
“It is indeed. Sometimes it’s even smaller than we think.” I remarked thinking of how Lars was the one to save Scarlet from the Power Thief.
I shook myself as I realized we were heading into territory not suitable to discuss with her. I put on super bright Emma and my sixty watt smile. “So, Zoey, how is your guide job going? I feel horrible I haven’t checked in with you about it sooner.”
Surprise covered her face once again. “I love it. The hikes are easy, the people are interesting, and I get to spend every day outdoors. It almost makes me want to give up my day job.”
“What is your day job?” Lars asked. I grinned at him for getting on board so quickly.
She swung to him with raised brows. Maybe we weren’t doing as well as I thought if we kept saying things that surprised the hell out of her like that. We needed to fix that, pronto.
“Zoey has a bunch of kids.” I said.
“What?” Lars asked confused while Zoey laughed and shook her head at me.
“That’s just how Scarlet misinterpreted something I said before we’d gotten to know each other. She thought I was mom to a herd that I left with my parents or locked in the basement while I came here.” She laughed.
“’You’ve got to be kitten me,’ I’d thought before telling her I’m a kindergarten teacher.” We sent her amused expressions.
“You’ve got to be kitten me?” I repeated with barely contained laughter.
She giggled. “That’s something my kids like to say that I picked up. It started as a joke, but now I can’t stop.”
“That is the most hilarious thing I’ve heard today.” I chuckled. “What about you Charlie?”
“It’s corny, but adorable.” He replied and winked at her as her face grew pink. “I like it.”
“So, what are you doing with Emma’s dad, Lars?” Zoey asked.
“We fix all the broken stuff at the resort. It’s pretty easy, but busy. People break a lot of things around here.”
“My garbage disposal isn’t working in my employee apartment. I haven’t mentioned it before because it’s not a big deal, and I didn’t want to bother anyone.” She said. “Would you be willing to take a look at it?”
Lars eyed Charlie and raised his brows at me when he saw Charlie’s scowl. Poor Lars. He kept getting thrown into dangerous shark infested waters tonight.
However, it was highly entertaining, and I wasn’t about to ruin my fun by helping him out of this. I put my hand on my chin and wished I had a bowl of popcorn.
“Stone and I will try to get to it tomorrow when I have access to the shed. Is that cool?”
When she nodded enthusiastically, Charlie went to serve patrons down the bar. I couldn’t tell if he was happy with that answer or not. I would have to smooth things over.
When he returned near us to fill a mug with beer from the tap, I chirped, “You know, Zoey, Charlie loves exercise and people, but he hasn’t been getting outside enough lately. You should take him on your hikes tomorrow before his shift starts.”
Her startled gaze flew to his. “That sounds fine to me if he wants to.” She replied hesitantly.
He gulped and nodded slowly. Grinning brightly, I wanted to make sure there was no confusion or reason for them not to meet up.
“Perfect. Her first hike is at eight, just after you finish your morning exercises, so you’ll already be dressed for it. The groups meet up at the head of Fawn Trail. You know, the easy one.”
They mutely nodded, and I was sure my smile was bright enough to light up the room. I loved making others happy. And they would be happy once they got together. I knew it.
Chapter Fourteen
“I want to go after him.” Lars told me over breakfast.
“What was that?” I asked and frowned while sipping my coffee. I was still only half awake and not following him at all.
“I want to take Bradley down. We know one of his weaknesses. It’s time.”
Firmly placing my mug on the table, I held up my hand. “First off, you will not attempt to do this on your own. We are a team, and there will be so much hell to pay if you leave me behind. Got it?”
He scowled and didn’t respond, so I continued. “I don’t think even the two of us should do this alone. The guy is dangerous. We need help, like my parents and Charlie at the very least.”
“We can’t bring too many people in on this. It’s difficult for a group to move stealthily, especially untrained. We need to keep this to as few people as possible to have the advantage of surprise.”
“Fine. I get that. However, you alone is too few, and you’ll get yourself killed.”
He frowned. “I don’t want you anywhere near Bradley. You have no idea how agonizing it feels when he takes your magic. I’m not willing to risk that happening to you.”
“Second, you do not get to tell me what I can and cannot do. I’m a grown woman with a mind of my own, and I’m trained for situations like this. Besides, I feel just as strongly about you being in a position where he could hurt you.”
He threw me a sardonic look with pursed lips and a quirked brow. I rolled my eyes. “Maybe not exactly like this, but I’ve been training to fight and be covert since I was old enough to walk. My whole life has been leading to this or something like it.”
I laughed humorlessly. “I suppose I know now why my parents raised me that way. They were secretly preparing me for the Circle. They did a good job-I just thought they were weird and quirky once I was old enough to discover not everyone was raised that way too.”
“I might be okay with bringing Charlie into this because he will need to get that gun. However, I don’t know about your parents. They’re old.”
“But experienced. Let’s at least get their advice regarding strategies.”
He bowed his head, and I squealed like a teenage girl inside. I loved winning an argument.
“No one else. Got it, sparkles?” He pointed his cereal spoon at me.
I crossed my heart and held up three fingers.
“You’re supposed to use two fingers.” He corrected.
I huffed. “That’s for Boy Scouts. You are looking at a bonafide Girl Scout, and we use three fingers.”
“I remember. Did you get your Gold Award after we broke up?”
“Of course, I did.”
“Of course, you did.” He chuckled low and sarcastic. “Before I found out about all the secrecy and concealed influence, I thought you were pure as fresh snow. Honor Roll, cheerleading, charity work, Girl Scout. You seemed so perfect. Sometimes you intimidated me.”
“I was good at hiding how I really felt and what was going on with me. More training from my parents that makes sense now.” I grimaced.
“It was actually really difficult for me to do it all. The whole last semester of senior year was the worst time of my life. Grandma had just died, we broke up, I was inducted into this secret society and betrothed to someone I had always looked at as a brother. I was a mess.”
“Yet, you still did everything that was expected of you. Got the highest award in Girl Scouts and I bet you graduated with High Honors and continued your other work too. Like the good dutiful girl you were.”
That hurt, but sometimes the truth does. I didn’t like disappointing people, especially people who mattered to me. Still, he didn’t have to throw it in my face like that. “Yup, that’s me. Miss Responsibility and Self-sacrifice.”
“Don’t be like that.” He looked away.
“Why not? You can be like that.”
“I’m miserable and mean like that. That’s not you.” He sighed.
“Maybe you don’t know me as well as you think you do. I just told you that even back when we were together that I had on a façade most of that time. I didn’t let anyone, not even you, completely in. I was trained not to.”
Stomping to the sink, my mug made a loud thump when I dropped it in. “It’s my day off so I would like to go to my parents’ house to get them on working on this before you and Dad go to work. I’ll be ready to leave soon.”
Marching up the stairs and down the hall, I slammed my bedroom door shut. Damn him. I fumed while dressing.
I had always done what I thought was the right thing to do, which was what most people saw as an attribute. I tried to help others and do my best at everything I did. Yet he acted like it was a flaw. I pulled my shirt over my head. Screw him.
So what if it had torn us apart and made me do things I didn’t want to? It was all for the greater good. Sitting on my bed, I struggled to tug on my socks. They began to get blurry and my face felt wet.
So what if my innate need to do the right thing had been used against me to take away some of my free will and control me? It was all worth it to keep the Sanctuary and magic kind safe. I sagged. Wasn’t it?
I swiped angrily at my tears. I already did so much; I shouldn’t have to sacrifice everything too. It wasn’t fair. Yeah, yeah, life wasn’t fair, but this was more than that. I was giving away all of myself for others. Why should they have fulfilling and safe lives thanks to me, but I should have to give up everything for them? That wasn’t right.
Stomping out of my room and down the stairs, I passed by Lars as he leaned against the wall with his arms and legs crossed. His hand shot out to snag my arm.
“I didn’t mean to make you upset. As you can tell, I’m still bitter about our breakup.” His eyes roamed my face. “We’ve missed out on years together that we shouldn’t have had to.”
“Maybe we did have to. How else would you have saved Scarlet?” I shrugged. “Maybe we wouldn’t have lasted-it was a high school relationship after all. We needed time to be our own people and grow up.”
Tugging my arm from his grasp, I started on the trail to my parents’ house. It wasn’t long before he jogged up behind me.
“I hadn’t thought about that. However, it still sucks.”
“Yes, it does.” I agreed, some of the anger and hurt draining from me.
Walking briskly, ours was an uncomfortable silence. When the house came into view, Lars stopped me.
“I don’t want to fight with you. I’ve been bitter about our breakup ever since it happened, especially since no one else could begin to compare to you. I suppose I need more time to get over it and forgive you.”
That was a slap in the face. He felt like I needed to be forgiven for doing my duty? I snorted and then paused.
Well, I did break his heart and lie to him about why. And my real reasons for doing so probably weren’t much better in his eyes. He wasn’t raised to be self-sacrificing and put duty first.
“I’m sorry. I’d like to say I’ve changed since then, but I haven’t really. However, since you’ve come back, I’m beginning to see how unhealthy my convictions have been for me. I’ve been starting to think a change is in order.”
The front door opened and Dad stepped onto the porch. “Are you going to stand out here all day chit chatting or are you guys coming in?”
Mom pushed him aside to get by. “Actually, it’s a beautiful
morning. Let’s visit outside.”
We followed her to the garden behind the house. Riots of flowers arranged in shades of the rainbow danced in the soft warm breeze. Mom led us passed orange rose bushes to a shady willow tree with benches beneath it. An orchard just beyond the garden filled with heavy ripe oranges, apples, apricots, peaches, and plums made my mouth water.
“When did you get cloud benches out here?” I asked, sinking into one as Lars sunk beside me.
“That’s certainly proof you don’t come around enough anymore if you didn’t know about these old things. We’ve had them for years.” Mom scolded, and I felt about ten inches tall.
“I come over. We just usually hang out in the kitchen. Obviously, I haven’t been back here in a while.” I defended.
“However, we are not here to discuss my visits, which work both directions, by the way. You could just as easily come to my cabin.”
Mom huffed, crossed her arms and gave me a pointed look.
“We’re here to plan an attack.” All heads swung to Lars.
“That’s a dramatic way of phrasing it.” I said.
“It is a dramatic thing. You’ve gone up against him, you should already have it impressed on you how serious and dangerous this is. If you don’t understand the scope of it, you need to stay here.”
I frowned. “I understand it fine, thank you. I just didn’t think you needed to make it sound like that as a way of introducing the subject to my parents.”
“Enough.” Dad cut through to silence us all. “Apparently, tensions are running high and you are all taking it out on each other. However, it sounds like there are bigger things to deal with. Stop squabbling amongst yourself and let’s get to the heart of the matter.”
“That could apply to so many things.” I mumbled.
“Emma Hyacinth Pierce! Stop sassing and tell us about this attack.” Mom paused. “Not that you aren’t welcome anytime, but you’re obviously here for a reason other than visiting.”
“Lars wants to spring a surprise assault on Bradley to take him down.”
Mom’s jaw fell, but Dad rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “What’s the plan?” Dad asked.
