by MJ Fletcher
He cared about me. He played no games, mind or otherwise, and he had no annoying habits. He was a decent person who always did the right thing. Nightshade meant nothing to me; I just didn’t want to see my cousin get hurt.
I tried to tune back into the conversation but catching a few comments was enough to let me know that Edgar and Slade were engrossed in one of their in depth workings of the universe discussions. I glanced at Jess who was busy tapping on her phone texting with someone. And from the smile on her face I had a feeling I knew who it was.
“Do you guys need refills?” Val asked as she walked up to the table and Edgar nodded eagerly.
Slade turned to me. “We should probably get going if we are going to make the movie.”
“We’re good.” I smiled at Val and she waved as she walked off.
“You coming with us?” Slade asked Edgar.
“No, I think I’m going to stick around here.” Edgar’s eyes never left Val as she cleaned off the empty tables.
“Yeah, I get it.” Slade stood up from the booth. “How about you, Jess, want to go to the movies?”
“Oh no thanks, Nightshade is picking me up.”
She finished sending a text and slipped out of the booth to stand beside Slade. I did the same and the three of us walked out of the Beanery together.
The air had taken on a slight chill and I zipped up my hoodie. Slade turned to me and stepped close, rubbing his hands up and down my arms to warm me up.
“You guys are too cute.” Jess smiled at us and I suddenly felt very uncomfortable.
“You sure you don’t want to come? You can bring Nightshade along if you want.” I rolled my eyes and smiled.
“No, that’s okay, I’ll just wait. He should be here any second.”
“We can wait if you want?” I offered, wanting to see Nightshade and Jess with my own eyes, sort of seeing it to believe it. I turned to Slade and he nodded agreeably.
The roar of a car engine rumbled down the block. I turned and looked down the row of Victorian houses and watched the classic car driving towards us. It was the same car I had seen in Nightshade’s garage a few months ago; a Hudson Hornet. It appeared he had finished working on it, at least enough to have it running, and it looked great. The deep blue color was amazing and the airbrushed flames that licked along its hood and surrounded the front end of the car were cool.
“He has it running,” Slade commented as he stepped onto the curb and watched the car approach.
“He got it started a few days ago,” Jess said. “He’s really excited about it.”
I kept my eyes on the car as the Hornet pulled up to the curb in front of the Beanery. Slade and Jess walked over to the car. I approached more slowly.
“Were you able to make the parts work?” Slade asked.
“I installed them but I haven’t had a chance to try them out yet. I was hoping to use them this weekend at the Diesel Factories. Jess, hop in I don’t want to be late.”
Nightshade’s strong voice drifted over me and I took a deep breath, half expecting to catch a whiff of the familiar leather and spice scent that always surrounded him.
“Let me know if they work,” Slade said and turned to slip his arm around me when I stopped beside him.
I gave Nightshade a glance and wasn’t surprised to see that he fit with the classic car perfectly. He relaxed against the bucket style seat wearing a red t-shirt, his leather jacket lying beside him. He spared me a quick glance, though didn’t acknowledge me.
“No problem, I’ll let you know if I need anymore work done.” Nightshade revved the engine.
Jess leaned across him, her body practically in his lap.
“You kids have fun at the movies.” She smiled and blew us a kiss.
“See you around, Slade,” Nightshade said and hit the gas pedal. The car tore away from the curb leaving a trail of smoke.
“I can’t believe he got it working,” Slade said as he draped his arm around my shoulders, pulled me close and started walking. I fidgeted under his arm, still not fully comfortable with being so affectionate in public. But I knew it made him happy.
I kept my lips clamped tight, though I don’t know how Slade hadn’t made a comment. He had to have noticed that Nightshade had not bothered to acknowledge me, not even a polite hi, hello, how you doing. I mean how much of a rude jerk can you be anyway? I decided I would text Jess later and see what she had learned about Lauren Harkness from Nightshade. At least I wasn’t the one having to deal with him. Besides, if she couldn’t get him to talk to her I would just force him to talk to me... no matter what it took.
Chapter 3
Status: I attend a race and someone really doesn’t like me.
I stepped out of the portal and onto the streets of the Diesel Factories. Saturday was always packed with everyone coming and going from this nexus point through dimensions. As far as I could see portals were being opened on every surface. People were walking down the sides of buildings or opening doors from the ground itself.
“Where did she say to meet her?” Slade searched the gaggle of people for Jess.
I had talked to her through texts since the other day and she invited us to watch some race that Nightshade was participating in. I took her up on it mostly because I wanted to know what she had learned.
“She’s going to wait for us by Evermen’s Ever Filled Pub.” I spotted the sign for the pub down the street in the distance and pointed toward it. Slade nodded and we headed in that direction. I ducked out of the way of a group of kids racing past us using jetpacks and laughed thinking about the last time I used one.
“Chloe.” Slade squeezed my hand lightly as we walked and by his serious tone I didn’t think I was going to care for what he had to say.
“We’ve been together for a while now.”
“Yeah?” Yup, I was sure I wasn’t going to like this.
“I think it’s time you met my family.”
I’d never met a boyfriend’s family before, probably because my relationships never lasted that long. And I was still feeling my way through this one so I wasn’t quite sure if I wanted to do this, but I figured I owed it to Slade. “I suppose so.”
“Good, I was hoping you could come over for dinner soon. My dad wants to meet you.”
My reluctance tugged at my gut and you think I would listen to it—but no—I smiled and said, “Okay.”
“It’s just that with us going out for a while, he’s curious about you, not to mention your new found celebrity and your family name.”
“What does that mean?”
“Nothing, it’s just that he wants to meet the girl I keep talking so much about.” He squeezed my hand again and I knew more was going on than he was saying but I let it slide, catching sight of Jess in front of the pub waving at us.
She was put together perfectly yet again. Today she wore a pink skirt and matching sweater with her hair done up in a very rockabilly fashion. I, on the other hand, wore a t-shirt and jeans with my beat up old trainers on, which were some of the only shoes I owned besides my combat boots. And my hair, oh forget it, it’s blond and straight and stays that way. My hoodie, an essential part of my limited wardrobe, was tied around my waist as the day had gotten warmer and I didn’t want to sweat like a pig.
“Hi, guys.” Jess waved to Slade and gave me a quick hug. I smiled and patted her on the back and she quickly let me go, knowing I wasn’t big on the touchy feely stuff.
“Where’s Nightshade?” Slade looked around, expecting to see him, though I figured he wouldn’t be here to greet us since he was probably busy preparing for the race.
“He’s doing some last minute work on his car before the race. We can head over there now.” Jess led the way and we followed her through the crowds and around the streets of the Diesel Factories.
The scale of the Factories always amazed me, buildings stretch into the sky and the level of portal energy was massive. People in Jetpacks flew above us and moved around us in all manners of dress and
ethnicities.
We moved quickly and I soon noticed a larger crowd of people gathered around a series of open tents, each containing a car. The vehicles were all different makes and models from the very old to some newer ones I didn’t recognize. Being able to create portals left zero need for a car. Most Old Kind didn’t even own one but I’d come to learn that racing them was quite the big hobby, of course with our own little twist.
“There’s Nightshade’s tent.” Jess pointed to a tent flying a small black flag with a skeleton key smack in the middle and we all hurried over to it.
An old pickup truck occupied the tent to his right and appeared to have gears in the place of wheels. Slade stared like a kid in a candy store, not able to take everything in fast enough and eager to have a taste of it all. Now I knew why he had been willing to help Nightshade who had been far from his best bud.
“Damn it!” Nightshade snapped and I looked down to see his legs sticking out from under the engine of his car.
“What’s wrong?” Slade asked anxiously and squatted down trying to get a look.
Nightshade’s hands grabbed the bumper and he slid himself out from under the vehicle. His hands were covered in grease and dirt and he had a smudge under his left eye. He looked around at each of us, his eyes lingering on me for a minute before he focused on Slade.
“The portal locator is forcing the engine to lose acceleration and I can’t figure out why.”
“I could take a look,” Slade offered.
“Why not, if I can’t get it fixed I’m done before the race even starts.”
Nightshade shot me a look, then sent Jess a wink before sliding back under the car. Slade quickly followed, his head disappearing under the car. I turned to see Jess blushing and grinning like a fool. She caught me watching her and laughed nervously, then stepped back, turned, and looked out at the other tents. We stepped out of the tent and stood a few feet away so we could talk with some level of privacy.
Awkward moment here, though why I couldn’t say so I asked what already seemed obvious. “Everything going well?”
“Yes, it’s been going really well.”
“Did you have a chance to talk with him?”
“I did as a matter of fact.” She cast a glance to the ground and anxiously stirred the grass with the tip of her shoe. “He refused to talk about her, won’t talk about her... not ever.”
“Did he now?” That wasn’t true; he had confided in me about Lauren Harkness.
“I know it’s important; I just don’t want to push him.”
“Well, I can always ask him.” I offered.
“Um, about that.” Jess bit her lip and met my eyes reluctantly.
“What about that?” I knew it. Something wasn’t right, I just wasn’t sure what.
“He told me that he’d rather not talk to you.”
“What? Why?” Nightshade was up to something. Wasn’t he always? But why not talk to me? Why avoid me, which was exactly what he’d been doing and which was downright rude. But hey, being rude was Nightshade being his normal self.
“I don’t want to make a big deal out of it, Chloe. He says you two are like oil and water.”
“That’s ridiculous and I’m going to tell him just that.” I turned to head back and confront Nightshade. Jess grabbed my arm, stopping me, and stepped closer, keeping a firm grip on my arm.
“Please don’t. Let me keep talking to him; I’m sure that I can eventually get him talking. He didn’t even want you here today, but I got him to agree. Please, just try and be nice and get along, for me?” Jess said, her eyes pleading with me.
I could see that it bothered her to practically beg me to leave it alone and to let her to handle it. It wasn’t only that she was my cousin that I considered it. We had become close friends over the last few weeks, especially with all we had been through and I didn’t want to hurt her or our friendship.
“Fine, for you I’ll be good.”
“Thank you.” Jess wrapped me in a huge hug and I smiled in spite of myself.
While I suffered through her bear hug, I cast a curious glance over the surrounding tents and my hair stood on end... someone was watching us. I thought I caught a set of eyes that seemed to stare right through me. But a second later they were gone and I wondered if I had simply imagined it. I shook my head and by then Jess had let go of me. I gave another curious glance around but caught nothing out of the ordinary.
“I think that did it. Give it a try,” Slade said from under the car.
Nightshade pulled himself out from under the car and hopped into the driver’s seat. He turned the key and the car roared to life. His hands quickly went to work adjusting some dials on the dashboard and he smiled.
“Yup, that did it. The portal locator is fully functional.” Nightshade hopped out of the car, grabbed a rag, and started cleaning off his hands. Slade slid out from under the vehicle and popped up, a big smile on his face.
Slade not only had a gorgeous smile but a contagious one, at least for me, so I smiled right along with him.
“This is great,” Slade said with such excitement that you’d think it was him who was racing. “All the gear I created is attached to the car. This is going to be so cool.”
“Cool.” It seemed like a generic enough affirmation on my part, since I had no idea of what was going on and it made him happy. He gave me a quick kiss and then walked over to where Nightshade was using some goop to clean his hands off and Slade did the same.
I watched them and found myself growing annoyed. I suppose that I should be happy that the two of them finally weren’t at each other’s throats. But I guess now that Nightshade had decided he and I couldn’t talk, he no longer had a problem with my boyfriend.
A horn blared and the activity around us jumped across the board. The sounds of car engines roaring to life and people yelling last minute instructions echoed around us. Nightshade moved swiftly, grabbing his jacket he tossed it and a few tools in the passenger seat. He turned to Jess, pulled her close, and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek.
“For luck.” He smiled, hopped into the car and shot thumbs up Slade’s way, then hit the gas and took off.
I figured he’d intentionally ignored me so I wasn’t surprised that he didn’t even look my way, but then... at the last minute his eyes caught mine and it felt like I’d been punched in the gut. Don’t know where that came from, but then I didn’t understand much when it came to Nightshade. He was an enigma I was still trying to figure out.
“Let’s go so that we can get a good spot,” Slade said already on his way out of the tent and to the road where all the cars were heading.
Jess joined me and we followed behind Slade. We had walked only a few feet when I snapped my head to the side, catching the flash of a shadow only to find nothing there. The hairs on my neck stood on end for the second time, but this time my hand went straight to my doorknob. Someone was watching; I was sure of it.
“Everything alright?” Jess cast an uneasy glance around.
“Someone is watching us.”
Jess’ hand slid into mine and gripped it. “Do you have your doorknob?”
That’s why I love my friends. They don’t think I‘m crazy or question me, they just jump right in to back me up.
“Yes, what about you.”
Jess pulled out her skeleton key to let me know she was prepared. “Let’s tell Slade.”
I nodded in agreement and we picked up our pace to catch up to him. He had already found himself a place up front to watch the race and was leaning on a temporary railing that had been set up. The race itself would travel the streets of the Diesel Factories and beyond. Massive monitors floated in the air, large gears turning on the side of them showing the flickering images of the cars at the starting line, an Impossible Engineering feat if I ever saw one.
“Slade,” I called out just as the horn blasted, announcing the start of the race. The engines roared and the cars sped off leaving trails of smoke behind them. My voice was drow
ned out by the noise and so were my subsequent shouts. People were packed so densely behind him that I wasn’t able to break through and reach him.
I leaned in close to Jess so that she could hear me. “He can’t hear me.”
“What should we do?” she asked with a shrug.
I wasn’t really sure myself. Someone was watching us but that didn’t necessarily mean that we were in danger. I had been on constant guard for the last two months, ever since the battle and I wasn’t about to let it slip now. Plus with Mr. Miller’s return and the sudden sensation of being watched, it all seemed a little too coincidental to me.
“We’re getting the hell out of here.”
“I’ll see if I can get Slade’s attention,” Jess said and moved a few steps away, trying to flag Slade down.
I pulled my doorknob out of my pocket, the familiar rush of energy running up my arm. Then something odd happened, I felt a portal generate. It was near by and before I could react it opened right beneath my feet. I had done this to others before, but never had it happen to me. Someone was trying to drop me through a portal.
I clutched my doorknob and had enough energy created that it hovered me just above the portal, but if I didn’t move soon I’d fall straight through to who knew where. Luckily for me Jess reacted. Jumping the distance between us, she tackled me off the portal and we both rolled to the ground on the other side.
People in the crowd screamed as two men in black raced toward Jess and I, arms raised and pointed at us. We both reacted instantly, throwing up shields to block the blasts just as they hit.
It was complete bedlam. The crowd surged, screaming and running wildly as the battle erupted in the middle of the race. I didn’t recognize the attackers, though that didn’t mean much. I was use to nameless First Kind and happy to fight them.
I focused on my knob, creating a whip of energy and swung it out, knocking the legs out from under one of the men nearly on top of us. I smiled, pleased that my training was paying off. Jess was building up her power beside me and had her sights set on taking the next guy down with one big hit. I scanned the crowd for Slade, hoping he had seen it all and was heading our way. I finally spotted Slade racing toward me. His eyes were wide and he was pointing behind me. I didn’t think twice, I dropped to the ground as a blast of energy soared over my head.
