by Carla Thorne
Ivy slipped past us. “Are you coming?”
“Yes, I’m starved, but I don’t know how my ankles are gonna feel about ice skating after another run.”
I gave Jacob a tentative smile and he nodded. I swear the guy regularly read my mind.
“Don’t worry, Mary Angel, everything is fine.”
“It is?”
“Yes. I’ve had time to think, and I just want to talk. Alone. Away from all my issues at home and the craziness of football—and fires.”
“OK.”
“And then I’m going to collect that kiss I asked for weeks ago over smoothies.”
I snaked one arm under his coat and around him and used my other hand to smooth a piece of hair away from his forehead. Leaning into him was the safest I ever felt.
I put my finger to his lips. “I never answered you about that kiss,” I reminded him.
He pulled my hand away. “You just did.”
Chapter 36
Mary
I pulled on the fuzzy off-white sweater my mother gave me for Christmas and headed to the giant fireplace in the ski lodge. Pine garlands with red berries still draped every entrance, and large green wreaths with glistening red balls greeted everyone coming and going. The place smelled like cinnamon and orange and Christmas heaven while white twinkle lights graced each window, and lighted holly-berry nests held trios of tall flickering candles on every table.
I never wanted to go home.
Jacob stood from one of the couches to greet me.
He only added to the magical illusion in his red plaid flannel shirt, soft, worn jeans, and brown leather boots.
Char wandered by. “Where are your coats? Aren’t you going to come skating?”
Jacob hooked his thumb in his pocket. “I think we’re staying in a while.”
“I wish I could stay, but I’ve been nicely threatened by Ivy that my attendance is required.”
“Have fun,” I said with a laugh.
“Wait. Give me your phone.”
“Sure. Why?”
“Stand by the fire. You two look like a Christmas card. Let me take some pictures.”
I tugged the wire bracelet from inside my sleeve to make sure my angel-wing charm showed.
Char gave direction and took more photos than we expected.
“Do we look so bad it took that many tries?” Jacob asked.
“OK, you got me. I love photography and I was trying to get the light of the fire the way I wanted it in the background.”
I swiped through my phone. “You’re forgiven. These look great.”
“I’m going to bring my real camera out on the slopes tomorrow. Maybe I’ll get some good candid shots of you.”
Jacob snorted. “Or maybe Deacon will ski over your camera.”
I jabbed him in the side. “Stop. Deacon’s doing pretty good.” I prepared to text one of the best pics to my mom. “But yeah. No, I don’t think anyone needs more documentation of me sliding backward on my butt all the way down a hill.”
“See you guys in a bit. Save me some hot chocolate.”
Jacob pulled me onto the couch and passed me a latte from the end table.
“Thanks. You thought of everything.”
“Only if I got it right.”
I smiled and took a sip. He almost got it right. “Perfect.” I curled my fingers around the warm cup. “What did you want to talk about?”
He blew out a long breath, leaned back, and put his arm across the back of the bear-print upholstered couch. “I’m not stupid, Mary.”
“Of course you’re not. Who said you’re stupid?”
“Nobody, but I feel like I showed up in the middle of a school play and don’t know what it’s about. I keep trying to find my place and learn my lines and I just get more and more confused.”
I set my cup aside. “OK, start from the beginning. What’s this about?”
“It’s about you and me and Stonehaven. The first day we met we ended up in an electrical fire. You said weird things afterward, and from there, it’s been one long mystery. The pool party, the weird feeling when I carried you around Scout’s house to the car… All the odd conversations and the near-catastrophes. All the feelings I have for you.” He took my cold hand in his warm one. “We are not in an average place. We’re just not. Other things are going on and I can’t wrap my head around it. I’m one step from falling off the stage.”
Guilt and sadness overwhelmed me. Deacon, Scout, Ivy, and I had found each other in the most awkward way possible. We’d floundered around together in the discovery of the supernatural realm and continued to uncover its secrets.
Jacob came out of nowhere and landed in our midst. He had no one to guide him, if he was one of us. Was it our place to tell him? Where were his Guardians and Protectors? Where was his Enforcer like Sebastian? Where was my assurance I could speak freely and tell him the truth? Sebastian never said I could or couldn’t share anything. The Warriors I was connected to had voluntarily vowed to stay silent for our own sense of privacy and protection. I couldn’t share unless everyone knew.
The risk was too great to confide in the wrong person.
I had to decide if Jacob was the right person—though everything in me already felt he was.
“Let’s talk this through,” I said, in hopes of easing his concern.
“Fine. We’ll talk about it some more, but you should know I know you have secrets. Don’t get me wrong. I don’t care. I don’t need to know everything about you today. I can learn something new about you every day if you want, but I do know there are things you aren’t telling me. I feel it. I know there are secrets you have with others, but I trust you because I know what we have together.”
I had no response. My heart melted into my shoes. All I wanted to do was give him the comfort of truth he so desperately needed.
“I remembered something,” he said before I could think of what to say.
“What’s that?”
“You know how you’ve asked me a couple times if I ever experienced anything strange like the thing I felt at Scout’s?”
“Yes.”
“Or if I ever had a group of friends who seemed different, or talked about the kind of things we’ve been through?”
“Yes.”
“Turns out I was wrong when I said I had no experience with this stuff.”
“How?”
“Telling you about my uncle brought back some memories I don’t usually bother to dwell on. It was so long ago—”
“And so hard to think about…”
“Yes, hard to think about, especially with my cousins’ wellbeing at stake. Anyway, I did have a connection with someone. Someone did take care of me and talk to me, and I often felt that person knew and saw things they couldn’t have known. I felt like I was safe in a bubble as long as that person was with me and in my life. Do you get what I mean?”
“I get exactly what you mean, Jacob. Don’t you know? That’s exactly how I feel with you. You’ve been keeping me safe since we met. My entire idea of being all right is wrapped up in being with you. It’s why I couldn’t stand another minute of Gavin as soon as I saw what it was like to be truly protected by someone. We barely knew each other, but your concern for me was so powerful it was like I couldn’t stay away.”
“Right. I felt that way about the person in my life who did it for me, then I felt that way about protecting my cousins. Now I feel that way about you. It’s like it’s my job to make sure you’re OK. And it goes beyond whatever feelings I have for you.”
Heat rushed up my neck. My face burned as we sat there for the longest time just looking at each other.
“Do you know who that person was for me?” he asked.
“It was your nanny, wasn’t it?”
“Yes. She protected me from my uncle, and when she was gone, it was like I lost my best friend. My parents took away my safety net, and they sure as heck weren’t going to watch out for me. The bubble burst, and everything was…”
“Broken.”
“Yes, broken. I never felt safe after that. I realized after we talked, I haven’t felt really good about anything for years. Not until I met you. And the only thing wrong is that I’m still on that stage and I don’t know all my lines.”
I checked the time. “Um… Can you give me one minute?”
“Now?”
“Yeah, I promise I won’t be long. Don’t go anywhere.”
He sagged into the couch and put his hands up as if annoyed. “I’m not going anywhere, Mary.”
I rushed to the restroom and texted Ivy. Do you have a quick sec to call?
You OK?
Yes.
Hang on.
Within a minute, my phone buzzed.
“What’s the matter?”
“Nothing,” I said. “But I need you to concentrate. I’m going to ask you a question and I want your real gut-driven, Warrior answer. It’s important.”
“No pressure there, but OK. I’ll try. I hope no one’s life depends on this command supernatural performance.”
“I need to do something. Nothing drastic, but we promised each other we’d keep Warrior business between us. I have to share something with someone and I want to be sure you all know. Depending on your answer to my question, I may need you to tell the others I’ve shared some information. Not everything, and not like Deacon outed us to Mr. Parrington, but I may talk.”
“Sheesh. Ask the question. The seriousness of your voice, along with my freezing butt, may interrupt my signals.”
“OK. What about Jacob?”
“Jacob is real.”
“Thank you.”
“Wait. What? That just came out of my mouth like I wasn’t even thinking those words and they flew out. Wow.”
“Yes. You have a gift. That’s part of it. I gotta go.”
I ended the call and rushed back to Jacob. “Listen. I’m going to tell you something I think is going to make you feel better.”
“OK.”
“Jacob… Something happened between me and Deacon and Ivy and Scout last year. We discovered things about ourselves and the universe we didn’t expect. There are powers out there in the atmosphere and there’s this realm…”
“Is this a joke to you? Are you seriously going to tell me a UFO story?”
“No. Forget that. Let me try something else. The reason you were so close to your nanny is she was sent by the Creator to protect you. You learned how to do that from her. Your bond was strong, and when she was taken from you, you were too little to understand or fight it. You took what she taught you and also became a Protector. You are your cousins’ Protector, and you are my Protector.”
He blinked twice. “You’re gonna have to back up and start again.”
Chapter 37
Mary
Jacob took another lap around the couch and then sat on the hearth for a minute to down the last of his water. “I think I do feel better. The more you talk and the crazier it sounds, the more it makes perfect sense.” He got up and carried the bottle to the recycling barrel by the door and aimlessly wandered back. “I never thought we were alone in the universe or anything. I figured there had to be a higher power or a God or something, but earthly Warriors? I didn’t see that coming. It’s like you’re super heroes.”
I shrugged. “I don’t look at it like that, but I feel we were chosen for something bigger than ourselves and to help others.”
“But you all have unusual origin stories like super heroes. Batman had the murder of his parents. Spider-Man had the radioactive spider bite. You drowned in a pool and Scout lost his family… Origin stories. Super heroes.”
“No. We’re not super heroes. We’re not even basic heroes. We’re people who listened and recognized a special assignment in our lives.”
There was so much I hadn’t said. I didn’t explain Shanar—as if I even could—but I did admit we knew there was a darker side out there in direct contrast to the good and positive one we tried to stay aware of. And I didn’t tell him about meeting Sebastian in the garden. I figured if Jacob ever needed him, he might make himself known. Jacob had already felt the good and bad forces that night he carried me around Scout’s house and smelled the frankincense. He’d been there for the fire too. He’d witnessed Deacon’s powerful and healing hands and knew the obvious destructive nature of the falling scoreboard. There was nothing typical about any of those things.
No wonder he felt so out of place. He was out of place because he didn’t know where he belonged. He hadn’t belonged since his parents took his intended guide away from him.
He gazed at me again as if he could read my mind. I felt exposed and comforted at the same time.
“Why do you think my parents got rid of my nanny?”
“Seems strange they would fire the person who helped you and was someone you were comfortable with.”
“I thought it was about the money. They didn’t want her to talk. I thought they paid her to walk away and not look back, and to forget about my uncle and what she knew and saw.”
“Maybe that’s it.”
“Or maybe she didn’t want to go. Maybe they forced her and threatened her not to come back and help me. But if she was my Protector and worked for who you call the Creator, why would she stay away?”
“The Destroyer has an army too. Maybe she couldn’t overcome that.”
“Or maybe my parents are nothing more than Agents for the Destroyer and didn’t want me to know. It still could all come down to money.”
“Hey, Jacob, this is all new to you. The information is fresh and will take a while to fully understand. Don’t go looking for trouble. You may never understand everything. We certainly don’t.”
Jacob grabbed a blanket from a nearby chair. “C’mon. Let’s go out on the upper deck. It’s dark, but the view is incredible and still all lit up with Christmas lights. And I need some air.”
Cold air hit my lungs and took my breath away.
“Watch your step,” Jacob warned. “Icy boards.”
We wandered past lingering couples of all ages who gazed at the romantic starlit sky and laughed softly to each other. How nice it must be to not have the weight of the evil side of the world weighing on their shoulders. How nice to not see things like Ivy saw or analyze things like Scout did and try to stay positive when the numbers could only ever add up to disaster.
How were teenaged Warriors, Protectors, and Guardians supposed to grow up, go to college, and have families when they literally always saw the dark side of what humans could be?
I didn’t know how anyone kept hope alive.
Worse, I’d just put the burden on one of the best guys the universe had to offer. Did I do that for him?
Or for myself?
We stopped to look out across the mountain. Lights twinkled and smoke curled from chimneys. Laughter from far below drifted to our ears in the thin mountain air.
Jacob wrapped the blanket around me and used it to pull me close.
I snuggled against his massive chest. “I’m sorry I told you, Jacob. It wasn’t fair to put it on you.”
“How was it not fair? Do you know how long I’ve been waiting to find my place? I knew there was something, but I never could have found it without you. Yes, it’s different and wild and unbelievable, but it fits. I totally get it.”
“It might fit, but it takes some time to grow into it. You don’t know how much discussion we’ve all had about how it all works, and we don’t know anything.”
“But I know more than I ever have and it makes me feel better. I’m relieved. I know my part now. Think of it as a disease or something. People can’t fight cancer until they know where it is. Well, in my case, maybe I’m part of the cure. You definitely are. Like you said. One assignment at a time.”
“Yes, and you have to remember that. Don’t take on more than you’ve been assigned.”
“I understand.”
“And stick with us. Usually when something’s up, we all know. We’re a weird pac
k of basic teenagers who find ourselves in the most unusual of situations.”
“There’s nothing weird or basic about you, Mary Angel.”
Jacob’s lips were on mine before I processed what was happening. We’d gone from zero to ninety before the speedometer caught on. Between my healing lips and lingering lack of confidence after Gavin, I thought I might crash and burn when it actually happened, though I’d waited for it forever.
I’d hoped for perfection, and I got it.
Kissing Jacob was the most natural thing I’d ever done. As I relaxed in his arms, my body warmed and tingled.
He pulled away, but I still stood there out of my mind with my eyes closed. “What’s the matter?”
“Wow.”
My eyes flew open. “What wow? It’s these stupid chapped lips, isn’t it? Erica was right. There’s not enough salve in The Rockies to fix this. I can do better.”
Jacob pulled me back into a bear hug and laughed against my cheek. “Stop. It’s nothing like that.”
I pulled away. “What is it?”
“Nothing is wrong. Didn’t you feel that?”
“Uh… I’m trying to be a lady here, Jacob, so I’m not exactly going to tell you all the acrobatics going on in my body over here on this side of the kissing equation.”
He laughed harder. “OK. But nothing is wrong. Couldn’t be better. It’s us, Mary. It’s just us. This is what we are. Always.”
We kissed and talked and laughed and kissed some more until the alarm on my phone went off.
“Who’s texting this late?”
“It’s not a text. It’s the curfew alarm. We have about fifteen minutes to at least be in our own hallways for room-check.”
Jacob shivered for the first time since we’d tried to stay huddled together in our blanket. “That is horrible timing.”
“School trip. What can we do? Don’t want to be sent home.”
“No, we do not.”
He wrapped his arm around me and led me across the common area and to the elevator. He kissed me one last time before he pushed me inside with a smile. “You really need to go.”
