by Aron Lewes
“Ah... okay.” I can't stop staring at them. There's something really odd about a cowboy with wings.
Taishi flies up to the gallows and tampers with the noose. I move closer, trying to get a glimpse of his handiwork.
“What are you doing?” I ask, but Taishi doesn't have time to explain. The executioner kicks the barrel, making me gasp.
Thanks to Taishi's intervention, Jamie doesn't swing. The rope snaps, and he hits the wooden podium. As Jamie rolls across the stage, a few men pull their pistols and try to fire at him. Taishi hovers in front of him, shielding him from the rain of bullets.
“Riley-san... that horse!” Taishi hisses at me. “Send it over to Jamie!”
“What horse?”
As Taishi and I deliberate, Jamie leaps from the gallows and sprints for cover. Taishi stays with him, protecting him from gunfire. “That horse!” He directs my attention to a reddish-brown gelding.
“Does it belong to someone?”
“I don't know, and I don't care... you just need to get it to come over to us!” When Jamie ducks behind a boulder, Taishi goes with him.
“Uh... how?” I run over to the horse, and to my surprise, it seems to be looking right at me.
“Animals can sense our presence a lot better than humans can,” Taishi explains as he and Jamie rush from cover to cover. “Try to talk to it.”
“Okay.” As I stare into the horse's almond-shaped eyes, it holds my gaze with interest. “Hey, boy...” I whisper to the animal. “Will you come with me? Please?”
The horse thrashes its head. It looks like he's nodding, so I take off running and motion for the horse to follow. To my amazement, it works. The horse follows me to Taishi and Jamie, who dodges a pinging bullet as he mounts the horse.
“Good job, Leigh!” Taishi praises me. It's always a bit jarring when he says my name. When I'm with Taishi, I expect to be Riley-san now. “You're a charmer of animals, apparently.”
“I have no idea how I did that! I don't... aaahh!”
All of a sudden, Taishi grabs my waist and flies with me. His wings lightly flap as we follow Jamie's horse.
“Uh, next time, can you give me some warning before you do that?” I gasp.
“Sorry. I didn't have time,” my instructor weakly apologizes.
“Really? I think you did.”
I'm crushed against Taishi's body, he's holding my waist, we're flying through the desert, and we're following an outlaw.
My day couldn't get any weirder.
Apparently, we're following Jamie Weston across fifty United States—at least, that's what it feels like. When I'm wrapped in Taishi's arms, whizzing through the desert, one minute feels like an eternity.
We've been airborne for twenty minutes, but we haven't been talking to each other, so I try to break the ice. “So, uh... you've been a spirit guide for a long time, huh?” What am I doing? This sounds like a question I would ask if I was meeting Taishi for the first time.
“I have,” he replies. Taishi's answer is as basic as ever. It's hard to strike up a conversation with a man of few words.
“And you've been an instructor for... how long?”
“Over fifty years.”
Taishi's answers are pretty trite, but at least he's saying something. On our first mission, he would respond to some of my questions with an exasperated eye roll. A three-word answer is a minor improvement.
“Am I the only student you have right now?” I ask.
“Of course,” Taishi replies. “All instructors only ever have one student at a time.”
“Ah. I didn't know that.” Taishi is holding on to me, but I feel myself slipping a bit, so I finally wrap my arms around him. It feels so awkwardly intimate. I never got this close to any of my high school teachers, that's for sure. Apparently, teacher-student relationships are a little different in the spirit world. “Do you ever have any... favorite students?”
“I do.”
“Do you ever keep in contact with any of them?”
My taciturn instructor replies, “A few.”
“Do you think I will be one of your favorite students?” As soon as the question is out of my mouth, I wish I didn't ask it. Taishi isn't exactly known for his tact. What if he hurts my feelings?
“It's too soon to tell. But... so far, I like you well enough.”
“Well enough?” I snort at his answer. As always, I'm overwhelmed by his kindness.
At long last, Jamie arrives at his destination. Taishi has to dodge the Welcome to Kinney sign as we soar into town. Our charge dismounts his horse, ties it to a hitching post, and bolts into the nearest saloon.
“Wow, that didn't take long. As soon as we get to town, he's on the hunt for booze,” I remark.
“Perhaps,” Taishi replies as he carefully sets me on my feet.
To be honest, I already feel like I have a head full of liquor. After our flight through the desert, I feel a bit dizzy.
Taishi and I follow Jamie into the saloon, where he's embraced by a small, mustached man in a colorful poncho.
“Jamie!” the man exclaims. “Bendito sea Dios! You're alive!”
“I am, Esteban. And let me tell you... I barely made it.” Jamie affectionately claps his friend's back and retreats to the nearest table. As soon as they're seated, our charge orders drinks from one of the saloon girls. “Seriously, man. I thought I was a goner.”
“Well, I'm glad you're still alive. Dios es bueno, dios es bueno!” Esteban kisses his hand and blows a kiss to the heavens.
Since we're the ones who saved his friend, I quietly reply, “You're welcome.”
Esteban is small. Really small. He's barely over five feet tall, and he has the build of a teenager, even though he looks about a decade older than Jamie. His head's too tiny for the hat he's wearing. When he tries to sip from his mug, the brim keeps slipping down his forehead.
Jamie pours himself a shot of whiskey and splashes it down his throat. The sting of alcohol makes him wince, but only for a second. “So...” Jamie speaks as he pours himself a shot. “If I was a smart man, I'd probably lay low for a bit... but you know I'm not smart.”
“Dios mio,” his companion croaks. “Are you already planning to make more trouble?”
“You know me,” Jamie replies as the second shot is thrown into his mouth. “I can't live without trouble.”
“Keep your ears open, Leigh,” Taishi suddenly whispers to me. “We're supposed to figure out what Jamie wants... remember?”
“Yeah, I remember.” Now that his head isn't in a noose, I can study Jamie's face more closely. The saloon is dark, but I can tell he's pretty handsome. He's got a chiseled jaw, a light beard, and windblown black hair. His intense, dark eyes are fixed on his whiskey bottle.
“You know what I'm thinking?” Jamie asks his friend. “I'm thinking we should pull off the job.” His black eyebrows wiggle suggestively.
“That job?” Esteban asks.
“Uh huh.” Jamie's lips form a grin as his third shot is poured.
“I can't believe you want to rob your old sweetheart!” Esteban cries. “You are an insane crazy person, Jamie Weston! Loco en la cabeza, sí?”
Turning to my instructor, I ask, “He's robbing his sweetheart? What?”
“I think we're missing some information, Riley-chan,” Taishi says. “We should probably try to get into Jamie's head. Maybe we'll find out more?”
Behind us, a woman's voice says, “That's not necessary.”
Taishi and I turn around at the same time. Behind us, there's a middle-aged black woman with burgundy hair and some of the longest fingernails I've ever seen. She's dressed like one of the saloon girls, her legs are crossed, and she's smoking a cigarette.
“And you are...?” Taishi requests an introduction.
“Tilda Norton.” Smoke billows from the woman's maroon lips as she replies to our question. “I'm Esteban Trujillo's primary guide.” Tilda flashes a smile at her charge, whose neck is bent toward Jamie as they plot. “If you
'd like, I can fill you in on the parts you're missing.”
“Is that... allowed?” I direct my question at Taishi. “Are we allowed to get help from other guides?”
“Of course.” As soon as he answers my question, his attention is back on Tilda. “Tell us what you know.”
“Well...” Tilda begins. With her cigarette, she points at Jamie. “Your guy, Jamie, was in love with a woman named Shella Franco. They were childhood sweethearts, apparently. He wanted to marry her and everything. After Jamie turned to a life of crime, Shella's father wouldn't let her see him anymore, and to be honest... I think Shella got tired of waiting for him to grow up. Long story short, Shella's engaged to someone else now.”
“Ouch,” I whisper. “Is Jamie still in love with her?”
“Probably.” Tilda extinguishes her cigarette on the side of the table—and I'm glad, because the smoke was burning my nose. “He wants to rob her, after all. Specifically, he was planning to steal her dowry.”
“Seriously?” My eyes expand at the news. “How?”
“Shella's heading to Shockton, where the wedding will be held. Her father's a busy, rich mayor, so she's traveling without him. And she's traveling with her dowry.”
“Her father's not going to her wedding?” I'm asking a lot of questions. I hope Tilda isn't too annoyed. She deserves a huge thanks for all this information she's sharing.
“No, he's going. Shella is making the journey two days ahead of him,” Tilda replies.
When I glance at Taishi, he looks deep in thought. I almost wish I had a thoughtshare right now. I want to know what's on his mind.
“What do you think, Taishi?” I ask. “What's our next move?”
“Well...” Taishi turns his attention back to Jamie. There are now four men at the outlaw's table, and one of them is shuffling a deck of cards. “Obviously, we know our next mission.”
I try to guess. “We stop him from robbing his ex-girlfriend?”
“No. Quite the opposite,” Taishi replies with a shake of his head. “We help him rob his ex-girlfriend.”
“So, let me get this straight...” I complain to Taishi as I follow him out of the saloon. “Even though he's doing something morally questionable... even though he's doing something that's totally against the law... we have to help him?”
“Absolutely,” Taishi answers with a weak nod. “Were you not paying attention during class, Riley-san? I'm sure Amber covered his topic. It's not our job to question the morals of our human charges. We must assist them no matter what. We let them make their own mistakes, and with any luck, they learn from them.”
And Jamie is clearly not learning anything. A few hours ago, he was almost swinging from the end of a rope. He's not even waiting twenty-four hours before jumping into his next crime.
“This is crazy, though. I don't want to rob someone!” I whine.
“Neither do I. Unfortunately, we have no choice. Jamie's wish is our command.”
“Uggggh!” I throw up my arms in frustration. “Can't we get him to change his mind?”
As Taishi shakes his head, Tilda emerges from the pub. I wanted to thank her, so I flag her over.
“Thanks for sharing all of your information with us!” I exclaim. “It was really helpful. It saved us a lot of time.”
“Sure.” Even though she's answering me, her eyes are on Taishi. My handsome instructor seems to be a magnet for the eyes of female spirits.
“Will you be coming with us tomorrow?” I ask. “Will you be going to the, uh... robbery.” I can barely get the word out. Robbery. I can't believe I'm supposed to facilitate a crime.
“No. Unfortunately, I have another charge who requires my attention tomorrow,” Tilda says. Finally, she drags her gaze away from Taishi.
“You can have more than one charge at the same time?”
“Of course, sweetie.” When Tilda chuckles, it makes her sweetie sound a little condescending. “If you aren't an instructor or a student, you're allowed to take on two, three... sometimes even five charges at once. I've got three charges.” Her eyes drift back to Taishi's stoic face. “Anyway, if Taishi Nakamura will be there, I'll be leaving Esteban in good hands.”
Taishi gives her a nod, silently thanking her for the compliment. I didn't realize she knew who he was.
Maybe he's more famous than I realize?
* * *
The next day, when I open my bedroom door to greet Taishi, he's standing in the hallway with a horse. Yes, a horse. It's so unexpected, I pinch my eyes to make sure I'm not hallucinating.
“This is our ride for the day,” Taishi explains. “We can't manifest a living creature, and we can't ride a horse from the mortals' world, so I had to borrow a horse from Home.”
“Okay.” The horse seems to be sizing me up. Her nostrils flare, her head thrashes, and she makes a soft huffing noise. I don't think she likes me. “You know I've never ridden a horse before, right?”
“It's okay. You'll learn. And I'll be with you the entire time,” Taishi says. “On the bright side, at least you can't fall off and break your neck.”
“That's... comforting?”
“I assume the outlaws will be on horseback. I also assume you won't want to spend another day flying around, wrapped in my arms, so the horse is necessary.”
Taishi assumed wrong. I've been thinking about our flight through the desert ever since I got back Home last night. I've never been held by a guy before—not as intimately at that. Lately, I've been thinking about Taishi almost as much as I think about Jophiel, and it's really messing with my head. He's my instructor and I'm his student. I should stop thinking it felt nice to be close to him.
“Are you ready?” Taishi asks.
“Sure. Yeah. Let's go.”
Taishi whisks me—and our horse—back to the mortals' realm. When we crash into Jamie Weston's life, his mission is already in progress. Jamie and Esteban are on top of a tall hill, hiding in the grass, waiting for Shella's carriage to pass.
“Do you see anything?” Esteban asks his companion, who's studying the road with a pair of ancient-looking binoculars.
“I see a bird,” Jamie grumbles.
“It's not an eagle, is it?” Esteban asks. “I'm scared of those.”
“No, it's not an eagle. It's a tiny little sparrow or something.” Jamie keeps grunting, so I assume he's been laying in the grass for awhile now.
“What if she isn't coming this way?” Esteban suggests. “What if we wait here all day, and your girl never shows up?”
“Shella will come,” Jamie insists as he dabs the sweat from his sunburnt forehead. “And she ain't my girl.”
Three minutes later, Esteban asks again, “Do you see anything?”
Tired of his companion's questions, Jamie pitches the binoculars to Esteban. “If you want to know so bad, you be the lookout.”
“Alright.” As Esteban raises the binocular to his eyes, he mutters under his breath, “idiota.”
“Is Shella really coming this way?” I ask Taishi. “Do you have any idea?”
“She is,” Taishi assures me. “They're just impatient.” He knows more than they do, and I'm not surprised. My instructor is always well-informed.
A few minutes later, Esteban sits up with a gasp. “She's coming!”
Jamie pulls him back down. “Lay low a little longer, man. We want to wait until the coach gets a little closer...”
Taishi doesn't wait as long as they do. He hops onto his horse, reaches for my hand, and pulls me onto the horse in front of him. Once again, he wraps his arms around me, making it difficult to focus.
Less than a minute later, Jamie shouts, “Alright, go!” Both men leap from the grass, claim their horses, and race down the hill toward Shella's unsuspecting stagecoach. Of course, Taishi and I follow.
When Jamie fires his revolver, Esteban asks, “Are you going to kill the driver?”
“No,” Jamie replies as he fires another shot into the air. “I'm just trying to scare them a bit. I'm trying
to get them to stop.”
Our three horses chase after the stagecoach. Jamie's gunshots didn't scare the driver into submission. In fact, I think the driver is--
“Dead?” I shriek.
Taishi responds to my outburst with a confused, “Hmm?”
“I think the driver is dead, Taishi! Look!” I point at the stagecoach's elderly driver. Unfortunately, there are now two elderly drivers, and they both look identical. “I think it's the driver's dead body... and his spirit.”
“Did Jamie accidentally shoot him?” Taishi asks.
“I don't think so? I thought he fired into the air both times.”
“Hmm...” The stagecoach's horses are still charging at top speed, and I can practically feel the wheels turning in Taishi's head. All of a sudden, he pushes the horses reins into my hand and says, “You take over.”
“Wait... what?”
“I'm flying over to the stagecoach,” Taishi tells me. “Keep riding.”
“But I don't know how!” Panic creases my forehead when I look down at the reins in my hand. “I don't know how to stop or... or anything!”
“I'll be back for you, Riley-chan. I won't let you get hurt,” Taishi says as he leaps from the saddle. Once again, his wings are out, and he's flying up to the driver's seat.
Behind us, Jamie and Esteban are still firing their guns, yelling at the driver, telling him to stop. I guess they have no idea the driver is actually dead.
When Taishi reaches the driver's seat, he immediately stops the stagecoach. As the horses whinny to a halt, Taishi flies back to me and reclaims the reins from my trembling fingers. When our horse stops, so does Jamie's. Our outlaw charge dismounts and marches to the stationary stagecoach.
As soon as I'm out of the saddle, I run over to the stagecoach's deceased driver. “Are you okay?” I ask—even though he's clearly not okay.
“I... think so?” the old man replies. “Did I die?”
“Yeah.” I try to check the body for bullet wounds, but I don't see any. “Did the cowboy shoot you?”
“No. It was a heart attack, I think,” the old driver solemnly reports. “As soon as I heard the first shot, it felt like my chest exploded. I've been having heart problems for awhile, so it's not that surprising.”
