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11

Duck & Weave

Unable to tear her eyes away from the macabre crime scene in front of her, Harry gaped. Tape on the ground. The ominously flickering overhead fluorescent lights. A villain humanoid tightly holding what looked to be indestructible rope while grinning sinisterly, an expression she’d only seen in one of Grace’s horror movies.

Whether it was a commuter wearing a business suit and a horse-head mask on the subway, a coffee shop celeb sighting, or a hairy-assed streaker running down the middle of Broadway, New York quickly taught its residents to graze and go.

Graze your gaze over the sight, and then keep on motoring.

But Harry was frozen to the spot, unable to look away.

“Here’s what we’re going to do.” Lenny barely moved her lips as she leaned toward Harry and Grace. “On the count of three, we’re scattering like cockroaches. Angel kick-assery or not, she can’t go after all three of us at the same time.”

“I thought you weren’t supposed to run from most big wildlife,” Grace asked, innocently curious. “At least that’s what I read in that Colorado nature magazine on Nora’s coffee table.”

“This is scarier than a bear waking up after a long hibernation, kiddo.”

Harry nodded. “This is Elodie the Eliminator.”

She shivered, assaulted with Fates Haven High senior week flashbacks and memories of the persistent rash she developed after diving into the Big Bates Hot Spring because Elodie—the Eliminator—was insistent that the clue to the next scavenger hunt spot floated on top of the filmy water.

Not only had it not been a clue, but she’d been right to question the water quality and ended up with conjunctivitis, a stomach “infestation,” and two rounds of antibiotics. Elodie had shrugged, stating, “Better safe than in last place.”

Harry begged to differ. No one’s stomach should be “infested” with anything except Pizza Suprema pizza and gelato.

But that was El. Competitive. Committed. And iron willed.

“I don’t think running will work,” Harry admitted reluctantly. “She’s got that look in her eye.”

Elodie planted her hands on her curvy hips. “You realize I’m standing right here and can hear every word out of your mouths, right?”

“We know.” Lennox nodded. “That’s why we’re debating our chances of making a run for it. I’m a little on the fence about our odds.”

“I feel pretty good about mine,” Grace interjected. “I helped my middle school track team make it to the state championships two years in a row. I’ve seen Harry run. I think your odds are at least seventy–thirty of making a clean break. She has a finicky left knee… especially if she eats any inflammatory foods, and we ordered in Italian the other night.”

“Hey!” Harry protested before they all burst into laughter. “But not wrong.”

When the laughter died down, she finally addressed the elephant in the room. “Okay, El. What is all this?”

Elodie smile broadly. “This is Watch Your Step.”

“This looks like there’s a six-year-old somewhere with an empty toy chest.” Harry glanced at the wild array of LEGO pieces and action figures spread out all over the floor.

“I will not confirm nor deny that statement. This”—Elodie swept her hand over the soon-to-be Winged Warrior Self-Defense space—“is our first step to becoming one cohesive team.”

“This looks worse than when you showed us this place a few days ago and that’s saying a lot,” Lenny quipped.

“Also, why did we spend hours cleaning if this was your endgame?” Harry asked.

Elodie tossed them each a glare. “Would you rather I drag in some treadmills and have you all run for five miles?”

“No, no.” Harry battled to remain upbeat as she eyed both the rope and the blindfolds in the angel’s hands. “Let’s… Watch Our Step.”

An hour later, with a plastic samurai sword implanted into the vulnerable arch of her left foot, she regretted all that enabling and cheerleading she’d done to keep Elodie smiling.

“Step right.” Grace’s instruction came from somewhere across the room. “No, no, Lenny. You go left. Harry has to go right.”

“I can’t go left if Harry is going right. We’re kinda tied back-to-back!” Lenny released a frustrated growl that had Harry chuckling. “Seriously? Now is not the time to lose it, Pierce. Focus. Shit. My head is getting woozy. I think I’ve lost too much blood from stepping on that last LEGO block.”

Harry’s chuckle grew to full-blown laughter, her tears automatically dried by the blindfold.

“I’m glad you find this funny,” the seer grumbled.

“Come on. You have to admit this is a slight bit ridiculous.”

“What’s ridiculous is thinking that this will do a damn bit of good in prepping us for paintball.”

Elodie’s amused voice echoed from a few feet away. “Paintball is all about teamwork… and right now I’m not seeing a whole lot of it.”

“That’s because you’re not the one working here.”

“Someone has to keep you all on track. Besides, Grace and I just went through the course, and I do have to say, we did so in record time. You just have to stay on track and focus.”

“Right now, the only thing we’re on track for is needing a tetanus shot. Remind me why Harry and I are being navigated, barefoot and blindfolded, through a toy minefield by someone who doesn’t know the difference between their left and right. Little clue: spread out the hands and left makes the L.”

“This isn’t as easy as it looks, you know,” Grace defended.

Elodie tsked. “You can swap navigators just as soon as you make it across the room.”

“I won’t have any blood in my veins by then,” Lenny retorted.

A brilliant idea struck Harry. Or maybe the blood loss made it seem better than it was. “Len, follow my lead, okay?”

“We’re literally ass to ass. Do I have much of a choice?”

Harry closed her eyes despite the blindfold, and called on her descry magics. The tingling sensation built in her veins, flowing from her core and out to all her extremities until it slowly seeped into the air. Her hair brushed her cheeks in a magically created breeze… and she guided them to a slight step right.

She grimaced, prepped to step on another superhero, but when her foot came back feeling nothing but cool, smooth floor, she smiled.

Step by step, she led the way across the room, hearing Elodie’s softly muttered, “About damn time.”

In less than five minutes, they reached the other side. Grace laughed and Lenny ripped off her blindfold, demanding to be immediately untied. They all enjoyed a brief victorious moment.

“Easy peasy.” Harry wiped her hands on her pants, a satisfied grin on her face.

A magical gust whipped through the room, knocking Grace sideways. Elodie caught her before they both toppled to the floor.

“I think you can turn off the magics now, Harry,” the angel quipped.

Harry closed her eyes and called back her magic, demanding its return, but it didn’t listen. Instead, the power intensified. Papers left over from the original state of the gym soared through the air, creating a little papernado, and a flying stuffed pig with wings pegged Harry in the side of the head.

“It’s not listening to me.” She grimaced, breaking a sweat from attempting to corral the out-of-control magic. More and more toys whipped through the air like plastic projectiles. “It’s like it—”

“Your magic is all wonky just like everything else in town,” Lenny pointed out. A remote-control car flew across the bridge of her nose, narrowly missing. “Shit. This is worse than the toy minefield.”

“We’ve got to get out of here,” Elodie added.

Harry took Grace’s hand and led the charge across the room. They ducked and weaved, the trek more precarious than when they’d done it blindfolded. They each got pegged by no less than three or four airborne toys by the time they barreled through the front door, toppling over one another and spilling in a four-person wreck on the sidewalk, Elodie on top.

Grace’s laughter from the bottom of the pile ignited Harry’s, then Lenny’s. Soon enough, they all lay on the ground in various states of hilarity, the people of Fates Haven walking past them with curious looks.

Mrs. Muhammad from the post office stuck her head out only to shake it and mutter something about the Trouble Trio.

“It’s the Fearsome Four,” Harry corrected her, eliciting another round of fresh laughter. “Shit. I have to stop laughing or I’m going to pee my pants.”

“Ew. Get off me before that happens, please.” Grace shoved her leg, which was still somehow draped on top of hers.

“Here’s what I want to know…” Harry sighed, glancing at her fellow troublemakers.

“What?” Lenny asked curiously.

“Since we had to duck and weave and hurdle and stuff to get out of the toy storm, does that mean we can count that as training for the Mud Runner?”

A small smile tilted up the seer’s lips. “Sounds good to me.”

“You wish.” Elodie stood up first, brushing her hands over her pants before helping everyone else up one at a time. “I have a special training exercise for that one. You’ll love it. Or at least you won’t hate it as much as you did this one.”

“Somehow, I sincerely and very highly doubt that.” Harry’s cheeks ached from smiling. “But bring it. With training like this, nothing will take down the Fearsome Four.”

Except maybe LEGO pieces.

J AX HEARD GIGGLES from around the front corner of Pierce House, and a second later, Harry and Grace turned the corner. The young shifter was the first to sense him, her body momentarily stiffening until she glanced up and looked directly at him as if she’d known exactly where he stood.

“Hey, Jax.” She glanced to the back of the house. “Wow. You tore down a lot more of the porch.”

“Had a mostly free day today so I figured I’d try and get as much done as I could.” He nodded toward the temporary staircase he’d put up that led to the back door. “Now you all can get safely in and out. I’ll start building the real thing once I have my guys clear out all the excess junk boards.”

“Cool. Well…” Grace glanced from Harry to him and back. “I’m heading in and taking a shower. Maybe try to call Mom.”

She disappeared into the house, but Harry stayed, looking unsure whether she wanted to follow or not. He grabbed the T-shirt he’d draped on the old railing and shrugged back into it. As he pulled it over his head, Harry’s eyes dropped to the tattoo on his torso, a scenic view of Mystic Lake during a full moon.

It wasn’t any regular view. It was their view, the one they’d escape to on countless nights when they’d been young and in love. He wasn’t sure if she recognized it or not, and he wasn’t about to ask.

He nudged his chin to where Grace had disappeared into the house. “She seems to be smiling a little more these days.”

“She still has a lot stacked against her, but she seems to be taking it in stride.” A small smile formed on her lips. “And today was definitely interesting, to say the least.”

“Interesting in Fates. Imagine that.” His gaze scanned her face, memorizing every line and delicate curve.

The girl he’d once fallen in love with was definitely still there, but mixed with someone new. Someone with a host of memories and emotions he couldn’t quite pinpoint.

And a slight shadow.

He’d thought it a metaphorical one until she shifted on her feet and he realized that it wasn’t metaphorical at all, and it wasn’t an actual shadow.

“What the hell happened?” Cupping her chin, he gently tilted her face so the moonlight kissed her skin and spotlighted the forming bruise. “Who the fuck do I have to bury?”

Jax’s eyesight sharpened, his cougar riding him hard and demanding he find answers. Harry’s purple eyes locked on him, unblinking, a deer caught in a predator’s line of sight.

“Sweet pea, you better answer me right now.” His voice dropped, sounding gravely even to his own ears. “ Harlow. ”

She took a slow, stuttered breath, but didn’t pull away. “It was a flying Babe. No one to bury.”

A coy smirk drew his attention to her mouth. “A what?”

“There was a magical wonky windstorm during our ‘training’ and I got nailed with a flying pig wearing a studded collar. It doesn’t hurt. I actually forgot it was there.”

It wasn’t until her soft hand touched his arm that he realized he still cupped her face and stood way too close.

He dropped his hand and apologized. “Sounds like training is going well then, huh?”

She snortled. “About as well as can be expected with Elodie leading the charge. She really wants to beat Silas. You all might want to warm up your vocals and brush up those dancing skills. Maybe watch some videos. Take up stretching. Because she is determined to win.”

“Silas is pretty determined to win this thing, too.”

“Yeah, but does he have you dodging toys while blindfolded and tied to each other? Because if he doesn’t, then he’s not taking this training thing seriously enough.” Harry paused a beat before breaking into laughter.

“You got me there.” He joined in her laughter until they naturally sobered, leaving them in loud, awkward silence.

They took turns looking at each other and then away. Twice, they started talking at the same time, then stopped, chuckling at their ridiculousness.

“My friend Gavin is Fates Haven’s researcher extraordinaire and the town librarian, and I’ve been telling him about Grace. Filling him in a bit on what’s been going on, and he tracked down a few books that he thinks might help us out,” Jax said.

“Really?” She looked up at him, eyes wide and hopeful.

“I didn’t want to say anything to Grace because I didn’t want to get her hopes up, but it’s pretty damn obvious that whatever we’re looking for, we won’t find it in any regular old texts that just anyone can pick up and read. In order to answer difficult questions, we need to find the hard-to-reach answers.”

“That makes sense, I guess.”

“I could let you know when the books come in and we can make it a research party. Or something. I mean, it’s no flying toys, but…”

She smirked. “Yeah. I definitely want to help with that. Thank you.”

He nodded, shoving his hands in his pockets.

“Well, good night, Jax.” She stopped at the base of the temporary stairs. “And thank you for helping Nora with getting Pierce House back up and running. She doesn’t say anything, but I know it’s difficult for her to see it like this.”

“It’s not a problem. Nora has done a lot for not only me but for the whole town. She’s long overdue a little payback.”

She smiled and climbed the stairs, stopping at the top and glancing his way as if contemplating saying something else, but Grace flung open the door, phone in hand.

The teen’s mischievous smirk didn’t mean anything good. “Mom wants to know why you let someone tie me up with rope and put a blindfold on me. I told her it was to encourage me to listen to directions, but I’m not sure she believes me and she wants to talk to you.”

Harry’s string of soft curses had Jax chuckling as he turned to clean up his things. For one flicker of a split second, it had felt like time had rewound thirteen years.