Approaching Storm

by A. L. Kessler

  Teal stood out front of the shop, her face flushed and her chest heaving with every breath. She held a ball of water between her hands as she stood in a defensive stance.

  I drew my gun and looked for the threat. My gaze scanned the area, but whatever had alerted her was gone now. "Teal?"

  "You're not going to believe me if I tell you." She let the water fall to the ground. It splashed against the concrete and then disappeared.

  I put the gun away and met her gaze. "Try me."

  "I swear I saw wind sprites swarming through here."

  I pressed my lips together. "This is your territory; you don't like wind sprites."

  "Exactly. They swooped in and then disappeared."

  I glanced at Zephyr, and he held his hands up as if to say he had nothing to do with it.

  "Wind sprites. They'll tear up the city if we don't get rid of them." Teal crossed her arms. "I don't want them to ruin the city."

  I rubbed my eyes. "I'll see what I can do. I'll talk to the local witch and see if she can help me ward them out."

  "Why is it your responsibility?" Zephyr asked. Teal looked at him as if he just appeared.

  "Who is that?"

  "No idea."

  Zephyr held his arms out. "I told you who I was."

  "No, you kissed me and told me your name."

  Teal gasped. "He kissed you? Does Maverick know?"

  I put a hand over my eyes. "No, Maverick doesn't know, I haven't seen him today, and it doesn't matter."

  "Who's Maverick?" Zephyr looked like he could murder someone.

  "No one," I said.

  "No one?" Teal gave an exasperated sigh. "He's the sheriff of the town. And he's in love with her."

  I glared at her. "Why are you telling a stranger this?"

  "I'm not a stranger," Zephyr growled. "If you would just let me talk to you."

  "You are a stranger," Teal and I said at the same time.

  He shook his head. "Amaya-"

  "May," we both said together again.

  "May, we need to talk. Clearly something has happened to you over the last five years. Please?"

  I shook my head. "I have to go talk to the local witch."

  "Right this moment? Just because of a few wind sprites?"

  Teal put her hands on her hips. "Just because? If they are here, it means our wards around the city are failing. We're supposed to be a quiet tourist town, not a town filled with out of control creatures."

  I gave Zephyr a once over. "What are you anyway?"

  "What?" He quirked a brow. "You don't remember?"

  I raised my hands in surrender. "You know what, never mind. There's a cute little bed and breakfast down the road if you need a place to stay. Other than that, keep out of my way."

  He looked like he was about say something but sighed and turned away.

  Teal waited until he was out of earshot. "Really no idea who he is?"

  "None, the name kind of rings a bell, but not enough to trigger anything." No, instead he seemed to have chased the phantom memories away and restored my calm.

  "Too bad, he's cute." She shrugged. "Good luck with the witch. I hear she's pretty grumpy lately."

  I snorted. There was no time when the woman wasn't grumpy. "I'll run over there later tonight. I think I'm going to grab a nap first."

  "Wind sprites, May. Wind sprites."

  "They won't tear the town up while I catch some z's, promise."

  "Mmmhmm." She spun and went back into the soda shop.

  I shook my head and wondered if the full moon had gotten to everyone, not just the werewolves. I walked across the road and to my house. I unlocked the door with my key code which deactivated the magic and walked in. Dropping my bag by the front door, I paused at the extra pair of shoes on the mat. I took a deep breath and turned around to find Zephyr standing there.

  I drew my gun and aimed it at him. He held his hands up. "I just want to talk to you. Please, listen to what I have to say, poulaki."

  Chapter Two

  >Little Bird. My breath caught at the pet name. I didn't know how to decipher it or how I knew what it meant. "I don't want to talk to you."

  "Why?" His eyes were begging me. "May, you've been missing for five years. No one knew where you went, you literally just disappeared from home."

  "This is home." I didn't lower the gun. "You just don't get to come barging in here and try to destroy that."

  He gestured around. "This isn't home. This is a human house, filled with human things, that for some awful reason you seem to think is home."

  I swallowed. "I am human." At least I could pass as human, and I had no powers otherwise. Despite what Joseph seemed to think.

  He appeared shocked as he glanced at the gun and then back to me. "Please put it down; it won't do anything if you shoot me."

  I raised a brow. "Are you willing to test that theory?"

  "Put it down, please."

  I met his gaze and sighed. "Fine." I holstered the gun. "What do you want to talk about?"

  "Why do you think you're human?"

  I resisted rolling my eyes. "Well, I can't work magic like a witch, I don't control an element like a sprite, I don't have an animal form like a shifter or a werewolf…" I ticked each one off on my fingers as I went. "I don't need blood like a vampire, I'm obviously not a ghost…do I need to go on?"

  His gaze fell. "What have they done to you, poulaki?"

  "No one did anything to me." Of course I knew that wasn't true, but I wasn't sharing my darkest secrets with him.

  A knock sounded at the door, and I spun to open it. Maverick stood there. He grinned his lopsided smile that brightened his blue eyes. His blond hair stuck out from under his cowboy hat. "Howdy, Ms. Corvidae."

  "Good afternoon Maverick, please come in." I opened the door wider and turned to find Zephyr gone. What on earth was he? Not many creatures possessed the ability to appear and disappear at will like that. "What can I do for you sheriff?"

  "Teal mentioned a stranger around town, wasn't a tourist, said he was claiming to know you. I just wanted to check and make sure you were alright."

  I smiled at the sweet sound of his southern accent. "I'm fine, thank you. You know me, I can take care of myself."

  He nodded. "I'm just hoping this stranger isn't here to stir up trouble. Things have been pretty peaceful since you've shown up."

  "Yeah, I know, I was the last great disturbance here." I chuckled. "Don't you have important sheriff things to do?"

  "I'm doing them, checking on the welfare of my favorite resident." He tipped his hat. "But if you're sure you're okay, I'll let you be."

  "Promise, I'm fine. I'm just going to curl up and take a nap."

  He let himself out, but before I could lock the door behind him, he knocked again. I opened the door with a small smile on my lips. "Yes?"

  "Okay, maybe I had another reason for coming. Would you do me the honor of joining me for dinner tonight?"

  I considered him for a moment. "I'd love to." Honestly, I was surprised that it took him five years to ask. He'd been by my side the first couple months that I recovered.

  His eyes brightened a little bit. "Thank you. I'll pick you up at six." He tipped his hat again and walked out.

  I wasn't sure what had come over me. Honestly, dating wasn't high on my priority list, especially in such a small, tight-knit community. Of course, maybe I thought it would get Zephyr off my ass. Maybe if he saw me doing human things, he'd believe I was. I was the only human that the supernatural creatures here embraced, but that didn't make me any less human.

  I walked up the stairs to my bedroom and half expected Zephyr to be sitting there on my bed. Luckily he wasn't, and I was able to curl up and take a nap.

  The flashbacks on the street were different than the nightmare, they were new, and it was terrifying. Nothing from before the last five years had managed to
sneak into my mind until now.

  Wind banged on the window the moment I closed my eyes, and I sighed. Wind sprites, Teal had said. I sat up as the banging continued. Apparently a nap wasn't going to happen, because I kept seeing Teal's exasperated face every time the wind rattled something.

  I stood and looked out the window at the bending trees and billowing dust. This wasn't just sprites. There was something much more powerful out there. I shivered as the man with the scar flashed in my mind. The pain crawled up my back again.

  "Give me what I want, Amaya."

  I turned around expecting him to be standing behind me, but no one was there. My heart pounded as sweat beaded on my forehead and the hair on my neck stood. This was going to be a very long day if the nightmare was expanding.

  I needed to talk to the witch. I grabbed my bag and left the house. Standing at my front door was Zephyr. His eyes met mine, and there was a look of sorrow on his face.

  "I'm sorry, we seemed to have gotten off on the wrong foot." The words seemed to pain him physically. He held his hand out. "My name is Zephyr Kateyitha; you must be May."

  I stared at him. What had changed in a matter of fifteen minutes? The sadness in his eyes seemed to stab right through me. I reached out to shake his hand, but he faded into the wind as if he'd been built of dust particles. What the fuck?

  "May! May!" Teal's voice came from just down the road at the shop. "May they're here!"

  I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I ran to the shop, the wind pressing against me as I did, as if it were trying to keep me away from the destruction they were trying to cause.

  I slid to a stop at the soda shop and saw a whirlwind of destruction. This time though, I saw what Teal was talking about. Faces were etched in the swirls of winds. Little faces and bodies with wings that beat hard against their back.

  Sprites.

  Papers, menus, ice cream scoops, and cups were flying around, and the tables and chairs were scooting around on the floor making ear-piercing noises. I didn't even know where to start when it came to getting rid of sprites. Judging by the creases on Teal's forehead, I didn't think she knew either.

  I stepped up to the door. "Hey!" I called, and the wind seemed to die down a little bit, but all the tiny faces looked at me. "If you want something, then let's talk."

  There was a high-pitched chatter, and then the wind kicked up another notch. The tables lifted up, and Lee walked in. "Witch will be here soon."

  "Should have gone there first." Teal pegged me with a glare.

  "I was on my way out the door to get her. My nap didn't happen." I put my hands on my hips. "Let's see if we can keep this isolated to just the shop."

  "We have a wolf, a sprite, and an unusual human. What do you think we're going to be able to do about this?"

  I looked around and sighed, there was nothing we could use to catch them, and I doubted I could grab one by hand.

  "You are all impossible." A male voice had us all turning around. Zephyr shook his head. "May, you should know how to get rid of these things."

  "Sprites aren't things. We're people too," Teal snapped. "May is human," she drew the word out so it sounded like 'hooman.' "She can't just wave a hand and make them disappear.

  Zephyr laughed. "She could if she wanted to, like this." He seemed to wind up a ball of wind between his hands and threw it into the shops at the sprites. It expanded, engulfed them, and with an odd pop, they disappeared.

  I pressed my lips together. "I've never been able to do something like that."

  "Yes, you have, you just don't remember." He sighed. "Look, I don't know what happened to you five years ago, but I know something isn't right and I'm going to stay here until I figure it out." He crossed his arms.

  I raised a brow. "Guess you better start house hunting and job hunting then, huh? Because it's not going to be an easy fix." I couldn't keep the frustration out of my voice. "Now, if you'd excuse me, I have a shop to help clean up and then a date to get ready for."

  "A date?" Teal and Zephyr said at the same time.

  "Maverick asked me out to dinner. I said yes."

  Teal clapped her hands together. "Oh, how wonderful. Can I do a blog post on dating a human when you're not so human yourself?"

  I rolled my eyes. "Not dating, just dinner."

  I looked at Zephyr. He had a strange look of pain on his face, and I wondered why. I opened my mouth to say something, and he shook his head. "Why don't I help you guys clean up?"

  We all gave him a skeptical look, but Lee threw her hands up. "Let's face it, it's a mess. We need all the help we can get."

  I motioned to the shop. "Then by all means."

  He walked past me, his fingers barely brushing against mine, and my heart stopped for just a moment. An accidental touch that sent a shock through my body, making it tighten in ways it shouldn't have. I shook my head and shoved the feeling away. Clean up the shop. Get ready for my date.

  Talk to the witch. Wait. Where was the witch?

  I looked over my shoulder, and she was nowhere to be found. Lee had said that the witch was coming, but she had yet to show up. Maybe she realized that the sprites were gone now.

  "Yo, May, you aren't getting out of helping," Teal called over her shoulder, and I walked in to help, something eating at the back of my brain.

  Zephyr handed me a broom. "Last person in gets to sweep the floor."

  I rolled my eyes. "I think it should be the newest person in town."

  "Don't get many people?"

  "Not that want to stay," I shot back and grabbed the broom from him. "Especially someone as powerful as you. What interest do you have in Normalcy?"

  "You already know the answer to that." He stepped closer. He tilted my chin up so I could meet his gaze. "You."

  My heart soared hearing that, but I didn't know why I was having such a reaction to him. An urge went through me to move to my tippy toes and kiss him, but I pulled back before I could give in.

  "Earth to the new guy, you don't just get to start kissing people here," Lee snapped. "If you want to help, get to cleaning, and if not, then get out of my shop."

  "Grumpy little wolf isn't she?" Zephyr stepped away from me and started setting chairs and tables back to where they belonged.

  I looked at Lee, silently begging her not to kill him. I didn't want to deal with blood on top of the mess. "Lee was out with the wolves all night. Her pack runs long and hard. She's allowed to be grumpy."

  He looked at Lee and then back to me. "Okay, won't poke her."

  I didn't think he meant it, but I let it be and got to sweeping up the papers and shards of glass on the floor. An hour later the witch walked up.

  Her white hair was piled on top of her head in a mess of curls. She looked no older than thirty. Her low cut red shirt left very little to the imagination. Her jeans were probably what took her so long. They were nearly painted on they were so tight.

  I glanced at Zephyr who had a look of panic on his face instead of lust. I looked back at the witch. I'd only talked to her a handful of times over the last five years, and she'd never given me her name.

  "I heard we had some visitors in town." She walked forward with a sway in her hips, and that's when I noticed she was wearing stiletto heels. To fight sprites in? I glanced at Teal, who shrugged. I'm sure she had the same thought I did.

  She ran a hand down Zephyr's cheek, and he stepped back and snatched her wrist. "What the fuck are you doing here, Davina?"

  She glanced at Zephyr and me. "My job." She lowered her hand. "Which clearly I'm failing at if you're here." She walked further into the shop. "Wind Sprites? I'll add an extra ward to the city." She stopped. "But why were they here? Do we know?"

  "No. May asked them, but they just shrieked." Teal shrugged. "Then they went back to destroying the soda shop."

  Davina nodded. "I'll get to work on that right away then. Z
ephyr, why don't you come see me tonight? We have a lot of catching up to do." She walked to the door, but she stopped when she was right next to me. "Don't do anything rash, May, I'm watching you."

  I had no idea what she was talking about, but I rolled the words around in my head for a moment. I didn't hear Zephyr's response to her, but the moment she was gone, he stormed out.

  "Interesting, you don't normally see two people in this town that have a history together, never mind three." Teal leaned on my shoulder. "Finally some excitement."

  I shook my head. "I don't have a history with him."

  "Just because you don't remember it, doesn't mean it doesn't exist." Teal shrugged. "Now the question is, good history or bad?"

  That was the big question, wasn't it?

  I finished getting ready for my dinner with Maverick and checked myself over in the mirror. I'd braided my hair so it was out of my way, threw on some clothes that weren't dusty from cleaning up the shop, and smoothed out my shirt. Something felt wrong about this.

  Nothing was wrong with me going out to dinner with Maverick. I wasn't seeing anyone so what did it matter? The knocking on the door told me that Maverick was here for me.

  I opened my door and smiled at him. He tipped his hat and handed me a flower. I smiled and smelled the purple carnation. "Thank you." I went and put it in the glass of water.

  Maverick waited like a perfect gentleman at the door. "I heard you had a long day."

  "I helped Lee clean up the shop, there was this freak windstorm, and things just…" I waved my hands around, not really sure how to explain it.

  He chuckled. "Lee's a good woman, doesn't cause many problems. A bit of a night owl and a bit odd, but she's been here for years."

  "She is." I nodded in agreement. "Shall we get going?"

  Maverick held his hand out for mine. I hesitated for a moment, but in the end, I decided to take it, and he placed it in the crook of his arm as he led me out of the house. The nice thing about Normalcy was that everything was within walking distance. The little family-run steak house was just a few blocks away from the soda shop.

  Maverick and I entered the restaurant after the short walk. Tammy, the waitress, smiled at us, her teeth were just a little more pointed than humans'. I never asked her what she was, because she never caused me problems.