by Tegan Maher
We paused after a bit to grab a drink of water and get our bearings. I pulled two bottles of water out of my backpack and handed him one.
“It’s been a long time since that sandwich,” Hunter said, cracking the top on his water and taking a long pull.
From the position of the sun, it was late afternoon. I’d made a conscious decision to avoid my phone and just enjoy the day, so that was as close as I could guess. My stomach growled at the thought of food.
I cut him a sideways glance. “Me too. Last one home has to clean up after supper.” It didn’t matter that supper was probably going to be steak and corn on the cobb on the grill; both of us were competitive enough that the loss was the real punishment.
“You’re on!” He capped his water after he took a swig and popped it in the cupholder on the bike, then took off before I could get my backpack closed and back on my shoulders.
“Cheater!” I called, slinging my bag over my back and jumping on the throttle. Even that few seconds had given him a head start, and on the narrow roads, it was hard to pass. If I was gonna win, I was gonna have to go around. I remembered a little cutoff trail and decided to take my chance. Leaning on the throttle, I stayed hard on his tail, but when the little trail came up, I branched off to the left at the last minute.
The wind was whipping through my hair and branches were slapping my shoulders, but a quick glance to my right told me that I was pulling ahead of him. Unwilling to take my eyes off the road for more than a second, I turned my attention back to the path in front of me and laid on the gas. Fifty yards further, and I’d pulled ahead enough to start looking for a clear path that would lead me back to the road—in front of Hunter.
Scanning ahead, I spotted a cleared area between the two paths wide enough to get me over and took my shot. With a wild whoop, I pulled out ahead of him and shook my fist, then bent back over the ATV and tried to increase my lead. Only one S turn left before the final quarter-mile homestretch, and victory would be mine!
I was almost on two wheels taking the first curve of the S, then straightened it to head into the last obstacle between me and a night free of cleaning. I’d just leaned in and turned the handlebars when I saw something big lying right in the middle of the road. I glanced frantically around, my brain churning to find a way around the object, because there was no way I’d be able to drive over it. There was nothing, and even if I did manage to clear it, Hunter was right on my tail.
My brain spun. As fast as I was going into the curve, cutting left wasn’t an option, and veering right would take me over a hill and into a dense copse of trees. That wouldn’t end well at all. That all went through my mind in just a fraction of a moment though it seemed like forever.
The only real option I had occurred to me almost instinctively, and I threw out my hands. There would be consequences, but at least I’d be alive to face them, and so would Hunter. Time stopped—literally. I’d only done that a couple of times, and the Witches Council had warned me that messing with time was not okay. In fact, it was strictly forbidden, for obvious reasons, I supposed. Still, it wasn’t like I was doing it to rob a bank; this was life and death, so they could just get over it.
I sucked in a couple deep breaths, adrenaline pumping so hard through my veins that I could barely think for a minute. I stepped off the bike on shaky legs, then wobbled forward to move whatever was in the road out of the way.
At first, I thought somebody’s tent had fallen out of their truck. The object was oblong, and the trees were so thick that they cut out a lot of the sun. As I got closer, though, it became obvious that it wasn’t a tent. I closed the distance between us to find a man staring up at me, except he wasn’t seeing me. He wasn’t seeing anything.
I closed my eyes and pulled in three deep breaths, willing myself not to hyperventilate. This wasn’t the first dead body I’d seen, but combined with the adrenaline from the race, I was having a hard time keeping it together. I took a minute to compose myself, pacing back and forth between him and the bike, scrubbing my hands over my face. It wasn’t like I was wasting time. That was stopped, and I needed to be able to think straight. I bent down and felt for a pulse even though I knew I wouldn’t find one. The front of his faded black tank top was soaked in what I assumed was blood, seeing as how it surrounded a bullet hole right in the center of his chest.
I turned my attention back to the bikes because if I’d learned anything, it was that I couldn’t move that body. I had to find another way. The dirt that had been spraying up behind both our bikes hovered in midair, frozen in place. Hunter’s face was frozen into an expression of excitement and determination as he leaned forward over his bike trying to catch me.
I rubbed my jaw and tried to visualize what the scene was going to look like when I started time again. My bike was going to crash over the body, then Hunter’s was going to follow with him on it. That was unacceptable. I went back to my bike and switched the key to off, then turned the handlebars so that it would go over the hill.
Next, I went to Hunter. He was going to be a little trickier. The last time I’d stopped time, he hadn’t frozen with everybody else. We’d often wondered why and had come to the conclusion that maybe it had been because he’d been holding my hand. Or maybe I’d subconsciously not included him. We didn’t know. But this time, there was more than a Slurpee and a screaming kid at stake.
I tried to think it through. His hands were gripping the bars so tightly that I doubted I’d be able to peel them off it, and he was also squeezing tight with his knees. Dragging him off while time was stopped wasn’t an option, but he had to come off that bike. I closed my eyes and focused on just him, then reached out and touched him.
The holler of excitement he’d been in the middle of split the silence, and I jumped, half expecting the bike to take off with him, but the fates were smiling on me.
Hunter jerked toward me, panic and confusion scrawled across his handsome face.
I kept my hand on his arm. “It’s okay, sugar. It’s me. You’re okay. I’ve stopped time.”
He blinked a few times trying to get his bearings, then gazed around, furrowing his brow when he saw the dirt from my ATV tires suspended in midair. “You stopped time? Why?”
I sighed and motioned toward the body that was barely visible from where we stood. “Because it was my only option. If I hadn’t, we would have wrecked, and at the speed we were going, it wouldn’t have ended well.”
“What is that?” he asked, climbing off the bike and straining to get a better view of the body.
I rolled my neck on my shoulders. “It’s a body. I didn’t see him in time to slow down, and— “
He laid his hand on my arm and shook his head, then strode forward. Thankfully, he was used to my crazy and didn’t even do more than bat his eyes a few times when he’d learned I’d stopped time. Just another Tuesday in the Flynn household. “You don’t have to explain. Who is it? What happened to him?”
I was glad he was in cop mode because to be honest, I was still a little shaken up. “I don’t know, but it looks like he was shot. I didn’t go much beyond that. I just woke you up because I couldn’t figure out how to get you off the bike.” I glanced back at it as he strode toward the body. “And you had to come off it.”
He bent down and double-checked for a pulse, too, and it occurred to me that if time was stopped, he probably wouldn’t have a pulse even if he were alive. I wasn’t sure how all that worked, but I assumed beats per minute needed an actual minute to be measured. I said as much, and Hunter stood back up from where he’d been squatting.
“I don’t think it much matters. He’s dead. There’s too much blood, plus his pupils are already dilated, and he’s stiffening up.”
I bit back my gag reflex at that, and Hunter grimaced. “Sorry. My brain’s in work mode, and I didn’t think.”
“It’s fine.” I tilted my head and looked closer at the guy. “Does he look familiar to you?”
Hunter studied him for a moment. “Is
that they guy who was walking along the road with the woman when we were driving up?”
I nodded. “I’m almost positive it is. I only got a quick look, but I’m almost positive it’s the same dude.”
“That’s a place to start, then.” He turned his attention back to the bikes. “We’ve gotta take care of those and then call in the team.”
We were still in Keyhole County, so he had jurisdiction. All he needed to do was get his crime scene folks out here.
“I already turned my handlebars so that mine will shoot straight into the woods.” I winced at the thought of wrecking Harry’s four wheelers, but I didn’t see where we had much choice. Thankfully, they were older, so maybe replacing them wouldn’t totally drain my savings.
Hunter jogged back to his and turned the handlebars in the same direction mine were facing, then turned the key off so that if the gas spilled, it wouldn’t catch on fire with the motor running. He stepped back to me.
“Ready?” I asked, pulling us back a few more steps just to make sure we’d be out of the way.
“I guess so, though I doubt Harry’s gonna loan us his toys again anytime soon,” he replied, his tone wry.
“Okay, then, here goes.” I snapped my fingers, and as soon as I did, the noise was deafening. The bikes were revved out where we’d been racing, then a split second later, they were crashing over the hill.
I scrunched my face up at the sound of crunching metal.
“Hey,” Hunter said, nudging me. “You did the best you could. No way we’d have been able to stop them with the momentum they had going. We’ll deal with it, and I’m sure Harry will be reasonable.”
“You’re right, I’m sure,” I said. “That’s why I stopped time. I didn’t know what else to do because I knew there was no way we’d both come out of that. There was also no way I was going to be able to slow down in time. I could have jumped, I suppose.”
“Yeah, but then I’d have run you over before I wrecked. You did the only plausible thing.” He wrapped his arms around me and gave me a squeeze, then kissed me on the top of my head as the dust settled. “You saved both our lives. Or at the very least, you saved us from wicked injuries.”
A pop sounded behind me, and I whipped around, hands up and ready to do battle. There was only one thing that made that sound, and it was somebody teleporting. I let out a relieved breath and put my hands down when I saw that it was my friend Camille.
“What did you do?” she demanded as she rushed toward me, barely missing a step in her spike heeled Gianvito Rossi’s. Those are spendy women’s dress shoes, in case you’re wondering. The only reason I knew was because I’d asked about them the first time I’d seen her wear them. With the addiction she had to shoes, it was a good thing she was a witch blessed with longevity. No way would I ever be able to afford what she spent to be uncomfortable all day.
She brushed her dark hair back from her face and pressed a hand down the front of her Chanel suit as she clipped toward us. “Answer me, Noelle! What did you do? I felt it all the way over at my place, so you know Aurora did, too. She warned you.”
Aurora Darkmore was the head of the Witches Council, and Camille was right—she had warned me.
I threw up my hands. “What did you want me to do? We were literally about to die.”
Another pop sounded, and I spun to find Aurora herself rushing toward me, her expression thunderous. “Yes, I did warn you, so now you can’t claim ignorance. You better speak up.”
I motioned to the body and the wreckage that was the bikes. “I had no choice. If I hadn’t done it, you’d have been peeling us off trees or the road, or something. We’d have crashed hard.”
“That’s no excuse. Nobody gets to cheat death. What’s fated is fated, and it’s not up to you to change that,” she almost sneered, her long nose in the air.
My little sister Shelby had pointed out on more than one occasion that Aurora looked her part. Tall and round in the middle, the woman always wore black. Her eyes and hair were dark, and her nose hooked just a bit at the end. And right now, she was staring down it at me.
Hunter, who had more loyalty than he did sense right at that moment, stepped forward, scowling at her. He crossed his arms over his broad chest. “I think you’re looking at it wrong. I think she was fated to save us, and that’s exactly what she did.”
“Stopping time’s forbidden,” she snapped, though she did break eye contact.
“Oh, give it a rest, Aurora,” Camille said, drawing her perfect brows down. “Now that we’ve seen why she did what she did, you can hardly fault her. It was a survival instinct. Are you honestly saying she should have just died?”
Though Aurora was a hardnose, she wasn’t an unreasonable person. She huffed out a breath. “No. But she didn’t just save herself. She messed with the natural order of things.”
It was my turn to scowl. “If you think for one second that I’d have saved myself and let Hunter crash, the centuries you’ve been alive have pickled your brain. What’s the point of having these gifts if I can’t use them for good?”
Her gaze snapped to me. “You didn’t use it for good, though. You used it for selfish reasons—to save yourself. And somebody you care about. You know magic has a cost when you do that.”
“I hardly call saving her own skin being selfish,” Camille said, rolling her eyes.
“What’s that?” Aurora said, catching sight of the body.
“That’s the reason I stopped time,” I said. “It’s a dead guy lying right in our path.”
She cut her eyes at me. “Did you do it?”
“What? No! Of course, I didn’t do it. I saw him in the road when we came around the corner on SUVs. I was in front and saw it first, and when I realized there was no way I was going to be able to stop, I froze time. I didn’t even really do it on purpose.”
Okay, so that wasn’t exactly the truth, but I wasn’t giving her even an inch of rope to hang me with.
She walked over to the body and gave it a slow once over. With her hands behind her back, she strolled over to where the bikes had gone over the hill and peered over. Turning back to us with a critical glance, she raised a brow and waved a long-nailed finger toward the ATVs. “And how are you going to explain all that when you don’t have a scratch on you?”
I bit my lip. I hadn’t thought that far yet.
She blew out an irritated breath. “Of course you didn’t think of that.”
I slammed my hands on my hips, though I tried to rein in my impatience. The woman had the clout to cause me a lot of grief. “No, I hadn’t. That’s what we were doing when you two popped in.”
She shot me a shrewd glance, then whipped her hand in a circle before she thrust it toward us. Pain shot down my hip and up my arm, and the sound of fabric tearing made me jump.
Hunter yelped, and when I looked at him, I gasped. His shirt was torn, and he was covered in dirt. Road rash bloomed on his leg and forearm, and a few scratches that looked to be from briars appeared in various places, including his cheek. From the way several spots on me were burning, I suspected I looked about the same.
I opened my mouth to say something, but Hunter held up a hand. “Are you truly injured anywhere, or are you just banged up a little on the outside?”
After a mental check to see if I felt injured aside from the bumps and scratches, I shook my head. “Nothin’ that won’t be gone in a couple days.”
“Then let it go,” he said, then turned to Aurora, brow raised. “I expect this is the limit of her punishment. Unless I’m mistaken, she’s done a few favors for you over the last couple of years.”
If there was one thing Aurora respected, it was grit. She also liked Hunter, so I wasn’t too surprised when she sighed and nodded. “You had to look the part, though. Otherwise, people would ask questions, and she already gets enough side-eye from nosy folks as it is.”
I nodded. “It’s a good touch. Thanks, I suppose.” At least she’d left our faces alone and hadn’t gone any deeper th
an some scrapes and scratches. We’d heal, and our story would be convincing now, too.
Camille, who’d stood back and watched the scene unfold, smiled. I could almost feel the tension drain from the air.
With a final shake of her head, Aurora flapped a hand toward the body. “It appears that you have a situation on your hands. We’ll leave you to it.” She turned to me. “And we’ll talk more later.”
Though that wasn’t exactly what I’d wanted to hear, I’d take it rather than face a full council inquiry. That would suck. I dipped my head and gave her a tight-lipped semi-smile. “Sure thing.”
Aurora snapped her fingers and was gone. Camille, however, stepped toward me and plucked a stick out of my hair. “You look like you got hit by a truck. Are you sure you’re okay? That was a little harsh.”
I started to smile but winced when I took a step forward. I honestly felt like I’d been in a wreck, though not one of the proportions I’d have really gone through. “I’m fine. And it actually works out because now we don’t have to explain how we came through unscathed.”
She pulled me into a hug. “Then all’s well that ends well, I suppose. At least she avoided your face. You won’t look messed up for the wedding.”
Lordy, I hadn’t even thought of that. Anna Mae would have killed me if I showed up to her wedding with two black eyes or something. After, of course, she knew I wasn’t seriously hurt.
“Okay, then, I’ll let you two do your thing.” Two seconds later, she was gone, too.
I hobbled over to Hunter and brushed a leaf off his pants, and he ran a thumb over my cheek. I rose up on my tiptoes and gave him a kiss. “It looks like we’re gonna both live, so what say we solve this murder before it cuts into my weddin’ planning time.”