by Lee French
“Yes. It’s absolutely imperative. There are too many people here not to.” Chris nudged Ai with his shoulder. “This young lady, for example, is driving someone completely nuts. Besides me, I mean.”
“What happened” Lisa asked, her voice hushed.
Ai rolled her eyes. “It’s not a big deal.”
“I have it on good authority he’s mortified. You should jump him. If you wait until he girds his loins, nothing will happen before you’re both sixty.” He noticed the other women smirking and pointed at Lily. “Don’t think I don’t know what you’ve been up to, missy. Rolling around in the bushes with Bobby.”
Ai gasped in surprise. “Really? Oh my gosh!”
Lily blushed again, bright pink. “It wasn’t rolling. He kissed me. That’s all.”
“You can’t just stand around waiting for boys to kiss you,” Chris said with a huff. “Seize the initiative! Grab them by the shirt and throw them down.” As much as he’d like to do that with his particular daydream, he couldn’t. Jayce was friendly and sweet, but straight as an arrow.
Ai paused in her stitching and straightened. “You’re right, Chris.” She set the curtain aside and stood up. “If he’s fantasizing about me, I might as well give him a try.”
“Good for you.” Chris watched her leave the room, then tracked her adorable determination as she marched outside. Something curious happened when she passed the mass of boys in the kitchen. Bobby flared with guilt. Chris had never noticed that before, probably because he avoided spending a lot of time around everyone. Everyone knew about what happened between Bobby, Ai and Anita, of course, but why Bobby felt guilty was beyond him. Anita screwed that pooch, the poor dear, not him.
“Lily? Have Ai and Bobby chatted since he got back?”
“Oh. Hm.” Lily gazed off at the wall. “No, I don’t think so. He’s been spending his time with Sebastian and the guys.”
“Oh dear.” Chris sighed and shook his head. “I think it’s high time they fixed that. I’m not going to touch the matter with Anita, but those two? They need to figure things out. Sooner, not later. I refuse to stand idly by while they emote at each other in secret and fail to talk it out.”
“You’re such a meddling bitch,” Alice groused, though Chris could tell she meant it more fondly than it sounded. “Just let them get to it when they get to it.”
Feeling melodramatic, Chris heaved a long-suffering sigh and jumped to his feet. Lisa’s blanket fell to the floor, dragging Lisa’s needle and thread with it. “If I didn’t have to feel everything all of you do all the time, I wouldn’t care in the slightest. Since I do, I want harmony, dammit. And I’m not above ‘meddling’ to make it happen!” He pretended to flip his short hair in a saucy toss, then stormed out.
Behind him, two of three women tittered. Lily touched his shoulder. “Wait.”
Chris stopped and turned in the hallway to see her still holding the sock she’d been working on. “I can tolerate a lot, but only so much.”
Lily smiled, open and honest. “I don’t want to stop you. I want to help you.”
“Oh!” Delighted, Chris draped an arm over her shoulder. “We have to machinate to get them into the same room with no good reason to escape.”
“Does it have to be like that? Can’t we just tell them both to deal with it?”
“Do you think that would work with Bobby?”
Lily paused and pursed her lips. After a long few beats, she said, “No. Probably not. You’re right, we’ll have to scheme.” Looping her arm through his, she tugged him back inside the workroom. “What’s the best way to force Bobby and Ai to talk without an audience?”
Alice shrugged. “Those two? Give them both a job they have to do side-by-side that neither would abandon. So, something kind of important, but stationary. Nobody else can be available to do it. But don’t tell either of them they’ll be working together. They show up, endure the awkward until one breaks, then they figure it out.”
“We can use Sebastian,” Lily said. “Bobby would do anything for him.”
Lisa shook her head. “It doesn’t take two people to watch him. What about assembling something for Sebastian? Oh, wait! Hannah said we need to put together bins and things for the basement, to hold food. Bobby eats a ton and Ai would probably do about anything for John.”
“Brilliant!” Chris noticed the pair outside only interacted briefly, then Ai left. “Let’s set them up for tomorrow morning, after breakfast. Lily, you tell Bobby. Alice, please tell Ai to show up. I’ll ask Jayce to bring some raw materials.” He waggled his eyebrows and waved goodbye, then found a place to lie in wait so he could ambush Jayce and his delicious abs.
Uncomfortable Apology
Ai
Stacks of wood, a box of nails, and Bobby sat in the shade beside the barn. Jayce crouched beside him, laughing at something. Ai paused before they noticed her and tried to figure out how to approach the situation. Alice had said Hannah asked her to help John out with vegetable storage. She thought that meant she and John would be working together. Apparently not.
Jayce glanced up and smiled at her, making escape impossible. He beckoned her over. Her feet forced her to join them.
“Hi.” She hoped it didn’t sound as awkward as it felt.
“And now that you have company, I should get back to work.” Jayce stood and tipped an imaginary hat at Ai then he walked away.
Bobby turned and saw Ai. His face fell. He picked up a piece of wood, some nails, and a white hammer, giving it his full attention. “Hey,” he said, the one word curt and clipped.
Ai considered leaving him to work by himself. They’d both probably be happier. Except she’d have to face Hannah knowing she backed out of helping with a task her power could be useful for. She sighed and sat with the pile of wood between them.
The silence hung thick and stifling, ugly and tense. Groping for something inoffensive to talk about, Ai picked two pieces of wood and fitted them together. She grabbed nails and realized they had only one hammer. Leaving to go find one appealed, but she couldn’t guarantee she’d come back.
She watched him hit a nail without supporting both boards enough. He needed a third hand. A fourth would help a lot. Without a word, she moved closer and held the two boards together so he could use the hammer. They ought to trade tasks, because Ai could do the repetitive job a thousand times faster.
Deciding someone had to start someplace, Ai fell back on stranger chitchat. “The weather’s been nice.”
“Sure.” The thunk of wood against metal echoed in the small clearing.
“Hasn’t rained in a while.”
“Nope.”
“I guess that means it’ll rain now.”
“I s’pose.”
With him unwilling to participate, Ai decided she’d amuse herself. “The bunnies are boinking.”
“Uh-huh.”
“I saw a giant hedgehog ramming the barn yesterday.”
“Right.” He paused in mid-swing and squinted at her. “What?”
Though she’d been trying to provoke him into talking, now that she had his attention, Ai didn’t want it. “Nothing. Just saying stuff.”
He stared at her for several seconds, then he sighed and pounded on the nail again. This time, he slammed it into his thumb, releasing three dragons. “Heckbiscuits,” he snarled as he watched them scatter.
“Are you okay?” Ai took his hand and looked it over. The stump of his thumb, with its abrupt, non-bleeding end, made her uncomfortable. She tossed his hand at him. “Yeah, I guess you are. You always are.” To her surprise, she sounded bitter about that.
Bobby hung his head and let the hammer fall to the ground. He raked a hand through his hair and squirmed. “I’m sorry. If’n Anita hadn’t never done did what she done, you woulda been—”
“No, it’s okay!” Ai coughed and covered her mouth, heat flaring in her cheeks. Now he’d started the conversation, she knew they had to see it through and finish it. “I mean, I know you did everythi
ng you could. I’m the one who should be apologizing. I never should have let her leave you behind.”
He shrugged and looked away. “I don’t blame you for nothing. Weren’t your fault.”
“But if I hadn’t left, you wouldn’t have been shot.”
“That ain’t on you.” He glanced to the side and sighed again.
Ai followed his gaze and saw Anita carrying a pile of debris with her telekinesis. “Never mind her. She’s not worth hating. Or even thinking about much.”
Shaking his head, Bobby wouldn’t meet her gaze. “I ain’t really mad, Ai. Not at you nor her.”
“Really?”
He rubbed the back of his neck and squirmed again. After a long pause, during which she thought he made some difficult decisions, he said, “I sure don’t appreciate her choices, but hate is an awful strong word. If she’d’a done it to you too, just shucked herself out without looking back, then, yeah, I think I would, but she took you with her, and if’n I was in a little better shape, I’d’a been right behind you. It ain’t your nor her fault I got shot, not really, and some folks ain’t used to doing the whole ‘team’ thing. Can’t fault her for that.”
Ai stared at him for several beats, amazed by how reasonably and rationally he approached the whole thing. In his place, she thought she’d want to throttle Anita and herself. That very fear had prevented her from broaching the subject sooner.
“I, uh, wow. I thought you’d be really upset.”
“Well.” He smirked. “In fairness, I done gave it a whole lotta thought. And it’s hard to stay angry for real around Sebastian and Lily. I don’t want no hardship ‘tween any of us if’n I can help it. Ain’t no telling when stuff’ll happen, and if’n something’s the last word, it oughta be a good one.”
Knocking the wood aside, Ai draped her arms around Bobby’s shoulders. For a moment, he stiffened, then he relaxed and hugged her back.
“I’m so sorry, Bobby. I’ll never, ever leave you behind again. I promise. No matter what.”
“I don’t think it’s something I can promise that I’ll never let you get strung up in that sorta situation again. Don’t seem reasonable. But I won’t leave you behind, neither, Ai. Nor nobody else if’n I can help it.”
Ai heard someone sniffle, and it wasn’t Bobby. They both let go and found Christopher standing in the shade nearby, fanning his eyes with one hand.
“Oh my gosh. You two,” Chris warbled. With that, he hurried away.
Bobby grinned. Ai giggled. They both laughed and got to work.
Winter Forecast
Violet
Violet flew over the ratty old barn roof, wondering why Greg and Albert consented to live in such a wretched dump. She ducked through a gaping hole to inspect it from the underside and saw no reason to change her opinion. They’d have to replace the entire structure. For now, tarps formed a large tent below, sheltering the boys’ workshop and living space.
She poked at a loose slat. With a loud crack, it crumbled, and she had to scramble to catch all the pieces before they hit the tarps. A curse slipped out as she wished she could fly back to college in Montgomery, Alabama. Her tiny apartment had been nicer than anything here. Then Will and Jasmine showed up. By then, her power had already gone active, of course.
Pulling her sweater tighter around her body, she decided to be grateful she had pants. With an ability like flight, skirts had become impractical. The first time she rose into the air here, Javier looked up. After that, she’d worn shorts or these yoga pants she had for working out. Never once had she needed to wear pants outside in her whole life. Until now. Whenever she had time, she had to go shopping.
With her inspection complete, she drifted to the ground. Smoke roiled in a thin wisp from the table where Greg worked. Albert sat to the side, tapping on his laptop. Neither looked up when she landed. Rather, she stopped an inch above the ground and hovered. None of her shoes suited this environment, so she wore fuzzy blue slippers. Like Stephen, she had no need to ever touch the ground and avoided doing it whenever possible.
“Excuse me, honey.” Violet sat next to Albert, her power supporting her without a chair.
Albert smiled at her. “What’s the verdict?”
“I’m hardly an expert, but the whole thing needs to be torn down and replaced. Even if we replace the roof, these walls won’t hold it up for long.”
Albert pouted. “We’re already roughing it out here.”
“I know it, honey. Maybe you can get John to do some plant magic.”
“I’ve already asked him about it. He said he’s not up to that level of manipulation yet. He could give us six foot walls from the shrubs all around, but that’s the best he can manage for now. Which isn’t really good enough for the workshop. We need a high ceiling to manage smoke.”
“Well, we know how to replace the walls now, at least. Had to do it for the farmhouse already. I think some of those boys like using the nail gun. Maybe a little more than they should.”
Laughing, Albert waved at Greg. “You should see him with an arc welder.”
“I heard that.” Greg pointed at him with a soldering iron. “We don’t need the whole structure replaced. I’ve got plans for the workshop, I just have a dozen other projects to finish first. We only need to make it through the winter in this thing, so don’t waste a lot of money or effort on fixing it.”
She smiled at him and straightened. “Sure thing, honey. I’ll make sure it gets taken care of.”
“Thank you,” Greg said. He returned to his work.
Albert flashed her a smile as she floated outside. Not for the first time, she wondered what winter here entailed. Several people had already mentioned preparing for it, but she had no idea what that meant. Back home, her mom paid attention to the weather and covered some plants for occasional overnight dips below freezing. Nobody with any sense went out in that kind of cold.
She rounded the corner of the farmhouse and found Jayce sitting in the sunshine with Owen, both drinking out of brown bottles with their shirts off. For a few moments, she had to pause and admire them. Each had a sheen of sweat on his muscular chest. Owen’s red beard and hair, not to mention his physique, reminded her of a lumberjack from the cover of a romance novel.
Owen noticed her and grinned as he waved her over with his bottle. “Would you like a beer? We have more.”
“No, thank you, sugar.” She floated closer. “We need to come up with a way to protect Greg and Albert from the winter without rebuilding the barn. I think a stiff wind might blow that thing down as it is right now.”
“Hm.” Jayce leaned back and checked what he could see of the barn towering over the farmhouse.
“We could maybe set them up with just an insulated sleeping space for now,” Owen said. “But those tarps won’t cut it in the snow, so we should look into something more sturdy.”
Violet nodded along until she realized what he’d said. “Wait a minute. Snow? What’re you talking about?”
Owen paused with the bottle halfway to his mouth. “Uh, frozen water falling from the sky in crystalline patterns?”
“It doesn’t really snow here, though. Not much. Right?” She glanced at Jayce and found him grinning so hard he might hurt something.
“Well. Um.” Owen coughed. “It snows a fair amount here.”
Violet glared at him. “You’re joking just to mess with me. It doesn’t really. Right? How do you even know? You’re not from around here any more than I am.”
“I’m from Denver,” Owen said. “Which isn’t very far from here. Maybe an hour and a half by car. So yes, I am from around here more than you are. We’ll probably get two to three feet over the course of the winter, maybe more. Starting sometime in November.”
Violet tried to imagine living with snow. She saw herself curled up with a blanket and hot cocoa, sitting in the window and watching it. But that would get boring after a while. “What do you even do when it snows?”
“Plow it and get on with life?”
> “Do we have a plowing thing here?”
“I seriously doubt it. The stores should have them out in October.” Owen’s grin faded and he set his bottle aside. “It’s really not that big a deal. We won’t see anything like Minnesota or Alaska, not here. We’re not going to have any serious survival issues. We’ll be fine.”
“But…snow is…cold!”
Owen chuckled. “Yes. Snow is cold.”
“How cold are we talking here?”
“Here? It probably doesn’t go lower than ten below.”
Violet blinked rapidly, trying to translate that. “Ten below? Below what? Zero? Are you crazy? Why do people even live here? Coming here is the first time I’ve ever left Alabama, and it’s for some kind of frozen wasteland hellscape!”
“That’s a little harsh,” Jayce said.
“No, below zero degrees is harsh.” Violet jabbed a finger at him, more upset by his grin than the weather.
“You know what we do in Vegas when it gets cold?” Jayce waggled his eyebrows.
Tossing her arms up, Violet grunted in disgust. “Honestly. Men. Doesn’t matter what the question is, the answer is always sex. Too hot? Sex. Too cold? Sex. Tired? Sex. Can’t sleep? Sex. Cranky? Sex. Happy? Sex. Hungry? Food sex.” She turned to storm away. Instead, she stopped and stared at the bearded man staggering up the drive.
His backpack had seen better days and crusty mud spattered his clothes. Duct tape held his shoes together. He looked up and saw her, then he collapsed. Though she didn’t recognize him, Violet darted to his side.
“Violet,” he rasped, “thank God I found you.”
“Will?” She pushed his shaggy brown hair aside and gaped at the state of him. “What happened to you, honey?”
“I’ve been walking forever. I don’t even know how long.” He held her arm, his grip weak. “They got Jasmine. I didn’t know what else to do or where else to go.”
Jayce and Owen reached them. “You did the right thing,” Jayce said. “Let’s get you inside and cleaned up. Then you can tell us everything.”