by May, W. J.
“They?”
He grinned again. “When I said that this has Carter written all over it, I meant Carter and your mom.”
Rae shook her head, grimacing, just as Molly came bounding up out from a room behind the kitchen. “Rae, this is so great! We’re roomies again! Just like at Guilder…” A nostalgic look crossed over her face and she skipped back the way she came to start unpacking.
“Get dressed, Molly; we’re going out tonight,” Julian instructed as he came out of the opposite room, looking incredibly, effortlessly handsome in a suit. He tossed Devon a brochure he’d been reading, then settled on the couch to wait beside Rae.
“Well…hello there, 007,” she said approvingly.
He grinned, stretching his arms out in front of him. “You did an awesome job with the suit, Rae. Honesty, this is better than my tailor.”
She let out a bark of laughter. “You have a tailor? What is this, 1925?”
A faint pink tinted the tops of his cheekbones and he shoved her playfully to the side. “It’s not my tailor. It’s the Privy Council’s. He decks us out sometimes, for certain kinds of missions.”
“Yeah, sure,” she teased as Devon walked over, waving the brochure in the air.
“This is perfect,” he said, eyes locking on Julian.
Julian shrugged. “I know. And it’s going to work, too. It’s almost like…” his face grew absurdly serious, “it’s almost like I can see the future…”
Rae laughed again, snatching the brochure out of Devon’s hand. “What is so perfect?” Her eyes clouded over the longer she read. Eventually, she looked up with a very doubtful expression on her face. “A match-making festival? Is this even real? They have these?”
“They have them,” both boys answered in unison, before glancing in opposite directions.
“It’s the perfect opportunity for us to get the piece,” Devon continued. “It’s kind of in a…a tricky place to get to. Especially without being seen. But this will be perfect. The town only has a few hundred people, and this is a huge annual event. Everyone will be there.”
Rae was unconvinced. “And what if Cromfield or one of his little minions is out there right now, stealing it as we speak? I really think we should just get it over with and—”
“They can’t get to it now,” Devon assured her quickly. “And neither can we. It’s protected.”
Her face screwed up. “By what?”
Devon and Julian shared a superior look.
Her boyfriend shot her a cocky grin. “By the tide…”
* * *
“I don’t know. I’m thinking I should’ve gone with the green…”
Rae rolled her eyes, combing out her hair and letting her dark tresses spill in little waves down her back. “We’re not really participating in the festival, you know that, right, Molls? We’re just killing some time there and making sure we weren’t followed until the peak of low tide when we can get the missing piece.”
Molly made a face, pinning her hair atop her head in an elegant knot. “Yeah, I know. But that doesn’t mean we can’t look stunning doing it. I mean, we want to fit in, right?”
“Yeah, we want to fit in, but—”
Molly skipped over to stand next to her in the mirror, giving both of them a satisfied nod. “Well, mission accomplished!”
Rae couldn’t help but grin. The way her friend started legitimately hyperventilating over fashion would never cease to amaze her. And she had to admit, they looked pretty damn good.
Molly, for all her girlish eccentricities, looked like a fairytale princess. Like the little mermaid come to life. She was wearing a long gown of blinding white silk, with a low-cut neckline accentuated by a diamond brooch. Her flaming hair stood in stark contrast to both the dress and her pale skin, making her bright green eyes and rosy red lips seem to pop right off her face.
Rae had gone a different direction.
“You look like one of those sirens,” Molly said appreciatively, smoothing down the fabric with delicate fingers. “You know, one of those mythological creatures that so were beautiful they lured men to their deaths?”
Rae gave her a rather startled expression, and she laughed.
“Trust me, that’s a good thing.”
“Ladies, the festival’s already started,” Devon called from the living room.
Molly raised her chin like royalty and shot Rae a gleeful grin. “Shall we?”
It would be impossible to accurately describe the look on the boys’ faces when Rae and Molly appeared on the landing.
It didn’t matter that they were grown men, it didn’t matter that they were international super-agents, it didn’t matter that they happened to look like Greek gods themselves.
In that moment, they were just teenage boys again.
There was a flurry of throat clearing and needless tie-straightening as Julian made a conscious effort to look the other way.
Devon, on the other hand, made a beeline right for Rae. “You…are…” He simply trailed off, eyes wide as they swept shamelessly over her body. “I changed my mind,” he said a little louder, glancing at the others. “No festival. You and Molly can get the piece. Rae and I will…guard the hotel room.”
Molly gigged aloud as Rae flashed him a bewitching grin, swirling the folds of her red gown beside her. While Molly had gone with a wintery-white, Rae had conjured a dress that looked like pure fire. The blood-red silk clung to her thin body before cascading down to the floor, offset by an onyx and ruby necklace. Her makeup was minimal, save for a smoky eye, and her hair fell free in loose waves. But the power of the dress was undeniable.
‘Fire and Ice,’ she and Molly had jokingly called it. They aimed to make a splash in this little town, and they were going to do it tonight.
“Very funny, lover boy, but we’re on a mission here,” Molly teased in an uncharacteristic bout of professionalism. “We’ve got to get going.” She glanced beside her to where Julian was still looking deliberately the other way. “Jules—”
“I love Angel,” he blurted. Something he’d clearly been chanting to himself.
Molly and Rae shared a quick, smug look, while Devon clapped his friend sympathetically on the shoulder. “Are you sure you won’t bunk with Molly so I can sleep with Rae?” he muttered with a playful smirk, seeing the look on Julian’s face. “Just for one night?”
“That’s cold, man. Really cold.” Julian pulled himself together with a grin. “And no, I won’t.” Then Rae swept towards them and his eyes widened. “But I will sleep on the couch, because, you know… Far be it from me to stop you from—”
“Hey,” Rae said brightly, tossing back her hair, “you guys ready to go?”
They fell speechless once more and she rolled her eyes.
“Come on, you two,” she grabbed their hands and pulled them forward, “let’s get on with it…”
* * *
The match-making festival was being held in a rustic old pub from the 1500s, and, judging from the number of people flooding the streets, almost the entire town had to be there.
Traditional Irish folk music blared from inside, played by a band who was drinking more than everyone in the first row of the audience combined, and as Rae stretched up on her toes to see past the line inside, she felt a shiver of excitement run up her spine.
Mission or no mission, they were at least here right now. And she couldn’t remember the last time the four of them had a chance to really let loose like this.
They had missed all the graduation parties. They did deserve a little breather. Why not take advantage? They were already dressed for the part.
Indeed, the four of them were attracting far more than their share of looks as they finally edged up in line to stand in front of the bouncer. The man was easily nine-feet tall, Rae thought in wonder, as she tilted her head upwards to get a better look at his face.
His eyes swept appreciatively over the girls, but stopped cold on the boys. They narrowed with the faintest trace of jealously and d
islike, and his mouth thinned to a hard line.
Apparently, he didn’t want the competition.
“No couples,” he said harshly, folding his arms across his chest. “This is a place to find matches. You don’t come already in pairs.”
“No, no,” Devon said quickly, trying to make amends, “these are my…cousins.”
The man raised his bushy eyebrows in blatant disbelief. “Your cousins?”
Rae had to admit it wasn’t Devon’s best story. Standing there, framed in the glowing sunset, the four of them couldn’t look more different.
Molly was clearly from a place like this, dark auburn hair and alabaster skin, while Rae’s long raven locks tumbled down past startlingly blue eyes. While they were both thin, they stood at vastly different heights, and no matter how hard each one tried, one spoke with a faint Scottish accent, while one had clearly spent some time living in America.
The boys were no better. While Devon and Julian were both undeniably handsome, the physical similarities stopped there. They were colored completely differently, one looking like some sort of eighteenth-century poet, and one looking like he stepped off the pages of a magazine modeling underwear for Calvin Klein.
“Your cousins,” the man said again, clearly not buying their story.
“We come from a home riddled with divorce and past marriages…” Julian volunteered helpfully, before falling silent at the look on the giant’s face.
Rae was certain they were about to be sent straight back to the hotel, when Molly suddenly stepped forward, pulling a tub of lipstick absentmindedly from her bag. She slowly uncapped the ruby color and spread it deliberately across her lips, seemingly oblivious to the fact that she was holding every man’s undivided attention.
“Tell me,” she asked in a purr, “are you allowed into the festival yourself?” She put the lipstick away and batted her eyelashes innocently at the bouncer. “When you’re off duty, I mean. Will my cousin and I see you in there?” She looped her arm through Rae’s, and both girls offered up a radiant smile.
The velvet rope parted, and the next moment they were inside.
“And that’s why I’ve always said that girls make better super-spies than boys,” Molly insisted enthusiastically, standing up on her toes to see her way to the bar.
Devon shook his head with a grin. “Yeah? Say ‘super-spies’ louder, will you?” But he handed her some cash and gave her an affectionate kiss on the cheek before she vanished into the crowd.
At least seven or eight guys immediately picked up on her trail, and he and Julian shared a worried glance. “I’m going to go with her,” Julian murmured, locking his eyes on her flaming hair as he started to follow, “make sure everything’s okay…”
“I don’t know why you guys bother,” Rae said with smile. “Between Julian’s ink and Molly’s tendency to shock first, ask questions later, I think she’ll be fine.”
“Old habit,” Devon grinned, pulling her tight against his chest as they started to sway back and forth to the music. A pair of violins struck up an old, wistful tune, and she nestled her head contentedly beneath his chin, moving her hips in time to his steady heartbeat.
One song ended, then another. Then another.
Molly and Julian looked to be having the time of their lives, joking around together at the bar; and one by one, the rest of the crowded room was slowly dividing off into pairs.
“You know…this might not be the best idea,” Rae finally said, glancing up with an impish smile. “I’m pretty sure this isn’t the way you’re supposed to dance with your cousin.”
Devon laughed aloud and squeezed her tighter, his lips softly grazing the top of her hair.
“Maybe we’re those special cousins—the ones no one ever talks about. He doesn’t know…” Rae’s shoulders shook with giggles. “I think he could probably squash you like a bug,” she teased. “The man’s a giant!”
Devon shuddered theatrically and spun her around. “I know. Stay close.”
“Oh, Mr. Wardell, I intend to stay close,” she breathed, staring up into his eyes.
A million different colors flashed across his face from the stage, and for a moment it seemed like it was just the two of them alone in the world. They were just a boy and a girl dancing at a bar. The sky wasn’t falling, the world wasn’t ending. For one of the first times in recent memory, things seemed almost normal.
“Rae…” his breath caught in his chest as the music gradually swelled, “I need to—” Then he glanced at something over her shoulder and his body went rigid. She spun around in alarm to see Julian and Molly standing at the edge of the dance floor. Julian discreetly tapped his wrist and Devon pulled away with a sigh, grabbing her wrist and leading her through the crowd.
“What?” she pressed causally, as they swept out into the cold night air, “What were you going to say?”
His eyes flickered down to hers for a split second, before he hastily looked out towards the sea. “I was going to say…that it’s time to go.”
Her heart fell and she fell back a step, linking arms with Molly instead.
Of course it was. Why hadn’t she thought to use Julian’s tatù when he first started? She might have caught what he was going to say. But that would be spying.
In only a few minutes, the four friends had left the town behind and were coming up on the ocean. The girls trailed behind as the boys marched up ahead.
“You know, sometimes Devon’s so freaking frustrating,” Rae whispered to Molly with a scarcely concealed sigh.
“Careful,” Molly whispered back, hiccupping with every other step. “What’s that thing you’re always telling me? Your boyfriend has super-human hearing?”
Rae rolled her eyes. “He’s talking to Julian, so he’s distracted. But I’m serious, Molls, ever since we got together, it’s like pulling teeth to get him to say what he really feels. What he’s really thinking? Do you remember how long it took for us to get together in the first place? And then he broke up with me without saying a freaking word.”
Molly nodded solemnly, trying to walk in a straight line. “He’s a man of few words.”
“No, he’s not,” Rae corrected distractedly. “But he lapses now and again. I know it’s harping on a little point; I mean, for the most part, everything’s great. And I mean, really great. Absolutely perfect. But it’s just…this is our life, you know? Going to match-making events. Breaking into churches. Jetting around the world. Sometimes I wonder if we’ll ever do anything normal. Will we ever be anything normal? And then there are moments like just now, moments where he…” she paused, “Molly? Are you drunk?”
Molly flashed an innocent smile, before hiccupping some more. “I’m sorry—what?”
Rae chuckled. “Some help you are. I need a new best friend.”
“Hey,” Molly tucked a loose strand of hair back into place, “Julian assured me that it was fine to drink tonight. He said the only one doing any work to get the piece will be you.”
“Oh, is that right?” Rae asked indignantly, raising her voice to catch the attention of the other two. “And what exactly will only I be doing to recover this—”
She and Molly jumped back with a gasp as a giant wave of water exploded in the air right in front of them. It was then that she finally took a moment to look around.
The four of them had wandered far off the beaten path, making their way carefully across the uneven rocks that led out to the sea. But they were still about twenty feet above the water, and still quite a ways from the edge of the cliff, so Rae couldn’t understand how she’d just gotten wet.
That’s when she saw it.
“Oh…no, no, no.”
She peered down into a jagged-looking crevice that stretched narrowly open in the rock before her feet. The light of the moon was only able to penetrate a few feet down, but she had a sinking feeling that the chasm stretched all the way down to the sea. Sure enough, there was another thundering crash from below, and a second later a salty spray hit both her and
Molly in the face.
“Let me guess.” She looked up with a glare, wiping drips of mascara from her cheeks. “All this beautiful, endless countryside, and you two geniuses hid the piece in the scary underwater cave?”
Devon looked down at his shoes, but Julian was actually quite excited. “Rae, don’t you see, it’s actually a brilliant spot for it! This place is hidden and completely inaccessible for all but two minutes of every day. Plus, it’s almost impossible to get down there without getting ripped to shreds.” His enthusiasm faded slightly as Rae’s eyes narrowed. “Not that…not that you’re going to have that problem. I’m sure you’re going to be…uh…just fine.”
“You don’t have to do a thing,” Devon reassured her quickly, taking off his suit jacket and tossing it to the side. “I can get it just fine.”
Julian frowned. “Dev, you almost impaled yourself trying to get it down there to begin with—”
“What?!” Rae exploded.
“Not helping, Jules.”
“You almost impaled yourself?” Rae asked directly, jabbing a finger in her boyfriend’s chest.
Molly hiccupped and started to discreetly back away.
Devon raised his hands soothingly. “Only a little, babe. You know Julian; prone to exaggeration, that one.”
“No. Not really,” Rae countered. Then she looked down into the ominous chasm with a sigh. “How much time do we have?”
Julian glanced at his watch. “The tide’s going to be at its lowest point in about a minute. Once it is, you’ll have another sixty seconds to lower yourself down and get the piece.”
Rae nodded, rubbing her hands together like an Olympic diver about to take a leap. “And what does this piece look like?”
Julian bit back a smile. “Hon, it’s going to be the only thing in there that isn’t rock and looks like a brainwashing device.”
“Right. Got it.”
“Hang on a second,” Devon pulled her back. “You are absolutely not going down there. It was always going to be me who did it. That was the plan!”
“It was a bad plan,” Julian murmured as Rae said, “Yeah, that’s a terrible freaking plan.”