by W. J. May
He stared at her for a long moment, then tucked a lock of hair behind her ears. “So you want to move back to London?”
She bit her lip, suddenly nervous as to what he would say. “If that’s alright? I mean—only if you do, too.”
He pretended to consider for a moment, staring at their entwined hands with a serious frown. “Well, how about…tomorrow. Is that soon enough?”
…Seriously?!
With a little shriek of joy, she leapt forward and threw her arms around him. Breathless with excitement, and utterly terrified all at the same time. “Tomorrow.” She buried her grin in his neck, beaming with the promise of a new day. “I can work with tomorrow.” She laughed, a happiness settling inside of her that hadn’t been there in a long time. Like when she read the letter back in her first year at Guilder. Like when Devon told her he liked her, when he told her he loved her. Like when they’d been working for the future king and queen of England and he thought he’d lost her, when… “Tomorrow it is then!”
He pulled her onto his lap and rocked her back and forth, unable to hide his excitement any more than she could herself. Unable to believe that this was to be their last day hiding away from the rest of the world. Their last day away before finally going back home.
Rocking soon turned to straddling, soon turned to kissing, which could have turned to something more, were they not loudly interrupted by half a dozen pairs of prying eyes.
“At which point, Rae—ever the loyal best friend—ran upstairs to wake Molly,” a high soprano voice narrated loudly. “Because surely an exodus back to the city was something we would do all together.” The little redhead’s eyes flashed electric blue as she folded her arms with a dangerous smile. “Surely she didn’t plan to just run off and leave her pregnant best friend all alone?”
Rae and Devon sprang apart in surprise, then both flushed bright red with the guilt of being seen.
“We didn’t…” Devon spluttered. “We weren’t…”
“Allow me to translate,” Julian said wisely, turning to the rest of the gang. “‘Oh—we’re so sorry. We had meant to tell you a lot sooner. In fact, we were going to get up and ask you to come with us right now, it’s just…something about this porch swing is so erotic.’”
Devon sank an inch or two lower under the blanket as Angel snickered wickedly.
“You have to admit,” Gabriel took over the narration, leaning up against the side of the house with that signature twinkle in his eye, “it takes a certain kind of arrogance to make these kinds of unilateral decisions, but these two have it in spades. There’s almost an art to it.”
The others laughed conspiratorially as Rae tried to defend herself.
“Hey! That’s enough! We weren’t keeping anything from you, I’ll have you know. We only just decided to move back right now. It’s not like we weren’t going to say anything.”
“The thing is…” Molly ignored the way the couple was cozied up together and wedged herself down right in between, severing their joined hands with a careless toss of her hair. “I’d still like to be present for any and all future-deciding discussions. My input is widely thought invaluable.”
“Molls,” Devon was reluctantly shoved aside as she nestled herself down, “it’s not like we planned it—”
“No, Molly makes a good point.” Julian scooped up Devon’s coffee and began to drink it for himself. “She’s not alone. I happen to have a rather unique perspective on the future…”
“Are you guys still using that?” Angel interjected suddenly, tugging the fur blanket and wrapping it around her own shoulders instead. “It’s cold out this morning.”
“I, for one, think it’s a great idea. Moving away from Kent.” Luke perched on the wide railing that wrapped around the porch, gazing out towards the trees. “It’s time.”
“Yes, but there’s so much to plan!” Molly exclaimed, shooting accidental sparks into both Rae and Devon in her excitement. “Do we rent out this place? Do we sell? Do we make any attempt whatsoever to hide the fact that we turned the basement into a dungeon?”
“You never know,” Gabriel settled himself down on the ground, leaning back against Rae’s legs as he discreetly stole her coffee, “it might actually up the asking price.”
For a moment, Rae and Devon just stared on in shock. Watching with wide eyes as, one by one, all their dearest friends shamelessly hijacked their morning. Then, after a few more bits of conversation, they turned to each other with matching smiles.
“Hey, Molly…” Rae began innocently, interrupting the girl’s whirlwind chatter about the price of Bavarian real estate, “someone isn’t maybe worried, now that Devon and I are engaged, that they might start getting left out, are they?”
Molly screeched to an almost cartoonish halt, freezing in place as her entire body stiffened in a visible admission of guilt. Her eyes widened ever so slightly, but Julian shot her a look of warning. “No, of course not,” she said breathlessly. Although she couldn’t help but wedge herself subconsciously tighter between them at the same time. “Just…making conversation, is all.”
Rae slipped an arm around her waist with a knowing smile. “Uh-huh.”
“And Jules?” Devon turned expectantly to his best friend, a man who was suddenly having a lot of trouble meeting his eyes. “You wouldn’t happen to be concerned that Rae’s and my future no longer includes you?”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Julian snapped. “Imagine what a dreary hell that would be.”
Devon’s eyes twinkled and he held out his hand. “Give me back my coffee.”
“No.” He quickly lifted the mug to his mouth and drained the rest of it.
“I’ll admit, I was marginally worried for a time,” Gabriel interjected loudly, dropping his head back to gaze up at the couple with an arrogant smile, “before I realized you could never do it.”
“Never do what?” Rae repeated indignantly, falling back on old habits. “You mean, we could never manage to have a life together without you in it? Lurking around the edges?”
“You might be able to manage it,” Gabriel said seriously, tilting his head pointedly at her fiancé, “but never Devon. The guy needs me. What can I say?”
Devon closed his eyes with a painful grimace. “Heaven help us.”
“And what about you?” Rae turned with a grin to Angel, who was still cuddled up in the stolen blanket. “You come out here to stake your claim?”
Angel glanced between them with a blank stare, shaking her head. “I really was just cold…”
“So it’s settled then?” Molly brought them back on point, practically bouncing up in excitement. “We’re moving back to London?”
Rae exchanged another long look with Devon before he inclined his head with a little grin. “Yeah,” she breathed. “I think it’s settled.”
The excitement that followed the pronouncement was intense, but no one cheered louder than Molly. Considering the girl’s trifling size, she somehow managed to be deafening.
“Rae, you have no idea how long I’ve wanted this! It’s like all of my crazy nesting instincts have been completely suppressed and now I can finally have all this designer baby furniture I’ve had in storage shipped to an actual address!”
Luke glanced up in alarm, while Gabriel shot Rae a discreet look.
“They make designer baby furniture?”
Rae rolled her eyes and shushed him into silence.
“But the furniture isn’t even the start of it,” Molly gushed, completely oblivious to the little side-questions springing up in her wake. “Ever since you told me back at the Abbey that we should paint the nursery yellow, because it’s a gender-neutral color, I’ve been agonizing over the exact shade. I’ve got it narrowed down to about seventeen, but until I see them all up in the light it’ll be impossible to decide which one—”
“Molls,” Rae sat forward and grabbed her by the wrists, slowing down the impossible speed of the conversation the way she’d been doing since they were in school,
“I think you’re forgetting a slightly bigger problem.”
Molly blanked, searching back through her mind.
“You mean the trim?” she asked curiously. “No, don’t worry about that. There’s this sparkling white, rather ironically named Swiss coffee, that I think will do just the trick—”
“Our house, Molls.” Rae bit back a smile, blown away as ever by the breathless ball of energy that was her best friend. “We sold the penthouse, remember? We’re homeless.”
“Oh, that?” Molly looked at her like she had said something incredibly stupid. “Rae, I called the building last night. They hadn’t rented out our place yet, so I asked them to simply refresh my half of the paperwork. Luke and I wired over money for the down payment this morning.”
Rae’s jaw dropped open in shock.
“You did? Last night? But that’s impossible! How did you…”
She trailed off as her eyes came to rest on Julian.
He, too, was staring at her with a look of rather affectionate pity. When their eyes locked, he flashed her a grin. “Psychic, remember? Write it down.”
She laughed, a little breathlessly, but then came to a sudden stop as the second half of Molly’s words clicked suddenly into place.
‘My half of the paperwork…’? ‘Luke and I wired over money…’?
She slowly glanced back and forth at them, suddenly unsure.
“Well, did they need me to call in myself, or…”
Molly bit down on her lip and Rae trailed off, scanning the circle of faces. Their expressions varied from cautious, to sympathetic, to amused. When she finally came ‘round to the one who mattered most…he was kind.
“Actually,” Devon discreetly shoved Molly forward so he could take Rae’s hand, “I was hoping you might move in with me.”
Of. Course. He. Was.
Rae couldn’t believe she’d been so stupid. All this talk about having a normal life, planning their future…didn’t that naturally imply that they would be doing it together? “Oh. Right. I’m sorry. Of course.” She shook her head, unable to stop speaking in strange, stilted sentences. “Okay. So, the thing is—”
“Only if you want to,” he said softy.
She did want to. She wanted to very much.
“You already did it once,” he joked, blushing with an almost shy smile. “Do it again?”
The shock passed just as quickly as the excitement set in. A wave of it crashed over Rae’s head, crushing all her doubts and settling in her eyes with a beaming smile.
“Of course I will!”
He let out a breathless sigh of relief, and the two of them leaned towards each other…
…as close as they were currently able.
“Uh…Molls?”
The tiny redhead had swiveled around, gazing back at the happy couple with a beatific smile, completely oblivious to the fact that she was still perched stubbornly between them.
With the practiced hands of someone who had done it many times before Julian rose gracefully to his feet and lifted her away, allowing Rae and Devon to have their moment.
They came together with a swift kiss. Swift, but sweet. One that promised many, many more to come. A whole lifetime full of them, Rae vowed it to herself. A whole normal life.
“Well, that’s disgusting,” Angel groused, shattering the touching moment, but even she couldn’t help but flash Rae a quick smile. “But it’s settled. Rae and Devon will live with Jules and me in the house. Molly and Luke will move back into the penthouse. And Gabriel—”
“I still have my flat in the next building,” he interjected, tossing back his hair as he pushed slowly to his feet. “Close enough not to miss out on the action, but far enough away to escape you lot should the need arise.”
Rae leapt up after him, pulling Devon along with her. The sudden rush and excitement of the next twenty-four hours was settling upon her hard, and she suddenly couldn’t wait to get started.
“Well, that’s perfect! Now, I know there’s a ton to do, but since most of our stuff is still boxed up in the boathouse, I don’t see why we can’t just—”
“Aren’t you forgetting about someone?”
Rae’s eyes snapped shut in dread, and she slowly rotated around. There wasn’t a single person in the world who could darken a sunny day like her little brother.
Sure enough, he was leaning against the front door with a wicked smile.
“So…where are we going?”
She took a threatening step forward, eager to shut the idea down in its tracks. For too long she had put up with his shenanigans. And while they might have made some progress on this visit, it didn’t mean that she was willing to make their forced living arrangement a full-time affair.
“We aren’t going anywhere,” she said warily. “The rest of us are moving back to London, which probably means that you should start looking for a—”
“Splendid! I love London!”
A strange vibration welled up in Rae as she fought back her temper.
“No, Kraigan! I’m serious! The only reason you’re here now is because the bloody police showed up and dumped you at my door. I’m not about to move in with my fiancé and well as my baby brother—”
“Half-brother, and it wouldn’t be so bad!” His lips widened in an anticipatory smile. “I like to think that I contribute to this group myself. A certain kind of flair, surely. I’m sure you’d miss—”
“I said no, and that’s the end of it.”
The rest of the gang slowly backed away as the half-siblings had it out.
“Listen, Rae.” Kraigan’s eyes flashed angrily. “I’m not sure if you even can say no. Like it or not, you’re my next of kin. I don’t think the coppers would take too kindly to the fact that you were up and dropping your familial responsibilities just so you could get it on with the boy next door.”
“Get it on with the…” Rae’s fists shook in rage. “He’s my fiancé, Kraigan! We’re going to get married! I’m not getting rid of you because of some passing crush!”
“It certainly seems that way!”
They were standing together now. Toe to toe.
“I’m getting rid of you because you make me want to set you on fire!”
He threw back his head with a taunting laugh. “I’d like to see you try. If it weren’t for that handy immortality you gave me, you might actually stand a chance—”
He suddenly dropped to the ground as a cloud of smoke rose in his place.
For a second, the whole gang just stared. Rae stared, too. First at the smoke. Then down at her own hand in shock. Then, slowly, a wide smile spread across her face.
“Well,” Devon came up behind her, looking proud, “I guess you got your powers back then.”
She nodded with a little grin, blowing smoke off each finger in turn. “I guess I did…”
Chapter 4
They spent the rest of the day in a state of frantic activity. But for one of the first times in a very long time, the manic momentum didn’t indicate some pending apocalypse. They weren’t racing back and forth to gather munitions, or recruit friends, or say their last goodbyes before marching off to some unknown fate. They were heading home to start a new chapter of their lives.
It helped that most of them were gifted with superpowers. In fact, Rae wasn’t sure how they would possibly have managed without it. While most of their belongings might have still been boxed away in the boathouse from their initial move to Kent, they still had an absurd number of things stashed around the spacious mansion; not to mention the fact that one of their members happened to be an admitted shopaholic.
Needless to say, things like speed, strength, and the ability to conjure endless rolls of packing tape were proving to be invaluable.
“Rae, we could use some more boxes up here!” Devon and Julian called down the stairs from the study.
They had been tasked with packing up the ‘study’, a room which was so pretentious that none of them had ever really used it, and yet, they had all s
omehow managed to pack it to the brim with useless memorabilia.
“In a minute!” she yelled back. Her brow creased in concentration as she painstakingly wound a sheet of bubble wrap around a crystal vase. “I’m almost done…there. Indestructible.” She leaned back in satisfaction, bouncing the thing gently on the floor just to prove her point. While the boys had generally been banished upstairs, she and Molly had taken it upon themselves to pack up the kitchen.
At first they’d thought it would be a deceptively easy job, as none of them spent much time cooking, so the place should be relatively empty. They’d clearly forgotten that, while there might be less in quantity, everything they pulled off the shelves had to be packed with the utmost care.
As it stood, they were spread out on the marble floor, up to their waists in so many waves of bubble wrap they looked like two defeated ballerinas whose tutus had started to unravel. Angel was supposed to be helping, but after assessing the situation she had selfishly climbed up onto the counter and begun to nap.
Molly glanced over at the vase, only to shoot Rae a sympathetic smile. “That one actually came with the estate.”
Rae stopped her bouncing at once, looking down at the perfect packing job in dismay. “You’re kidding!”
There was a soft rustling on the counter above them as a cascade of white-blonde hair tumbled down the cabinets. “I don’t see why you guys are even bothering to pack all this stuff.” Angel sounded incredibly bored. “Why not just leave it here or throw it away? Rae can always conjure more.”
Molly shot a blistering glare towards the disembodied voice. “We’re packing it because we’re not going to live like nomads—supernatural or otherwise. I bought some of this stuff myself. Picked it out when I was still in school. These things have sentimental value, Angel. Something a Neanderthal like you couldn’t possibly understand.” To finish her point, she gave the hair a sharp tug. It disappeared a second later when Angela rolled strategically out of reach.
The two girls continued to work in silence for few minutes, long enough for Molly to become convinced that Angel had fallen back to sleep, before she leaned forward with a frazzled expression. “Okay, seriously though, feel free to start tossing some of this in the trash.” She glanced around at the seemingly endless pile before them. “You can always conjure more.”