by V. M. Marsh
She eyed me suspiciously while sipping her tea, like I was going to spring a surprise hug on her. I was contemplating it due to her reaction when Lars strolled in, and Scarlet immediately went on alert. That needed fixing right now.
“As I told you over the phone, Lars and I dated in high school until I broke his heart. He went running to California, where he apparently started working for Bradley.” We sent him twin reproachful looks.
He held up his hands palms out. “Hey, I had no idea what the guy was like when I took the job. It was just a loan collecting gig, and I was stupid, naïve, and heartbroken, so it took me a while to figure out we weren’t collecting loans for banks.”
He shrugged. “Not that I cared much once I did learn it. If people were stupid enough to get a loan from Bradley, they should have known what was coming. His reputation preceded him.”
I scowled before turning back to Scarlet. “Anyway, it turns out Lars was the one to get you out of Bradley’s dungeon and hide you in that hospital.”
Her jaw dropped. “That was you? My eyes were so swollen, and I was in so much pain that I never could tell who helped me.”
She shook her head. “I don’t know what to say. Thanks doesn’t seem like enough, especially since I think he would have killed me sooner rather than later. The beatings were escalating, and that one took me months to heal from.”
Lars turned away as embarrassment spread across his face. “No need. I knew he was hurting you, I just didn’t realize how badly. However, that doesn’t matter. I should have gotten you out of there as soon as I discovered he’d ever laid a hand on you.”
“It wasn’t your responsibility, so thanks for helping me.” She paused. “What happened to you after you dropped me off at the hospital? They were looking for you because they thought you hurt me. I pretended to have amnesia, so I couldn’t tell them you hadn’t.”
His shoulders hunched as he cringed. “Actually, I went back and kept working for him.”
Her face transformed into a stone mask of fury and shock as she rose from the table. I jumped up from chair and ran between them.
“Calm down. It wasn’t like that. He went back for you.” I shouted as wind howled through my kitchen. “He was the one to warn you before Bradley could get you again. He spent years interfering with Bradley’s hunt for you and kept him from discovering magical communities.”
“If he was helping me, how did Bradley eventually find and almost kill me?” She yelled.
“He caught me trying to warn you that time and almost killed me for it. It was crazy dumb luck I was able to escape.” Lars retorted annoyed. “He’s the reason I came here to seek sanctuary.”
Scarlet’s winds died down to a breeze. “How do you know he’s not still working for Bradley and double-crossing you?”
“For one, I had a vision that Lars would kill him. Of course, that’s only a possibility. However, it’s a very likely one, especially since it’s the only one I’ve had about stopping him since you left.”
Scarlet slumped in her seat as even the breeze stopped. “And the other?”
My brows knit in confusion.
“You said that was one reason. What’s the other?”
“Oh, that. Well, we’re in love, we never should have broken up, my intuition believes him, and all that other romantic nonsense that you will probably rebuke.”
She nodded. “You got that right. However, I’ll believe your vision since it saved Cade and me.”
She frowned. “You did see that before you got back together with him, right?”
I chuckled. “Before I even allowed him to stay in the Sanctuary.”
Cracking her knuckles, she nodded. “Despite all the saving and visions and crap, I’m still not completely sold, so watch your step.”
“I’d expect nothing less.” Lars grinned and gave her a nod of respect.
I cleared my throat. “As happy as I am to have you back, I really wish you hadn’t come. It’s dangerous for you, and maybe for the Sanctuary.”
“Relax. I’ve got the pendant that hides me, and like I said, he thinks I’m dead.” I stared at her until she sighed. “Fine, I’ll also wear the wig and sunglasses whenever I leave your cabin.”
I nodded. “I still don’t like it, but I suppose it will have to do.”
“It will. Oh, and Cade is trying to get leave to come up here for a couple of weeks. We don’t want his family involved in any of this, especially since they can’t know about the magic part. Can we stay here?”
“I wouldn’t let you stay anywhere else even if you wanted to.” I paused as realization dawned on me. “It’s a good thing you didn’t come sooner. I gave Zoey your old job and apartment for the summer. Luckily, school just started up, so she had to go back to teaching.”
She smirked. “I know why you did that. So, have they hooked up since I left?”
I frowned. “I have no idea. Zoey was staying and working here, but I actually didn’t spend much time with her due to the whole Lars, Bradley, attacks, and stuff. That sucks; I was really looking forward to hanging out with her more.”
“We won’t be able to invite her out either since I’m not supposed to be here.”
I brightened. “Well, I have you, and we’re going to make the most of your time here. What do you want to do?”
“Train. We’re going to train so we can work together as a team.”
My brows flew into my hairline. “What are you planning to do?”
“Nothing yet. I just think it would be a good idea to be prepared to have all hands on deck if necessary. I fought him alone last time and lost, badly. I would be dead if Charlie hadn’t shown up when he did.” She scowled.
Lars grabbed my hand. “We’ll call Charlie tomorrow to discuss training and stuff. Right now, it’s late, and I think we should all get to bed.”
Carrying a cheese and cracker platter into the living room, I placed it on the coffee table and sat beside Scarlet on the couch. She reached for a cracker and stuffed it into her mouth.
“I’d like you to work with us, but I don’t want the M.E.A. involved.” Lars told Charlie .
Scarlet washed down her cracker with a soda. “Our fighting styles are vastly different. We need to train together, so we can learn how to work as a group.”
“It’s a good idea.” Charlie agreed. “Plus we all have different magic that we need learn to use in a way that complements each other to form a more cohesive unit.”
“That’s what I’m talking about.” Scarlet said.
“Why do we need to know how to fight together?” Lars asked. “It’s not like we’re some super hero fighting team, like the Justice League, or something.”
Scarlet rolled her eyes. “Of course, we’re not super heroes. However, if we’re caught or need to go after Bradley together, we need to know each other’s strengths and weaknesses. This way we can unite against him instead of getting in each other’s way.”
“She brings up a good point.” I added. “We might have been able to catch Bradley when he attacked the Sanctuary if the people we had gathered were able to work together better.”
Charlie nodded. “That is exactly why SWAT teams and military units conduct so many training exercises. I think it’s a good idea, and we should do it.”
Looking to me, Charlie asked, “Do you have a plan yet for going after Bradley again?”
My skin chilled as goose bumps rose. My chest grew tight as I struggled to breathe. “Things didn’t go that well the last time we tried. I mean, my mother died.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to bring that up.” Charlie studied the floor and rubbed the back of his neck.
Lars reached across the table to hold my hand. “We can’t just let him run around unchecked. We are going to have to go after him again at some point.”
“I suppose so. I haven’t given it much thought, especially after what happened last time.”
Scarlet wrapped her arm around my shoulders. “What happened was a tragedy. And as much as I’d li
ke to say it won’t happen next time, there are no guarantees. Bradley is dangerous and none of us might come out alive next time. Despite that, we still have to try.”
“I know. I’ve seen the devastation he will bring if he’s not stopped. However, it’s still hard to think of going after him again and possibly losing one of you.” They all looked blurry through my watery eyes.
“I’m not ready yet.” I whispered.
Scarlet squeezed me with her arm as Lars squeezed my hand. “None of us are. Your mom was an amazing woman even though she didn’t like me.”
I chuckled sadly. “She liked you, she just wanted to see me with someone different. However, I really believe she was coming around to the idea of us together.”
“We are going to need to come up with a plan to deal with Bradley soon. I will try to keep the M.E.A. out of it as much as I can, but I can’t promise anything.” Charlie brought us back on topic.
“Especially since they are still pretty upset about you going in before them, which ruined their raid. Bradley moved locations after that, and we still haven’t found his new hideout yet."
I cringed. We had really screwed that one up and my mom had paid for it with her life. If we had to do it again, I would make sure we were better prepared this time.
“I think we should go with Scarlet’s plan. If nothing else, it will be good practice for whoever ends up fighting Bradley.” I said. “We’ll train every day and start off alternating between physical and magical training.”
Charlie turned to Scarlet. “Zoey will be so happy you are here. She really misses you and Cade.”
If I hadn’t looked at Scarlet right at that moment, I would have missed her barely perceptible flinch. “We can’t tell her I’m here. Cade will be joining me as soon as he gets leave cleared. Even after he is here, we still can’t tell her.”
Charlie’s brows grew together. “Did something happen between you all I didn’t hear about?”
Scarlet shook her head. “It’s nothing like that. She doesn’t have magic or know about it. Her finding out would only put her in danger. I think that’s the last thing any of us want.”
Charlie rubbed his face and scowled. “I hadn’t thought about that. You’re absolutely right. Zoey in danger is the absolute last thing I would ever want.”
“So as much as it sucks, we won’t get to see Zoey or Cade’s parents while we are here. To make it extra crappy, Cade will be using his vacation time to hide from them. That means he will have less of it to use when he does get to spend time with them.”
“He doesn’t need to come.” Lars said. “He doesn’t have any magic, and he is in the Navy, so it’s not like he has combat experience.”
Scarlet glared at him. “He has a lot more skills then you give him credit for. While I agree with you that I would rather he not come because I am afraid for his safety, you try telling him that. I had a helluva time keeping him from going AWOL to come up with me now because I wasn’t willing to wait any longer to come.”
“Why did he have a problem with that?” Charlie asked. I was confused about this point too. Cade was not the controlling type, so this seemed out of character for him.
“Bradley almost killed us the last time he found me. Cade didn’t want me going anywhere near Bradley without him because he is afraid for me.”
We all nodded. Even though scarlet had magic to defend herself with, it was understandable that he would want to be by her side if she was in danger.
“That sucks about Zoey though. She has been pretty down since you guys moved away.” Charlie lamented. “She would have loved to see you guys.”
“Yeah, and I hate lying to her even if it’s just by omission.” Scarlet added.
Chagrined expressions crossed our faces. Charlie cringed and said, “You all know I’m here undercover for M.E.A., so I understand just how much it sucks lying to everyone because I have to.”
“It’s horrible keeping such big secrets from your loved ones.” I said looking sadly at Scarlet. “I think what makes it even worse is that we have to keep them completely in the dark, which means we have to lie to their faces. It’s not like we can give them the big picture or gist of it and then tell them that details are confidential.”
Cringing, she patted my hand awkwardly.
“Unfortunately, magic users have been too persecuted whenever they have tried to come out of hiding. However, in terms of Zoey, it’s less about her knowing about magic and more about protecting her. It just sucks that we kind of have to betray her to do that.” I said.
Her face softened. “It’s a lot like what happened between us. Let’s hope Zoey is a lot more understanding and forgiving than I was.”
I smirked. “Yeah, you were kind of a jerk about it, especially since you were doing the exact same thing to Cade.”
“You know, I said the exact same thing to Cade when he was trying to convince me to get over it as easily as he had.” Scarlet held my hand. “You have no idea how much I regret not being able to do so, especially since I wasn’t here for you when you needed me most.”
Letting go and patting my hand, she said, “That’s enough mushy crap, but it still sucks we have to keep Zoey in the dark.”
Glancing at Charlie from the corner of my eye, he seemed to be the most upset about it of us all.
Chapter Eighteen
Diving at the ground to avoid a fireball, my eyes narrowed at Lars. “I know we’re trying to make this realistic, but I like my hair. If you really loved me, you would stop trying to burn it off.”
Scarlet chuckled and pushed me back to my feet using cushion of air she’d created with magic. We had teamed up against Lars and Charlie. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but we were not getting the hang of this whole teamwork thing. Apparently, we each wanted to be the hero and sacrifice ourselves for our teammate.
“I could have blocked that if you hadn’t gotten in my way,” Scarlet scolded.
Dusting my hands on my pants, I scowled at her. “How was I supposed to know that? It’s not like you’re communicating well with me.”
“We’re all stressed out, so let’s inject a little calm and serenity into it to help us foc-“ Charlie began before Scarlet blasted him off his feet with a burst of air.
“Don’t use your lullaby voice magic on us while we’re distracted.” Scarlet scolded. “Naughty boy.”
Laughing, I hid behind her and peered at the guys over her shoulder. “We need to come up with a plan. Flying by the seat of our pants isn’t working out for us.”
“They aren’t having any better luck than we are.” She commented.
“Exactly. So if we can coordinate, we’ll have the upper hand.”
“I don’t know about that. Lars’s crazy reality warping thing is pretty difficult to compete with.”
“We’re going to have to try. Bradley has that power and so much more, which means he’s going to be way harder to defeat than the two of them.” I scowled. That didn’t sound at all promising, especially since we were having so much trouble with just these two.
She rubbed her face. “How about this? I’ll steam the ground to cover them with a dense fog, so we can still tell where they are, but they won’t be able to see us. Then I’ll trap them in a swirling wind cage.”
I perched my hands on my hips as I glowered at her. “And what will I do, stand her and look pretty?”
She skeptically arched a brow. “Well, what’s your plan?”
As I studied the pair and they put their heads together for plotting of their own, it came to me. “I’ll pretend to be a damsel in distress that Lars will want to rescue. While he’s distracted, you suck Charlie up into a tornado, and I will knock Lars out with a sleeper hold.”
Scarlet howled with laughter. “He would never buy the whole damsel in distress bit from you.”
“I suppose that’s true.” I sighed. “Why don’t I throw knives at them to keep them off you while you’re creating your fog, and then you can trap them in a cage?”
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She nodded. “Now that sounds like a plan. Let’s start while we have the element of surprise.”
Keeping her arms at her sides to discretely point her palms at the ground, she began quickly drying it to make the air steamy. Before they realized what she was doing, I ran diagonally towards them while pulling small throwing knives from a pouch hung from my hip.
Two heads shot up to watch me. Lars’s lips tilted in amusement while alarm spread across Charlie’s face. His eyes darted while searching for something to hide behind because he knew what was coming. Since Lars was just standing there like he thought I was cute, Charlie jumped behind him to use him as a human shield.
Martial arts and boxing were just one element my parents made sure I was trained in. Smirking, I threw knives at them in quick succession aiming for their thighs away from major arteries. Mostly, though, I aimed my throws close enough to their bodies to look like the knives would hit, but they would actually come within a hair’s breadth of striking.
Lars’s eyes widened as he realized the peril he was in and that I was a threat. Charlie snickered while he used Lars as a human shield. His power could only change others’ perception of space, so it was more like an illusion than transporting or something like that. It would work on sounds, but was useless against knives already flying towards him. As was his fire because the knives could pass through that too.
Although, it might affect their trajectory, which is what he apparently hoped for as he threw up a wall of fire in front of himself. I giggled. Little did he know these particular knives had been treated with magic to go through elemental magic, such as fire, wind, and water.
“Oh, shit!” He yelled from the other side of his wall of flames.
I grinned. His fire would help Scarlet dry the ground more quickly to make it steam too.
He wouldn’t be using my knives against me because they were also covered with transportation magic to make them return to me. When I called for them, they would transport back to my pouch.
“Knives!” I yelled. Luckily, this only worked when I wore the pouch so I didn’t accidentally call them when I was in the kitchen or talking to someone or something innocuous like that.