Guardian

by Heather Burch

  How often in a lifetime could someone watch three hot teenage boys sail through the air like eagles? Dipping and soaring on the thermal currents …

  Off to one side of the mast, she spotted a seagull. It dove for the water, and Nikki couldn’t stop herself from running to the edge of the rail to see what it was after. The bird took flight as she halted and grabbed the railing. A thin fish wiggled in the bird’s beak.

  “Likely to see dolphin later.” The voice, heavy with an Australian accent, made her jump.

  Nikki turned to find herself face-to-face with yet another hot teenage guy. His eyes were the blue of the sky and his skin was deeply tanned.

  “What?” Way to impress him with your witty repartee.

  He nodded toward the cobalt expanse of rolling waves beyond the marina. “If you think a seagull finding breakfast is entertaining, wait until we run across a family of dolphin. Babies and all, jumping right outta the water.” His last word came out wah-duh. Accents were so cool. She ran across very few of them in Missouri—which made them even more captivating. Then the guy smiled. Wow. A row of perfect white teeth. He had to be a Halfling. That cute, that tall, and that …

  A voice from above interrupted her thoughts. “Not as entertaining as the school of amberjack we found last week.”

  Nikki squinted, head tilted back, and tried to get a fix on the voice. She gasped when she saw him suspended there. One hand wrapped around a loose rope while the other tied something. He wore long shorts, a white tank, and his bare feet dangled precariously a good thirty feet above her. His partially obstructed view of her must have caused him to push off the wooden post, because in a moment’s time he was sailing in a high arc like an acrobat. Nikki lifted a hand to her head to block the sun’s glare from her view of the boy who flew through the air with the greatest of ease.

  He tipped an imaginary hat to her.

  Nikki waved.

  The Aussie said, “Yeah, I’d agree the amberjack were cool, but—”

  “Everyone’s seen dolphin, brother. It’s not that big of a deal.” Again, the boy swung past. He was as tan as the first, but with darker brown hair laced with golden streaks, the kind reserved for surfers and, apparently, acrobatic sailors.

  He released the rope and plummeted to the ground. Nikki screamed, clamping her hand over her mouth. He landed at her feet in that felinelike way Halflings had, balls of his feet absorbing the impact and knees deeply bent. The boy straightened slowly and held a hand out in greeting.

  When she stood there motionless, he plucked her hand from her mouth, inserted his palm into hers, and pumped several times, jolting her out of her shock.

  “You must be Nikki? Right? Is it Nikki? We’ve met the other females. So you must be …”

  “Nikki,” the older one finished for him with an exhale. “Excuse my brother. He’s had too much caffeine this morning.”

  Okay, there were so many things she needed to say. First of all, how could they be Halflings and be brothers? She didn’t think that was possible. Will told her Halflings had only one offspring. And there was the other thing he’d said. Yes, she definitely needed to deal with that first. “Oh, I’m not a female.”

  His eyes blinked in an unspoken question, brows rising to peaks on his forehead.

  She shook her head. “I mean I am, but I’m not a female.”

  He continued to hold her hand and glanced downward over her body. It was a quick look, but still it set her cheeks on fire.

  “He’s not great with the ladies,” the older boy said, then clamped his hands over theirs and broke the hold. “My name’s Sky. It’s great to meet you, Nikki.”

  An Aussie sky. I’ve always wanted to see one of those. “You too, Sky. I meant that I’m not a …” Her words trailed. What if they weren’t Halflings? Should she even say the word Halfling? Maybe she’d blow their cover. If, of course, there was a cover. She really should have questioned Will more about this trip. At least she wouldn’t forget his name; Aussie Sky, eyes like this cloudless afternoon.

  Sky’s smile brightened. “You’re not a Halfling. We get it. But you are a Seer, so forgive us for our excitement. We don’t come in contact with a lot of Seers.”

  She nodded, hoping the bobbing of her head would somehow force the disjointed thoughts back in line. It didn’t work.

  “My brother here, the caffeine-induced jittery one, is Dash. You’ll meet Ocean later. We’re on a skeleton crew this trip since several of us got pretty banged up last voyage and are in the midplane. So don’t be surprised if we expect you to earn your keep.”

  Nikki swallowed a lump that had lodged in her throat. “I don’t want to hang from the rigging.”

  Sky and Dash shot a confused look to each other then laughed.

  “Right.” Which sounded like roy-t. “We’ll find ground-level stuff for you. Maybe you can scrub the fish guts off the deck.”

  Nikki actually felt her face turn green.

  Will stepped toward the group. “Dash, Sky. Good to see you two fit to go. I heard about your run-in.”

  Dash gestured to the mast. “Should have seen it, Will. I thought we were going down for sure. But we pulled out. Saved the crew aboard the titanium transport too.”

  Will turned to Nikki. “An illegal shipment of titanium was making its way to the States. It was to be used for wingcuffs.”

  “Wingcuffs?”

  He nodded. “Titanium brackets that clamp around a Halfling’s midsection.”

  Dash motioned around his ribcage. “Weakens us and makes flight impossible. The ship gave us a pretty good fight.”

  “What happened to it?”

  “It’s resting,” Dash said.

  “At the bottom of the ocean,” Sky finished for him. “No loss of life, though. We’re pretty careful about that.”

  With the whole “kill a human, spend eternity in hell” thing, she supposed all the Halflings were pretty careful about that. “But your crew was injured?”

  “Yeah, all but the best.” Dash rocked back on his heels.

  “All but those in bed asleep, he means.”

  Nikki angled to see the owner of the deep voice. He was maybe an inch or two taller than Sky and Dash, but looked slightly older. Like the other two, his skin was gloriously darkened by the sunrays, and his eyes glinted with wisdom that seemed out of proportion with his age.

  “Good to see you, Ocean,” Will said, shaking his hand.

  “Your bags arrived last night. We’ll be provisioned and ready to leave by tomorrow morning, although it could be a bit rough as we’ve got some weather coming in. The boys?”

  “They’re on their way. Should be here shortly. But I haven’t heard from Vegan, Winter, and Glimmer.”

  “They were here, but decided to go back to get something.”

  “Really?” Will’s chin dropped, punctuating his intrigue. It was that heavenly angel thing he did.

  Ocean chucked a nod toward the gangplank.

  They all followed his gaze.

  Poor Zero. He was being half dragged, half shoved by three females who looked tired of the game. He clutched a laptop to his chest, and his words were heated—though inaudible—as the four of them approached the boat.

  “Oh, this is classic,” Dash whispered.

  Nikki gave him a questioning glance.

  “Zero’s afraid of the water.”

  Awww. The tall, thin, icy-eyed controller of the Halfling network looked as out of place as a tractor in a shopping mall. White knuckles gripped the railing as he mounted the steps that would carry him onto the ship. His other arm held the laptop even tighter. He said something and Glimmer rolled her eyes. Vegan spoke to him, and even from a distance Nikki recognized soothing words of encouragement.

  Once his feet were firmly planted on the deck and he’d moved away from the railing in a kind of one-foot-forward shuffle, Zero stood in the center of the boat looking around. His eyes fell on Nikki. “Oh, you’re here?”

  So much for feeling sorry for him. She�
�d forgotten how acerbic he could be.

  Glimmer flashed a quick smile that didn’t reach her eyes.

  Vegan and Winter both crossed the deck to Nikki and sort of trapped her in a surprising girl hug. She maintained her stoic position—motionless and wordless. She wasn’t a big hugger.

  Zero laughed. “Get used to the sisterhood, Nikki. It appears you’ve been inducted.”

  “So where are Mace and Raven?” Glimmer asked, seemingly ignoring Sky, Dash, and Ocean while her body language read her awareness of them and her golden eyes took in everything on the boat.

  For some reason, her question irritated Nikki even more than the Vegan and Winter love fest. Why hadn’t Glimmer asked about Mace, Raven, and Vine?

  Because she wasn’t interested in Vine. Mace and Raven … that was another story. It shouldn’t bother Nikki. It shouldn’t feel like fingernails along a chalkboard down her back. But it did. Scraping, screeching fingernails dragging along, until …

  Until she imagined herself trapping that flirty girl in a headlock.

  She could feel a scream of frustration building in her throat. Nikki swallowed, forcing it down like bitter medicine. This was not the way to start a voyage. Usually, when things got to her, she set out on her motorcycle and let wind and speed work its magic. Here she’d have to deal with Glimmer because there was no escape. Hello, it’s a boat. She threw a longing look to land then to Zero, and understood why he clutched the laptop so tightly. If her bike was here, she’d be doing the same thing. And a motorcycle on a boat was about as much use as a laptop on the ocean. Zero caught her looking at him and sneered.

  Nikki felt ensnared in a bad reality show. So this was to be her life for the next, oh, she had no idea how long. Maybe they could sell the show idea to MTV. Reality with a supernatural twist. It’d be a hit. She could see it now: Will acting fatherly; Sky, Dash, and Ocean sending her to clean fish muck; Winter and Vegan and their girly “Let’s be best friends” squealing; Glimmer and her ice-dagger stares; Zero and his sneers; Vine and an unending supply of candy. Had she left anything out? Oh yeah, Mace and Raven. The real twist in the program.

  It was going to be a long trip.

  Chapter 3

  Nikki stood on the deck of The Journey as the boys approached.

  Vegan had ushered Zero into the depths of the boat,

  Glimmer was off somewhere—probably doing her nails or applying another layer of lip gloss—and the “crew” was doing all sorts of shippish things readying for departure or disembarking or deportment or whatever they called it. Nikki rested her head against a post, hands gripping the railing as she watched Mace, Raven, and Vine cross the marina lot. Even from a distance, she could see the thread of tension wound tightly around Mace. It seemed to intensify as he drew closer to the ship.

  Vine walked between the two other boys and tried, unsuccessfully, to grab something from Raven. Nikki squinted and leaned over the railing to see what it was. A bag of candy dangled beneath Raven’s fist. When Vine lunged for it, it was snatched from reach. Vine could fly. He could just launch himself at it. And maybe that’s what he’d intended to do, until his eyes scanned the area and found too many people in close proximity. Raven waved a finger at him as if to say, “No.”

  The air carried the sound of their laughter to her. Boy games. So silly—and so desperately needed, she fought the urge to laugh as well. She was smiling, something she hadn’t done much of in the past few days. And there’d been little laughter either.

  Vine tried to engage Mace in the game, but he’d have none of it. Nikki watched as his spine straightened, his shoulders expanded, and a deep inhale lifted the muscles of his chest.

  Her heart broke, and the steel-like barriers she’d worked hard to construct fell.

  He was preparing to board. Preparing to see her in the close confines of a ship where they’d spend days on end.

  When Vine tried one last time to pull Mace into the fun, Raven’s interest quelled. He tossed the bag at Vine with such force, the younger boy had to jolt back to keep it from hitting him in the face. So this had been Vine’s existence since her arrival. Trying to keep peace and keep the boys from killing each other. She’d been so busy avoiding life, she’d failed to notice. Poor Vine.

  No wonder she’d found him that night on the back porch with tears in his eyes, his white-blond hair wrapped around his shoulders like a blanket and his knees drawn to his chest. The night she promised him she’d stay away from Mace and Raven.

  “They made it. Good,” Ocean said, stopping beside her. “You settle in okay, Nikki?”

  She nodded, not bothering to look at him. Her eyes were glued to Mace. “Yes. I didn’t bring that many clothes, so everything fit in the trunk under the bunk beds.”

  “Sorry you four girls have to share a cabin.”

  “It’s fine.” And even if it wasn’t, did it matter? She was trapped on a boat with no way to cope, no sense of home, and no privacy. Why not add sharing a barracks-type room with girls she barely knew? One of which couldn’t stand her, and the feeling was mutual.

  “Nikki,” Ocean said, his voice dropping, “there is a purpose to this voyage.”

  Okay, that drew her attention. She forced her hair from her face, where it had danced in her eyes, moving in tandem with dangling ropes, edges of sails, and everything else not fastened tightly to the boat.

  “Will wouldn’t have brought you on if he didn’t have a good reason.”

  True enough. When she’d questioned Will about the heavenly angels and their visit, he changed the subject, saying the boat would be a fabulous place for her to get some training as a Seer. Whatever that meant.

  Ocean gestured with one hand. “Look around you. Will, the boys, the females. Even Zero, who loathes the water.”

  Unruly strands smacked against her hand, fighting desperately to be released from her grip. She tried to hold them firm but felt her persistence slipping. She could no more hold her hair out of the wind than she could erase the destruction she’d caused. “But Will didn’t know Zero was coming.”

  “Exactly. Which makes it that much more interesting.”

  Really? She was having a hard time finding it interesting. Irritating. Aggravating. Even terrifying. But interesting? No.

  He planted his hands on his hips. “You’re a Seer. What do you see?”

  Her eyes slid to the gangplank. Mace. And Raven. And a gulf of hatred that now separates the two. “I don’t see anything, Ocean. I know you said you and Sky and Dash were anxious to meet me, but I’m going to be a huge disappointment. I didn’t know I was doing it—seeing the other realm and all. I only see it when I draw. I’d always thought ideas were coming from my imagination until hell hounds actually arrived and chased me through the woods. When I questioned Will about it, he said my drawings have the ability to create a doorway for the supernatural. The hell hounds I first encountered crossed over because of me. So my being a Seer doesn’t help anyone. It just creates more danger. For everyone.”

  “Well, that explains why Will wants you on the boat.”

  Nikki gathered her hair at her nape and tucked the bulk of it into her collar. “What do you mean?”

  “Demons and hell hounds have been cast to the dry places. They crave water but aren’t successful at finding it or navigating through it. A big body of water creates a lot of difficulty for them. There’s nowhere for them to go if they leave their part of the midplane. It’s fairly unlikely any would choose to land on the boat—they’re weaker when they are out of the dry places. Plus, with all of us on here, it would be certain death.”

  “So it’s safer to train here.”

  “For a time, but creatures from the pit are resourceful. Eventually, they will think of a way to attack.”

  “Great,” she mumbled.

  Ocean’s warm blue eyes smiled down at her. One tanned hand left his hip and landed on her shoulder. “Try to relax. Maybe even enjoy the trip.”

  As Mace appeared on the deck with Vine behind him
and Raven trailing them both, Nikki was sure that would be unlikely. Of all the things this trip would be, enjoyable seemed impossible.

  Her stomach tightened, and she slipped behind a post when Ocean stepped forward to greet the boys. Tilting slightly, she peered around the edge of the wooden hideaway. Mace hadn’t noticed her. He was busy greeting Ocean and introducing Vine. Then Sky made his way over from the helm, where he’d apparently been checking strange electronics with even stranger names like Loran and Depth Finder.

  Sky, Dash, and Ocean had certainly been nice enough, and had made her feel welcomed. But as the group of six Halfling boys chatted about things like the trip and the weather, her eyes stayed trained on Mace. She hurt for him. For all he’d been through.

  She’d been avoiding eye contact—any contact, for that matter—for so many days, she’d almost forgotten the planes of his smooth face. Strong but tempered with a gentleness that came as much from within as without. His jawline, his straight nose, and those full lips that had kissed her hands after they were burned in a laboratory fire …

  As if he knew her thoughts, his tongue darted out and moistened his lips. He gave Sky a half smile after some comment about swabbing the deck. They were all laughing now in that good-natured way guys had, while she was a million miles away, tucked behind a wooden post. Her fingers began to ache. As she raised them to eye level, she realized she’d clamped them down, trying unsuccessfully to capture his touch and that electric sensation of his mouth gently kissing away her pain. She needed to force her thoughts in another direction, because she didn’t know how much a heart could take.

  Raven was there too, but her eyes remained on Mace, at least until she could stand it no more. It was almost unsettling to see such a large group of Halfling boys. Each tall, lean, their sixfoot-plus frames and strong shoulders coated in long muscles. To outsiders, the boat could easily be the site of a photo shoot for some top designer’s clothing line. But while human models needed to work hard to appear so perfect, Halflings couldn’t help themselves. Flawless features. No brow waxing needed. Hair that fell perfectly into place. What one would expect from beings who are half angel.