It was hard for me to get any decent sleep. Each time my eyes drifted shut I saw the picture in the pocket watch come alive and the events following it replayed in my head. Someone had the dang thing on a loop, and living it once had been good enough for me. It was kind of cool the first time I watched me create the giant fireball from a different perspective.
I was brought out of my fitful sleep by the sound of a rooster crowing. Not an actual rooster, just the alarm clock next to Nate’s side of the bed. It was a good thing he had it on his side because I would’ve thrown it across the rom.
I groaned as I listened to it annoyingly squawk. I understood it went with the general farmhouse vibe the hotel had going on, but it was not the way I wanted to wake up. At some point Nate had removed my shoes, so I couldn’t reach under the covers and pry one of them off to throw at the ear-piercing device.
“It’d probably be easier if I hit the button, but I can provide you with a shoe if that would make you feel better,” Nate whispered into my ear.
His idea had merit, and I pondered it for a split second. “Just turn that thing off. I need to be able to think today and too much more of that will leave me without a brain.” There wasn’t a logical reason why it would slowly dissolve my brain, but I could see it happening.
He chuckled as he rolled over and hit a button. As soon as silence hit my ears I breathed deeply and got a big whiff of cinnamon. I’d been so occupied at figuring out our next move that I hadn’t exactly cleaned my plate at dinner, and my stomach rumbled to remind me it liked to have food in it.
“Yeah, and this morning I’m going to make sure you don’t skimp. I know we’re quick healers and all that, but I wouldn’t doubt it if your body still had the impression you were eating for four. Also, I don’t think I need to say it, but I will anyway. You need all the energy you can get for whatever is ahead of us today.”
“I only ate the entire buffet line once, and I vowed that wasn’t happening again, so I don’t really care what my body thinks it needs all the food for. It will get exactly what I deem necessary and not a bite more.”
The buffet line incident wasn’t in my current lifetime. It’d happened when I was pregnant with Zain. Back then, the food was a little more rustically prepared and a buffet usually consisted of every part of an animal or two cooked by various methods, plus a few sides.
Just the thought of all that braised, grilled and boiled meat made my stomach sick. As time had gone on, I’d developed some different standards of food preparation, and nothing from that time period would have met those standards. If I only had a conventional oven back them, I would’ve ruled the world.
“We’ll see how it goes. I’m sure the bacon and ham will be safe from you, but I’m not so sure about the pancakes and eggs. I think I even smell some hash browns, and we all know about your weakness for fried potatoes.”
I groaned and kicked at his thigh before I escaped the bed to use the bathroom attached to the room. As I made my way to it, I swore my stomach was taunting me, telling me a trough of cheesy hash browns was the only way to make it shut up. I didn’t believe Nate could actually smell them, but I was sniffing the air as subtly as I could to see if I picked up a whiff.
When I was finished relieving myself, washing my hands and straightening my hair a little, I came back in the room to find Nate dressed and ready to go. It was going to take me a minute to grab my weapons and put my shoes on. The shoes weren’t that important, but I wasn’t going anywhere unless I was armed.
“I’ll take care of the shoes, you start arming up,” he instructed. I looked at him skeptically, so he explained what he envisioned. “I’m pretty sure you can put all your toys on while sitting down on the bed. It might be a little awkward for a few of them, but you’ve been wearing things externally, so it won’t take special maneuvering.”
He was right, but watching me pretend to be a flamingo would’ve been more fun for him. I walked over and put the knives that I wore on my thighs in place. I probably could’ve done it sitting down, since my sheaths were on the outside of my pants. I usually hid them, but having them handy was more important than scaring the average person walking down the street.
Once everything felt comfortable, I sat down and lifted my right foot up for Nate to go to work. It felt silly, because I was used to doing everything for myself. There was a short time when Nate had waited on me when I’d been shot and he’d convinced a unique doctor to tell me I had to take things easy.
Other than that, I’d always done everything for myself. Even during that time I tried to take charge of everything. It was no fair Nate was bigger than I was and at the time the only one of us who had any powers.
“How many times did you threaten to kill me within that first month? I think I stopped counting after the first hundred. I figured if you could come up with a hundred ways to kill me within a day, I didn’t want to think too hard about whether you could pull it off.”
I had to laugh as I secured a machete to my back. I was lucky my sheaths were pliable, so it didn’t hurt to sleep with them on. I hadn’t ever slept in one prior to then, but going through all the effort of taking them off would’ve been too much for me the night before.
“If I had to guess, I’d say I averaged twenty times a day, at the minimum, so probably around a thousand times. I really hated how you barged into my life and decided you knew what was best for me.”
“But I did know what was best for you, especially since you didn’t even know who you were.”
He finished tying my shoes and let his hand linger on my left calf. Most of the guys opted for combat boots, but I preferred a pair of beat up, purple sneakers I’d had for four or five years. If I could’ve gotten by without shoes, I would’ve run around barefoot, but when you’re looking for a fight that just isn’t logical.
“I knew exactly who I was, other than the fact I was a zillion years old, married to you and had five kids. None of those changed the fact that I was capable of caring for myself.”
Nate smartly didn’t comment any further on the subject and stood up. I’d managed to get all my gizmos and doodads in place, so I got up as well once I carefully slipped the pocket watch in my pocket. My stomach was still demanding food, so I grabbed his hand and hauled him towards the door.
I could hear silverware clacking against plates, and I wanted my share of food. Hearing other people eating was making me jealous, which said a lot about my state of mind.
“You could make the food appear up here if you’re really that hungry,” Nate offered.
“Or I could teleport right to it, but I’m trying not to scare the owners of the hotel. We’ve already scarred them for life after they had to deal with Rick’s ‘needs’ last night. The man is lucky I love him.”
I ran down the stairs to the first floor a little faster than normal. I heard voices around mouthfuls of food, which meant if there was any food left, it was probably in limited quantities. I’d warned the nice woman who’d checked us in that we were going to need about five times what they usually made for each individual. She’d eyed me skeptically at the time, but I hoped she realized I wasn’t joking.
“There’s nothing weird about asking for a trained squirrel to bring me a chocolate mint at exactly one-thirty-five in the morning.” Rick waited until we’d made it into the dining hall before making his comment.
The owners of the hotel who’d heard the request had laughed, but they quickly realized Rick was being as serious as he was capable of. I tried to pass it off as a joke, but Rick had his eyes set on that squirrel, and pressed that his experience would be subpar if he didn’t get it.
“Sorry if I believe differently. I’m guessing you didn’t see a squirrel at that time, trained or otherwise.”
I grabbed a plate and started piling pancakes on it, while trying to keep myself from drooling on them. It was a difficult task, especially when I found there were four options for syrup. There was the traditional maple, along with strawberry, blackberry and apple.
> My brain didn’t want to make a specific decision, so I poured the various kinds in streaks across the five-high stack of pancakes. There was still a little room on my plate, so I spooned a couple of piles of hash browns on. They were of the variety that were just potatoes cut into small squares sautéed with peppers and onions, otherwise known as my favorite.
I started nibbling on them before I even got to one of the few free seats in the room, sadly it was next to my brother. No one seemed particularly jovial, but there was a nice buzz of conversation going on. Most of it consisted of ideas of where we could find the clue we’d overlooked the day before. It was nice to know that not everyone listened in on my phone conversations.
I assumed some of the stronger uniques had accidently overheard things, but at the same time no appeared like they were ready to pack up and head to the next spot. I couldn’t believe Rick hadn’t been listening outside my door.
“Nah, no squirrels, but they did tie a mint around a dog and send him to my room. They’re all about making the customer happy here. I may even decide to come back for a visit once all the dust settles. I tried talking the folks who own that smokehouse into letting me move in with them, but they were a little worried about how much of their product would end up in my stomach.”
“Don’t worry, I ordered you a bacon bundle a few weeks ago for your birthday, and I’m sure you can sign up for some kind of bacon of the month club. It’s a little surprising you haven’t found one of those already.”
“I see,” Rick said as he bit into a piece of bacon. “That’s why you instantly thought to come here.”
“I can’t believe you told him. You never give any clues about presents.” Nate sounded genuinely offended as he took his seat next to me.
“True, but I didn’t want him trying to stay behind when we leave in a little bit. He’s hard enough to keep an eye on with him right in front of me and focused on a task.” I didn’t care that my mouth was full of pancakes as I tried to get my words out.
Rick put his last bite of food in his mouth and pushed his plate away. He eyed me, seemingly waiting for me to say something else. I decided not to oblige him.
“Seriously? You aren’t going to come right out and tell me what freaky dream or premonition you had to say confidently that we’re moving on from this town in a little bit?”
“Well, when you put it that way, I think I’ll keep my freaky dream or premonition to myself.”
“Now you’ve done it. Why do you always have to put her in a bad mood?” Joseph asked.
Our table had eight chairs, with the berserkers, Vinnie and Elan taking up the other seats. Kyle and Liam were busy filling their faces, but everyone else was waiting for me to come up with a real answer. The conversations I’d noticed around the room had died down.
“It’s a talent he learned in the womb. Speaking of the womb, I called to see how things were last night and mom was using the part of her brain she passed on to me.”
“Wait,” Rick said interrupting me before I could explain. “Are you admitting that mom actually figured out what about a hundred other people couldn’t?”
“Technically we won’t know until we get there, but for once in her life she made sense.”
“Wow, what does she have that she’s blackmailing you with, and why hasn’t she shared it with me?”
“Shut up, Freddie. Nate kept me from leaving last night, but I’m just about ready to go. Why don’t you go make sure the bills are all paid and the rest of us will talk about where we’re going?”
I knew that wasn’t going to happen, and since we’d prepaid for everything, it wasn’t necessary. As frustrating as things were turning out, it was nice to joke with him a little.
“Well at least you didn’t tell me to go run in the street. I’m pretty sure around here it’d take a while for a car to come along and do any damage.”
He was more likely to get run over by a horse, unless some tourists had shown up. Since there was no chance a horse would get the better of him, I avoided continuing that line of conversation.
“Anyway, we’re heading back to Orange City. As Mother pointed out, the only clue we’ve found here is pointing back to where we came from.”
“Why would we be directed to come here if it was only to go back?”
I didn’t have a good answer to Rick’s question, even after thinking about it while I couldn’t sleep. I wanted to move forward, but until Malphas lifted whatever veil was keeping me from pinpointing his location, I was stuck following his directions.
“We won’t know until we go there and see if that’s really what the pocket watch meant. I’m heading outside. Hopefully within the next five minutes everyone is ready to go. I don’t want to transport anyone while they’re in the shower, but I’m not going to wait around forever.”
CHAPTER 9
Does anyone happen to have any idea what’s going on?