Book four of the Avery Clavens series
Amber Lynn
Copyright © 2012 Amber Lynn
This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. The characters are productions of the author’s imagination and used fictitiously.
Author’s note
Prepare yourself for a wild ride
So this story really did come out of nowhere. I had stopped writing and was trying to come up with a walkthrough type companion book, when ideas just started flying into my mind. First came a location. Then the twists and turns the book could take. Sometimes I think Avery is really an evil witch and making me write about her. Okay not really, it was a joke. Put down the phone and throw away the number to the psychiatric hospital.
Again, this took place in a location I’ve never been before, so I may have made portions of it up. I’m hoping by the time I get to the last book, I’ll be ready to have at least part of it take place in my hometown. I’m finding as I think about it, it’s difficult to pick a single place, but there are a lot possibilities.
Well, I won’t keep you from this story as I yammer about ones to come. Thank you for continuing to read Avery’s tale. There’s still a lot of fun to come.
Amber
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
CHAPTER 1
Marriage is the only war in which you sleep with the enemy
“You may now kiss the bride,” the minister said, just before Frannie and Gary started earnestly making out. It was gross, and it looked like they were about to eat each other’s faces off. I really hoped me and Nate didn’t look like that when we kissed, because if we did, I was going to have to put an end to it.
I glanced over at Nate and saw that he was chuckling at the expression on my face. Next to him, Rick was doing the same. Come on, it was a gross abuse of a wedding kiss. Couldn’t everybody see that?
I stuck my tongue out at them and telepathically asked, “Should we put a stop to this? There are kids in the audience and I don’t think they should have to witness this.”
“They can’t last much longer, sis,” Rick mentally said. “I mean, even though they’re pretty much immortal, they do need to breathe sometime.”
The minister started clearing his throat to get their attention. “I now present to you, Mr. and Mrs. Gary Heinz.”
Thankfully that did the trick and they separated. The crowd cheered as we made our way down the aisle behind them. As the best man and maid of honor, Nate and I got to walk together.
“You still sure you want to go through with the whole wedding thing?” he asked quietly.
“Ours is going to be nothing like this. No huge church, no five hundred guests, and definitely no ice sculpture of the two of us holding hands. I don’t know who thought that was a good idea, but it’s really creepy,” I replied.
“Thank God,” he said, laughing softly. “Have you even told Frannie yet? It’s just a month away.”
“No, I wanted her to get through her own wedding without taking the spotlight away from her. I’ll let everyone know when she comes back from the honeymoon.” As far as I was concerned, telling them five minutes beforehand was enough warning for the kind of wedding I was planning. The smaller the crowd, the better.
“Do you know what they’re serving at this reception?” he asked, focusing on the present.
“Probably just about everything you can imagine. I’m kind of surprised she opted for a buffet-style dinner, it’s not really her style. Lobster and steak served by an army of waiters is what I figured we’d be stuck with,” I replied.
“It is a little strange for her, but I have a feeling she did it to make it a little less stuffy for you. How about the all-important question, how long do you think we have to stay?”
“We have to give the toasts, but maybe after an hour or so we can disappear unnoticed. I won’t be eating anything, because I’m still afraid of food I didn’t watch being prepared, so that may give us an excuse if we need it,” I said. “Just tell everyone I picked up a stomach bug, and you have to take me home.”
“Sounds like a plan to me. It’s cute that they’ve found each other and decided to mate, but I’m tired of how stressed this wedding has made you. It’d be one thing if it was our wedding.”
“Life is just stressful right now, and helping to pick out dresses and flowers didn’t make things easier. It will get better starting tomorrow.”
We made our way to the reception area, which had white and pink flowers everywhere. It was over the top girlie for my tastes, but it fit Frannie perfectly. I saw arrangements of roses, daisies, lilies, and that about did it for my knowledge of flowers. Around the room were at least thirty large round tables for the guests. We were stuck sitting at the main table in front of everyone. Even if I was willing to eat the food, I wouldn’t have been able to with all the people watching me.
“I’m going to go grab me a plate,” Nate said. “I won’t get much, because I know we have meal plans for later.”
“Okay, just don’t get anything that’s disgusting-looking. If you come back with snails or something like that, we’ll have issues.” Even if Frannie was trying to make things less stuffy, I was sure she had all the best cuisines, according to her.
“Nothing disgusting, I promise,” he said and walked off.
When he came back, I inspected his plate and deemed the fried chicken and macaroni and cheese acceptable. It didn’t take long for the other guests to get their plates and settle down. After about twenty minutes of quiet conversation, while people stuffed their faces with free food, Nate hit his water glass with a fork and stood.
“Can I get everyone’s attention?” he started. “As you may know, I’m Nate, also known today as the best man. Sadly for you guys, that means you have to sit there while I give a speech about our dear friend Gary on his wedding day. I deliberated long and hard on whether to go the funny or sentimental route. After about five seconds, I remembered I was a guy, and I, of course, believe sentiments are for wimps.
“So without further ado, let me describe in detail what Gary did during his bachelor party. First, we headed over to Rudy’s Bar & Grill to try to get him drunk to celebrate his last night of freedom. You’ll notice we didn’t take him to a strip club. That’s because we sort of value our lives and his little lady and mine would’ve probably chopped off parts we consider necessary.” That earned a big laugh from the crowd. I hoped everyone realized it was a true statement.
“We weren’t in the bar more than five minutes before Gary started talking about Frannie nonstop. Ten minutes after that, the rest of us guys were ready to leave, so we called it a night. Frannie, dear, the man must love you a whole lot to make a night out with the boys that unenjoyable. As much as we all love you too, there is such a thing as too much information. Seriously, I’m really glad you two found ea
ch other, and I wish you many years of wedded bliss. Congratulations,” he said as he raised his glass for a toast.
The crowd clapped and I heard a few whistles. Nate was always good with a crowd. That was something I really wished would rub off on me.
“It’s your turn,” Nate said, giving me a quick kiss on the cheek as he sat back down. I wasn’t ready for it, but there wasn’t a way for me to get out of it. At some point, Frannie was going feel my payback for making me give a speech.
“Hey, everyone,” I managed to get out when the ruckus settled down. “For those of you who don’t know me, I’m Avery. For those of you who do, you know how much I’m currently freaking out about having to stand in front of all these people to give a speech. I’m pretty sure Frannie did this on purpose for me giving her the nickname Jelly Bean. I always thought she liked it, but that could’ve been my imagination.”
I smiled and looked over at my best friend. I didn’t know the sayings about a bride glowing were possible, but Frannie’s smile was so bright I swore the edges of her face blurred a little and expanded outward, like a halo.
“Unlike my better half here,” I said, nodding to Nate, “I’m not really good at speeches, so I didn’t even ponder the whole funny versus serious route. For me, this was my best friend’s big day and I wanted to make sure everything went off without a hitch for her. So the thought of me trying to tell a joke where I’d have to remember a punchline, didn’t come into the equation.
“I’ve watched the relationship between these two grow into something really special. I even played the third wheel on many of their early dates. When she told me they were engaged, it came as no surprise, because really, where would you ever find such a perfect pair? I wish you guys a bright, beautiful future, full of happiness. Congratulations on your big day, and Gary make sure you don’t make her late to Spinning class, or we’re going to have problems.”
I quickly took my seat and let out the breath I’d been holding. Speeches were horrible, and if I ran the world, they’d be banned. I looked down at my hands and saw them trembling. I closed my hands into fists to try to get them to stop. It was just a speech at a wedding. It wasn’t like I was trying to promote world peace in front of a live TV audience.
“That was great, my little butterfly,” Nate said as he rubbed my back, trying to calm me down.
“I’m just glad it’s over. Do you think everyone will start dancing soon?” I asked. “I think that’s the best time for us to try to sneak away.”
“We could move them along by getting out on the dance floor ourselves,” he suggested, knowing that wasn’t going to happen.
“You and Rick can go right ahead. Then you’ll have difficulties figuring out who should lead, and not wondering if you’re ever going to be able to walk again because I’ve crushed your feet. I don’t know how things were in the past, but my feet don’t move to the music.”
“You don’t weigh enough to ‘crush’ my feet, so the choice between dancing with you or your brother is pretty simple in my mind. Shoot, even if you could crush my feet, I’d still pick you over Rick. He’s a horrible dancer. I know you currently dislike dancing, so I’ll be kind and wait until you have the memories back of how much you love to dance,” he said.
“You’re lying. There’s no way in any lifetime I have ever enjoyed dancing. I just don’t see the point in it, and I’m fairly certain I remember my past self echoing that sentiment when I’ve been stuck dancing in my memories.”
“Darn, I was hoping if I planted the thought, you might twist your memories a little to make it true. You’re right; we’ve never been big on dancing. At least not vertically,” he said the last part with an evil grin.
Slugging him in the shoulder for his dirty thoughts didn’t seem right at a wedding, so I settled for stomping on his foot under the table. I didn’t doubt he thought the setting saved him from my wrath.
“Get your mind out of the gutter. You’ve got a month until your own honeymoon, so you better behave or there isn’t going to be any dancing in either direction,” I said, shaking my head. I wasn’t sure exactly how our honeymoon would work out, but giving him hope would keep him on his best behavior.
He laughed and grabbed my hand. “The dance floor is filling up; let’s make a run for it.”
We slowly made like we were going to dance, and slid out a side door. Not hearing anyone yell at us to stop, we made a mad dash for the parking lot. Sadly, because of the dress I was wearing, we didn’t bring our motorcycles to the wedding.
Riding Winnie would’ve probably rearranged the dress to a more suitable design, adding a little road dirt could only improve the horrible orange color. We had planned on escaping as soon as possible, and neither of the bikes had baffles, so a quiet getaway was impossible with them, not that the alternative was totally silent.
We climbed into the new addition to our garage, a shiny black Camaro. It wasn’t Winnie, but it was still fun to zoom around in sometimes. It had a 580-horsepower V-8 with a supercharger on it. She really had some get up and go when you pushed that accelerator down.
“You don’t think the guys will be mad we snuck out, do you?” I asked.
“Nah. We left them with free food and drunken bridesmaids. I don’t think they’ll even notice we’re gone,” Nate said as he pulled out of the drive and headed for home.
I had a feeling there were a lot of decisions about the wedding made in my consideration. The fact that it had taken place in the city was another big surprise when Frannie started revealing the details. When she started thinking about places for Nate and I to get married, France was her first thought, so I didn’t think it was presumptuous to say her decision to stay in New York probably wasn’t her first choice.
We made it home in record time and skipped into the house. There, we found our friendly robot, Vinnie, waiting for us.
“It took you long enough. I thought you guys would’ve figured out a way to get away quicker,” he said. Out of all the robots in the world, I was stuck with the impatient one.
“We got out of there as fast as we could. We were pretty lucky I made it through my speech without fainting,” I replied.
“You could’ve used that as a reason to leave, but I imagine we wouldn’t hear the end of it from Rick, so it was good you made it through. How soon before the rest of the guys get back?” he asked. “I think I got something, and it isn’t that far away.”
“You really think it’s warlocks causing problems?” I asked.
Since we apparently had enough money that we didn’t have to worry about jobs, no one in the house had been working regular jobs. We’d been devoting our time to finding out where the forces of evil, as we called them, were gathering to cause mischief. So far, we hadn’t found anything that fit the chaos we were looking for.
With all the odd stuff going on daily around the world, it was hard to sift through everything. If we didn’t have Vinnie taking care of the sifting, we’d never get anything else done.
“Without a doubt it’s them. The town of New Bedford, Massachusetts has been reporting all kinds of unusual crimes. People picking up cars and carrying them away, lots of robbing little old ladies and a couple kidnappings, where the children were returned later that day and the kidnapper had no idea how they got the child,” he replied.
“That sounds like something worth a look. You said it was close, just how close are we talking?” I asked. “Do I finally get out of flying?”
“It’s about four hours away, probably four and a half with a couple stops for gas,” he replied.
I looked over at Nate hopefully. “We’ll take the bikes,” he said. I immediately jumped up and down in joy. I couldn’t wait for the guys to get home, so I could tell them the good news.