Forging Day (Crucible of Change Book 1) (23 page)

“Okay,” I told her. “I’m trying to understand that. I guess the next question is… What is your relationship with her now?”

She looked down a bit, and that didn’t give me a good feeling. “Right now, we’re being exclusive, but there was no way to know you were going to reappear like that. I just need to talk to her again. At least I need to talk to her if you want me to.”

I took a deep breath. “Talk to her. Let me know. But whether or not we do anything else, I don’t want to lose my friend, okay?”

“Okay.” She gave me a tight hug and left the room.

I went downstairs to find Cordie and Leo. I had a strong desire to spend some time with my family.

I guess I wasn’t all that surprised when I didn’t see Kat or Gracie at dinner. Whatever Kat was going to decide, I hoped it would be soon. I didn’t like the idea of a virtual stranger, at least to me, deciding whether Kat and I got to explore a relationship. The question was whether Kat was satisfied with that arrangement.

* * * *

We were kicking back after dinner when the phone rang. I was watching Leo play a console shooter with Frank and Henry, so I ran to get it. “Chaos central—we’ll be weird for you.”

There was silence for a second, and then, “Olivia?”

“Yeah, you got me.”

“It’s Sharon. I wanted to check in and see how you guys are doing.”

She sounded a little tense. “We’re okay here. How about you?”

“Look, this is weird, but would it be okay if I came by after a bit, just casually?”

“It’s not weird. You used to come over for barbecues all the time when dad was alive.”

“Thanks. I appreciate it. I’ll see you soon.”

After I hung up, I said, “Hey guys, pause for a sec. Sharon is dropping by. Just wanted to give you a heads up.”

I decided to hang out by the gate and wait for her. I had an idea I wanted to try out, and might as well do both things at once.

I got some of the damaged cedar arrows from the shed and lined them up on the driveway, point up. After prepping the hose, I put my camping chair near the gate controls. It was time to get a little more control over my new abilities.

The first few attempts were dismal failures. Arrow number one would only smolder. Arrow number two exploded, sending burning splinters everywhere. I made quick use of the hose. The next few didn’t explode, but I set the entire shaft on fire, which wasn’t very helpful, either. I had three arrows left and a mess scattered across the driveway when Sharon arrived. I let her in and gestured to the empty chair next to mine. “I think I’ve almost got it.”

She sat and watched as I pointed my finger and focused my will. This time, only the wood around the point was burning. “Hot damn!” I lit the next two in quick succession. “Yes! We have flaming arrows for the win!”

I blew the pretend smoke from my fingertip, and pointed at the first one I’d lit. The flames were starting to travel down the shaft. This time a jet of water sprayed from my hand. It got wider as it traveled, and put out all three arrows at once. It wasn’t exactly what I was trying for, but close enough.

“If you don’t mind some input from your non-magical friend,” said Sharon. “Why don’t you just put the fire on the heads so the shafts don’t burn up?”

“You know, I hadn’t thought of that. I was thinking of what would burn. I guess with magical fire, that isn’t as important. Thanks.”

I used the fireplace shovel and tongs to drop all of the remains into a metal fire bucket, dousing the whole thing with the hose. After checking around for any sparks, I was tired but exhilarated.

Sharon looked at me with one eyebrow raised almost speculatively.

“Can I get you anything?” I finally asked.

“If you’ve got one, I believe I’ll take a beer.”

“We probably have one. Let’s check the bar. Come on in.”

Once we go settled, she popped the top on her beer and downed half of it in one long pull. “I was going to ask if you’d noticed anything unusual since we got back, but that question seems somehow redundant now.”

“Well, I actually had some magic before the Grove. What I noticed is that it’s much stronger since we got back. I don’t know if Korembi’s noticed anything. We haven’t really had a chance to sit down and compare notes.”

“I keep seeing flashes of things that happen. Remember last night when I said we’d be late to work because of orange?”

I nodded.

“There was a broken storm drain in my neighborhood and there were orange construction cones everywhere while they worked on it. I can’t even stop myself from speaking when I get one of these flashes. By the end of the day, everyone was asking me to pick lottery numbers.”

“Wow. That would be annoying.” I thought for a minute, sipping my rum and Coke. “Here’s my theory, for what it’s worth. With my magic, it took something I already had and made it stronger. Dad always said you had a strong instinct about cases, that you had a nose for lies and picking up things other people missed. Maybe you always had a little bit of this gift, and now it’s just more powerful.”

Sharon took a deep breath, held it, and exhaled through tight lips. “So you think I could always do this and just didn’t know it?”

I nodded. “You probably wrote it off as good instincts. It’s just stronger now.”

“But I can’t do my job and keep blurting things out like that.”

“That’s why I’ve been practicing.” I picked up a match and the tip flared to life. “I have to learn control so I don’t accidentally blow something up, or make someone’s apron smolder for making my friend cry.”

“How do I practice controlling something when I don’t know when it’s going to happen?”

I said, “I guess you just need to plan ahead. What if you carried a little notebook, and next time you had this urge to blurt out something, you wrote it down instead? Or just said it very quietly, kind of under your breath?”

Sharon thought about it a moment and nodded. “I’ll try that. Um, thanks for listening and not thinking I’m crazy.”

“Who am I to judge crazy? Look at me. I can shoot fire from my finger.”

We drank in companionable silence for a while. She had another beer but I switched to iced tea. Mikah always bought the best booze, bless his discerning little heart, but I felt like keeping my head tonight.

Sharon finished her beer and pushed the bottle to the side. “I have news for you from Lyons, by the way.”

“Do tell.”

Korembi came over then, and pulled up a bar stool next to us. “I hear you say Lyons. There be news?”

“Someone was making a stink about motorcycles with Wyoming plates found at the scene, at least until the locals started complaining about the jackasses that shook them down for fees and someone getting grabby with the ladies. The entire case has been quietly closed. Word is that the ringleader of the group was a cousin of one of the deputies. The sheriff decided if they kept pursuing this thing, the resulting lawsuits would bankrupt the town. He pronounced justice served, and officially closed the case as a tragic weapons malfunction.”

“That’s a relief,” said Korembi. “I be going to tell Roz and the others. They’ll want to hear the news.”

“Thanks for letting us know,” I told Sharon. “We finally get some good news… I mean, how sad. What a terrible situation.”

Sharon elbowed me. “Don’t lie, kid. You always were terrible at it. Now your brother, he is a master. Butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth. You could watch him throw a baseball through a window, and pretty soon he’d have you convinced it was an errant pigeon thrown off course by a gust of wind.”

* * * *

When their game ended, Leo and the others joined us. Sharon knew some totally outrageous stories about my dad that I had never heard before. I hadn’t laughed so hard in a very long time.

On the way back from the bathroom, I noticed that Frank looked kind of down and a little lost, so I sat down next to him. “How’s it going these days?” I asked.

“Oh, you know. Just taking it one day at a time,” he said.

‘Yeah, I guess I know how that goes. One day you’re camping, and the next day you’re living the adventure, so to speak.” I kind of nudged him in the ribs. “I bet you guys all had the same issue I did when I got home. None of my clothes fit right anymore. I got smaller and darker and you guys got taller and greener.”

He actually looked a little more glum. “Um, people were really helpful with the sewing while you were gone.”

I sighed. “You mean Kat was. She was the best seamstress in our group. It’s okay. You can use her name.”

“Everyone has been nice, taking us in like this,” he said, “but it still sucks, not being able to go home. Not that I have anything in particular to go home to. John and Stacy have been talking about going to see his folks in Arizona. Henry and May might go to her sister’s place in Oregon. It’s kind of odd, just staying at someone else’s house in limbo like this.”

“I’m sorry you don’t have a place to go home to, and I’m sorry about Sonya. I wish we could have done something to save her that day.” I reached up and gave him a quick hug.

“It’s not just Sonya,” he said bitterly. “She and I were friends, and I miss her, but you don’t know how lucky you are to have a family that accepts you. You know. I’m just going to ruin the evening. I’m calling it a night.”

He stood up abruptly and quickly disappeared up the stairs.

Korembi was telling a story about a dinosaur jaw and a glow stick that had everyone in stitches. I don’t think anyone else noticed Frank leave, and I didn’t think he looked like someone that should be alone. I was able to slip away and follow without triggering any sibling radar.

I headed toward his room, but heard explosions coming from the computer room upstairs. He was in there loading
Glory of War,
one of the shooters they all loved to play.

“Hey, Frank.” I sat down on the couch, next to him.

“Hey, Olivia.”

“I know it’s a girl thing, but I thought maybe you might want to talk. It seems like I hit a nerve, and I didn’t mean to.”

For a minute I thought he was going to ask me to leave, and then he said, “You can stay if you like, but you have to play, too.”

“Sure. I can try. Leo says I’m terrible at this game, and I think he was trying to be nice about it.” I gamely took up the controller and watched my little avatar shimmer into digital life. “Sorry little guy,” I told him. “You’re about to have a terrible day.”

Frank shot me a look, but didn’t say anything. He just started the scenario.

We played on with quiet determination for quite a while. I lost track of how many times my little avatar ended up staring at the sky. I started talking for him, each time he died.

“Oh no, Olivia, please, no, pick another avatar. Oh no, the humanity! Noooooooo, not that building!”

By the time we called it, Frank was laughing as hard as I was. “You’re right, Olivia. Leo was being nice about it. I have never seen someone find that many ways to die. Who manages to trip over a window sill and hang themselves from the blind cord? I didn’t know you could even do that in this game.”

“That, my friend, takes special talent and awesome powers of coordination,” I told him.

I wormed my way up and under his arm. “You have to comfort me. I am despondent at this catastrophic loss of virtual life.” I smiled and batted my eyes at him.

He abruptly shifted away. He wasn’t giving me a very happy look. “You don’t have to pretend to flirt with me, Olivia. I’m a freaking Troll! Do you think any girl’s ever going to look at me again? My own parents won’t take my calls. They barely spoke to me after I switched from pre-med to paleontology—and that was before I had the bad manners to turn green.”

“Hey! I was not pretending to flirt with you. I’m sorry your parents are being dicks, but that’s not on me. And how do you get from pre-med to paleontology anyway?”

“I always wanted to be a paleontologist,” he said, “but my parents, and both brothers, and my sister, are all doctors—medical doctors. When I told them I didn’t want to be a doctor, they were disappointed, but felt that being a lawyer was an acceptable substitution. I definitely didn’t want that. I told them paleontology, and they told me to pay my own way through college, and feel free to call them back when I grew up and got a real job.”

“Wow, that’s harsh. My sister wasn’t thrilled when I told her I was studying graphic design, but at least she didn’t stop talking to me over it—other than the time I passed out sketches of her as a stripper outside her office. Long story.” I poked him hard in the middle of the chest. “But this has nothing to do with whatever we end up doing together. I was having fun with a friend.”

“Oh, right. Like you’d ever sleep with a Troll. You don’t even like men,” he said.

“Who told you that?” I demanded. “The Sylvan Faire and Kat was the first time I ever had a relationship with a woman.”

He looked a bit stunned. “I guess no one told me. I just knew you were with Kat, before you disappeared, and um, I assumed…”

“Well you assumed wrong,” I said. “My last boyfriend was awful. I drank too much, and I did a lot of things with him that I’m ashamed of. And then I found out he had a girlfriend. Actually, all of my boyfriends have been awful. College was a disaster and it went downhill from there.”

“You went to college?” he asked quietly.

“Yeah. I got a perfectly useless degree in graphic arts and then went on to live off my sister and the kindness of others, as they say.” I looked at him suspiciously. “You’re still in college. How old are you? Oh, God, tell me you’re not a teenager!”

“No! Of course not. I’m a graduate student. I’m working on my PhD. I’m thirty-two,” he said. “How old are you?”

“I’m twenty-five,” I told him. “I have no idea what that translates to in Elf years.”

I had been kind of teasing before, but now I was really looking at him. He was big, and green, and the tusks were a bit alarming, but his brown eyes were warm and kind. I leaned up and kissed him. He didn’t push me away, but he didn’t kiss me back, either.

“You know what, Frank?”

“What, Olivia?”

“I don’t think I’ve kissed a boy while sober since I was about seventeen. In the interest of science, I’d like to try it again, if you think I could find something male to cooperate.”