Pucker Up (A Damsels of Distress Novel) (16 page)

kindling? That sounds reasonable
.”

He’d have better luck with the dance.

“No. I figure if I agitate it

enough, it’ll try to scare me off by

breathing fire. Want to help?”

Her mouth gaped. “That sounds

horrible.”

“You have a better idea?” He

held out one of the dry sticks. She racked

her brain for any other solution.

Reluctantly, she snatched the branch

from his hand and started shaking it in

front of her as she crept toward the

dragon.

“Here, Sparky,” she called in a

soft, high voice. “Come light the stick on

fire. No, wait. Where’re you going?”

For the next hour, they stalked the baby

dragon around the beach. A couple times

they got a spark out of it, but nothing

ignited.

The sun hung low, right above

the horizon. Garren sat next to an

impressive pile of wood, laughing at the

other two.

“Who’s Lucy and who’s Ethel?”

he shouted out.

She did her best to ignore him as

she cornered the little creature against a

boulder. She shoved her branch in its

face. It yelped, spitting out a tiny spark.

The spark landed on a dry leaf and

smoldered. She backed away from the

agitated dragon. The ember glowed

brighter as she gently blew on it. She

pushed another leaf closer and blew a

little more. Soon, she had a flame.

“Thank you, Sparky.” She tore

her eyes away from the burning leaves to

find Thane. “I got fire,” she yelled

louder.

Thane waved his arms toward

the waiting fire pit he created earlier.

“Quick, bring it over here.”

She walked sideways toward

Thane, using her body to block the wind

coming off the water. She stopped a

couple times when the flames almost

died.

“Hurry up,” he yelled.

“I’m coming,” she muttered. She

started on her way again when the

flames suddenly burst, igniting the rest of

her branch.

Oh, gawd
. At the rate it was

burning, she might not make it to the fire

pit. She held the burning stick out like

the Olympic torch and ran, screaming

across the beach. Tiny sparks flew past

her on the wind. The heat burned her

hand and she dropped it on the pile of

dry grass and twigs in the center of the

rock circle.

Thane

got

right

to

work,

pampering the flames and building it to a

respectable campfire.

Garren had to intervene at one

point. “Unless you want to burn the

forest down, that's big enough.”

Thane sat on the nearby log and

beamed at her. The setting sun at his

back made his dark blonde hair glow.

She found something familiar in his face,

something that confirmed to her that they

were family. They both had the same

shade of hazel eyes, gold in the center

and blue at the edges. It was the first

time she truly believed they were

connected, the first time she didn't feel

totally alone in this world since her mom

died a year ago. A year of running and

hiding and never letting anybody close.

Maybe he could look beyond her past

and really accept her. Her heart ached

with longing, hoping that her loneliness

would soon be over.

She glanced over his shoulder to

the vast expanse of water. The day’s

events replayed in her mind. When she

remembered Captain Burgandy, sadness

tightened in her chest.

“Did you know the captain very

well?” she asked Thane.

His head snapped up from

staring in the fire. “Not really. He kept

to himself most of the time.”

Awkward silence hung in the air.

“He seemed nice,” she added,

not knowing what else to say. He

deserved a few nice words, no matter

how crazy he was. “At least he died

doing what he loved.”

Garren slowly raised his head,

that condescending eyebrow raised.

“What?” she asked. “Do you

have something you’d like to say about

the man?”

His gaze shifted to Thane and a

smile spread across his face. “From

what I heard, flying wasn’t his first love.

At least not with the Daisy Mae that

crashed in the ocean.”

Both guys chuckled at what she

assumed was an inside joke. Either that

or they had a lot of maturing to do.

Deciding that the conversation was

headed in a direction she didn’t want to

go, she concentrated on digging a hole in

the ground with the point of a stick.

The three of them spent what

seemed like the longest hour in tense

silence, sitting on a rotten log, Ivy in the

middle. No one could relax. Every time

a twig would snap, they’d each jump to

their feet, ready to fight. It was either the

dragon sniffing around for food or some

other forest creature. Could someone die

of adrenaline overload?

Garren spent his time shaving a

spear out of a long stick with his Swiss

Army knife. He seemed to make a point

out of deliberately
not
looking at her, as

if she was the one who humiliated him

earlier. After a while, the deliberate

silence and tension around the campfire

crawled under her skin. She needed to

do something before she went crazy.

I should be nominated for

sainthood after this.
Clearing her throat,

she broke the ice. “What do you call a

witch that lives on the beach?”

Thane looked up, waiting for the

punch line, while Garren kept staring at

the blaze as if he didn't hear her, or

didn't care. She elbowed him in the ribs

and repeated the joke.

He threw a glare her way, which

she returned, and then he gave up.

“What?”

“A sand-witch.”

Thane chuckled, more likely out

of pity, and smiled. Garren rolled his

eyes, but the corner of his mouth

twitched. She was breaking through his

wall.

“What is a vampire's favorite

fruit?” She asked with a little laugh as

she nudged Garren.

He allowed himself to smile,

although small, and played along. “I

don't know. What is it?”

“A neck-tarine.”

“That has to be the stupidest joke

I've ever heard.” Garren tried to keep a

straight face but failed miserably.

Soon, they sat around the

campfire, telling the worst jokes they

could think of as stars dotted the night

sky like glitter spilled over a black

tabletop. They still jumped at every

noise, not wanting to be caught off guard,

but they were having fun. Her sides were

aching from laughing so hard. After a

while, a yawn escaped her lips and

visited the others in turn.

Thane

rose,

retrieved

his

backpack, and tossed it on the ground to

use as a pillow. Garren shifted to do the

same, but she stopped him with her hand

on his. He looked down at the contact

and then met her eyes with a smirk on his

face. She immediately yanked her hand

back.

Not going there again.
“You get

first watch,” she said.

His brow furrowed as the

firelight danced across his face. “Why

me?”

“Because your hair is darker.”

She stood up and put her jacket on to

keep warm through the night.

“That doesn't make any sense.”

The weight of his stare bore

down on her as she lay down on the sand

next to the fire. “Of course it does. Just

think about it.” She rolled up one of her

sweatshirts and tucked it under her head.

She shifted around, trying in vain to get

comfortable. The ground was hard and

small rocks dug into her hip. It was

going to be a long night.

“Fine. Get some sleep while you

can because I'm waking you up next.” He

got up and grabbed the stick he’d been

whittling to a sharp point all evening.

Setting it next to him on the log, he began

the first shift.

She made sure her dagger was

safely tucked away next to her before

falling asleep.

*****

her up hours later. She kept her eyes

closed as she tried to calculate how far

away they were and what they were

talking about. They were just far enough

away that she couldn't make out any

specific words.

Where the hell is Garren?
The

low timbre of his laugh coming from the

same direction as the voices answered

that question.

She was about to open her eyes

and take a look around when footsteps to

her right halted her. Shuffling sounds

came closer and she hoped it was the

dragon searching for any signs of food.

The scent of beer and cheap cologne

drifted on the breeze and assaulted her

nose. Unless Sparky is really a lounge

lizard, their camp was being invaded.

Her whole body tensed with fear. But

she wasn’t going to be an easy target.

She was a fighter; a good one.

As carefully as she could, she

wrapped her hand around the hilt of the

dagger lying next to her and waited. The

sound of heavy breathing was practically

on top of her. She held her breath in

order to concentrate on exactly where

the intruder was, when something

touched her wrist. Instincts kicked in and

she immediately elbowed whoever was

kneeling over her, right in the head.

“Son of a bitch!” Some guy in a

dark hooded sweatshirt fell back, his

hand pressing on his right eye.

She jumped up, dagger in hand,

and surveyed the area quickly for any

other threats. Thane frantically searched

for something in his pack but no one else

was close by. The guy she hit stood up

and charged her.

Big mistake
.

She dodged his body and spun

around to kick him in the back of his

knee, successfully knocking him down.

Grabbing his left arm, she pulled it

behind his back and shoved him into the

dirt, face first. “Who the hell are you?”

He lifted his head to speak. “I am

Batman,” he said.

She pushed his arm farther up his

back, causing him to cry out in pain. She

sat on his butt, her feet hooked onto his

thighs to keep him from thrashing around

and knocking her off.

“Okay, okay,” he said. “We were

just looking for some beer and thought

you might have some.” He dropped his

head back to the sand, his breathing

labored from his struggles.

“Jeff!” a female voice screamed

in the distance. She forgot about the girls

flirting with Garren.

Man, I’m losing my edge
.

“Garren, tie them up,” she yelled.

“Thane, go help him. I've got this one

under control.”

Thane grabbed his bag and ran

toward Garren and the girls. She needed

to get the truth from this guy, and if her

instincts were right, she didn't want the

others knowing yet.

“Jeff, huh? I think I like Batman

better.” She eased off his arm a bit.

“What are you really looking for? And if

you give me any crap about alcohol or

drugs, I'll break your arm.”

Grunting, he turned his head to

look at her over his shoulder. “Some

dudes offered us a hundred bucks to hike

up here to see if there was a curly

headed girl with a tattoo on her wrist.”

Anxiety pooled in her belly.

“Did they have this mark, too?” She

snapped the leather band off and shoved

her wrist in his face.

He nodded.

Damn it!
She peered into the

dark forest, searching for any sign of

waiting Eradicators. It was too dark to

see anything, but her gut was telling her

danger lurked beyond the light. “Why

didn't they come themselves?”

He shrugged. “Hell if I know.

So,” he shifted a bit to get comfortable.

“Who are you?”

“Wonder Woman.”