Shifting Shadows (Sparks Collide Trilogy) (20 page)

Who has this kid? He probably met Kira
two seconds ago and he looked like he would kill for her. Kill
me
for
her, in fact. As if I were a threat to her, the girl who could break every bone
in my body with one of her spells, if she wanted to. I had to hand it to the
kid though; he was as brave a human as I ever met. Was I that brave at that
age? No I was causing trouble, not stopping it. I smiled, remembering. “Hey
there, Riley, I’m Jay. How’s it going?” I displayed my open palms as a sign of
peace, of trustworthiness.

I don’t know why I cared but I wanted
this kid to know he could trust me. I just saved Kira from a flying cart, his
flying cart by the looks of it. I wasn’t going to hurt her. “That was some
pretty good running you did back there. You must be really fast.”

He looked hesitantly at me “Yeah, I
guess I’m pretty fast.”

“Pretty fast?
I bet you are the fastest kid in the
whole town. You could be a champion runner.”

He smiled then, all dimples “You think
so?”

“Oh sure, and trust me, I know fast.” I
smiled for emphasis “Listen, I’ve got some stuff to tell Kira. Do you mind if I
join you guys?”

Riley looked eagerly over to Kira for
confirmation and she winked at him as she responded. “It’s all right with me.”

Oh, Riley was done for. If a girl like
that winked at me when I was that age, I would have followed her to the ends of
the earth. Hell I probably still would.

Riley gestured to a spot on the other
side of him so he would be in the middle of Kira and me. “It’s all right with
me too. You can sit down if you wanna.”

I couldn’t help smiling then as I took
my designated seat on the rocky hill. “Ok so here’s the deal. I got a hold of
Trent
and he’s on his way now.”

Kira exhaled a heavy breath.
Apparently, she was more worried then she led on. “Good. What did he say? Is
everything ok with the guys?”

“Yes, they’re fine, mostly relieved to
hear from us. Max is on the surveillance tapes and any other traffic cams that
may have caught us. He should be here in an hour or so.”

She nodded and I noticed the slight
hesitancy in the gesture as if she wanted to say something more. “That’s great
to hear.” She turned to the boy “Riley, I have an idea why don’t you go down to
your cart and see if there’s anything you can salvage. Jay and I will join you
in a minute, if you want.”

Riley faced the wreckage with a
determined stare. “Ok” He headed to the wood pieces, showing off a little as he
sped down the hill like a racer. I watched the kid go.

When I turned back to Kira, I realized
then how close we were sitting together and that she was staring at me
expectantly. “Jay, I wanted to thank you for saving me back there and for saving
me in general. I know you’re not thrilled with what I am but you saved me
anyway and I appreciate it.”

I stared stunned for longer than I
should have. She began to fidget and play with a silver ring on her right hand.
Finally, words emerged from my mouth “You’re welcome. I don’t dislike what you
are.” I said, annoyed.

She nodded patiently “Yes, you do and
the sooner you come to grips with it, the better. I know you don’t like ‘my
kind’. I understand there are thousands of generations of mistrust between our
ancestors but you have to snap out of it and realize that I’m just a person. I
can’t help what I am anymore than you can. You should really get to know me
before you start judging me.”

I stared at her blue eyes, blazing and
sincere. “Just so you know I’m not mad about what you are, I’m mad you didn’t
tell me, instead of me finding out like this.”

“Fair enough but you of all people can
understand why I didn’t. You should’ve at least given me the chance to
explain.”

“Fine, next time you talk, I will listen,
if you agree to do the same.”

She inched closer and put her hand out
to me “I will.”

She smelled like cinnamon and it
reminded me of when I was a kid and my parents made me cinnamon rolls on
special occasions. Back when my mom was alive and my dad was around. I’d wake
up to the intoxicating smell of the rolls and run down the stairs like it was
Christmas morning.

I placed my hand in hers and shook it.
I looked around then spotted the kid pulling pieces of the wood three times his
size off the ground. He looked so small next to the wood but it didn’t faze
him. He kept at it like his life depended on it.

I heard Kira take another deep breath
beside me but I couldn’t look away from the kid. “Listen Jay, about the Cart, I
want to-”

I cut her off “I’m going to fix it for
him.”

Riley, Jay, and I laughed and talked as
we attempted to rebuild the cart. We had gone over what pieces were broken,
what could be fixed, and what needed to be purchased. Riley took Jay to the hardware
store and I stayed behind to guard the broken pieces.

Before they left Riley told us exactly
what pieces he needed. He was a brilliant craftsman especially for a ten year
old. His excitement grew when he realized that he knew the cart so well from
working on it over the past few months that it wouldn’t take him so long to
rebuild. He knew where each piece went and showed us exactly what the
construction would look like when finished.

They came back with the wood, nails and
everything else they needed. Also Riley explained how Jay even asked the man at
the hardware store how best to build brakes. Now they both had a pretty good
idea and were excited to get started. Jay turned to Riley “Ok, let’s go get the
tools you told me about.” Jay said.

Riley looked back and forth from me to
Jay for a while so I said “What’s wrong, Riley? If you don’t have enough tools
we can buy some more. It’s no problem at all. In fact, I think I need new tools
anyway.”

“No, I’ve got my dad’s old tools.
They’re the best. I’ve just got to go home to get them. Would you guys mind
staying here?” His eyes pleaded for me to listen.

“Of course not, you go and we’ll be
right here.”

His little shoulders sagged in relief.
“Ok, thanks. I’ll be right back.” He ran down the street, showing off again.

“What do you think that was about?” Jay
asked me.

“I’m not sure but I don’t think he
wants us to see where he lives.”

Jay nodded. “We should tell him about
our no pity party rule.”

I smiled in relief that Jay and I were
ok. “Totally.”

The cart was finished in no time and I
even helped a little by holding things up or handing them pieces of wood,
wheels, or tools. Jay was the machine that did most of the heavy duty work and
Riley was the brains of the operation. When we had it up and running we were
sweating like crazy but it was done, breaks and all.

I turned to Riley “How do you feel?”

He smiled his dimpled smile. “Awesome.
What about you Jay?” He turned to him admiringly.

“Definitely awesome.”
They exchanged grins and I tried to
keep my heart from gushing to the floor.

Riley put his hands behind his back
“I’ll be right back. Don’t go anywhere.”

“Ok” Jay and I called out to Riley as
he was once again running down the street.

“Jay” I said hesitantly.

“Yeah?”

“Did you tell everyone what I was? That
I know what you are? When you were on the phone with
Trent
?”

“No.”

“Why not?”
“Because it’s your business and you
deserve to tell them when you’re ready.”

I put my hand on Jay’s arm “Thank you.
I’m going to tell them tonight when we get back. If they are in possible danger
they deserve to know why.” I took my arm back and waited but he didn’t add
anything more. “I’m going to get us some water, be right back.”

“Get the kid a juice or some sort of
sports drink, he’ll like that better. Trust me.” He went for his wallet but I
shook my head. Luckily, I had my purse on me the whole time with the long strap
holding on tight across my shoulder.

“I got it. Be right back.” When I came
back I had three blue sports drinks. I saw Jay speaking with Riley and a man in
uniform.

I walked quickly over to them, hoping
everything was ok. “Kira” Riley shouted and waved to me. I handed him the
bottle and he smiled excitedly “Thanks.”

“Sure” I said and Jay wiggled his
eyebrows at me as if to say I told you so. I’d never seen him in such high
spirits.

I handed him a bottle and the unknown
man stuck his hand out to me. “You must be Kira, I’m Sheriff Evans.”

I shook his hand “Nice to meet you.”

“Riley goes to school with my daughter
Billy Anne and he told me he was going to build this. I can’t believe how great
it is.  He tells me you helped him.”

“I worked under his direction mostly,
Riley is a great builder.”

“I agree” Jay said “He reminds me of my
friend Will.”

I watched Riley straighten to his full
height of about 52 inches with pride. “Sheriff Evans says my mom can have a
permit to sell her creations in the town square.”

The Sheriff smiled “A deal is a deal.
You did a great job, Riley.”

“Thanks.” He said and took a big sip
from the sports drink, turning his lips blue.

“Well I’ve got to get going. Riley, let
me walk you and the cart home, and I’ll go over the details with your mom.”

“Ok. Thanks, Sheriff.”

Jay put his hand out to the Sheriff
“Yes, thank you. Riley’s a great kid. ”

“I know it.” Sheriff Evans replied.

Riley turned to me hesitantly and I
gave him a huge hug. “Bye, Kid. Keep building, ok?”

“I will.” He said. He turned to Jay
“Take care of Kira, please.”

Jay busted out laughing. “Oh, I will or
she’ll kick my butt.”

“That’s right.” I said.

Sheriff Evans got a hold of the cart
and rolled it along as Riley walked next to him, directing them both. “Bye” he
called out.

Jay and I waved until they were no
longer in sight.

I glance at my watch then turn to Kira,
“We should head to that bar that I called from. I told Trent we’d meet there.
Hopefully the guys are already waiting.”

“Oh, I hope they haven’t waited too
long.”

“No, they shouldn’t be here for another
20 minutes but
Trent
can be a speed demon when he wants to
be. Especially if he thinks we’re in danger.”

“Right.” she said and we walked into
the bar. Inside were the weary faces of Trent, Will, and Annabella. “Hey” Kira
said smiling nervously at them.

“Hey” Annabella answered. Trent and
Will looked right to me. “Is everything ok?”

“Yeah, let’s go.”

“You sure you don’t want to go back
home instead.”

“Nah, really it’s cool. Let’s
celebrate. At the very least, let’s relax.”

Will slapped me on the shoulder “All
right man but you are explaining everything.”

“Oh we’ll explain everything...later.”

Kira nodded at me and mouthed. “Thank
you.”

We got in
Trent
’s Jeep. I sat up front, Kira and
Annabella sat in the middle row and Will sat in the back. “So” I said. “How’s
the beach house looking?”

“Good”
Trent
said “I went next door and told Rosie
we would be there. She’s going to come by and help with some meals.”

“Perfect.” I said thinking of the woman
I’d known all of my life. She was a werewolf in the pack of that area and she
took care of our beach house year round. She cooked and cleaned whenever one of
us was in residence but according to her she was the boss.

“Anything new on the attack at Doc’s?”
I asked.”

Will spoke from the back seat, “Just
that they are 99 percent sure it was a human and there was nothing missing from
the office. They’re pretty sure it was an attack and not a theft. They’re
asking around to see if anyone else had any similar incidents recently. That’s
about it.”

“What’s the update with the security
cameras?”

“Max and I have been texting” Will
said. “And all security cameras in a 20 mile radius have been taken care of,
including traffic cams. Max assures me he’s been very thorough. He even watched
one of them and is impressed with Kira’s ‘gone in 60 seconds’ impersonation.”

Damn. “Yeah well, as long as no one
else sees it, we should be fine.” There was a moment of awkward silence. They
were practically dying to find out what happened but they didn’t want to anger
me by asking again.

“In related news” Annabella added,
finally breaking through the quiet. “A stolen car was found on the shoulder of
the highway, completely empty. The owner whose license plate matched the car
had trouble claiming it as his because the windows weren’t tinted before today.
Even the windshield was fully tinted, which I’m pretty sure is illegal.” She
did a poor job of keeping the curiosity from her voice.