Wind-Scarred (The Will of the Elements, Book 1) (9 page)

An hour later, Ezra was chafing in a well
pressed shirt that seemed to have decided its optimal shape without
consulting the body inside it first. He gave a nervous smile as
Kirsten walked up and looked him over. “It'll have to do,” she
sighed quietly. Ezra quickly grabbed the door to the skiff and held
it open for her, smile fixed in place like a death grin.

She ignored him as she stepped in and began
giving instructions to the driver. “We'll need to get to a barber
first, of course. We can't have him going out looking like a mangy
dog. And you will have to drop by a florist while I see to his
hair. He has almost certainly has forgotten to bring her a token of
his-”

Ezra shut the door quietly and sighed. Well,
at least if she was fixated on micro-managing every aspect of his
life, it should be easy to do... whatever it was that the Guild of
Sundry would have him doing. Kirsten and the Guild could probably
get by without ever knowing that other existed. Fortified by that
thought, Ezra hardly even flinched when Kirsten rolled down her
window while looking at her time display, cleared her throat and
gave him a rather pointed look.

==

Twenty eight minutes and
several nightmarish stops later, his hair clipped to a curly cap
around his head, bouquet of
Englemann
Legacy roses in hand, Ezra
found himself at the park in the center of the University Plaza. He
glanced at Kirsten, standing beside him and organizing something on
the net. She was careful not to look directly at the Converatorium,
bright yellow caution displays surrounding it to keep pedestrians
out. The university port station was also declined notice, as
technicians frantically attempted to bring the wormhole he had
hijacked during his escape back online.

Kirsten suddenly looked up and smiled
politely to someone in front of Ezra. He whipped his head around
and snapped his best smile in place, roses held stiffly out in
front of him. Liza Crawford was tall, at least two inches taller
than Ezra, the picture of a conservative Legacy heiress. A flowing,
lace trimmed dress with a particularly high neck complemented her
silver necklace and earrings. Strands of silver bells had been
woven into a long, dark braid that hung over her shoulder. Her eyes
were cast demurely down, honey colored freckles dusted over her
light olive skin.

Suddenly a huge bear of a man loomed up in
front of Ezra. Mr. Crawford scowled down at him from behind bushy
eyebrows and a shaggy beard. “Hrmph, doesn't look like much, then,
does he.”

“
Daddy,” Liza gave Ezra a hesitant smile, “be nice.”

“
Now listen here young man,” Mr. Crawford placed a massive hand
on Ezra's shoulder. “I can understand about gallivanting around on
a nice Founder's Day night and stirring up a little trouble. It's
good to give those DOLT boys a little exercise from time to time. I
was a young man myself once, after all. But there is a time and a
place for everything, and I don't want to hear about any funny
business while you are entertaining my little girl. You understand
me?”

“
Yes sir.” Ezra squeaked out. The man's hand seemed as big as
his head. He made a note never to speak poorly of historians
anywhere they might hear him.

“
If you are referring to the events of last night, Mr.
Crawford, I can assure you that Ezra was only working through a
rather strenuous experiment that may have resulted in some
unfortunate side effects. You know how these things can be.”
Kirsten stepped smoothly up next to them, placing a hand on
Crawford's enormous arm.

The man's face split into a genuinely
pleased smile. “Kirsten O'Donnell, I heard you had taken up with a
bunch of these egghead types. Keeping them in line, eh?” The big,
shaggy man chuckled. “Always a pleasure to see you girl, how're
things with the old crowd down in the Division?” Kirsten put on a
tolerant smile and began fielding a myriad of personal questions
from the huge Mr. Crawford.

While they were talking, Liza inched up to
Ezra. “Is it true that you rerouted a dozen wormholes and stole the
entire twentieth century culture exhibit from the Conservatorium
last night, then hid it in a secret pocket dimension, and that's
why it's closed?” She spoke in a hushed, rapid whisper, brown eyes
watching him intently.

“
That I... what?”

“
And Mitzi Parnasus told me that she heard from a very reliable
source that a whole team of elite DOLT special forces spent all
night hunting you down, and when they finally brought you in you
just laughed at the cell where they locked you up and were gone
without a trace by morning!”

“
I... no, that didn't happen. It was all an... experiment that
I was conducting. And that's why the wormholes aren't on the, um,
network anymore and now...”
Darn it, how
had Kirsten made this look so easy
? “You
know how these can be?”

Liza nodded her head sagely. “You really
can't take everything that Mitzi says too seriously. She probably
got something confused. But still, I heard that you-”

“
Ezzy!” A familiar voice rung out across the lawn. Ezra's heart
tried to stop.
No
,
he thought,
not here, not now, not
her
.

He turned and saw Galois Doe running toward
them, waving. Her shorts were entirely too short. Her shirt was
entirely too clingy. Her lips were entirely... oh god, exactly the
same color as the lipstick from last night. Maybe Kirsten had that
meat cleaver on her. He was fairly certain that Mr. Crawford could
make it quick.

Perhaps he could signal to her that this was
a very bad time. Something like a cutting motion across the neck,
but one that no-one else would notice. She was getting close, he'd
have to make it fast. It might not be too late if he could just get
her to...

Suddenly her arms were
wrapped around his neck and her body was pressed against his. She
crushed her mouth to his, and his hands wrapped around her
waist.
Traitors
,
Ezra thought at them.

“
Sorry I'm late,” she said a little breathlessly once the kiss
had ended. “I got caught up at the club and just lost track of
time.”

Ezra took a quick inventory of his other
companions. Mr. Crawford looked confused, which was better than
murderous. Liza had a hand up to her mouth, staring at him with her
lips pressed into a scandalized O as she gave an excited little
gasp. Kirsten's arms were crossed in front of her, brilliant green
eyes burning with rage as she glared at Ezra.

“
Hi, uh, Gal. I-It's... good to see you again.” Ezra gulped. He
could practically feel Kirsten's glare boring into the back of his
head as Gal beamed up at him.

“
Oh, well, pleased to meet you. I'm Liza Crawford, a friend of
Mr. Hawkins,” Liza extended her hand in a polite greeting. “And you
are...?”

“
Yes, Ezra,” Kirsten's voice probably could have cut diamonds,
“Why don't you introduce us to your... friend.”

“
Oh... yes! Sorry, this is, uh, Galois Doe. She lives here in
Sanctuary.”
Of course she lives here in
Sanctuary, you idiot
, Ezra thought to
himself.
Quick, say something
better!
“
We met
last night.” He cringed.

“
Yeah, we were out behind this club, Eigen-Dance, watching the
waterworks. It was so amazing, the Guild of Sundry was flying
around everywhere. Did you all see it?” Ezra stared at her in
horror. Why was she doing this to him?

Mr. Crawford rumbled to Kirsten, “But I
thought you said that he was-”

“
Oh, I didn't see it,” Liza said, clearly caught up in the
excitement of meeting an actual interesting person. “But I heard
that it was positively terrifying. They didn't even have anyone to
catch them if they fell!”

Gal's smile broadened and she leaned closer
to Liza, dropping her voice slightly to conspiratorial tones.
“Well, I heard that they were just a distraction so that someone
could use wormholes to steal the entire twentieth century culture
exhibit from the Conservatorium, and that's why it's closed.” Liza
gasped again and snapped her attention back to Ezra. It just kept
getting worse. Time to cut and run.

“
Well, good, we've met up now, like we said we would.” Ezra
tried to surreptitiously push away from Gal, but she stuck to his
arm. “So... you probably need to get back to the club.”

“
But Ezzy,” she pouted prettily, “You said that we'd go check
out the Lolcats exhibit, then after we could visit that little
place you knew.”

“
Yes Ezra, you know how
important
it is not to break
your
appointments.
It would certainly be most
inconsiderate.
”
Ezra didn't even dare to look at Kirsten. With the acid
already dripping from her voice, he was fairly sure that making eye
contact would instantly reduce him to ash.

“
Now wait a minute,” began Mr. Crawford, “he was coming here to
meet my Liza, wasn't-”

“
It was
really
great to meet you all,” Gal beamed at Kirsten and Crawfords,
“I hope you all have fun with whatever you're doing!” With that,
she dragged Ezra away toward the museums.

Ezra glanced back over his shoulder as he
was pulled along. Mr. Crawford was scratching his dark, shaggy
head. Kirsten was doing her best to kill him with her eyes at a
hundred paces. Liza had her hands clasped in front of her and was
looking around excitedly, as if she expected an group of ninjas to
come jumping out of the bushes at any moment.

They rounded the cordoned off
Conservatorium, where Gal pushed him firmly against a wall, smiling
playfully. “That was pretty good Ezzy, I think they bought the
whole 'star-struck lover' thing perfectly.” She pushed away and
punched him lightly in the shoulder. “But you still owe me for last
night.”

“
What are you doing here?” he asked furiously. “I'm going to
catch so much heat for that little stunt, I'll be lucky to see the
light of day again sometime this-”

Gal put a finger over his lips. “You'll be
fine. And cheer up, Ezzy.” She turned and sauntered toward the
staff entrance to the museum. “Today, you get to be a hero.”

Ezra and Gal made their way through the
museum. He hadn't come this way the night before. The lack of
general chaos was a dead giveaway.

They reached the superhero exhibit. It had
actually been cleaned up nicely, everything set back in place,
although a few pedestals were still missing their cases. Gal opened
the door to the phone booth nestled in the back corner of the room
and stepped inside, gesturing for Ezra to join her. With the door
closed, it was a rather tight fit. Ezra found himself bumping
against Gal every time he tried to adjust his positioning,
mumbling, “Sorry, oh, I didn't mean to... sorry.”

She wiggled against him a little then gave
him a wicked smile that heated his cheeks. Taking the phone off of
the receiver, she dialed a short sequence of numbers. It rang once
before a low voice on the other end crackled through,
“Operator.”

“
Alice and one white rabbit, looking for a hole,” Gal
responded. The booth was suddenly suffused with light as they were
scanned, then the room changed as a portal formed and Ezra found
himself back in the Guild of Sundry headquarters. Mr. Blair walked
into the room just as they departed the wormhole
platform.

“
Ah, Mr. Hawkins, good to see you again.” He motioned for Ezra
to join him as turned back to the door. “Come with me,
please.”

They walked down the stairs to the second
level and headed down the hallway, Gal prowling behind them. This
place really did look quite a bit less sinister than it had the
night before, with all of the lights on. The occasional uniformed
person stopped and saluted Mr. Blair as they passed.

“
I'll give you a brief run-down of what's going to happen here
Ezra. We have contacts in the outside world who alert us to any
trouble with elementalists they may hear about it, usually by
placing a colored flag at a prearranged location for our spotters
to find. The flags denote the type of trouble they are having. Red
for fire, brown for earth, yellow for lightning, blue for water and
white for air. When a flag is spotted, we dispatch a team for a
meet-and-greet with the local contact to find out a bit more
precisely what is going on. Teams consist of three members each.
That team then either takes immediate action or comes back here for
the necessary equipment and additional assistance.”

They were walking at a rather sedate pace,
just passing room 226.

“
Now, most of our recruits are like Miss Doe here,” Blair
gestured back to the girl, and she batted her eyes flirtatiously up
at Ezra. “They tend to come from grunt families. People who don't
really get along well in Sanctuary, who have an unhealthy
fascination with sports or acting or music, will often find their
way here. The kind of people that your Miss O'Donnell probably
keeps you well away from. They make up our combat teams,
specializing in infiltration and the quick, dirty fights that go
along with some of the more potent elementalists in the world.”
Ezra remembered the effortless way Gal had handled him the night
before, and suddenly didn't feel so bad about it.