The Changelings (War of the Fae: Book 1) (8 page)

"No.
 
I just get the slight feeling that you're not so mad anymore.
 
You were mad earlier."

"Right.
 
You're right – I
was
mad, but I'm not anymore.
 
I know you wouldn't do anything to hurt me on purpose."

"Never in a million years," said Tony, earnestly.

I grabbed my backpack off the sand.
 
"Well, nobody ever said life with me was going to be dull."

Tony grabbed his bag too.
 
"Nope.
 
Never has been, so I don't expect it will be anytime soon."

We stood on the beach smiling at each other.
 
That lasted a full two seconds before Tony had to go ruin it with his persistence again.
 
I think maybe he learned a little of that from me.

"So, about your mother's boyfriend ... "

"Leave it!"
I said forcefully, turning and walking away.

"I just wanted to ask you what you did.
 
I know you did something that made you very happy."
 
He was walking at my elbow now, refusing to be left behind.
 
"You kicked his ass, didn't you?"
 
He was smiling, like he already knew the answer.

"You were there, you tell me," I challenged, still miffed at him that he wouldn't let it drop.

"I told you, it doesn't work like that.
 
I don't
see
anything; I hear and feel ... that's it.
 
I felt ... triumph.
 
That's the only way to describe it."

I smiled in bitter memory of that night.
 
"Yep, you could call it 'triumph'."

"Tell me, Jayne; stop playing with me."

"Fine, you really want to know?
 
I'll tell you.
 
That night, the third night he came, after I found out the bastard could pick my lock, I was waiting for him.
 
I had my softball bat in bed with me.
 
When he came over and tried to touch me, I pulled the bat out and jabbed him in the nuts with it – and then when he was down on the floor, I took my dad's old electric hair razor, and I buzzed off one of his eyebrows and shaved a strip down the side of his head."

Tony's eyes nearly fell out of his head; he was unable to speak for a full five seconds.
 
Then he said in a whisper, "No?!"

"Yep."
 
I stared straight ahead, no expression on my face.
 
"Why do you think he left town that night, not even saying goodbye to my mom?
 
No way was he going to be able to explain that shit away."

"Holy crap, Jayne."
 
He was smiling.
 
"Remind me never to get on your bad side."
 

"Yeah, well, don't ever try to put your grubby hands on me in the middle of the night and you won't have anything to worry about."
 

He looked at me, a little concerned, before he caught my smile.
 
We both started laughing at the same time.
 
I was thinking about what that perv had looked like when he hobbled out the door that night minus one eyebrow and a strip shaved from his head.
 
Tony was probably laughing because he felt sorry for me, but what the hell – it felt good.

"I'm so glad you're my friend, Jayne."
 
Tony put his arm around my shoulders.
 

He still loved me, even though that slimy douche had tried to put his hands on me.

"Me too, Tones, me too.
 
Want to go back to the warehouse?
 
See what everyone else is doing?"

"Nah, let's go to the library – use their computers to go on the Internet and see what we can find out about that company doing the fitness study."

I nodded in appreciation of his brilliance.
 
"Excellent idea.
 
We can also look up 'psychic phenomenon', see what we can do about this gift of yours – or curse, depending on how you look at it."
 
We reached the seawall that ran the length of the beach, bordered on one side by the sand and the other by a wide sidewalk, now empty.
 
It was still too early for many people to be out.
 
We climbed over the wall and stood there, looking up and down the street that was about ten feet away.
 
"So where's the library?"
 
I asked.

"I have no idea."

I rolled my eyes.
 
"Tony, Tony, Tony ... what am I going to do with you?"

"What? ... We're not lost ... we have a map, remember?"
 
He smiled at me with a cocky grin.
 
I wasn't used to seeing that on his face, but I liked it.
 
I liked it a lot.

"You'd better be careful, Tones.
 
I think I'm being a bad influence – rubbing off on you."

"Yeah, well, I don't think that's so bad," he said, dropping his bag off his shoulder and bending down to retrieve the map from inside.

I looked out across the distant ocean while he figured out where we needed to go.
 
The same waves were crashing on the shore, over and over.
 
The seagulls were still screeching.
 
I was still surrounded by millions of pieces of crushed up rock and seashell.
 
Everything was the same, and yet, everything had changed too.
 
Funny how change can sneak up on you when you least expect it.

We found nothing of use on the Internet.
 
There was no record of a One Eleven company being registered as a business in Florida.
 
After searching around for an hour and then browsing through some books and magazines for another two, we decided to head over to the area where the informational meeting was being held.
 
It was only about five blocks away.
 
The sun wasn't shining as brightly as it had been earlier.
 
The temperature had dropped a little too.
 
It wasn't too unusual for this time of year in Florida.
 
In Spring, the weather tended to be a little fickle.

We stopped at a sandwich shop and got a sub and a soda, sharing it on our way to the hotel meeting room.
 
I told the guy making our sandwich to hold the onions but he'd obviously ignored me.
 
I was hoping to see Spike again soon but now I was worried that I'd breathe my horrid onion breath on him and he'd never want to talk to me up close again ... or do other stuff.
 
Hey ... a girl can dream, right?

"Whatever you're thinking about right now, stop," said Tony, as he pushed on the revolving door at the hotel entrance.
 
I walked next to him in a slow circle towards the hotel's interior.

"What's the matter, getting you nervous?"

"No, you're feeling all warm and stuff, and it makes me feel funny," he said, not meeting my eyes.

"Wow.
 
This does complicate things, doesn't it?"
 
I didn't want to think of all the ramifications this had.
 
"I thought it only happened when you were going to sleep."

"I think when you're close to me, it's easier to fall into that state of connectedness.
 
When you're far, it has to be a stronger emotion or I have to be in some sort of sleep-like state.
 
That's my theory right now.
 
Don't hold me to it though; it could change."

Our Internet search on psychic reading abilities had spewed out so much garbage, it was hard to filter through it all to come up with something that made sense.
 
There were so many kooks out there claiming to be psychics and vampires and God knows what else.
 
It was frustrating trying to find real information.
 
We decided to go back another time and look again.
 
We'd run out of time and mojo to do it any longer today.

We got directions from someone at the front desk to the meeting room.
 
We arrived at the door and saw Chase, Finn, Samantha and Becky waiting out front.
 

"Hey, guys!" said Becky, cheerfully.
 
"You made it!"
 

"Yeah.
 
What's going on?
 
You guys going in?" I asked.

"We're waiting for Jared and Spike," said Finn.

"Anyone else here?" asked Tony.

"Yeah, there's a couple people already in there ... some ole lady, an ole guy too.
 
Can't tell if the person runnin' the show is here or not ... don't look like it." Apparently, Finn had been assigned the mission of scoping out the room ahead of time.
 

"I guess we'll see you guys in there then," I said, nudging Tony's arm.
 
He was busy acting like he wasn't staring at Samantha again.
 
She was looking in the opposite direction, down the hall, oblivious to his crush.

We went in and took seats in the middle – not all the way in front and not in the back.
 
It wasn't in my nature to be an eager beaver but I also didn't want to look like a total slacker – there was five hundred bucks on the line, after all.
 
The middle was the best place.
 
I could tell, though, that Tony wanted to be in the front row; he was a front row, note-taking kind of guy.
 
Two years of me still hadn't broken him of that.
 
It was probably for the better.

Soon enough, Jared and Spike arrived.
 
The rest of their crew came in, taking seats in various places.
 
They didn't sit right next to each other, with the exception of Chase and Becky who sat together on the right side of the room.
 
I wondered about that, assuming they would all want to be together and present a united front.
 
I also wondered if Chase and Becky had something going on.
 
That would be an odd couple.
 
I would have expected her to be with Finn before Chase.
 
For some reason I was pairing Chase and Samantha up in my mind; but what did I know?
 
Tony would say that I suck at matchmaking.
 
He had the scars to prove it, too.

Spike flashed Tony and me a smile as he moved across the room.
 
I tried to keep my blood pressure under control, but it was hard.
 
I kicked Tony under the table in case he was creeping around in my head.
 
I didn't need him knowing I was getting all hot and bothered over a stupid smile.
 
But damn, Spike had the coolest teeth!

At one o'clock on the dot, the door opened and a man walked in.
 
He was old.
 
I don't know how old exactly because I'm terrible at guessing ages, but he had silver hair.
 
It was thick and kind of wavy.
 
Not long, but not military short either.
 
He wore a silver-gray suit.
 
Not quite shiny but not a dull material either.
 
His eyes were the most striking thing about him – they were icy gray.
 
They matched his suit very well, actually.
 
I never thought about matching my eyes to my clothes, which is probably a good thing, since my eyes were a mottled combination of mostly green, with brown and gold – a hazel mix that looked a lot like camouflage.
 
I don't look good in army gear.
 

When the old guy smiled, I noticed that he had movie star teeth; they were perfectly straight and dazzling white.
 
But they weren't nearly as interesting as Spike's choppers.
 

"Hello, and welcome to the informational meeting sponsored by One Eleven Group. I assume you have all read the advertisement and know that we are seeking some very special candidates to participate in a study we are conducting.
 
This is a fitness type of study, so it does have some basic physical and mental health requirements.
 
The purpose of today's meeting is to give you information about the study and, for those of you who are interested in participating, a battery of tests to determine your suitability."
 
He looked out over the group of us, resting his eyes on no one in particular.
 
I was waiting to hear clues about the test or about this One Eleven company while also sneaking glances at Spike.
 
I could only see the back of his head and part of his face.
 
Dammit.

"The test will commence tomorrow; we are truly sorry about the short notice.
 
We had some scheduling conflicts, so it couldn't be avoided.
 
Hopefully this will not interfere with your ability to participate."
 
He stopped to share a smile with us.
 
It was very cool and professional, not reaching his eyes.
 

"The test itself lasts three full days and then there will be one day after for our ...
ahem
... focus group."
 
He reached down to take a sip of water from the glass on the table next to him.
 
He seemed to have a bit of a frog in his throat.
 
He continued, "You will be provided transportation from the Miami Executive Airport to the test location.
 
After the test is complete, you will be brought back to the same airport.
 
For those who finish the test successfully, you will be paid five hundred dollars in cash upon arrival at the airport.
 
For those of you who do not finish the test, but who do complete parts of it, you will receive compensation based on how much of the test you do complete."
 
He clasped his hands together and gave one of those million dollar smiles again.
 
"Does anyone have any questions?"