Chapter 17
Abigail ran the car wash the way she ran everything: like a dictator certain her army was on the brink of revolt.
The fundraiser took place in the parking lot behind the football field—the same place where Charlie had run from an angry draugar and nearly died in the process. A draugar that had been summoned by the whistle Elias wore around his neck.
That afternoon, there were no draugar in sight.
Instead, a line of cars stretched from one end of the parking lot to the other, surrounded by buckets of soapy water.
Parents sat in the driver’s seats, leaning their heads out windows to yell greetings to each other.
The line didn’t end at the parking lot; it stretched out into the street, blocking traffic in a ruckus of honking horns.
Apparently, no one in Silver Shores wanted to turn down a cheap car wash.
Over on the football field, though no one could see them, a herd of silver-horned reindeer milled about, chewing on grass and generally ignoring the humans.
Down around their hooves toddled the creatures made of stone that she’d first seen when hiding beneath the bleachers with Elias.
She still couldn’t figure out what the stone men were called; she hadn’t found them in any book or online forum.
Whatever they were, Henry seemed to have a beef with them, because he always shot them dirty looks whenever they wandered too close.
In fifteen minutes or so, the football team would emerge from the weight-lifting room, and all the reindeer and stone creatures would scatter. Charlie had seen it many times before.
The car wash volunteers were divided into three groups: washers, driers, and admin.
The first two groups were self-explanatory, while admin encompassed checking drivers in, collecting payment, and being responsible for replenishment when bottled water and cleaning supplies ran low.
As Charlie already knew, she was a cleaner, while Abigail was admin, and Lou and Mason were on drying duty.
Charlie set off across the pavement, headed for the meeting spot marked WASHERS. Henry toddled ahead, off to frolic in the grass or scan the ground for Cheez-Its—the usual Henry things.
Hours had passed since her meeting with Thrym, but Charlie was still shaking. The afternoon had drifted by in a fog. Charlie could think of nothing but Elias’s challenging words.
You can stick your head up your own ass like your brother, pretending the truth away and never learning how to use all that power humming within you.
Or …
You can accept the legacy you were born into.
You can let it make you strong.
Charlie wanted to be strong. She’d always wanted to be strong.
It was why she’d joined the circus and learned how to fly on the silks and trapeze.
It was why she’d thrust herself into magic after her sister’s death rather than be consumed by grief.
It was why she’d signed everyone up for six a.m. fighting lessons with the Vikings.
She wanted to be strong. She needed to be strong—both for her own sake and that of the people she loved most.
What the Hel was she going to do? Listen to Elias and try to coax out magic within herself that probably didn’t even exist? Search frantically for another option? Give up?
If she was truly the child of Loki, shouldn’t she have exhibited signs of magic well before now?
She was almost seventeen. And while she might have spent the last few years making herself exceptionally good at “magic,” she’d never performed magic magic.
Never created something from thin air or lifted a book off the ground just by looking at it.
Wasn’t that how it worked in the movies?
Kids with magic accidentally set their parents’ oven on fire or blew up the mailbox of the neighbor they didn’t like?
These were the thoughts churning through her mind as Charlie lined up with the rest of the washers.
There were only seven of them. Abigail walked down the line, passing a clean, dry rag to each person in turn.
Seven wasn’t nearly enough people to handle the huge line of cars waiting for a wash.
Charlie could see panic building in Abigail’s eyes.
But just behind it was that familiar fire, the focus and determination that ignited whenever her friend grabbed any set of reins.
As usual, it made Charlie both proud and somewhat terrified.
“We have to work fast,” Abigail said as she handed a rag to Jenny Huffman, a quiet senior who somehow always got roped into Abigail’s schemes.
“We need money to fund the buses and the park passes for the trip this weekend. There are more than enough cars out there to get us to our goal, but because there are only seven of you, everyone will have to—”
“Eight,” called a new voice.
Charlie physically held in a groan.
Everyone turned to find Elias striding across the pavement, lopsided grin in place. “There will be eight of us.”
Charlie sighed, her head falling back. “Can’t I get at least five minutes away from you?”
“You’ve had five hours,” he said, throwing an arm over her shoulders as he took his place in line beside her. “Besides, we’re soulmates, babe. Soulmates can never stay apart for long.”
Charlie shoved his arm off her shoulders and looked at Abigail.
Her friend’s lips were pursed tight. There was a very obvious argument happening inside her brain.
When she glanced over, Charlie widened her eyes, begging silently for her to get rid of him.
Abigail held her gaze for a few seconds before looking away.
“Fine,” Abigail said tightly. “But only because we’re short-staffed.”
“Traitors.” Charlie shook her dark hair. “I am surrounded by traitors on all sides.”
Abigail held out a rag to Elias. “Play nice.” When he reached out to take it from her, she yanked it back, just out of his reach. “And if I catch even a whiff of you trying to mess with my friend…”
Elias held up both hands. “Best behavior. I promise.”
Abigail narrowed her eyes at him but handed the rag over anyway.
“Wait,” said Jenny, looking between them. “Why are you acting mad at Elias? I thought him and Charlie were back together.”
“Oh, we are,” said Elias, throwing his arm over Charlie’s shoulders again and hugging her into his chest. “Don’t worry, Jenny. Charlotte and I are closer than ever.”
“I’m so glad you agreed to be my partner,” Elias said, strolling along beside Charlie after check-in. “It’s important that we take steps to mend our relationship, don’t you think?”
“You didn’t leave me much of a choice,” Charlie said, stepping around a huge bucket filled with soapy water.
Her eyes were trained on the red Honda that they were assigned to first. It was parked beside the bleachers, in between two more buckets.
“You practically grabbed me the minute Abigail finished debriefing us.”
“I would never grab a woman,” he said, offended. “I’m a perfect gentleman. And besides”—when Charlie glanced over, she saw he was smirking—“they’re usually the ones grabbing me.”
Her eyes rolled so far back in her head that she was surprised she couldn’t see her own brain.
Remember your plan, she thought, exhaling her irritation. If you want to learn his weaknesses, you have to make friends with him first. Not right away, but eventually. Start off cold, then pretend to warm up to him.
She could do this.
“So,” Elias said, tossing his rag over one shoulder. “We’re doing this for some sort of upperclassmen camping trip? One hundred and fifty teenagers doing keg stands in the woods? How is that legally sanctioned by the school board?”
“It’s not,” Charlie said without looking over.
“The official event is called the OET—the annual Outdoor Education Trip. It’s meant to be twenty-four hours of exploratory research into the wildlife of coastal Michigan.
They send five or six teachers along as chaperones, and during the day, we pick mushrooms and count flowers.
But the minute the chaperones fall asleep, everyone sneaks off to a bay well out of earshot. That’s when the kegs come out.”
“Hmm.” Elias considered this. “Sounds difficult to sneak a keg past teachers in an overnight bag.”
Henry must have noticed that Charlie and Elias were headed to their first car, because he quickly materialized at their feet, running circles around their shoes.
“Oh, we don’t,” said Charlie. “Only half of the money from this fundraiser will actually go to buses and park passes. The other half will fund a booze run that Mason and his friends will do as soon as the wash is over. They’ll buy everything at a store a few towns over, then drive it up to the Gut.
All illicit substances will be buried in the sand at, like, two a.m. tonight, and will wait there until we arrive. ”
“What’s the Gut?”
“It’s what they call the little bay where we’ll hang out.”
“Interesting,” Elias said as they reached their car.
Inside, the driver—a blond mother Charlie thought she recognized as a past school dance chaperone—was staring down at her phone, not paying even the slightest bit of attention to the people about to wash her car.
“Look at us, Charlotte. Having a normal conversation like two normal friends.”
“I am not your friend.” Charlie stopped at the closest bucket and dunked her rag into the sudsy water.
Henry, with an excited squeak, proceeded to climb up the bucket’s side and dump himself into the sudsy water.
His head bobbed back up, red hat covered in white bubbles.
“I am merely putting up with you until you finally reveal the sinister reason you’re actually here. ”
Too late, she realized that she was supposed to be reining in the snappy remarks.
Whoops.
As usual, Elias took no offense. “Me?” He walked around to the other side of the car and bent over his own bucket. “With a sinister agenda? Never.”
She snorted.