Chapter 5
Chapter
Five
ECHO
After mere moments, we arrived at a secluded bench in a park near the school. While my brain tried to deal with the speed at which I’d just been relocated, Vale deposited me on the ground like used laundry.
I was on my hands and knees, trying not to retch, when I heard a dry voice say, “We don’t treat innocent witnesses this way, Vale.”
“Maybe you don’t,” Vale retorted. “There’s nothing in my contract stating I can’t.”
There was a heavy sigh, and the stranger said, “I was told to bring food, but you don’t look like you’re in any shape right now to eat it.”
I shook my head and held up my index finger in the universal gesture for just give me a minute while I panted and focused on the ground in front of me.
“Don’t worry about Vale,” a familiar, cheerful voice joined in, and I saw a pair of small, stylish shoes in my peripheral vision. “He’s only like this on days that end in Y. It’s not personal.”
“Shut up, Apple,” Vale said, but it was without heat. It was like being rude to the man was from habit, rather than malice.
“Apple?” I asked and looked up, feeling steadier, but all my joints still felt loose and jittery.
“You know me?” Apple asked, eyes wide with merriment.
I snorted. Everyone who wasn’t living under a rock knew Apple. He and his giant trash fire boyfriend were impossible to miss. Our campus was big, but not big enough to miss those two fucking their way across it. Even if it had been, Apple was still a legend all on his own.
“Vale said we’d need a translator, but he wasn’t specific about which language. Then he told Gareth to just bring me, so I’m guessing you’ve got something really interesting going on. They only bring me in on the really interesting stuff, so come on, spill the beans. What do you have for me?”
I stared blankly at Apple, trying to formulate a response when, in the distance, I saw a short young man with dark hair enter the park. I could faintly hear him say, “I don’t know, Haruka. I just wanted to take a walk tonight. I’m sure it’ll be fine.”
Apple gave a short laugh of surprise. “Oh, this is going to be beautiful. It might almost be worth leaving Adam alone for an hour. Almost, Gareth. I said almost. Don’t get any ideas about dragging those two in on our operations just to get my attention. It won’t be worth it.”
“You don’t need to tell me that,” the stranger—who I now knew to be Gareth—said in the same dry tone as before. “This is less than ideal, Vale. What did you bring to me?”
“Don’t blame me. This is clearly Apple’s fault,” Vale responded indolently.
The moonlight touched his face, and I realized his eyes were an earthy shade of hazel.
They suited him. It was the first time I’d been able to see him properly, and I was dazzled.
His long, dark hair was pulled back into a messy bun, making him seem a touch feral and untamed.
I wanted my hands in it. I wanted my hands all over every part of him.
“Haruka? Are you coming or not?” The short, young newcomer’s voice called out, shaking me from my reverie.
“You’re supposed to be lucky, you little shit,” Vale griped.
For a second, I thought Vale was talking to me, but when Apple sputtered in offense, I realized I was an NPC in the situation. No one there gave a shit about me at the moment because everyone’s focus was on the tall Asian man joining the stunningly beautiful young man walking toward us.
I recognized both of them easily. Haruka and Eli, another campus sensation that I’d have to be dead not to know about. Rumors abounded about the two, but none of them could be real, right? If Haruka was half as dangerous as they’d made him sound, he’d never be allowed to stay on campus… Right?
“How many?” Gareth asked.
Vale responded, “Twenty-seven.”
“Only twenty-seven? He must be having a good night. Let’s make sure he continues to have one,” Gareth said.
“Gareth, you’re not scared of him… are you?” Apple asked like the concept was absurd.
“Using caution around him isn’t fear. It’s common sense,” Gareth said vaguely.
I had no fucking clue what was going on, and I didn’t have a single word in my arsenal to spare in order to find out.
My mind had stopped spinning, and I finally turned to see what the mysterious Gareth looked like. My heart froze, my lungs seized up, and my body began to tremble violently. There was nothing visibly shocking about the man. He was large, but it wasn’t enough to send terror racing through my blood.
He should look like the big, goofy, golden retriever football jock next door, but he didn’t. His sandy blond hair and large, purple eyes weren’t disarming. They were barely noticeable next to how much I desperately wanted to run the fuck away the moment I laid eyes on him.
I made a choking sound, and Vale noticed, stepping between us to block my line of sight.
“It’s better if you don’t look at him,” Apple said, wincing in sympathy. “Vale should have warned you.”
“It doesn’t happen to everyone,” Vale said stiffly.
“It happens to ninety-nine percent of the population, Vale.”
Gareth wasn’t paying attention to us. From the parts of him Vale hadn’t blocked, I could see that Gareth was laser-focused on the two newcomers to the park.
“Chibisuke,” I heard Haruka say in a fond, but exasperated tone, “you never go out this late. What makes tonight any different?” His demeanor was mild and indulgent until suddenly it wasn’t.
A hand flew to his ear, and he froze, grabbing Eli’s arm and jerking him to a stop.
“Ow, Haruka. What the fuck?” Eli rubbed his arm and tugged against Haruka’s grasp. “Is something wrong?” Eli’s voice turned wary, and he followed Haruka’s gaze.
The air around Eli began to shimmer, and I found myself seething over how the fuck there could be so many people in town with magic, but I wasn’t one of them. It just wasn’t fair.
“Apple,” Gareth said it like it was a full order instead of just a name.
“On it,” Apple replied, and then said to me, “You’ll be safe with these two. Just… don’t look at Gareth if you can help it.”
I nodded vigorously. I was pretty certain I would never look at Gareth again for as long as I lived, so I had no problem with agreeing.
Apple strode out into the space between our group and Haruka and Eli, moving slowly and easily. As he walked, men and women dressed in dark combat outfits began to appear at the tree line one by one.
Haruka stood in front of Eli defensively and asked, “What do you want?”
“A small misunderstanding. Nothing to worry about,” Apple said easily, still walking toward them.
“That’s close enough, pretty boy,” Eli snapped, and the air around him grew brighter.
Apple faltered and stopped halfway between our group and Haruka and Eli.
“Your charm doesn’t work on us, even if your luck does. Just tell us what you want,” Haruka said bluntly, eyes narrowed, voice cold as the Arctic.
“I didn’t bring you here intentionally,” Apple said quickly. “I was called in to help with someone who needed a translator, and, well, here you are. You don’t have to stay. We can all just walk away from this, no harm, no foul.”
“Thirty-eight,” Vale said to Gareth, and I realized more people had entered the park, all of them dressed like they were there for a fight.
I didn’t see what Gareth did, because Eli asked, “Why is that guy kneeling on the ground?”
“Chibisuke…” Haruka said in a warning tone, but Eli continued.
“I know, I know, they don’t mess with us, we don’t mess with them, yadda, yadda, yadda… but they brought us here, so now we’re involved. Hey, you, do you want to be here?”
I realized I was the hey, you Eli was referring to after looking over my shoulder and seeing nothing but a park bench with a paper bag from a local sandwich shop on it.
“I want to be here,” I echoed. I wasn’t sure it was true, but whatever the hell was going on didn’t seem to need more fuel poured on it. Besides, if something terrible happened to me and I vanished after meeting with Gareth, was it the worst thing in the world?
“You don’t sound sure about that,” Eli said. “You can come with us right now if you want to. I promise I’ll help you.”
Haruka gave a long, drawn-out sigh. “You’re going to owe me for this.”
“Whatever you say, my little bean sprout.” Eli gave Haruka a nudge. Haruka took it and the nickname stoically. I was left with the impression that anyone else who dared to call him that would be left bleeding out in the grass shortly after.
“He’s not here against his will,” Apple said indignantly, but he stopped and looked back at us and asked,” Right?”
“I’m not here against my will,” I agreed.
“Um, not to ruin the mood or anything, but weren’t you the one we needed a translator for?” Apple asked.
There were so fucking many words necessary to answer that question, but since none of the situation was my fault, I crossed my arms and looked away. With the number of people in the park, it took time to find a place to look that was free of people.
Finally, my eyes landed on the park bench behind us with the sandwich bag sitting there innocently.
It was the only place Haruka’s people hadn’t taken over, so I sat down on the bench and opened the bag, delighted to find a huge slice of cheesecake.
I ignored the sandwich under it and tore the thing out of its plastic packaging.
I held it in one hand and started going to town on it.
Fuck real food. If I was about to die in some stupid turf war, I was going out eating cheesecake.
“Fifty-one,” Vale said.
“Fifty-one what?” A short redhead appeared to my left. He gave off an air of casual whimsy, but I saw him note my presence and adjust his stance accordingly. “Who’s that guy?”
“Echo,” Vale said.
“Echo,” I agreed.
“The shortie’s name is Echo?” Apple asked, and since he was shorter than me, I didn’t see any need for him to be throwing out descriptions like that willy-nilly.
“The shortie’s name is Echo,” I said while taking another huge bite of cheesecake, so it was probably pretty garbled.