10. Cal
CHAPTER 10
CAL
Greg drove us to a diner in Bent Oak that I knew from experience had really good milkshakes. We didn’t speak during the drive.
This morning had been a mindfuck in the first order.
I hadn’t really expected anything of Greg before I met him. But the disdain on his beautiful face and how he’d avoided touching me like I had cooties or something had taken me right back to high school, when Butch and his football cronies had sneered at my weight and my sexuality. Greg didn’t even know me, and he was judging me.
And as much as I’d grown a thick skin over the years, being treated like that still hurt my feelings. I’d spent the rest of the morning painfully conscious of my plain face and my bulky body next to Greg’s stunning looks and gracefully lean frame.
At least until we’d been alone in the park with a scary monster. If nothing else, being afraid for my life had helped my brain rearrange my priorities. And what Greg Shaw thought of me got moved to the bottom of the list.
Identifying and finding the monster, that was number one. I’d have to work with Greg, but it was a necessary evil .
When we got to the diner, we sat down in a booth and placed our orders—bacon cheeseburgers and chocolate milkshakes for both of us, for all Greg had hinted he wanted something alcoholic.
A couple of hours ago I’d have worried what Greg thought about a fatty ordering a burger and a milkshake. But now I was more concerned with other things.
He went first. “I want to ask my mom or my uncle to come here. Both of them can call visions on demand. We need to know what that thing is.”
I took a sip of my water then asked, “Have any other Wonders gone missing or been killed recently?”
Greg froze. “Shit. I have no idea.”
I nodded. “It didn’t appear from nowhere. I want to see where it’s been. Maybe it left some clues.”
Greg shivered. “Thanks to you, all of the Wonders in my District are still alive. But the person in your first vision might have been from another District or he could have been unaffiliated.”
“Uh, District?”
He made a face. “Oh, yeah, sorry. At some point I need to get you up to speed. Remember I told you how I create connections with a bunch of Wonders?” I nodded. “I have a radius of about 100 miles where I can mentally feel anyone I’m connected to. If they’re experiencing an extreme emotion like fear, I’ll notice it, but otherwise I just feel a kind of low hum from everyone. For the Wonders, it gives them a community—we have District social meetups, things like that. But even if they aren’t interested in making friends, I’m here if they need assistance navigating the everyday headaches of the mundane world. ”
“Okay. Got it.” I fiddled with my cutlery. “You said you have a range. What happens if they—or you—travel outside your area?”
“If a Wonder is beyond my range, whether I’m traveling or they are, the connection goes quiet until we’re in range again. Oh, and if one of them passes away, as long as they’re within my range I know.”
“And if they’re outside your range?”
He shook his head. “I wouldn’t sense anything. The connection would just disappear, which I wouldn’t notice until I actively tried to find it. And if one of my Wonders passed away in someone else’s District, that District Monitor wouldn’t sense anything either, because they wouldn’t be connected to the Wonder who’d died.”
The server brought our food then, so I mulled everything over while I started on my meal.
“So the Wonders can’t be connected to more than one of you?”
Greg said, “No....” He trailed off, looking thoughtful. “Now that you ask, I’m not sure. They have other types of connections, like with their loved ones. But we’ve always just had them connect with one District Monitor at a time. If a Wonder moves, the original District Monitor removes the connection before they get connected to the new one. When a District Monitor retires, the connections are transferred to the incoming person. It’s part of our magic.”
I raised my eyebrows. “Seems to me if they travel between Districts a lot, it’d be to their benefit to be connected to all of the relevant—what did you call them? District Monitors.”
He nodded. “Maybe it’s time we tried it out. Too bad Shane and Ellis went back home. ”
I couldn’t help my startled laugh. “They’re District Monitors?” They hadn’t struck me as particularly... responsible.
He wiped his mouth with a napkin and groaned. “Yeah. I’m so sorry for how they approached you. They’re sorry too, I promise.”
“Uh huh. And what was all that shit they said about bonding and having sex to boost their mojo or whatever?”
Greg’s mouth dropped open. “Is that what they said to you?”
I made a seesaw motion with my hand. “I can’t remember their exact words, but that was my takeaway.” I picked up my burger again and took a bite, all while keeping my eyebrows up and maintaining eye contact with Greg.
He rubbed his forehead for a few seconds, then he gazed at me earnestly. “No one will force you to do anything you don’t want to.”
“Okay?”
He glanced to the side and blew out a breath. “Right. So, just like I connect with the Wonders to create a community for their safety, anyone with magic, whether a Wonder or those of us the Elves gifted with magic, can connect with each other in a... more intimate way.”
Was he blushing? Fuck me, his cheeks were turning red.
I couldn’t help myself. “You mean through sex.”
His gaze skittered around the diner. “Ultimately, yes. I mean, there are other methods, but it’s the easiest way to create a permanent connection over time. But if people resonate with each other, meaning their magic is compatible, a connection can start forming as soon as they get close enough for their magical auras to mingle.” He cleared his throat. “Touching someone, even briefly, will tell both parties if they’re compatible.”
Ah. “Which is why those two wanted to hold my hand.”
He nodded. “Again, they meant well, but obviously they went about it the wrong way. They were probably a little overenthusiastic because the magic creates, um, some advance signals that a person will meet their mate very soon.”
My eyebrows probably met my hairline. “Their mate ?”
The server chose that moment to come collect our empty plates. I wasn’t sure if he’d heard what I said, but I’d been pretty loud. He didn’t ask us if we wanted dessert, just put our plates on his tray before slapping the bill down with his free hand. Then he vanished.
Greg’s phone chimed. He picked it up and frowned at the message before typing something and putting it down again.
I wasn’t ready to let this go. “So Shane and Ellis heard about me and decided to find out if I was compatible with them. And if I was compatible with one of them, it would’ve meant we were mates ? Like in some shifter romance novel?”
Greg turned red again. He shrugged, finally meeting my eyes. “It’s more like you’d have the option to become mates if you both wanted to.”
“And they’d get some sort of power boost out of it?” It sounded... one-sided.
He shook his head and held up a finger. “Not just them. You’d get one too. When my dad was alive, my mom had a much greater distance range for her visions, and she could call them at will with almost no effort. If Shane or Ellis had ended up bonding with you, they’d have much greater sensitivity through their connections to the Wonders in their district. They’d be able to tell exactly where they were, their general emotional state, things like that.”
I grimaced. “Seems a little Big Brother-ish.”
“Yes, but also no. Remember, our charter was to protect the Wonders. Some of them get lonely, especially if they’re the last of their species. Self-harm is rare, but it can happen.”
I finished the last of my milkshake while I pondered everything he’d told me. After setting my glass aside, I pointed out, “But since you don’t have a list of the kinds of Wonders, you can’t really be sure someone is the last of their species.”
Greg looked startled. “Fuck.”
I shrugged. “I’m not saying you should make a list with their names on it, or even document exactly how many of each kind exist, but a general census would tell you if, say, less than ten of a particular kind of Wonder live in America, but over a hundred live in Germany. Then they could reach out to each other.”
Greg nodded. “I love that idea. There hasn’t been a lot of coordination between the families and the continents up to now.”
“That’s a shame considering the internet is just sitting there, waiting to be used.” I didn’t need a vision to know I had some programming in my future.
“True.”
“Okay, back to our creepy fog monster problem. We need to find out if there have been any other disappearances.”
Greg heaved a sigh. “We need to talk to my mother and probably my Uncle Edgar.” He eyed me hesitantly. “My apartment isn’t far, and it would be more private, but if that makes you uncomfortable, we can go back to the pet resort and use the office there.”
I shrugged. “It’s cool either way. I need to get back to my truck at some point though.”
Greg’s phone chimed with a text. He picked it up, then shook his head, smiling slightly. “The decision has been made for us. Craig says Uncle Edgar showed up at Bark he just opened the door. Uncle Edgar must’ve unlocked it.
Greg waved for me to follow him inside. The apartment appeared to be a standard two-bedroom, two bath setup with basic white walls and crappy beige carpet. But, surprisingly, Greg had turned it into a soothing oasis. A home.
Colorful rugs in bright blues and greens were scattered over the carpet, with large, comfortable-looking furniture upholstered in darker shades of the same colors. The fabrics were textured and begged to be touched. Tables and bookcases were simple, showcasing the wood they were made from rather than being intricately carved. And the walls featured abstract paintings, most of only a few colors on white backgrounds, which counterbalanced the color overload from the furniture and rugs.
I felt instantly at home, which pissed me off considering Greg’s decidedly unwelcoming reactions to me.
“Uncle Edgar?” Greg called out as I pulled the door shut behind me.
“In the kitchen,” a man’s voice replied. He walked around the corner holding an open bag of potato chips.
Uncle Edgar was probably in his sixties, but a definite silver fox. He wore tight jeans and a silky long-sleeved sun protection t-shirt. He sported a full head of brown and silver hair, and he was tan, with well-defined laugh lines around the same light grey eyes Greg had been gifted with. In fact, Greg would probably grow to look like Edgar in twenty or so more years.
And Edgar had the same faint aura of sparkles that Greg did.
“Oh! Are you Cal?” Edgar said to me. He patted Greg on the shoulder as he passed him, then stuck his hand out for me to shake. At least Edgar wasn’t afraid to touch me.
He had a firm grip. Because of my size, lots of guys tried to crush my hand. Edgar didn’t go overboard though.
“Wow, aren’t you a magical powerhouse?” he said. He leaned back, still holding my hand in his, while his other hand held the bag of chips aloft like some sort of Olympic torch. He scanned the area around my body, then he grinned and looked at my face. “Welcome to the campaign!”
He dropped my hand and clapped me on the shoulder. “Come in and sit down. Do you want a drink or a snack? Pickings are pretty slim, but I found these chips, and there are some crackers and a block of cheese.”
“Sorry, I didn’t know you’d be visiting. Again,” Greg sniped.
I sat at the kitchen table, which was made of a beautiful red-brown wood with lots of swirls in the grain. I opened my backpack, wanting to get started on researching fog monsters.
“And yet,” Edgar countered. “You wanted to speak to me today anyway.”
I wanted to ask Edgar what kind of vision he’d had, but we had more important topics to discuss.
Greg’s body sagged. “Yeah. Go sit down. We need to get Mom on the phone too.”
Edgar dropped the bag of chips in the center of the table, then he snagged a beer off the kitchen counter along with a plate of crackers and cheese slices. He set the plate next to the chips.
“We just ate,” I told him.
Edgar heaved a sigh of relief and dragged the plate in front of himself. “Great. I’m starving.”
“Cal, you want a beer or water?” Greg asked.
“Water, please.”
I thanked him when he slid a glass of ice water on a coaster next to my laptop. He tossed another coaster and a stack of paper napkins next to Edgar’s plate. Edgar moved his beer to the coaster without comment, and he tucked a couple of the napkins on his lap.
“Edgar,” I said. “Do you know?—”
“Wait,” Greg interrupted. “It’ll be more efficient if we talk to my mom at the same time.”
He unlocked his phone, dialed, and slid it to the center of the table as it rang.
Greg didn’t sit down. He rubbed his chest, an odd expression on his face.
Delphia’s voice echoed through the room. “How’s my Greggy-boy today?”
Greg sucked in a breath, both hands clutching his chest. Fuck, was he having a heart attack or something? I shoved my chair back and got to my feet.
“Greg?” Delphia asked.
“What’s wrong?” I demanded, running around the table. I held my hands out to the side, ready to help if he needed me to .
Greg’s eyes met mine. “Monster,” he gasped. “Thomas Baird. He’s dead.” His eyes rolled back in his head, and he collapsed.
“Shit!” I shouted. I managed to get my hands under Greg’s shoulders before he hit the ground.
“Put him on the couch.” Edgar pointed toward the living room. He picked up the phone. “Hang on, Delphia. It looks like one of Greg’s Wonders passed away suddenly.”
“Sorry,” I muttered to Greg as I lifted him in my arms bridal-style. If this limited amount of contact offended his mate-avoiding sensibilities, he’d just have to deal with it.
Except on the way to the couch I realized exactly what all the resonating bullshit was about.