Page 31 of Eight Embers

He’s shaking, no,vibrating,next to Delaney, and I’m so focused on how uncomfortable they both are that I nearly miss the student that is currently standing in the middle of the road, waving us down.

I manage to warn Delaney’s fathers in time, because clearly, they’re distracted by seeing their kid so distraught, and they slam on the breaks, seatbelts straining to hold all of us back.

Rush opens the door without any explanation, ushering in the student who…oh. It’s that kid he was with in the grocery store.

“Sorry I’m late,” he says as he climbs in and takes a seat next to me.

“You know this one?” The dad that’s driving asks. He’s actually pretty terrifying. I have no idea what his magic entails, but it’s very formidable.

“I…yes, ish? Hi, Spencer. Can we help you with something? Kind of in the middle of a big ordeal right now.”

“Rush told me,” he says, waving Delaney off as he gets buckled in.

Rush nods perfunctorily, and then the driver shrugs and continues driving.

“So, did you ever read that note I gave you a while back? I know you’re busy, it’s just that, well, it would explain some things.”

Delaney, turned sideways to better see Spencer, furrows her eyebrows. “Note? You never gave me a note. You handed me something, sure, but when I remembered to open it, it was just a shopping list for toilet paper, dandruff shampoo, and tater tots…oh. You know Rush, you said?”

Spencer frowns at Delaney. “Damnit. I gave you the wrong paper. No wonder I couldn’t remember what to get when I was at the store.” He leans back and massages his forehead briefly, clearly annoyed with himself.

“What was it meant to have said?” Delaney asks, apparently just accepting that this guy is coming with us.

“It was a warning for you that there was shit going down on campus.”

“Is there a reason you couldn't have just said, ‘Hey Delaney, can I warn you about something I heard that might affect you?’ Was the note necessary?”

Keeping his head against the back of the seat, Spencer rotates his head to the side to face her. “I'm sorry, have you met you? You're so fucking hot I can't even give you the proper piece of paper when I need to. Also, I thought it would be cute to give you a note. The back of the note had a questionnaire for you, for funsies. Sort of a get-to-know-you-bit.”

She opens her mouth to ask a question, but I stop her with a gentle pat to her shoulder. “I got this one, darling. Spencer, what did the questionnaire say?”

Rush tags himself in. He digs a hand into his pocket, the outside one, not the one with his secret potato stash, and moves several things around before withdrawing his hand with a baggie of rainbow stickers and a neatly folded square of paper. “Exposure therapy,” he says about the stickers before handing the note over to Delaney.

Then he squishes his eyes closed, puts the bag up to his eyes and opens them while holding the stickers inches from his eyeballs. It's literally just rainbows. He squeals like it's an actual ghost, holds eye contact for about 10 seconds, and then shoves them back in his pocket very fast. A deep shudder rocks his body then he goes back to staring out the window like nothing happened.

Delaney clears her throat as she reads aloud, “Delaney, I just wanted to tell you to be careful, or else. P.S., you're really pretty. P.P.S., see back for questionnaire.” She flips the paper over and sure enough, there're three questions in his handwriting, all multiple choice.

Delaney continues to read out loud for the listening pleasure of everyone in the car. “One. If I hadn't almost thrown a football at your boyfriend’s face, do you think it would have been appropriate to ask you out for frozen yogurt? Yes, hell no, or what is frozen yogurt? Two. If we were to be in love, what would your ideal morning routine be on the weekend? Bagels and shmear in bed while we read the comics together under a snuggie blanket, go to a hip brunch place we have to put on real pants to attend, or a protein shake and jog around campus in matching exercise gear. Number three.” Delaney rolls her eyes and then turns her head to Spencer, and I honestly do not know what the name is for the look on her face.

The poor little himbo seems so earnest because she just forges ahead with the last question, which I think all of us in the car are dying to hear. “Question three. What is your stance on bacne? Love it, hate it, or ambiguous.”

Delaney rolls her lips in, then takes a second to compose herself. We all need that second.

“Well don't leave us in suspense here,” one of her dads calls from the front passenger seat.

Delaney takes a very measured lean away from Spencer before responding. “Is there a reason why you wrote, ‘beware, or else’? That seems a bit threatening to me. Show of hands? Does anybody else in here think that that seems threatening?”

Everybody raises their hand, leaving Spencer very bewildered. “Huh. I didn't even think about it being taken that way. Oh my goddess. Do you think—” and he gasps with a hand to his chest. He leans forward in a harsh whisper. “Does it seem like I was threatening you? Because I definitely was not. I just didn't want you to get in trouble or get hurt.”

Saladriel chimes in, clearly uncomfortable with this entire situation and having no idea who Spencer even is. “Yeah, I think the problem here buddy, is how vague the note was. You didn't tell her what you were warning her against or what to look out for, so all that note would have done is put her on alert and stress her out without any idea about what to look out for. What threats were you trying to steer her away from, exactly?”

Everybody immediately looks at Rush, and his eyes go wide with innocence. “Don't look atme. I'm not a threat to her. I was a fucking tree, for gods’ sake. Also, I'mobsessedwith her.”

“I suppose I can see how that would have been confusing to her. My apologies, Delaney. It was not my intention to confuse you further. As for threats, I was definitely referring to Shelly. I don't think she was working alone.”

“We took care of her,” Delaney says easily. “She's in a magic dampening cell until Zac figures out what to do with her.” She pauses, thinking about that statement and then nods. “I suppose that would be easier to do if he was actually on campus. How long do you think it will take the university to realize their headmaster has been kidnapped? Is that going to make me look bad? Be honest.”

“Oh yeah,” Rush says. “That witch is definitely not there anymore. I dropped by there earlier this morning to see if the ambience in the dungeons had improved after housing someone; Dad is looking for somewhere special to hold a sacrifice ritual. I thought I told you her cell was ominously empty.” He frowns at himself while sifting through his thoughts. No luck.

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