Page 1 of Her Wonderful Wonder Bell
Chapter One
Delia
“Welcome to Ghostlight Falls, the home of friendly weirdos, reasonably priced roadside attractions, and the best minor league baseball team in the country. Enjoy your visit!” I tip my well-worn cap to the out-of-town visitors as they exit the stadium. You can always tell they’re not from around here by the slightly confused look in their eyes. Visiting a town full of cryptids, shifters, and other oddballs will do that.
I love living here for so many reasons, but the part about baseball is the biggest. The Wonder Balls are the greatest team in the world, and I get to be part of them—as a custodian, I mean. They don’t let women play, obviously. Doesn’t matter what role I’m playing though. I’d ratherbe cleaning after The Wonder Balls than working anywhere else.
Ghostlight Falls Stadium itself has been about the same since it was built almost a hundred years ago, other than technological upgrades and other necessary improvements. The things that are my responsibility to clean—the dugout, locker room, bullpen—all that stuff’s stayed the same the whole ten years I’ve been working here and well before that.
The job itself is…well, if I didn’t love baseball so much, I’m not sure I’d still be working here. The work is gross, pay is terrible, my boss issupercreepy, and a lot of the players are—
“Hey, Dee, you out there?” a man shouts in a half-laugh from inside the locker room.
“No, Brock. Now move your asses. I want to go home!” I yell through the doorway. Brock Ultraman, the star pitcher, is always messing with me. He has ever since we were kids.
“Hold your horses, Delia. We’re packing up. Go do something else. Text your boyfriend or whatever.”
Boyfriend—no, thank you. He knows I stopped trying todate guys way back when we were teens, but with Brock I can never be sure if it’s malice or the fact that he’s a fucking moron.
“Whatever, just hurry. I’m waiting on you so I can finish.” I pull my grimy, yellow mop bucket against the wall and I lean on the cool stone next to it.
“I like to think of you when Ifinish, Dee,” he taunts.
“Brock, you smell like a dirty, infected belly button piercing.” I rub my aching lower back. “And don’t make me tell the new guys about the time in college when you drank all that pre-workout and shit your pants.”
The guys bust out laughing at that.Got him, ha!A minute goes by, and the laughs and jokes at Brock’s expense grow closer as the guys exit the locker room. Just the last few stragglers after their practice tonight. Brock leads the way, all blonde sunshine with a swagger that says, “I’ll one day be the example of what not to do in a Human Resources training exercise.” He rolls his eyes, flipping me off. A couple guys I don’t know that well yet leave next—new to town, they just came on this season—and finally Angelo, currently the only coolguy on the team.
Angelo smiles and pinches his nostrils as he walks out. “Wow, she’s right, Brock. Youdostink. You should see someone about that.”
“I’ll see your mama on my dick,” Brock snaps back.
Everyone pauses.
Idiot.Angelo is a scary as fuck shifter who could toss his ass into the next century, easy.
More importantly though, Angelo’s mom isRosa.
“Mymom?” Angelo asks, hand on his chest and an amused look on his face. His deep brown eyes flash red in the dim hall. “Should I call her and ask her about that? You know, your mom likes to stop by Rosa’s for caramels. Maybemymom should askyourmom about it.”
Everyone likes the candy at Rosa’s. It’s the best there is anywhere, if you ask me. Having a Candy Witch in Ghostlight Falls is amazing. Pissing her off though?Terribleidea. I’m pretty sure that rule number one of living in a town with people who can put curses on you, isdon’t do shit that makes them want to put curses on you.
“I was just kidding.” Brock raises his hands, palms forward, and shrugs. “Sorry, man. And, uh, you know I was kidding too, Delia. Right?”
Angelo grins, leans against the wall next to me, and swings his arm around my shoulder. He always smells nice—musky in that “alpha shifter” way—but nice. Being friends with Rosa’s kids is just about as sweet as her candy.
“It’s all good. Right, Dee?” he asks.
“Yeah,” I reply with a wink. I pull away from him and haul my mop bucket toward the now-empty locker room. “Now, get out of here. I need to clean up after your filthy asses so I can get home.”
“Have fun,” Angelo teases as he pulls off my cap to rub his knuckles quickly back and forth over the top of my head.
“Hey!” I smooth my hair back and fit my cap into place as they all walk out of the building.
I’ve had the same brown, chin-length hairstyle, with the same bleach-blonde chunks in the front, since I was fourteen. The same year I got this Wonder Balls cap, two years before I started working here. The stadium andI have that in common—we don’t change much. I mean, a little change would be nice. Like, maybe a new girlfriend. It’s hard to find another chick around here who’s as into baseball as I am though—and shedoesneed to be into it. I’ve tried dating people who didn’t like the sport. It didn’t go well. They could only listen to me ramble on about stats and player trades so much before they got bored.
Ah, well. Someday. Right now, I need to be thinking less about pretty gals, and more cleaning out garbage pails. Time to get to work.
“Rogers!” a deep, gravely voice echoes from the far end of the hall.My boss. Garbage pails will have to wait a second.
