Page 19 of A Deeper Blue
There was a roar, and five Warlocks on motorcycles rounded the corner of the building, heading for the handicap parking in front of the building.
Rafe pulled her back inside, and they stared at the cluster of men that were between them and Rafe’s bike under the shade of a spindly tree on the far side of the parking lot.
“Uh…” said Rafe. “My avoidance spell isn’t going to work on that many and at this proximity. What have you got?”
The group of men sprawled their bikes across two handicapped parking spots and began to walk toward the entrance. Azure closed her eyes and looked at the future of the Warlocks. In her head, she saw them walking into the Walmart, but Azure and Rafe were not where they were currently standing. She opened her eyes. She was getting dangerously close to looking at her own future, but she thought she could pull this off.
“Garden section,” said Azure, pulling him back into the store.
They ran through the aisles until they were in the only place that smelled halfway decent to Azure, the garden section. There in the back was a collection of dismal-looking fruit trees.
“All trees are a forest. All forests are one,” muttered Azure. “Rafe, how much do you trust me?”
“A lot,” he said. “Why? Is there a chance we could die?”
“Maybe,” said Azure, with a nervous laugh. “A little. Or maybe just get lost for half an eternity.”
“Only half?”
“Well, my Grandma would probably come find us at some point.”
“Well, then why are we worried?”
“Right,” she said, grabbing his hand. “OK. Uh… Whatever you do, don’t let go.”
Episode 11
Froggy Went A-Courtin’
Rafe
Traveling. Azure said it was calledtraveling.Rafe called it getting hit the nose with a tree. Or an entire forest. The overwhelming smell of the forest had nearly caused him to shift from sheer scent overload. Azure had grabbed his hand and walkedatthe fruit trees in the garden center, only that wasn’t where they had ended up. Thirty seconds of nose-boggling, sensory over-loading forest walking, and an eternity later, they had walked out into the parking lot from the tree by his bike. And he’d been left gasping and trying to cling to his human form. He still wasn’t sure what she’d done, how she’d done it, or even where they’d been. He’d tried asking for more explanation, but she’d seemed oddly reluctant. She just said it was the in-between woods, but beyond that, she didn’t seem willing to talk about it.
She’d been shaky afterward. She said it wasn’t the kind of thing you were supposed to do with fruit trees in a garden center and a parking lot. Her shakiness had panicked him, and he’d spent the next hour on the bike trying to keep his hand over hers where they clasped around his chest. He’d found a campsite as soon as he thought it was reasonably safe. If he’d known that was what would happen to her, he would have gone ahead and fought the Warlocks. Admittedly, there was no telling how much magic the five Warlocks had, and exposing the Supernatural world to an entire fucking Walmart wasn’t exactly on his list of things to do that week, but anything was better than Azure being hurt.
He’d found them someplace to camp off the main freeway. The campground was officially closed, but there was a service road open, and they had the place to themselves. Azure’s map showed they were all right, and he wanted her to rest. Not that she was taking him too seriously. Once off the bike, she said she needed to go do some sort of witch ritual and went off to talk to the trees or something. He could hear her humming just outside of his sight-line in the trees. She was down near a little stream. The scent of Azure and freshwater drifted up the embankment to him.
“Froggy went a-courtin,’ and he did ride, uh-huh, uh-huh.”
Azure’s voice came softly along with her smell, and he smiled. The song was an old one. Older than he was by a long mile and probably at one time had been the height of biting Scottish political satire.
“Froggy went a-courtin,’ and he did ride, uh-huh.” Her voice quieted as if she wasn’t paying much attention to what she was singing.
“Froggy went a courtin’,” he called out to her, hoping to make her sing further. “And he did ride, a sword and pistol, by his side, uh-huh, uh-huh.” He knew what he ought to do was get the Hydro Flask out of his saddlebag, find out what was in it, and then ride like hell down the freeway and throw it in his father’s damn face.
But he couldn’t. He had to take care of Azure. She had worked some heavy magic to get them out of the fucking Walmart, and there was no way he could think about the pack and their stupid mission—not while she was in this weakened condition. On the other hand, he also wasn’t sure that staying with her was the right decision. He twisted with guilt at the idea that she was in danger because of him. What he needed to do was deliver the flask and get her the hell away from everyone. He wished there was a way to get off the freeway. It was the fastest, but it was also the most dangerous.
“He went down to Miss Mousey’s door, uh-huh.” Azure’s voice picked up again, and he hummed along with her as she continued on with Froggy’s tale of courting Miss Mouse. He laid out the fire and drug some tree branches into place to give them a good bed off the ground. He watched as she walked up from the stream, hips swaying to her song as she walked through the long grass.
“And if you want any more, you’ll have to sing it yourself,” she finished.
“Uh-huh, uh-huh,” he agreed, finishing the chorus.
“What are you smiling at?” she asked with a laugh.
“I miss the way people used to sing,” he said.
“I’m pretty sure the methods of singing have not changed recently,” she said, raising an eyebrow.
