Page 13 of Killer of the Bells
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 noticeablenext 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, menand 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 thehey, youEli 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 andI 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.
