The Halfling (Aria Fae #1) Page 12

  “The zombie apocalypse.” I said, trying not to drown in the ocean blue of his eyes.

  He grinned down at me. “Shouldn’t you be at school?”

  I raised an eyebrow. “Shouldn’t you be at school?”

  “I’ve been in mostly college courses since the beginning of the year,” he said, in a manner that somehow managed to be humble. Despite my not wanting to, I had to admit, I liked Caleb Cross, and I knew from the auras around those he encountered that he had this affect on most everyone.

  “Well,” I said, trying to fill the silence, “then I guess everyone here is a genius but me.”

  This made Caleb chuckle. He had a cute chuckle. “That reminds me,” he said, looking at Sam. Reaching into his bag, he pulled out a Macbook and held it up. “Do you think you could do me a favor and take a look at this? I can pay you.”

  Sam accepted the laptop, her eyes glittering up at Caleb, a goofy little grin on her face. “You can just pay me in your handsomeness,” she blurted.

  I struggled against the laughter that wanted to burst from my chest and watched as the orange of embarrassment touched her aura.

  “What’s wrong with it?” I asked. Sam flashed me a grateful look.

  “Nothing, really… It’s just there’re some files on there that are password protected, and I forgot the passwords, but I need to see the files.”

  Sam looked over the rim of her glasses. “You forgot the passwords?”

  Caleb nodded, and I could tell by his aura that he was lying, but held my peace.

  Taking the computer, Sam clicked through it, turning the screen toward Caleb a moment later. “These files?” Sam asked.

  “Yeah,” Caleb said, moving around so that he could look over her shoulder. “Can you open them?”

  Sam was silent a moment as she clicked away at the keys. She sat back a little, her eyes slightly surprise, a touch of intrigue leaking into her aura. “It’s encrypted,” she said. She turned in her seat and looked up at Caleb. “This is your computer?” she asked.

  He nodded again. Lied again. I kept my eyes from narrowing and said nothing.

  “Can you open them?” he asked.

  “Yeah, probably… but it could take a little while.”

  “Cool,” he said. “I’ll pay you for your time.”

  “It’s really no problem,” Sam said, “but there’s probably someone at your father’s company who could do it, too.”

  Something flashed through Caleb’s aura at the mention of his father, and it was so brief that I would have missed it had I not been paying so close attention. I knew the nature of auras well enough to know what it was, though: Suspicion.

  “Thanks, Samantha,” Caleb said.

  “It’s just Sam.” Her cheeks flushed. “Everyone just calls me Sam.”

  “All right, then, Just Sam,” he said. “Thank you.” His eyes met mine. “See you later, Aria.”

  I nodded, and our gazes followed him out.

  “Man, that boy is fine,” Sam said, once he was gone.

  “Yeah,” I agreed. “And he was lying, too.”

  CHAPTER 29

  We left The Grind shortly thereafter, Sam having put the Macbook in her bag to work on later.

  As we walked toward her apartment, she said, “What was he lying about?”

  “The computer’s not his,” I said, “and there’s something going on with his father that seemed to be underlying.”

  “Man… What’s it like being you? Seeing people’s auras, or whatever?”

  I tilted my head as we strolled along the sidewalk, lost in the sounds and the bustle of the city. “It’s not always as great as you’d think,” I mumbled.

  We arrived outside her apartment building, and Sam turned to me. “Can I meet you a little later back at your place?” she asked. “I just want to check on my dad and shower and stuff. He’s not always in the best mood this time of day… or anytime of day.”

  Sympathizing, I said, “Sure. I gotta go to work in a few hours anyway. Want to meet back at my place after?”

  Sam agreed. “And take the cellphone, would ya?”

  I gave a reluctant nod and watched as she disappeared inside the building.

  A few hours later, I was walking into Roses, ready for the day. Rose greeted me with her warm smile.

  After that, the day passed with ease, and then it was time to head home. I realized as we were closing up shop that I was anxious to begin my real work. It astounded me how all of a sudden going out on my nightly missions had become my ‘real work’ in my mind. It scared me a touch, too.

  I’d only just walked in the front door of my apartment when the phone in my pocket buzzed. Pulling it out, I answered it.

  “You ready?” asked Sam. “I’ve got something to show you.”

  There was excitement riding her words, and I felt my own pulse quicken. “Yeah,” I said, running my free hand over the magic staff still in my waistband. “I’m ready.”

  “Great. I’m texting you an address. You can use the phone’s GPS to get there. Wanna race?”

  I let out a short laugh. “You’ll lose.”

  “I’m closer to the place than you.”

  “You’ll still probably lose.”

  I could hear the smile in Sam’s voice. “Ready, set, go!” she said, and disconnected.

  Glancing at the window, I saw that twilight was still a little bit off, but would be upon the city shortly. A look at the phone’s GPS told me the address Sam had sent was twelve blocks west of here.

  With a touch of hesitance, I retrieved the small black mask out of the trunk I kept my secrets in, and feeling a bit less ridiculous than the times before, I pulled it over my eyes. Then I pulled my hood over my head.

  Opening the window, I mumbled, “Here goes nothing,” and hopped out into the dimming day.

  The rooftops of Grant City were becoming a whole new thruway to me, like my personal expressway. They were all high enough and close enough together that I only had to leap among them the way my Fae ancestors leapt through the canopies of old trees.

  It was invigorating, to be higher up than most those around me—surrounded, yet above. I loved the way my hair blew around my face, the weight of my hood like a screen between the world and me. I even liked wearing the mask, if truth be told, and the comfort I got from concealing my identity. It was as though when I put the hood and mask on, I became someone else. Someone who was capable and strong. Someone who chased things away, rather than running from them.

  This was the crux of my need to keep digging into the flesh of the issues plaguing the city. Doing so made me feel new and somehow less broken.

  I landed on the roof of a three-story abandoned brick building that had more than likely been a warehouse of some sort in its day. As it was, the windows were boarded, the red bricks crumbling in many places, and because of my strong sense of smell, even from the roof I could tell there had been a fire inside.

  All in all, it was about as sad as a building could be. Crouching and lifting my nose to the air in a way that would look canine to a human, I checked the GPS on the phone and saw that this was just where I was supposed to be.

  Leaning over the edge of the building, I located a boarded-over window just a few feet below. Using my staff, I knocked off the boards and tossed the weapon inside. Then I swung over the edge and into the opening, gripping the frame of the window incase there was nothing to stand on inside.

  The window let into a small office overlooking an enormous room that made up the entirety of the old warehouse. There was a desk, a chair, and an outdated calendar hanging on the wall. Other than that, the office was empty.

  I walked over to the glass window that looked out over the warehouse. There were some large hulks of rusted machinery, and the entire west wall of the building was black where fire had scorched through, the bricks and concrete floor black where they should have been red and gray.

  Most of the space had been cleared out, though, and the place wasn’t so bad off a
s I would’ve guessed from the outside. I moved toward the open door of the office, which led to a staircase that accessed the warehouse below.

  I paused, hearing voices and stopping in my tracks, crouching low out of instinct.

  “I’m not sure this structure is even sound,” said a male voice I didn’t recognize.

  “Don’t be such a nerd, Matt,” replied a voice that I did.

  Making my way out of the office, I stood out on the landing above the factory, spotting Sam and the other speaker easily despite the dim light in the place. I quickly pulled the mask off my face and stuffed it in my pocket.

  “I’m not a nerd,” complained the boy, who I assumed was Matt. “I just don’t like creepy ass buildings. That doesn’t make me a nerd.”

  “No,” Sam agreed. “The fact that you can name every element in the periodic table in order of arrangement makes you a nerd.”

  “Um… hi?” I said, making Matt jump as though I’d just shot a gun into the air.

  “Jesus!” he screamed, squinting as he tried to make me out in the darkness.

  A minute later, a light on Sam’s cellphone popped on, and she shined it over at me. I shielded my eyes and she turned it away.

  “You beat me,” she said.

  “I told you I would,” I replied, eyeing Matt. “And you brought company.”

  “How’d you get up there?” Matt asked. His head tilted back so that he could stare up at me.

  I followed his gaze and noticed that the wooden stairway that led from the small office down to the warehouse floor wasn’t complete. The bottom fifteen feet or so was just open air, the wooden stairs having broken off and fallen to the floor below.

  I didn’t answer Matt’s question, only stared at Sam.

  “Can you give us just a minute, Matt?” she asked.

  Matt looked back and forth between the two of us before turning away. He was not a really handsome boy, but he wasn’t ugly, either. He was tall and lanky with wild black curls atop his head and light brown skin.

  “I’ll just… uh… go stand in the corner over here,” he mumbled.

  Jumping down from the top of the stairway, I landed on my feet in front of Sam, pushing some of my red-brown hair out of my face so that I could meet her eyes.

  “Before you say anything,” Sam began, “you should know I haven’t told him anything.” She looked back over her shoulder at where Matt was standing, scrolling through his smartphone. “But you can trust Matt. He’s a good kid, and he could help us, too.”

  “How is that?” I asked.

  “Matt’s in CODE with me. I’ve known him since I was five. His mother used to be best friends with mine. And, one day, he’s going to change the world with that big brain of his. He’s the smartest person I know, Aria.”

  I took a minute to absorb this. “You should’ve told me you were going to bring him,” I said.

  She nodded, and I could tell she’d known I’d say this. “Would you have let me?”

  Sighing, I admitted, “Probably not.”

  Sam placed a hand on my shoulder. “Remember earlier when I was going over all the things a superhero needs? Like a codename and lair?”

  I nodded.

  “Well, all the good superheroes also have a team, people who stand behind them, and who lend a hand when things get really rough.”

  “And Matt over there, you want him to be part of this team?”

  Sam grinned and spread her arms out. “Same as I think this should be our lair.”

  “What’d you tell him to get him to come here?”

  She shrugged. “I didn’t have to tell him anything. These old buildings, a lot of them have only been vacated for a year or two. You’d be surprised what you can find left behind in them.”

  I raised an eyebrow. “You’ve done this before.”

  She nodded. “Yeah, well, home hasn’t been the most pleasant of places to be as of late.”

  When I didn’t respond, she said, “Aria, if you don’t want to let him be involved, that’s totally cool. You don’t have to decide right way. Get to know him a little bit. Use your Fae mind reading thingy, or whatever. All I’m asking is that you consider letting Matt in. I’m telling you, we could definitely use him.”

  I looked over at Matt. He’d popped some headphones in his ears and his curly black hair was bouncing around his face as he nodded to the music. He smiled and gave a shy wave when he saw me looking.

  “All right,” I said. “What’s in the plastic bag?”

  Sam smiled, waving Matt over and pulling a blanket out of her messenger bag. “What do you think is in it?”

  I sniffed at the air. “Meat ball sandwiches with parmesan and mozzarella… and apple pie?”

  “You’ve got the nose of a bloodhound,” Sam laughed.

  “Mine is actually better,” I mumbled. I offered Matt my hand when he reached us. “Sorry I was rude earlier,” I said. “Nice hair.”

  Matt laughed at this, taking my hand into his and giving it a firm shake. “No worries. I’m Matt. Nice to meet you.”

  Studying Matt’s aura, I said, “Aria.”

  “So you gonna tell me how you got up there?” he asked, nodding at the destroyed stairs to the office.

  Taking the plastic bag with the food from Sam—the clever girl really knew the way to my heart—I folded myself into a seat on top of the blanket. “I’m not sure yet,” I said.

  Matt nodded, and I could tell that he was the kind of person who got more appealing the longer you knew him.

  “Fair enough,” he said, and took a seat beside me.

  And that was how the three of us came to be.

  CHAPTER 30

  I was not ignorant to the great value of teamwork when concerning any operation. I was, after all, a soldier, had been raised and trained in military style and special ops by an organization that was as big and as serious as any of its human counterparts.

  So I understood what Sam meant when she said I needed a team, but there was a part of me that was reluctant to open up to Matt, and even Sam completely, because the last team I’d been a part of had left me out in the cold.

  Really, though, there are some people you just can’t help but like, can’t help but want to trust. These people are rare, and I’d met two of them within the same week. I fell in with Matt Mason same as I’d fallen in with Samantha Shy; fast and easy.

  “Matt,” I said, speaking around a large bite of apple pie, “I like you.”

  “Told ya you would,” mumbled Sam with a satisfied look on her face.

  This made his smooth brown cheeks go a touch pink. “Thanks, Aria,” he said. “You’re pretty cool, too.”

  Sam snorted. “She’s super cool. You have no idea.”

  “No more impressive than you two,” I said. “You’re both geniuses.”

  Sam nodded and raised her eyebrows in a way that was smugly funny, and Matt only blushed more humbly.

  I could see Sam’s aura bursting with little bits of purple. She was anxious to tell our secrets to Matt, and slightly reluctantly, I realized I wanted to share with him, too.

  I wanted to feel a part of something again… like I had some sort of family.

  “Okay, Sam,” I said, “you can tell him.”

  Sam stood from the blanket and jumped up into the air. “Yes!” she said. “I swear it, Aria, we can trust Matt. You won’t regret it.”

  “Good,” I said. “Otherwise I’ll have to kill him.” Silence fell and they both just stared at me. I rolled my eyes and flashed a smile. “I’m kidding, guys. Seriously.”

  “I’m not sure I want to know now,” Matt joked.

  “Aria’s only half human and we’re going to save Grant City together,” Sam blurted, the words rushing out like vomit.

  I blinked up at her. “All right, then,” I said. “I guess that covers it.”

  Matt’s brown eyes flicked between Sam and me. “Wait, what?”

  Sam was practically jumping out of her skin with excitement. “Aria, just s
how him. Do something Halfling-y.”

  Sighing, I stood, dusting my hands off on my black leggings. “Seriously, Sam, just because you’re a genius doesn’t mean you should go making up words.”

  “Pfft. Yes, it does.”

  Matt sat in silence, observing this exchange. Looking around me, I went back over to where the wooden staircase leading up to the office was dangling fifteen feet above in the air.

  “Shine your cellphone over here, Matt,” I said, feeling a small smile pull up my lips. “Try to keep the light on me.”

  Picking their phones up off the blanket, both Sam and Matt wandered over to me, chasing the shadows away from me and putting me in duel spotlights.

  “You wanna know how I got up there?” I asked.

  Matt nodded.

  I grinned. “Watch this.”

  Taking a few running steps, I ran up the wall where the staircase should have been, leaping off of it to grip the edge of the last intact stair. I flipped up with ease, landing on my feet, staring down at Matt and Sam below. Sam was smiling. Matt’s jaw was agape. Giving a small bow, I somersaulted off the last step and landed lithely before them.

  “Holy macaroni!” Matt said.

  Raising an eyebrow, I replied, “You two are a lot alike.”

  Sam shrugged. “We’ve known each other most of our lives.”

  “Did you train for the Olympics or something?” Matt asked.

  Sam let out a huff. “No, Matt. I told you, she’s only half human.”

  He said nothing to this, only stared at me. I could tell by his aura that he wanted to believe, but the skeptic in that big brain of his wouldn’t let him. The sciences of mankind were incredible, but science couldn’t explain everything, and I was one of those things.

  I reached behind me and pulled out my staff, holding it out between us. “Here,” I said. “Watch this.”

  Mumbling the magical incantation and running my fingers over the tree carved into the surface, the wooden staff grew to its full size. Matt’s eyes were as round as full moons as I stepped back into a fighter’s stance and twirled the staff around expertly.

  For a moment, it was as though he couldn’t speak. “Can I see it?” he asked at last.