Page 41 of Lahaina Noon

“There you guys are!” came Bridget’s cheerful voice. She found her boys in the front lobby by the massive glass doors. Vaughn was listening to Gabriel as he chattered ninety miles an hour. She noticed Liam and Killian retreating. The lobby was full of the parents of Gabe’s friends as they came to pick them up.

Vaughn smiling, walked around, handing each kid an envelope, thanking them and their parents for coming today to participate in the beta testing program. He promised them all an advance copy of the game and indicated the envelope was a little thank you for their time and efforts. He also mentioned the summer internship programs they had for high school seniors thinking about careers in coding, programming, and developing.

Jorrie leaned over to Bridget. “That man is smooth like silk.”

Bridget nodded. He was very smooth. He had a way with people— of making them feel important. She sighed a little.

Jorrie laughed. “You’ve got it so bad for that man,” she said in asingsong voice.

Bridget smiled and turned back to the scene before her. “Yeah, Jorr, I do.”

“$500 mom!” Gabe said excitedly from the back seat of the SUV as they drove back to Vaughn’s place. “He gave us all $500 and promised us a copy of the game before it’s in stores,andhe told us he would have us back for future beta programs!”

Bridget smiled; it was only the fifth time she’d heard it since the others had left. “That’s great, baby. That was very generous of him, wasn’t it?”

“Hell yeah!” Gabe said, then as his mother caught his eyes in the mirror, “Uh, I mean, thank you Mr. Uh, I mean, thanks, Drake, I really appreciate your generosity today and for including me in the program. I look forward to future opportunities with you.”

Vaughn laughed; Gabe was quite a character. He could definitely see his mother’s fire in him. “You are quite welcome Mr. Ridgeway, now I expect that at least some of that money goes to your college fund. After all, we must be responsible. You can’t buy a Lamborghini if you blow all your money on pizza and arcade games.” He winked at Bridget before turning his eyes back to the road.

She studied his profile thoughtfully. Whatever had spooked him at the office seemed to be resolved now. There wasn’t a hint of what was going on remaining. Maybe she had imagined it because of that dizzy spell. She had tried to ask Liam about it in the lobby, but somehow, he’d melted into the crowd, and she lost sight of him. Almost like he was avoiding her. Maybe he was avoiding Jorrie. It might get a little awkward the way they had been flirting and would now be working together. She heard Gabe in the backseat still chattering on, thistime about how impressed ‘the guys’ were with meeting the actual GreenPrincess1. She rolled her eyes. Siobhan. Well at least she had kept a professional distance during the party. She realized Vaughn was looking at her. “What?” she said, focusing on him.

He chuckled, “I asked if you wanted to go out tonight for dinner or order in. You’ve been through a lot, and you weren’t expecting to cook for a horde last night. I thought you might be tired and not want to mess with figuring out what to eat. Or if you like, I can do some steaks.” He glanced over at her and saw her gaze riveted to the side mirror. “Bridget? If you don’t want steak, it’s fine, I just...” He trailed off as he glanced in the mirror and saw why Bridget was staring.

Behind them, in an SUV similar to theirs, was a group of men. Nothing unusual about that except they all had swirling black shadows where their faces should be. “Damn,” he said under his breath. He stomped the accelerator and cut through traffic to get away from their tail. The car was warded, so they couldn’t hurt them inside of the vehicle, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t follow them or run them off the road.

“Hey, where’s the fire, Verstappen?” Gabe laughed from the back.

“Gabe, get down now!” shouted Bridget, seeing a gun pointed at them from the car next to them. The person in the back seat also had a shadow face and was aiming at them from the open window. She ducked and screamed, “Vaughn!” as the person fired. She waited for the glass to shatter, but it never came. She peeked and saw the bullet stuck in some sort of green webbing that faintly glowed around the window. She tapped it gently, and the bullet fell to the road below. Sheturned back, checking on Gabe. He was hunched down on the seat, out of view of their attackers, terrified.

Her anger boiled at seeing her child having to duck from bullets. She noticed a strange static come over her again, like after she’d been zapped before. She looked at her hands and saw little arcs flowing from finger to finger, dancing happily between them. Only a faint tickle, nothing like the pain she’d experienced before. The energy swelled in her, and she smiled. She knew what to do with this.

Vaughn was well and truly scared. Not for himself, he could handle them fine. But Bridget and Gabe were in danger. He was also pissed; they had shot at them. He could feel his dragon heating up, demanding retribution. He was about to exit the highway when he experienced a pull on his power. The hairs on his body stood on end. He glanced over at Bridget and saw her eyes had turned black and electricity was arcing between her fingertips. He opened his mouth to warn her when she threw her hands out, and a clap, almost like thunder, sounded. All the cars in a two-hundred-yard radius suddenly died and came to a rolling stop. It was like someone had drained all the power from them.

Bridget looked at Vaughn in alarm. Then her eyes rolled back, and she passed out.

“Bridget!” he yelled.

He kept driving and swung the SUV off the highway toward downtown. Fortunately, it was Saturday, so they were able to get to his street quickly without too much traffic. He flew into the garage, heading for his spot by the door. He rushed around to Bridget’s side, flinging her door open.

“Gabe!” he said quickly to the terrified kid, leaning over his mother, begging her to wake up. “I know you’re scared, buddy, but your mom is okay, I promise. She just tapped into a huge amount of magic before she was ready, and it wore her out. Help me get her inside. Come on Gabe. You can do this. You are strong.”

Gabe shook his head, and tears began to fall down his face as he continued staring at his mother.

Vaughn understood. He already lost his father tragically; now he’d been shot at, and his mother was unconscious. He was freaking out, poor kid. “Gabe, look at me,” Vaughn commanded in a stern voice.

Gabe looked at him sharply.

“What did I promise you? That I wouldn’t let anything hurt your mother, right? Yeah?”

He nodded.

“Okay, good, that’s right. I love her, and I promise you this on my life. She’s fine. She just needs rest right now, okay? Do you trust me?”

Gabe nodded again, wiping his tears. He jumped out and grabbed his mom’s legs, helping maneuver her out of the car.

Vaughn picked her up, cradling her against his chest. Gabe shut the doors and danced around them, trying to see her face. Vaughn tossed his key card to him, so he ran ahead to call the elevator, and once on Vaughn’s floor got them in the front door. Vaughn rushed Bridget into the bedroom.

He laid her gently down on the bed and whipped out his phone. Liam answered promptly. “It’s Bridget,” he said breathlessly. “She tapped into my magic and used it without really understanding it. She’s unconscious. Bring Siobhan.”

---