Page 28 of A Little Discovery

Maybe whatever brought me to him is a good thing, even if I can’t remember what it was. Between the party and whatever happened this time, it feels like the stars are aligning to pull us together. Setting down the watch next to the rings on the nightstand, I chuckle at my silliness. Fate doesn’t exist.

Climbing out of bed, I notice someone talking outside my room, and it makes me curious. I’m usually not one to snoop around, but something is telling me that it will be fun to play spy. I haven’t been able to do this since I was a little kid at Gramps’s house. Cracking open the door, I drop quietly into a crouch to sneak into the common area on this floor. Spencer’s door is closed, so I can only assume he is still out on his case.

“…haven’t told anyone yet, Dad.”

I find the source of the voice once I peek around the edge of the sofa. There is a guy leaning against the countertop, next to the fridge, in the small kitchen area, talking on his phone. He is only a couple of inches taller than I am, if that, but muscular enoughto not be a lazy sack of bones like me.

“Yes, Dad,” he says turning to open the fridge. “I will make sure he eats… I know, Dad… I won’t… Oh, come on!”

He stands up and slams the door after grabbing a can of pop and winces at the sound. Glancing toward the rooms, he cocks his head before saying, “I think he’s up now. Gotta go. Love ya. Bye.”

I dive behind the sofa, pulling my arms over my head. If I can’t see him, he can’t see me, right?

“Where oh where could Lucky have run off to?” he asks in a sing song voice. “I swear he must be magic to disappear into thin air like that.”

He can’t see me!

I can’t stop the giggle that escapes, and I pop both hands over my mouth to try and hold it in.

“Huh? I thought I heard a fairy laugh,” the man says as his footsteps head toward the stairs that go down into the rest of the house.

I count to twenty Mississippis before I get my feet back under me to gt up. I peek over the top of the sofa and don’t see anyone, so this time I let the giggle fly free. The silly man didn’t even look hard for me. Hiding is thirsty work, so I tiptoe toward the fridge for a drink. I hope there’s juice. Pop tickles my nose and feels funny.

“So that’s where you were hiding,” the man says from right behind me.

I scream as all my limbs go flailing. I would have hit the floorhad the man not grabbed me. Gravity tends to not like me lately, judging by the still there bump on my head.

“Lucky, I’m so sorry,” he says. “Are you alright? I was just messing around.”

I nod, gulping in air and trying to keep my heart inside of my chest. My head seems to be pounding in time with my heart, and my stomach seems to want to come to the outside of my body. My feet are under me, but they don’t seem to have gotten the memo that they are supposed to be holding me up, so I’m really happy that this man is strong enough to keep me upright. I mean, I am barely one hundred thirty pounds, but I’m still a grown man.

Footsteps pound up the stairs and a for really reals giant is in front of me. It takes me a second to recognize the look on his face is one of concern, not anger. Right behind him are two other guys who are normal sized, one of which has a line of cobalt blue eyeliner going to his hairline.

“O.M.G. Lucky,” the one in makeup says when he realizes there’s no emergency. “Give a girl a heart attack why doncha?”

The man holding me up is shaking. Before I can even start to worry that I’m too heavy for him, he breaks into laughter with the others chuckling along. I’m glad it was laughter and not my weight because my legs are still rubber.

“Eric?” the giant says and the man in question looks at him softly. “I think you should go check the mirror.”

We all watch as the makeup wearing man, who I now know is Eric, sashays into the tiny bathroom muttering about horror movies and running up stairs. There’s an anticipatory silence until he flips on the light, and then everyone else erupts inlaughter when he lets out a string of profanity that would make a sailor blush before stomping back down the stairs.

Finally feeling strong enough to not fall over, I push away from my tormentor-slash-savior to sit on the sofa. He takes the seat next to me while the giant and remaining normal sized guy lean against the counter. I have to admit, for someone super introverted like me, no one here is setting off any alarm bells. My whole existence, except when I get to be on the back of a horse, is nothing but tension and anxiety. It doesn’t make any sense for me to feel at ease, but I am going to roll with it.

The guy next to me, phone call guy, turns to me and puts a hand on my knee. “Lucky,” he pulls my attention to his face with the tone of his voice. It’s not angry, but there’s a force to it that means he expects me to listen to him. “Has any of your memory come back yet?”

I shake my head slowly to avoid the headache coming back, but I don’t lose the smile on my face. “From what I’ve pieced together, whatever happened to cause me to end up here was bad enough,” I tell him. “I don’t know if I want to remember.”

Phone guy sighs and looks at the other two before he pulls his hand away. I kind of miss the contact. I’d never gotten the opportunity to be a tactile person since I was a little kid. Sabrina only touches me in front of my parents, but her touch gives me the yucks. No one else ever bothered except for Gramps before Mother cut me off from him. I think at one point there were cousins or maybe the staff kids, but I was so young that I can’t remember if they were real of just imaginary friends.

“I guess we can do introductions again,” the man next to me says. “Or rather, for the first time since I don’t think weactuallyintroduced ourselves properly earlier.

“The big guy over there is Jace,” he says while the giant gives me a shy smile and wave. “He looks like a big bad biker gang leader, but he is our resident teddy bear, sometimes referred to as T.B. for short. If you ever need a hug for any reason, or no reason at all, he’s your go to.”

The other guy leaning against the counter stands up straight and waves next. He has the proper posture of someone who has either been in the military or had to take etiquette lessons, like I did. He looks too young for having served, so I can only assume he got really used to balancing books on his head growing up.

“My name is Scott,” he says, relaxing back after shaking out the stiff posture. “Resident switch and house chef. Let me know if there are any foods you can’t have…”

He pauses for a second considers his words before he continues “I mean like allergy or intolerance wise, not something someone told you that you aren’t allowed to eat. If your Daddy says you can’t have something that you want, just let me know. I’m good at secret snack parties.”

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