Page 11 of Twi-Flight
“What? Seriously?” I jerk around quickly.
He’s gone.
“Am I missing him or something? I don’t see the guy anywhere.”
The figure that I am sure that I saw hovering in the back of the crowd has completely disappeared.
“I swear I saw Eggward.” I insist, scanning the crowd as the band’s melody clunkily evolves into the other song I’m familiar with ‘Frog Licker’. “Vampires can disappear quickly.”
“I’m not sure you’d know a vampire if you saw one.” Lucy takes a sip of her red wine.
I ignore her denial. I know what I’ve seen, and I keep looking, certain he’ll reappear.
Lucy focuses her attention on the beings of physical shadow who make up the band. “Do you think they’re all smoke? Or is there flesh and blood under there?”
“What?” I ask, still distracted by thoughts of my own shadowy silhouette who isn’t there.
“Just wondering if they are single. The one on the left looks good enough to eat.” She’s eyeing the stage.
“Well, I obviously can’t tell…” I mutter sarcastically, and Lucy snorts a laugh.
“You’ll figure it out, eventually.”
“You could just tell me.”
“Not when they aren’t my secrets to tell,” she says mysteriously.
A dark pall falls over our little picnic blanket. A chill runs up my spine. My heart skips a beat. My blood doesn’t know whether it should be heated or turn to ice.
But I know instantly who I’ll find when I swivel my head.
My neck tilts up, and then up further still. Eggward, still in that heavy heat trapping cloak, is standing over me. The setting sun behind him, making his features even harder to discern. But the weight of his gaze is palpable.
“Hi!” My voice pitches up an unintentional octave. “I’m glad you came.” I say in a more normal tone, trying to recover any semblance of a cool demeanor.
“Mina,” Eggward nods a greeting. “I hoped I’d see you here.”
Crap. My cheeks are warm just when he says my name. This close I can make out a shock of red hair and a beard. A very brief mental picture of our tiny ginger babies infiltrates my brain. I shake my head to clear out that thought.
“I hoped that you’d accept my invite,” I mumble, my words coming out far too fast as I catch Lucy’s subtle smirk. With her parasol I’m the only one who can see it. “Do you want to join us?”
Lucy peers back at the tall man. She releases a white toothed grin and half-heartedly pats the ground beside her. Her attempt at being supportive.
“The cavalry has arrived.” Jace Blake shuffles directly into my eyeline before setting down a bag of carryout food. Lucy must have invited him. “Hey Mina!”
“Hi.” I resist the urge to lean around him to look at Eggward.
“Have I missed the good songs?” Jace settles into the spot Lucy just offered Eggward.
“Half of them.” Lucy eyes me over her sunglasses.
Eggward’s eyes fall to Jace.
The tension in the air feels thick enough to touch, and Jace cuts through it without even turning around to properly acknowledge the other man. “Eggward.”
“Jace.” Eggward’s voice is thick with irritation.
Jace pointedly opens his styrofoam container, and Eggward nearly recoils at the sight of his meal.
