Eerie (30 page)

Giselle on the other hand was delighted.

Fin spent a lot of time in play, and he was pretty good. So good, that the most gigantic of the Glacier College players made it his mission to repeatedly chase Fin down, slam him into the glass, and punch him in the face—scuffles that Fin seemed to thoroughly enjoy. He took several blows to the head and more than a few shots to the ribs. At one point, no fewer than three of the Ice Picks had him pinned to the glass right in front of her, and as they beat the snot out of him, he managed to glance up and see Hailey's look of horror.

He gave her a mischievous grin. Then pushed himself away from the glass and landed a nose-breaker on the giant goon. He flew out of the corner in time to get a quick little shovel pass from Sidney, his teammate, and then he fired the puck at the goalie. It ricocheted off the goalie's pad and bounced into the net.

The crowd went wild.

And the pace of the game only picked up. It was constant action. Hailey saw three fights (all of which involved Fin), five goals and at least one tooth get ejected—all before the third period even started.

“It's just . . .regular hockey,” Hailey concluded with a frown during the final intermission.

Giselle, using no more than her disgusted expression said, “No kidding, dumbass,” and then she squinted.

“There's something different about you,” said Giselle. “Did Asher curse you?”

“What? No,” Hailey said quickly then she frowned. “Well, I don't know. He finally kissed me again.”

“How was it?”

“Terrifying.”

“Told you,” said Giselle, and Hailey twisted her lips to the side.

“Anyway, after he kissed me, he told me I'd be able to detect evil.” She looked up at her roommate. “I don't feel any different, though.”

Giselle stared straight ahead, so Hailey changed the subject.

“Has a guy—or a non-human or whatever—ever kissed you?”

“Do I look like something any guy would ever kiss?” she spat.

“You will once my hairdresser gets through with you.” Hailey had an epiphany. She'd been waiting for an opportunity to bring up the Christmas dance. “And if you want, he can do your hair up for Seven Trumpets . . .”

“Nobody is going to ask me to the ball!” she yelled, and she turned her back on Hailey.

“What about David?”

Giselle didn't respond, which was actually a good sign, and Hailey was encouraged. Now all she had to do was convince David to invite the campus banshee to be his date at the Christmas dance. How hard could it be?

She spent the third period of the game working out her strategy as she watched her favorite bartender bleed, heal, bleed again and then score yet another goal. He actually was phenomenal.

By the end of the game, she couldn't wait to see Fin . . .neither could the twelve female “reporters” who waited for the all-clear outside the locker room door with her.

When the door swung open, Hailey let the gaggle of giggling girls file in. Then she hesitantly peeked inside and saw a few of the visitors chatting to some of the players. Most of the men were already showered and partially dressed. A few wore only a towel, and one sang loudly in Russian from the shower.

As she glanced around the room, Hailey made a concerted effort to look at the guys from the neck up only. After making unintentional eye contact with far too many bare-chested players, she finally spotted Fin next to a row of lockers. His hair was wet, and he was only partially dressed, but since he was expecting her and since she'd already seen him naked from the waist up, she figured it was alright to proceed inside.

She sped over to him, smiling brightly and still buzzing with the excitement of the game. As he finished giving a sound bite to a scantily-clad “member of the press,” Hailey waited patiently with her hands clasped. Fin had shed several pounds and really toned up since the summer. Hailey pointed at his abs, marveling so loud it echoed.

“Wow!” she exclaimed. “You're so small!”

The whole room went silent, and everyone turned to see whose manhood had just been robbed.

“Hailey,” said Fin in his best instructor's voice as she pulled her shoulders in, “that's not usually something a man likes to hear.”

“I'm so sorry!” She covered her mouth with both hands.

Fin scratched his eyebrow. Then he threw his shirt on and led her outside.

“I meant your belly,” she told him in a small voice. “You were getting a little shelf over the summer, but now you have a six-pack,” she said desperately.

Fin gave her a cold stare. “A closed mouth gathers no feet, Hailey.”

“Are you mad at me?”

“No . . .” he sighed. “You're just my cross to bear.” He hung his arm around her neck and knuckle rubbed her head.

“Ouch!” she laughed in relief.

“Come on, knucklehead,” he said, pointing across the parking lot. “There they are.”

“Oh, Declan, here they come,” Fin's mother cried as the two approached. She raised her hand to her mouth, and his dad straightened up, tugging the hem of his coat.

“Pádraig,” he said with a single nod. In a business-like demeanor, he gave his son a firm handshake.

“Declan,” said Fin coldly.

Shoving herself between the two, his mother opened her arms wide and squeezed Fin tight.

“So good to see you,” she said.

“You too, Meara,” he answered curtly.

Hailey stood by, smiling politely until Fin escaped his mother's clutches and stepped back.

“Guys,” he said unenthusiastically, “you remember Hailey . . .”

“All grown up!” Meara gushed. She crushed Hailey in a giant mom-hug.

“Oof—I'm sorry, have we met?”

They both looked sort of familiar.

Meara released her to arm's length, saying “Oh, but it was years ago. You were just little when we were neighbors—”

“—lived right next door,” Declan interjected.

“—until the fire,” said Meara. “Of course, after Pádraig pulled you girls out of the house—”

“What?” Hailey snapped, casting a flabbergasted look at Fin, who leaned back on his heels with his hands in his pockets and very intentionally but not very convincingly became suddenly captivated by a constellation in the sky.

“You didn't know?” Meara looked with a blank face at her son, who bit the inside of his cheek and continued gazing skyward.

“Sure, even when he's just a lad, he's not afraid of them—so defiant. Well, he saw Adalwolf going for you girls, and he marched right into that house, hell-bent on a rescue, but then, of course Adalwolf exploded, and . . .well, you know the rest.”

Fin tilted his head to the side and set his jaw.

“Nice recap,
Mom
, except you left out the part where you and Declan just stood there and watched.”

Hailey just stood there, shifting her weight from one foot to the other, racking her brain to remember the face of the man—or boy or whatever—that pulled her out of the fire as an O'Shea family dysfunction ensued.

“You know very well the control Adalwolf exerted on us,” his father said forcefully.

“Funny,” said Fin without a hint of amusement, “you looked more scared than hypnotized to me, but . . .whatever you need to tell yourself so you can sleep at night. Let's go Hailey,” he said, grabbing her hand roughly and pulling her along.

“Are you sure it's safe for her there, Pádraig? With . . .you know . . .” his mother called out, and Fin stopped.

“She's far safer there with him than she is near either of you.”

“Son, we haven't had . . .an incident in years,” she pleaded.

“Well, hooray and good for you,” he answered sarcastically, and his mother rushed over to him.

“Take this, son.” She pressed a small object into Fin's hand. “It's a gift. From Theon.”

“Shacked up with another Envoy, have we?” said Fin, his voice laced with bitterness. “No thank you.” He tried to give the object back to his mother, but she stepped back, hands up.

“Just take it, son. Theon is good. He watches over you, and he said to carry it with you—said you'll need that. We love you . . .” she added as Fin walked off.

“It was nice to see you,” Hailey called over her shoulder, and his mother waved sadly.

Rolling his eyes, Fin shoved the object into his pocket. Then he turned to Hailey.

“Come on, you'll ride the bus with the team,” he said flatly, and Hailey struggled to keep up with his angry pace.

“Am I allowed?”

“I'm the captain, and I'm inviting you,” he said unequivocally. “Besides, you need an opportunity to tell the team how extraordinarily giant I am,” he said like a German bodybuilder.

Hailey let out a nervous laugh. “I think I'll steer clear of subtle innuendo for the rest of my life. You're lucky to have witnessed the one moment in history that I actually fit my whole foot into mouth—”

He cut her off by holding his hand up. “Stop talking, Hailey. You're a train wreck.”

“What? Why?”

He never answered.

When Fin climbed aboard the bus, the Yetis absolutely erupted. His team obviously adored him. They clobbered him with high-fives as he passed.

Hailey did her best to duck and cover behind him.

“Game puck!” shouted Sidney as he lobbed an object at Fin, who snagged it out of the air.

“Thanks, guys,” Fin said. He pointed Hailey to an empty seat.

“Here.” He handed her the puck and slid in next to her. “Little souvenir.”

“Wow, nobody's ever given me a puck before,” she said, hugging it to her chest. That came out sounding sarcastic, but she felt genuinely honored. She couldn't stop smiling.

“You're welcome,” he said. He so enjoyed seeing her squirm and laughed out loud as the bus headed north.

“What did you think of the game?” he asked.

Hailey tapped the hockey puck as she formed her answer.

“Hockey looks like an angry ballet on ice.”

Fin's smile widened, his eyes sparkling. “ . . .an . . .angry . . .ballet . . .” he repeated with a chuckle.

“ . . .on ice,” Hailey said defensively, “except there's more fighting . . .”

“And more testosterone,” Fin pointed out.

“Less estrogen, for sure.”

“No estrogen,” he corrected.

“Fewer teeth,” Hailey chimed.

“No tights . . .” said Fin.

“ . . .that you know of . . .”

“Sharper footwear,” Fin offered.

“Duller wits,” Hailey countered.

“More wood,” they both said in unison, and Hailey's eyes went wide. She meant hockey sticks but was pretty sure he meant something else.

“Alexei made some pretty spectacular saves,” said Hailey, eager to change the subject.

“He's not bad.”

She nodded, staring out the window into the darkness for several seconds before turning to him again.

“Did you really pull us out of the fire?”

“Mmmm . . . Yep,” he said coolly, and then he drummed his hands on the seat in front on them.

“Why . . .” Hailey shook her head. “ . . .you never mentioned . . .” her mind raced wildly before she finally took hold of a thought. “What happened that night?”

“Well,” he sang, his eyes going far-off for a bit, “Cobon and Adalwolf were going to open the Aether. Cobon had your parents killed and sent Adalwolf to take care of you two. When I got to your room, he had you by the throat . . .”

Here Fin hesitated, seeming to choose his words.

“ . . .and then he exploded.” He shrugged. “The house was on fire; I grabbed you and Holly and dragged you outside.”

Hailey shook her head. “Why were you there?”

“A lot of folks were there,” he said, “ including your buddy Asher—just watching the murders, like it was a TV show . . .waiting to see what would happen,” he said bleakly. “When the other Envoys heard Adalwolf bought it, they hightailed it out of there. I stayed until the fire trucks showed up.”

“All this time I thought it was Asher.” Hailey dropped her brow.

“Asher can be very manipulative,” he said darkly, and Hailey bit her lip.

Asher had never actually said that he'd rescued her from the fire—she just assumed he did. And it bolstered her trust in him. He only said he was there.
Watching . . .standing by while Adalwolf—

She shuddered and pushed the unthinkable out of her mind.

“Why did your parents say you were a lad?”

“I was. I was nine years old,” he told her. “Well—I was four hundred and thirty-something, living as a nine-year old,” he said leaning into her.

Hailey frowned, unable to recall all the details from that night and unable to fathom his curse.

She stared out the window for a long while before she suddenly remembered something...

“Hey, what does your tattoo say?” She'd meant to ask him in the locker room.

“Which one?”

“You have more than one?”

“Yes,” he was using his instructor's voice again.

“This one on your arm.” She pointed to his bicep.

“You mean this arm?” He flexed in three different ways, which made Hailey laugh again.

“Careful you don't rip your shirt.” She feigned her best worried voice.

“That's more like it,” he said with satisfaction.

“It says ‘Salva nos a maleficio. It means—”

“Save us from evil.” Hailey smiled playfully. “Evil hockey pucks?”

“You of all people know what kind of evil is lurking at Bear Towne.”

“What do you mean?” She knew exactly what he meant.

“You shouldn't be hanging around with Asher.”

“Why not?”

“That guy is serious bad news, Hailey. I heard you're going to Seven Trumpets with him.”