Embrace (The Gryphon Series) (16 page)

“These things can actually hurt us?”  Kendall exclaimed
.  Her tone and eyes directed a heavy dose of accusation solely at Alaina.

“Well, yes.”  Alaina
seemed shocked Kendall would suggest otherwise.  “It motivates you to not get hit.”

“I’ll say!  How long will I have dead arm
?”  I picked up the deadened appendage and dropped it. 

“Twenty four hours.”

“
TWENTY FOUR HOURS
!  I have to work tomorrow!  What am I supposed to do?” The fact that the orbs caused paralysis should’ve been the first words out of Alaina’s mouth when she blinked them into existence.  Her failure to issue a preemptive warning made my rant completely justifiable.

“I know!” 
Kendall waved her hand in the air like she wanted someone to call on her. “You could tell them you got tazed by a cop.”

I mentally counted to ten before answering.  “Keni,
my boss might view it as a
bad
thing if I told her I had a run in with the law.”

“O
ohhhh.”  She nodded. Her blue eyes reflected her delayed comprehension.  “Yeah, that’s probably true.” 

“You
’ve fought with worse than a numb arm before.  Can we do this?”  Gabe grumbled impatiently as he peeled off his t-shirt and tossed it on the ground by Grams.  Heat rose in Alaina’s cheeks as she eye-groped my brother.  He gave her a wink.  I threw up in my mouth a little bit.

“Fine,
let’s just get this over with.”  I prompted, if for no other reason than to stop their exchange of icky looks.

“Woohoo!  Go Team Conduit!” Grams cheered and
rang her bell. 

We’d never had a cheering section before.  I hoped it wouldn’t be a distraction. 
But honestly, how does one ignore a cowbell?

“You must avoid the touch of the
orbs for five minutes.  As time passes the assaults will quicken and become more aggressive.  We will begin…” Alaina held up her arm like she was signaling the start of a drag race, and dropped it in the same fashion. Gabe morphed just in time.  “Now!”

The balls slowly loomed towards us.  Mine bobbed in leisurely enough that I could simply lean
to the side and out of the way.  From there, it meandered in the direction of my foot.  I sidestepped to avoid it.  Just when I thought this was going to be insanely easy, it sped up.  It buzzed my head, then swirled around to come at me from behind.  A corkscrew spin got me out of the way.  Faster still.  My reactions had to be quick and efficient.  

Duck. 

Kick. 

Jump. 

The orb whirled around me like a spastic lightening bug, leaving traces of light where it had been.  The caffeine jitters were impairing my ability to determine the right move and execute it in time.  I could feel myself getting sloppy.  It was only a matter of time until I slipped up.  With my functional hand raised, I focused in and mind halted the pretty-little-torture device. I wished my other hand worked so I could wipe the sweat from my brow.

To my left
, Keni performed defense as only she can—her wings completely encapsulated her. The orb bounced off her like a harmless, ping pong ball.  Beyond her our lion had a paralyzed front leg but still managed to leap and crouch out of the reach of the terrible little ball.  If I could’ve lifted my other hand, I would’ve frozen his orb.  He looked like he could use a break.

“Hey! You got a new power
.” Grams hollered.

“
Yeah!  I forgot to tell you.” I glanced over at her.  She had stolen one of Gabe’s old football jerseys for the occasion and had painted black smudges under her eyes with mascara.  “This one has been really fun to play with.  When customers aren’t looking, I move their mugs and plates around to mess with them.  It’s cool, huh?”

Her
penciled in eyebrows drew together.  “It sure is, honey.  But don’t you think you should be paying a little more attention to the fight?”

I gave a nonchalant shrug.  “Nah, it’s not going any
w…” The orb smacked into me a second time, stopping my sentence short.  Apparently my telepath ability had a time limit.  My other arm hung as useless as the first.  Feeding myself and taking care of basic needs just became a monumental issue.  “
CRAP!
”

“Fight’s not over
, Celeste!” Grams yelled and shook her bell like she was Paul Revere.  “Here it comes again!” 

The
glowing sphere circled around and moved in for a body shot.  I didn’t know if my telepathy was a hands- free power, but I had to try.  I squinted and tried to give it a mind shove.  No luck.  Time was running out.  I focused in again, but this time roughly rotated my shoulder to fling my dead arm up.  It worked—kind of.  I managed to steer it off its original path, but set it on a direct collision course with the left side of my face.  Electricity rocked through my brain. I fell to the ground twitching. 

“We will call that time up.”  Alaina called
, and the orbs retreated. 

My body gave one last spastic shudder as I laid sprawled in the dirt.  I stared up at the tree tops
. The tiki torches Grams brought to line the perimeter and light the clearing illuminated them.  Her head was the first to pop into my line of vision.

  “Geez Celeste
, you look like you had a stroke.  You really shouldn’t have let that thing hit you.”

Kendall
’s head poked in next.  “Aww!  Her face is all droopy like a Bassett Hound.”

I groaned in
response. 

Gabe
leaned over me as he struggled to pull his shirt on with one working arm.  “That’s what you get for wussing out and using your mind power.”

“Ewwwww suuuuuuuuuuuk.”

Last but not least came a very sympathetic looking Alaina.  “My, that didn’t end well.  Did it?”

They shook their heads
as they stared down at me.  Finally, Gabe and Kendall grabbed my limb arms and yanked me to my feet. 

Grams wiped at my mouth with her flag.
“Guess I’ll have to call into work for you. I’ll just say you need an emergency root canal.  That’ll give you an excuse if the drooling lasts a while.” 

I tried to scowl
, but my face hung slack. The life of a superhero.  Glamorous, no?

CHAPTER
21

“Ya seem different tonight.  Everything okay?”  Caleb took my hand and led me up the sidewalk to a red brick building.

I
dipped my head and brought my hand to the side of my mouth to make sure I wasn’t drooling again.  “I had dental work done. It could be that.”

“
Well, whate’er it is, ya look radiant.”

The smile he gave me turned my insides to butter
.  “Thanks.”

“
This is Mulligan’s.”  Caleb nodded at the building.  We had met at the café and rode together on his bike to an Irish pub a couple miles away where his band played.  The pub was exactly as I envisioned it.  The awnings and trim were green and white.  A neon green shamrock hung in the window, and the “i” in Mulligan’s was dotted with a tiny little pot of gold.  “I hope the band does ya proud.  I haven’t been with ‘em long, but thar a good group of lads.”

He held the door open for me and I stepped inside.  Loud music and jovial laughter welcomed us.  The place wasn’t huge.  Its hardwood floors and faux wood paneled walls drew the space in that much more.  Plus it was packed to capacity.  But the mood of the room was that of fun
. There was no denying that.  The band recited ill-humored Irish drinking toasts and set them to music on the small stage in the corner.  

The guy at the mic with a pint in his hand had a bald head, goatee and multiple facial piercings.  It was impossible to tell his age.  He could’ve passed for twenty-five as easily as forty.  “When we drink, we get drunk.”  He began.  The guy behind him with a long, dirty-blonde braid strummed his guitar.  “When we get drunk, we fall asleep.” A few more
cords.  “When we fall asleep, we commit no sin.” Dung-dung-dung.  “When we commit no sin, we go to heaven.” The Ray-Baned drummer hit his cymbal.  “So, let’s all get drunk, and go to heaven!”

Caleb leaned close, “Gotta love the warm up.” I smiled but said nothing.

The people gathered around the stage roared and lifted their glasses.  The only way this place could’ve lived up to the Irish stereotypes anymore is if someone jumped up and started
Riverdancing
.  Although if the crowd kept drinking like that could still happen.

“Hey Cal!  You playin’ tonight?”  Asked the pretty hostess. 
I glanced at her tag, her name was Paige.  Paige’s brown hair was styled in a cute pixie cut with heavy side bangs dyed bright orange.  Not many people could pull that look off, but it worked on her.  Her Mulligan’s shirt, a green tank top with a picture of a dancing leprechaun, was knotted just above her belly button to reveal a shamrock naval ring.   She looked from Caleb to me with a warm smile. 

“
Sure am.”  Caleb wrapped an arm around my shoulders.  “So I’m gonna need ya to take good care of Celeste while I’m up there.”

“Could it be?”  Paige’s
green-shadowed eyes narrowed, but her smile held firm.  “The mysterious and elusive Caleb actually has a
date
tonight?  I’m intrigued.”

Caleb presse
d his mouth to my hair. “Ignore her.  She speaks her mind to a fault.”

“I’m just sayin’,” Paige shrugged.  “If she captured your attention she must be special.  Come on, I’ll get you a table with a good view of the
stage.” 

Caleb’s lips were warm on the back of my hand.  “I’ll see ya after the first set.”
I watched him disappear into the sea of bodies before I turned and followed Paige to a table by the dance floor.

“Maybe
when he’s done you can get him to whirl you around the dance floor.” She commented and handed me a menu.  It was a page long and consisted mainly of various forms of liquor.

“I
don’t dance.” I stated.

The
Gryphon upgraded me with all sorts of fun powers and abilities.  However he never corrected my complete lack of rhythm.  I look like a chicken getting tazored when I dance.  I didn’t want Caleb, or anyone else for that matter, to see that. 

As she walked behind my chair Paige bent down to whisper
in my ear.  “Gives ya an excuse to check out the merchandise up close.” With a conspiratorial wink cast over her shoulder, she returned to her post by the door. 

On stage, Caleb’s
raven black hair glistened under the spotlights as he strapped on a red and white guitar. Goatee-guy nodded at him and the rest of the band.  Then he turned back to the audience. 

B
oth hands gripped the mic as he shouted, “Al-
right,
now!  Let’s get rowdy!” 

T
hey launched into a raucous Irish rock song that everyone but me seemed to know.  The crowd cheered and swarmed the dance floor.  But I didn’t notice any of them.  All I could see was Caleb.  He looked fantastic.  Faded black T-shirt that skimmed his chest like a second skin.  Weathered jeans that hugged him in all the right places.  Motorcycle boots that hinted at a bad boy streak.  Combine that with the rocker element and he was nothing short of delectable.  I wasn’t the only one that thought so.  More than a few catcalls were screamed out just for him.  Not that I blamed them.  If anything it was an ego trip to know he was there with
me
.  I smiled as I drummed my fingers on the table in time with the music.  The band finished their first song and transitioned into another.

“Most of the girls in here
only show up hoping they’ll go on stage.”  I jumped at the sound of Paige’s voice.  I’d been so focused on Caleb I hadn’t noticed she’d come up behind me.

“
Are they that good?”

“
They’re good.”  She said with a slight lift of her narrow shoulder.  “Mainly do Dropkick Murphy and The Bollox covers.  But you and I both know that’s not what they come for.”  She jerked her chin in Caleb’s direction.

I
motioned for her to have a seat across from me.  “So, if all these girls are falling all over him, why’d you say he never has a date?”

Paige
sat down and slid her foot out of her black ballet flat.  Then rubbed at her heal.  “Because he doesn’t.  Many have tried and
all
have failed.  Heck, no offense intended, but if he gave me so much as an interested look I’d knock you to the ground and step on your face to get to him.”

There was n
o malice in her expression.  Just the blunt truth.  I couldn’t help but smile.  “I appreciate your honesty.”

She slid her shoe back on and rose from the table. 
“Just sayin’,” She shrugged. “There has to be something special about you that caught his eye.  Good for you.”