The Conch Shell of Doom (43 page)

Alexis laughed. “It beats joining the Honor Society.”

“Hey, let’s try and look on the bright side.” Bailey didn’t like seeing Alexis in such a somber mood. It made his confusion and uncertainty worse, like things would never be good again. “We’re alive. I still have my head. Those are pretty good things.” Bailey almost mentioned he wasn’t going to die a virgin, but that would’ve ruined the whole thing. “Maybe we could, you know, go out sometime. You and me.”

Alexis narrowed her eyes, like the very idea was offensive.
Oh no.
Bailey knew it. It wasn’t the right time. He should’ve waited for a more appropriate time. He was so frantic trying to figure out a way to choke on his own tongue that he almost missed seeing her smile.

The followers shuffled about the beach, dejected, confused, and embarrassed. Some of them walked home, still wearing their robes. Franklin wondered why more of them weren’t ecstatic that Trenton was gone. They were free to go back to their lives. More than that, they still had their lives. For some, maybe that prospect was as bad, or worse, than serving under Trenton.

“We need a ride,” Franklin said to no one in particular.

Tim tossed him a set of keys. “Take Mayor Benchley’s 4Runner.”

Debbie gawked at her son. “You went rifling through a dead man’s pocket?”

“No, Mom, I found it on the ground next to him.” Tim looked down at his feet, lying through his teeth.

Debbie might’ve known he was lying, but she didn’t let on. “Well, so long as you didn’t go through his pockets.”
 

Franklin found the SUV parked next to the beach and opened the driver’s side door. The smell of stale tobacco wafted in his face. He shook his head and then moved to the SUV’s rear, popped open the hatchback, and told everyone to hand over the gear Remy loaned them. Despite their moaning, the kids complained and moaned, but they did as asked, though Marshall made Franklin pull the blades off his hands.
 

Tim patted the hook sword. “I’ll never forget our time together. You’ll always be right here.” He held a hand to his heart. Alexis gagged.
 

“Guys, Remy isn’t going to let you have this stuff for free,” Franklin said. “And I promise you, you can’t afford them.”

“How much does my sword cost?” Tim asked. “Maybe I can put it on layaway?”

“It’s at least in the high-six figures. That, or you’d have to give up something important, like ten years of your life.” Franklin figured that would shut them up.

“Maybe you could say it was lost in the scuffle. These things happen.”
 

Franklin scowled. “You think he just keeps these things locked in a cabinet? He’s got a hex on all of them. If I told him it was lost and he activated the hex, the next time you touched that sword you’d fall under a spell, return the sword to Remy, and then he’d watch as you killed yourself with it.”

Tim tossed the sword in the SUV. “We’ll always have Paris.”

Alexis gave Julie the wand. “I’m going to miss that thing.”

“One thing I’ve learned over the years.” Julie grinned a little, like she was excited to be giving out sage girl-to-girl advice. “You don’t necessarily need a wand to create magic.”

Alexis hugged Julie. “Thanks.”
 

Bailey walked toward the general store, hands stuffed in his pockets and drawing lines in the sand with his shoe. He’d already returned the armor and whistle. Franklin wanted to leave the kid alone, but he had been through more than the others and probably needed some perspective. If Julie could hand out girl-to-girl advice, why couldn’t he have a man-to-man talk?

He called out to Bailey. “You okay? Do you need to be alone?”

“I don’t know.” Bailey didn’t look up from his sand lines. “Now that everything’s over, I feel like I don’t know anything anymore.”

“You’re coming down from the adrenaline rush, not to mention you just went through an ordeal you never thought was possible.” Franklin tapped Bailey on the arm, getting him to make eye contact. “But here’s the good news. You got through it. You did good. I promise you, you’ll be fine. It’s just going to take a while to process it all.”

“Yeah.” Bailey sighed. “But what do I do now? How can I go back to the way things were?”

Franklin ran a hand through his hair. Yep. The kid definitely needed some perspective. “The way things were is just a saying. It’s the past. People know the past. They survived it. That makes it more comfortable than the present, because nobody knows what’ll happen in the future.”

“Okay?” Bailey didn’t seem to get the point Franklin was trying to make.

“I’m saying that things are never the way they were, and that’s nothing to be afraid of.” He stared off at the ocean, a longing to go fishing stirring inside of him for the first time in two millennia. “Every detail will remain fresh in your mind for years to come, maybe even the rest of your life. But, like everything else in your life, things will calm down, you’ll gain perspective, and you’ll move forward. Do you know what that is?”

“No.”

“Because time stops for no man. Even ones who live forever.”

“That makes sense.” Bailey kicked at his sand lines, ruining them. “What about my parents?”

“Oh.” Franklin wasn’t prepared for that question. It used to be someone in Bailey’s position could leave home and make a life for themselves somewhere else, but things were different now. “You can leave, which is a lot easier said than done at your age, or you could try and forgive them. Nobody’s saying you can’t hold this over their heads if they ever try to get a little fresh.”

“What good will that do?”

Franklin bit the inside of his lip. The advice thing was harder than he’d thought. “I guarantee you they got into this mess to keep you safe. Mr. Lovell and Trenton have a way of scaring people down to their core, and that fear can make people do stupid things. Once people like your parents are that frightened, Mr. Lovell will offer them a way out in exchange for helping in the Awakening. Try to remember that. Your parents weren’t trying to hurt you; they just made a mistake. I’ve seen it happen over and over.”

“We ready?” Julie called out from behind them.

Franklin and Bailey rejoined the others. Julie finished loading up the 4Runner, closed the hatchback, and then tossed Franklin the keys.

He leaned in close to Julie so nobody else could hear. “You sure you want to do this?”
 

“Why not? I’ve got a little money saved up, and with the bar gone, there’s nothing left for me here.”

“Money’s not a problem.” Franklin opened the passenger door for her. “You don’t live as long as I have without making a few bucks here and there.”

Julie took his hand and got in. “I bet. Why else do you think I’m going with you?”

“My handsome exterior and rugged manliness?”
 

Franklin was excited by her touch. It felt warm and made his skin tingle. He’d been looking forward to the day he could live a mortal life, free from his brother’s curse. He wanted to kiss her, but the group of kids gawking at them made him self-conscious. Even after two thousand years, he never could get used to kissing in public.

Bailey waved to them. “Good luck, I guess.”

Franklin never knew what to say in those situations. “Take care.”

Chuck shook the immortal’s hand. “I didn’t really know you, didn’t get to spend a lot of time with you, but you kept my kids safe. If you’re ever in town, feel free to come by for a beer and some hot dogs.”

“Thanks.” Franklin was starting to get a little uncomfortable. He wasn’t a fan of the obligatory farewells that came with finishing a job.
 

He waited for Julie to finish her goodbyes and then got in the SUV. Once Franklin was settled in his seat, Julie glared at him.
 

“What?” The immortal didn’t realize he’d done something wrong.

“Take care? That’s all you have to say to them?”

“I didn’t want to make a big thing of it.”

“You could say thank you.”

“I did.”

“You said thank you to an offer of beer and hot dogs.”

“Okay.” Franklin could feel the judgment emanating from Julie. The last thing he wanted was to make her mad, especially at that point. “You’re right.”

“Did you forget something?” Tim asked as Franklin got out of the car.

“I wanted to say thanks,” he said. “Couldn’t have done it without you all.”

“If you ever need to get out of a jam, you know who to call.” Marshall flexed his muscles.

“Right.”
Anybody else.
Franklin nervously waved and then got back in the SUV.

Julie’s grin was so wide it revealed smile lines on her cheeks. Franklin relished Julie’s happiness, and the immortal hoped some of it would rub off on him.

“Was that so hard?” Julie asked.

“You have no idea.”

The car’s engine came to life. Within minutes, they were on the highway, never to be seen in Mooresville again.

It took a week for things to start setting down in Mooresville. Alexis’s father became the front-runner in the mayoral race, what with Mayor Benchley dead and Chuck’s non-involvement in the Awakening. A handful of other local government positions also opened up. The incumbents, under pressure to resign because of their intimate involvement with Mr. Lovell’s scheme, all quietly left town without so much as a goodbye.

Bailey didn’t see Tim and Marshall until a couple of weeks later, when they went jet skiing. His friends thought it would be a good idea to do something on the ocean that didn’t involve fighting sand soldiers and goblin sharks. It felt odd at first, doing something so trivial, but after a while Bailey found he could put the events behind him and enjoy himself. Bailey laughed as Marshall wiped out on the skis, flipping end over end. It was a great day, and nobody brought up the topic of Mr. Lovell and Trenton Maroney. Bailey wondered if anyone ever would.

The next evening, with Tim’s blessing, Bailey picked up Alexis in his brand new Ford Escape. She wore a green tank top that showed off a little bit of cleavage. Not much, just enough to look classy. Bailey tried not to stare, but he was a guy. That battle was over before it began.

She ran her hand over the leather dashboard. “Very nice.”

“My parents felt a little guilty about the whole sacrificing-their-son-so-this-eternal-evil-can-take-over-the-world thing, so this is part of their apology.”

“Only part?” Alexis gave him a high-five. “Kudos. Ride them for every dime you can get.”

They went to a pizza joint by the beach and enjoyed some slices that were more grease than actual pizza, the way it should be. One bite fell out of Bailey’s mouth and onto his white polo shirt, leaving a greasy, orange stain in its wake. He feared Alexis would laugh at him and then immediately put an end to the date, because nobody wants to be around the person with a food stain on their shirt. Instead, she
awed
and handed him some napkins.

After dinner, they walked on the beach, eventually finding themselves underneath the pier.

“This isn’t clichéd,” Alexis said. “A guy and a girl, under the pier, the sounds of the ocean setting the mood.”

“I like to think of it as less clichéd and more classic.” Excitement pulsated through Bailey’s body. He was at the pier. With Alexis. Prudence demanded Bailey make a move. His nerves begged him to back out, warning that he’d dissolve into nothing if he kissed her. The nerves won. “We can keep walking, if you want. Like you said, I guess the pier is kind of clichéd.”

Bailey cursed himself. Why did he say that? He didn’t intentionally bring her down to the pier. She had to know that. The two of them were walking down the beach and then happened to stop here. Bailey wasn’t sure, but he had a feeling that
Alexis
was the one who stopped first. So what was the big deal if they kissed? What did it matter?

“Yeah, I guess so.” Alexis took Bailey’s hand in hers. “Although, things usually become cliché because they’re good.”

Bailey planted his feet in the sand. Alexis didn’t notice until her hand slipped out of his. Bailey couldn’t believe what she’d said. Even his nerves shut up, excited about what seemed like a green light to make a move.
 

“What?” Alexis asked, lips parted just enough to seem expectant.

Bailey took a deep breath.
This is happening!
He moved in for the kiss. Alexis closed her eyes. He closed his. Trouble was, he closed his too soon and wound up kissing her on the nose.

No! Dang it!

“I’m so sorry.” Bailey couldn’t believe his luck. His embarrassment made him want to run away and never come back. The first time he tried to kiss Alexis and
that
happened. The shame was unbearable.

She burst out laughing. As if that made him feel any better.

“Thanks,” he said.

“It’s okay. Really. It’s cute.”

Cute? Great.
That was the last thing Bailey wanted to be. His mom thought he was cute. He wanted to come across as more than that with Alexis. He wanted to be desirable. Manly. A force to be reckoned with.

“Hey.” Alexis took his hand, intertwining his fingers with hers. He couldn’t believe his hand didn’t explode like fireworks. “Cute is good. I really like it, actually.”

Whew.
The window was still open. There was laughter farther down the beach. A couple were walking toward Bailey and Alexis.
Well, that didn’t last long.
Bailey wanted to scream. The window closed. Bailey had mucked it up. Again.

“Come on,” Bailey said, trying to speak with a light tone.

Alexis still clung to his hand as they strolled back the way they’d come, past the people who ruined the moment. Bailey imagined kicking each of them in the shin and running away. It was that or focus on his complete and utter defeat. Alexis wanted him to kiss her. It was obvious. And he still found a way to screw up.

“I think you need to do something about your little problem,” Alexis said.

What now? What possible shame could she heap on me at this point?
“What problem?”
 

“You shouldn’t have to spend every summer trying to avoid being offered up as a virgin sacrifice.” Alexis looked down at their hands. “You’ve got to get that Horcrux off you eventually. I’m not saying I’ll be the one to do it, I was more just thinking out loud.”