12. Chapter 12 （Hailey）

CHAPTER 12 (HAILEY)

N ick texts a friend, using some kind of satellite communication device. As dawn rises, Rae rides into the clearing on an electric dirt bike. She’s a magnificent bundle of energy and pulls off her helmet to expose wavy dark hair framing a lovely face with big aquamarine eyes. I’m so impressed by her, I almost forget I’m straight.

She sits astride the bike, dressed in leather, and watches us for a moment as we stare back at her from the porch. A big grin slowly stretches across her face. “You’re a linked pair.”

Nick throws up his hands. “Can someone please explain what that means?”

Rae lowers the kickstand, drags off her gloves, and then puts her helmet on the seat of the bike. She walks up to the porch, leaning one boot on the edge of the stairs. “It means you can boost each other’s powers because your souls recognize each other.”

Huh. I never heard that part about the souls, just that the powers vibrated on the same frequency. But that makes sense. I definitely feel like Nick’s soul and mine know each other. I shoot him a cheesy grin. He smiles back. “Okay then,” he says, as if that’s all he needs to know.

Rae laughs. “You’re a gonner.” She holds out her hand to me. “I’m Rae.”

I pull her up the stairs and give her a big hug. “I’m so glad you’re here. I’m Hailey.” As I release her, she seems a little stunned, but I continue blabbing. “Nick said you might help me hide a magical trident that can possess people. Well, I don’t know if the trident possesses people or if there’s a demon that lives inside it that does it.”

“Okay,” Rae says slowly, looking to Nick for guidance.

He’s staring at her motorcycle. “How long have you had that?”

She blinks a few times. “For about a year.”

“How come I’ve never seen it before?” he asks accusingly.

“Because you hate any vehicles in the woods. I leave it down the trail and hike the rest of the way in when I visit. But you said this was an emergency.”

“Can I ride it?” I ask. The bike looks so cool. I really would like to test it out.

Rae sighs loudly. “People, what is the emergency?”

“You better come inside,” Nick says. “It might take a while to explain.”

She joins us inside and over cups of tea, we tell her the whole story. We’ve buried Johnny’s creepy mummified remains, but haven’t touched the trident. I described the area where I hid it to Nick and he’s confident he knows where the group of boulders are. We should be able to find the artifact quickly, especially since I marked the place.

Nick told me I was smart for thinking to do that and I’m embarrassed over how much it pleases me every time he gives me a compliment.

Turns out I have a thing for praise kink. Who knew?

When we finish, Rae sits silent for a while. “You said the trident whispered to you when you touched it, Hailey?” When I nod, she continues. “But at that point, Johnny was presumably already possessed. So it sounds like this artifact is still dangerous.”

I shudder. “Yeah, I think so.”

She stands. “Let’s go have a look at it and decide what to do.”

“Can we ride the bike there?” I ask.

“No,” Nick says. “We’re walking. Who knows what a possessed trident can do to human technology?” He strides toward the front of the cabin.

Rae grins at me. “Don’t mind him. He’s a Luddite about vehicles.”

“Only in the woods,” Nick says. “I’m fine with them on roads.”

It doesn’t take us long to reach the boulders. “Wow,” I say. “I wondered around in circles for a while before I found the cabin.”

Nick squeezes my shoulders in a one-armed hug. “But the important thing is that you found it.”

The trident is exactly where I left it, still wrapped in my jacket. I reach for it, but Rae stops me. “Let me. You might be more susceptible to it if you’ve already touched it.” She pulls out a long wide sleeve made of some sort of canvas fabric. “I bought this from a witch. It’s supposed to shield from magic.”

“You just had this lying around?” Nick asks.

Rae grins. “I use it when I transport aquamarine through areas where magical creatures might detect me or the gems.” I have no idea what that means, but decide to ask Nick about it later. Right now, I’m more worried about the trident because even though I’m not touching it, I can feel it calling to me.

“You okay?” Nick asks.

“I want to touch it,” I say.

Nick puts his arm around me, and the whispers in my mind quiet immediately. I snuggle into him.

Rae slips the trident into the canvas cover and zips it up. We return to the cabin.

“Do you know what you’re going to do with it?” Nick asks.

She shakes her head. “Not yet. I need to do some research. I think it will be okay in this spelled fabric until I find a solution.”

“We’ll help,” I say. “This isn’t all on you.”

“As much as we can from here,” Nick interjects. “Well, Hailey can visit you in Sandpoint, but you know I can’t.”

Rae looks at him for a beat, and then her gaze lowers to our clasped hands. It seems we’ve formed a new habit because I didn’t even notice we were holding hands. “I’m not so sure about that any longer,” she says with a cryptic smile. And then she turns to me. “It was great meeting you, Hailey. We’ll do the dirt bike test drive when I see you next.”

With that, she puts on her gloves and helmet and takes off down the mountain on the eerily quiet bike.

“She’s so cool,” I whisper. “I want to be her best friend.”

Nicks laughs. “You’ll have to tell her when she next comes to visit.”

“Do you think she’ll know what to do with the trident?”

“If anyone can, it will be her. I don’t know what kind of creature she is. She’s never shared that with me, but she’s very powerful.”

I nod. I sensed that too. There’s a quiet but strong magic surrounding Rae. “What do we do now?” Suddenly, I’m nervous. What if Nick doesn’t want me to stay with him after I brought all this trouble to his tranquil home and inconvenienced his friend?

He looks down at me and pushes a stray strand of hair behind my ear, turning the gesture into a caress as he cups my cheek with his palm. “We have breakfast.”

“And then?”

He takes my hand and leads me into the cabin. “And then we check on the lake before we do all the other chores I do every day.” He sounds a little sad.

“But now we do them together,” I say.

A slow smile lights up his face. “Now we do them together,” he repeats, squeezing my hand.