9
With the ground beneath my sparkly pink tennis shoes shaking and shimmying with such fury that I was sure my well-rounded butt was going to hit the floor, I was happy for Kai’s arm that came around my waist. After all, I was Martha Mary Margaret Dellencourt, dammit, and… Well, that didn’t really mean much, but I needed ot remind myself who I was.
Sadly, the blasted chamber, or maybe it was ‘the one from below’, was not having it. It shook, shimmied, quaked, shuddered, and agitated with a ferocity that left no doubt…
It, she, they, or them… Whoever was pissed.
Huge cracks splintered the stone of the walls. Dust clouds filled the air. The crypt shifted, and the journal slammed shut with a resounding THUD!
“Everybody move!” Theresa ordered in her police voice that left no room for argument.
“Kai is not walking out of here,” Maeve objected. “He’s too…”
“Watch me,” my man interrupted with his chest out, his shoulders back, and his spine straight. He was in stubborn Fairy mode, and I didn’t know how to break it to my sister, but he wasn’t going back down. And just to confirm what I already knew, he growled through gritted teeth, “Watch me.”
Taking his arm from around my shoulders and taking a step forward, I saw the immediate regret on his face. He’d done too much. He was exhausted and in pain and couldn’t use Magic to heal.
Knees buckling, my Mate was about to go down. Putting both arms around his waist, I directed, “Lean on me, Tough Guy.”
As he lifted his head and mouthed thank you, I smiled and teased, Look at that, my badacious booty just saved your life, my big, strong Warrior Fairy."
“Never tell anyone.”
“Oh, Sweetie...” I winked. “I'm putting it on mugs, T-shirts, and bumper stickers.”
After five minutes of Maeve trying to get Kai to say she was right and he wasn’t ready to walk out of the chamber and the Hoopingarner House of his own volition, I gave Zelda ‘the nod’. In the blink of an eye, she put her thumb and forefinger between her lips and let her signature ear-splitting whistle rip.
The second I saw that both my sister and my Mate had been shocked into silence, I whooped, “Head ‘em up and move ‘em out.”
With Mona in the lead because she knew the way better than any of us, Arthur was right behind. Then came Otis with Chewy padding just under him.
Theresa insisted she was next and was also adamant that she keep her gun drawn and the safety off. Giving her a mock salute, I teased, “As you wish, Officer.”
Maeve was still fussing over Kai until Zelda said, “Either move it, or I turn you into a kitten, and I carry you.”
Looking as if she were wishing for her own fireballs to throw at my bestie, my little sister begrudgingly closed her doc bag and got in line.
Kai continued to lean on me, which I liked… a lot, and Zelda brought up the rear with her Magic at the ready.
“I feel something,” she mentally said.
“Do you know what it is?” I asked, not wanting to alert anyone else.
“No, but I’m walking backward. If the sucker makes a move, I’ll get it.”
“Is it bad?”
“Doesn’t feel like it?”
“Is it a friend?”
“Nope, not that either.”
“So…?”
“It just feels like it’s aware of us and it’s watching to see what we do next.”
Getting to the stone steps we’d traveled down, I chuckled, “Okay, Zel, you better turn around. We’re at the steps.”
