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A streak of blue caught my eye, and a heartbeat later Jekki zipped up to Ryan with a tumbler of tunjen in his hand.
“You’re the best, Jekki,” I said fervently. “Drink that, Ryan. It’ll help.”
He took the tumbler and gave the contents a dubious sniff. “What is it? And yes, before you give me a smartass answer, I know it’s fruit juice.” He gave me a crooked grin. “Something exotic?”
“It’s a demon realm version of the ultimate sports drink,” I told him.
He took a careful sip, blinked. “That’s good.” He quickly drained the glass.
“Told you.” I smiled, relieved to see his color return. “Better?”
“I feel fine now,” he said, getting to his feet. “But you get to hose down the tarp.”
“Only fair,” I admitted. “It was my fault, after all.”
“Glad my puke could be of service,” he said, then gave me a weak grin and returned inside.
After I hosed down the tarp and set it out to dry, I took the sketch pad, went in search of Paul, and found him dozing on the couch with his tablet on his chest. Nearby, Bryce sat in the comfy chair and fervently vaporized aliens with the sound muted.
Paul looked so damn adorable it seemed a crime to wake him. “Hey, Bryce?” I said quietly. “You think Paul will be awake soon?”
Bryce paused the game. “Only to stumble to his futon.” At my questioning look, he continued, “He keeps weird hours. Usually sleeps from about five or six in the morning until afternoon. He says that’s what feels normal to him, and makes it easy for him to connect with his contacts on the other side of the world.”
I controlled my disappointment with effort. A few more hours wouldn’t make a difference, right?
Bryce saw right through it, and his eyes dropped to the pad. “If you have something for him, he’d want you to wake him up.”
Well, Bryce knew him better than anyone, and I didn’t need any more encouragement. “Hey, Paul?” I touched him on the shoulder.
He startled enough to send a wisp of guilt through me, then gave me a sleepy smile and stretched like a waking kitten. “Hey, Kara. You need the couch?”
Somehow I managed to control the D’awwwwww, you’re so darn cute sappy smile. “No, but I do have something for the Idris hunt,” I said. “Sorry to wake you, but Bryce said you’d want to see it.”
Paul pushed himself up to sit, curiosity winning out over a desire for more sleep. “Yeah? Whatcha got?”
I opened the pad up to the final drawing of the ring, carefully tore out the page and handed it to him. “What about this? Can you do something with this?”
He set his tablet aside and took the sheet, eyes widening in surprise at the quality of the drawing. “Wow. I can totally work with this.” He looked up at me, incredulous. “You did this?”
I laughed. “Are you kidding? No, someone else did, but it’s best not to ask too many questions about that.”
“That’s cool,” he said with a grin. “I’m used to not asking questions.” He stood and started toward the office with page and tablet in hand. “I’ll see what I can come up with.”
“You’re wonderful,” I said fervently, then flopped down in the place he’d vacated. Jekki whooshed in and put a plate of mini-pancakes and bacon on the coffee table.
Bryce thanked him and tossed the second controller to me. “Bet you a dollar Paul will have something in ten minutes.”
I took the controller, raised an eyebrow at him. “I’ll take that bet. No one’s that good.”
Bryce opened his mouth for a comeback, but Jekki beat him too it. “No doubting the Paul-dude!” he exclaimed then zoomed back to the kitchen.
Bryce and I burst out laughing. He lifted his controller. “You heard Jekki. We only have ten minutes. Let’s do this thing.”
And we did. I sucked at video games in general, but even with my crappy skills, I still found something deeply satisfying in a recreation where I knew exactly who my enemies were and could then blast them into messy bits.
“Hey, Kara?” Paul shouted from the office a little later.
“What?” I hollered back, eyes still glued to the screen. These aliens weren’t going to kill themselves.
