Total pages in book: 134
Estimated words: 126030 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 630(@200wpm)___ 504(@250wpm)___ 420(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 126030 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 630(@200wpm)___ 504(@250wpm)___ 420(@300wpm)
She looked up at him with that expression again. She seemed scandalized.
“For a moment I thought I was hallucinating, you know?” she went on. “Did I accidentally take some ‘shrooms and not know it? That sort of thing.” She pushed out a breath as she shook her head. “But no, I was there, in the woods, suddenly by myself. Worse, I’d turned around in confusion and didn’t know which direction I’d come from. I didn’t know where the car was! So, then I started running and calling for Jessie or Ulric or anyone to come save me.”
“Why?” he asked in confusion.
“I don’t know. I get a little crazy in the woods. They mess with my head. That’s why I wanted to stay in the car. Well, finally one of the basajunk—“
“Are you saying basajunk?”
“Yeah. Basajunk. Isn’t that what they’re called?”
He wasn’t into practical jokes, no, but that was too funny to correct. He nodded sagely.
“Well, one turned visible, and then a whole bunch of them did, and they were all laughing.” She pulled up her knees and hugged her arms around them. “I gave a chuckle. You don’t want practical jokers to know you hate practical jokes because then they do them to you all the time. So, I gave a chuckle, thought about telling Niamh to claim vengeance on my behalf, and they finally led me here. I’m hoping, since you don’t like practical jokes, that maybe you can lead me to the next destination and not get lost until I can get out of this Godforsaken place.”
Laughter bubbled up out of nowhere. He hadn’t laughed in years. It overflowed until it consumed him, coming out in big body-shaking guffaws.
She chuckled without humor, and it was probably the same sort of laughter she’d given the basajunk.
He laughed harder. Everyone looked their way. Jessie had a lopsided grin on her face, probably wondering what the joke was.
Why was it so damn funny?
After some time when he was able to finally calm down, he wiped his eyes and resumed staring off at the camp.
“So will you do it?” the woman asked, utterly serious.
That set him off again.
“Yes,” he finally managed, re-wiping his eyes. “I will, yes. I’ll make sure you don’t get lost.”
“You don’t go invisible, right?”
“Ha-ha-ha, no,” he wheezed. “I don’t go invisible, no.”
“Okay, good. I’m Fred, by the way.”
“Fred?”
“Yeah. I’m a Dick.”
That sobered him somewhat, trying to understand again. “Do you mean a Jane? A non-magical woman?”
“A non-magical woman, yes, but not a Jane, and I’ll tell you why. While my pronouns are she, her and they, I have recently learned that there is a limit to my tolerance of a person’s niceness. If they are too nice, I stop liking them. Like, I don’t enjoy very sweet people who only want to do the best for me and wish me well. Which is not great. I know this. I’ve had to really look inward, and I’ve realized that I cannot call myself a Jane when I am so very obviously a dick.”
That set him off again, and he still didn’t know why. It really shouldn’t be this funny. First that vampire and now her, two very different walks of life, and here they were. Misfits indeed.
“Hello, Fred-the-dick,” he said. “I’m John.”
“John? You don’t look like a John.”
“No? And what do I look like? A dick?”
She thought for a moment, ignoring the joke, looking up at him with squinted eyes. “Steve.”
“Why Steve?”
She shrugged. “Steve just seems like a lion’s name. You’re the lion, right?”
“Yes. My uncle’s name was Steve. He was a real asshole.”
“Well, see? Steve. That goes with lion. Hmm.” She squinted at him again. “Soren is nice. What about that? I think it means introspective. Or maybe it means stern.” She rubbed her chin. “Either way, it would work.”
“I’ll think about it.”
She didn’t just bob her head, she bobbed her whole body, letting it go.
The night moved on, with several people coming over to chat with him or see if he needed anything. They’d be staying for the night, put up by the basajaunak, and for the first time, John was invited to stay with them, as well.
As the night was wrapping up, Jessie and Austin stopped by. They were unmistakably the alphas, but they didn’t act like it. Not traditionally, anyway. Austin had a quiet authority about him, expecting the most of everyone because he expected the most of himself, but not pushing his power or status around. He didn’t act like the biggest player in the room. Didn’t seem to care if he wasn’t, actually. He certainly didn’t care about John’s power, past status, or think him a rival in any way. For Austin, the title of alpha didn’t seem to hold any weight, it was the man that carried the mantle.
Then there was Jessie, who didn’t act like she had any authority at all. She was kindness itself, asking if he needed anything because she was ready to provide it. Hoping John joined them, said with a genuine desire to help. She was in charge of the most power John had ever seen assembled and didn’t give one shred of evidence that she knew it.