“You may have made a teeny, tiny, practically insignificant point,” she admitted. “I have to either embrace this or swear it off. Dabbling is dangerous, and I can’t just cherry-pick the good stuff about being psychic and avoid all the bad stuff.”
“Am I good stuff or bad stuff?” he asked.
“You’re the best stuff,” she assured him. “I’m serious. You walked into a hostage situation today on purpose to help. I had to be dragged in at gunpoint. You and Nick make the whole hero thing look so easy. I’ve got a lot to learn from both of you.”
“You believe me to be a hero?” he repeated.
She grinned. “Yeah. I do. And anyone, including Elanora Basil, who says otherwise can fight me.”
The man looked as if he’d just been handed an entire litter of sleeping puppies. “Thank you for the gift of your friendship, Riley Thorn.”
“You are welcome, Gabe… Hey. Whatisyour last name?”
“Gabe!”
Riley and Gabe both looked up as Wander pushed her way through the crowd.
“Are you okay?” she asked, reaching for him and then dropping her hands to her side. “Are you both okay?” She gestured in Riley’s direction.
“Is our heroic friend moment over?” Gabe asked solicitously.
“Yeah, I think so,” Riley said.
“Wonderful.” He climbed to his feet. “Wander, would you do me the great honor of joining me for ice cream?”
Riley watched her sister’s face as it beamed like the sun with a crush on the earth. “Yes, Gabe. A thousand times, yes.”
Elanora appeared and fixed Gabe with a piercing gaze. Riley tensed, and Wander looked crestfallen.
But Gabe straightened his shoulders and stared down at her tiny grandmother.
“Elanora, I am escorting Wander to get ice cream,” he announced.
Riley blinked and held her breath.
There was silence for a long moment, and then her grandmother nodded curtly. “I trust you both will continue to apply yourselves to your work with diligence regardless of any dalliances with…frozen desserts.”
Wander and Gabe shared a wide-eyed look before nodding vigorously. “We will, Grandmother,” Wander assured Elanora.
“Then go. Enjoy yourselves.” Elanora sounded like she was choking on the words. But it still counted as a blessing.
It might have been the smoking debris still raining down from the sky, but Riley felt a little teary-eyed as she watched her sister and her gentle giant friend walk down the sidewalk hand-in-hand.
“Well, that was a fine mess.”
Riley looked up and found her grandmother staring down at her.
“Yeah. Thanks for the help,” she said dryly.
“You will walk with me,” Elanora announced.
Too tired to argue, Riley climbed to her feet and followed her grandmother down the alley.
“You did not need my help,” the old woman said.
“I did. You could have contacted the spirit of Hudson’s brother much faster than I did. This whole thing could have ended an hour ago. With no explosion, I might add.”
“It was your responsibility. You needed to see it through.”
