I reach out patting her shoulder awkwardly. Especially when she draws in a sharp breath. I pull my hand back, grimacing. “Trust me, that girl has absolutely zero spells on me. So, there’s nothing you need to worry about. I just need to… finish what I started.”
I’m trying to sound like a ruthless pirate captain, but I’m starting to realize that I’m crouching here in a back alley with a beautiful woman and we are completely alone. Smee and Michael-and-John have already left. My brain is starting to short circuit just like it does whenever I’m around someone I’m attracted to, and I probably have exactly five seconds before I say something stupid.
Like ask her what brand of conditioner she uses. Because her hair is so full and fluffy and mine probably looks a mess after being whipped around in the sea wind.
Wendy nods at last and pushes to her feet. “You be careful,” she whispers. She looks like she is going to say more but instead she turns on her heel and races off.
I blow out a long exhale before I push to my feet. Okay, so I’ve ditched the pirates. Now to find Vera.
I turn in a half circle, squinting against the sunlight and hoping she isn’t with that guy Wendy called “princeling”. I don’t know who that guy is, but he seems to have taken a personal dislike to me. Which isn’t fair, since I’ve done literally nothing to him.
Still, I’d rather avoid being threatened again today if that isn’t too much to ask.
I sigh as I glance at a seagull circling overhead. Something tells me that it is.
“Okay, if I were Vera where would I hide?” I mutter to myself as I turn back around and kick the small bundle of weapons that Wendy must have left. Then I bend over and pick them up, tucking them under my arm since I can’t very well leave deadly weapons lying around.
What if a kid stumbles upon them?
Nope, these are coming with me.
I tighten my hold of the bundle and step out into the main street, heading toward the sound of the hustle. Fortunately, Vera has very bright hair so I should be able to pick her out from a crowd. It’s how I was able to recognize her so quickly. That red hair leaves an impression.
Now how exactly I’m going to get her away from an angry prince if she is still associating with him, is a different question altogether.
But I suppose that’s a proverbial bridge that I’ll cross when I get there. First, I have to find my screenwriter and ask her why exactly this place I’m in seems to eerily mirror that script she wrote.
