“It’s just so embarrassing. I mean, there we are in the middle of a kidnapping situation, and I’m staring at Corbin like a love-struck teenager. I’d never met him before, and you have to admit, he’s amazingly sexy and cute. So, yeah, I was totally distracted and not really paying attention to you guys.” God, how embarrassing. Attack of the hormones while being kidnapped. But Corbin had been so… magnetic. And he’d been staring at me, too!
Thea made a little sound, but when I looked over, I couldn’t read her face.
I continued, “I think Corbin said something, but I kind of don’t remember what, which I know is a little weird, but therewas a lot going on. And then I just remember being reallyangry. Which is totally odd, because Ineverget angry. I mean,never. I can’t even think of a time when I was angry.” I shrugged.
“And then…” Thea prompted.
I sighed. “Then I saw the lady slash at the guy next to her, and then…” I looked over at Thea. “You’re going to make me say it? Are you sure?”
She nodded her head.
“I saw you put your hand over the lady’s and make her stab herself with the knife. I don’t know if she hit the light when she fell, because it got really dark then. I was still angry, mostly because I knew they were trying to make people suffer—the old guy was proof of that. I sort of had him in my lap, and I felt him take his last breath. I felt relieved that he was finally at peace. Then I heard someone ask if we were dead, which was kind of funny, because the light was just out. I said we were all fine, and someone must have found the switch then, because the lights came back on.”
I looked over at Thea, and she was staring at me. I still couldn’t read the expression on her face.
“It’s okay, Thea. I’m glad you stabbed her. Maybe I should’ve told the cops the truth, because it was totally self-defense, but I knew it looked like she stabbed herself, and that just seemed like the easier story.” I shrugged. “I didn’t want you to have to go through the questioning and stuff. Plus, I kind of wasn’t paying total attention, anyway. You know, on account of being hit by the crush bus when I saw Corbin.”
She was still staring at me. “You really…” she trailed off.
“I know. I’m pathetic. A kidnapping is so totallynotthe time to have my hormones kick into high gear. But, you have to admit, Corbin isreallysexy.”
She was still staring.
“Don’t worry, I’m not gonna, like, stalk him or anything. I don’t think he’s really interested, because he didn’t talk to me at all afterwards. Because, you know, a kidnapping really isn’t a good meet-cute. Especially since people died and stuff. People get funny about that sort of thing.”
I sighed at the last part. Yeah, that probably did ruin my chances with Corbin. Kidnapping and death really weren’t a good meet-cute story.
It was like I was destined to be alone. People were always dying around me, but it wasn’t my fault. It’s not like I was a serial killer. I just had a profession with lots of death. That seemed to freak most people out, though, because I hadn’t had much luck in the boyfriend department lately. People were so… morbid about death.
“I really don’t get you, Sebbie,” Thea finally said.
I smiled at her, because she didn’t look upset, just confused. I grabbed her pinkie with mine, shaking them together before letting her hand drop.
“That’s okay. We’re besties now. Pinkie promise and everything. And I won’t tell anyone about what you did. But it really was the right thing, Thea. You shouldn’t be stressed about it,” I reassured her.
A crow cawed from the yard, and I smiled out at them before turning back to Thea. “Come on, help me feed the crows. You can make friends with them, too.”
I got up, and she followed me in to grab some nuts and fruit. I was glad I’d been able to set her mind at ease, but I kind of hoped she kept coming around.
The crows were great company, but I could admit I was lonely sometimes. With Josh and Toby paired off and in love, it was easy to feel like the odd one out. Not that theyevermade me feel that way on purpose.
I just kind of wished I could have someone, too. Corbin came to mind. His long, dark hair, his scruffy face, his sexy muscles, and all those tattoos. I wondered if I could happen to run into him again. Maybe see a little bit more of him. At the very least, maybe we could become friends.
It couldn’t hurt to try, right?
Chapter 3
Corbin
I was sittingon my bed and meditating, the moonlight shining in on my bare skin, when my mother’s deck of tarot cards appeared in my mind.
I hadn’t read the cards in ages, and although I tried to let them float by, they were insistent, refusing to leave me to my meditation. I knew a sign when I got one, so I opened my eyes and got up to look for them.
I didn’t keep a lot of possessions when I traveled, but I tended to collect things when I settled somewhere. I always ended up with a lot from the forest—stones and wood that caught my attention, dried herbs, pinecones—anything, really. Crow had brought me a dead beetle that was almost perfectly preserved, and that was sitting on my dresser, waiting to be cast into a piece of jewelry.
Then there were the things I traded or bought from people. Sometimes a candle, a woven bracelet, or a basket called to me, and they always served a purpose. Some things, like the mortar and pestle I’d gotten from a wrinkled old woman decades ago, became a part of my permanent collection. I could have made my own mortar and pestle—I enjoyed carving stone—but this one had some inner light that lent my salves a little extra kick.
I didn’t question my instincts, and I liked to collect things. I eyed the beetle again on my dresser, briefly distracted. I could cast it in metal, paint it, and give it to Sebbie. The beetle represented transformation and rebirth, and didn’t that fit with Sebbie? Perhaps Crow had been thinking just that when she’d given it to me.
