“I paid them. Don’t worry,” Aaron said.
Ruxandra focused on the third man and said, “How about you? Do you leave the tip?”
Nigel’s jaw dropped, and he was silent for a moment. “Sure. If you’re successful and our families are completely out of danger forever, you can have this land you’re standing on.”
She looked satisfied and nodded once. “Fine. We can honeymoon right here.” She turned to her husband and said, “Kurt, honey? You can conjure up a building and some staff and a pool, right?”
Kurt laughed. “I love you, my diva wife. And you know I can’t refuse you anything. Your wish is my command.”
Ruxandra smiled and kissed him on the cheek. Then she turned to the three men and rubbed her hands together. “Let’s get this shitshow on the road.”
* * *
Jayce led the way. Kristine held the hands of the vampire and wizard, and all three of them remained in the ether as she followed her husband’s lead.
The guards didn’t look too “on guard,” so to speak. In fact, they seemed pretty lackadaisical.
Ruxandra and Kurt walked out of the ether, appearing to have come out of thin air. Kristine watched from within. She could jump into the scene and turn back time by a few minutes. Just enough to send a bullet back to its chamber, if necessary.
Ruxandra strode boldly, catching the guard’s eye. His jaw went slack, and he didn’t move.Damn,she’s good. Kristine made a note of that for the future.
She couldn’t hear what was said, but the guard handed over his weapon. Suddenly, the other guard came charging across the length of two football fields, shouting. All eyes turned to the vampire.
“Aw, crap.” Kristine was about to step in when the wizard drew an arc in the air. Everyone froze in place. He then went from person to person with his wife, unfreezing and refreezing each person in turn.
Kristine was almost mesmerized herself by the amazing feat they were pulling off…until a couple of men armed with pistols came running out of the nearby building. Time to snap out of it.
She stepped out of the ether and froze them. Then she backed up time a bit. Unfortunately, that undid the wizard’s work on the last women he’d frozen.
“Damn it,” she muttered. “I hadn’t counted on that.”
Kurt raised his hand and called over to her. “It’s okay. We’ll just start with the buildings first.” As soon as he and Ruxandra were inside, with a snap of his fingers the women who were hanging damp laundry resumed their work.
Back in the ether, Kristine followed them inside, leaving Jayce to watch over the people outside. He’d squawk if anyone was coming. She watched as Ruxandra mesmerized each of the two men inside. Then she grabbed their guns and pulled the vamp and the wizard into the ether a moment after he snapped his fingers. She paused long enough to see them looking for something—presumably farming implements.
They repeated this pattern in two of the other buildings. One was a bakery of sorts, and the other looked like a tailor’s shop. A barn held some animals, but no one was in there at the moment. The rest of the buildings were either empty or only residential.
When everyone indoors had been convinced they were farmers, bakers, or tailors, they returned to the people outside.
All went smoothly with the residents outside, and when Kurt and Ruxandra were safely ensconced in the ether, Kurt unfroze the entire scene. Most people carried on with what they were doing. The two guards scratched their heads and glanced around in confusion.
“Did you tell the guards they were farmers?”
“Yes, but I may have neglected to tell them what they were supposed to be doing and hand them a hoe or something.”
“Well, we can’t have that.” Kristine pointed at the ground behind the men, and a hoe, rake, and seedlings appeared.
They turned around, looked like they were saying “Aha!” and started laying out the boundary of a garden.
“There! I think we’re done,” she said, relieved.
The three of them popped back to the American men on the banks of the river. Kristine walked the others out of the ether and dropped their hands. “I’m going back for a bit. Jayce is keeping watch, and I’ll sit up in the trees with him. We’ll make sure they’re acting like farmers.”
“Find the book, if you can,” Aaron begged. “It’s important they never find it again.”
She saluted. “I’ll do what I can to snoop around without being seen. Jayce will watch my back.”
“We all will,” Ryan said, stepping forward.
“No. You boys have had your fun,” Antonio said. “Now it’s my turn.” He geared down quickly and shifted into his phoenix form. Flying slowly, more like gliding, he took off in the direction of the new farm.
