Americana Fairy Tale (29 page)

Corentin stepped off the sidewalk and onto the beach. He watched the waves roll in, then suck back into the ocean and rise again. He and Taylor watched the same horizon, waiting for something to appear that wasn’t coming, together and alone.

He formulated a plan of what to say, how to say it, and how to convince himself that he wasn’t falling apart inside.

He crossed the sand toward Taylor and Ringo, regretting already the sand slipping into his boots. He plopped next to Taylor without any warning.

Taylor, amazingly, didn’t startle and chewed on a piece of bagel. He smiled at Corentin and then sucked cream cheese off his finger.

Corentin immediately turned his attention elsewhere. He couldn’t shake the feeling of being stared at in the back of his head. His paranoia made the hair on his arms stand up, as he was certain it was Phillipa once again.

He twisted to look behind him and swallowed at the sight.

Staring at him with a blank expression was a six-story iron-and-steel elephant. Corentin tried to get a better look and turned around in the sand. The creature was decorated like the majestic elephants found in the sweeping Indian epics. A romantic red-and-gold blanket lay across its back, topped with a red-and-gold canopied howdah. Groups of humans moved about in the howdah, and Corentin figured it was an observation deck. The elephant stared out over the ocean, and Corentin swore it was staring at them. The eyes were windows, but they appeared to have a dead-eyed expression. The elephant stood in a fenced-in area, and mundane tourists lined up to enter the creature.

“Any idea where we are this time?” Corentin asked as he watched the elephant. “Not every day you see that… thing.”

Ringo brightened and pulled out a human-sized pamphlet and unfolded the paper.

Corentin’s jaw dropped. “Where did you keep that?”

“In my pocket,” Ringo said and then licked his thumb to flip another page. Without missing a beat, he pointed to a map of the city. “Says here we’re in Margate City, New Jersey.”

“Jersey, eh?” Corentin said and studied the elephant again. “I assume Margate City is known for… uh… something?” He sighed and turned back to Taylor and Ringo. Together they watched the waves. “That thing is fucking creepy,” Corentin said and reached into the box of bagels. He pulled out an onion one and smiled at the welcome sight of food. “Got any cream cheese?”

Ringo rummaged through a bag that Corentin hadn’t seen the first time and beamed when he pulled out a full-sized tub. “Garlic-and-herb flavor,” he said proudly. “The only one worth having.”

Corentin took the tub, and Taylor handed him a plastic knife. He glanced at the elephant again and frowned. “That thing is seriously freaking me out.”

Taylor perked up, and Corentin met his gaze as Taylor licked cream cheese from his upper lip. Corentin screeched in his head,
For fuck’s sake, stop that!
But he turned his attention to his bagel instead.

“The elephant?” Taylor turned to look at it. He smiled. “I think it’s charming. I think I caught the theme with Charles’s tricks.”

Corentin frowned and spread the cream cheese on his bagel. “Oh yeah?” he asked, still keeping his attention focused on his snack in case Taylor did something unconsciously sexy again. Corentin licked his bottom lip and tried to banish his nerves.

“Americana,” Taylor said. “Think about it. The Twin Arrows, the Wigwam Motel, here…. At this thing.” He gestured behind him at the elephant.

Ringo wiggled a cup of coffee out of the cardboard tray and offered it to Corentin. “Here, boyo. You need some caffeine in the worst way.”

Corentin accepted the coffee and took a cautious whiff of it. He grunted. “By Mother Storyteller, does no one believe in chicory?” Taylor’s shoulders shook with a silent laugh, and Corentin sipped the coffee anyway. He stuck out his tongue and gasped. “If we end up in New Orleans somehow, I’m taking you for proper coffee the way the Storyteller intended,” Corentin said and forced himself to sip again.

“I’d like that,” Taylor said, and Corentin caught the shy smile.

“Beignets are a part of this deal, right?” Ringo said, seeming to read Corentin’s mind to cover up that it looked like Corentin was asking Taylor on a date.

“Of course, little man,” Corentin said. He fell silent and glanced at the elephant again. He stared hard at it. “I swear to the Storyteller, that thing is watching us.”

Taylor laughed. “You are so paranoid. It’s just an elephant.”

“It’s Lucy the Elephant, according to the sign,” Ringo said. “I think she’s kinda cute.”

“Yeah, cute…,” Corentin said and took a bite of his bagel. He groaned with the pleasure of fat and carbs exploding into his system. “Oh Storyteller, that’s so freaking good.”

“I know, right?” Taylor said around a mouthful of bagel. “No food in three days and all of a sudden it’s Thanksgiving.”

Corentin couldn’t help wolfing down his bagel like a savage. Within three minutes, the bagel vanished down his gullet. He checked the box and counted: ten left. “We need to conserve these,” Corentin said and closed the lid. “And we need to get water.” He hooked a thumb behind him toward the parking lot. “The Starbucks has the cold case with the waters. We could pick up whatever else they have in there.”

Ringo’s jaw dropped. “You want to loot the Starbucks?” he asked incredulously.

Corentin tossed up his hands and shrugged. “No one can see us anyway. Well…. Not now.”

“That is weird,” Taylor said after he swallowed the last bite of his bagel. “We were seen before, and now we’re not. Now we’re
really
not.”

“But we can still affect the space around us, and we can still touch the humans. And they can feel us touching them,” Ringo said and thumbed his chin.

Corentin nodded. “But will it always be like that?”

Taylor frowned. “Are you telling me we are fading out of existence? Like completely?”

Corentin looked out to the distant horizon and sighed before he answered. “You know that mundane saying that there are things in the world waiting for their wits to grow sharper?”

“And Enchants are those things,” Taylor said as he too watched the rolling waves.

“So…,” Corentin said and took a breath. “What if there are things waiting for us out there that we can’t see?”

Ringo shivered. “Dude!” he squeaked. “Thanks for the creepy thought of the day. I should be keeping score at this point of the shit you say.”

Corentin slapped his hands to the sand and pushed to his feet. Taylor recoiled from the sudden movement. “Okay,” Corentin said and offered his hand to Taylor. “Let’s forget about the doomsday theories and focus on what’s important. Getting back to Atlanta and rescuing a princess.”

Taylor accepted the hand, and Corentin pulled him up. They watched each other for a moment, and Corentin became more aware of how short Taylor was. Somewhere Taylor’s slight frame had registered in his head, but they had spent all of their time in the truck.

Corentin danced back a step and assumed a defensive stance. “All right. If we’re going to save Atticus, you are going to learn how to throw a proper punch.”

Taylor stiffened. “What? Now?” he asked and gestured to the box of bagels in the sand. “But…. Food?”

Corentin tilted his chin toward Ringo. “Get those, will you? I actually want to eat those later.”

Ringo obeyed and swooped in to gather the goods. “Ooooh. It’s going doooown,” Ringo said in a low tone.

Corentin tossed out a hand and gestured toward the parking lot. “You’re small,” he said to Ringo. “Your mission is to raid the Starbucks while we take care of business.”

Ringo hesitated. “You sure?”

Corentin nodded and resumed his defensive stance. Taylor stood, seeming confused about the whole thing. “Yeah,” Corentin said. “And get all of the cake pops you can. I might need to make a sugary peace offering.” He grinned at Taylor. “Sugar for sugar?”

Taylor flushed as bright magenta as his shirt. Corentin laughed. Getting Taylor’s goat was pretty easy.

Corentin clapped his hands together as Ringo fluttered off. “Come on.” He gestured to himself. “Let’s go. Hit me.”

Taylor stepped back and made a dubious face. “Are you serious?”

Corentin clapped his hands again. “Serious. You nearly kicked my ass when we first met. I know you can do this.”

Taylor’s jaw dropped. “I did
what
? No way. I would remember that!”

“Time’s a’wasting!” Corentin said and kicked sand at Taylor, who threw his arms over his face and screeched. “Let’s go. Come on, little princess. Hit me.”

Taylor rubbed the sand from his eyes and nodded. He put up his fists in a miserable imitation of a boxer.

Corentin refrained from rolling his eyes. This was going to take some work.

Taylor let out his attempt at a battle cry, and Corentin held in the need to cackle at how pathetically adorable it sounded. Taylor charged forward, kicking up grains as his feet sank into the sand. Corentin read how Taylor’s body was off-balance from the sand. He needed to learn how to run on top of it and put his feet in the right places. They’d work on that, and Corentin was in his boots, so it was still a bit of a handicap.

Taylor ducked, going in to grapple at Corentin’s middle and tackle him. Corentin sighed; it seemed it was Taylor’s favorite first move. He simply slid to the side and let Taylor tumble into the sand. Taylor rolled to his back, gasping for breath.

Corentin turned, offering Taylor his hand. “Come on, you pretty pink princess,” Corentin purred in a purposely irritating way.

Taylor spit sand and then swatted away Corentin’s hand. He didn’t get up immediately, and Corentin saw his opening. In a flick of the wrist, he pulled the knife he had always kept hidden in his boot. He knew Taylor couldn’t see the move until Corentin sat on Taylor’s chest and pressed the knife to Taylor’s throat.

Taylor’s eyes turned wild, and he went rigid.

Corentin gave him a charming smile. “You gotta be fast, little princess. There are wolves in the woods that will eat you up in one bite.” He gnashed his teeth at Taylor’s nose to demonstrate. He pulled back the blade and then stood. He stepped back from Taylor, permitting him to stand.

Taylor trembled as he stood, clearly shaken. “You didn’t tell me you had a knife,” he growled, rubbing at his throat.

Corentin smiled and stepped back four more feet. He flipped the knife end over end in one hand. “By the way,” Corentin said. “I have a knife.” He sharply turned toward Lucy the Elephant and launched the knife away. The point stabbed into one of Lucy’s tusks. Corentin smiled and turned up his hands. “Better?”

“You better not have any more weapons,” Taylor said as he circled Corentin.

Corentin snorted. “Oh, sweetie. I
am
the weapon.”

Taylor charged again, and Corentin saw he was going for the grapple once more. Corentin sighed and decided to roll with it. It would make Taylor feel better to score a point. He prepared for the impending tackle.

Taylor ducked low at the last second, and his hand came up flinging a fistful of sand. Corentin let out a surprised yelp at his sudden blindness. Taylor’s fist connected hard with Corentin’s jaw, causing him to crunch down on his tongue. He spun on his footing across the sand.

Corentin rubbed at his eyes, blinking to clear them, then checked his lip. He nodded his approval as his fingers came away bloody. He spit the blood pooling in his mouth. He turned toward Taylor and smiled like a proud teacher. “Well, all right.”

He gestured to Taylor to come at him again. Taylor clenched his fists and circled Corentin. He could tell Taylor was sizing him up, but Taylor was taking too much time. He’d be no use in a fight if he had to be too thoughtful or careful. Corentin lunged forward one step, trying to fake Taylor out.

Taylor ran for Corentin. It seemed he planned to grapple for him at the middle. Corentin sighed. Taylor had much to be taught. “Fuck, boy,
again
?” Corentin said.

Taylor went in for the grab, but Corentin seized his wrists, yanked them upward, and straightened Taylor into standing. Taylor blinked, surprised, and Corentin smirked.

“Got you,” Corentin said.

Taylor snapped his head back and brought his forehead crashing into Corentin’s nose.

Corentin croaked and stumbled away again. He wiped at his nose and noted the blood on his fingers. He sniffed it up. “Fuck…,” he groaned. Taylor had surprised him, to say the least.

Taylor charged again, and this time Corentin was ready. Taylor drew in close, going for another punch, and Corentin sidestepped. He wrapped his own arm around the length of Taylor’s and used it like a fulcrum to flip Taylor to his back. He released Taylor’s arm before he could break it. Taylor coughed for air.

Ringo fluttered back to the beach. “Hey, hey, hey!” Ringo called happily. “Raided the Starbu—whoa, shit, dudes. You didn’t tell me about the blood part.”

Corentin dabbed at his nose and waved Ringo off. “I got this,” he said calmly as he watched Taylor consider his next move.

“You’re getting your ass handed to you, is what you’re getting,” Ringo said.

Corentin only managed to nod once before Taylor tackled Corentin behind the knees and sent him tumbling backward over Taylor’s body. The back of Corentin’s head hit the sand, and the impact blew particles into his eyes. Corentin mentally groaned—he was getting really annoyed with getting sand in his eyes.

He gasped when Taylor’s body collided into his own as Taylor pinned him to the sand. Corentin looked up into those peach-pink eyes, and instead of finding them disturbing, he found them fascinating.

“I win,” Taylor panted and then licked at his bottom lip.

“Yeah?” Corentin said, just as breathlessly. He sensed the heat rising from Taylor’s body again, and he’d have to get away from him soon. But for the moment, it was bearable. Corentin acted quickly and pushed Taylor into a roll so Corentin could be on top of him. “I believe…,” Corentin said between breaths, “this is the proper position….”

Taylor’s face flushed with that telltale bright blush. He swallowed but didn’t say anything. Instead, his lips remained slightly parted as he took deep breaths.