Wild Ways Teaser #2
Although I know some of you have already snagged a copy (pouts a little because I don't have a copy yet) the official release date of THE WILD WAYS isn't until November 1st, next Tuesday, one week from today. And, since I'd already planned out this whole two week/one week teaser thing, y'all are just going to have to put up with another excerpt so I can feel like I'm doing my best to help you make up your mind if you...
Okay, sidebar: the truck that delivered the floor joists for the addition is now stuck in my side yard. The backhoe that's here to finish dumping gravel into the crawl space has been pulled off the job to pull it out. You have NO IDEA how happy I'll be when the large machinery part of this build is over and we're down to two guys with hammers.
So, where was I? Right.
Resting her palm against the mirror, fingers spread, Charlie watched as her reflection's hair color cycled through various blues, reds, greens, purples, paused on the short cap of turquoise she currently wore, and finally finished with the dark blonde/golden brown that was the Gale family default.
"You're right," she sighed, suddenly very tired. "The hair's become schtick." She sagged forward until her whole body pressed against the glass and wondered, yet again, how Auntie Catherine had slid inside. What had she seen inside the mirror? Had she been Alice or the Red Queen?
Stupid question.
She'd been the Jaberwocky.
Because Auntie Catherine had done what every Gale with Wild Powers did. She'd gone Wild. The we know best of the aunties had become a much less restrained, I know best and anything that made the aunties seem restrained, was pretty freakin' scary.
In the mirror, Charlie's reflection aged, hair graying, gray eyes darkening to auntie black.
"Yeah, I know." She straightened, feeling every kilometer of the drive south from Fort McMurray in a retired school bus with no air conditioning. Her reflection continued to lean against the inside of the glass. "You're not going anywhere and I've still got plenty of time to work out how Auntie Catherine did it."
Halfway up the back stairs, the door to the apartment on the second floor slammed open, slammed shut, and Charlie suddenly found herself facing a seriously pissed off teenage boy -- the smoke streaming out of his nostrils a dead giveaway of his mood. He rocked to a stop and glared, hazel eyes flashing gold, pale blond hair sticking out in several unnatural directions, wide mouth pressed into a thin line.
"Jack."
"Oh, you're back." The smoke thickened. "Good. You can tell Allie I don't have to put up with this stuff!"
"She's making you listen to Jason Mraz again?"
"What?" He had to stop and think, rant cut off at the knees. Charlie gave herself a mental high; she rocked at pissy mood deflection. "No! She thinks I'm helpless!"
"Does she? Well, Allie thinks Katy Perry is edgy so…" Charlie shrugged, letting the wall hold her up for a while. "Where are you heading?"
"Flying!"
"It's…" It was too much effort to look at her watch so she settled for general and obvious. "…late."
His eyes narrowed. "That's what Allie said!"
"Yeah, but I'm not trying to stop you. Go. Fly." She waved the hand not holding the guitar in the general direction of the back door. "It's not like you can't handle anything that sees you."
"That's what Graham said," Jack admitted, the smoke tapering off.
"He's smarter than he looks. Just try to handle it non fatally, okay? I've had a long day and you know Allie'll make me come with her to deal with the bodies."
"Bodies." His snort blew out a cloud of smoke that engulfed his head and he stomped past, close enough Charlie could feel the heat radiating off him, not so close she had to exert herself to keep from being burned. "Jack, don't burn down the building," he muttered as he descended. "Jack, don't turn the Oilers into newts and then eat them. Jack, don't eat anything that you can have a conversation with. This world sucks!"
He made an emphatic exit out into the courtyard, slamming the door with enough force that the impact vibrated past Charlie's shoulder blades.
"Well…" Charlie lurched away from the wall's embrace and up the remaining stairs. "…that explains why the door's sticking."
Jack loved hockey, although he thought it wasn't violent enough. He'd spent his first season as an enthusiastic Calgary Flames fan, learning the unfortunate fact that enthusiasm wasn't enough and devouring their opponents wasn't allowed.
The new scorch mark on the apartment door came as no great surprise.
*
When the wind was from the north, like tonight, Jack liked to hang out by the big concrete dinosaurs at the zoo because it only took a minimal glamor to make him look like he was part of the display. When the wind was from the south, he didn't go near the place because his scent made the animals go a little crazy -- okay, a lot crazy -- and he'd stopped thinking that was funny when Allie'd gone up one side of him and down the other.
Even without fangs or claws or fire, she could be way scary.
Sometimes, she reminded him of his mother.
He didn't miss his mother because his mother was like his mother all the time, and Allie was only like that sometimes. When she was like that, then he missed his mother. Only not in a good way.
He frowned at the small flock of Pixies fluttering around the pole light.
His mother didn't care when he went flying or what he destroyed or who he ate. In the UnderRealm, he'd been expected to take care of himself.
He kind of liked being taken care of. Most of the time, he liked knowing he'd survive the day. But it had been more than a year of days in this world's time and he knew Allie assumed he'd stay and he liked being a Gale but he also liked being a Prince and a Sorcerer and they were fine with him being a Dragon as long as he was careful but he didn't have subjects and...
"Highness?"
Okay, maybe he had a few subjects.
The Courts came through all the time, more than even the Gales knew -- not that the Gales cared if it didn't affect the family, they were like dragons that way -- but the lesser Fey slipped through with the Courts and it turned out there were a lot of them here.
He looked down and frowned. Right here. At his feet. Looking familiar. "What?"
The Brownie bowed. "I bring a petition asking that you roast…
"Hold it." Jack folded his neck and peered down his muzzle -- it was never easy focusing on things so much smaller than him. "You're that Market Mall Brownie who's totally baked about the outlets, right? Dude, for the seven millionth time, I'm not destroying your competition. Have a sale or something."
"It's a matter of quality, Highness."
"Still not going to happen."
"You fear the old women, Highness."
"Well, duh." The aunties could send him back to the UnderRealm. Okay, he wasn't sure they could do it without Allie -- they'd needed Allie to send his mother and his uncles back -- and Allie didn't like to do what the aunties said, but they were all so stupidly weird about the sorcerer thing - even though he almost never used it - that they'd probably send him back anyway as soon as he turned fifteen and their rules said he wasn't a child anymore but…
"They are keeping you a child, Highness."
Was it reading his mind? No way was that allowed. Jack reared back. "You want me to roast someone? I could always roast you."
The Brownie turned slightly green. "Highness!"
Snorting out a cloud of smoke, Jack watched the little weasel scurry away, sent a silent apology to weasels because they were actually pretty cool, and thought that maybe if he was gone long enough his mother would clutch again and he wouldn't be able to go back. He'd have to stay.
If they let him.
Why weren't there ever any easy answers? Questions sucked.
He spread his wings and launched himself into the sky, a sweep of his tail knocking the head off the concrete Apatosaurus.
Crap.
Okay, sidebar: the truck that delivered the floor joists for the addition is now stuck in my side yard. The backhoe that's here to finish dumping gravel into the crawl space has been pulled off the job to pull it out. You have NO IDEA how happy I'll be when the large machinery part of this build is over and we're down to two guys with hammers.
So, where was I? Right.
Resting her palm against the mirror, fingers spread, Charlie watched as her reflection's hair color cycled through various blues, reds, greens, purples, paused on the short cap of turquoise she currently wore, and finally finished with the dark blonde/golden brown that was the Gale family default.
"You're right," she sighed, suddenly very tired. "The hair's become schtick." She sagged forward until her whole body pressed against the glass and wondered, yet again, how Auntie Catherine had slid inside. What had she seen inside the mirror? Had she been Alice or the Red Queen?
Stupid question.
She'd been the Jaberwocky.
Because Auntie Catherine had done what every Gale with Wild Powers did. She'd gone Wild. The we know best of the aunties had become a much less restrained, I know best and anything that made the aunties seem restrained, was pretty freakin' scary.
In the mirror, Charlie's reflection aged, hair graying, gray eyes darkening to auntie black.
"Yeah, I know." She straightened, feeling every kilometer of the drive south from Fort McMurray in a retired school bus with no air conditioning. Her reflection continued to lean against the inside of the glass. "You're not going anywhere and I've still got plenty of time to work out how Auntie Catherine did it."
Halfway up the back stairs, the door to the apartment on the second floor slammed open, slammed shut, and Charlie suddenly found herself facing a seriously pissed off teenage boy -- the smoke streaming out of his nostrils a dead giveaway of his mood. He rocked to a stop and glared, hazel eyes flashing gold, pale blond hair sticking out in several unnatural directions, wide mouth pressed into a thin line.
"Jack."
"Oh, you're back." The smoke thickened. "Good. You can tell Allie I don't have to put up with this stuff!"
"She's making you listen to Jason Mraz again?"
"What?" He had to stop and think, rant cut off at the knees. Charlie gave herself a mental high; she rocked at pissy mood deflection. "No! She thinks I'm helpless!"
"Does she? Well, Allie thinks Katy Perry is edgy so…" Charlie shrugged, letting the wall hold her up for a while. "Where are you heading?"
"Flying!"
"It's…" It was too much effort to look at her watch so she settled for general and obvious. "…late."
His eyes narrowed. "That's what Allie said!"
"Yeah, but I'm not trying to stop you. Go. Fly." She waved the hand not holding the guitar in the general direction of the back door. "It's not like you can't handle anything that sees you."
"That's what Graham said," Jack admitted, the smoke tapering off.
"He's smarter than he looks. Just try to handle it non fatally, okay? I've had a long day and you know Allie'll make me come with her to deal with the bodies."
"Bodies." His snort blew out a cloud of smoke that engulfed his head and he stomped past, close enough Charlie could feel the heat radiating off him, not so close she had to exert herself to keep from being burned. "Jack, don't burn down the building," he muttered as he descended. "Jack, don't turn the Oilers into newts and then eat them. Jack, don't eat anything that you can have a conversation with. This world sucks!"
He made an emphatic exit out into the courtyard, slamming the door with enough force that the impact vibrated past Charlie's shoulder blades.
"Well…" Charlie lurched away from the wall's embrace and up the remaining stairs. "…that explains why the door's sticking."
Jack loved hockey, although he thought it wasn't violent enough. He'd spent his first season as an enthusiastic Calgary Flames fan, learning the unfortunate fact that enthusiasm wasn't enough and devouring their opponents wasn't allowed.
The new scorch mark on the apartment door came as no great surprise.
*
When the wind was from the north, like tonight, Jack liked to hang out by the big concrete dinosaurs at the zoo because it only took a minimal glamor to make him look like he was part of the display. When the wind was from the south, he didn't go near the place because his scent made the animals go a little crazy -- okay, a lot crazy -- and he'd stopped thinking that was funny when Allie'd gone up one side of him and down the other.
Even without fangs or claws or fire, she could be way scary.
Sometimes, she reminded him of his mother.
He didn't miss his mother because his mother was like his mother all the time, and Allie was only like that sometimes. When she was like that, then he missed his mother. Only not in a good way.
He frowned at the small flock of Pixies fluttering around the pole light.
His mother didn't care when he went flying or what he destroyed or who he ate. In the UnderRealm, he'd been expected to take care of himself.
He kind of liked being taken care of. Most of the time, he liked knowing he'd survive the day. But it had been more than a year of days in this world's time and he knew Allie assumed he'd stay and he liked being a Gale but he also liked being a Prince and a Sorcerer and they were fine with him being a Dragon as long as he was careful but he didn't have subjects and...
"Highness?"
Okay, maybe he had a few subjects.
The Courts came through all the time, more than even the Gales knew -- not that the Gales cared if it didn't affect the family, they were like dragons that way -- but the lesser Fey slipped through with the Courts and it turned out there were a lot of them here.
He looked down and frowned. Right here. At his feet. Looking familiar. "What?"
The Brownie bowed. "I bring a petition asking that you roast…
"Hold it." Jack folded his neck and peered down his muzzle -- it was never easy focusing on things so much smaller than him. "You're that Market Mall Brownie who's totally baked about the outlets, right? Dude, for the seven millionth time, I'm not destroying your competition. Have a sale or something."
"It's a matter of quality, Highness."
"Still not going to happen."
"You fear the old women, Highness."
"Well, duh." The aunties could send him back to the UnderRealm. Okay, he wasn't sure they could do it without Allie -- they'd needed Allie to send his mother and his uncles back -- and Allie didn't like to do what the aunties said, but they were all so stupidly weird about the sorcerer thing - even though he almost never used it - that they'd probably send him back anyway as soon as he turned fifteen and their rules said he wasn't a child anymore but…
"They are keeping you a child, Highness."
Was it reading his mind? No way was that allowed. Jack reared back. "You want me to roast someone? I could always roast you."
The Brownie turned slightly green. "Highness!"
Snorting out a cloud of smoke, Jack watched the little weasel scurry away, sent a silent apology to weasels because they were actually pretty cool, and thought that maybe if he was gone long enough his mother would clutch again and he wouldn't be able to go back. He'd have to stay.
If they let him.
Why weren't there ever any easy answers? Questions sucked.
He spread his wings and launched himself into the sky, a sweep of his tail knocking the head off the concrete Apatosaurus.
Crap.