she’d hung up, Lawson’s mother gave her the address of a house just a few blocks over.
“I’ll bring you thirty tomorrow. Forty! Tomorrow afternoon,” Gwen said, then she added, “I’ll call first.” That made her sound less creepy, right?
“Amberlynn, you let go of that child! You do not want me to…!”
This time, Gwen was sure she had hung up.
Her own hand was trembling as she returned the phone to its cradle, and she turned to find Heather gazing at her with round eyes.
“Was that…?”
“I found Henrik,” Gwen said, her voice quavering like her hand had. She cleared her throat. “I found him.”
“You found Henrik?” Daniella stood in the entrance of the kitchen. There was a lull in the trick-or-treaters, and her words caught the attention of the knights, who were swiftly there, demanding answers.
“Our shieldmate!”
“Where is he?”
“How did you find him?”
“What happened?”
“Is he okay?”
“How do you know?
Gwen took a deep breath to calm herself. “The kid who got hurt, Lawson, he recognized your ornaments. I got his mom’s number and her address, and I’ll just go and pick it up tomorrow.” She managed to speak casually, like it was no big deal.
Trey and Rez gave whoops of joy, ignoring the doorbell to pound each other on the back, sweep their keys into their arms, and dance them around the kitchen. Gwen dodged back and slipped up to perch on the counter, grinning despite herself because of their contagious glee.
“Finally!” Daniella said, escaping Trey’s embrace to hug Gwen. “You must be so excited.”
Excitement was the smallest portion of what Gwen was feeling; she was dizzy with conflicting emotions as she hugged Daniella back.
She’d gone willingly with Robin to follow her destiny, thrilled to be part of something bigger and more wonderful than her narrow life of serving coffee and teaching little kids martial arts. The fated partner of a noble warrior, with true love like Daniella, and later Heather, had found? Yes, please!
The months since had dampened her enthusiasm as doubts crowded in: what if they never found Henrik? What if she couldn’t be a proper key? What if Robin had made a mistake in finding her? The fable’s power was unpredictable in this world, and they admitted that they didn’t have complete control over their magic.
Now she’d find out for sure if she actually measured up, and she could feel the pending judgement like a storm on the horizon.
The doorbell rang again, and the knights abruptly remembered their candy duties, excusing themselves.
“Do you have questions?” Heather asked kindly, when the three of them were alone in the kitchen.
“I don’t think I have any questions,” Gwen said brightly. “I kiss the ornament and bam, naked knight. Beats hiring a stripper in a cake!”
Daniella and Heather exchanged a look that Gwen couldn’t quite identify. Pity, maybe? Amusement? It was definitely at her expense.
“You’ll know before that,” Daniella warned her. “I saw Trey’s ornament and I had to have it. Like Fabio getting a whiff of steak. I was in the middle of a job orientation, and I practically shoved Ansel out of the way to get it. He must have thought I’d had a mental break or something.”
“I almost accosted a customer who wanted to buy Rez’s ornament!” Heather giggled. “Like, I was fully prepared to vault across the counter and start a fistfight if they didn’t give it up to me.”
“So don’t...you know...punch Lawson’s mom in the mouth when you see her, or anything,” Daniella warned her with a grin.
Gwen smiled stiffly. It was a sore point with her; when people found out she had a black belt in karate, they liked to tease her about beating people up, but she’d never actually fought anyone off of a sparring mat. Twisted out of a few holds, maybe, but she stayed out of trouble for the most part and had never been in a place where she needed to prove her skills.
Not until she’d battled the bleak in Ansel’s warehouse, and that had been an exercise in frustration as her physical sword had been able to do little damage to the shadowy creature.
“I’ll try to avoid brawling with the woman who has already agreed to sell me the fragile glass ornament,” she quipped.
Heather and Daniella both laughed.
“It’s worth it,” Heather said contentedly. “All the bleaks and dours and horrible oncoming darkness to battle, and I wouldn’t trade it for the world.”
There was a moment of awkward silence where they all remembered that the world might actually end with the year…and if not