Total pages in book: 100
Estimated words: 93448 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 467(@200wpm)___ 374(@250wpm)___ 311(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 93448 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 467(@200wpm)___ 374(@250wpm)___ 311(@300wpm)
A loud splash crashed behind him and the gunfire was muffled for a moment. He and Lucien leaned out for a second to see that a wall of water now stood at the foot of the stairs, separating them from the Girl Scouts. And it wasn’t water pouring down from the second floor. No, this was an actual wall made of clear blue water. Like pool water.
It was even more convincing when he spotted a pool noodle floating through the center of the wall.
Unfortunately, the wall wasn’t thick enough to stop the bullets. Just slow them down a bit.
“Shit,” Calder snarled. “Not enough.”
“Can you freeze it? Make it a solid block?” Lucien called over.
Calder’s eyes went wide for a second as if the man had lost his mind. “Not this much water! I’m not that good yet.”
“He’s controlling the water?” Gio knew he sounded dazed. This couldn’t be happening. It definitely wasn’t real.
“Yeah. Calder’s amazing. He controls water,” Lucien said, his voice filled with something that warmed a part of Gio that wasn’t terrified for his life.
“Can you spin it?” Gio suddenly asked.
“What?”
Gio twisted in Lucien’s arms so that he was looking at a pale and sweating Calder. Maybe controlling the water was taking a lot out of him. “Can you make the water circle the Girl Scouts and then spin around like a whirlpool or a tornado without touching them? The force created by the water accelerating could be enough to deflect the bullets. At least buy us enough time to get in the house.”
“That could work!” Grey’s voice suddenly came out one of the open windows near them. “It’ll give me an opportunity to get a little closer so I can remove the pestilent spell.”
“Got it!”
Gio ducked behind the column. He wished he could watch the water moving and flying through the air, but the bullets were still zipping past them. The water made a splashing and sloshing noise. Gio could pick up the faint scent of chlorine on the breeze. It really was pool water.
Suddenly, there was a great rushing sound and the bullets stopped pummeling the house.
“Go! Get Gio to safety!” Calder shouted tightly.
With only a small push from Lucien, Gio climbed to his feet. Lucien continued to cover him with his larger frame, ushering him to the front door that was jerked open as they reached it. Grey rushed out and Lucien shoved Gio inside. As Gio turned around, the door was slammed shut by another Black man.
“What—” Gio began to demand, but he didn’t get the chance to get the words out.
“Away from the windows and doors,” the man said, pulling Gio over to one of the walls near the open windows in the dining room.
“We need to help them!” Gio tried to move away from the wall, but the man grabbed his wrist and held him in place. From deeper in the house, Ruby’s frantic barking and scratching could be heard. It was likely one of the men had locked her in a room for safe keeping when the gunfire started.
“Trust me, staying out of the line of fire is a huge help. It means Calder and Lucien aren’t distracted, worried about your safety.”
Gio’s shoulders slumped and he nodded. “Yeah, you’ve got a point. They won’t hurt those girls, right?”
“No, never.” The man paused and smiled at him. “I’m Cort, by the way.”
“Gio. I’m hoping to handle the restoration work on some of your antiques.”
Cort’s grin turned more devilish. “And you got caught in the crossfire.”
“You live here?”
Cort nodded. “I’m married to Grey.”
“Is this normal? Attacking Girl Scouts?”
Cort chuckled. “You’d be surprised.”
“Cort, honey?” Grey called from the front yard.
Cort pushed away from the wall and hurried to the window. Gio followed and peeked out to see that Grey was now standing in front of the Girl Scouts who were unarmed and looking thoroughly drenched.
“All clear?” Cort shouted.
“Yes, but could you grab a bunch of towels? Our visitors are soaked and cold.”
“There’s a load of clean towels in the dryer,” Lucien added.
“Got it,” Cort said and then turned to Gio. “Give me a hand?”
“Yes, of course.” He followed Cort through the dining room and into the kitchen, catching glimpses of the beautiful house filled with warm colors and comfortable furniture. In the laundry room, Cort crouched in front of the dryer and started pulling out towels. Gio caught them with a crooked grin, gathering the still-warm terry cloth in his arms. When they had a good dozen towels, they hurried back out to the front porch.
The first thing Gio noticed was Lucien kneeling next to Calder, who was pale and trembling. His heart jumped into his throat and his feet slowed, unwilling to walk past him. Lucien looked up and sent him a reassuring smile.
“Here,” Lucien said, reaching out for the towels. “I’ll take those and help the girls. Why don’t you sit with Calder for a moment? Keep an eye on him for me.”