"Again?"
Marlie was starting to dread seeing Jonathan at lunch. It usually meant bad news. Like, for example, that his Society had found yet another thing for them to take care of. Couldn't they do anything for themselves?
There had been five more machines after the first two. Some had been close by, but two had required overnight trips. It was a miracle that no one's parents had freaked out yet. Marlie had (very carefully) poked around the topic once with her mom, who had said something about understanding that she wanted to spend as much time as possible with her friends before they all split up to go to college. Maybe the adults were all thinking along the same lines.
Tom, though, was getting suspicious. She winced inwardly at the thought of having to cancel yet another plan with him. They had gone out a few times since the year started, but most of those had been repeatedly rescheduled. It seemed like this group, whoever they were, had a special vindictive hatred of her love life.
Marlie had no idea what she would be thinking if Tom was the one acting this way, but she was sure that it wouldn't be good.
"This is getting ridiculous," Grace said.
Jonathan sat down in the open seat at the head of the table. His expression was sympathetic, but Marlie didn't think that he could really understand. He had chosen this, and it was his whole life.
And okay, she didn't know that for sure. It wasn't like he talked about himself much. Still, he had up and moved to another world for this. Chances were that he didn't have much of a life to leave behind.
"This one is close," he said, probably trying to sound encouraging.
Marlie wasn't feeling encouraged.
"Are we the only ones who can deal with these?" Anna asked. "No one else in your Society can help out?"
Jonathan shook his head. "From what I've been told, the Heart is the only thing we know of that can destroy these machines."
"What about looking for who keeps making them?" Isobel was tearing the discarded crusts of her sandwich to shreds. "Is anyone doing that, or is that supposed to be our job too?"
"There's another team on that," he said. "They keep hitting dead ends, though."
Cara folded her arms across her chest, leaning back in her chair. "And if we worked on that, instead of tracking down these machines…?"
"Then magic would be drawn into this world," Jonathan said. "Remember the phoenix? More of that, and maybe more dangerous creatures."
Right, so that wasn't a good option. Marlie let out a deep sign. "Fine," she said. "But if one of these shows up during prom, I'm out."
Isobel wrinkled her nose. "Do we have to talk about prom?"
She always was a pain about this. Marlie rolled her eyes. "Relax, Is. We'll get you a date." If she wasn't so quiet with everyone but her friends, someone would probably ask her. But she never flirted, so most guys just assumed she would say no and asked someone else.
"What is prom?"
Of course their resident other-worlder would be unfamiliar with the idea. Hadn't Isobel said that he didn't even know how to slow dance when he showed up?
"A big dance," Anna told him. "Fancier than the one we had in December. And people go as couples, not just in groups of friends."
Marlie grinned. She loved prom—the dressing up, the limo, the fancy dinner. And she loved making sure that all of her friends went with the guys they wanted to go with. No matter what Anna had said, Marlie was confident in her ongoing plan. "You could take one of us," she said. "Well, not me or Grace obviously." And Cara was still working on the whole Danny thing. He wasn't good enough for her, with the way he was acting, but he would be a convenient prom date—he was already friends with Tom.
Which left…
Isobel stared fixedly down at the table while Anna gave Marlie an unamused, 'I know what you're doing' sort of look. Jonathan's eyes flicked sideways and then back to Marlie. "Take, as in… escort?"
Marlie was distracted from this golden opportunity by the sight of Tom. She really should talk to him as soon as possible, since she was already being rude by canceling on him again. "Yes," she said absently. "I'll tell you more about it later."
Tom smiled when he saw her coming, but that slipped away as she got closer. Some of what she was going to say must have been written across her face.
"You can't make it tonight," he said.
She felt like her stomach had turned to lead. "I'm so sorry, Tom. I swear this has nothing to do with you."
There was an edge of anger to his resignation. "Then what does it have to do with?" He took her hand. "Marlie, I've hardly seen you over the past two months."
She was going to have words with whoever had forced this Guardian thing on her. Shouldn't she have had a say in the matter? Or at least a warning that it was going to completely destroy her life? "It's a family thing," she said, hoping that he bought the lie. "I wish I could tell you more about it, but my mom really doesn't want anyone to know the details."
His face softened a little. "Is everything okay? Is there anything I can do?"
She didn't deserve him. "It will be fine, I think," she said. "And hopefully over soon."
"Alright." He smiled, although it was a little bit strained. "You owe me, though. I get to pick our next movie."
"Deal."
"You know," Isobel said. "This is more what I was expecting for an evil hideout."
Marlie could see that. Most of the machines had been in very innocuous houses. This one was somewhere in a large, mostly abandoned industrial complex a few miles from school. She had definitely seen at least one show where people used places like this to dump bodies.
The sun was staying up a little later now that it was almost spring, but it was still shadowy and silent between the tall buildings. They all looked very out of place there in their plaid skirts and knee socks and sweaters. But then, living things in general would be out of place here.
Hopefully there was a plant around somewhere. Otherwise, what use was she?
Jonathan had his map out as usual—apparently GPS wasn't a thing, wherever he was from. "We're not far."
Isobel held out an open palm and the Heart appeared with her next breath, casting its light over both of them. The glow on the paper paled in comparison. Jonathan stepped back, knowing what was about to happen.
He learned quickly.
The transformation was over in seconds, but it left her feeling like she had just chugged an espresso. A breeze picked up, amplified in the narrow passage between the buildings. Marlie pushed back the hair blew across her face. It was almost waist length in this form, and she wondered if it would stay like that even if she cut it short when she was human.
She wished that Tom could see her like this, standing taller and straighter with all of nature at her command. They couldn't last with this secret between them; she couldn't hide a whole part of herself, as strange as that part was.
But how would she even begin to explain it?
"Marlie, come on. You can worry later."
She smiled a little as she followed her friends forward. Anna always had a way of reading her mind. That's what happened when you spent way too much time with someone.
Isobel still favored the straightforward approach above detailed plan making. This time, when they pushed open the door to the warehouse where this machine was, there were only two guards waiting for them.
Marlie stood back to let Grace and Cara deal with them. They had the most firepower (so to speak) in a pinch and, as she had expected, there wasn't much in the way of plant life around here. "Seriously," she said as the second of them collapsed into dust, the icicle that had impaled him shattering against the concrete floor. "It's like they're not even trying."
Isobel frowned down at the damp spot on the floor. "I don't like it," she pronounced after a moment. "It shouldn't be this easy, right?"
The latter comment was addressed to Jonathan. "You've all had a lot more practice since the first time," he pointed out.
This earned him a look.
"Yes, it's suspicious. But I'm not sure what it means."
"Whatever," Marlie said. "Can we just get rid of it and go?" Maybe she'd have enough time to meet Tom before curfew.
Isobel let out a breath and turned to the machine. Just like the first one, it was disconcertingly small and normal looking, like someone had just left a sort of old-fashioned computer here for some reason. But even Marlie could feel the pull of it.
"I'm going to stay on my feet this time," Isobel said firmly. Jonathan was apparently unconvinced by this; he took a step forward, ready to catch her as always. It was nice of him to do that, really. This floor looked particularly uncomfortable.
"Everyone ready?"
They tightened the half circle that they had unconsciously formed around her. It was weird how normal this had become since the first time, when they had no idea what they were doing or if this would work.
Cara nodded. "Alright, go."
I've had a few new reviewers since my last update; welcome, and thanks for leaving a comment! I love hearing from you guys so keep the reviews/questions/suggestions coming.
