Hi!

So, i know this is the fourth chapter call And How They Loved but i wanted to keep them in order. Hopefully things should start to get interesting soon.

Chapter 9

And How They Loved

Part IV

Marian

The next week was amazing. The best of my life.

I went to the village a couple more times with Vick. There was definitely something going on there. The people were getting nervous. We saw stalls closing and any business went on indoors. Women wore dark clothes instead of their usual yellow and pink. Men stood in doorways and glared at us.

Vick put his arm around my waist as one of them spat at our feet. "Something's up."

I nodded. "I'm getting a lot of danger here. But it's channelled towards us through them from someone else. And they are being turned against us. That means this person, Lucky we call him, is overriding my power."

Vick frowned. "So, he's a Savant?"

I bit my lip. "Possibly. I don't know." A small child ran towards us but was scooped up by its mother and carried away.

Vick pulled me a bit closer. "It's ok."

I sniffed loudly and frowned. "It's horrible. They don't have any choice. They've just been battered by this bloody war. They didn't do anything and now this psychopath's using them as his kicking post."

Vick pulled me back to car, worried I was upset. He hugged me and kissed my head. "Hey, we'll look into it. We're not gonna let Lucky get away with it."

He rubbed my back in small circles.

Someone cleared their throat behind us. We turned and saw a thin man with scruffy hair and a scar across his chin.

"Manhabba." I said quietly. It was Arabic for hello. (A/N If it's wrong please don't hate me. I was using Google translate.)

The man nodded quickly at us and looked over his shoulder. Some men were standing by a cattle fence and had turned away. The man leaned forward and handed me something.

"Hutarra." He said quietly and scurried off up the street just as the men by the fence turned back to look at us.

I paled.

"Marian?" Vick asked.

I looked down at my hands. The man had given me a bit of pottery. It was a tiny piece. Only as big as my thumb nail. It was a piece of a bowl or pot, slightly curved and colourful.

I handed it to Vick. He turned it in his hands and looked back at me, confused.

"Hutarra means danger." I said and Vick immediately looked around.

"Get in the car." He said and we both strapped in. Vick drove back to the base quickly and we ran to the conference room.

Nigel was standing by the window with Betts. I resisted the urge to wolf whistle and handed Nigel the bit of pottery. He knew that things in the village were tense and trusted my gut instincts.

Nigel sat and we talked through what happened in the village. The pottery and Danger and the suspense and the dark clothes.

Nigel nodded. "Right. Well, Turner. The villagers like you. If they didn't the man wouldn't have given this to you. So, we need you to be with us when we investigate. That will be in two and a half weeks. So, I am going to send you off on leave now and when you get back in two weeks, you'll be straight back in to it."

I stared at him. "I'm going home early?"

He nodded.

Vick grinned at me and said. "Can I go too?"

Nigel looked him up and down. "Yes. Your boss said he needed to see you. Something important. And I've been getting emails from a woman called Mrs Benedict, she seemed cross."

Vick looked embarrassed.

Nigel laughed. "Don't worry, I have had many cross mothers on my tail over the years. Now, off you go. Your plane is this evening."

Vick and I immediately jumped to our feet and ran back to our rooms, only letting go of each other's hands when we had to part ways.

…

It was late the next day when we finally landed in Colorado. I had been planning to go first to Nebraska to see Dad, then to Denver to see Amy and on from there to Wrickenwridge to meet Vick family. But Vick had bribed me with a lot of chocolate so I had to rearrange my plan.

Now, Vick was gonna drive us to Wrickenwridge. Then we were going to see Amy, then Dad. I hadn't told either of them. I wanted it to be a surprise.

Wrickenwridge was really pretty. Very small with wood huts and friendly looking people. We kept going along a wood path near a ski lift and stopped in front of a big house with a motorbike in the front garden and a porch.

"Here we are." Vick said.

I nodded and bit my lip.

"Hey, they'll love you." He leaned over and kissed me.

"Promise?" I asked.

"Promise. Come on."

He climbed out of the car and pulled me by the hand towards the door. When he rang the bell there was silence.

We waited, then rung it again. Still silence.

He checked under the mat and there was a small brass key with a green bit of string around it.

He laughed. "They've gone out. Probably forgot the time I told them we were getting here."

"So, why don't we go into town and find them?" I said. Finally, I was feeling braver.

He nodded and grinned at me. "Ok. There probably just wandering around. It's what Mum likes to do."

We got back into the car and made it to the park in the centre of Wrickenwridge in 10 minutes.

"There they are." Vick pointed over my side to a huge family sitting in the sun.

Oh god, there were so many of them.

"They've got the whole brood over." Vick said.

I looked down and noticed we were both looking different than we had been. We were both more tanned and still in cammo. I was wearing my desert karki trousers and jacket. I pulled it off, leaving a dark green fitted t shirt underneath. I had to keep my big boots on but I pulled my hair out of its pony tail and shook it out.

Vick laughed and kissed me. "You look beautiful and I love you."

I froze.

Did he just say that?

I turned slowly to face him.

"I love you too." I said and smiled when I felt it was true.

He grinned. "Come on then Turner. Let's go and wow my family."

Next chapter is her meeting them.

Hope you liked it.