The
Walk
sign came on, and they started across the street. “Hey, give yourself some time, chica. You haven’t started to, ya know, blossom yet.”
“Now you sound like Aunt Grace.”
“Well, your Aunt Grace seems like a smart lady.”
They had reached the restaurant. Angel pulled open the door and indicated that Ellie should precede her. It was the middle of the afternoon, and the place was quiet. There were only a handful of patrons inside, seated on stools at high tables or standing at the counter. A wide opening in the stone wall behind the counter revealed a view of the kitchen and a woman in a full-body apron.
Angel led Ellie around a wall to the side of the kitchen and then held up a finger. “Wait here just a minute. I’ll see if I can get him.” She pushed through a set of wooden saloon-style swinging doors. Ellie could just see her over the top. A plump Italian-looking woman with dark hair piled on her head stood at the stove. She was stirring a large pot with a long wooden spoon when Angel walked up behind her. “Mama Maria?”
The woman dropped the spoon into the pot and spun around. She grasped Angel’s face between her chubby palms. “Angelica! How good to see you, sweetheart.” She kissed Angel on both cheeks, then pushed her away. “You look so skinny! You need to eat!” Maria grabbed a plate of pasta off the counter and waved it under Angel’s nose. “You try my Fettuccine a la Maria, eh?”
Before the woman could force the plate into her hands, Angel stopped her. “I’d love to try it, Maria, but—”
“I know, I know, you are only here to see my baby boy.”
Angel grinned. “Is he here?”
Maria pointed toward the back of the kitchen, out of Ellie’s view. “He’s in the walk-in, counting sausages. Go on, surprise him. I’ve got to serve these.” She picked up another plate of pasta and came bursting through the saloon doors.
Ellie had preemptively stepped back to avoid being run over by the little powerhouse as she passed by. After Maria disappeared from view, Ellie peered over the doors again but couldn’t see Angel. Since she wasn’t supposed to be out of Angel’s sight, she pushed open one of the swinging doors and stepped tentatively inside. Angel had her hand on the door to the walk-in freezer, but before she could pull on it, the door opened itself from the inside.
“Angel!” A stocky young man stepped out, holding a clipboard and an armload of packaged meat. He had olive-toned skin as Ellie would expect an Italian to have, but his hair was white blonde, spiked up in one of those modern boy styles. He tossed the meat and the clipboard onto the nearest counter, grabbed Angel by the shoulders, and slammed her up against the nearest wall. In her high-heeled boots, she stood a few inches taller than him. “God, you look good, baby. I
really
missed you.” He slid his hands down her sides and proceeded to kiss her like a man returning from six months on a submarine.
Ellie knew she should look away, but her eyes were glued to the pair. There was something electric about the connection between them, something she’d never felt before. The room was heating up around them, so hot it was creating a haze. At first, it was white hot, then changed to red. Ellie blinked a couple times and pulled on the collar of her shirt. She wondered if a quick hop into the walk-in would be considered rude.
“Stop it, man!” Angel pushed him away, wiping her smeared lipstick with the back of her hand. She waved in Ellie’s direction as she spoke, “We’re not alone, you animal.” Then she grinned and looked at Ellie. “Sorry, El. He’s not usually like this.”
“Yes, I am!” He grinned, too, and pulled her back in, but then relented and released her. He walked directly to Ellie, holding out his hand. “Sorry, honey. I hope we didn’t embarrass you. You’re a friend of Angel’s?”
Ellie was too tongue-tied to respond. The hazy heat had dissipated, but she could still feel the beads of sweat it had spawned on the back of her neck.
Angel answered for her, “Uh, yeah. Carlo, this is Ellie. She’s one of my clients’ daughters.”
“Well, nice to meet you, Ellie. I know as long as you’re with Angel, Daddy’s got nothing to worry about.” Ellie wasn’t sure what they were talking about, but she decided to play along.
The towheaded boy turned his attention back to Angel. He wrapped his arm around her waist and sucked her in beside him, then brushed a stray hair from her forehead. His voice was warm and low as he spoke, “So how long you in town for? Can I see you tonight?” A hint of the red haze seemed to surface again. Ellie rubbed her eyes to see if she could clear it up.
“Sorry, no,” Angel told him. She nodded toward Ellie. “We are staying tonight, but I’ve got to keep an eye—”
He shrugged. “So bring her along. Come on over to my place. I’ll make you both the best Veal Piccata you’ve ever tasted.” He touched his fingers to his lips in a kissing motion, indicating the quality of the dish, then added as enticement, “There’s a Dirty Harry marathon on tonight.”
But Ellie finally found her voice, “Oh no, no, no. Sorry, I don’t do third wheel.” She looked at Angel. “You go ahead, Angel. I’ll hang with Uncle Joe and that anthropologist lady, Dr. Whatsername.”
Angel was clearly about to protest that plan when Carlo interrupted, “Absolutely not. I insist you join us. Really.” Then he looked at Angel. “Honey, I want you to know that I respect you. I respect your work. If this is something you need to do, then we’ll do it together. You’re not just eye-candy to me, baby.”
The words seemed to be melting Angel like a warm oven, yet Ellie felt oddly chilled. The beads of sweat on the back of her neck felt like tiny ice cubes now. She glanced side-to-side, half-expecting to see the freezer door open again. Then she noticed it—the reddish haze she’d been seeing looked almost black now. She rubbed her eyes again. She totally needed to clean these contacts.
Angel reached out to her as she massaged her eyes. “El, you okay?”
“Oh, yeah, I’m fine. My eyes are just bothering me a little.”
“Maybe it’s the heat in here. Or all the oils and spices,” Angel offered. “I should get you out of here. We need to get back before somebody starts to worry.”
She stepped towards Ellie, but Carlo grabbed her arm, stopping her. “So tonight? The two of you? Eight o’clock, my place, right?”
Angel started to shake her head, so Ellie spoke up, “Sure, Carlo. I’d love to try your Veal Piccata.” She hadn’t known Angel long, but she could already tell the Gifted Defender took her responsibilities very seriously. She had told Aunt Grace that she would be with Ellie every minute they were in D.C., so there was no way she would do anything else.
“Chica, you sure?”
“Sure.” Then Ellie wrinkled up her nose. “But maybe no Dirty Harry?”
Carlo and Angel both laughed at that, and he offered, “Hey, your choice, Ellie. I’ve got a huge movie collection. Struggling actor, ya know? I like to study the greats. I’m sure I’ve got something you’ll like.”
“Okay!” Ellie felt better then. The chill seemed to have left the air, the haziness in her vision had cleared, and she was glad to be doing something nice for her new friend Angel.
It wasn’t until they were back out on the street, making their way back to the Council’s building that she remembered to ask, “Oh, hey, Angel, what was that bit about me being your client’s daughter?”
“Oh, that.” Angel made a wry face. “Carlo doesn’t know anything about the Gifted Ones. It’s strictly need-to-know. Plus, I didn’t want to scare him off.”
“So what does he think you do for a living?”
Angel grinned and patted one of her side jacket pockets, where Ellie assumed she carried some sort of weapon. “Private security. Like Rique. He thinks I’m like a bodyguard or whatever for the rich and famous. It was the only way I could explain my difficulty passing through metal detectors without freaking him out.”
“Difficulty…” Ellie thought about it a minute. “So…just what do you carry underneath all that leather?”
Angel smiled brightly. “Two guns, three knives, a taser, a set of brass knuckles, these cool spikes in my boots, and a couple pairs of handcuffs.” She looked up in her head a moment, then added with a grin, “Of course, Carlo kinda digs the handcuffs.”
Ellie slammed her hands over her ears. “I so-o-o didn’t need to hear that. But I guess it explains the red haze.”
“The what? You mean your eyes? What was that you were saying about your eyes hurting back there?”
“Oh, I’m sure it’s nothing. Just my contacts. And…I’m kind of tired…” As if to prove the point, Ellie yawned broadly and added, “Really tired.”
Angel stopped walking a moment and studied Ellie’s face. “Hmm, maybe. I’ve learned not to ignore anything with Gifted folks. Sometimes, the least little thing can mean a whole lot.”
# # #
“Wait, so who is this Carlo person?”
“Grace, take it easy. Carlo is Angel’s boyfriend. They’ve been seeing each other for months. They’re just going to his apartment for dinner. Ellie will be fine.”
Grace felt her temperature starting to rise. She closed her eyes a moment, forced herself to be calm, and then opened them again, speaking to the image of Joe’s face on her tablet, “Well, what exactly do you know about him? Have you met him? Has Rishi checked him out?”
“Yes, yes, yes. I’ve met him. He’s very nice. And Rishi’s run a full check on the guy; he’s nobody special. Just some wanna-be actor who works in a pizzeria. I think his family owns the place. Look, Grace, as long as she’s with Angel, Ellie couldn’t be safer. You know that, right?”
Grace sighed. Yes, she did know that. Much as she’d like to think she herself could protect Ellie better than anyone, the truth was—having Angel around was like having the Secret Service at your beck and call. “All right, Joe. Just bring her back tomorrow, okay? I can’t handle worrying about Ellie
and
Gilda at the same time.”
“So how is the old girl?”
“Still very ill, I’m afraid. She’s lethargic, despondent, won’t eat. We were up all last night with her, and back at it all day today. We’re doing our best—taking turns massaging her, applying chelating agents, keeping her hydrated. Doo is great with her; it’s really amazing to watch.”
“Mm, right.”
The curtness of Joe’s response and the sour look on his face took Grace by surprise. Was it just her imagination, or did Joe dislike the handsome cowboy? Or perhaps, distrust him? She glanced toward Doo, who was working with Gilda only a short distance away. She lowered her voice, “Joe? Is there something wrong? Is there something I should know about Doo?”
“What? No! I mean…no.” He looked flustered, caught off guard.
“Sorry. Never mind. Anyway, just look after Ellie, and get her back here, okay? We’ve only been apart a handful of days since Lucy…I mean, since Ellie came to live with me, and I have trouble relaxing when I can’t keep an eye on her.”
That made Joe laugh. “Well, trust me, my dear, she’s doing fine without you.” He shifted the angle of his device so that Grace could see Ellie in the background, laughing and chatting with Angel and a couple of other young Gifted Ones. “Ellie,” he called out, “say hi to Aunt Grace.”
The entire group of young people all turned toward Joe’s device, smiling, waving, and simultaneously greeting her. Ugh. Grace felt like an overprotective old Grandma. She quickly waved back and was relieved when Joe turned the camera back to himself. “Okay, fine, so Ellie can survive without me for one day,” she said grumpily.
“And that’s only because you’ve done such a fine job raising her.”
She gave him a grateful smile. “Thanks, Joe.” He nodded, said good-bye, and the screen went black.
Grace lowered the tablet onto her lap and shifted her attention back over to Doo and Gilda. The cow was lying down on her side, like a sleeping dog, and Doo was kneeling on the stable floor next to her, almost laying his upper body across hers. He had his head very close to her ear and was whispering to her. He finally got up and walked over to where Grace was sitting on a bench near the stall door.
“Any luck?” she asked.
He shook his head and slumped down onto the bench next to her. “She’s not ready to get up yet. She needs more time.”
“But she’s got to get up and start moving around to get this toxic overload out of her system.”
Doo sat up straighter on the bench, looking at Grace. “She knows, Grace. I explained it to her. And she’s goin’ to…when she’s ready. I mean, she doesn’t understand what’s wrong, but she knows we want her to get up, and she knows you’re trying to help her. She’s grateful.”
Grace wrinkled up her nose. She’d seen some amazing things around this place, met some incredibly talented people, but—a human talking to animals? Really? It was pretty far out there.
He tilted his head to one side. “You think I’m full o’ horse manure, don’t you?”
“No. No, I don’t. It’s just…” She’d never been a good liar.
“Nah, it’s okay. I don’t expect people to believe me. Before I met Granny and Joe and Willow and some of the others, nobody believed me, except Mom and Dad. They seen it with their own eyes.”
Grace looked into Doo’s eyes. They were pretty. Medium brown, with long blonde lashes. There was something endearing about the childlike innocence he exuded. Clearly,
he
believed he could talk to the animals, and that was good enough for him. She smiled and encouraged him. “What was it your parents saw?”