It Never Rhines but It Pours (35 page)

He shrugged, “They described you. It was pretty obvious when you showed up at my door.”

““Well, I hope you enjoy your money,” I said coldly and clicked the locks open on the car.

“Wait!” he cried. “I … is that your number?” he pointed at the billboard.

I gave him a narrow glare. I still wasn’t buying it. He was a patsy for the WAND. We’d just pulled our rear ends out of serious trouble and I wasn’t eager to return there. “Is what my number?” I asked.

“On that billboard,” he said. “My friend said it’s an advertisement for
Ripley’s Believe It or Not
, but I see a phone number that it says to call.”

I sighed. My instinct was to trust him. If he truly had a supernatural ability, then he was going to need our help. But if this was a trap … The last time I’d gone with my instincts and believed someone I’d almost gotten all of us killed.

“Sorry, kid,” I sighed. “You blew it.”

I jerked my head at Cecily and Sarah to tell them to get in the car.

The kid hung his head dejectedly. Sarah obviously felt sorry for him. She patted him on the back. “How’d you find us, anyways?” she asked.

“I saw you standing there on the side of the road,” he said timidly. “I was having lunch over there with my friends.” He pointed across the shopping plaza at a McDonald’s. “It’s kind of hard to miss someone with a giant sword strapped on their back.” He laughed nervously, “I mean, really, how many people do
you
see walking around like that?”

I froze, hand on the car handle. Cecily met my eyes over the roof of the car. “It’s up to you,” her face seemed to say. Great. Just great. What to do? It was so hard to let go of my doubt and trust. But maybe that had been part of the WAND’s plan. To keep us so constantly second-guessing ourselves, that we became stagnant.

I glanced at Sarah. She shrugged, also leaving it up to me. They trusted me, I realized. They really trusted me. Even though I had totally blown it, they still trusted me to make the right choice. I felt a surge of warmth rush through me and I blinked back tears.

The boy — his name came to me, James — turned to walk away. I tossed a mental coin up in the air and waited for it to land.

“Hey, James!” I called after him. “We need to talk.”

The End

###

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Piper will return in:

A Little Rhine Must Fall

Want more Piper?

Check out Book One:
The Rhine Maiden
available now

Connect with author Erin Evans:

www.erin-evans.com