Waters of Lethe, Book 2

24. Pillar of Stone

After teaching Piper the basics of horse, we played for the rest of the lunch period. We didn't even get through a single game.

Piper was one of the best shots I remembered seeing in basketball, and I matched her shooting skill after I warmed up.

We were stuck on R, even after twenty minutes, shooting the most difficult shots that we thought we could make and the other couldn't.

Once, when it was Piper's turn, I made a funny face at her the moment the ball left her fingertips, causing her to look at me and miss.

"What was that?" she asked angrily.

"A distraction. They're allowed, silly. Try to make your opponent miss by distracting them. Make a funny face or a funny noise to try to make me miss," I told her as Alex walked up, the noticer that he was. He stood by the gym doors, leaned against the frame, crossed his arms over his chest, and watched us.

At that point, I was used to Alex lingering. I noticed that he only lingered around Deebo, Enzo, Piper and I from time to time. Since Piper and I were together, it only made since for him to pop in and knock out watching us both at the same time. I wondered what made him look for us.

I ignored him, as did Piper, and found a new place to shoot. It was beyond the free-throw line, a few inches before the arch.

As I brought the ball back to shoot, Piper ran up to me to scare me, to mess up my aim. I figured she'd stop a few feet short of me, yelling, "Boo!" or whatever normal little seven-year-olds yelled to gain an advantage in a normal game of horse.

Of course, Piper was not normal. Nor did she understand the rules of a normal game of horse.

She reached me a second before the ball left my hand and kicked me in my shin.

"Piper!" I yelled, dropping the ball. I reached down and rubbed my shin, trying to block out Alex's laughing.

Piper looked over at him rudely and he shut up. Then she looked back at me, embarrassment in her light eyes. "I'm sorry," she said in a small voice.

The change in her mood surprised me, making me forget about the dull throb that was already disappearing. I raised up.

"It's alright," I told her, laughing. I went to touch her shoulder to let her know I wasn't upset, and she flinched away. Hurt must have flashed across my face because her sharp facial features seemed to ease some, the concentration lines on her forehead went away.

"So, no hitting?" she asked me sheepishly.

"No," I laughed. "We usually don't hit. Or kick. You can yell or wave your hands in the air like a maniac or... speaking of maniacs," I said, nodding at Alex as he walked up.

He looked at Piper. "It takes a maniac to know a maniac," he told her as he glanced at me. I saw Piper grin. "Time to get going again, Pipes. You're in weapons. Make sure to put in work today and I'll see if I can't get you in with us on the next mission."

When he said that, her eyes lit up. Her eyes seemed to go from ice cold icebergs floating in the Arctic Ocean to Alaska in the wintertime. For Piper, it was a world of difference.

She hustled out of the gym, leaving Alex and I alone. We listened to her inaudible footsteps as they reached the elevator.

"Has she ever been with anyone on an assignment before?" I asked.

"Nope. Look at her," he said, waving a hand towards the door as if she were still there. Look at her, he meant. She'll get clobbered in a heartbeat.

We slowly began to walk to the doors. We both had an early briefing at four to prepare us for the next mission. Alex and I made the best team that Scott had, and everyone knew it. Maybe because we didn't care to play around while on missions, or go to bars, nightclubs, or have flings like the others liked to do. The others still got their jobs done, but not nearly as efficient as Alex and I did. We hardly ever spent three days away from the base.