Just a Kiss

Fashionably Late

Can you stand?"

This was Chance, helping me to my feet. It was difficult to see in the darkness, but my hand still felt a little strange where the jewel had burned into it. Thankfully, at least the scaleyness had already faded. Ugh, so creepy to even think about. It made me shiver.

"I wouldn't go that way," came Mercurius's voice, adding dryly, "Thanks to someone, the floor is covered in glass."

"Yeah, yeah." This was also Chance. But despite acting like he wasn't listening, he led me the other way, out towards the door where I'd come in. Mercurius kept pace a few steps behind, arms folded and looking bored where he leaned against the doorway when we stepped outside.

There on the driveway, a motorbike was waiting.

Mercurius cocked an eyebrow at it. "You're not planning on risking her life on that heap of junk, are you?"

Chance glared, but said nothing.

I don't know why I was even surprised. Of course he had a motorcycle--anything else just wouldn't have fit his type. But to be honest, I was still a little (okay, a lot) shaken and my hand still hurt like, well, like a creepy demonic jewel had burned straight into it. The idea of clinging on to the back of a motorbike was somewhat less than appealing--even if it it was Chance I was clinging to.

"You know what I really want?" I said, holding up my hurt palm to show Mercurius I still wasn't exactly happy about the way this had gone down, "I want whatever that thing was out of my hand."

Mercurius smirked, but something about it seemed off. When he said, "All in good time," it sounded like he was forcing his usual confidence.

I got the feeling he didn't really know what to do either, and that was the scariest part.

"Lemme guess," Chance said, "You messed up."

Mercurius narrowed his eyes but said nothing. Not until he pulled out his key and unlocked the car with a click of the remote, lights flashing. "Let's just take you home for now. I'm sure your parents will be waiting."

And that's how I ended up back in the car with the bright light of Chance's bike following along through the rear window.

We rode in silence for the first few minutes, me alternating between staring down at my hand and sneaking glances in the side mirror to see if Chance was keeping up alright. I got the feeling Mercurius was driving even faster than usual on purpose, just to give him a hard time.

"You wanna slow down?" I asked, surprising even myself with how irritable I sounded. I guess it would be fair to say I was in a bit of a bad mood.

Mercurius rolled his eyes, but our speed noticeably decreased.

When at last I felt like I could relax, I said, "You think that thing, the jewel, it's still in my hand somewhere?" I couldn't even feel it in my palm anymore. It was like it had become entirely one with my body, my blood.

"I will say this matter is slightly beyond my expertise," Mercurius said, eyes focused on the road ahead.

"In other words, Chance was right. You messed up."

He coughed. "I wouldn't say that. Merely a different outcome than expected."

"Yeah, sure. Whatever. Call it what you want, but that hurt like hell, you know."

When he glanced over, there was sincerity in his eyes as he said, "I do apologize for that. But it seems we may have come across something even better than imagined."

"Ha, sure. Next time you try having the molten fiery thing melt into your skin. At least I hope I get some sort of cool powers out of this. After all, you've yet to make good on your offer. You were supposed to help me unleash my inner demon."

At the very least, maybe if this meant I really was some sort of lost demon or whatever, maybe I'd get an animus. That would be pretty cool.

But as we pulled into my parent's driveway, I realized I was about to have bigger problems to think about.

Not only were both my parents waiting on the porch, the street out front was lined in cars. With my luck, they'd organized a whole search party to find me.

At least that meant Chance's motorcycle would blend in where he'd parked it down the street. I was suddenly very grateful I hadn't ridden on the back. With the way my parents had reacted lately, I would never have been allowed outside the house again after trying something like that.

Like I said, it was all very fortunate that my parents only saw Mercurius.

"Good evening, Sir and Madam," he greeted them as he came around to my side of the car. "I trust we haven't kept you waiting long."

Maybe it was the way he smiled as he said it, or maybe it was just because he was who he was, but if my parents were planning on grounding me, their minds must have changed in that instant.

"Clara," my mother said, beaming at Mercurius like it had been her idea all along that he take me out for the evening, "The guests are waiting for you by the pool."

That was when I heard the music and laughter from the deck above and realized. It wasn't a search party at all. It was a party.