“Fix a big pot. Reining in might require a herd of cowboys.” Fascinated despite himself, Jax abandoned the fire to follow Evie, who appeared to be conversing with a Joshua tree while sitting in the desert sand, legs crossed, and palms up.
“I think she’s talking to an Indian,” Loretta whispered as he reached her. “She asked if he wanted to join the sky father. Look, she’s glowing!”
“That’s just the sun setting.” But the light around Evie was a little more intense than elsewhere. Jax decided the hills simply shed weird shadows.
A minute later, the sun must have shifted. She quit glowing, turned to look for Loretta, and spotted Jax. Without a word, she stood and punched him in the gut.
Exercising off his fury and frustration had him in better shape than he’d been in since the service. It probably hurt her small fist more than it did him.
“I’ll tell Ariel you’re dead and that we put a stone on your grave, shall I? Then you don’t have to worry about anyone else anymore.” She stalked off toward the Hummer.
* * *
Evie nursed her bruised knuckles.The man was made of stone, like the Hulk. Her first impression of the arrogant lawyer had been the right one. Head of stone as well.
She must have drained herself pretty badly with that ancient ghost. She was so tired that even Jax looked good standing there with his dark hair all tousled—he had hair! Who knew? She’d only seen him in a military buzz cut. That skimpy mesh thing he had on revealed far more than his uptight lawyer clothes ever had. She was so furious with him that she wanted to claw out his eyes, but she’d have to do it while drooling. Why couldn’t men who looked like that ever have brains?
He had brains. With a sigh, she waited beside the Hummer for Roark to unlock it. Jax had lawyer brains, not people brains. Poor Loretta was clinging to the ornery cuss as if he were her real father. The tadpoledeserveda real father. And Ariel needed a brother who would be there if she needed him. And the man sat out here, sulking in the desert.
Evie was dying to hear why he was in the desert, surrounded by ghosts. The air shimmered like water mirages, encircling her with auras. She couldn’t fix them all. Most of them probably didn’t want to be fixed.
The men were making coffee, ignoring her. She kicked up dust and considered walking back the way they’d come, but it was almost night, and for all she knew, there were wolves out there. Weren’t the animal rights people trying to bring back wolves?
She’d never been farther than Myrtle Beach. She hadn’t realized one place could have so much dust and no one but ghosts anywhere in sight. Wasn’t California supposed to be crowded? Well, it was June, in the desert, probably not the right time for visiting. For someone from South Carolina, the lack of humidity was refreshing.
She climbed up on the hood of the Hummer, lay back against the windshield, and studied the stars popping out. She had to admit, if one wanted to sulk, this was the place to do it. She closed her eyes and let star energy fill her.
“Evie, Jax wants to know how we found him,” Roark called, disturbing a lizard climbing up to join her.
“Try explaining, see if he believes you.” She was tired of people not respecting her talent. Roark was clearly insane to listen to her. Well, given his tats and metal, Roark was clearly insane, period. One would have to be to put up with a contrary bastard like Jax all these years. It was very peculiar knowing two such different men were best buddies.
“Ariel lost contact with your phone back at that gas station down the road three days ago,” Roark was saying, in clear American English for a change. He probably wanted to sound convincing. “So we just started there. Guy said you asked about the Ives mine and told us how to find it.”
Evie grinned. Roark obfuscated the truth so well, he should be the lawyer.
“Theghosttold us how to get here,” Loretta corrected. “The gas station guy had the IQ of a rock, but the ghost heard our question. When Evie asked if he wanted to go to the light, the ghost told her the Ives mine was in Glass Mountain. So we asked the sheriff how to find Glass Mountain.”
“It’s a small world after all,” Roark added dryly. “And the sheriff didn’t even throw me in the clink for looking dangerous.”
“Intimidating,” Evie called. “My cousin said you wereintimidating. Everyone knows you’re a creampuff and not dangerous.”
Jax spurted coffee out his nose.
With a sigh, Evie slid off the car. “Open the door so I can get my tea. I’m not drinking your rotgut.”
“We’re not making tea. You’re going back to your hotel,” Jax ordered. “It’s cold out here at night and the Subaru only holds one sleeping bag.”
She could argue with that, but she wouldn’t. She wasn’t sleeping with the bastard. “We don’t have a hotel. We got off the plane, rented the Hummer, and came straight here. These two idiots were worried about you, and I was worried about Ariel. We hoped—” She was angry but she politely amended that cruel lie. “Wethoughtwe’d find your carcass being picked bare by vultures.”
She was pretty certain that biting his cheek meant Jax was laughing at her. She wished she hadn’t given her water gun to Ariel to drive off marauding pests. Sometimes one had to take drastic measures to keep all that male testosterone in check.
“You promised me Harry Potter World! Can we go tomorrow?” Loretta asked.
Harry Potter World made more sense than stomping through a desert after a meathead who didn’t have the grace to die. Of course, Jax vanishing in the desert was the reason they’d promised Loretta this trip. He’d scared the tarnation out of all of them. They’d have to find cellphone reception before she could text his poor sister.
Evie didn’t wish to admit—even to herself—how relieved she was that Jax was alive and just exhibiting his usual jackass nature. She didn’t want to raise Loretta alone. The improbable situation that had left this special Indigo child in her incompetent hands was Jax’s duty. “Harry Potter is why we’re here. It’s your summer vacation.”
Jax lifted his coffee mug in salute. “Have fun. Travel safely.”