She crumbled some grayish kelp, a sad cousin of its healthier vibrant green relatives, and added the briny remains of tiny krill. But as she reached for a faded off-orange branch of coral, Chewie suddenly sat up and looked at the door.
“You have company,” he said in a low rumble.
Oh, bother. Beka suppressed a groan. If Kesh had ignored her request for time by herself and shown up with another damned picnic, she was going to turn him into a toad, son of the King of the Selkies or no.
A brisk knock on the door was accompanied by a slightly more hesitant, “Beka?” But the voice belonged to Marcus, not Kesh.
Surprise made her drop the pestle with a clatter, and that was obviously too much for the elementals, all shy creatures to begin with. They each disappeared from sight with a slight popping noise and a buzzing sensation that made Beka’s ears ring. Chewie rolled his big brown eyes at Beka, although whether at their behavior or hers, she couldn’t tell.
“Beka? Are you home?” The knock on the door was repeated, a little louder this time.
She sighed, rubbing her palm through the line of salt nearest to her so that the power of the circle faded away with a slightly disappointed whoosh, like the curtain falling after a less-than-successful play.
“Coming,” she yelled, looking helplessly at the collected jumble of esoteric tools in front of her. It looked like exactly what it was: a witch’s ritual circle. How she would explain that, she had no idea. She’d just have to keep him outside.
She walked over to the door of the bus, Chewie padding along on his gigantic furry black paws behind her as if he were a shadow of impending doom. Her stomach knotted for a moment before she opened the door, but she couldn’t tell if it was due to nerves or anticipation. Or maybe just frustration; she’d almost been getting somewhere. Or nowhere at all.
“Hey,” Marcus said as she peered out at him. As usual, he looked tall and strong and calm, and made her heart beat ridiculously fast for a moment. “Are we interrupting anything?”
“We?” she said, and then smiled as she saw Tito standing next to him, the skinny boy practically lost next to the large ex-Marine. “Tito, dude! This is a surprise!” She put up her hand and he high-fived her with glee.
“Hi, Beka,” he said, his voice cracking on the last part of her name. “I hope it’s okay we came to your house.” He glanced around him at the outside of the bus. “Which is way cool, by the way. I can’t believe you actually live in a bus, man.”
“We were down on the beach below with Tito’s mom,” Marcus said in his much deeper tones. “And I was telling Tito about how we went out surfing the other day, and he told me he’d never been and really wanted to try it. So I thought maybe we could borrow a board, if that would be okay.”
Beka swallowed hard, fighting back a moment of jealousy. She knew that the boy’s mother was single, and she tried to tell herself that they were all just hanging out together for Tito’s sake. And that even if they weren’t, it was none of her business.
Then she met Marcus’s eyes and saw the sadness there, and realized with a shiver that he was afraid that if Tito didn’t get to try surfing soon, the boy might never be able to do it. Looking at Tito, she saw the same fear, bravely held beneath the surface, but there nonetheless.
“Of course you can borrow a board,” she said, suddenly not caring about her failed magical experiment. “I’ve got a smaller one that should be easier for you to start out on. I’m sure you’ll pick it up in no time.”
Tito’s face lit up as if he had swallowed the sun. “Cool! Marcus said he taught his brother when they were younger, so he can definitely teach me.”
Beka raised an eyebrow at Marcus. She’d gotten the impression he didn’t talk about his brother much. Tito must really be getting under his skin. “I’m sure Marcus will do a great job teaching you.” She grinned mischievously. “He’s very patient.”
The former Marine made a decidedly undignified face at her. “Ha,” he said. “Just because some people drive me crazy doesn’t mean that everyone does.” He held out a hand in invitation. “Why don’t you come with us? You can meet Tito’s mom, and give him pointers if I leave out anything important.” He almost looked like he wanted her to come, although she was pretty sure he was just being polite in front of the boy.
“Oh, please say you’ll come, Beka!” Tito said, practically jumping up and down with excitement. “It’ll be great! My mom even packed us a picnic to eat on the beach.”