Finding Valor (2 page)

“I don’t want to sound insensitive, but if your wife was murdered right in front of you, just two hours ago, how come everyone’s so calm?”

One of the boys—Josh still couldn’t tell them apart, but he thought it was Savvy—spoke up. “CoCo cast a be-calm spell on all of us. That’s why you ain’t freaking out.”

“Believe me, I’m freaking out on the inside.” Josh stared at the wedding band on his left hand. It wouldn’t be hard to slip a ring on his finger while he was unconscious. “And there’s no way in hell I got married.”

“Check the photos on your phone.” Diego closed his eyes and rubbed the back of his neck. “There’s a picture of you and Channie at your wedding.”

“Any semi-competent graphic artist can photoshop a picture. That doesn’t prove anything.” Josh opened the photo app on his phone. He drew an involuntary breath as pain lanced his heart.
 

He expected a posed photo of a bride and groom with his head cloned onto the groom’s body. What he saw was a photo of himself, dressed much as he was now, in jeans and a t-shirt. A look of pure joy on his face. The girl was also wearing casual clothes, but she was more beautiful than any bride he’d ever seen.

Gold light shot out of the center of Josh’s chest. He covered it with his hand, but the light still shone through his fingers. “What the hell? What is that?”

“What is what?”

Josh lowered his hand. “This light—shooting out of my chest. You don’t see it?”

Diego shook his head. “Do you guys see what he’s talking about?”

Zeal and CoCo shook their heads.

Savvy nodded. “It’s your heart-bond.”

“How come you and I are the only ones that can see it?” Josh rubbed his chest again. “And why does it hurt?”

Savvy shrugged. “Most mages can’t see someone else’s heart-bond. But I’m special.”

CoCo rolled his eyes. “You are not.”

Savvy ignored him. “It hurts because Channie hurts. She’s scared and she misses you.”

The thought ripped the hole in Josh’s heart wide open. An electric current prickled his skin.
It was a mild sensation, sort of like putting on a statically charged sweater. The hair on his arms stood on end
as a wave of peace washed over him. “What was that?”

“Another be-calm spell.” Savvy sank to the floor and yawned. “Knock it off, CoCo.”

“If you don’t want to get hit, get out of the way.”

The image on Josh’s phone drew his gaze like a magnet. “No way would a gorgeous girl like that go out with me, much less marry me.”

Diego laughed, but it sounded more like a broken sob. “Go look in the mirror.”

Josh needed to pee anyway. But when he saw his reflection in the bathroom mirror, he forgot all about his bladder.
 

He no longer resembled a beanpole. He inhaled and grinned as his chest expanded. He twisted sideways. The view was just as impressive. Broad shoulders; deep, sculpted chest; strong neck; eight-pack abs. He yanked his shirt off and flexed his muscles. His lats flared like a cobra’s hood. His biceps bulged. “Damn. When and
how
did I get so ripped?”

He could dismiss the ring and the photo as a prank. He could almost convince himself that the weird, intermittent glow pulsing out of his chest was some sort of migraine symptom affecting his vision. But nothing—not even steroids—could produce that much muscle overnight. Even his face looked stronger, older. “What happened to me?”

The last thing Josh remembered was sitting on a picnic table in Heritage Park talking to Eric. Which, according to the calendar app on his phone as well as the dozen or so websites he’d checked, was over six months ago. Not last night. Josh flexed his muscles again then put his shirt on. He went back to the media room and leaned against the door jamb. “Okay. I’ll admit that things are beyond weird, even unexplainable. But that doesn’t mean magic is real.”

“Believe. Don’t believe.” Diego shrugged. “I don’t care. But Channie gave up
everything
for you and she’s in danger.”

“Then we need to call the cops.”

This time when Diego laughed, there was no mistaking the bitterness. “What are you gonna tell them? Prudence destroyed all the evidence with
your
magic.”

“What do you mean she used my magic?”

“She put one hand on your stomach and the other over your heart then recited a poem about borrowing power. Your back arched until only your feet and the back of your head touched the floor. Then ‘poof.’” Diego flung his hands up in the air. “Everything was gone. The blood, the dirt, the plants…
Abby.
Just…gone. As if none of it had ever happened. Call the cops if you want. But all they’ll do is lock
you
up in the looney bin.”

“What do you want me to do?”

Diego gripped Josh’s shoulder with one hand and tapped his glowing chest with the other. “Listen to your heart, man. You have an unbreakable bond with Channie. It will lead us straight to her. And to the crazy bitch that killed my Abby.”

“I’m sorry about your wife.” Josh patted Diego’s hand then lifted it off his shoulder.
 

“I can’t deny that I feel
something
for Channie.” His heart hurt every time he thought about that photo on his phone. “But I don’t
remember
her. Magic isn’t real. And there’s nothing I can do to help you.”

Diego narrowed his eyes at Josh. “Can you at least give us a ride to the bus station?”

“I don’t have a car.”

“You have a Rav4.” Diego dropped his chin and groaned. “But it’s sitting in the parking lot at your school.”

Josh shoved his hand in his front pocket and found a set of Toyota keys. “I have a car?”

“You need to go get it as soon as possible.”

“Why? Is it parked in the teacher’s lot or something?” If Dad had finally given Josh the car he’d wanted for the past two years, it’d be just his luck for it to get towed.
 

“No, wait. I’ve got it.” Josh held his hand up and recited a small piece of the story Diego had told him. “My stripper roommate gave me a pillowcase full of cash as a wedding present before my bride and I left Las Vegas to escape her crazy mother that wants to cut her heart out.”

“This is not a joke.” Diego spoke through gritted teeth.

“Then what is it? A scam?”

“You think I want your
money
?” Diego’s face darkened. “All I want is to save the life of
your wife
and make her momma pay for killing mine.”

“Look, I’m sorry. But try to see things from my perspective—”

“You are not the man I knew.” Diego turned and stomped out of the room. “Come on, boys. We’re leaving.”

“At least let me pay for a cab to take you to the bus station.”

Diego glared at Josh. “I told you. I don’t want your money.”

“I already apologized. But I’ll say it again. I’m sorry.”
 

One of the triplets tugged on Josh’s hand. “We’re hungry.”

Diego sighed. “You’ll have to wait until we get to the bus station.”

Josh didn’t want to further insult Diego, but he wasn’t about to send those kids away hungry. “My stepmom doesn’t cook, but there’s usually something to snack on in the kitchen. If it’s okay with your dad, we can go check.”

Diego gave a curt nod of his head.

“You want anything?”

“No.” Diego declined, but followed his sons into the kitchen.
 

A foil-covered, glass baking pan on the counter drew Josh’s attention. “What’s this?”

He lifted the foil.
 

Pain exploded behind his eyes as a fragment of a memory flashed across his mind…
A mouth-watering aroma; a dutch oven buried in coals; a beautiful voice, full of love and pride. “I made cornbread, just for you.”
 

And then it was gone. All except for the headache.

“Josh? Are you okay?” Diego ducked under Josh’s arm and half-carried-half-dragged him into the dining room. He lowered him to a chair then pulled one out for himself. “What happened?”

“I remembered…something.”

“What was it?”

“I think it was…cornbread?”

Diego rocked forward and dropped his head into his hands.

Another wave of calming energy swept over Josh.
 

Diego slumped onto the table. “CoCo. You gotta stop doing that. It’s gonna drain you.”

“I don’t want you to cry every time you think about Momma.”

Josh told the boys to help themselves to the cornbread. His mouth wasn’t the only thing watering. He didn’t think he could look at that pan without tearing up. Why did the thought of cornbread make everyone so sad?

When the taxi pulled into the drive, Diego pulled Josh into an unexpected hug. “Call me if you need anything. My number’s in your phone.”

Savvy, Zeal and CoCo flung their arms around Josh’s legs and clung to him. There was something undeniably familiar about the simple act of affection that made it hard to swallow. Josh leaned over to hug them and cleared his throat. “Maybe we’ll run into each other again someday.”

CoCo lifted his chin and locked his gaze on Josh’s eyes. “You can bet cash money on that.”

Josh didn’t want to admit it, not even to himself, but he felt connected to those little boys. The sight of them waving good-bye from the departing taxi tugged at his already aching heart.
 

Josh decided he needed a long, hard ride to clear his head. He resisted the urge to look at the photo on his phone again and inspected the bikes in the garage instead. All three of his BMX bikes needed air. Dad’s mountain bike was the only one ready to ride. He wouldn’t mind if Josh borrowed it, especially if he tuned it up when he got back.

Josh rode south until he hooked into the Boulder Creek Bike Trail at Fourth and Canyon. The scenic route along the stream was always crowded, but when he rode up on a group of old farts, riding side by side, blocking the trail, it really pissed him off.
 

They huffed and puffed their way up the slightest incline then rode their brakes down even the gentlest slopes.

Josh spotted a gap and called out, “On your left” as he shot into it.

The guy on his right swerved. Josh grabbed the man’s handlebar and steadied his bike to keep him from crashing. But instead of thanking him, the old guy cussed him out.

Josh made sure the obnoxious idiot was balanced before releasing his grip. “When someone says ‘on your left,’ it means move over, not look over your shoulder.”

“Why do all you young punks think you have to zip along the trail as if your pants are on fire? This isn’t a race track.”

It’s not a geriatric track either.
Josh wasn’t usually rude to old people so he kept that thought to himself. But this guy and his friends were a hazard. “It’d be safer for everyone if you guys rode single file.”

The old guy flipped him off.

Josh considered hopping off the trail when he got to the underpass below Twenty-eighth Street. But all it would take to end his racing career, if not his life, was for some jerk reading a text to swerve into the designated bike lane.

When he got to Stazio Fields, Josh left the bike path and headed south on backroads.
 

The more he thought about Diego and the triplets, the less sense it made. He should have been totally freaked out when he woke up in Dad’s house with a room full of strangers. Why hadn’t he called 911, or at least Dad, the instant he woke up?
 

Diego must have drugged him. That didn’t explain the missing six months of Josh’s life, or his new and improved body, but there’s no way he would have sat there and listened to Diego’s ridiculous story without totally freaking out unless he’d been sedated.

Maybe he was the victim of some sort of mind control experiment. Why else would he feel so drawn to a girl he’d never met? Maybe it was a plot to steal his trust fund. Diego claimed he didn’t want Josh’s money, and hadn’t even let him pay for a cab, but that could just be a ploy to get him to trust him. If Diego and Channie could convince Josh he was married to her and that she was in extreme danger then he’d just fork over the whole thing. They obviously didn’t know he couldn’t touch it until he was twenty-one.
 

“Great. Add paranoia to the list.”

By the time Josh got to South Boulder Road, his chest hurt so badly he could barely breathe. He stopped and pulled his phone out of his pocket. The glare from the sun kept him from seeing Channie, but just knowing it was her image on the screen eased the ache in his heart. “Yep. I’m definitely going crazy.”
 

He shoved his phone back in his pocket and kicked off. Ordinarily, he would have continued on to Cherryvale, since it had less traffic, but
something
inside him insisted he head east on the more direct route into Louisville. He turned right onto McCaslin Boulevard without thinking about it then veered off into the neighborhood surrounding Harper Lake. Josh rubbed his aching chest and pedaled harder. When he passed the Louisville Rec Center, he knew where he was going. Heritage Park. He just didn’t know why.

~***~

Josh dismounted in front of a slightly neglected house on West Juniper Court, next to the park. The weird light in his chest pulsed as he stared at the far right window on the second floor. He considered knocking on the door, just to see who lived there. But it looked empty. And even if it weren’t, what was he supposed to say?
Hey, I have this weird feeling about your house. Mind if I have a look around?

He pushed Dad’s bike along the gravel path that led into the park. The ride to Heritage Park had taken a little over two hours, but Josh wasn’t any closer to figuring out what the hell was going on. He leaned the bike against the concrete building that housed the bathrooms then filled his water bottles from the drinking fountain.
 

He sat at the same picnic table that he and Eric had been sitting at last night…no. Not last night. Six months ago. The yellow and purple crocus blooming in the planter box next to the playground meant it was spring, not fall.

He pulled out his phone and stared at the wedding photo. He enlarged it until Channie’s face filled the screen. “Who are you? And what sort of spell have you cast over me?”