Parahuman (Parahuman Series) (2 page)

CHAPTER ONE

    
“Dad!
I refueled the R.V.s and rechecked the first aid kits.” Laney stomped her feet
vigorously at the back door before stepping inside. May in Silverton, Colorado
was a wet month and any dirt she dragged in she would end up having to sweep
up. She’d been sweeping the floors of her father’s wilderness adventure
business for ten years. At six and seven it had seemed cool, but at the
esteemed age of sixteen it had lost its entire fun factor.

     So,
the less dirt the better.

     Laney
didn’t get a reply to her declaration, but she did hear a discussion taking
place at the front of the building. Was the tour group here already? It seemed
a bit early for them to have arrived yet, but maybe they were eager to get
started.

     Laney
started down the short hallway toward the voices. It didn’t take long for her
to see who her dad was talking to, because…man…this guy huge. He stood head,
shoulders,
and
upper
chest
over her father who at five
foot eleven was neither tall nor short, she herself stood at almost five foot
eight, but this guy looked to be almost seven feet tall. He made both her and
her father appear dwarfish…or maybe the political term was ‘little people’. But
seriously, this guy could have been a pro basketball player; long, lean, but with
definite muscle mass. The short sleeve black t-shirt displaying his tanned forearms,
biceps and wide, expansive chest gave testament to that. 

    
Walking up to the counter Laney’s body began to warm unexpectedly, and
disturbingly, as the guy’s gaze seem to intently track her movements. This was
only an intuitive feeling though, because the guy was wearing
sunglasses…inside…at eight o’clock in the morning. What was with that? The guys
hair was just as eye catching as his height and the indoor glasses. It was about
an inch long and mostly brown, but there were shades of white, gray, and…
Wow
,
orange, intermittently arranged throughout. That must have been a beautician’s
nightmare to do.

     
“Laney.” Her father acknowledged her as she walked up. “This chap is applying
for the position of head tour guide we been advertising for.”

     Her
father held out his hand. “My name is Nick, Nick Jennings, and this is my
daughter, Laney.”

     Laney
noticed a slight hesitation before the guy offered up his hand; a hand that was
proportional to his body…big, mitt like, with long slim fingers. “Devan
Ferris.”

     A
small shiver skimmed down Laney’s spine at the deep, gravelly tenor of his
voice.
Weird
.

     Devan
drew his arm back and promptly put it behind his back. He looked like he was
standing at attention.

     “So,
is it possible you’re one of the individuals living up at the old Moss place?”
Nick inquired.

     Everyone
in town knew someone had moved into the Moss’s old house two weeks ago. With a
population of five hundred and sixty four it was only a matter of minutes
before news like that made the rounds. 

     “That
would be my uncle Brett and I.” Devan confirmed, causing another shiver to
travel Laney’s spine. Barry White, eat your heart out. If this guy was hired it
would be no hardship to listen to his voice every day.

     “Just
the two of you?” Nick asked with a slight frown.

     Devan
nodded. “Yes.”

    
Laney’s brow rose, beginning to comprehend where her dad was going with these
questions. The gossip about town was that a new student had been signed up at
the high school yesterday. It was unlikely that the uncle was the student which
left only this guy as the only other possible candidate. Devan totally did not
look like a junior in high school.

     Nick
smiled genially. “I was mighty glad to hear someone had moved in up there, the
house has been empty far too long. We heard there was a new student starting at
the high school Monday. Would that be you?”

    
“Yes.” Devan gave a quick nod of affirmation. That was the only movement from
his statue like frame. He still stood at attention, his hands clasped behind
his back.  

     Laney
cocked her head and could feel her eyebrow inching upward as she studied him.
There was something distinctively interesting about this guy, besides his
outward appearance.   

     “You
and Laney here are in the same class.” Nick declared.

    
“Hey.” Laney gave him one of her biggest smiles. The smile that Devan returned
looked stiff, guarded, and rarely employed.
Ouch!
That might have
strained a muscle or two.

     Nick
smiled regrettably. “Unfortunately, in regards to the job position, a head
trail guide needs years of prior wilderness experience, as well as a tad more
years under their belt. How old are you son?”

     “I’ll
be seventeen in one month, and though I may be young in years I have over six
years of wilderness experience. Age does not necessarily correlate with
superior knowledge.” Devan’s declaration was delivered the same as his one word
answer; factual and unemotional. Laney wondered if Devan had experienced a
stint in military school.

     A
humorous expression flittered across her dad’s face. “Regrettably, age is very
important component to being a lead tour guide. High school students do not
instill a lot of confidence and feelings of safety in our family demographic.”

     Laney
saw the first signs of life out of Devan as he shifted his stance. There might
even have been a look of discomfit on his face, and that immediately warmed
Laney up to him. Everything that seemed cold and aloof about him instantly
became warm and cuddly. 

     “But…”
Nick drew out in a long drawl and a small smile, “I’m not one to discriminate
on age and I’m in need of extra help this summer, so if you want to stick
around and fill out some paperwork, and then if you have time you can go on the
hike with us this morning so I can check out these skills of yours. Does this
sound okay to you?”

    
Devan’s body stiffened upright even more as though given an order. “Yes sir.”

    
Military school seemed a most definite possibility. And who would have thought
that standing at attention would look so adorable. 

     Her
dad turned toward her and she could see a definite twinkle in his eye. He was
getting a kick out of the guy’s comportment. “Go ahead and grab what he needs,
I’m going to get the rest of the equipment squared away.” He then turned and
retreated down the hallway.

     The
next second Laney was left alone with
very
tall, multicolored, and interesting.

     “I’ll
be right back.” Laney jogged three yards down the hallway to the office,
rummaged around in the cabinet, and then skipped back to the counter where
Devan stood waiting in stationary animation. How anyone could stand that still
was a mystery to Laney, she wasn’t able to be still even sitting down. “The
paperwork consists of background experience and some
Q
and
A
on
wilderness survival. My dad would like you to fill it out here rather than take
it home where you might cave into pressure and look up the answers on the
internet.” Laney sugar-coated the details so he wouldn’t take offense at the
idea of her calling him a possible cheater.

    
“Thank you.” Devan took the papers from her hand. His glasses were so dark it
was impossible to see his eyes behind the lenses, but Laney swore she could feel
the heat of his gaze examining her closely. It wasn’t necessarily creepy, but
it did cause her shift nervously.    

    
Reaching under the counter she grabbed a clipboard and pen. “Here…use this and have
a seat over by the window. The hike we have scheduled is set for nine o’clock.
That gives you about forty minutes to fill it out, and if you don’t get it done
before that you can always finish it when we get back.” 

     He
nodded and turned away. Laney marveled at how smoothly he moved, not at all
stiffly as she imagined a walking tree would move. He sat down with the same
grace as he walked. Usually people with that kind of height appeared awkward or
lumbering, but Devan didn’t look at all uncomfortable in his body.

     Laney
found that she was unable to stop staring. Devan was a little less imposing
sitting down; standing next to him had been rather overwhelming. She’d never
seen anyone as tall as him except on television during the NBA playoffs, but
something seen on T.V. and something experienced in real life were totally
different.

     Her gaze
drifted over his hair again. Laney shook her head inwardly; if someone would
have suggested that style to her she would have said, ‘no way would it work’,
but on him it sort of did. His military behavior kind of contradicted the
frivolous hairstyle. She would have pegged him for a buzz cut with his manner,
but instead his hair was about an inch long and was arranged haphazardly like
he didn’t own a brush, or maybe he was just overdue for the buzz cut. Devan’s
complexion was darkly tanned from being outdoors, but it wasn’t all from the
sun. There were genetics involved too, but Laney wasn’t any good with
ethnicities, particularly when eyes were unavailable. 

     Laney
gaze moseyed downward over Devan’s
very
broad chest and couldn’t stop
her sigh of admiration.
Nice
! He had one of those triangular upper
bodies, wide on top tapering down to what appeared to be a narrow waist. His
forearms and biceps were muscular but not bulging grotesquely. She might have
lingered overly long on those biceps—because who could resist a nice muscular
pair of those—before moving down to his bare calves exposed in a pair of khaki
shorts—again, another nice duo. Laney didn’t normally go gaga over guys, but
she could appreciate an exceptional form when she saw one. And this guy definitely
had one.

    
However nice he looked in his t-shirt and shorts Laney couldn’t understand how
he wasn’t freezing; it was around forty degrees out right now with only a high
of a possible fifty later. The sun was going to be out, but still. She shivered
reflexively even though she had on a jeans and jacket, way more appropriate
clothes for this weather.      

     Devan
was going to town on the paperwork, his pen working furiously. Laney wondered
if he knew that she was in the room anymore, or if he even cared. Shaking her
head at the self absorbed thoughts, and her shameless ogling, Laney went to the
office to finish some paperwork of her own, and to give Devan some privacy so
he wouldn’t think she was hovering over his shoulder like some fanatical
cheater hit squad.

     Ten
minutes later Laney heard movement out front. The door hadn’t opened so it
could only be Devan. For such a big guy it seemed like he would have had a
heavy tread, but the only sound was the loose floor boards. Tired of pretending
to do work Laney headed back out front…to see if she was needed or anything. 

     Devan
was sitting in the chair doing something on his phone.  She noticed a slight
shift to his head, as if taking note of her appearance but not overtly noticing
it. What…wasn’t she worthy of notice?

    
“You’re not using the Net on that phone to answer any of the questions, are
you?” Laney asked teasingly, but was entirely serious. She would really hate to
have to be the nark and tell her dad that Devan cheated on his answers using
his phone internet service.   

     Devan
set the phone on the little table in front of him. “I was just letting my uncle
know about the hike. I finished the paperwork; I set it on the counter there in
front of you.”

    
Looking down Laney did indeed see his paperwork. She flipped through it
briefly, and then more thoroughly. All the questions were answered, in lengthy
detail even. Man, he had really nice handwriting. “Oh my gosh! I can’t believe
you did all this in ten minutes. There are several pages of in-depth questions
here.”

      “If
you are unconvinced about my integrity regarding the questions you may look on
my phone to access my file history.”

     Laney
almost cracked a humongous smile at the choice of Devan’s words and the seriousness
of his expression. Instead, she pinched her lips between her fingers
contemplating his behavior. She hadn’t been accusing him of cheating, but most
people would have shown at least some indignation at the thought that she might
have been. However, he’d just stated impassively that she check his phone.

     “I
don’t think you cheated. It would be impossible to look up all these questions
and then write down the answers in ten minutes. It would require speed typing,
reading and writing.”

     “Not
impossible. Statistically, the number of individuals is small who could
accomplish such an attempt, but it is possible.” 

     Laney
couldn’t hold back the laugh. “You know you just gave me information that could
allude to the possibility of you cheating, right?”

    
Devan’s head tilted slightly and a frown marred his forehead. “Yes, I just
confirmed that it was possible that I could have cheated. That is why I offered
you my phone to establish that I did not.”

     Laney
couldn’t wipe the grin from her face. “Oh…yes, of course. That won’t be
necessary, unless…you’re one of those few?” She arched a brow at him in teasing
inquiry.