Parahuman (Parahuman Series) (6 page)

     Unfortunately,
Laney wasn’t given time to be sucked deep into their awesome depths because
Devan looked away quickly, but not before an expression of alarm skittered
across his face; a face that was wholly striking without the glasses concealing
it.

     Laney
blinked as he broke eye contact with her and realized she was holding her
breath, breath that she desperately needed. She sucked in much needed air as
small black dots spotted her vision.

      Why
would he cover those stunning eyes? Laney knew if she could she would stare
into them forever. They were almost hypnotic. If Devan hadn’t looked away she
would probably still being staring into them…entranced. A shiver slithered down
her spine. Maybe that’s why he wore the sunglasses; he hypnotized everyone who
stared at them. Laney inwardly rolled her eyes at her absurdity. 

     Devan
was looking around the clearing trying ineffectually to detached Johnny from
his leg by lifting it and giving it a shake. If Laney had the breath to laugh
she would have been rolling; instead, she decided to take pity on him. Kneeling
down she pried Johnny off his leg and noticed that her hands were shaking. An
all out sprint through the forest with a mountain lion waiting at the finish
line will do that to you.

    
“Johnny, that mountain lion, didn’t touch you?” Laney asked shakily, giving his
body a quick inspection.

    
Johnny wasn’t paying any attention to Laney’s words though, his focus remained
fixed on Devan. “Man…that was so cool when you came out of the woods and flew
right over me. I never even saw that lion and I thought for sure it was going
to attack us, but instead
you
scared
it
away.”

     Devan
had walked away and was bending down to pick something up from the forest
floor. Turning back around his eyes were once again covered by those blasted
glasses.

    
Johnny turned towards Laney, finally acknowledging her presence, and continued
his one-sided commentary. “Devan jumped over me and started yelling and waving
his arms…” Johnny demonstrated Devan’s actions, “and the lion was growling and
clawing at the air…” Johnny switched to the lions behavior, “but the lion was
too scared to attack us because Devan is way bigger so it gave up and ran away.”
Johnny stopped to take a breath and Laney took this chance to get a word
in.                                                                                                                  

    
“Johnny! Are you hurt at all? Did the lion touch you?”

    
Johnny’s brow furrowed and rolled his eyes. “No, I just said that Devan ran up
and scared the lion away. It was the coolest…”

    
“…thing I ever saw.” Johnny and Laney finished simultaneously.

     “Yes,
I get that.” Laney threw a grin at Devan who had raised his brows at Laney’s
imitation of Johnny’s words. Laney threw her own eyebrow up just to get a rise
out of him. Predictably, Devan’s brows arrowed down in response. He was so
easy.

     Laney
sterned up her expression as she turned back to Johnny. “Johnny, do you have
any idea the danger you were in when you took off like that. If Devan hadn’t
come along in time that mountain lion could have seriously hurt you.” More like
had him for lunch, but Laney didn’t want to give the kid nightmares. “You
should never take off in these woods alone. Beside all the dangers there is a
very high probability of getting lost…and never being found.” Laney stressed
ominously.

     “I
didn’t mean to go so far, I just wanted to do some exploring.” Johnny pouted, looking
at her with the most sorrowful puppy dog look on his face. Laney had babysat
enough kids through the years to know that look. Heck, she had perfected that
look herself on her own father so she wasn’t falling for it. 

    
“Well, your exploring has your parents in an uproar. I would hate to be you
when we get back.”

    
Johnny’s only comment was an ‘uhg’ sound. Laney straightened up on slightly
wobbly legs. That sprint had taken quite a bit out of her. She would kill for
water, but would have to wait till they went back for her backpack. Thankfully,
she had the two-way radio strapped to her belt buckle, so she could contact her
dad with the good news.

     “Dad,
you there?”

     After
a couple seconds her dad responded. “I’m here. Did you find him?” Even through
the radio Laney could hear her dad’s anxiety.

    
“Yeah, we found him. We’re headed back.” Laney wasn’t going to go into the
details of the animal attack over the radio. Lon could be hanging over his
shoulder and Laney didn’t want him freaking out until he was able to see Johnny
and know that his kid was alright. 

     Laney
hooked the radio back to her belt buckle. “Okay guys, let’s get the lead out.
There are people on pins and needles waiting for our return. Hopefully we can
find my backpack on the way because I’m dying of thirst after that brisk stroll
through the woods.”  

     Laney
threw another grin Devan’s way. He hadn’t moved since retrieving his glasses.
In fact, his posture seemed kind of tense and Laney suddenly wondered if he wore
those glasses because he was embarrassed about his eyes.
She
found them
amazing, but she could imagine the teasing he might have endured at the caprice
of others. Children, and adults, could be quite cruel toward the differences in
others.

     Laney
gave Johnny’s shoulder a nudge. “Let’s go kid, on to your punishment.” The
kid’s expression held no alarm at his looming chastisement.  

    
Retracing their steps, or following Devan since he had taken the lead, Laney was
able to retrieve her backpack from where she’d unloaded it. There were only two
water bottles so she gave one to Devan and shared the other with Johnny. Devan
drank his in seconds while Laney drank half of hers before giving the other
half to Johnny to finish off.

     Johnny
maintained a consistent monologue of Devan’s heroic actions the entire way
back, which was probably a good thing since Devan seemed disinclined to any
conversation. He was walking swiftly in the lead as if trying to outpace
Johnny’s chatter, but Johnny was doing a heck of a job keeping up with him,
even though each of Devan’s strides equaled five of Johnny’s. Laney had to
almost jog herself to keep up and her legs were still a little shaky from the
last jog. She could have handled it, but Johnny was looking a little red in the
face with both the running and the talking.

     “Hey,
Devan, can we slow it down it bit. I doubt Johnny’s in any great hurry to get
to his execution.” Laney commented with amusement.

    
Devan’s strides immediately shortened. “Sorry,” he mumbled.  

     Laney
and Johnny sidled up alongside him, but Devan kept his face forward. It was
like he was trying to avoid eye contact which seemed kind of over the top since
he was wearing those sunglasses again.

     As
they walked Laney’s thoughts flashed back to Devan’s ‘here one second gone the
next’ act. How had he known about the mountain lion? They had been too far away
for him to have seen it. It was possible he had heard it growl, though, she hadn’t
heard anything. At the time Laney had been too caught up in the situation to
take in how fast Devan had taken off, but now that she looked back on it…she’d
never seen anyone move that fast before. Blink of the eye kind of fast.

    
“Devan, what was that crash I heard when you jumped over me? It was like a
‘crunch’ and ‘thump’ sound.”

    
Johnny’s break from constant hero worship monologue to asking a question jerked
Laney out of her inner musing. Crash? Wait…she’d heard that same thing. 

     “I
caught a dead tree branch and it broke off from the tree.” There was no
hesitation in Devan’s ready explanation, and it should have induced anyone to
believe that what he said was the truth, but for some reason Laney was
unconvinced. It was like he had expected the question and had a prepared
answer.

     “What
part of you hit the branch? Did you hurt yourself?” Laney asked, looking him
over. As he was so tall there was a lot to look over. No wonder the mountain
lion had run away scared. The guy was huge.

     Devan
threw a glance in her direction. Was that surprise in his expression? Difficult
to tell with the sunglasses, but it sure seemed like surprise. Why would he be
surprised that she was concerned about him being injured?

     “My
shoulder caught the branch, but its fine.” He answered with a roll of his
shoulder and another sidelong look in her direction.

     That
response hadn’t seemed prepared. Had he really hurt himself? Maybe he had, but
for some reason Laney was suspicious of the tree branch explanation. From what
then? There were no rips or tears in his shirt, and no blood, so odds indicated
it wasn’t an open wound…maybe a bruise then. He wasn’t rubbing it or hunched in
a ‘this is killing me’ way, so in all likelihood it wasn’t a serious injury,
but it was really bothering her that he might actually be hurt.

     “Are
you sure you’re alright?” Laney asked in concern.

     She
received what she thought was yet another quizzical look in her direction.

     “Perfectly.”

     “Man,
I wish we could have gotten a picture of that lion. Everyone at school would be
soooo jealous.” Johnny lamented.

     Laney
pulled her attention from Devan, laying her hand on Johnny‘s shoulder. “I doubt
they would have been soooo jealous if that lion had gotten its claws on you.
Next time, if there is a next time, you need to follow the rules and not go off
on your own. There are some dangerous animals in this area; you need to be
aware of that. It’s one of the reasons my dad brings a rifle with him.”

    
Johnny nodded his head vigorously and vowed. “I’ll follow the rules next time,
I swear. I really want to come back again.”

    
“Yeah…I have a feeling your mom and dad will need some time to get over this,
so it might be awhile before we see you again.” Laney commented dryly.

     “Oh,
man.” Johnny grumbled.

     Laney
gave Johnny a rueful smile and tousled his hair. “You gotta look for the
consequences in everything.” Glancing up at Devan, Laney saw him staring down
at them with a frown between his eyes again; as though he were confused by
their interaction. He turned away quickly at her regard.

     Laney
continued staring at him; her gaze taking in his extraordinary height, his
multicolored hair, and those glasses that hid hypnotizing eyes. He wasn’t what
anyone would call ‘pretty’ or ‘gorgeous’, but he was definitely striking with
that russet skin tone, high cheek bones, full lips, and square chin. His
physique wasn’t anything to spit on either.

     Personality
wise, some people might call him off-putting, but Laney just found him very
interesting. He seemed to take everything rather seriously, and
way
literally. He’d acted like he’d never heard of the ‘pulling my leg’ phrase? She
thought that was like a universal idiom.

     Devan
turned his head and Laney realized she’d been caught staring,
again
, she
just hoped it hadn’t looked like she was ogling…because she just might have
been. Swinging her gaze forward she saw that they were coming out of the trees.

    
“Brace yourself, Johnny, you’re about to get bombarded.” Laney warned as they
stepped into the clearing.

CHAPTER FOUR

    
Johnny’s parents converged on them instantly when they stepped out from the
trees. Devan backed up instinctively, a protective reaction, but they had no
thought for him. Their only concern was their son. Taking Johnny into their
arms they looked like police officers patting down a criminal for weapons, only
they were searching for injuries. Johnny’s mother repeatedly embraced him as
though that action would make everything that was wrong, right.

     Devan
observed it all at a safe distance and with mystification. So much tumult over
such a small thing. 

     “What
were you thinking? We talked about this all week. You were not to wander off,
anything could have happened to you out there.” The fathers face was red with
anger now that his worry had been appeased. The mother continued to hug him
tightly, having not moved past the fear yet.

     The child
wasn’t even fazed by it. Attempting to wiggle out of his mom’s tight grip he
proceeded to tell the entire group about the mountain lion incident; in almost
the same run on sentence he had provided Laney with. He portrayed Devan as some
hero who flew out of nowhere to save him from the predator that was about to
eat him.

     Not
that Johnny had known that was about to happen to him at the time. Devan had
located Johnny’s position from the moment his mother had started screaming, and
had directed everyone’s attention toward that location. The child had been a
half a mile away playing by the river’s edge. Devan had deemed Johnny comparatively
safe; he wasn’t
too
close to the river and he was focused at building
something with some sticks on the ground. Devan had figured someone would get
to him before he did any damage to himself, and then when Nick had asked him to
go with Laney Devan knew he could lead them right to the child with no problem.

    
Unfortunately, Devan had been focused too much on the child, making sure he remained
safe, and not on the surrounding area, and as the mountain lion had been down
wind he also hadn’t smelled it. Not until the lion had been close enough to
attack had Devan finally seen it, and as a result he had had to take action
swiftly.

     Sprinting
and jumping over three hundred yards in seconds, Devan had barely made it to
the child. The mountain lion had been in the process of pouncing on the
oblivious Johnny for a meal when Devan ran in vaulting over the kid and slammed
into the lion like a defensive football player, sending the lion hurtling head
over rear. It had not put the mountain lion in a pleasant frame of mind.
Instead of running off at the presence of a larger predator it had made a noisy
argument over losing its prey. Devan hadn’t worried it would attack; the lion
had known Devan for the predator he was and would have eventually run off, even
if Laney hadn’t run in yelling. She had only frightened it off a little sooner.

    
Everyone had turned and was staring at Devan. There was a mixture of facial
expressions ranging from disbelief, to fear, to astonishment. Devan was
accustomed to attention, but he didn’t need this type. Heroic acts ended up on
the news, and that was the last thing he needed. 

    
“There
was
a mountain lion, and it did come in our vicinity, but Laney
and I scared it off. I’m sure it wasn’t interested in eating anyone.” Lie. “It
was down wind so I doubt it even knew we were nearby until we stumbled into
each other.” Another lie. “I think we scared it as much as it scared us.” Well,
the kid definitely hadn’t been scared. It was all a big adventure for
him.       

     Laney
gave him a look of skeptical disbelief. It might have been either for his story
or for her part in it, he wasn’t certain. She had come in at the tail end of
the incident so she had only his word to go on. Devan gave her a shrug that
conveyed ‘that’s my story and I’m sticking to it’. He needed to down play the
incident from something horrific to a harmless animal sighting. He was the only
one that had seen the animal coming in for the kill, and it was better if it
stayed that way.

     The
only response Laney gave was one raised eyebrow. It was a bit provoking and his
mouth twitched reflexively. He pulled it back in before anyone noticed it.

   
Devan’s description of the account was still too much for Johnny’s mother, she
became near hysterical at the potential danger of a wild animal and demanded to
be taken back immediately. Nick tried reassuring her that the lion was most
certainly long gone, but she either didn’t believe it or she was just too far
gone in her hysteria. 

    
“Okay, Brenda, we’ll leave right away. Let me just pack up the picnic area.”
Nick grabbed Laney’s hand and pulled her away with him.      

     “What
exactly happened out there?” Nick demanded in a low whisper as they walked
away. 

    
Keeping his face averted Devan kept his ear tuned to their conversation. He
sensed rather than saw Laney looking his way and tensed waiting for her to
mention his actions in the woods. There was a definite pause before she
answered. What had she seen and processed?

     “It
basically happened the way Devan said. He became aware of the lion first and
put himself in front of Johnny as a shield. He began shouting and waving his
arms. By the time I became aware of it and started yelling the lion was already
running away.”   

     Devan
threw a quick surprised glance in their direction at her account of the story.
She’d held back on many aspects of story and he wondered why.

     “So
the lion didn’t try to attack any of you?” Nick’s hands were on Laney’s
shoulders. It looked as if he was barely containing himself from doing his own
injury search of her. She reached up clasp his hands in hers. 

     “Dad,
it didn’t touch any of us,” Laney reassured him, holding his hands in hers.
Nick expelled a deep breath he must have been holding in.

    
“So…then…Devan appears to be able to handle himself?” Nick seemed to gather
himself emotionally as knelt to pack up the picnic supplies. 

     Devan
had redirected his gaze but could sense two pairs of eyes swinging his way. He
did his best to appear nonchalant. The families were hovering around him as
though his presence alone would keep any other predators at bay. If only they
knew.     

     “He
seems very capable,” she commented, helping her father pack up.

     Devan
couldn’t infer from her tone what she meant by that, he could only assume she
was referring to his actions with the lion and hopefully not his flight through
the forest. The trees, with any luck, had obscured his
slightly
abnormal
sprint, and most people could and would discount the unbelievable thinking they
had in all probability just imagined it in their minds and that it couldn’t
possibly have happened the way they thought it had. 

     Devan
was hoping that was how she was processing the incident.  

    
Finished cleaning up, Nick walked toward Devan. Was he going to quiz him about
the incident too? 

    
“Devan.”

     Devan
turned toward Nick doing his utmost to look like he hadn’t heard a single word
they had said.

    “Did
you pay attention to the trail route here?” Nick asked, zipping up his
backpack.  

     Devan
breathed a sigh of relief. “Of course,” he replied. Nick was apparently
satisfied with Laney’s account of the event and didn’t need Devan’s, which was
fine by him. He didn’t really want to go into the details. 

     “How
many trail markers did you count?” Nick slung the backpack over his
shoulders.   

     Devan
knew right away what Nick was referring to. During their hike Devan had noted
ribbons marking the trail. As soon as he had recognized the first trail marker
he had began counting them all. “Twenty-two,” Devan answered easily.

    
Nick’s eyebrows rose, and there was a slight twinkle to his eyes. He hooked
both thumbs around the pack’s straps on his chest. “You caught that hidden one
did you?”  

     Nick
had tied a small ribbon to a bush, an bush that had been off the trail slightly.
“It caught my attention at the last second.” Devan lied. In actuality, he had
seen it two hundred yards off.

     Nick
considered him for a moment; Devan remained quiet during the process. “So you
won’t have any problem leading us home then?” He questioned at last.

     “No
problem.” Devan could do it with his eyes closed, but he didn’t say that.

     The
smell of food coming from Nick’s backpack caused Devan’s stomach to growl and
Nick had to be deaf not to hear it. The run through the woods had depleted a
lot of his energy.

    Nick
smiled. “Didn’t you get something to eat earlier?”

    “Not
enough it would appear?” Devan commented with a small shrug. One sandwich and
an apple weren’t close to a meal for him, he needed quadruple that amount.

     Nick
handed him a couple sandwiches from his pack. Devan had one unwrapped and half
of it in his mouth as Nick refocused his attention on the group. Devan sensed
and heard Laney walking up behind him.

    
“Little hungry there,” she quipped, eyeing the half sandwich that filled his mouth.

     Mouth
too full to answer all he could do was shrug as she continued past. Devan found
his gaze lingering on her form, resting again on her ponytail swinging between
her shoulder blades. His body tightened unexpectedly. Devan stiffened even
further at his body’s response. He was having the most illogical physiological
reactions.

     “Okay
everyone, let’s head out!” Nick yelled. The families were more than eager to
comply as they glanced nervously around. 

     Devan
took the lead and Johnny was his shadow the entire way back, and since the mother
wouldn’t leave her son’s side Devan ended up with a double shadow. When Johnny
wasn’t going on about the lion, she was thanking Devan profusely for saving her
son’s life.

     It
made for a long return hike. 

    
Thankfully, Nick provided the dialogue for the hike, something Devan would have
to practice at if it was going to be required of him. It was mostly geographical
and animal information which Devan would have no problem relating. It was the
conversation part he would need practice with. 

     Laney
took up the tail end of the group yet again. Devan had looked back at her once
during one of Johnny’s enthusiastic outburst and she had been smirking,
apparently amused at his predicament and the pained expression on his face.
Devan felt some relief viewing her expression; it indicated she wasn’t brooding
on the incident and his actions. With luck she had dismissed it from her
thoughts entirely.

      By
the time they got back to the building everyone appeared less stressed—seeing
that they arrived without any animal attacks—but visibly worn out. While Nick
and Laney said farewell to the families, Devan hovered in the background.
Johnny waved madly to Devan out his car window as the families drove away. He
returned a more subdued wave back.

    
“Well, I doubt that we’ll be seeing them again anytime soon.” Nick said with a
sigh. Turning, he walked back toward Devan with Laney following. “It would
appear you can handle yourself pretty well in a crisis situation, and you had
no difficulty following the path back. Have you ever done any climbing?”

     “Yes,
several years.” Devan had done a lot of harness and free climbing,
before
and
after
. These days he did mostly free climbing.

     “ATV
experience?”

     “Five
years. I have a dirt bike, YZ250F. Before that I had a Yamaha Warrior 350.”

     “What
about mountain bike riding; have you done any of that?”

     Devan
had mountain biked a couple times in his earlier years, and it had been an
acceptable form of recreation at the time, but he would rather ride his dirt
bike or run.

     “The
last time I rode a bike was five years ago. I’m more of a runner. I don’t foresee
any difficulty getting back on one though.” Devan received a grin and an
eyebrow lift from both father and daughter. Same eyebrow and everything. It
must be a hereditary thing.

    
“Probably not,” Nick granted. “What about horseback riding?”

     “Horseback
riding?”  Devan grimaced slightly. “Horses are not my forte.” 

    
“You’re scared of horses, but have no problem taking on a mountain lion.” Laney
broke in with amused skepticism on her face.

     “I’m
not
scared
of horses.” They were scared of him. But that wasn’t
something they would understand. “They just don’t seem to like me.” 

     “Is
this one experience or have you tried a few times?” Nick asked.

    
“Believe me, horse don’t like me. Will that be a problem?” No horse was going
to be comfortable around him.

     “No,
I’m not expecting you to be good at everything as long as you’re strong in
other areas.” Nick replied.

     That
had to be a first; the first time someone told him he wasn’t supposed to be
good at everything. At one time he had been expected to excel at all things. He
had never tried horseback riding, but he’d been around enough animals to know
they didn’t like him. Most animals felt that way around him. They just went
crazy. Non-predators feared him and predators became anxious, if not extremely
aggressive. No horse was going to let him near it, let alone allow him on its
back.