“Wait. Your leg?”
He didn’t smirk, although she’d bought right into it. He knew she would. Marie was a very compassionate lady. “I’m pararescue. My last mission was to bring some boys home and we ran into a little trouble. Got my leg shot up. Nothing too serious.”
“Malichai, you should have told me. You’ve been in my kitchen, doing dishes every night, standing. I feel terrible.”
“My choice, Marie. I wanted to help out. I’d feel useless sitting on the beach. I just don’t know how to do that kind of thing. I’ve enjoyed helping out, not to mention, I was able to spend time with Amaryllis.”
“She’s really wonderful.”
“Has she mentioned her parents to you? She never talks about them.”
Marie shook her head. “No, she doesn’t talk about her past at all, and I respect that. I hope you do too. When she wants you to know, she’ll tell you.”
He didn’t think that was true. He thought Amaryllis would run before she’d admit she was one of Dr. Whitney’s experiments.
“What can you tell me about that little magic shop in the alley? Do you know the owner?”
Marie’s eyes lit up. “I know most of the shop owners around me. We all try to help one another out. I have all the brochures and advertisements for each of the shops close to me, both sides of that alley and down the block. Miss Crystal owns the store. She’s about eighty, but very spry, you’d never know that was her age. She has a little apartment in the back of the store. We have tea sometimes after the season’s over.”
“What do you know about her?”
“Her husband was a magician, a very popular one for a time. Unfortunately, she lost him some years ago to cancer. They both loved the business and amassed all kinds of magic collections through the years. They never had children and she often lamented to me about not having anyone to take over the store. She said she was afraid the memories would die out with the memorabilia. I suggested selling but she said she just couldn’t. She wouldn’t have anything to live for if she did that. Is there a reason you’re asking?”
He shook his head. “It just seems like a very interesting shop. I wondered if it was at all popular with tourists.”
“Miss Crystal says it is, but she just might want it to be. She loves that store and all the memories she has of her days with her husband.” Sorrow crept into Marie’s voice.
Malichai felt guilty asking her questions about the magic shop. Burnell was most likely mistaken about what he’d heard. Anna too. They’d probably talked back and forth, convincing each other that someone wanted to kill the maximum number of people. Now, he was harassing Marie and making her sad.
“I’d better go for my jog and swim. That’s my therapy. I’m supposed to meet Amaryllis for breakfast this morning and then she’s taking me to the beach to teach me how to enjoy the ocean properly.”
Marie laughed. “She’s not leading you to your doom, Malichai. You’ll like it.”
“I don’t know, Marie, she keeps talking about surfer boy. I don’t know if I’m ready to meet someone she refers to as ‘surfer boy’ and then laughs that amazing laugh of hers.”
“I can’t wait to hear all about it.” Marie made a shooing motion with her hand and Malichai took the hint, walking down the dark hallway to the front door.
The day was going to be another beautiful one. He went straight down to the sand and began a brisk walk, getting a feel for the grains beneath his feet. Next a slow jog. His leg did seem as if it might be getting stronger. The doctors had agreed walking in sand and swimming would be good for him. They were certain both would help strengthen the muscles.
When he was running in the sand, he wasn’t convinced the muscles were his problem. Sometimes, when he tuned in to his leg, trying to feel the issues, it felt as if the bones had tiny fractures, little cracks that ran along like fault lines refusing to knit back together. When he thought that way, he would panic and have to stop, bend over and breathe deeply. Then he’d remind himself it hadn’t been that long since he’d been shot multiple times. It wasn’t the first time he’d been shot in that leg, although the first time he’d healed without a problem. Was having already been shot in that same leg causing some problem this time?
Amaryllis came up behind him, not making a sound, another reason for him to think she was a GhostWalker. With his head down, breathing deeply, he took her into his lungs before he actually saw her. She also moved through the sand easily, whether she walked, jogged or ran. She never stumbled or complained about how difficult it was. Running in sand was always a workout, yet she didn’t raise a sweat.
Amaryllis put her hand on his back. “Are you okay?”
“Little panic attack, nothing serious.” He answered her honestly. He tried to be as honest as he could with her. “Sometimes, I worry that my leg isn’t going to heal properly, and they’ll pull me. I’m a soldier. I don’t know any other life. My family is my team. I know that sounds crazy, but I can feel these cracks like spiderwebs spreading out over my bones.”
She didn’t laugh at him or try to argue. “Really? You should have told me. Come sit down on one of the lounge chairs.” She pointed to the chairs laid out along the beach. “No one is up this early.”
He straightened and looked out to the ocean, a smile forming. “Babe. Seriously? Who are all those nuts?”
“Surfers. They aren’t going to care if we use a lounge chair. They wouldn’t know what to do with one.” She took his hand and tugged.
It was the first time she’d taken his hand instead of the other way around. He was good with that and willing to follow her anywhere. She led him to a woven, brightly colored lounge chair and had him sit, stretching out his legs.
“Don’t make fun of me,” she said. “I’ve always been able to ‘feel’ what’s going on inside a person. Their muscles or bones. Most people don’t believe me, but I can.”
“Don’t know why they wouldn’t believe you. It’s a known fact that some people are born gifted. Do your worst.”
He felt her gaze on his face. He couldn’t stop himself from looking at her. All that made him want to do was kiss her. He framed her face with both hands. “Don’t look so scared, honey. I believe anything you want to tell me because you’ve always been honest with me.”
Her gaze skittered away from his. He wanted to comfort her and tell her it didn’t matter if she’d escaped from Whitney’s hellish experiments. Good for her. He couldn’t do that because he wasn’t supposed to know about Whitney’s experiments. He was a soldier on vacation.
She indicated for him to pull up his loose track pants. He did so, reluctant for her to see his leg, getting them just above his knee. The shots had ripped into him from the side, tearing up his leg as if trying to open a zipper into muscle and bone. The scars were raw and ugly, going all the way up to his hip.
Amaryllis gasped when she saw the raw, shiny wounds. “Malichai. How did you survive this?”
He shrugged. “I was bleeding pretty bad and slapped field dressings on the worst of the wounds to slow them down. My brother Rubin carried me to the helicopter. He worked on me the entire time. I was lucky the doctors were there with blood and whatever else they needed to keep me alive until they could land. Ezekiel, my oldest brother, operated on me. He was able to keep me from bleeding out until we got the orthopedic surgeon. Even then, it was a bit of a fight.”