Sarah moved them out of the ring to one of the benches beside it. She grabbed water out of the back cooler for them and then sat beside her. Sarah took the bottle but didn’t drink from it. She kept an eye on Gen and frowned. They didn’t talk much but the silence wasn’t bad either.
Gen stared at the ground and rubbed at her eyes. They were dry from the tears but she felt lighter having let it out. It didn’t help her figure out what to do next but she felt better. She glanced at where the stone had been. Sarah followed her gaze and looked properly at what was sitting there. It was a band that looked thick but hovering over her shoulder was a full yin yang.
“What’s that?” Sarah asked.
She smiled and shook her head, “It’s some dumb keep sake thing that me and Owen found on a date. It was super corny. It can be an armband, a choker, a necklace. Its versatile.” She split it apart into two necklaces, each with a different symbol. “One half for me. One for him.”
“It’s cute,” Sarah giggled.
“That’s what he said. We left them behind before but I went back and got them.
“What made you get it?”
“Have you ever seen Owen? It’s like kicking a puppy to say no to him. Though sometimes I have to do it.” She looked at the band around her arm. “We never decided on who was yin and who was yang. And now…”
Sarah nodded, “We’ll get him back.”
“I want to believe that,” she lowered her head and nodded again. “I miss him.”
“Me too,” She squeezed her hand gently. Gen squeezed it back and then took her hand away. “Sorry. I’m not used to things like this. Don’t have a lot of girlfriends.”
“I don’t either.” Sarah smiled, “We’re not exactly normal either. But we can figure it out.”
They both jumped hearing a loud vibration against the bench. They exchanged glances then looked down at Sarah’s bag. It was vibrating and jittering toward the edge of the bench. It looked like it was just about ready to fall off. Sarah grabbed it and fished out her phone.
“It’s Marco.”
“Must be important.”
Nodding quickly, she swiped on it and pressed it to her ear, “Hey handsome. What’s up?”
“Hey Sarah.”
She froze sitting up straighter. Her eyes went wide and skin went cold. Gen noticed it and immediately sat up looking at her. She mouthed ‘what’s wrong?’ but Sarah shook her head slowly. “Jack?”
“Yeah. It’s me.”
He sounded out of breath. But it was his voice. She strained her ears to hear something else. Anything strange but her heart beat clouded out anything she would have found. Just hearing his voice again brought her joy and trepidation.
“How are you calling me? How did you get away? The caller ID said Marco.”
“I’m using his phone. He found me first,”
“Found you?”
“I escaped from the moon and went back home.”
“Can I talk to Marco?”
He paused silent for a moment and then there was some shuffling. But then she heard Marco. “Hey babe.”
“Hey handsome. Is it really him?”
“It’s really him.”
Sarah nodded quickly and wiped at the corner of her eyes. “Okay. Where are you guys?”
“We’re at home.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. Meet us here?”
“Sure. I’m on my way back now.” She hung up and lowered her head taking a deep breath.
“Was that Jack?”
“No.”
Gen made a cross face, “But you just said?”
“Marco called me babe,” Sarah turned to face her and shook her head quickly, “Marco doesn’t call me babe. He doesn’t use pet names. It’s just not something he likes to do. Me and Jack are the ones that toss them around.”
“So what’s that mean?”
“It means Legion is trying to trick me,” she said and scowled darkly. The light that flashed in her eyes made Gen pause. “But it’s not going to get me. We have the upper hand this time.”
“But it called from Marco’s phone right?”
Sarah paused and nodded, “Yeah. It must have gone back to our house. Which,” she shuddered. “I’ll go over that later. But right now we have to deal with that thing.”
“We? What good am I going to be?”
“Remember what I said?”
She stared at her and then shook her head, “I’m no knight. Not anymore.”
Sarah pulled her up to her feet and shook her head, “Yes. You are. Once a knight, always a knight. You don’t need an alien stone to prove that. Now come on.”
“You won’t let this go.”
“No.”
“Even though there’s literal danger out there.”
“Nope.”
Groaning she nodded, “Fine. Let’s go.”
Sarah smiled holding her hand out as she called her stone to her hand. Sighing heavily Gen took her hand. They both glowed yellow and then disappeared leaving the gym below.
The Harlequin Library 