The Spectre - Long Live Equestria Chapter 2 Part B

James could barely even hear the music that the loudspeakers were playing over the buzz of voices in the air. While Alice’s grip eventually relaxed as time went on, she still stayed close, so James never lost sight of her, and he always heard her if she had something to say. And boy, did she have a lot to say. For the most part they stuck to the main path that ran throughout the booths, stalls, and displays, taking mental notes of where to come back to later. Even though they were essentially just testing the waters, James still felt like they were both having fun. However, the jovial atmosphere didn’t last long. At least, not for James.

At first he thought he was imaging the tips of rabbit ears bobbing above the heads of the crowd. He thought he was still on high alert after spotting Lapen and Chippenbun last night. But the more he saw them, the more it just confirmed their existence in reality. James found himself trying to catch a look at who might be wearing the ears, praying that they were just part of a ‘Playboy pony’ cosplay. He ended up wandering further and further from Alice each time he tried to pursue a pair of ears, and it wouldn’t take him long to realise that they’d become separated. He’d slink back with a ‘sorry’ and an apologetic smile. Alice would always be waiting right where James left her, usually preoccupied by something on a stall. She’d noticed that James was wandering off, but she didn’t seem to know or care what for, as she didn’t barrage him with questions upon his return. Given that Alice had that smile of hers plastered across her face most of the time, James figured she was still enjoying herself. That didn’t stop the feelings of guilt creeping up on him like tendrils, though.

He guided Alice in such a way that they’d be saving the reveal of the Crystal Kingdom Castle for last, with hopes that she’d be in much as awe as he was when he first saw it. However as James tried to subtly guide Alice towards the centre of the exhibition hall, he found that it was becoming more and more crowded. Accompanied by a new, rather clashing source of music, it was all a little disorientating. Given that the Crystal Kingdom Castle was a big attraction, he didn’t think much of it. But that is when he started to overhear rather telling snippets of information from the people around him…
“Did you hear? Someone just walked right on in there before the official opening.”
“Why can’t we go in, though? It’s taking forever just to move!”
“Someone’s gone to go get security. The guy was carrying swords and they want to know if they’re the real deal. Because if they are…Yikes.”
“I think I saw that guy! I didn’t recognise his cosplay, though…there aren’t any rabbits in My Little Pony apart from Angel, are there?”
James paused for a moment as his mind pieced together the two descriptions of the hold-up culprit. Alongside the knowledge that Mad Rabbit and her underlings were sneaking around, he could only come to one conclusion:  Jackrabbit, the swordsman of The Nesquiks, had finally made his appearance. At the worst possible time, too.

The cog of James’ mind began to whir as he went into ‘Spectre mode’. He had to do just one thing; flush out Jackrabbit. He wanted to do that discreetly, and without drawing the attention of the crowd…or Alice, for that matter. Before he could even do all of that, he had to get into the Castle, and before he could do that he had to excuse himself from Alice without arousing suspicion. Right now, she was trying to see above the crowd and failing. Alice didn’t seem to be paying much attention as he was to the speculation being thrown around, but that probably worked more in his favour.
“Hey, Alice?” James put a hand on her shoulder and gave it a gentle shake.
“Yeah, what is it?” She dropped to the flats of her foots and gave him a look.
“I-I really gotta pee.” James made a point of crossing his legs, feigning embarrassment.
“Unless you’re going to whip it out here and now, you better take care of that!” Alice turned him around and gave his back a little push. “Go on!”
“I’ll circle around on my way back and see how long the queue is, OK?”
“Sure, just go! Don’t wet yourself!”
James did well to hide his glee as he made it to look as though he was trying to wade through the people. As soon as he lost sight of Alice, he ducked down below the safety of bodies, throwing on his sunglasses and his gloves. He was saving the cape for later to avoid drawing attention to himself.

As he weaved in and out of the people, James noticed that those closer to the Castle were all facing the same way. He didn’t see what it was until he got closer to the edge of the throng. Turntables had been set up in front of the Castle and someone cosplaying as the pony Vinyl Scratch was at the helm. It was like a small concert in the middle of the exhibition hall. James figured they must have been hired as a crowd pleaser to avoid having bored queueing customers. It was working, too. They had such excellent ‘stage presence’ that they’d even caught the attention of the attendant who was meant to be minding the entrance to the Castle. The bass of the current song dropped, causing the crowd to go wild, and James took the opportunity to throw on his cape and sneak in. He waited inside for a few moments. When no one called after him, he assumed he was undetected, and continued on his way.

The inside of the Castle was just as impressive, if not more so, than the outside. James was in absolute awe of it all. The stairs leading to the other floor were, unfortunately, made of some sort of Perspex instead of crystal. That didn’t stop James from admiring the work of the crystal handrail that ran alongside it, or the delicate construction of the crystal walls as they wound themselves around the steps. He would have forgotten he was here to do a job if he hadn’t received such a crude reminder: the sound of running footsteps from the floor above…Jackrabbit!

James quickened his pace, practically sprinting up the steps, only to find himself grinding to a halt once he reached the top. He was expecting another hallway, but he got something far more peculiar. As James wandered in, he saw images of himself dancing across all the clusters of crystal shards. That’s when he’d realised he’d stumbled into a crystal replication of a hall of mirrors. James wanted to laugh at how distorted his image was, but the feeling dissipated as fast as it appeared once he saw an unfamiliar shape pass behind him and disrupt his reflection. James whirled, bringing his cape in close as his eyes darted to and fro. He kept his back to a wall. The unfamiliar shape flickered across the crystals with increasing frequency, becoming a larger, and more defined image as time went on.

Then came the sound of footsteps.  They were slow and deliberate, coming towards James. His eyes focused on a cluster of crystals, not realising it was a corner until a figure emerged from behind it. They were dressed in red military wear, with black knee-high boots. On their face were sunglasses, and the black beret on top of their mop of auburn hair sprouted rabbit ears. James felt his heart race as he recognised that this was, indeed, Jackrabbit.
He pulled himself away from the wall, balling his fists and squaring his shoulders. “I know Mad Rabbit is here,” he called out to Jackrabbit. “What are you guys planning?”
Jackrabbit didn’t speak. He only continued his advance. The only noises he made came from his shoes and from the swords as they were unsheathed from their scabbards.
When he didn’t receive an answer, James slapped a hand to his forehead. “Oh, right, I forgot. You’re the ‘silent’ one.” James shifted the position of his feet, getting ready to move, and moving his fists up in front of him, getting ready to fight. “Bring it on!

Jackrabbit didn’t need to be told twice. The sharp squeak of shoe against floor sounded as he darted at James, swinging both blades. James ducked, the dull side of the sword catching the edge of his hood which he just managed to hold down. The wall behind him turned out to be a crystal mirror, shattering as the blade impacted. James rolled out of the way to avoid being showered in sugar glass, scrambling to his feet. He turned to face Jackrabbit just as he came at him with a fresh bout of swings from his swords. James tried to strike back against his foe, but the swords came in such quick flurries that it was almost impossible to find an opening. It was all James could do to duck and dodge out of the way. The crystals behind him were not so lucky. They all shattered as Jackrabbit’s swords came into contact with them. The crystals weren’t flimsy, by any means. James wondered just how much strength was behind Jackrabbit’s strikes, and thought that he very much would not like to know.

The two danced around each other continuously. James knew that he was getting tired, but the only expression he could see on Jackrabbit’s face was that of gritted teeth. It was probably more from the lack of drawn blood than fatigue. He’d shattered plenty of sugar crystal mirrors, though, nearly all of them.

James found that he was essentially playing a game of Twister now, trying to avoid stepping on any crystal so that he wouldn’t slip. It didn’t work. A large shard slipped out from under his heel, causing his balance to falter. Jackrabbit saw his chance, and went for a one-handed strike this time. The sheer force of adrenaline allowed James to react in time, managing to catch the blade between his palms. The strength behind the blade was too much, and James fell onto his back. He kept a stronger grip on it than Jackrabbit did, managing to yank it from his grasp as he moved. Both of them stared at the relinquished blade, but James reacted first, quickly tossing it as far as he could. That only enraged Jackrabbit further, and he took the remaining sword in both hands, intending to impale. The other rolled out of the way and onto his feet. The sword sunk into the ground and try as he might, Jackrabbit could not pull it out. James took the distraction to go in for an uppercut to the jaw, which sent Jackrabbit reeling. James took a step back just to catch his breath, watching as the other man stumbled. He regained his footing, rubbing his jaw and starting at his two lost swords. Jackrabbit shrugged, realising that he had neither the time nor the means to reach either of his weapons, and mimicked James in balling up his fists.

The two circled each other slowly to begin with, but then Jackrabbit made the first move. He lunged at James, throwing a punch. It connected with the front of James’ left arm as he threw out his right fist, catching Jackrabbit in the face again. Both combatants took a moment to wince in pain, before returning back to the fight at hand. The sounds of grunts as they landed blow after blow on each other echoed throughout the hall of newly shattered mirrors. James could feel himself flagging again. He couldn’t keep going, and Jackrabbit was keeping up his full-on assault. At this rate, he was going to drop first. Before he even had the chance to pray, the upper hand was given to him. It was Jackrabbit’s turn to slip on a chunk of sugar glass, causing him to lose his footing and fling out his fist clumsily.

James instinctively grabbed onto Jackrabbit’s arm with both hands, planting one foot on some clear floor while using the other to manoeuvre himself. He took advantage of Jackrabbit’s lack of secure footing, beginning to spin him. The momentum only caused the two to go faster and faster. James heard the tell-tale squeaks as Jackrabbit attempted to connect with the floor again, and he took that as a cue to abruptly let go. Jackrabbit was sent flying, trying to find footing again but failing. He stumbled backwards further and further, until he hit the wall behind him. It shattered like the other crystals, the pieces of sugar glass cascading from its frame like a waterfall. Jackrabbit was unable to stop moving, finally passing where the wall used to be. With a yell, he dropped out of sight.

It was only now that there was a gaping hole in the wall that he was able to hear the rest of the con. James realised how isolated the situation had actually been, and he hoped that the insulation had gone both ways. Out of curiousity, but wanting to preserve his current anonymity, James got onto his belly, crawling slowly to the edge before peeking over. Much to the chagrin of the Vinyl Scratch cosplayer and their audience, Jackrabbit had destroyed the DJ booth once he’d fallen upon it, and it didn’t look he’d be getting up anytime soon.
“I certainly dropped that beat…” James chuckled to himself, a little breathlessly.

The crowd had surged forward to take a look at the culprit that had deprived them of their tour of the Crystal Kingdom Castle, making the circle around the DJ booth considerably smaller. James’ eyes flickered across the scene, seeing if any of the fabled security guards had arrived yet. Failing to see any, James took a moment to catch his breath, before dressing down. His escape was enabled the same way as his entry was; a distraction by the DJ booth.

*

The crowd had shifted too much for James to find Alice again. She’d effectively become a needle in this human haystack. With all the hubbub and jostling, he was finding it hard to collect his thoughts, and he left the crowd to find a calmer space in the exhibition room. The best James spot he could find was by the hall’s entrance, but it was enough. Firstly he texted Alice to let him know where he was, and then he took a few moments to relax his aching muscles. After ten minutes and no reply, James began to shift uncomfortably. He tried calling her phone, twice, but it rang out both times.

James could feel the heat of panic begin to rise in his body, but he quickly pushed it back down before the first bead of sweat could form. He must still be rattled from his fight with Jackrabbit. He just needed some fresh air to collect his thoughts! James left the exhibition hall and headed straight for the exit. As he approached the revolving doors of the hotel entrance, he spied a girl with a blonde bob perched on the hotel steps. His heart leapt into his throat, but he told himself it was too good to be true…but was it? James drew closer to the entrance, and the relief cascaded over him as he caught the profile of the girl on the steps. There was simply no mistaking those vivid blue eyes, that marvellous grin. He eagerly pushed through the revolving doors, his mind overflowing with all the things to say.

Everything in James’ head dropped from his brain like a dead bird from the sky when he saw the scene before him. Alice was sat on the steps, elbows on knees and head in hands, as she chatted to the person next to her. That was fine. It was the person next to her that James had a problem with. Their gloves and boots were yellow, and the sleeves of their shirt and their trousers were green. They were only so notable because the rest of this person’s body was consumed by a bulky, full body suit resembling a carrot, complete with green felt stalks sprouting from the top. The worst part was that James recognised this figure. He recognised them as another one of Mad Rabbit’s henchmen, who went by the name of ‘Mr. Carrot’.

James steeled himself to ignore his dry throat and the pounding in his chest. Alice was the priority here, and he had to get her away from that poor imitation of a vegetable.
“Hey!” James raised his voice, louder than he intended.
As well as catching the attention of the other people dotted around the hotel steps, Mr. Carrot and Alice had certainly heard him. Both turned to look at the one who had shouted. Her eyes widened in surprise when she laid eyes on James. Mr. Carrot’s expression was harder to discern, given his face was hidden within the costume; the only emotion on this guy was the horrendously cartoonish expression plastered on the front of the carrot suit.
“J-James!” Alice stammered, scrambling to her feet.
“Alice, get away from that guy!” He called out to her again, reaching a hand out to her.
“She can do what she likes, pal.” It was more like growling than speech that emanated from Mr. Carrot. He tried to get to his feet as well, but clearly it was a struggle to go from sitting to standing in such a bulky costume. He had to pull himself up on the steps’ rails.
“I know a freak when I see one. Don’t make me call security.” James gestured at Alice, who looked like she was dithering between the two of them. “Alice, c’mere, quick!”
“Security here seems to have their hands full with us ‘freaks’,” Mr. Carrot chortled. “They’re too busy dealing with my associate inside!”
James had to force himself to gasp to feign surprise. “You mean the guy at the Crystal Kingdom Castle? You know him?!”
“Sure do!” Mr. Carrot put his hands on where his hips would be in the costume, puffing up with pride. “But it’s our boss you should be worrying about, not us. She’s got biiiiiig plans coming. By tomorrow she’ll-”
“J-Just…back off!” Alice clenched her fists, her voice sounding as though she was on the verge of screaming. “B-both of you!”
At the prospect of Alice being upset and in distress, James felt his heart wrench. He wanted to get Alice out of here more than ever now. He reached out towards her, but his hand were quickly smacked away by a yellow glove. That stung! He’d forgotten how strong Mr. Carrot actually was.
“Listen here, bub,” Mr. Carrot sneered. “I don’t know who you think you are but-”
“I don’t know who you think you are!” James snapped, shaking out his hand. “But I’m warning you, you-!”
“You ‘warn’ me? What? What?” Mr. Carrot huffed like a bull inside the suit as he brought up his fists, squaring himself like a sumo. “You wanna fight?! I’ll mash you up real good!”
James could have sworn he felt the ground shaking as Mr. Carrot barrelled towards him. But even with the surprising speed, he could see that the suit was hampering Mr. Carrot’s movement somewhat. He may be the brute of The Nesquiks, but he was far better suited to being an offensive bulwark than a brawler. As if Mr. Carrot was a charging rhino, James waited until the last minute to sidestep. He felt the breeze as the yellow-gloved fist sailed past his head. The missed hit combined with the weight of the suit made Mr. Carrot caused him to balance precariously on his toes, pinwheeling his arms. James lashed out with his leg at Mr. Carrot’s feet. It was like hitting a brick wall, but with the off-balance in play Mr. Carrot’s feet were swept out from under him and he landed on top of his cartoon face. His arms and legs flailed a trapped spider as he tried to find some sort of grip somewhere to push himself up, his curses muffled by his costume. ¬James planted his heel on Mr. Carrot before giving him a hefty kick down the stairs. He bounced down the stairs, hitting each step with a solid ‘thud!’ At the bottom of these steps was a slope, so he didn’t stop; he only went faster. Mr. Carrot rolled all the way, screaming as he went, until he was nothing but a speeding orange cylinder in the distance.
James turned to Alice, who had been watching the whole ordeal with her hands clapped over her mouth and a perturbed look on her face. The other people who were relaxing on the steps had been watching too. Now that Mr. Carrot was gone, their eyes focused on the two other participants of the confrontation that were left; James and Alice.
“Come on, Alice.” James walked over to her, putting his arm around her shoulders and beginning to propel her away from the scene. “Let’s go before there’s any more drama…”

James sure wasn’t in the mood to return to the exhibition hall right now, so he figured Alice wouldn’t be too up for it either. Instead, he took her back to café that they first met at and bought them both milkshakes to help them cool off, assuming the previous incident had unsettled them both a little bit. Even then, James had questions, and he felt they were too urgent to put off for the sake of comfort.
“Alice?” James spoke a little hesitantly. Alice had been on her phone the entire time, pausing every so often to take a sip of milkshake. When he spoke, her head snapped up to look him straight in the eyes. “Why were you talking to that guy?”
Alice shrugged. “I liked his cosplay?”
“There aren’t really any sentient carrots in My Little Pony. Don’t you think it was a little weird how he was dressed, and how he acted?”
“Everyone here is weird,” Alice snapped a little, tossing her phone back into her satchel.
“Well, I guess that’s true…but that guy was dangerous.”
“How do you even know that? Huh?”
“Didn’t you hear from the way he was talking? He said his ‘boss’ has got ‘plans’!”
“…so?”
“You saw how he tried to hurt me. What if they tried that again, and to more people?”
“What if these people deserve it?” Alice snorted. Did you ever think about that? This con is all about loving cartoon ponies and your fellow Pegasister or whatever but that doesn’t mean these twats are all innocent, y’know!” James didn’t know how to react to that…what was Alice talking about? The girl delved into her satchel again, giving her phone a quizzical look before she downed the rest of her milkshake and stood up. “Anyway, space cowboy, I gotta go.”
“O-Oh…more ‘business’…?”
“You know it!” she giggled with a wink. Alice went round the other side of the table, planting a quick kiss on James’ forehead. “I’ll call you, OK?” She stroked his shoulder, letting her fingers linger before she pulled her hand away and walked out the café door.

James had never had such a perplexing conversation before. What had made Alice switch from carefree to irritable and back again so quickly? James knew that he’d, regretfully, adopted a rather cynical mind-set as of late. But he hadn’t known Alice that long, and Tara was fine, so it was no way that his grumpy attitude has simply rubbed off on her. When James gave it more thought, he realised it was probably his abysmal performance as a romantic partner that had put Alice in such a foul mood. James didn’t know very much about girls, but if he was a girl he’d be pretty bummed if his boyfriend kept sneaking off and disappearing, only to reappear later and cause a scene. James felt like punching himself, but he felt like he couldn’t help it. It was just unfortunate that…

The Nesquiks would appear wherever Alice went.

James was about to drop the glacé cherry from his milkshake into his mouth, but when that final thought crossed his mind, it slipped out of his hand and dropped onto the table. When he was in the garden with Alice last night, he’d seen Lapen and Chippenbun. When they were approaching the Crystal Kingdom Castle, Jackrabbit had been there. He’d seen Alice casually talking to Mr. Carrot, even getting angry that James had fought him. James couldn’t fool himself into thinking these were just innocent coincidences; three times was the charm, after all. When he put those incidents together with Alice’s rather heated outburst just now…he didn’t want to but he couldn’t help but connect the dots.

James had been worried about running into Mad Rabbit while he was at Bronycon, but perhaps she’d been at his side the entire time.


*

That night, he drifted in and out, from fitful and dreamless dozing, to the harsh reality of his revelation, and back. When Tara wandered in at a ridiculous hour, he pretended to be in a deep slumber. She sounded tired, but judging from her, she was happy as well. James didn’t want to ruin a day that had gone so well for her. He told her what had happened in the morning instead. Tara didn’t believe him at first. In fact, she laughed and asked questions such as ‘Have you been getting enough sleep?’ and ‘You got a crush on Mad Rabbit or something?’ Of course, James vehemently denied the ridiculousness of the latter notion!

James told her about he’d now seen all four of The Nesquiks, and how he’d fought with two of them. He told her how whenever one of The Nesquiks appeared, Alice was always nearby. Tara remained sceptical right up until James told her about Mr. Carrot, and Alice’s subsequent outburst in the café. He could see her nonchalant expression fall and be replaced with one of mild panic. She’d reached the same conclusion as he did without experiencing any of it first-hand. It was certainly damning.
“Well, the evidence is clearly stacked up on one side of the scales more than the other.” Tara stretched her arms until they clicked. She tossed James’ to him and stood up, hoisting hers onto her shoulders. “But we don’t know for sure. Tell Alice to meet us in the same place as last time. We’re going to sort this out.”
James took his phone out while they were heading down in the elevator and saw, much to his dismay, that Alice had not in fact texted or called him. Begrudgingly, he sent his own.

Will be waiting for you in the same place you were yesterday. Can’t wait to see you!
- James

James put in the effort to make sure the text had a friendlier tone than he was usually used to using, hoping it would entice Alice into a sense of security. If his gut instinct was right, he didn’t want to ruin their chances of confronting her by jumping the gun.

James could have sworn that the exhibition hall was busier today than it was yesterday. Then again, it could just be him. He was noticing things a lot more and reacting to them faster. It was probably due to the little bit of extra adrenaline in his system. He and Tara were stood by the pillar where they’d met Alice yesterday, changing from sitting to standing and vice versa if one position got too stiff. But they always scanned the crowd for that blonde bob. James continuously checked his phone, too, sending sugar-coated texts every fifteen minutes or so. They were there for at least an hour before futility began to look like an outcome.
“Any reply?” Tara said to James, keeping her eyes on the crowd.
“No…” he sighed, scrolling through his outbox to check his messages were actually sent. And they all were. He shoved back into his pocket with a grunt.
“Try calling her. Girls feel important when you do that. It’s harder to ignore a call.”
“It didn’t work last time, but there’s no harm in trying, I guess.” James pulled out his phone once more, sighing again. When he rolled his eyes, he caught Tara’s gaze. The look on her face was one of concern. Just from one glance he could tell that, at that precise moment, the concern was not about the psychopath that was possibly running around. It was for her friend next to her. Him. Because he was hurting right now, and she’d realised it before he did.

Just as James’ thumb hovered over the ‘call’ button next to Alice’s name, the music playing over the loudspeakers suddenly cut out. The moving crowd didn’t stop moving, but it certainly began to slow down. Ear-piercing feedback screeched out over the loudspeakers, forcing everyone, including Tara and James, to cover their ears and cower, waiting for it to stop. It didn’t take long for the feedback to be replaced by hushed whispers, before someone coughed to clear their throat and began speaking.
“You better be listen up, and you better listen good!” The voice spoke fast, high and trilling, like an overexcited bird. It was like an all too familiar punch in the gut for James. “This is Mad Rabbit. That’s M-A-D, R-A-…you can probably spell it yourselves. Although, you’re probably not as smart as you look. I mean…just look at your faces! None of you have even clocked it yet, have ya?!”
The members of the crowd were turning to each other and the loudspeakers, beginning to murmur to each other, as Mad Rabbit continued on her tirade. When Tara and James looked at each other, they saw only horror mirrored back at them. They reached out to grab each other by the hand, gripping tightly as they waited out the rest of the delusional speech.
“You did the unforgivable,” Mad Rabbit continued. “You know what that is? Huh?! You planned your damned con on Easter! My favourite day of the year!” There was a strange ‘thwack!’ as it sounded like she punched the microphone. “For you lucky things, Easter is coming early! Me and my ‘associates’ have planted little ‘Easter eggs’ around the con for you all! You might not want go hunting for ‘em though, they’re a bit…explosive.” She giggled for a moment, but her voice suddenly dropped to that of a low tone. “I will not have my Easter Sunday taken from me…” Then she blew a kiss across the airwaves. “Toodles!”
Mad Rabbit laughed as she made her exit. It was more like a mad about bout of cackling. The penny finally dropped for James. When he’d heard Alice laugh a few days ago, he could have sworn he’d heard it before, but he just couldn’t place it. Well…now he could. There was little doubt in his mind now. Heavy nausea began to form in his belly. James didn’t want to do this. He wanted to run away. Run all the way home and-

No. He’d sworn himself to heroic duty, and that kind of way thing didn’t just go away because he was on vacation. James might run, but the Spectre wouldn’t. Now was a time when he was needed the most, and he sure as hell was going to rise to the occasion.

As soon the music returned, and the crowd had essentially shrugged and went back to their business. It wasn’t long before quizzical murmurs turned into laughter. It quickly spread that the general consensus was that it was a prank by someone who had snuck into the sound room. It was probably a good thing the crowd was remaining calm. Had all these people gone into a panic, they’d have a full-blown riot on their hands.
“Alice and Mad Rabbit…they’re one and the same.” James spoke to no-one in particular apart from Tara, who was still gripping his hand. “She’s going to bomb Bronycon, isn’t she?”
“Sounds like it.” Tara let go of his hand, only so she could stand in front of him. “You know, it was a little hypocritical of me to have a go at you before about bringing your costume.” She slipped her backpack off her shoulders, rummaging about in it, producing a pair of goggles. James recognised them as part of her battle gear. “So…” Tara slotted it back into her backpack, giving James an eager look. “What’s the plan?”
James tried to think, but when no thoughts came and he tried to force them, he started to feel dizzy. “Let’s just find spots to get changed first,” he said, securing his own backpack on his shoulder. “My head’s thumping too much right now to think properly.”
“Yeah, mine too, if I’m honest.”
“I don’t want make any snap decisions or anything. But we’ve got to act fast…” James offered up his fist, a toothy grin spreading across his face. And he didn’t even need to force it. “Back here in ten minutes tops? Then we can really get down to business.”
Much to James’ surprise, Tara smacked his fist out of the way. But then she hugged him, even tighter than his mom did on his first day of school. She held him to the point where James could feel his heartbeat syncing up with hers. When Tara pulled away to give him a proud smile, it was all too soon.
“Enough of that sappy stuff,” Tara said, giving him a playful shove in the shoulder. “Let’s get down to business!”