Air: Elementalist Book 1 by Rebecca Wolf (christmas read aloud .TXT) 📗

“Wow. Arsenal of evil, huh?” Penny said, elbowing me.

“Are you making fun of me?” I asked with a mock glare.

“Maybe a little,” Penny said with a smile. “Let’s stop wasting the rest of our time thinking about men. I know the reason behind this entire event is infuriating, but maybe the best way to take back your power is to have a good time despite those idiots.”

“I know this seems ridiculous and self-inflicting, but I don’t want Aiden to feel like he’s causing me happiness. I don’t want to give him that satisfaction.”

“He’s going to be full of himself regardless of how you act. Don’t let him control your choice to be happy.” replied Penny.

I nodded slowly. We used the bathroom since we were in there, and somehow just being near the toilet made me feel like I had to pee. Then the two of us linked arms and left the bathroom. We joined everyone on the dance floor, partnering up for the rest of the event, and if we got a few strange stares for being two women dancing swing and tango together, we didn’t care. It was actually kind of liberating.

“You were right,” I said, “thanks Penny.”

After the event, we went home together and sat on the couch in pajamas, just as I had hoped. We gave ourselves four hours of downtime before opening the bar at eight.  The rest of the night went as usual, and I felt the most relaxed since this whole disaster went down.

That week passed by without a hitch. Penny was singing in the shower, and humming as she took care of the bar. No graffiti, No threats, just business as usual. We had fewer customers showing up, but we were hopeful that now that the harassment had stopped customers would feel comfortable coming back again. Ben even stopped by with some of his buddies for a drink after their shift ended. He gave Penny a friendly shoulder clap on his way out.

One late afternoon we arrived at the bar to open up a little later than usual. We both paused for a moment when we found the door to be unlocked. “Careful,” I whispered. Penny morphed into a man, and we tried to move quietly, tiptoeing as we crouched from the foyer towards the main room. On the way she picked up an umbrella someone had left in the corner. “What?” She whispered defensively.

“Who do you think is in there?? A flock of pigeons??” I whispered back. “What, you’re going to open and close the umbrella and yell “git!” to scare them off?? Your fists are much more effective weapons.”

“Good point,” Penny whispered back, handing me the umbrella. “You need this more than me, what with your puny little lady hands.”

“I can’t believe you just said that,” I whispered furiously, “just wait until I tell girl-Penny what you said!”

“I AM girl-Penny,” said boy-Penny, in exasperation, “stop judging me by my cover.”

“Shhhh,” I said.

“Shhhh,” said Penny.

A shushing war ensued, only interrupted when we heard a quiet whimper coming from the bar area. We both looked at each other and grimaced. For a moment we had forgotten what might be waiting for us. As we moved into the main area, it took us a second to register the destruction because it was so unexpected. Broken glass bottles littered the floor. Bar stools lay smashed and overturned, and the words “suck your own cock and choke on it,” were spray painted to cover the entire rear wall of the bar.

“Well, I guess we’re not actually opening up tonight,” whispered Penny.

Both of us took a moment, not sure where to start. We heard a second whimper coming from behind the bar counter. We rushed over as quietly as possible and peered underneath. There under the bar huddled next to the steel garbage can was Tommy. One cheek was so swollen that the adjacent eye was squinting. He clutched his left hand to his chest and was shaking.

“Hey buddy,” said Penny quietly, “what happened here?”

“Shhhh,” whispered Tommy, “they’ll hear you.”

“Who?” We asked, while quietly joining him under the bar.

“They are downstairs in the storage area,” Tommy continued. “They chucked a bottle at my head and got my cheek. I fell and landed wrong on my hand before crawling over here where they couldn’t see me. I can’t shift to my mouse ‘cuz it hurts too bad.” he whimpered again as he accidentally jostled his arm. I crouched, moving towards where we stored the ice and poured some in a bag before knotting it and heading back.

“Here,” I said placing it as gently as possible on his arm. “Hold this on your arm until we can get it looked at.” Penny grabbed the sawed-off shotgun that we kept under the counter by the cash register, and strode quickly towards the basement. She placing her ear on the door to see if she could hear them downstairs. Just then the door banged open, slamming Penny into the corner between the wall and the door.  Penny's finger slipped on the trigger, and the gun went off so loud our ears rang. Just as the dust cleared from the plaster falling, another intruder burst up from the basement. He saw his companion crumpled on the floor and his eyes widened with shock. He didn’t check behind the door where Penny was currently slouched, looking slightly dazed from the recoil. Instead he looked straight and spotted me where I crouched in front of Tommy, blocking him from view on instinct. He lifted his gun, and without hesitating, he fired at me.

A baseball suddenly hit my upper arm and stung me like a bee. How does that even make sense? I thought in confusion, as I looked down at my arm. It was bleeding, my shirt sticking to me where the blood stained it. I stared at my