Frankie (Through Time 4)

“Oh, that will be good for you. I’m glad. But you will let me know where you are staying for the night, okay?”

“Right ye are, Jazz, but I am eighteen ye know and I think quite capable,” Frankie grinned naughtily.

“Still, I just would like to know,” Jazz said sweetly.

Frankie hugged her fiercely, “Now go away and be with yer very own prince, and let me be.”

Jazz got up, put out the light on her way out and left Frankie lying back against her pillows.

A vivid memory slipped suddenly into Frankie’s thoughts, and she saw it as though it were a movie film on a big screen TV.

A night no more than four months ago, a beautiful night.

Images floated before her mind’s eye, taking shape, feeling real, so real. It was the scent of the fresh air in the outdoor pavilion where she and her friends had gone to an open air concert in Charleston, SC.

She could hear the country music blasting—awesome and so different than the quiet mundane music at the dinner party earlier that evening.

People were standing on their chairs, waving their arms, singing, dancing and although the volume had hurt her eardrums she had been having a wonderful time.

Remembering that she could mute the volume with her magic, she did just that, and her sensitive Fae hearing got some relief as she danced in place and laughed with her friends. Life had been simpler then—still complicated, but not like now.

Even as the band drove the crowd into a frenzy, even as she sang wildly and laughed, she thought of Graely and wondered what he was doing, wishing he was there with her.

Beer and high spirits ruled.

The band was hot, and getting hotter. The lead singer threw his guitar picks into the crowd and people scrambled for them.

He danced with his guitar and each minute his dancing got sexier, more intense as he beat out the rhythm of his song. He was a hunk, and when he suddenly ripped off his shirt and threw it into the throng of fans, the crowd went wild.

Frankie screamed with all the other girls, not knowing or caring why, it was just fun.

Her friends were jumping up and down in a frenzy as they sang. Excitement reverberated off the atmosphere.

Most people were just letting loose and having fun, most of them. A few had gotten way too bombed and Frankie learned that not all drunks are happy ones.

Just a row away, a guy shoved another guy who he accused of taking his seat, although no one was actually sitting down. Yelling turned into shoving and shoving turned into punching and tearing into one another.

The crowd went nuts and ridiculously took sides though very few even knew one another. A brawl of huge proportions broke out.

Frankie had never seen anything like it. She wasn’t worried for herself, but for her two friends at her side who became rattled and frightened.

A flying beer can caught her friend Barbara right in the head spilling its sticky liquid all over her shoulders and top.

Frankie blinked and produced a towel saying “Here…here…” and although her friend asked her where it had come from she just shrugged and tried wiping her down and trying to calm her.

She had just succeeded in getting Barbara quiet when Sally got knocked to the ground. This sent Barbara off into a convulsive screaming fit.

Frankie reached down and helped Sally who was now holding her head and crying. She knew she had to find a way to steer them out of the fray. She could use magic and shift them away but then she would have to use a memory spell afterward, which was always disruptive and unpredictable for humans. She hated to subject them to that, but she had to do something.

Frankie was beginning to feel desperate.

Guys were jumping onto each other all around them. She tried making a path for herself and her friends who each had an arm tightly in their grip.

They were surrounded. Frankie used a moderate amount of Fae strength to clear a narrow path. Instead of getting through, a group of hair pulling females turned angry eyes on them, and one of them demanded, “Who do you think you are pushing little girl?”

It was an ‘oh-oh’ moment for Frankie.

She created an invisible shield around herself and her friends, but she knew this was it. In a moment, she was going to have to shift them out of this crowd. She would then have to use a memory spell on them that could make them sick for weeks.