The Guardians of Gaia

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Two days later over at Canadian Tire, Marshall worked feverishly by himself. Sawyer - one of the other guys who was supposed to be in seasonal with him called in sick (for the third Friday in a row) - so it was Marshall braving the storms of customers angrily demanding patio furniture all by his lonesome.

Because of all this and the increase in hot weather, Marshall was in a profoundly bad mood. Theo and Marshall routinely tweaked the weather in Northbury for fun which accounted for the extreme winters and oppressive summers. But Marshall couldn't do anything when it was Theo's turn to wreak havoc on the whole city.

During a lull in customers, Marshall rested his head on an off-white shelf. He didn't even think about how dusty and dirty the shelves were or the fact that Wil the manager might walk over there and yell at him for taking a break but he didn't care. He only had this job to distract him from the mind-numbing boredom that usually accompanied his life. And he was always happy to see Faust. The money wasn't necessary, not after Theo and Marshall sold the management of Roose Pharmaceuticals. Theo and Marshall used a small sliver of that money to buy and furnish their enormously expensive penthouse loft.

"Alone?" A voice rang out behind him. Marshall knew that voice that flighty, annoying voice could only belong to one person. Marshall snapped his eyes open and willed himself to calm down, not to freeze the ground he stood on. He turned around and looked into the black eyes of Lance.

Lance smiled at Marshall who returned the gesture with a grimace. "Do you need me to help some customers or something?" Marshall didn't care if he was rude to this kid. He may have powers but he couldn't overpower him. No way in hell, Marshall thought.

"No, Faust sent me over here to help you," Lance said. "I guess he likes you."

Marshall grabbed a handful of Lance's shirt and brought the taller man down to his level. Their noses nearly touched. Marshall tried to look into the dead centre of Lance's eyes but he couldn't tell where the iris ended and the pupil began. "You have no idea what's gone on between Faust and I."

Lance wrenched Marshall's hand off of his shirt and gave Marshall that disconnected grin. "I could say the exact same thing." Lance chuckled. "He drives me home sometimes and I-"

"I'd kick your ass if this store wasn't bugged," Marshall said, briefly eying a camera tucked between two chairs on the top shelf on an aisle. Every aisle of the store and all corners of the warehouse were filled with little black cameras to deter theft and miscreant actions.

"If I wanted to kick your ass I'd do it right here, right now." Lance smirked. "Elsa."

Prior to Frozen coming out, Theo and Roarke had given him the nickname Iceman or Jack Frost. After the movie he was Elsa, especially to Theo. "Come on, you've got the blond hair and the powers. It's like the execs at Disney used you as inspiration," Theo had commented one day. Anyone who knew he had his powers called him by a nickname. So the fact that Lance called him Elsa made his forehead, palms and neck swim with sweat.
Lance had already rounded the corner. Marshall wanted to call him back and ask him what he said but they both knew what Lance had said, there was no need for anymore questions. Marshall glanced at the ground wondering if he had frozen it but the dusty off-white ground looked as usual. Marshall took a shaky breath. "Lance, there's a skid of dirt in the back. The home needs to be filled and there's an end cap between 69 and 70 that needs to be filled as well."
"You don't have to tell me what to do," Lance intoned.
"Actually, I do. I can keep myself busy, you can't." Marshall turned on his heel and stropped off. He was going straight to the sports section to report this madness to Faust, Otto or Theo. Why didn't he call him Barbie? Why Elsa? Marshall's body flashed with sweat again.