The Misadventures of Anna Cabbot

The Marina

A shitty-looking marina, that's where.

Anna propped Naked Man against the side of a garage and made sure the Not Coat still covered him. There was another building further toward the water, and Anna crossed her arms over her chest as Erin headed for it.

"So, you'll send me the Bat Signal if you need help?"

Erin stopped, turned on her heel, and fixed Anna with a glare that nearly rivaled her mother's. "If I need your assistance, you'll know."

"Got it." She smiled tightly. "I'll just...stay here with the amazing Naked Man."

Her jeans were going to need a hell of a soak before the washing machine, so Anna didn't hesitate to sit on the cold asphalt next to Naked Man. She leaned her head back against the vinyl siding. Out of curiosity, she checked his pulse, not so much for the numbers but to verify he at least still had one.

Strong and steady. His color had improved, too.

Fingers wrapped around her wrist.

She reared back with her free hand until she heard a quiet, "Let's not and say we did, thanks."

Anna flicked her witchlight back into existence, though much softer than before, and looked into a pair of storm gray eyes.

"Hello," he said.

"Hi." She left her arm in his grip, unsure how to not make the situation awkward should she try to take it back. "Do you know where you are?"

He smiled. "From the accent, I'm guessing America?"

"My accent?" Anna snorted. "You're Welsh?"

"Close enough." He rubbed the back of his head through his wet hair and his fingers came away bloody. "Huh."

"Please tell me the naked man who flopped out of the river remembers his own name?"

That earned her a husky laugh. "Carson Llewellyn."

"Anna Cabbot." She pointed to the door Erin had disappeared through. "Erin — the Lady of Lake Erie — is there. Apparently the Niagara River's gone missing."

Carson jerked his thumb toward the lights on the opposite shore. "That river? Never would have guessed it wasn't there."

"You are so funny I forgot to laugh." Anna took her hand back finally and twisted her fingers together in her lap.

"How did you get here?"

"Well, I went for a walk, wound up by the river, and had a naked man dolphin himself onto my lap." She side-eyed him. "This wasn't intentional."

She didn't mention the sleepless tossing and turning that had inspired this whole misadventure.

"Most things like this rarely are," he said dryly.

There was a rumble, followed by a whump, and the top of the garage Erin had gone into blew off in one piece. It landed on the boat slips in the river with the sound of splintering wood and a splash.

Carson tried to grab her as she reached for him, each of them trying to force the other down to avoid any flying debris. Her witchlight winked out courtesy of her divided attention, and she shoved at way too much of Carson's warm bare skin in order to get to her feet. In direct opposition to her self-preservation instinct, she ran toward the roofless garage.

She slapped her hands together and then drew them apart, focusing her magic into something hard and softball size. It was guaranteed to knock the door open, if not completely off its hinges, and as far as she knew Erin was still in there. Anna's strongest throwing motion was something akin to a windmill pitch, her release a snap by her hip.