Broken Car
Rule number one- never follow music into the woods.
Rule number two- never eat anything you found growing inside a ring of mushrooms.
Rule number three- never answer if something called your name from somewhere you couldn't see.
And the fourth... the one Mara's grandmother had repeated so many times that Mara could still hear the exact cadence of her voice, was the simplest... Never give a stranger your full name after dark.
It was also, Mara had always thought, the stupidest. Which was probably why she didn't think about it when the stranger asked, not at first. At first, Mara was mostly thinking about murdering her car.
"Come on." She turned the key again. The engine clicked.
Click
Click
Click... then nothing. Mara stared through the windshield letting out a frustrated groan, "You're kidding me." Rain hammered against the roof hard enough to drown out the radio. The headlights illuminated a narrow stretch of road before disappearing into sheets of silver. She tried the ignition again.
Click.
Click.
Click.
"Fantastic, just fantastic!" She dropped her forehead against the steering wheel. Of course this happened tonight. Her phone sat in the cupholder with four percent battery and absolutely no signal. She'd stayed late at work, she'd ignored the gas station attendant who told her the storm would get worse, and she'd taken the old forest road because it shaved twelve minutes off the drive home.
Every intelligent decision she'd made over the last twenty-four hours had apparently abandoned her at once. Mara lifted her head looking out the passenger window. Beyond the passenger window, trees crowded the roadside, nothing but forest for miles.
She knew these woods. Everyone who grew up in Bellwether did. Not that anyone actually went into them... well Mara did once, but after the lecture she got from her grandma she stayed out.
Mara remembered being eight years old, sitting on her grandmother's kitchen counter while the old woman peeled apples. Repeating the lecture she always gave for what seemed like the millionth time. "Remember Mara, never follow lights between the trees, never step into a mushroom circle, never make promises where the trees can hear you, and-"
Mara rolled her eyes at the memory, "Yeah, Grandma. Very helpful." Lightning flashed and for half a second the entire forest turned white. Mara reached for her phone. Maybe if she walked farther down the road, she could get a signal. The thought lasted approximately three second before it began pouring rain. She tried the ignition one last time.
"Piece of shit." Someone knocked on her window and Mara screamed. Her hand flew to her chest as she twisted toward the sound. A man stood outside, for several seconds, neither of them moved. She just looked out the window as the rain poured over him.
Then he lifted one hand like a little hello. Mara stared at him. He was tall. That was the first thing she noticed. The second was that he looked absolutely dashing. The kind you rarely see because no one man could possibly be that good looking.
Also... where did he come from? There hadn't been headlights. There wasn't another car behind hers. There were no houses nearby, just forest, and yet somehow a man was standing beside her car in the pouring rain. Mara lowered the window approximately two inches. "What?"
One dark eyebrow lifted, "Are you alright?" His voice was surprisingly normal, maybe slightly amused.
"Yes, of course I am. I love having my car broken down in the rain."
His gaze moved toward the front of the car, "I gathered."
Mara narrowed her eyes, "It's always been my dream to be stuck in the rain."
He smiled. That didn't help. Actually, it made things significantly worse. Her breath caught in her throat. He was... ethereal. That was the only word for it. Dark hair had been pushed away from his forehead, although several wet strands had fallen loose again. His face was all sharp lines and tan skin, with a mouth that looked perpetually on the verge of smiling at something no one else understood.
His eyes were strange. Mara couldn't decide what color they were. Gray, maybe... or green. Lightning flashed again and Mara could have sworn they looked gold. Mara blinked... nope definitely grey.
"Did you break down?" he asked.
"No, I just enjoy parking in thunderstorms."
His smile widened, "I see."
"Sorry. It's just been a really terrible day."
"Don't be. I appreciate unpleasant people."
She stared at him, "That's a weird thing to say."
"I've been accused of worse," rain ran down his face.
Mara glanced toward the road in front of her, "Where's your car?"
"Behind yours," he pointed behind her vehicle. Mara looked behind her again to see that he definitely had a car but how did she not see it back there before? Every alarm bell Mara possessed began ringing simultaneously. Something was weird. She reached for the button to raise the window.
The stranger sighed, "Your battery is dead."
Her finger stopped, "What?"
"Your car," he nodded toward the hood. "Your battery is dead."
"You can tell that from there?"
"You've attempted to start it six times."
Mara frowned. Had she? She felt like she couldn't be trusted with her thoughts right now.
"Your lights are dimming, and I can hear the starter clicking."
"Oh," That was considerably less supernatural than she'd expected. Embarrassment warmed her face, "Right."
"I can help."
"No offense, but I'm not getting out of my car with some random man who emerged from nowhere."
"That's reasonable," he said it without hesitation. Then he stepped away from the window.
Mara watched him. He walked toward the front of her car and stopped beside the hood. Then he waited, didn't say anything. He simply stood there getting drenched. Mara looked at her phone, still no signal, and it was at three percent.
"Shit." She looked back at him.
He smiled through the windshield. Asshole. Mara grabbed the small can of pepper spray from her purse and shoved it into her coat pocket before opening the door. Rain immediately hit her face, "Oh my gosh."
"You've reconsidered."
"I've reconsidered dying in my car."
"An excellent decision."
"I haven't decided whether dying beside it is better."
His laugh was quiet as Mara slammed the door and hurried toward the hood. Up close, he was somehow worse. Taller than she'd thought, and there was something strange about standing beside him. Not threatening exactly... just...
Mara rubbed the back of her neck. The air felt different. Kind of heavy, like the moment before lightning struck. "You have jumper cables?" she asked.
"No."
She stared at him, her frustration growing, "Then how exactly are you helping me?"
He leaned over the hood, "Open it."
"Why?"
"Because asking the engine politely from out here seems unlikely to work."
Mara glared at him. He smiled again, that dumb, sexy, infuriating smile. She went back to the driver's side and popped the hood. The stranger lifted it. For the next few minutes, he examined the engine while Mara stood beside him just watching. She understood approximately none of what he was doing. "You know," she said, "usually when a strange man lures a woman out of her car on an empty road, he at least has candy."
He glanced sideways at her, "Would candy have worked?"
"Well, it would beat getting a cold from all this rain for no reason, at least I'd have candy."
His mouth twitched, "Good to know."
She laughed despite herself. That bothered her more than it should have. He was strange. He had shown up out of nowhere. There definitely was no car before unless she admits she's hallucinating, which at this point seems likely. She shouldn't have felt comfortable around him, yet somehow, she did. Not safe exactly, that wasn't the word. If anything, she felt very unsafe but like a good kind. Maybe... interested? That was worse.
"Try it now," he said.
Mara blinked, shaking thoughts from her head and looking back down, "That's it?"
"Try it."
She hurried back into the car. The stranger remained beside the open hood. Mara turned the key. The engine sputtered, then roared to life.
"Oh, thank goodness," she laughed, relief washing through her. When she climbed back out, he was lowering the hood. "How did you do that?"
"A loose connection."
"Seriously?"
"Disappointing, isn't it?"
"Extremely. I was hoping for witchcraft." Something changed. It happened so quickly Mara almost missed it. His hand stopped against the hood. His eyes lifted to hers, and for one strange second, the rain seemed quieter.
Then he smiled, "That would make things easier."
A chill moved down Mara's spine. She laughed because she wasn't sure what else to do. "Right."
He stepped back, "You should go."
Mara hesitated, "Are you sure there's nothing I can give you? As like a thank you for helping me."
"Nothing you need worry about tonight."
Tonight? She probably heard that wrong. Mara reached for the door, shaking her head, "Well...thank you."
His eyes flickered making Mara stop. There it was again. That tiny shift. His smile remained, but something behind it had changed.
"You're welcome," he said.
She climbed into the car. He closed the door for her. Mara rolled the window down, "Seriously. Thanks. I probably would've been stuck here all night."
"Perhaps."
She put the car into drive, slowly inching forward, "Try not to get struck by lightning."
"Well actually there is something you could do for me... Mara."
She slammed the brake. Slowly, she looked through the open window. The stranger stood several feet behind the car. Her stomach tightened, her heartbeat quickened. Fear overcame her body as she whispered, "I never told you my name."
He looked amused, "No." Rain streamed between them. Mara's hand tightened around the steering wheel. Unable to move as he walked up to her window. He leaned down slowly, almost menacingly, before pointing. Her work badge, still clipped to the pocket of her coat.
MARA VALE
"Oh," Heat rushed into her face. The stranger laughed and Mara covered her face, "I'm so sorry, I thought you were some kind of creep." She unclipped the badge and threw it onto the passenger seat. "You scared the hell out of me."
"Did I?"
"You know you did."
His smile returned, "Then perhaps you should tell me."
"Tell you what?"
"Your name."
Mara pointed toward the badge, "You already know it."
"I know part of it, but I'd really like to know the full name... like said to me." Something about the way he said that made her pause. Rain whispered against the roof of the car. The forest seemed impossibly dark behind him.
"My name is Mara."
"I know."
"Then why are you asking?"
"Because I'd like to hear you say it."
Mara swallowed, "That's a little creepy."
"Is it? My apologies, I just wanted to hear how you pronounce it. I felt like hearing the lovely name come from your lovely lips."
Somehow that made Mara feel ridiculous. It was a name, nothing more. Her grandmother's voice surfaced unexpectedly. Never give a stranger your full name. Mara nearly laughed. She hadn't thought about that stupid rule in years. The stranger waited patiently as lightning flashed somewhere beyond the trees.
Mara shook her head, "Mara Elise Vale." As soon as the words left her mouth everything seemed to mute. The droplets in his hair shone but she couldn't hear the storm anymore. The engine that was on went completely silent.
The stranger closed his eyes. He breathed in slowly, like a man smelling something wonderful. Then his eyes opened. That's definitely gold not gray. Mara stopped breathing. Then his smile appeared gradually.
"There you are."
Mara's stomach dropped, "What?"
The sound returned all at once. The rain, the engine, even her own breathing. Even his eyes returned to the gray they were, making Mara doubt herself. The stranger stepped away from the road.
"Drive carefully, Mara Elise Vale."
Every hair on her arms lifted, "Wait." He turned and Mara didn't know why she asked. Maybe because suddenly, she needed to know, "What's your name?"
For the first time all night, the stranger looked genuinely delighted. "Ah," he glanced toward the forest. Then back at her. "You almost had me."
Mara's mouth went dry, "What?"
He bowed his head slightly, "Goodnight, Mara." Then he walked between the trees.
"Wait!" Mara threw open the door. She stepped into the rain, but he was gone. Mara stood beside the car, staring into the forest. "Hello? What about your car?" She looked back where his car should be but there was nothing. It was like it was all a dream. Thunder rolled somewhere far away. Mara walked back to the driver's seat. Her grandmother's voice whispered through her memory. Something Mara hadn't remembered since she was a child. She could see the old woman's hands covered in flour. Could remember herself laughing when she asked why names mattered so much. Her grandmother hadn't laughed with her.
A name isn't what people call you, little bird. It's how they enslave you.
Mara climbed into the car and locked the doors. Then she drove. She didn't look into the rearview mirror until the forest was almost a mile behind her. When she finally did, Mara nearly drove off the road. A man stood beneath the trees. Far too distant for her to see his face.
But somehow, she knew exactly who it was.
