Free Spy High by Diane Henders

made him look much younger, his age
indicated only by the leathery texture of his skin. And that was
‘way more skin than I’d been expecting to see…
    He frowned down at me. “Does this make
you uncomfortable? Would you like me to put my shirt back on?”
    “Um… it’s okay…” I eyed him nervously.
“But… you don’t have to, um… get naked for this, do you?”
    His booming laugh filled the tent. “No,
I won’t get naked…” He paused and cocked a mischievous brow in my
direction. “Unless you ask me to.”
    “Karma Wolf Song!” Moonbeam’s
remonstrance was softened by her laughter. “The poor child is
nervous enough already.” She turned her luminous smile on me.
“Don’t mind him. It’s just that you have such tremendous energy
pouring off you, it will be hard work to deal with it all. We’ll
work up quite a sweat, you’ll see…” She paced slowly around me, her
hands gliding through the air as though riding invisible updrafts
over and around my body. “Merciful Spirit, Karma Wolf Song, feel
this!”
    Karma joined her at my feet and they
waved their hands some more, exchanging a smilingly incredulous
glance.
    “You’re tremendously grounded, dear,”
Moonbeam said, backing slowly away, hands outstretched. She stopped
a couple of yards from my feet, still smiling. “All the way out
here.” She shook her head and gave Karma a rueful glance. “I hope
you’re ready for a workout, my dearest.”
    He nodded and they joined hands,
looking deeply at each other before closing their eyes for several
moments.
    Feeling like a voyeur but too edgy to
close my eyes, I concentrated on the canvas ceiling above me. When
Karma and Moonbeam began to move I watched them from my peripheral
vision, wondering what, if anything, I was supposed to feel And
what they were feeling.
    They worked in silence broken only by
soft requests for permission to touch my ankles, hips, arms,
shoulders, and head, and I slowly relaxed when nothing else
happened. They certainly did seem to be working hard. Their hands
moved constantly, sometimes stroking the air around me; other times
making scooping motions as if to gather something undesirable and
move it away. Sweat ran in rivulets down Karma’s face and chest,
and a fine dew of perspiration glistened on Moonbeam’s
forehead.
    At last their movement ceased and they
clasped hands again, heads bowed and eyes closed.
    Then they disengaged, and Moonbeam
moved to the small table that held the jug. “You can sit up now,
Storm Cloud Dancer,” she said. “Slowly, though. Here…”
    She poured a glass of water and handed
it to me, then did the same for Karma before pouring one for
herself. They sank together to sit on the queen-sized mattress that
formed their bed on the floor and sipped their water while I
perched on the edge of the table and wondered what I was supposed
to do.
    “How do you feel?” Karma inquired.
    “Um, fine…” It seemed as though I
should say something appreciative, but I didn’t know exactly what.
“Thank you for working on me,” I added. “I feel more relaxed
now.”
    At least that was the truth. I could
hardly have gotten more tense than I’d been when they’d
started.
    “Oh, good.” Moonbeam’s smile told me
I’d said the right thing. “Please rest there a few minutes and make
sure you drink all that water. It will help cleanse your
system.”
    I nodded and sipped obediently.
    “So how long have you known Cosmic
River Stone?” Karma asked in the easy tones of small talk, but I
caught a tiny edge of something else behind his words.
    “Um, not long…” I eyed him, trying to
gauge his reaction, but his poker face was as good as his son’s. “I
guess nearly a year,” I added cautiously.
    Moonbeam leaned forward, her hand
finding Karma’s in a grip tight enough to whiten her knuckles.
“Tell us what he’s like,” she begged.
    “Um…”
    Shit, where were they going with this?
I sensed a minefield ahead, but I didn’t have a clue