Free Matt Archer: Legend by Kendra C. Highley

didn’t have a clue; I had been kissed recently, and
it did nothing to save me from a foul mood. “But if you’d like to keep
discussing my love life, I’m disappearing until we have to catch our plane.”
    “Wait … plane? What
plane?” Mom asked, looking between us. “Mike told me he was coming to visit to
check on his loft because the sub-letters moved out.” She cocked her head to one
side, giving Mike the stink eye. “Michael, what is Matt talking about?”
    I shot Uncle Mike a smug
look. He wasn’t the only one with a talent for diverting people from a
sensitive topic by springing a surprise on them. I’d learned well.
    Mike rubbed his temples. “Chief,
I think I need to talk to Dani alone for a bit, please.”
    A year ago I might’ve
bristled at being dismissed like a kid. Today, though, all the anger
disappeared in a flash, leaving nothing but exhaustion. The problems with Will,
the stolen kiss with Ella, the never-ending mission called ‘my life’ … the weight of
it left me nothing but tired. I turned and left the room with my shoulders
bowed. As I rounded the corner in the entry, Mom asked, “ What plane?”
     
    * * *
     
    Mike and Mom argued for three hours about whether or not to
let me A) leave school for an indeterminate period of time again and B) go to
Africa, where, as Mom put it, I could get malaria, or worse. No, really—the U.S.
Army was sending her sixteen-year-old son halfway around the world to
investigate supernatural activity and the first concern she voiced was malaria.
Mom’s worry list needed some prioritization, I thought, but I didn’t want to
admit that I’d been taking various meds required for international travel off
and on for eighteen months, either.
    Once Uncle Mike promised he wouldn’t leave my side for an
instant the entire trip and Mom forced me to promise that I’d study at
least three hours per day, she relented. How I’d take online classes while in
the wilds of Botswana was a mystery to me, but I promised anyway.
    After we wore Mom down, Mike retreated to his loft downtown.
That left me with little to do other than get ready for my date, which I was
dreading more and more by the second. The only thing that kept me from calling
Sami and telling her I had the flu was Tink’s smug murmuring about how I’d
finally learned that the job was more important than these “little dramas.” I
decided I’d go on this date just to spite Tink, if for no other reason.
    I stopped on my way out to say goodbye to mom…partly as a
stall tactic.
    “Be careful, honey,” Mom
called from her office.
    Her large metal desk was
piled with papers except for the spot for her laptop, and boxes lined the floor.
She was also wearing her favorite ratty velour sweat suit and had a pencil
tucked behind one ear. All these clues told me that she had a new case starting
up. I secretly hoped it would keep her so busy, she wouldn’t worry about me
while I was in Africa, but I was smart enough to know that would never happen.
    “Home by eleven, if not
earlier,” I said. “I have a lot to do to get ready for the trip.” Given how I
thought this evening would go, I might be home before nine.
    Mom shook her head. “I don’t
know whether to be happy or annoyed by that. Seriously, kiddo, give me some
trouble every once in a while. This military discipline is killing me. You’re
too young not to have some fun.”
    “I’m going out with a hot
cheerleader.” I kicked at the divider that separated the entryway tile from the
carpet in her office. “That’s fun.”
    “It doesn’t seem like it. You
look like you’re being forced to take medicine.” Mom got up from her chair,
weaving through the boxes to put her hands on my arms. “Matt, I know you think
this is a good way to get over Ella, but, trust me, it’s not. That’ll take
time. Trying to fill the void with someone you’re not head over heels about … well, it
doesn’t work. I tried.”
    “But at least you had a
running