Silence instantly fell. The cops, the guys, and Tetra stared at her in mute shock.
“Calm your asses down. All of you,” Val barked.
The guys retreated several steps. To their credit, the cops held their ground.
“Val, tell them to let me go,” Tetra ground out with forced calm.
Val shot her a murderous look, and the faerie shut up.
She strode past the cops and crunched over the broken glass. “Mateo, are you okay?”
The bodega owner hesitantly emerged from behind the counter, clutching a chipped and scarred baseball bat. “My doors,” he wailed.
“You’re not hurt?” Val asked.
Mateo shook his head. “No, but look what she did to my doors!”
“It wasn’t my fault!” Tetra cried.
Val whirled. “You shut up,” she snarled.
Tetra’s mouth snapped shut. Fury blazed in her eyes, but she made no sound.
“What happened?” Val demanded.
“We arrived on the scene at 9:04,” the first cop told her. “On arrival, I observed a motor vehicle on its roof. An aggressive female subject verbally attacked this group of male subjects. I asked the female to cease swearing, to which she responded by cursing at me. Thereupon, I restrained her to gain control of the situation.”
“Yeah, great job. Super-controlled situation,” Val muttered. She turned to Mateo. “Okay, what happened before they got here?”
Tetra stomped a foot, eyes burning. Val shot her a look that froze her in place.
“She crossed the street without looking.” Mateo stabbed a finger at Tetra. “These men came around the turn in their car—”
“She stepped in front of the car, Officer!” one of the men whined.
“Be quiet,” the cop barked to his credit.
“They braked hard and almost hit her,” Mateo went on, “so she cursed at them. She hit the bonnet with her fists, she was so angry!”
“This bitch dented my car,” the guy shouted. “What was I supposed to do?”
Tetra glowered.
“The men jumped out, all of them.” Mateo swallowed. “They screamed at her. Then she flipped their car.”
“How?” the cop demanded.
“I don’t know!” Mateo threw up his hands. “All I know is that the car flipped over!’
“I’m telling you, she did it!” The driver sneered at Tetra. “She did all this damage. She rolled the car!”
“What happened to your doors, Mateo?” Val ground out, struggling to unclench her jaw through the scarlet fog.
“After the car flipped, she turned and ran.” Mateo shuddered. “I grabbed the bat. I thought she would hurt me. She ran through the doors and broke the glass. They cost hundreds of dollars. Where am I supposed to get hundreds of dollars, Valerie?”
“It’s okay. I’ll pay for the damage,” Val promised. “I’m really sorry about all this, Mateo.”
The group of men fell abruptly silent and watched Val with glittering anticipation as though hoping she’d pay for their car, too.
“Are you family to this subject?” the cop asked, indicating Tetra.
Val sighed. “I’m the closest thing she’s got. Her next of kin, you could say, unfortunately.”
“What about our car?” one of the guys demanded.
“Is she under arrest, Officer?” Val asked.
“She caused significant damage,” the cop hedged.
Tetra snarled.
Val inhaled, held her breath for a second, and waited for the scarlet fog to fade. “Officer, think about this. Do you really believe that girl flipped that car?”
The cop glanced from the car to the men and back. “The eyewitnesses all corroborate the account.”
“Think about it logically. Look at her. Does she look capable of doing that?” Val asked.
“She did it! I don’t know how, but she did it!” one of the men insisted.
