Fragility Unearthed

by Rebecca Royce

  I clenched my jaw and gripped the steering wheel hard. We were almost there. My GPS told me I had to turn in half a mile. Ross shifted in his seat.

  “It’s hard for me to remember the time with the Others somehow. But I do have this strong memory of Troy. Malcolm was in his face, really yelling at him.”

  I took a breath. “I don’t remember that.”

  “Well, you wouldn’t.”

  “Why not? I was privy to most of the goings on, I believe.” Or Malcolm would have told me about it.

  “Malcolm thought Troy was in love with you, and he was letting him know in no uncertain terms that he wasn’t to go anywhere near you.”

  I groaned. “Malcolm thinks the entire world is in love with me.”

  “In this case, he might have been right. Troy was always staring at you.”

  “I think he was lonely.” He’d spent more time by himself reading in the library than the rest of us combined.

  “I think he was a fruitcake. He was then. He is now.”

  On that I wouldn’t disagree. If Troy had a thing for me, this was the first I’d heard of it. Besides, there weren’t that many of us running around. Four girls. Everyone got liked at some point. Mary and Chelsea had had their wicked ways with a lot of the guys. I was solidly team Malcolm, and he was completely devoted to me.

  We parked the car a distance from the house. On quiet feet we approached. The last thing we needed was the neighbors calling the police. But we weren’t cat burglars, and every once in a while someone made a noise. We did manage to get to the house without any lights in the nearby houses flipping on. Block touched the door in front of him. It was locked.

  Henry shooed him to the side by waving his hands in the way. Victoria’s husband, for all his artistic temperament and quick smiles, had a sordid past. He bent over the door, pulling out a small file from his pocket. Seconds later, he had the door open. He turned around to Victoria and shrugged. She shook her head but smiled at him.

  Victoria could have probably opened the door magically, too, but given that Troy was also a practitioner, he’d probably feel the change in the energy around him.

  The door swung open quietly. Logan took the lead, Peter quick on his heels. We expected Troy to be asleep. Logan and Peter were going to get him out of his bed and deal with his wife if she put up any fight.

  Malcolm had to be in this house. Where else could he be kept nearby where Troy could feed the curse in a way he was sure to be unseen? I walked into the kitchen, already hearing the commotion upstairs. The yelling. A woman shrieked and then stopped. Whatever they were doing to restrain him, I didn’t want to see it. I had one initial focus—finding Malcolm.

  I put my hand on the kitchen table, and a good layer of dust came off on my fingers. They weren’t eating at the table very much. A pile of dishes were present in the sink, and the room stank. This was worse than the last time I’d been here. I opened several doors. A broom closet. A pantry. The third door wouldn’t open. It was locked.

  In the living room, the commotion from upstairs had made its way down.

  “You stupid turd. You thought you could get away with this? That we wouldn’t figure it out?”

  Troy’s voice cracked. “You always thought you were the only one who could do high spells. I’m as strong as you and then some.”

  “I guess we’ll see, shall we? I should have known when my head started pounding that I was dealing with a rank amateur doing spells above his pay grade,” Victoria snarled.

  I called from the kitchen. “Found a locked door.”

  Victoria rushed to my side. “Where?”

  I pointed at the basement. Troy knew we were here. A change in the energies didn’t matter now. With a whoosh, she turned the handle, and the door opened.

  “Thanks.” I rushed downstairs, looking for lights on the wall as I went. I didn’t find any, but Victoria behind me lit up the room. Troy had been smart. He wouldn’t face a Shadow with Malcolm and Chase if there was no light in the room. I’d take the Shadows right now. I’d take the whole damn universe.

  The lit up basement took my breath away. Troy had converted the whole damn thing into a dungeon. Cells and all. In the center of it—the monstrosity which could hold, if I wasn’t mistaken, up to twenty prisoners at a time—were Malcolm and Chase.

  There they were. I covered my mouth to stop the sob from coming out and failed. They both floated in the air. A small blue light in the corner of the room wasn’t pointed at them. That must have been what we could see in the scry attempts. The darkness and the faded light to the side. They were asleep. Passive looking, easygoing, like they didn’t have a care in the world. They just … floated, their heads leaning to the side.

  Malcolm wore the same clothes he’d been in when he left me so many weeks before. I’d understood, intellectually, but to see him there, seemingly frozen in time with no idea what happened around him, it made me want to vomit. I bent over and breathed through my nose. My strong, present Warrior was lost to this world.

  I walked toward him and reached out a hand. Nothing stopped me from touching him. “I hope you’re having great dreams.”

  To the side, there was a buzzing. I walked toward it. Malcolm and Chase’s phones were plugged into the wall. The sight struck me dumb for a second. Troy had kept their cell phones charged. He must have had to acquire the chargers unless he just had a ton of extras …

  I bent over. This man was so sick in the head I’d lost sight of normal. The phone buzzed because he hadn’t checked the messages in a few minutes. Chase had a reminder from his dentist that he was overdue for an appointment. And on Malcolm’s phone were all the messages I’d sent him over the last four months.

  Every private thought. Every moment of pain. Anger. Or the time I’d sent him the news he was going to be a father. Troy had read Malcolm’s private messages.

  “Victoria.” She’d smartly stayed quiet, leaving me to process this on my own for a second. “If I pulled them down would they stay down?”

  She shook her head. “No, sweetie. It’s part of the curse.”

  “The curse ends right now.”

  I stormed up the stairs, passing Block on his way down. “Kendall?”

  I didn’t answer him. I had something to do. I rounded the corner to find Troy and his wife—what was her name? I couldn’t remember and didn’t care—on their knees.

  I bent over until I could stare him in the eyes, inches from his face. “Victoria says that you can’t undo this curse. That it doesn’t go away until your powers are gone. Basically, when you’re dead. Is that true, Troy? You spent all that time learning everything you could about every topic under the sun. Maybe you found a way. Did you? Can you undo your own curse?”

  “No. And even if I could, I wouldn’t. I hate that prick. Chase is bad, but Malcolm is the worst. You’re all assholes. You should suffer. It made me happy to get every text you sent him.” He snorted. “I got off on it. We had sex more because I got so hard over it.”

  “I see.” And I actually did. I stood to my full height. “Michael.” The Others didn’t always show themselves but they were always with us. “I know you didn’t give me the knowledge you did so I could use it the way I’m about to. I’m the lightbringer right? Sometimes I’m not so light.”

  “Kendall?” Ross caught my attention. “Remember what you said to me in the car? Don’t lose your sense of self. Don’t stop being you.”

  I touched my belly. “I’m afraid this was always me. I sometimes like to pretend it’s not.”

  I turned and grabbed my purse, pulling the phoenix out of it.

  “Holy shit.” Logan spoke from across the room. “You brought it.”

  Troy raised his hand. Maybe he meant to curse me or use his power, but Victoria hissed in her breath. “Oh no. No. No. Arm down. You don’t use your powers while I’m around.”

  His arm fell to his side like he was a wooden soldier. Or the Tin Man from the Wizard of Oz. He wasn’t going anywhere. “Thanks, Vi
ctoria.”

  “Welcome. What are you going to do with that massively powerful object that should be buried in my backyard?”

  “The Phoenix giveth, and the Phoenix taketh away.”

  I pointed it at him, feeling the magic move through me. The bird who’d brought Mary back and healed me had appeared before. I’d used her to save a life, and Malcolm had called upon her to save me. For years she’d been dormant, and now I needed her all the time. That was okay; somehow I understood she’d expected this time.

  She wasn’t saving anyone today. “The Others regrew your skin. They placed it over your body, restored your power and let you have over two decades of life undisturbed. The end of the world is coming. It’s already here. And you’re hiding in your dirty, broken house like the selfish bastard you are. Everything that made Troy, Troy came from the Others and the power of the Others. Some of it is contained in here.”

  I held it up. “I don’t want you to have your powers anymore. And I’m afraid, Troy you Turd—to steal a phrase from the real deal, my best friend in the universe—you don’t get to be magic anymore.”

  The phoenix flapped her wings, and like bursts of yellow energy, Troy’s powers flew from his body and into the phoenix while she flapped her wings. Over and over again. At first he was silent, but then he started to scream.

  Loudly.

  His wife trembled, her head down.

  “Block, if you’re back upstairs, Logan and Peter—go catch Malcolm and Chase before they fall, please.”

  I heard scrambling feet. All my attention was on the phoenix. Victoria sucked in her breath. “I can feel it. The curse is going.”

  “One more minute then.”

  The phoenix cawed, a loud, startling sound and then returned into the idol that held her power. I staggered backward but didn’t fall. On his knees, Troy rocked back and forth.

  “I bet it hurts, Dr. Troy. Enjoy your human life. If you’re not going to help, and you’re going to hurt us, you don’t get to have them anymore.”

  “Hey,” Logan called from downstairs. “One more set of hands.”

  Ross turned and ran toward them. After what felt like forever, they all reappeared, one of Chase’s arms around Logan, the other around Peter. Block and Ross carried Malcolm the same way. They were still asleep.

  I turned to Victoria, and she answered my question before I asked it. “They’ll wake up eventually. They had it inside of them. It has to pass. Let’s take them home.”

  Mary sniffed. I’d totally forgotten she was there. Her eyes were huge as she stared at Chase. They hadn’t seen each other in so long.

  I was suddenly exhausted.

  “Let’s go.”

  They weren’t up, but we had them. They were with us.

  Victoria took my arm in hers and squeezed. “That was a hell of a magic you just performed. Did you make the bird do that? Can’t be a natural thing for her.”

  “I knew she could do it.” I could see it. Michael had used the bird once in that way. He’d taken someone’s powers in a struggle. I had a million memories of things I didn’t understand and never would. This one had come in handy. “I don’t think she likes it. That’s not her job; she saves us. Rebirth. That’s the phoenix right? Life from ash. But she could. I simply directed her that way.”

  My friend nodded. “I’ll tell you something about magic since you are now a practitioner, whether you know it or not. For every spell we do, there is a price. Sometimes it’s minimal. I broke the door open to the basement. Whatever reaction comes from my action, I’ll hardly notice it. Maybe a drawer in my kitchen will stick. But what you did? Forcing the phoenix to follow your direction, to do as you told it and take Troy’s powers? You will notice that reaction. It might be a good one. We don’t know how the universe judges us. Simply be aware when you decide to go all rogue and blow all our minds, it won’t go unnoticed.”

  “When should I expect my karmic return?” I’d heard her discuss this before, just never in reaction to myself. I didn’t think I wanted to have to worry about this crap on a regular basis. I shivered. I’d let Victoria manage the spells from now on.

  They’d smartly put Malcolm in my car. Ross took my keys from me. I climbed into the back and put Malcolm’s head in my lap.

  He was coming home.

  ***

  Over the next two days, I waited for Malcolm to wake, jumping with any movement from his body. His pinky had twitched, and I’d almost come out of my skin. Annika and Mary took turns fussing over Chase. Both guys remained asleep, and Victoria couldn’t give us even an estimate for when it would end.

  A knock caught my attention. My kids had come in and out of Malcolm’s room several times. They didn’t knock. But Block did. He handed me a water and sat by the bed.

  “Hate to do this.”

  I raised my eyebrows. “Going to tell me off again?”

  “No. Are you going to dig me with that for the rest of my life?”

  “Yep.”

  “Listen, I wouldn’t do this except I can’t get the feeling out of my mind. I walked past your father’s van, and I just felt …” He sighed.

  I stood. My heart was in my stomach. “What?”

  “That feeling I get when the Shadows are around.”

  “In his van?” I darted from the room. “Stay with Malcolm.”

  I made it outside in record time and was over to the van before I had time to get more panicked. I swung open the door without knocking. My father sat lounging in his favorite chair, legs spread, eyes dark. I froze. This wasn’t my father, and it wasn’t Michael looking out of his eyes.

  Why hadn’t I thought this could happen? Of course it could. If Michael could take over my father, then the shadows could too.

  I went cold. I’d almost lost Levi this way. I couldn’t go through this again. These creatures couldn’t be allowed to keep infesting my people.

  “Which one are you?”

  He scratched his chin. “A being that will make the one you call Top Hat look like a child. He works for me. He calls me Master. I got through your magic. I’m walking around here like there’s no blockage at all. And I’m going to be the last thing you see. Not today. Not tomorrow. When you are in my realm and you are not surrounded by your people and your waning faith that the Others put you on a path you could win. No, you don’t even know the game you play. But I do. Your so-called Michael is who he is because I made him that way. You’re done.” He stood. “And I don’t have an expiration date. I’ll be wearing this body when I kill you.” He held up his car keys. “You can go with me. Or get out of my van.”

  I’d hated this van. I’d wanted out of it almost as soon as I’d realized how unusual it was that I lived inside its walls and other children didn’t. But this had been my home. My mother had lived here. Every childhood memory I had had happened in this van.

  “You’re not taking this. Dad, if you can hear me, he’s not getting you or the van. Do you hear me? Not you or the van.”

  I jumped out the side door, seeing the others rushing from the house. I didn’t have time to call to them. I grabbed the light from the sun and started letting it get inside of me. It burned, and I didn’t care. It wouldn’t work on him anyway, but it couldn’t hurt to have it. No, first things first. I had to stop him from taking the van.

  He turned on the engine just as I flipped open the front of the car. If he wanted my van, he could drive it blind. I threw myself into getting busy. I knew how to fix it and rebuild. I didn’t even care what I damaged. I’d undo another time. I grabbed pieces of the engine and tossed them over my back. Piece by piece. He wasn’t going to be driving this van.

  “You stupid little girl.”

  I was covered in oil whenever whatever-his-name wearing my father appeared. “I was being kind to you. I took your old, nearly at the end of his life father. I could have taken your daughter or the one in your womb. I could take that baby right now.”

  My hand went over my stomach.

  “Kendall,”
Levi called out, rushing toward me. “Don’t let him take you.”

  “Tell your ex what it’s like to share a body with us, Levi. I’ve been kind to your father. He’s asleep. I could wake him and listen to him scream. Tell her, Levi. Tell her what your days and nights were like for so long while she left you in there.”

  I pointed at him, sending a course of sunlight through his body. He didn’t even budge. “Party tricks don’t work on me, Kendall. Now I am going to walk out of here, and you are going to—”

  “I am going to kill you.” I shouted at the top of my voice. “I am going to kill you over and over again. I am going to make it hurt.”

  I launched forward. I wouldn’t leave my father like I had Levi. I had to live with that, and for some reason he’d forgiven me and even seemed to understand. But I would not let this man walk around in my father’s body with no expiration date. If I had to kill my father, I’d—

  Arms came around me. “Kendall. Honey.” I gasped. It was a voice I’d been dying to hear, waiting to hear, and now he hauled me back toward him. “I don’t know what’s going on. I really don’t. But you can’t strangle the shadow out of your father. Okay? Let him go. He’ll have his day. I assure you. I promise you, Kendall, baby.”

  I stopped fighting. I had no more in me. I’d been hanging on by a tightly wound chord. Malcolm was back, and he promised we’d stop the shadow. Okay, I’d believe him.

  The shadow in my father’s body saluted Malcolm with a smirk before he took off down the driveway.

  I struggled in Malcolm’s embrace until he let me turn. I could look at him. His eyes were open. He was alert and all his focus was on me. “Tell me what’s going on.”

  “Tell two of us.” Chase called from the doorway of the house. “I can’t make sense of anything here.”

  I embraced Malcolm slowly, my head pressing against his chest to hear his heartbeat. “I’ll tell you all about it. You can’t possibly imagine what the last four months have been like.”