Lucy at Peace

by Mary E. Twomey

  Stina’s words came out in a rush between deep breathing through the pain and the occasional scream. “Johannes already has control of the Tonttu and the Nisse tribes. He’s going to wage war on King Gunnar’s tribe to the North!” She was sweating as her thigh bled, the red dripping down her leg and pooling on the floor.

  Jamie was pale as he moved around Tucker’s chair, stood in front of Stina, placed his hand on her shoulder and jerked out the knife. He gripped the back of her head and bent forward so she could rest on his shoulder through her scream. Despite that Stina was the one who poisoned him, inadvertently broke up his marriage and used him to torment me, Jamie held her, stuck as she was to the chair. “There, there. I won’t hurt you. My father is the worst kind of warmonger. The Nisse King passed already? Jokull married Freya, so he’s ruling the Nisse now?” He watched with sadness as Stina nodded emphatically into his shoulder.

  Jens’s voice came out frustrated and angry, torn between needing the information and not being willing to stoop to the necessary means to procure it. He had bags under his eyes and he leaned forward in his chair, wanting to get to whatever inevitability was on its way. His fist pounded on the table, angry at the cards we’d all been dealt. “You really think they’d let you back into Undraland? You’re the only witness to Johannes ordering a hit on his own son! As soon as Jamie went down, you’d be next to go. They’ve probably already worked it out to pin his death on you!”

  “Jeneve wouldn’t do that to me! You’re wrong!” Stina cried on Jamie’s shoulder, and I saw clearly the caliber of his quality. He was a man above stooping to violence to solve his problems, and I loved him for it.

  “And you’re a fool.” Jens’s voice sounded disappointed. “Oh, Stina. Don’t you see it? You’re the one who came to visit us the day Jamie was poisoned. It’s all traced back to you. Jeneve can just lie and say she saw you do the whole thing at the gate. And FYI, you did poison Jamie! Jamie, who’s never done a thing to you! Jamie, whose shoulder you’re crying on!”

  “I know! I know!” she cried, morose. “I didn’t want to do it, but King Johannes said it was the only way he’d let me back in! He was going to give me his arv so I could be in line to rule Tonttu next after him!”

  Jens’s response waited a beat and came out laced with pity. “This is just too sad. I can’t even be properly mad at you because you’re so stupid. They’d never let a Huldra back into Undraland, first off. Secondly, they’d rather tear the whole aristocracy system apart than let a Huldra rule on a Tomten throne. You’re not even Tomten!”

  “Johannes was going to change the rules for me! I would have Tomten blood in me if he gave me his arv!” Stina wailed, though as she said this, I heard her conviction waver. When Jamie released her, he took a step back so he could observe her besotted state. “The poison wasn’t really supposed to kill him,” Stina confessed. “It was just going to warp his mind so they could rule him unfit for the throne, I swear! I didn’t want to kill Jamie, so I found a way around it for Johannes. Getting him declared dangerous or crazy so they’d disown him is just as good, and no one had to die!”

  Jens was incredulous as he stood, relinquishing his seat at the table for Jamie to sit in. “Then what were the bounty hunters for? You tried to kill them, Stina!”

  Jamie was somber, his voice the only that didn’t shout. “Jeneve can be quite persuading when she’s properly motivated. I wonder what riches Father promised her to befriend you and pull your strings.”

  I don’t think Pearl Romanov pictured a beautiful woman tied to a chair, bleeding, lips burned when she had her kitchen designed with cream counters and tabletop with peach accents and a matching backsplash. Stina choked on her tears, struggling against the duct tape to no avail. She tried to purse her lips to whistle her way out of the mess, but they were so badly burned that she could not mold them to whip out her weapon of choice.

  Tucker piped in with, “Nobody puts much stock in sanning basilika, but I never do business without my own personal truth serum.”

  When Jamie spoke, it was without hope. It was almost as if he didn’t care what the answer might be, and had resigned himself to his doom. “Can you undo the curse you put in me?”

  “I don’t know,” Stina admitted. “It’s been too many days. I’m surprised it hasn’t already taken him completely over.”

  Tucker was seated at the table a couple feet away from her, an ankle crossed over his knee. He leaned back in his chair as if the whole scene bored him. “I’ve been working to fend off the roots from taking hold. You can see Jamie stands before you unaffected for the time being. Do what you can to save him.”

  Stina considered Jamie with tears in her eyes. “I don’t have the tools! I don’t know if I could fix it in time.” I noticed wetness on the black material of her sleeves as she coughed and screamed.

  “You’ll do this as if your life depends on it, which it does.” Jens took his knife out of his boot and stabbed it into the arm of the chair next to her wrist. I was horrified to see my boyfriend so scary. “Fix it, or I’ll lock you in a room with Jamie once he Hulks out. You can’t whistle your way out of this, Stina.”

  Her shock was sincere, which made the whole thing worse. She whispered to Jens once she’d swallowed, “I can’t believe you’d do that to me. You said you liked me! You… When we were… You said…”

  Jens shook his head. “Stina, you know my attention span. You let your imagination run away with you. I was a conquest, and you were a distraction. We were never anything special together. Now fix him or you’re dead.”

  “No! It’s my only chance to go home! I just want to go home to Undraland!”

  Jens looked as if he loathed himself when his fist slammed down on her thigh, pressing into her knife wound. Her shrieks reached new heights when the pain was coupled with the betrayal of the torture coming from Jens. “You’ll fix my brother now!” he roared.

  Jamie was on his feet, ripping Jens away from the thrashing Stina, whose head lolled back as the waves of agony rippled over her body. She muttered incoherently as she tried to find herself through the haze. Jamie pinned Jens to the wall, and though I knew Jamie was strong, I also understood that feat was only possible because Jens allowed Jamie to dominate him. Jamie looked deep into Jens’s eyes, seeing the end of the rope that Jens was desperately grasping. “You don’t want to do this, brother,” Jamie breathed, his forearm to Jens’s throat. “This isn’t you. Don’t lose yourself for me. That’s not what I want.”

  Jens was lost; I could see his despair through Jamie’s eyes. “I can’t lose you both,” Jens whispered, near tears. “If we can’t undo the curse? You’re both… I can’t do this by myself!” He slumped against the wall, and Jamie – my beautiful brother – caught Jens up in a bear hug, gripping him in that unshakeable way.

  “I know who you are, brother,” Jamie growled, holding Jens together when he fell apart. “I know, even when you don’t! I’m not worth your soul, Jens. You’ll not torture this woman in my name.”

  “Tell me now!” Tucker roared, sensing Jamie was about to put an end to playtime. When Stina shook her head, her black ponytail coming loose and leaving frayed strands framing her face, Tucker reached the end of his patience.

  I couldn’t see through Jamie’s eyes anymore, since he was hugging Jens with emotion blurring his vision. I stepped out from around the corner. For what purpose? I’m still not sure. I watched in horror as Tucker took Jens’s knife from the arm of the chair next to her wrist and used it to cut off Stina’s pinky finger. Jamie and Jens were still hugging each other as if they needed the embrace in the same way they needed air, so they assumed the screams were from leftover pain from her many injuries. Only I saw what Tucker was doing.

  I didn’t think; I just ran. I tackled Tucker around the waist and broke him from Stina, her severed pinky in his hand. I didn’t have the wherewithal to knock him over, only to break him from his sadistic reverie. “You can’t do that!” I wailed, pushing him as hard as I could, bu
t not making much progress.

  Jamie turned around when he felt my horror, his own peaking when he caught onto the gore dripping from the appendage in Tucker’s hand. “Lucy, sweetheart, go upstairs! You don’t need to be here for this.”

  Stina threw her head back and screamed at a new volume, thrashing in the chair Jens had tied her to. Jens came to life at the sight of me, posturing and extracting me from Tucker. His arm banded around my ribs so he could gently jerk me back toward the doorway. “Go upstairs. I’ll take care of it. Jamie, get a rag or something so she doesn’t lose more blood.”

  I saw the fire in Tucker’s eyes coupled with the playful grin of a boy caught doing the wrong thing. He waited until Stina could focus on him, and then clicked the fingers of his free hand, summoning a flame the size of a few candles on a birthday cake. He dangled her pinky over the fire and started singing, “Ring around the rosy, pocket full of posies.”

  “No, Tucker!” I shouted, lunging in Jens’s grip to stop the madness I knew was a heartbeat away.

  Jamie didn’t know the song. He didn’t know the next line, but he acted on my word and on his good heart. “Stop!” he commanded, not expecting Jens to take his free arm and restrain him around the chest, pulling us both back toward the doorway.

  “Do it!” Jens roared as we struggled. I always underestimate how friggin’ strong my boyfriend was, but this was the dude who wrestled a giant rabid Werebear and won. He handled me and Jamie without more than a few grunts.

  “No, Tucker! Stop!” I yelled.

  Tucker smiled at Stina and whispered, “Ashes,” and the finger went up in flames.

  Stina howled and somehow I broke free. I can only assume it was because of the self-loathing I felt rippling off of Jens that I was permitted to run at Tucker and start wailing on him. “You’re a monster! You’re a monster!” I cried, punching his stomach and chest over and over. Jens was struggling to contain Jamie, who was livid and thrashing to get at Tucker.

  Tucker pinned my arms to my sides and wrapped me in a hug I wanted to boil off my body. “This is the only way, pumpkin. Jamie’s going to turn into the monster if I don’t get her to tell me how to stop it. I won’t have the prince running around, tearing up your mind like that. I’ve had enough of her messing with Jens. You’re important to Jens, so I have to save you. Saving you means saving Jamie, so I’ll do it until the job’s done.” He turned me around, one arm securing my arms to my sides and the other hand covering my mouth. I assumed he wanted his fingers bitten, so I set to work as I fought against his hold. “Alright, Huldra. What do we need to undo your curse?” Tucker asked, getting back to the matter at hand. “Gotta love that truth serum. Tell me now, or I’ll cut off another finger. You’ve got ten, so it’s on you how many you get to take to your grave.”

  Her words came out in a flood, panic flushing out any resistance. “Milk thistle seed, dandelion root, yellow dock root and virgin blood. And a sweet fruit. But I don’t have any of that stuff on me!”

  “Now we’re getting somewhere!” Tucker hissed when I bit through the skin on his ring finger, his hold mutating to a bruising grip on my face. “Jamie, in the cellar you’ll find canned peach preserves, courtesy of my dear Pearl. That should do just fine. My contacts can procure the other ingredients within the hour, if you can make the calls and go out on the pickups, Jens. Being that I’m in hiding, I doubt it’d be wise to bring attention to my whereabouts.” He let go of my face when my tears rolled down my cheeks and touched his hand.

  Jamie was released from Jens’s hold. “You got the information, now leave the woman alone.”

  Tucker turned in slow motion to Jamie, his eyes lit with malice. “Get the peaches from the cellar now!”

  After Jamie went down into the cellar, Jens whipped out his phone and made the phone calls Tucker requested, all the while avoiding my shocked gaze. Jens moved into the living room to avoid the hurt I radiated at him for not stopping his friend’s brutality.

  Tucker used his arm around me to lead me to the table, sitting me down without a word. He collected a white cereal bowl that had little peaches painted on the sides and set it on the table in front of me. When he moved in front of Stina, he stroked his left suspender slowly. “How much virgin blood do we need?”

  I expected Stina to curse him to the high Heavens, which she did. I expected her to use her sweat-drenched body to thrash around instead of sit calmly and answer him. What I did not expect was for Tucker to unstrap the suspender on his back and whip it over his left shoulder, slashing her across the face. Getting hit with the metal clasp would sting, surely, but the hook was nothing like I guessed would be on the end of a suspender. It had vicious-looking teeth that gripped her skin. It caught on her cheek and tore the flesh as it raked across her face, leaving a trail of ugly rips that sizzled as if she was being eaten by acid where she was bit by the silver teeth.

  Stina screamed anew, twisting in the chair as her cheek and chin dripped with blood and fizzled, eating away at the flesh. “One cup! One cup of virgin blood! A dash of yellow dock root, three pinches of milk thistle seed, one cup of mashed sweet fruits and three teaspoons of crushed dandelion root! Mash it all together, then pour it all down Jamie’s throat!”

  Tucker took the roll of silver duct tape off the kitchen counter and shut her burnt lips with the tape, muffling her scream. “That’s a good girl.” He tweaked her nose playfully, and then pinched the bridge, cutting off her air supply in what looked to be amusement. He smiled in the same playful, superior way he’d done when he’d teased me. Stina’s eyes were wide as she jerked around, turning red. I yelled for Tucker to stop, but he paid me no mind. “Jens is mine, which means his friends are under my wing. You Huldras think because Undraland fears you, the rest of us don’t know how to run a little pest control. Enjoy your last moments. The second we have Jamie sorted, you’ll have breathed your last.” He released her nose with another playful tweak before righting himself with that same lazy smile in place. He clipped the suspender back on his pants and moseyed over to the table I sat at as if he was sitting down to read the paper with me. “Shame to ask you for something as tawdry as blood, but since you’re the only virgin among us, duty’s fallen to you, little human.”

  So shocked was I that Tucker was capable of such violence, I just sat there with my mouth open. Tucker leaned toward me and closed my jaw, running his finger over my lips.

  “Jens!” I cried, stumbling out of my chair and running into the living room. “Jens!”

  Jens hung up the phone and wrapped his arms around my besotted form. “I know, honey. I didn’t want you to have to see that.”

  “Tucker wants to use my blood, but if he does, Jamie’s tongue will be scarred with my stars! It’s a terrible idea. Tucker’s dangerous! He just tried to suffocate Stina! You can’t leave me alone with him, Jens! I’m freaking out!”

  Jens squeezed me and kissed my forehead. “Okay. I’m here. We’ll find another virgin and take their blood. That shouldn’t be too hard.” He escorted me back into the kitchen, rubbing my back the whole time. I’d seen a great many terrifying things, but Tucker’s cool cruelty scared me with its unpredictable nature and the pleasure he seemed to derive from it. “We can’t use her blood, Tuck.”

  “Pesta’s arv on Lucy is a problem, but I’d say Jamie permanently torturing your girlfriend is your bigger problem here. I don’t think he’ll mind wearing stars on his tongue, given the alternative.”

  I buried my head in Jens’s shirt. “Hello! She’s sitting right there! That information’s private, Tuck. It’s dangerous for people to know about that!”

  Tucker laughed as if I’d just told a silly joke off the wrapper of a Laffy Taffy. “Oh, darling. You needn’t worry about Stina. She’ll be dead before you rest your pretty little head on my pillows.”

  Stina whimpered through her thrashing, begging me with her eyes to let her go.

  Jens stroked his thumb down my cheek. “Could you at least pretend there’s a woman in the room, T
uck? You don’t have to spell out all the details for her. This isn’t her scene.” He kissed my head as an afterthought. “You don’t have to worry about Stina telling anyone about your blood, Mox. I’ll take care of it, like I always take care things.”

  Jamie returned from the basement with a jar in his hand. “Is this the one?” He took in Stina’s bloodied face and grimaced. “Jens, do you think it’s appropriate for Lucy to be here? Surely you can spill her blood in the other room to spare her the details of your job.”

  Tucker picked up the bowl. “Where are my manners? Into the living room with you, käresta.” He unhooked his suspender again, and I shrank away from his unpredictable nature. He tutted me like I was a child. “Now, now. This isn’t for you. What could you have possibly done to earn my wrath?” He flicked the tip to Stina’s leg, catching it on her thigh muscle and ripping a three-inch chunk off. Stina and I screamed in unison, albeit, hers was a muffled outburst.

  Stina continued to thrash in agony as her skin sizzled while Jens pushed me out into the living room. Jens was grim as Tucker followed us, clipping his suspender back into place. Jens gave Tucker a light shove. “In case you were wondering, that was the opposite of helping her calm down.”

  “Sit,” Tucker ordered me.

  My newly acquired fear of him made me obey. I sank down on the plastic-covered peach couch with my head in my hands. “You can’t use my blood. It’s tainted. Please don’t cut me with your suspenders!”

  Tucker knelt down in front of me on one knee, pulling my hands from my face so he could look me in the eye. I couldn’t help the whimper that escaped my lips. Tucker spoke to me as if pledging some sort of allegiance. “I would never use these on you, söt flicka. They’re laced with a slow-acting poison. Huldras without pragmatism are dangerous. Stina tried to kill Jamie. She tried to destroy Jens, his sister and now you. Jens has saved my life on many occasions where I was careless. It’s my turn to save him. Stina’s dying tonight in my kitchen, and you’ll accept it.”