Joined at the Hip

by Natasha West

  ‘Dude, let’s not make a bigger deal of this than it needs to be. You threw a curse. Which, any other day, I’d say was cool. I mean, fuck, that’s some serious Merlin shit. But you cursed my sister so I’m not gonna give you a slap on the back for it because frankly, man, it’s been a pain in the neck to deal with. But if you just break it now, and get these two’ he nodded at Jamie and Molly ‘detached from each other, we can all go about our lives. Yeah?’

  Henry looked from Max to Molly to Jamie. They looked serious. But how could they be?

  ‘Err, if this is a joke, I really don’t get it. But can I go back to class now?’ Henry asked, nervously.

  ‘Look, you little dickhead-’ Jamie began but Molly put her hand up and said ‘Wait.’

  Jamie allowed herself to be silenced, albeit unwillingly. Molly looked like she was thinking. And since her brain had managed to conjure up a way out of the assembly, however crap it had been, perhaps she could apply that inspiration to getting the boy to do what was necessary, whether it was a chant or a rain dance or whatever the fuck would reverse this curse. So Jamie, rather than get the boy in a headlock, let Molly take her shot. But she wasn’t going to give her long. She didn’t have the patience for messing around. Not when she might be a wanted woman.

  But Molly didn’t have a plan to extract the breaking of a curse from the teenager. She was coming at this thing from a different angle. She took a long hard look at Henry, trying to figure something out. Henry, uncomfortable as he was, allowed his face to be stared at. He didn’t really have much choice. Eventually, Molly turned to Jamie and said ‘I don’t think he knew he’d done it.’

  ‘How do you do a thing like that and not know it?’ Jamie demanded.

  ‘I don’t know. But think about it. If he knew he had the power to do something like that, he would have cursed that bully who knocked him off his chair. Turned him into a frog or something.’

  Jamie thought about it. That big kid had indeed been asking for a cursing, if anyone was. But the boy in front of them had simply sat on the floor, looking humiliated and powerless. And wasn’t that the perfect word for him? Powerless.

  Whatever he had, he was unaware of it.

  ‘What’s your name’ Jamie asked.

  ‘Henry. Henry O’Donnell’ he replied nervously.

  ‘Henry, I’m Jamie. This is my brother Max’ she said, gesturing to him ‘and you know Molly. Apparently.’

  He nodded, embarrassed at the small reference to his relationship, or lack thereof, to Molly.

  ‘And later on, I’m gonna ask more about that’ Molly added. But she didn’t want to break Jamie’s flow too much. She’d obviously decided to handle the situation with a bit more finesse than she’d had a few minutes ago. Molly was deeply relieved. She didn’t think you could beat magic out of someone. Or if you could, she didn’t want to. He was just a boy, not the Blair Witch. And he was nervous as it was. Maybe they could all just settle this nicely. If they did it that way, it was possible that in a few minutes’ time, Molly could be free.

  ‘Henry, I… Actually, it would be easier to show you this rather than explain it you. Molly, do you think you can handle a demo?’

  Molly nodded.

  ‘But this time, nobody runs. I don’t wanna crack my skull on this concrete. I’m gonna sit on the floor and you can start walking. Just drag me.’

  ‘Good idea’ Molly said and she watched as Jamie sat on the floor, cross legged.

  ‘This is gonna ruin my jeans, Henry, so I hope you appreciate this’ Jamie said as Molly began to walk slowly away.

  Henry watched as nothing immediately happened. What are they doing? But then, as Molly got a distance away, Jamie, her hands in the air so that Henry could see she wasn’t making herself move, began to shuffle, her bum dragging in fits and starts across the playground. Molly’s progress slowed as she hauled Jamie with effort.

  Henry started to laugh and said ‘How are you doing it? Is it some clear string or something?’

  Molly stopped and turned to Henry, saying ‘We’re not doing it. You did it. Just walk between us. There’s nothing but, I don’t know what to call it, a curse I guess, keeping us attached.’

  Henry rolled his eyes. He wasn’t going to be mugged off but he was prepared to play along. He walked between the girls but he couldn’t find the secret attachment.

  Molly, watching him walking back and forth between them, waving his hands about, trying to find something that he couldn’t touch, took a large step and Jamie nudged sharply forward.

  Henry jumped, frightened for a second. And then logic kicked in again. How were they doing this? It was a fantastic illusion.

  ‘Look, this was really funny, but I’ve got to get to class…’

  Max stepped in. They were going to need more than this.

  ‘Molly, come over here and grab Henry by the hands. Jamie, you stand there and hold onto me.’

  Molly dutifully grabbed Henry’s hands, who immediately began to go pink. Ten feet away, Jamie was standing with her brother, holding onto him by his shoulders. He grabbed hers and they were locked into place.

  ‘We’ve not tried this one before but I think it should be interesting. Everyone, hold on tight.’

  He pulled Jamie toward him while Molly held tightly onto Henry and the force that held them, having nowhere to go, began to pull the bodies parallel, tilting them until they were fully horizontal and hovering.

  ‘I’m totally jelly right now. You look like superman’ Max said to his sister, who was in full parallel position, body straight, nervously hoping her brother wouldn’t drop her.

  But Molly wasn’t nervous. She was elated.

  For the first time since this debacle had happened, Molly could feel the power of this magic. And it was extraordinary. She was flying. She was only doing it four feet above the ground, holding hands with a teenage boy with slightly sweaty palms. But still, flying all the same.

  Just for a moment, she forgot that this was a problem. Instead, it was a miracle.

  Henry, holding onto Molly and watching this madness happen, was less blissful. He was frightened. This was real. He could see it. He could even sort of feel it. The force that was holding Molly and Jamie, it was giving something off to him, something he remembered from last night. A kind of feeling, like a whiteness behind his eyes. That was as close as he could get to describing the sensation.

  The curse was true. And he’d done it.

  ‘OK!’ Max yelled. ‘Prepare for wheels down!’

  He took a small step forward and Jamie began to drop. He shuffled forward quickly, grabbing her before she could land on her face. Molly, on the other end, managed to right herself and get back onto her feet, which was lucky, because Henry had dropped her hands in his panic.

  Jamie and Max walked back over to where Molly and Henry were stood and they saw that the demonstration had worked. Henry believed. In fact, he was spinning out.

  ‘I didn’t… How do you even...? What kind of...? I couldn’t…’ he was burbling to himself. ‘I heard her say it that once, but I thought she was joking. But what if it is true? What if he does have that? Is it genetic? Like heart disease? But why wouldn’t he just say? What does this mean for me? Am I gonna do this all the time? What if I-’

  ‘Henry!’ Molly cried, grabbing him by the shoulders. He looked up abruptly. In his fugue, he’d forgotten he wasn’t alone. ‘I realise this is probably a big deal for you. But can you deal with it later? Because we need you to fix us!’

  Henry looked at her and said ‘How?’

  ‘I don’t know, do I? You’re the… Warlock!’ she said, realising how silly that word sounded out loud.

  ‘Warlock?’ Henry cried. ‘I’m not that! I don’t know how to break curses. I can’t even get my laptop to stop making that weird noise!’

  ‘Just say something.’

  ‘Like what?’

  ‘Well…’ Molly began, desperately trying to be patient with Henry. ‘Last night, you said something about us bei
ng stuck together forever and then the floor rumbled and that seemed to be it. So it’s words that did it. Words probably have to break it. So just say something like ‘You’re not stuck together.’

  ‘Alright’ Henry said and inhaled deeply. He didn’t know if it was going to help but he supposed there had to be something a little epic about the moment you break a curse. So, for want of a cape and a wand, he simply drew a long, dramatic breath into his lungs and then said ‘You’re NOT stuck together!’

  As anticlimactic as watching Henry say that in a school playground was, everyone hoped it had worked. But there was only one way they were going to find out.

  A few seconds later, Jamie and Molly were in a heap on the floor.

  Molly was deeply disappointed but Jamie shook it off a little quicker. ‘Try again’ she said as they climbed back onto their feet.

  What followed in the next twenty minutes was the magical equivalent of forgetting the password for your email. Henry tried every combination and permutation of words he could think of to try and untangle Molly and Jamie. He even tried saying the same words backwards. But nothing seemed to work. They were still very much attached, no matter what he said.

  After he’d tried everything he could think of (which had included checking some of the Harry Potter curses on his phone. Of course, they didn’t work. Harry and his friends had never encountered this particular problem), everyone was completely disheartened.

  ‘What now?’ Max asked.

  No one answered for a moment. And then, with a tragic little shoulder slump, Henry said ‘I’ve got to go home and talk to my Dad.’

  Eight

  ‘Get it off me!’ Max screamed as he swiped at a spider on his jacket’s arm. Jamie made no move to help him as he batted himself down in arachnophobic panic. Once he was certain the spider was no longer on his person, he turned around in the tight little space and said sarcastically ‘Don’t worry about me, Sis. I’m just fine!’

  ‘When you’re bound by a supernatural curse, I’ll be a bit more worried about you. But money spiders just don’t cut it right now.’

  Max rolled his eyes and turned back to look out of the tiny, dirty window of the small, dusty shed that he, Jamie and Molly currently inhabited. The shed belonged to Henry’s Dad, Aiden.

  They’d needed to stay close to Henry while he had his little chat with his Dad. Although he seemed remorseful about what he’d done, nevertheless, no one really trusted him not to run off if he was given the chance. So they’d demanded that he let them accompany him home to see his Dad.

  However, it wouldn’t have been useful for them all to stand there while he tried to talk to his Dad. So Molly’s first idea was to simply stand outside his house and wait. But then Jamie had reminded her that she couldn’t just stand around outside showing her face any more than she’d already been forced to. She wasn’t totally certain that her and Max were on the police most wanted list, but she couldn’t take the chance. They had to hide.

  The shed had been the only option.

  Jamie and Molly were next to each other, nearest the door, and neither one of them was happy about how close they were having to stand. There wasn’t room between them to swing a tampon.

  Jamie didn’t love being squished in with Max, but at least he was family. This kind of proximity with a stranger though? It was uncomfortable. Despite what they’d gone through together, she was still Molly the Till Girl. Still a mystery.

  Molly didn’t like it much more but in a strange way, she was starting to get used to Jamie’s presence. They’d been attached for about twelve hours now and it was like having a dog follow you around. Eventually, it became wallpaper.

  Still, the unspoken mutually accepted truce that had been in place for most of the morning had been on the proviso that this attachment was finite. And now it looked a little less so. Henry hadn’t been able to break his curse. And that had been their big idea. If he couldn’t do it, what was next? Molly didn’t want to consider the idea that there might not be another plan.

  Jamie heard a buzz coming from her pocket and carefully slipped her hand into her denim jacket, pulling her phone out to read the message. It was from her Dad. She opened it with trepidation. It was pretty much what she was expecting.

  Don’t think just because you snuck out this morning that we’re not going to have a little talk. I’m not happy, Jamie. You can tell your brother that he’s in the shit as well.

  Jamie wondered if she should pass the message on to Max. For about half a second. But there was no need to upset him too.

  As she thought about how she might be able to cushion the impact of all this on Max, she felt a sharp pain in her foot. ‘Ow’ she screeched. Molly, resettling her weight, had just stepped on her foot. ‘Careful! You almost broke my toe.’

  ‘I’m sorry’ Molly said, insincerely. ‘But maybe you could just budge up a bit. These paint cans are digging into my ankle. You’ve got a lot more room than me.’

  Jamie glared at Molly and said ‘Just so you know, ‘Sorry’ followed by ‘But’ is not a real apology.’

  ‘Christ’s sakes. What do you want? I stepped on your little toe. I didn’t burn your house down.’ And then she added, bitterly ‘Or hold you up at gun point.’

  Jamie made a face and said ‘Are you ever gonna let that go?’

  ‘Let it go?! Is that supposed to be funny?’

  ‘I’m completely serious. Yeah, fine, we tried to rob you. But we didn’t get very far. So get over it!’

  ‘Jesus’ Molly muttered to herself. ‘What kind of person does a thing like that and then tells the victim to get over it?’

  ‘Victim?’ Jamie snorted. ‘Don’t confuse what actually happened with that little performance you gave earlier in the assembly. I wasn’t really going to shoot you. And you knew it.’

  ‘Oh, I knew, did I?’ Molly asked, sarcastically.

  ‘Well, you didn’t act like you were gonna get shot. In fact, you were quite a snotty little bitch about the whole thing.’

  Molly’s mouth dropped open.

  ‘What did you just call me?’

  Max, who’d been listening to this growing fracas, wondered if he should intercept. But he was getting a bit tired of playing referee. He loved his sister. But she really needed to learn when to shut her mouth.

  Even Jamie thought she might have overstepped. But backing down wasn’t something that usually occurred to her, even when she had some understanding of her own wrongness. Like right now.

  ‘Do you want me to repeat myself? I called you a snotty little bitch.’

  ‘You…’ Molly began, unsure how to retort. She and Jamie had been sparring from the start. It was how they spoke to each other. But this was too much. ‘You’re a stupid arsehole who can’t even rob a mini-mart properly!’

  Jamie’s mouth opened to let fly at Molly. But her brother spoke instead.

  ‘Jesus, guys. Get a room’ he said absently, dusting a cobweb off his leg.

  Molly and Jamie looked at him sharply.

  ‘What’s that supposed to mean?’ Jamie demanded.

  Max looked up startled. He hadn’t really been paying attention to what he was saying. But it was clear to him that he’d just made a big mistake. The girls looked like they were thinking about kicking him in the nuts. And knowing his sister, it might be more than a thought.

  ‘No, no, no’ Max sputtered. ‘That’s just what people say in movies, don’t they? When two characters keep squabbling. And then they end up ripping each other’s clothes off.’ And then, seeing two scowls deepening, he quickly added ‘Not that I actually think that’s what’s going on here. It was just a joke.’

  ‘Well, it wasn’t funny’ Molly said. Jamie couldn’t help but notice a touch of pink in her cheeks as she said it. Was she actually embarrassed by Max’s joke? It had been dick-ish, for sure, but stupid. Not something to blush over.

  But then again, Jamie had a notion that Molly might not have had a ton of sex in her life. She worked night shifts in a
shitty shop. Not the most glamourous of settings to be picking up hotties. Or to be picked up in, for that matter. Not that she couldn’t do OK in that department if she took off the tabard and let her hair down. But maybe she didn’t know that yet, Jamie speculated.

  Jamie herself had never lacked in that department. Girls were easy. All Jamie had to do was walk up to a girl in a club, give her a certain look and then take her by the hand, leading her onto the dance floor for something that was just shy of foreplay. And then Jamie lead them off the dancefloor and all the way to bed. There were very few times that move hadn’t worked.

  She knew that probably wasn’t going to fly forever. Eventually, there had to be a time when girls would expect more than a one-night stand. But they seemed to intrinsically know that Jamie wasn’t after anything beyond that. It was as though Jamie had two words written on her forehead that everyone but her could see. Bad Girl.