“Normally they don’t. I think they like Ryker. You should come to the grove in summer. The Whimsy Willow nearly glows with the nests of fairies then.
“Well, thanks for your time. I’ve got to go find some person named Ruck now.”
He winked, dropped his clipboard to his side, and headed toward the door.
“He’ll be on the third watchtower.”
He nodded. “Thank you and have a magical evening!”
“Sure.”
I grabbed the book on my table, knowing I wouldn’t find sleep for a while. I flipped it open.
Magic, big word, gibberish, gibberish, gibberish, pulls tight together. Two of a soul are marked…
This book from Burn was near torture. Reading when you only understood ever other word was rough. They needed to make these books with more pictures.
Didn’t they know how many people couldn’t read? Not like I was the only one. You couldn’t throw a stone in the Ruins without hitting someone who was worse off than I was now. At least it would solve the sleeping problem. I could barely keep my eyes open.
20
Breakfast wasn’t going well. Even though there hadn’t been any more dead found since last night, the place was half-empty. The snowflakes were officially melting, and that was only the start of the problems.
Ryker wasn’t speaking, but he was doing plenty of staring, of an accusatory variety, while sending out magic in waves. Burn was sweating. Sneak was pulling at the front of his shirt, trying to ventilate.
The rate of chewing was accelerating by the bite. Burn was going to start swallowing chunks whole soon. I scanned the room, since it was either that or watch Ryker watching me. I wasn’t sure if he was angry that I hadn’t committed to merging magic with him or that I wouldn’t worm. Most likely both.
Ruck was in the showers, running late. Of all the mornings he didn’t rush in here for food like a starving man, it had to be today.
I found myself staring at the door, since there weren’t too many other places left to look. No one at the table was safe. Marra sat with Bugs and Ruck 2.0 in the far corner, and after last night, I really didn’t want to see her. That left the area by the door, so I spotted Knife the second he walked in.
He looked at our table and met eyes with me. I gave him a nod, hoping he’d take it for the invitation it was. He wasn’t my favorite person at the moment, but I’d take my chances on anyone who might be able to break up the tension at the table. He nodded back, leaving me clueless as to whether he’d come over.
I made the mistake of looking Ryker’s way, my eyes getting stuck on him as if his stare had glue.
What? Was I not allowed to invite people to sit at the table now either? Would that be added to my list of transgressions and general fuck-ups? I crossed my arms and forced myself to pull my gaze from his. I’d tear my eyes out and throw them out the door if I had to.
Knife smiled and headed toward our table. Without asking, he placed his dish down beside mine, took the seat to my left, and reclined, using the back of my chair as an armrest. He picked up a piece of bacon.
“What’s on the agenda for everyone today?” he asked between bites.
The heat from the magic spiked to boiling. So much for cutting the tension. Ryker shouldn’t have bothered inviting Knife here if he hated him this much. Although he was more calculating than he was emotional. If he had emotions at all.
“Probably rolling around in the mud,” I said.
Sneak fanned his shirt a couple more times.
“Violet, why don’t you come sit with us?”
At Ryker’s invitation, my head jerked to see Violet swing around so fast that her enormous breasts almost didn’t make it along with the rest of her. I hadn’t realized she was in the food building, let alone nearby. I wasn’t sure how I’d missed the drumbeat of her hips. She stopped suddenly but didn’t move or say something for a few seconds.
She glanced around her, as if unsure Ryker had been speaking to her. “You sure?”
Really? She’d pretty much offered to sleep with him at first sight and she didn’t think she could sit at his table? If it wasn’t the last chair available, I might’ve pulled it out for her myself. Someone needed to have a talk with this girl, possibly me.
But none of that was going to happen today, because it was the last chair and Ruck would be here any minute. That made it Ruck’s. That’s the way it always was, and Ryker knew it. He might’ve been annoyed Knife was sitting here, but he wasn’t making a point with my boy’s chair.
I leaned across the back of the last chair.
“Sorry. This is Ruck’s seat. It’s nothing personal, but he sits with me for breakfast every morning and he’s due any second.”
Her smile drooped like five-pound weights had been added to both corners of her mouth.
I gave her one of my awkward smiles, trying to soothe the sting. Violet, other than offering herself to Ryker, didn’t seem like a bad chick.
“Why don’t you find a free chair and pull it up,” I said, trying to be diplomatic.
Violet took a step back and looked around.
“Stay right there, Violet. The princess is going to give you the free chair,” Ryker said.
Violet took a half step forward, but was chewing on her lower lip and glancing at all the tables with open seats as if she’d prefer to not sit with either of us anymore. Bright girl. She should run while she could.
My jaw locked, and I turned to address the big, arrogant problem. “First off, where do you get off calling me a princess? I’m not. Second, give her yours if she needs a seat, loverboy.” Loverboy? If I wasn’t so annoyed with him, I might’ve been embarrassed for myself. “Princess” demanded retaliation, but that was the lamest comeback ever uttered.
Sneak had stopped fanning himself for a second to look at me cross-eyed. Knife groaned, as if I’d be getting life tips later on.
“You are a princess. You think everything should go your way.”
He was so delusional that he didn’t see reality anymore. “And it doesn’t because you call all the shots. Everything is your decision.”
“I’m glad you’re realizing that.”
Knife shifted in his chair. “Ryker—”
“Stay out of it, Knife,” Ryker said. “If I want Violet to have the chair, she’ll have the chair. It’s mine and I say who gets it.”
Even the chair was his? Seriously? And it better be the chair. If that was a hint at something else, it was going to be even worse.
“Is that supposed to mean something? Why don’t you just spit it out?” Knife asked.
I turned my attention to Knife. “Thank you, but this isn’t your fight.”
Knife threw a hand up and leaned back. “Not so sure about that, but fine.”
I turned all my attention back to Ryker. Our magic was churning against each other’s. The candles in the room flared and you could smell electricity in the air, as if a bolt of lightning was about to shoot down from the ceiling and char us both, leaving our ashes behind. I didn’t give a fuck, and from the feel of the buzz, neither did he.
I leaned closer to Ryker. “You’re right: you have perfect control of your magic and you own everything. You’re always right and the world should fall at your feet the way all the girls in this place do.” I glanced at Violet and said, “Nothing personal.”
She shrugged. I kind of liked this girl.
“Yes, the girls do. Bother you much?” He arched a brow as if he already knew the answer.
“Not even a little.” I stood, my chair falling back. “You know what? You’re right. It’s all yours and you make all the calls. But not for me. I don’t need your shit. I don’t need your food. I don’t need your room.”
“Really? Where do you plan on going?” he asked, leaning back and crossing his arms.
“Wherever I want,” I said as I walked past him.
I didn’t look back as I left. I didn’t look to the sides to see anyone’s reaction to the massive public fight.
I kept walking, eyes forward, hoping he wasn’t going to tackle me to the ground before I made it out the door.
He didn’t, and I kept walking, right until I got to the border. Then I stopped, looked up, and let out a scream, because I knew I was far enough away that hopefully no one would hear.
I couldn’t leave. Leaving was death. I wouldn’t leave without Ruck anyway. Plus, I didn’t know what would happen if I did. I’d lost the challenge to Ryker and I was stuck. Plus, he’d know the second I crossed his ward, so how far would I get if he didn’t want to let me go? And most of all, I needed as many stones as I could get.
I dropped to the ground and planted myself. I grabbed a handful of dirt as I sat there, knowing I couldn’t ask the worm what to do. I’d made a promise. Plus the worm had already told me what to do many times before. Leave here.
Truth be told, even if I could worm it, and it told me to leave, I probably wouldn’t. This place had become my home. I’d rather stage a rebellion and get rid of Ryker than leave.
21
I made my way back to my room and piled up all the books I’d collected since I’d been here, along with my change of clothes and a few other things I’d accumulated. I grabbed the corners of the blanket, slung it over my back, and headed out. I didn’t look back. After all, this room wasn’t mine. I couldn’t afford to miss it.
Ruck hadn’t shown for breakfast while I’d been there, but I knew he’d be back at his room afterward to crash. Since he’d been doing the night shift, he’d become nocturnal.
He found me first, halfway to his place. His furrowed brow meant word of the big blow-up had already echoed out fast enough that he’d heard.
“What’s with the stuff?” He raised his voice as I weaved in between people and continued to his place.
“I need you to keep my stuff safe for me.” I walked into his room and dumped every possession I had on his bed.
Ruck followed in and stopped in front of his bed beside me, his head tilted downward. “What happened to your room? I heard you guys were fighting, but I didn’t know he kicked you out.”
“He didn’t kick me out, but everything is Ryker’s, haven’t you heard? Every. Single. Thing.” I moved closer, my shoulder brushing his. “I don’t know where to put my stuff.”
“I’m guessing you aren’t going to sleep there either?”
I shrugged. “Not my room. It’s his, like this entire universe, probably.”
And then Ruck did Ruck. He leaned down and picked up the books and brought them to his shelf on the other side of the room. He lined them up on the empty half, opposite his things.
After he finished with that, he took my sleep shirt and my spare set of clothes and brought them over to his hooks. He took his clothes, doubled them up on one hook, and then hung mine on the other.
He turned back to me. “You can sleep here. It’ll be like old times, except better, because this roof doesn’t have a hole and we don’t have to fend off other crews. Plus, even though the food has taken a nosedive lately, it’s still better than hollyhoney.”
“I can’t crash here. This place is his too.”
“He said it was mine. His words. If it’s my room, I get to say who stays in it.”
It seemed like a technicality. But it was a valid one.
“Thanks.” I dropped my head onto his shoulder. “If I weren’t so emotionally scarred and could still love, you’d be the man for me.”
He swung an arm around my shoulders. “I know you’re a scorned woman and all, but to be clear, I can’t be your rebound. Little Ruck won’t perform on command, and he’s been pretty adamant about not liking vaginas.”
My shoulders shook a little. “That’s okay. I’ve seen Little Ruck. I’m not sure he’ll be missed.”
“If I didn’t find your girl parts revolting, you’d be the one.” He squeezed my shoulders a little too hard. “By the way, don’t even think of leaving here without me.”
The levity of the moment crashed and burned. “I can’t. You know I can’t.” I had Bones waiting in the wings ready to snatch me up, and I didn’t have a plan.
“At least you aren’t being totally stubborn and stupid.”
“I have my moments of wisdom, but there’s always tomorrow.”
I peeked around the corner of the building, making sure Ryker wasn’t lingering outside his place, before making a quick path to Sneak’s. Banging on the door, I hoped he answered soon.
He did.
“What’s up?” He looked beyond me as if he expected someone else to be with me.
“You have all the magic books, right?” I tried to see into his place. It was messy with stacks of the books piled up all around. “There,” I said, pointing past him. “Those are them, aren’t they?”
“Why?”
I faked left, knowing he’d tried to block me, and then shot right. He grabbed for me, and I sent him a shock.
He immediately released me, waving his hand. “Damn. I forgot you could do that.”
That was what I’d counted on. I made my way to the stacks as he stood back and watched. I squatted down, trying to read spines the best I could. “Why are you trying to keep these from me? I’m the one who needs them.”
“Because you can’t read that well, and we need them read,” he said, coming closer.
“I’m better. I’ve been practicing a lot.”
History? Was that what that word was? There were a lot of books with that one. Would that have what I needed? It might lead to the history of those stones, but I doubted that was in most. I’d never heard of them until Ryker told me about them, and I knew I wasn’t the only one.
“Here,” Sneak said, walking to another stack of books on the other side of his living room. “These were the first ones we went through, since they held the best chance of finding out about the Debt Collector. No one found anything, but give them a try.”
I wasn’t sure how I felt about getting the seconds. On one hand, they’d already been read. On the other, I knew people and how they slacked. “Give me the best ones.”
He looked over the pile and methodically plucked out four from the three-foot stack. “Here.”
“Thanks.”
There was something else Sneak was in charge of gathering intelligence on, and I glanced around his place. There was nothing obvious lying about the living area, but maybe it was somewhere else. If his place was laid out like Ryker’s, the bathroom would be off the bedroom. “Could I use your—”
“No. You’ve gotten all you are going to get.” He walked to the door. “You try it, I’ll tackle you to the ground, and I don’t care how badly you zap me.”
“Fine. Fair enough.” I took my books, only pausing to make sure Ryker wasn’t lingering outside, before hightailing it out of there.
I climbed up to the top of the tower a few hours later. Magical Theory was tucked into the front of my pants, and there was an hour of sunset left.
Ruck looked over. “Is that a book, or are you just happy to see me?”
I stopped short. “That might’ve been the stupidest joke I’ve ever heard.”
He shrugged. “They can’t all be winners.”
I dropped beside Ruck. “Your good joke average is dropping.”
He ignored my jab and looked at what was in my hand. “Ugh. Not the boring book again. I told you I was done with that when you tried to shove it at me this morning.”
“I know. You also told me that same thing before you left for work tonight. Do you remember what I said to you?” I gave him my best teacher look. Whenever I was eavesdropping on the school and the teacher gave them this look, they all went silent and did whatever the teacher wanted.
His shoulders dropped as he said, “That I’m basically your brother.”
“And?” I asked, laying the teacher tone on thick.
“That means I have to do what you tell me.” He held out his hand for the book. I knew he would’ve anyway, even without the spiel, but I liked the practice.
I flip
ped to the page I’d left off at and then placed it in his hand, stabbing the spot I wanted him to read. “I can’t figure out what that second chunk means.”
“You watch, I’ll read.”
I scanned the perimeter as he scanned the page. Ruck understood more than me. He’d had a few more years with a family before things had turned bad for him. Still, neither of us had led an academic life.
“Magic of well suit pulls tight?” Ruck asked, reading the first line, his words stilted.
“What does that mean?”
“I don’t know. Let me read the rest. Sometimes it’s the stuff around the important words that makes it understandable,” he explained as if he were an old hand at this sort of thing.
I kept looking out while he read some more.
“This section is on magical mating,” he said.
“Okay. Just tell me what it’s trying to say.”
“I think the person who wrote this believed that sometimes magic that produces a good line pulls two people together. He’s comparing it to a known phenomenon with dulls. He says dulls are attracted to other dulls because they can smell a good genetic match, whether they realize it or not. Looks like with Wyrd Blood, he thinks the magic does it instead, and it’s a stronger pull.”
He handed the book to me and went back to watching the border. Was that what was happening with Ryker and I? Did our magic want us to get together to pop out little magical babies?
I flopped back on the platform and rested an arm under my head to watch the sunset. “That doesn’t make any sense. Ryker told me that most of the time Wyrd Blood magic seems to thin out through the generations until it pops up, like with me. Most Wyrd Blood give birth to dulls, and dulls are the ones who have the strongest Wyrd Bloods. Everything I’ve seen says he’s right.”
“Why don’t you ask him what he thinks once you start talking to him again, because you know you’re going to have to.”
I shot up. “Why do you like him so much?”
Full Blood (Wyrd Blood Book 2) Page 13
