Spell of Binding

by Anna Abner

  “What is it?” he exclaimed.

  Tony’s image flashed erratically. “Get up! She’s going to a party with that jerk who gave her drugs. Get up! Get up! Get up!”

  David’s sleepy brain needed a second to catch up. Dani lay beside him, scratching the back of her neck as she woke up. Relief. She was there and safe.

  Tony only concerned himself with one female. Which meant it was his sister, his troubled fourteen-year-old sister, who had gotten him all riled up.

  “Is it Emi?” David clarified. “Did something happen?”

  Dani sat up, clutching the sheet to her body. “What’s wrong?”

  “It’s Tony,” he tried to explain. “He’s shouting at me.”

  “Tell him it’s one o’clock in the morning.” She lay back down and curled onto her side. “Geez.”

  “Are you not hearing me?” Tony pleaded. “You have to get up. You have to stop her!” He burst into noisy, agonizing sobs. “This could be it.”

  The details finally clicked in David’s mind, and he stood, fully awake. “Do you know where she is right now?”

  “Yes! Just hurry.”

  “David?” Dani called. “What is it?”

  “Emi is at a party, or on her way to a party, and Tony thinks she’s going to use drugs again. He wants us to stop her.”

  “Oh, no.” She groaned in sleepy frustration, but climbed out of bed and found her clothes anyway. “She said she’d do better.”

  “I guess our friendly paranormal intervention didn’t take.” He pulled on the same clothes he’d been wearing before he went to bed and didn’t even worry about brushing his hair or reapplying deodorant. Tony was in full emergency mode, blinking and crying in the doorway, urging him to hurry.

  Dani scurried beside him, finger combing her hair as she went.

  “Wait, what about Ryan?” He would not leave the boy unsupervised in the condo, but he also didn’t want to leave Dani by herself. It didn’t feel safe. They should all stick together.

  “We’re taking him with us,” Dani said, cramming her feet into her neon-pink sneakers. “He’ll sleep in the car.”

  It wasn’t his first choice, but it would do. “Fine.”

  The party Tony had freaked out over was a few teens in a rundown house in a quiet, residential neighborhood not far from where Emi and her mom lived.

  David stepped out of the car, checking the street in each direction, but there were no spirits, no casters, not even much traffic.

  “Hurry up!” Tony shouted. “What is your problem?”

  David approached the house while Dani waited in the Beetle with a sleeping Ryan. The house’s front door was closed, and very little light filtered through the windows, but music played, and he heard voices.

  As he raised his hand to knock, David had second thoughts. And third and fourth thoughts. What was he supposed to do? He wasn’t a cop. If he kicked the door down and dragged a fourteen-year-old girl out of the house, there was a very good chance he’d be spending the rest of the night in jail.

  He’d already spoken to Emi once about the dangers of partying. How far did Tony expect him to go? Because standing on a stranger’s doorstep, his hair uncombed and his shoes untied, was further than he’d ever expected.

  “Oh my God!” Tony exclaimed, clearly agitated with his lack of speed. “Will you just save my sister? Please.”

  He was already here. He might as well see this to the end. David knocked loudly on the door, and it was a long few moments before anyone answered. A back door banged closed as if someone had made a run for it through the grassy fields behind the house, but eventually a hippo of a man opened the door.

  “What?” he barked. “We turned down the music.”

  “Not interested.” David pushed around him. “I’m here for Emi.”

  “Who?”

  He spotted her immediately, even without Tony standing next to her and pointing. She looked very similar to the girl he’d met in Q’s Coffee Shop—black tights, short skirt, absurdly heavy makeup—except tonight she smelled like alcohol and smoke, and she was making out with a boy who had his hands places he really shouldn’t have them.

  That pissed David off. He grabbed the guy and shoved him away. It wasn’t David’s fault he didn’t know his own strength and the other man ended up face first on the floor.

  “Emi, what are you doing?”

  She blinked up at him with wide, unfocused eyes. “Huh?”

  The guy, the handsy one, got up and straightened his clothes. “You a cop? I didn’t do nothing.”

  David ignored him, reaching out a hand to Emi. She slapped it away and bolted. Even impaired and in high-heeled boots, she was fast.

  Tony went nuts, shouting and blinking to random spots around the room.

  Cursing under his breath, David chased her. He needed to know she got home safe, and he’d really like to talk to her. What was she thinking that made partying such a good idea? Especially after he’d told her about Tony. He just didn’t get it.

  As David ran past the lime-green VW, Dani stepped onto the sidewalk frowning. “Is she hurt?”

  “No.” Not that he could tell. Just pissed off at the world. And him. And probably Tony, too, for being unlucky enough to die young.

  “Stop it!” Emi shouted over her shoulder. “Leave me alone!” She veered to the right and dashed between two parked cars.

  David saw the vehicle coming way too fast as Emi stumbled off the curb. He put his engine into overdrive and grabbed her around the waist. Kicking backward off the nearest parked car, he catapulted them onto the sidewalk as the lunatic driver sped past.

  Emi elbowed him in the stomach and wrestled free.

  David lay there, stunned. Is that what a heart attack felt like? He patted his chest, half-afraid his heart had broken through his ribs and was flopping under his arm. But no, he was still in one piece.

  “Oh my God, oh my God.” Tony repeated the same words until they became gibberish.

  Dani jogged over with Ryan plastered to her chest in yellow SpongeBob footy pajamas. By the slant of his head, though, he was still sleeping. “Are you hurt?”

  “No.” He sat up slowly.

  Emi remained curled on the sidewalk, crying into her hands like the saddest rock star ever.

  “Are you okay?” he asked the girl.

  “What are you doing here?” she cried. “You have no right following me around.”

  “Tony found you,” he said. “He was scared, and he wanted us to get you away from those people.”

  She only cried harder. “I can’t take this anymore.”

  “She almost died.” Tony hovered, his arms down at his sides. “I don’t want her to die. She’s supposed to live.”

  David said, “It might sound tragic and dramatic, but Tony doesn’t want you to die and join him. Yeah, you’d be together, but you’d be dead. He wants you to live for the both of you and do all the things he can’t. Like graduate high school and drive a car and get married.”

  “She almost died!” Tony exclaimed. “I saw it. She almost—”

  “Tony, will you shut up for two seconds?” David couldn’t focus anymore.

  Emi stared at him with huge eyes made black by the moonlight.

  David didn’t know what else to say. She needed help, probably a lot, but he wasn’t exactly qualified. So, coward that he was, David hopped up to relieve Dani of the weight of his boy. They traded Ryan, who fell asleep again on his daddy’s shoulder. Like a wrestling tag team, tap, it was Dani’s turn. She sat next to Emi and brushed the girl’s hair from her face.

  “What are you doing?” Dani asked. “This isn’t you.”

  At the sound of Dani’s voice, Emi roused herself and sat up, wiping black eyeliner and mascara across her cheeks. “Did Tony really tell you to come get me?”

  “Would we be here otherwise?” she asked and then added, “You’re not helping anyone with this behavior. No one, least of all you, is benefitting from your drinking and making out with sk
eevy guys.”

  Emi grumbled something against her knee.

  “What?”

  “It hurts,” Emi confessed. “I’m just so sick of feeling sad all the time.”

  “Enough of that.” Dani stood and yanked Emi to her feet. “As you get older, you’ll realize everyone has a sad story. And this is yours. But that’s not a good reason to ruin your life at fourteen.” She slung an arm around the girl’s shoulders and got her moving toward the car. “Come on, we’ll take you home.”

  His admiration for Dani, which was already pretty high, quadrupled in that moment. If he hadn’t been carrying his sleeping son, he’d have hugged her. He had to settle for giving her a look that said, “Thank you, you amazing, remarkable, caring woman.”

  With a little help from Emi, David found her house in the dark. There was a Honda in the driveway, but all the lights were off.

  “Is your mom home?” David asked, pulling in behind the import.

  “Yeah.”

  “I’m guessing she doesn’t know you were at a party on a school night.” Or maybe she did, what did he know?

  “I snuck out.”

  Lord. He pictured a fourteen-year-old version of Ryan climbing out his window to cause mayhem. And David had the panicky need to buy parenting books. Lots and lots of parenting books.

  “I’m coming with you,” Dani announced. “I’ll get Ryan. You just find her mother.”

  He didn’t have to try very hard. Emi ran up the steps, shoved through the front door, and slammed her bedroom door shut. Her mother, he guessed, was the lady sitting at the small kitchen table blowing smoke out the window.

  She stubbed out her cigarette and leapt to her feet when she spotted David. “What’s she done now?” She stared at him with eyes identical to Emi’s.

  David was too tired and strung out from nearly witnessing a car crash to be polite. “Did you know Emi was at a party with an older boy?”

  “You’re not the police, are you?” She sat down and lit another cigarette.

  “I’m a concerned citizen,” David explained, sounding lame even to himself. “I knew Tony,” he fibbed. “I want to see her succeed in life.”

  “No offense, whatever your name is, but mind your own business.” Thick gray smoke streamed from her nose.

  I wish I could. “I’m sorry about your son.” He brushed away crumbs from her table and then helped himself to a seat. “He was a good kid.”

  She didn’t respond, and David glanced at Emi’s closed bedroom door. It would be so easy to leave…

  Tony shimmered in front of the fridge, watching and listening.

  “But,” David added, facing Mrs. Pickett head on, “your daughter is not doing well.”

  “Neither one of us is ‘doing well.’” She snorted. “My son is dead.”

  Dani entered the house with Ryan on her chest, looking very comfortable holding his child. He used to imagine Jordyn joining him in the child care activities—changing diapers, giving baths, feeding pureed fruit and veggies—but he’d eventually come to the realization that Jordyn would never enjoy those parts of parenthood. Her mothering experiences began and ended with pregnancy and birth. No matter how much David wanted more for her, that was all she’d been given.

  But seeing Dani with his son, something shifted behind his ribs. For the first time, he felt like he could set aside his grief and the longing for his wife and look to a future where he and his son were happy together. And perhaps that future included Dani.

  The realization that he could love Jordyn and still let her go lightened him right up. Somehow, he wanted to help Mrs. Pickett and Emi reach the same peace of mind.

  “Listen,” he said, “I’m no expert, but I lost my wife four years ago, and I didn’t know how I’d ever survive it. I couldn’t understand how the sun came up and she wasn’t there. I didn’t know how I’d even breathe without her.”

  “Yeah.” She covered the quiver in her voice with more smoking.

  “But the sun keeps coming up, and I keep breathing.”

  Dani edged nearer. “We care about Emi, that’s why we’re here.”

  “Right,” David agreed. “I’m going to find you and Emi a therapist who will talk you through the grief. I’ll pay for it. You don’t have to worry about money. I just want her to grow up in one piece and graduate high school. She deserves that, at least, but right now—” He frowned. “It doesn’t look too good.”

  Mrs. Picket wiped at her eyes. “I’d really appreciate that.”

  “And let her know you care that she’s sneaking out and drinking and hooking up with guys,” David said. “When I was depressed, it helped to know my friends and coworkers gave a crap about me. It helps. I promise.” He gestured to the closed bedroom door. “Can I talk to her for a minute before we leave?”

  He took Ryan off Dani’s hands, and then tapped softly on Emi’s door. “It’s David,” he said. “Can I come in?”

  There was a rustling noise, and then she opened the door and sat on the bed looking very small and young.

  “I can feel him all around me,” she mumbled.

  “That’s because he’s checking up on you all the time.” David lifted Ryan a little higher on his shoulder. The boy snuffled against his neck and then relaxed. “You’re hurting Tony every time you do this self-destructive crap. Because he can’t do anything but watch and come wake me up at one in the morning.”

  Emi shrank into herself even further.

  “You weren’t planning on going to school tomorrow,” he guessed, “but now you are.”

  Her head snapped up and he got a full view of her reddened eyes, her smeared black makeup, and her quivering chin.

  Before she could argue, he added, “When my wife died, one thing that really helped was getting back into my normal routine. Go to work, wash the car, shop for groceries. So that’s what you’re going to do tomorrow morning. Consider it the first step on your road to a high school diploma.”

  “I’m not ready,” she said.

  He wasn’t sure if she meant physically, emotionally, or homework-wise, but it didn’t matter. “Then your first step might be the toughest, but you’re still going to take it.”

  Tony shimmered into being on the bed beside her. He didn’t say anything, just observed her with shiny, unblinking eyes.

  “Is that your son?” she asked, squinting at Ryan.

  David stroked his palm down the back of Ryan’s warm and fuzzy pj’s. “Yes. He’s four. His name is Ryan, and he’s not usually this quiet.”

  Emi crossed the room. “Can I touch him?”

  He hesitated. “Sure.”

  With the most tender of touches, she swept the backs of her fingers across Ryan’s face. “He has really soft cheeks.”

  David had often marveled at the delicate nature of his young son’s skin. “They’re like marshmallows, aren’t they?”

  She cracked a tiny smile, and her face softened. She finally resembled herself.

  “Here’s my card. Again.” One-handed, he dug it out of his wallet and laid it on her cluttered dresser. “I’m going to check on you soon. And I’ll find you someone to talk to who knows about grief. Okay?”

  She bent until her face was lined up with Ryan’s, and her gaze crisscrossed his features. Finally, she patted his back once, and returned to her bed.

  “Good night.” David turned to go.

  Tony whispered, “Thanks, David. I’m gonna stick around here for a while, okay?”

  “Remember,” David said to Emi, “you can call me anytime.”

  He and Dani said their good-byes to Mrs. Pickett and got back into the rental car.

  “That was rough,” Dani announced as they headed across town. “Seeing her like that almost makes me not want to have kids. Ever.” She chuckled.

  “Almost?” he teased.

  “I still want to have children,” she assured. “And I think there’s hope for Emi. She’s just in a lot of pain, and alone, and she doesn’t know how to deal with it.”


  “She’s not alone anymore,” he said. “You were really great back there.”

  Dani laid her hand on the back of his neck and massaged the muscles he hadn’t realized were so tense until right then. “So were you.”

  “Thanks, but when Ryan is fourteen, will you remind me to nail his bedroom window closed?” He was only half kidding.

  “You won’t need me to remind you,” she said, her fingers working magic on the stress in his neck. “Because this is the kind of night you won’t ever forget.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  David woke in a great fricking mood. Which surprised him considering the night they’d had, but he couldn’t remember feeling this content in a long time. And it was all due to the warm and willing woman curled against his ribs. He breathed in her scent and savored her long black hair fanning his shoulder. How he’d ever thought her frigid, he didn’t know. Because she was the opposite of a heartless ice princess. She was a loving, generous, passionate person, and he would never get enough of her.

  Though it had shocked him, he smiled now at the memory of her saying she’d be okay getting pregnant. With a little perspective, he could picture her beautifully round and full with his child. He couldn’t think of a more attractive future than this woman in his bed, in his life, loving him and Ryan forever.

  Dani roused, purring sexily. He kissed the tip of her nose and the curve of her cheek and finally the corner of her full mouth.

  “Good morning,” he said, slipping his arms around her and flattening her against his chest.

  “I had the best dream,” she said, her eyes still closed.

  “Oh yeah?” David brushed her hair away from her face to better enjoy her beauty. “What was it about?”

  “I had a real family.” Her eyes popped open like maybe she’d said too much.

  He held her even tighter. “Sounds nice.” He’d been thinking the exact same thing.

  “Dad!” Ryan opened the door without knocking and careened into the room. “Aren’t you going to make breakfast?” He bunny hopped onto the bed and squeezed into the warm slice of bed between him and Dani. “I’m hungry.”