Wild One

by Donna Augustine

  “My wife will take the tub.” Callon’s tone had that extra-deep pitch that always came out when he was irritated.

  Wife? My eyes shot to Callon’s back, because that was all I saw as he moved in between us. Tuesday might be right. He did tend to block me from people.

  He couldn’t have said sister, though? It would’ve had the same effect of getting the beady eyes off me. I wouldn’t split hairs, especially not beast ones when his hackles were already up since our last little chat. We’d left things at a stalemate, but I wasn’t crazy enough to think that would be the end of it.

  Wait, a tub? I poked my head around Callon, willing to deal with beady eyes for the prize I’d heard. “With hot water, too?”

  Clarence nodded and then leaned forward. I immediately wished I hadn’t asked anything.

  He pointed toward me. “You kinda fit the description of that girl people are looking for, except none of the scars.”

  “What people would that be?” Callon asked, going on a digging expedition.

  I would’ve preferred the subject dropped, but having a little more information on who and how many was worthy.

  “Couple guys sent from that bigwig from Newco.” Clarence didn’t budge his eyes from me as he continued. “They say she’s on the run. I’d run too if I were her. The things they want to do to her make a man’s balls shrink up into his body. I heard once they get her, they’re gonna cut off her legs and then cut out her eyes so she’ll never be able to run again.”

  My skin must’ve lost all its color, or maybe the horror showed in my face, because Clarence was suddenly raising a finger toward me again.

  “You sure you ain’t the one they looking for?”

  Callon, who’d been fishing for information before, had suddenly heard enough. He pulled me away from Clarence as he stepped forward.

  Fisting the front of Clarence’s shirt, he dragged him onto the table in between them. “If you want to keep your tongue, you don’t repeat that.”

  There might’ve been more, but my legs suddenly remembered how to move. I ran toward the door, waving off Tuesday’s concerned look as I did. I only made it as far as the nearby bushes. I dropped to my knees, heaving up all the water I’d guzzled down right before we’d gotten here, and then continued to dry-heave for another minute.

  The door opened in the distance and Callon was walking over, slower than his normal pace.

  I got back to my feet, wiping an arm across my mouth.

  He stopped a few feet away. “Are you—”

  “I’m fine,” I said, ignoring that I’d run out of the building, my feet not moving fast enough for my liking.

  He reached down to his boot and pulled out a knife, then handed it to me, hilt first. “Here. Just in case you decide you need to gut someone.”

  I took the knife, wrapping my hand around the leather hilt. My own knife. I might not be able to wield it well, but something about having it took the edge off the moment.

  “Thanks,” I said, trying to figure out where I could put it. Should I tuck it in my pants? My boot? So many options.

  “Hey,” he said.

  I looked up.

  He tossed a key at me. “Our room is upstairs, first door on the right. Might be a good idea to stay out of sight. There might be eyes we don’t see.”

  Yeah, that was one thing I’d learned in the village. There were always eyes, and I wasn’t worried about a missed dinner when my stomach was heaving like the ocean in a storm.

  A noise jolted me awake, before Callon yelled, “Are you decent?”

  “I’m not sure about that anymore, but I’m clothed.” A couple of girls had rolled the tub away an hour or so ago. I wasn’t the type to dawdle getting dressed, just in case.

  The words came out and were followed by the realization I was talking to him like I would a friend. When had I started doing that?

  Callon walked in, and lay back up into my spot. I’d taken the blanket off the bed and curled up on the window seat. It had a great old oak outside, which would make a wonderful escape route if needed, and a great view of the stars. So many, so very far away. I’d be far away one day too. Maybe not that far, but far enough that when I lay down to sleep, I wasn’t searching for a quick exit. I wouldn’t be afraid of wrapping myself too tightly in a blanket because I feared it might entangle me if I had to run. One day I would just go to sleep with the only concern being how wonderful my dreams would be.

  Callon walked over, handing me a plate. I knew the smell instantly. It was whatever they’d been serving in the dining area.

  “I know your stomach is off, but try to eat,” he said, already on the other side of the room.

  Even if I wanted to argue, I couldn’t. My stomach was already telling me to shut the hell up and chew.

  I ate as he stripped out of his shirt and laid it over the chair in the corner. He walked over to the bed, grabbed the pillow from it, and tossed it on the floor.

  I stopped chewing for a second. “Take the bed. I’m going to stay here.”

  He didn’t say anything for a second and then moved the pillow in front of the door. He looked over at me and, without a hint of mockery, asked, “Is that better?”

  “Thanks,” I said. I didn’t get up right away. I didn’t want to look so desperate or obvious as that, even if I was.

  He settled onto the floor, crossing his arms behind his head and closing his eyes.

  I thought he’d already fallen asleep when he said, “Teddy?”

  “Yeah?”

  “About what we heard earlier—I promise that won’t be your end.”

  23

  We left Clarence’s before the sun rose while flurries drifted to the ground. It was clear within minutes that we were going to keep to a more grueling pace. That was when it became obvious they’d gone easy on us until now. But things were different. We didn’t have a week. I didn’t know how much time we had before the Magician would attack again. How many he would send this time? How many would be one too many and tip the scales?

  Callon had said he wouldn’t let that be my end. It wasn’t a promise he could possibly keep. It was just words. People said all sorts of words that were useless. Maura used to tell me things would work out and be okay. She hadn’t meant to lie, but things hadn’t worked out. At all.

  As if that wasn’t enough to preoccupy my brain, Zink kept glancing over at me when he thought I wasn’t paying attention. Koz was acting way too happy. Hess kept forming his lips into a whistle that didn’t make any noise.

  The worst were the looks Tuesday kept giving me. She’d look, scowl, shake her head, but say nothing. It wasn’t hard to figure out someone—Koz—had let her in on my freaky magic trick. When she started her fifth repetition of look, scowl, silence, I hijacked her process.

  “It wasn’t something I wanted to talk about. I needed to get my head around what I’d done, but I was going to tell you.”

  She held her scowl for another minute before she relaxed. “Okay. It sucked to have to hear it from Koz, but okay.”

  Tuesday had never been a grudge holder.

  “You had a busy morning.” My accusing glare shifted to Callon. We’d gotten up at five. When had he found the time to clue his guys in on what had gone down in the witch’s tent?

  Callon didn’t shrink from my stare. “You know I had to tell them.”

  “So it’s really true? You can do that sort of shit?” Hess asked, staring like he’d seen a leopard jump out of a chipmunk suit.

  “No. I don’t know if I can. It happened and I have no idea how.” I hoped this wasn’t going to be another when have you seen your family last conversation. I didn’t want to think about what had happened. I definitely didn’t want to discuss what happened, and I wasn’t going to try and duplicate what happened, either.

  In my peripheral, I could see Zink gearing up with his own questions.

  Then Callon stopped suddenly, drawing everyone’s attention.

  “Smell that?” he asked.

&
nbsp; Koz, Hess, and Zink all took a couple more steps in the direction we were walking before they stopped. A look was passing between the guys.

  “Do you smell anything?” I asked Tuesday. I didn’t know if my nose was too stuffy or this was a beast thing.

  “Nothing,” Tuesday said, and then sniffed so hard it was comical.

  Koz turned to Callon. “Do we keep going or do we change direction?”

  “We keep going. The last one we knew of around here was miles away. If it spread, we should know,” Callon said, and started walking again.

  “Koz? What are you guys talking about?” Tuesday asked.

  Before he answered, a wind kicked up, giving us a partial answer. It was somewhere between the smell of rotten eggs and skunk, with a blend of something equally bad I couldn’t quite describe.

  “What is that?” I asked.

  “A gigantic mess,” Koz said. “You’ll see for yourself soon enough.”

  He was right. We’d only been walking about another ten minutes or so when we saw it. There, in the middle of nothing but a light coating of snow, was a sprawling field of mud that looked like it went for miles and miles. Not only was it not frozen, it was bubbling with heat at different spots. It wasn’t clear whether it had been a lake once, or it had devoured every tree and life form it had come in contact with.

  “What is this?” I asked, for once not waiting for Tuesday.

  “We’re not sure,” Hess said.

  “The smell, it’s hard to take,” Tuesday said, then gagged a few times.

  Callon was walking around its perimeter, examining the mud. He and Koz were pointing at the disgusting slop, taking mental notes.

  I pulled my shirt up over my nose. Then I dropped it, after it offered no respite.

  “I’m glad we’re moving on soon,” I said, my back to where all the guys now were.

  Callon was suddenly beside me, grabbing my arm and pulling me back. “Don’t get so close.”

  The mud was inches from the toes of my shoes. I must’ve taken a few more steps without realizing it.

  Callon was walking back to Koz again, leaving me with Tuesday.

  “This is the biggest one yet. They’re definitely growing,” Callon said to Koz before they were out of earshot.

  There were more of these things?

  “You know,” Tuesday said from beside me, “I figured I’d see some interesting things after I left the village, but, like, cool stuff. This is gross. A bunch of bubbling mud that smells almost as bad as Baryn used to isn’t my idea of cool.”

  She continued talking, and I nodded, but my attention was pulled to a small movement on the ground. Callon had tugged me back a good three feet from the mud. And yet there was a small stream forming in my direction. I watched as it curved around and then flowed uphill as it crept toward me.

  “Tuesday, look at that.” I pointed toward my feet, where the stream was heading.

  She bent forward. “That’s strange. It looks like it’s heading straight for us. Move away from me and to the side. I’ll go this way. Let’s see if it follows one of us.”

  As soon as she said it, I stepped closer, wrapping an arm around hers. “No. Let’s move together.”

  “But that won’t tell us anything,” she said, yanking away from me. She gave me a shove in the opposite direction and then stepped away.

  Please, mud, don’t follow me. For once, let me be normal, or as normal as I can be.

  The tiny mud stream corrected course and headed right for me. Internally, I was a raging bull. Outwardly, I was as calm as a sunny day. No need to alert the guys. They already looked at me like I was a freak.

  I’d divulged too many weird things, in too short of a time. Too plus too wasn’t the same as two plus two. This addition didn’t equal four; it equaled fucked. There didn’t need to be any more discussion on what other strange things happened around me.

  “Okay, so it’s following me. It’s probably nothing. The stuff is weird to begin with. I think we step back—”

  “Koz! The mud is following Teddy!” she yelled to where Koz was about twenty feet away, trying to get a better view of the perimeters with Callon.

  “Why did you do that?” My words shot out in stunned whispers.

  Tuesday shrugged, fluffing her already-full hair. “I don’t know. It’s interesting and he’ll want to see it too?”

  She was having no problem luring over Koz all on her own. She really had to use my mud allure to get even more attention? If she wasn’t my best friend, I might’ve committed violence upon her.

  All four of them swarmed me at once, all watching the mud trying to get to me. Woohoo, look how weird I was now!

  Callon took the lead. Of course he would, since he was the person I’d wanted to hide this from the most. I might be able to convince the others this was nothing, but not eagle eyes. We still hadn’t gotten past the whole you’re stuck with me for a year or the I can suck lives out of one person and shove them into the other. I already had the Magician following me. I didn’t think mud following too was going to be welcomed.

  Callon was standing beside me, staring down.

  “Move that way.”

  “Huh?” I hadn’t seen which way he’d pointed as the mud stream burped up a little bubble.

  He took my hips and shifted me, instead of repeating himself. He touched me so often these days that I didn’t even flinch anymore. I knew it was just to move me here or move me there or move me somewhere else. After all, he had zero patience, so forget having to actually use words to explain what he wanted from me.

  “Tuesday, come around and stand here,” he said, pointing to a different spot.

  She did as he asked, dillydallying her way over. I loved Tuesday to death, but that chick could move slower than a snail crawling through sludge.

  He didn’t strong-arm her into position, letting her take her sweet old time. Why did he give her more than the nanosecond he’d given me? Wasn’t my day bad enough?

  She was in her new spot, in between me and the mud stream. The damn thing looked like it was trying to move around her, to get to me.

  “Thanks, Tuesday. You can step away from it.”

  Thanks? Did he really thank her?

  He stood, grabbed my wrist, and moved me again as he positioned himself in between me and the mud. Did he think I was too stupid to take instruction?

  “Why do you do that?” I asked, ready to crack like an overcooked egg.

  He took one look at me and waved a finger in my direction. “Not now, Teddy.”

  He turned around, dismissing me as if I would do as he said.

  I bit my tongue, acknowledging that he might have a point, even though his delivery sucked. The timing wasn’t ideal. I’d hold back my inner tempest until a better time.

  I took a few deep breaths, three, two, one. My heart was slowing its tempo from racing to a steady jog.

  Callon’s hands were on my hips again, moving me. “Dammit, Teddy. Pay attention! That stuff almost touched you again.”

  Why was he so mad? The mud was following me, not him.

  I was officially cracking. “What is your problem?”

  His eyes narrowed and all his attention landed on my neck. “There’s dirt on your neck.”

  Huh? He said it like a cardinal sin had been committed. I had some dirt. I’d had a head covered in mud not long ago too.

  “So? We’ve been hiking for miles. It would be more surprising if I didn’t have any.”

  He was moving my hair away from it, staring. “Fuck.”

  That was all the warning I got before his shoulder hit my hips and he took off at a run. He didn’t stop until we were at the nearest normal river.

  He dumped me into the waist-high water and then pushed me down. I pushed myself up with my arms as he planted his hand in the middle of my chest and shoved me down again.

  He was finally going to kill me. I’d finally cracked him. I swung at the hand trying to hold me down, scratching at his wrist.

>   “Teddy, stop. I’m trying to get the mud off your neck.”

  I froze, my brain readjusting. He wasn’t Baryn or Turrock. He wasn’t trying to drown me. This wasn’t some screwed-up game he was playing to break me.

  This was Callon. He was trying to help me. Shivers were still shooting down my spine, but I got a hold of myself enough to stay still and nod. I could see in Callon’s face that he’d already noticed too much.

  “Hold still.” He stared at me, watching to see if I was going to go crazy again.

  I nodded, staying still.

  He took the sharp edge of a stone he’d picked up and scraped the strange mud off my neck as the water was rushing over it.

  He put the stone down and then took some sand and scrubbed the spot for another few minutes. Neither of us said anything about how I’d tried to push him away like he was a murderer.

  He finally finished, and I sat up.

  “Is it okay?” I asked, shaking now from the cold water.

  “I don’t know.” His head dipped closer, his breath trailing over my skin. Before I knew what he was going to do, his tongue shot out and licked the spot.

  “What was that?” I asked, jerking back. “Was that wise?”

  He sat back on his haunches. “Whatever that mud is, from what I know, it doesn’t seem to affect beasts. And I rubbed your skin raw. My saliva will help it heal. I didn’t taste anything off.”

  He stood, grabbing my hand and yanking me up with him, a little rougher than I was used to.

  I didn’t need to ask him what his problem was. I’d seen his face after I’d acted like he was going to drown me. I wished I hadn’t. Did I say something or pretend?

  “It wasn’t—”

  “I know.” He cut me off before I could tell him it was just a reflex.

  As soon as we caught up to the guys and Tuesday, Callon grabbed his sack from Koz and dug in it for his pelt.

  “Till you dry,” he said, tossing it my way. “Let’s get going. I want to put as much distance between here as we can before nightfall.”