by J E Mueller
Instead of responding right away, I put my hands just above the gash on her arm. Slowly, I channeled my healing magic into it, first getting a feel for the worst of the injury and then starting to get things to repair. “My evening isn’t ruined. I am helping someone I care deeply about. Your night is probably ruined and for that I am sorry.”
Cat moved her arm enough to look at me for a moment before covering her eyes back up. “I don’t know if I’ll ever get why you care.”
“Well, I guess it doesn’t have to make sense.” I gave a small chuckle. “But there are several reasons. The start of them because you are a wonderful friend and a great teammate. The rest being because I also like you, and if that didn’t take sixteen billion years to make sense to me…”
“You’re exaggerating,” Cat stated bluntly.
“On the time frame? Possibly a bit. On the reasoning, not at all.” I was not going to retract that statement. It took long enough to admit the possibility internally, and there was no way I was going to retract that now that it was in the open.
After a few minutes of silence, James came into the room.
“How’s it going?” He asked as he picked up the towel from the floor.
“Slow but steady. I can fully heal this,” I replied, not looking up from the task at hand. It was nearly done. The deeper parts were well-mended, and I probably could leave it as was, but there would be a scar if I did that.
“Is this going to be one of those ‘I used too much magic’ nights?” James gave a yawn.
“For sure.” No use denying it. There were several of those in college. He had seen it before.
“I’m just going to sleep in the guest room. My mom knows everyone is here. She’s not on speaking terms with her sister after this whole ordeal so this should be a safe place for a while.” James yawned. “So don’t go anywhere, Cat.”
“Like I have anywhere to go.” Cat grumbled.
“You’ve got us.” James stated, “Now get better.” With that he left, shutting the door behind him.
“Are you really going to be too tired because of healing me?” Cat asked softly.
“No. I’m going to be too tired because I haven’t practiced this skill in forever and it’s my own fault for not keeping up with these things,” I explained, not giving her a chance to continue to blame herself for things.
“You can’t be perfect at everything,” she muttered.
“Exactly, just like how everything isn’t your fault,” I replied, finally finished healing her arm. I could feel the exhaustion starting to set in.
“Can you just let me feel terrible?” Cat grumbled at me.
“If I can prevent it, then no.” I yawned as I finished healing her arm. “Scoot over.”
She looked at me, confused. “You’re going to sleep right here?”
“Yep.” I yawned again. “I give it another minute tops.”
“And you still care about me?” Cat asked.
I laid down next to her and gave her the best hug I could manage at the moment. “Yes.” With that, my eyes were too tired to stay open and I was quickly asleep.
When I finally awoke, daylight was streaming through the curtains, giving the room just enough light to see clearly. I was surprised Cat had stayed in bed next to me. I wasn’t surprised she was still sound asleep. I wasn’t sure what to say to her. How did one comfort someone in time of a major family meltdown? It’s not like we couldn’t see this as a possible ending, but I still didn’t think anything this bad would happen.
No matter what I thought, it wouldn’t really change things or make things better. Now would probably be the best time to find James. Cat needed rest, so I carefully got up and let myself out of the room.
Once in the hall, I could hear noise coming from the kitchen. Heading in that direction, I was soon able to recognize the voices of both James and his mother. As they chatted quietly, I let my footsteps become a little louder so they knew someone was up. Their conversation stopped before I could enter the kitchen but both breathed a sigh of relief when they saw me.
“How’s it going?” I asked as I joined them at the table.
James shook his head. “About as good as you’d expect.”
“What’s going to happen now? I’m worried about her,” I asked bluntly. It probably wasn’t even my place to get involved, but James did bring me into this, so maybe I could know.
Mrs. Elston shook her head. “Cat is more than welcome to stay here. I am not sure what will go on with the rest of the family.” She shook her head again for a moment before looking at the coffee cup in her hands. “I’ve no idea what to tell you, Rey. We’ll see where Cat wants to take things.”
James shook his head. “I just wish she had said something sooner. I knew they fought all the time, but still. This is worse than I thought things were.”
I could only nod. I knew a few things, probably far less than them.
We all turned as the sound of a door shutting echoed down the hall. Cat’s footsteps could easily be heard as she made her way over to us. She still looked tired, and there was some dried blood covering her arm.
She gave a yawn as she stopped in the doorway. “What’s everyone up to this morning?”
Mrs. Elston got up and hugged her. “Oh nothing yet. We should probably wash that blood off of you though.” She pulled her over to the sink and got the water started.
Silently Cat washed her arm before finally shutting off the water and looking at us. “I’m sure it will come as no surprise, but I need to head home to get some things. I’d really like a different outfit.”
I could easily understand that, still being in yesterday’s clothes myself. “I can drive you over if you like.”
James jumped in. “We can take two cars and load up anything you want to bring over.”
Cat leaned against the counter for a moment as she thought. “I don’t really have anything to pack things in.”
“We might have some storage bins in the basement that we can empty for a bit,” Mrs. Elston thought aloud.
“I’m sure we have a ton of luggage that isn’t being used at this exact moment. Could put that to use,” I suggested.
Cat nodded slowly. “Okay. Is it all your family’s?”
“Yeah. I would grab whatever I can find,” I confirmed for her.
After a few moments of thinking, Cat nodded again. “Auntie, can I borrow some clothes and shower? I’d rather not do anything until after that.”
“Of course.” Mrs. Elston started to lead the way out. “I’m sure I’ve got something that would fit well enough.”
Cat hesitated and looked directly at me. “Can you ask if I can borrow them? I’m sure you’d rather change as well, but I want to actually thank your mom myself if she says that’s fine.”
“Of course.” I wasn’t sure what else to say.
James nodded. “Why don’t we meet up there after everyone’s cleaned up, then?”
“Good plan,” Cat agreed, finally walking out of the kitchen.
“Well, I guess that’s a good enough plan as any.” James shrugged. “I’ll send you a message when we’re heading over?”
I nodded. “Though I can bet anything Lilly will not let us go without some form of breakfast.”
“I am all up for a power breakfast.” James gave a laugh. “That’ll be fine. Cat should probably eat too. I don’t know if my mom will join us or not.”
“Okay, sounds like a plan.” I gave him a slight wave and headed out.
11
When I walked in the door, the house was oddly quiet. I had seen everyone’s cars so I knew they were home. Not wanting to hunt for my parents, I called my mom’s cell. After two rings she answered, very confused.
“How are things? What’s going on?” She asked.
“I’m home now, where are you?” I wasn’t going to explain things over the phone. Even more so since I was sure they would both have questions.
“In the study. What’s going on?” Mother sounded wo
rried.
“The worst is over, I’ll be right there,” I said and saw Lilly in the living room straightening up some things. “Lilly, can I ask a quick favor?”
Lilly raised an eyebrow at me. “The prince who mysteriously vanished in the night needs a favor?”
“Of course.” I gave a tired smile. “Can we get breakfast started in a short bit for myself, James, and Cat? We’ve got a lot going on today.”
“I’m following you for this story.” She pulled out her phone. “I’ll text the kitchen. Who should in no way be looking at their phones... but we won’t tell anyone.”
I rolled my eyes. The phone rule was silly when there was downtime. “All right, come on.”
It was a quick walk to the study. I gave a knock as I entered, not waiting for a reply. Mother looked slightly frazzled, and Father was unreadable as he sat in his chair, newspaper in hand.
“Well, what’s going on, son?” Mother asked.
I took a seat across from them. Lilly lingered in the doorway. She gave the appearance of not wanting to bother us but was totally going to intrude anyway.
“As you already know, James called me last night. Cat was hurt by her step-mom. The injury wasn’t life threatening but it was still a really bad gash on her arm. I don’t know the exact details of the fight, but she is going to be moving in with James for now. She wants to get her things moved out today and I offered our luggage and whatever we could to help. Hopefully that’s all right.”
Mother gave a sigh of relief. “As long as she’s okay. Yes, that’ll be fine.”
“Lilly.” Father glanced over in the doorway at her. “Can you go find that for Rey?”
“Certainly.” Lilly gave a slight bow and slipped out of the room.
“Thank you. They’ll be here soon-ish. I’m going to shower and all that first.” I was glad to have that part done.
“Before you go,” Mother said as I stood up. “Does she know how you feel?”
I hesitated. “I’m not sure. It’s not like I didn’t tell her, but after all this mess, I’m not sure she wants to believe me. So for now, things are what they are.”
“Give her time if she needs it.” Father nodded.
“Of course. I just hope she’ll be okay after all of this,” I replied and headed up to my room.
A hot shower wasn’t enough to wash last night away from me. The sight of her arm wasn’t the worst I had seen. I did practice healing at one point after all... but seeing her injured like that. It bothered me in ways I hadn’t expected.
Stupid feelings.
They were what they were, and I had no desire to change them. So after pushing myself to get out of the shower quickly, I changed and opened the door back to my room and was suddenly glad I dragged clothes to the bathroom with me. James and Cat were already waiting for me, and I really wondered why my parents or Lilly sent them up here.
“I’m surprised you’re here so fast.” I gave an awkward laugh as I pushed my wet hair back.
“It wasn’t that fast, you just take forever, man.” James joked from my computer. He had somehow remembered my login and was messing around on one of the single player games I had installed.
Cat was sitting on my bed playing around on my tablet. She didn’t look up or say anything.
“How ya holding up?” I sat down on the edge of the bed by Cat’s feet.
She looked up at me for a moment, shrugged, and looked back down.
“I guessed as much but yeah...” I didn’t know what to say.
“Where’s Olmi and the other pups?” Cat asked, still not looking up.
“Probably somewhere downstairs. I’m guessing Lilly put them somewhere so they wouldn’t be in the way.” They were probably outside or downstairs.
“Oh, that sucks.” I could hear the disappointment in her voice.
“Olmi just whines. Aggo is the champ.” James jumped into the conversation.
“You wouldn’t know a good dog if it bit you in the butt,” Cat countered.
For a second they both turned to glare at one another before looking back at their screens. With a shrug I sent Lilly a text asking to bring Olmi up. Then right after asking if all of them could just come up.
It only took a minute before I heard the stampede of feet heading down the hall toward us.
“You didn’t.” James sighed, pausing the game.
Cat looked up and gave a real smile. “Puppies?”
“All the puppies.” I nodded as I walked over to open the door. The swarm dashed in along with Olmi and Aggo.
Cat gleefully set the tablet aside as two of the puppies jumped up onto the bed.
I was about to scold them but just sighed. Why not? All the puppies on the bed would not be the end of the world.
For a few moments I just stood in the doorway and watched. James was equally amused by the summoned horde of puppies and had gotten off the computer to play with them. I still wasn’t sure if this would help anything in the long run, but at least it got the day started on a far better note. After a minute or two, my mother appeared in the doorway next to me. “I see you’ve got all the dogs up here.”
“Morning, Your Majesty!” James called over to her.
Cat got out a laugh before the puppies decided to kiss her face, not allowing her to talk.
“Good morning. And Mrs Cromwell is enough.”
“Sure thing, Rey’s mom.” James smiled back.
“Still as stubborn as ever.” Mother shook her head at him before turning to me. “Okay, get them under control.”
I smiled and gave a low whistle to get the dogs’ attention before asking them to come sit in front of me. After a moment they were all next to me, but the puppies still had trouble all sitting at once. “Sit.” I stated as firmly as possible, finally getting them to listen.
“Thank you, dear.” Mother said to me before turning to the others. “Breakfast is ready. If Rey didn’t inform you, we’ve pulled down about ten pieces of larger luggage and several smaller ones. You’re welcome to any and all you think you need.”
“Thanks, Rey’s mom!” James gave a smirk.
“Really, thank you,” Cat echoed, sincerely.
“Of course. Moving is always tough, and a complicated situation doesn’t make it any more fun.” Mother gave a nod and headed out of the room.
I glanced down at the puppies and commanded them to go find Lilly. Aggo chose to lead the pack and Olmi waited by my side as they all dashed off down the stairs.
“Shall we, then?” I motioned for James and Cat to follow.
“I suppose. You did send off my favorite dog.” James sighed and headed out.
“Actually, I only told the puppies to leave. Aggo does what he wants.”
“That’s my dog.” James laughed, leading the way out.
Cat hopped off the bed and stopped by me in the doorway. “Thank you.”
“Of course.” I smiled at her.
“No really, for everything.”
I shook my head, still smiling. “Again, of course. You don’t need to thank me Cat.”
Cat shook her head. “I just can’t even word anything I want to say.” The frustration was clear in her voice.
“It’s all right. Whenever it comes, I’ll be here.”
With a nod, Cat leaned her head against my chest and I gave her a hug before we both went downstairs.
Breakfast went fairly quickly, probably in large part to it just being James, Cat, and me. I was surprised that everyone else was being well-behaved and not nosy. I was surprised and thoroughly thankful. James went on for a bit about how he wished his uncle was in town so he could borrow the truck, then as always, things dissolved into talking about the guild and gaming, and how we’d have to find time to make up for the things we were missing out on. It was too easy, and way better to gripe and whine about missing something in the game than to think about reality. Cat looked doubly thankful that we weren’t talking about reality.
Then, we were off.
Cat sto
od in the doorway as we got our shoes on. “Can Olmi come with?”
James cringed. “She drools so much on car trips.”
“She can ride in my car. We’ll just have a little less room, but more trips isn’t a huge ordeal.” I shrugged.
“Yes.” Cat called Olmi over.
“Olmi, go grab your ball,” I commanded. “Time for a ride.”
Olmi jumped up and down in place for a moment before taking off to grab a toy to bring with.
The backseat was already, covered in a blanket so the drool master of a dog could hang out there without making the worst mess ever. In theory, anyway. I motioned for them to head out and as soon as the door opened Olmi was already dashing back, ready to head out on the next adventure.
“I wish it was that easy to be that happy,” Cat commented offhandedly.
“Some days it can be. Like the new dungeon releasing soon? Maybe we should have a LAN party for that.” It would be a fun idea.
James nodded as he stood by his car door. “I’m down for that.”
“Yeah, that could be good.” Cat nodded. She looked hesitantly for a moment at the cars. “I’ll ride with Olmi.” She declared after a quick second.
“May the drool be ever in your favor.” James snickered and got into his car.
“Shall we, then?” I unlocked the doors and opened the back seat for Olmi, who was all too eager to jump in.
As we headed out Cat cleared her throat nervously. “Did you mean what you said last night?”
“Yes, but I’m not sure what part exactly you’re referring to.”
She looked out the window, unsure what to say. “No, that answer works.”
“If you say so.” It would help if I knew what she could be thinking.
For a short time, we drove in silence.
“What’s on your mind?” I finally gave in and asked.
“Too much of everything, really. I’m not even sure what to focus on right now. I know I need to get out of there, but I’m worried about my step-sister. As bitchy as she can be, I don’t even know what happened to her. She just vanished... I’d rather be gaming, and I think that’s really for all of us. No one expected this weekend to be such a major flop. I just really wanted to do so many other things, and I just, I don’t even know. I’m tired, just so tired mentally and physically and ready to cry. Like that’ll solve anything.” She grumbled the last part.
