by H G Lynch
The next thing he knew, he was lying on the cage floor, searing, excruciating agony lancing through his chest. He could feel the stinging, hot metal of a knife deep inside him, just barely scraping his lung every time he breathed in. The guard twisted the knife, ripping and shredding muscle, scratching his ribs. As if from a distance, he heard someone scream, and it was a raw, brutal sound that was enough to drive any sane man mad. Then, slowly, he realized he was the one screaming. Ember’s voice, wild and cracking and desperate, came to his ears like a watery echo of his own pain.
“Stop it! Stop it, now! I’ll answer your question! Please, stop hurting him!”
The guards backed off. Breathing hard, Reid dragged himself into a half-sitting position, swallowing groans and grunts. He looked across at Ember’s cage, his vision fuzzy around the edges. God, he hated to see her penned up. It was wrong on so many levels. Putting Ember in a cage was like putting a tiger in a cage, only more dangerous because while a tiger would eat you if it got free, Ember would burn you slowly from the inside out and laugh as the flames boiled your organs. He had no doubt that was exactly what she wanted to do to the professor, given the chance.
Professor Oliver was rattling on in a perfectly calm tone, as if he was oblivious to the time bomb he had ticking right in front of him. “Alright then,” he said, nodding to Ember.
Reid wondered what he’d missed, what was going on here. But when Ember answered the professor, he guessed exactly what was happening. He’d heard of it before, certain spells that only worked on virgins or with virgin’s blood. The purity of it was important, sometimes essential, and ‘impure’ blood needed a specialized potion to work. The professor said in response to Ember’s plea of sexual impurity, “As I suspected. Our potions should be effective then.”
That made Reid’s blood boil in fury. His vision blurred red for a heartbeat. Who was this friggin’ psycho bastard to judge his angelic Ember? Regardless of whether she was a virgin or not, she was the purest, more beautiful thing he’d ever come across, and the implication that she was less than that simply because she’d succumbed to the temptation of sins of the flesh was ridiculous!
He heard himself saying something – more like yelling – at the professor, but the words were mangled in his ears as he fought to stay conscious. But whatever he said was enough to provoke one of the guards in his cage to squirt something from a spray bottle right into his eyes. It burned like acid and he rubbed furiously at his sizzling, stinging eyes. Then he collapsed back onto the hard stone floor, banging his elbow and hardly noticing. It was barely a twinge in comparison to the rest of his pains. His breathing was rough and ragged despite the fact he didn’t need air. His lungs were burning and his nerves were screaming at him and he could hear Ember’s broken crying—
*****
“REID!”
A sudden, familiar voice yelling his name from some great distance jerked him awake and he gasped. All he saw at first was endless, impenetrable blackness, but only for a second before his eyes adjusted and he was staring at the ceiling past Ricky’s concerned face. The younger boy’s eyes glowed blue-green in the darkness.
Slowly, Reid realized his heart was pounding on his ribs, he was gasping, and his hand was clenched tightly around Ricky’s wrist, so tightly he could feel it as a tiny bone snapped under his fingers. Ricky hissed in pain, but didn’t try to pull away, his mouth tight but his eyes gentle. With a shudder, Reid pulled his hand back to himself, and stared at Ricky with ghosts behind his eyes.
“Sorry,” he muttered apologetically, his voice hoarse. Had he been screaming in his sleep again? Most likely. No wonder Ricky had woken him. This was getting beyond ridiculous.
Ricky just nodded, rubbing his wrist as it healed swiftly and neatly. He was examining Reid carefully, kneeling on the floor by his bed. There was deep, serious worry in his face that Reid could read effortlessly in the dark. Not wanting to see it, Reid turned and glared at the useless dream-catcher on his wall. It hung there innocuously, the glass beads shining and the feathers still and pale against the dark wall.
“I guess I was right the first time; Feathers and beads do jack all to help nightmares,” he said shakily.
With a sigh, Ricky retreated back to his own bed and sat there, gazing evenly at Reid, who shifted uncomfortably. He noticed then that he was drenched in sweat and it was sending chills down his spine. His light hair clung to his forehead and ears, and his hands trembled on the mattress. He clutched the bed sheets to hide the shaking.
“They’re getting worse, aren’t they?” Ricky asked plainly, leaning forward to rest his elbows on his knees.
Not meeting his gaze, Reid nodded, running a hand through his messy, damp hair.
“There has to be something that would help. We could get you drugs, or Ember could make a potion I’m sure. We must have a recipe in one of the grimoires. Ember would have the power—”
“No,” Reid protested bluntly. The thought of Ricky going to Ember and asking her to make a sleeping potion or elixir to banish nightmares…her surprise and confusion, her hurt when Ricky explained what it was for…No.
Ricky started, frowning. “But why? It’s not like it’d put her out to do it. I’m sure she’d do anything to help you.” he insisted.
Reid just turned away, looked out the window as he got to his feet. He put his back to Ricky as he yanked his damp t-shirt over his head and tossed it onto his bed.
“Unless…” Ricky said slowly, and Reid could practically hear the gears turning in the boy’s head. “Unless she doesn’t know about this yet…”
Ah, clever, perceptive, irritating Ricky.
He always figured out the problems.
Reid didn’t say anything. He climbed onto the desk and pushed open the window to let in some refreshing, cold air. It turned the sweat on his skin icy and he leaned his head against the glass to soothe an oncoming headache. But Ricky let out a frustrated noise and Reid saw, in the reflection in the darkened glass, he threw up his arms.
"You haven't told her yet, have you? I warned you! I warned you I'd tell her if you didn't, and that's exactly what I'm going to do tomorrow morning. I'm serious, Reid," he threatened.
There were several options to tackle the turn this conversation had taken, and Reid pondered each one very carefully. He could threaten Ricky in return, say that he’d tell Sherry about the incident at the beach when they were twelve – It involved a game of dares, a busty woman in a tiny bikini, and some bad timing on Ricky’s part – which would be sure to piss Ricky off royally. He could beat the younger boy into submission, but that had stopped being a particularly good deterrent when they turned fourteen and Ricky had grown four inches over summer. He was now an inch taller than Reid himself, though Reid was still stronger – He mostly won their fights by sheer ruthlessness and recklessness. He didn’t care how badly he got hurt, so he had developed a higher pain threshold. His third option was simply to ignore Ricky and hope the problem went away...None of those were good choices right now. So he was going to have to go with option four: Beat Ricky to the punch and tell Ember himself and hope she didn’t think any less of him.
Unhappily, Reid slid off the desk and turn to scowl at Ricky. “I hate you sometimes, Kee,” he grumbled, glaring as Ricky just flipped him off.
“Does that mean you’ll tell her yourself?”
“Yes! Okay? Yes, I’ll tell her. But only because I know damn well that if you’re the one to tell her, she’ll either rip my head off for hiding this from her, or she’ll…” He paused, his swift annoyance cooling as he thought of the forlorn look on her face earlier, when he’d told her he couldn’t stay the night. “Or she’ll be hurt and I’ll wish she’d ripped my head off,” he muttered with a sigh. He dropped down onto his bed and put his hands to his face. Ricky was right. He needed to tell her, if for no other reason than something was going on with her and he owed her the truth, however trivial it was.
Ricky was looking at him earnestly, his frustration and stubbornn
ess replaced with a kind of gently curiosity. “Is everything okay with her? I mean, I heard Cris say he saw her when he went to get his hoodie before we went to the cinema, and she looked ready to cry.” Ricky was, as always, astoundingly compassionate. He was genuinely concerned about Ember’s happiness.
Reid sighed, shook his head. “I don’t know. She was crying when I went to see her earlier. Turns out, she doesn’t like Lia.”
“Really? Why?”
“She feels threatened I guess.”
“Because you’re always flirting with Lia?”
“I don’t flirt with Lia!”
“Yes, you do. Reid, it’s like instinct to you so you probably don’t even notice half the time, but you are flirting. I can see why Ember would feel threatened.”
Reid didn’t have a reply for that. He tried to think about the things he’d said to Lia when Ember was around and understand how it was flirting, but he just got fuzzy impressions of Lia smiling at him. He couldn’t remember exactly what he’d said any time he was talking to her. It was weird, but by now, his head was probably so messed up, he was lucky he remembered his own name.
A hesitant knock on the door interrupted their conversation. They both looked to the door, and Reid hastily clambered back into his bed, leaving Ricky to answer the door. If it was the night warden here to tell them to shut up and go to sleep, he wasn’t getting hit with detention for making a racket in the middle of the night.
Ricky muttered, “Wussy git,” in his direction and then opened the door. From his angle, Reid couldn’t see who it was immediately – Ricky was in front of the doorway – as he peeked slyly from his faux-sleeping position. It didn’t matter that he couldn’t see her, though, because he could smell grapefruit and sandalwood. Ember. He bolted upright and tried to see past Ricky.
“Oh, hey Emz. What’re you doing here so late?” Ricky leaned casually against the doorway. Either this was one of those annoyingly weird coincidences, or she’d heard them talking about her.
Her voice, when she spoke, was quiet and soft and shy. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you. I was just…I wanted to…” She paused and Reid could imagine the way she was chewing anxiously on her lower lip. He doubted she’d expected Ricky to be awake.
“Oh no, it’s okay, we were already awake anyway,” Ricky replied, stepping back form the door to let her in. As soon as he was out the way, Reid saw Ember standing in the doorway, dressed in one of his shirts. Her hair was a mess, and her eyes were wide and dark, and she looked a little lost. She smiled a little when she saw Reid half-sitting up in his bed. Still with her lower lip caught in her teeth, she gave him a shy wave. She didn’t look at all angry or upset, so she must not have heard them talking about her.
“Hi,” she said in a timid voice. Wondering what the hell she was doing here at three a.m., he pushed back his duvet and hopped out of bed. Ricky wandered back to his own bed and pretended not to be listening.
“Hey,” Reid said gently, giving her a soft smile. “What’s up? Are you okay?” Dammit, what if she’d asked him to stay earlier because something was wrong? She’d said she was fine, but she could’ve been lying. He should’ve paid closer attention. He knew she’d been upset over Lia, and if she’d wanted him to stay with her, he should have. He was such an ass sometimes.
She just blinked up at him with those beguiling blue eyes and shrugged delicately. “I’m okay.” It didn’t sound like she meant it. “I just…I mean, I thought I could…” She bit down on her lip again and he resisted the urge to make her stop that, to kiss her, suck gently on that soft lip. Shaking away that train of thought before it got too far, he frowned at her, confused. It wasn’t like her to be so shy and nervous, not with him. Even with Ricky in the room, able to overhear.
“Emz? Seriously, what is it?” He reached out and stroked his thumb across her cheekbone, which was beginning to glow pink as she shifted from foot to foot. The hallway was dark behind her and he wondered if she was anxious because she’d had a nightmare. She’d told him the nightmares had gone away, but as was proven in his case, nightmares could be a delicate subject to talk about.
Ember leaned into his hand, her eyes fluttering closed. He smiled helplessly and wrapped her in his arms. She was so small and soft, you’d think she was fragile, easily broken. You’d be wrong if that was what you thought.
“Okay, okay. Come here.” He drew her into the room and closed the door, ignored Ricky though he knew he was listening. He sat her down on his bed, cradling her on his lap. Keeping one arm around her waist so she wouldn’t slip, he ran his fingertips up and down her thigh gingerly. She made a small noise like a giggle and curled up against him, tucking her face into his bare chest and resting her knuckles against his shoulder. Her soft hair brushed his collarbone, her sweet-spicy scent tingling in his nose.
“So, are you going to tell me why you’re here, or is this going to be like earlier and I have to pry the answers out of you?” he teased, leaning his chin on her head.
She squeaked and shook her head mutely. He understood she wasn’t going to tell him anything. For a moment, he considered pushing her for answers, but it was late and they were both obviously tired, so he sighed and, hoping he wouldn’t have another nightmare before tomorrow morning when he could tell her about the nightmares himself, he shifted her off his lap to slip back into bed.
She blinked at him questioningly, still biting her lip. He lifted the covers for her. “Come on, you can crawl in beside me.” He smiled. “On one condition.”
She nodded. “What?”
“Stop biting your lip. I’m begging you. When you do that, I don’t know whether to kiss you or shake you for ruining a perfectly lovely lip by chewing on it like that.”
At that, she giggled and slipped in beside him, cuddling up with her forehead against his collarbone. Very lightly, she ran her fingertips over his abs. He didn’t think she was trying to be seductive, she was just feeling him there next to her. He draped one arm over her and listened to her soft breathing as he fell asleep.
Chapter Five
** Reid **
When he awoke in the morning, Reid groaned, stretched, and rolled over to see Ember curled up next to him, her nose buried into the duvet like a mouse in hay. With an adoring smile, he watched her for a moment before he realized that he hadn’t had another nightmare after she’d crawled in beside him last night. Normally, he had nightmares two or three times a night. He lay there for a minute, contemplating this, and then shrugged it off as coincidence.
Carefully, he slid out of the bed, cautious not to wake his sleeping angel, and hopped into the shower.
When he emerged, toweling off his hair, dressed in jeans and a soft blue t-shirt, Ember was still asleep. He left her alone. Ricky, on the other hand, was sitting up groggily, rubbing his eyes. He stared at Reid with one hazy green-blue eye, his chocolate brown hair sticking up like the bristles of a hedgehog. “Dude, it’s…” He consulted the clock on the desk, “Crap, it’s nearly nine! Don’t you have psychology right now?” Ricky stumbled out of bed hastily and began bundling up clean clothes, heading for the shower. Ricky didn’t much like being late for school.
Reid shrugged. “Yeah, and?” He hated psychology.
“Shouldn’t you wake Ember? I think she has Maths first period,” Ricky called through the bathroom door and Reid heard him flip on the shower.
He rolled his eyes. Yeah, ‘cause he was sure Ember would appreciate being woken for Maths on a Monday morning. Still, he went to the window and pushed open the curtains, filling the room with bleary winter morning light. The sky was only just starting to lighten, turning from navy to slate grey. The light fell over Ember and she groaned, pulled the duvet over her head. Reid chuckled.
“Come on, Emz. Time to get up. Wouldn’t want to be late for Maths, now would you?” he teased. Ember’s response was muffled by the duvet, but he was pretty sure she stated with no less than three expletives what she thought of Maths on a Monday morning. He prodded her
anyway. “Don’t make me drag you out of there.”
“Just try it and we’ll see how that goes,” she mumbled back drowsily.
He sighed. Normally, he was the one under the duvet and Ember or Ricky would be the one trying to nudge him to get his ass out of bed. He felt surprisingly good today, though. So, risking losing a finger, he grabbed the end of the duvet and yanked it off her. With a hiss, Ember curled up into a tiny ball and put her hands over her head as if to shield herself.
“If I have to tickle you awake, you know I will,” he warned.
He wasn’t sure exactly what she said in reply because she was speaking into her knees, but he was fairly sure she called him a few unpleasant things. Shaking his head, he went to her and prepared to tickle her, but before he could touch her, the door to the room banged open and Brandon came barging in, wild-eyed. Both he and Ember flinched in surprise, and Ember uncurled from her shielding ball to glare at Brandon. Brandon didn’t even notice. He was staring wildly at Reid, looking around the room, presumably for Ricky. Reid pointed to the bathroom door.
“He’s in the shower. What’s got your boxers in a bunch this morning?” He snorted, not at all happy about the intrusion. Especially seeing as his girlfriend was sitting on the bed with her flimsy nightie exposing way more thigh than he cared for Brandon to see of her. But Brandon didn’t spare her a glance, even when she snarled unhappily in his direction and snatched up the duvet from the floor to hide herself with.
“When he comes out, tell him there’s a meeting, ASAP. We’ve got a problem. You’re going to have to skip classes today,” Brandon blurted, lines worming across his forehead.
Reid just nodded, not sure whether he should be glad of a reason to skip school or not. Probably not, if it was really as serious as Brandon made it sound. With a final mad huff, Brandon took off, practically slamming the door behind him. Reid blinked.
