Foss and I reached an understanding. He stopped being so mean to me, and I slept next to him. I learned a lot about him during our dismal slumber parties. I learned that he was a jerk who liked to insult his bedmate right before falling asleep. One morning I fell asleep to his jeer of “Don’t expect me to hold you tonight. I’ve had enough of you today.” I awoke to find his arm around me, and my body scooped to his chest.
The next morning was something like, “If you open your mouth even once, you’ll regret it. I don’t want to hear what you think of Alrik’s stupid plan. I know it’s a bad idea. I’ve already said as much. They’re going through with it anyway. Deal with it.”
“I didn’t say a thing about the plan! You have no idea what I think. Leave me alone.” I rolled on my side away from him, curled up in my usual fetal position and tried to force sleep upon me in the daylight. What I wouldn’t give for a sleep mask. And earplugs. Heck, if I’m asking for things, I’d like a bed, too.
Foss snapped back, “You’ve been doing that quiet thing all day. I know when you want to say something, but you do that annoying polite thing. I know you think we’re walking into a deathtrap.”
My arms flew out as I spoke with probably too much vehemence. Foss always managed to make me irritable. “First I’m not allowed to talk. Then I’m annoying because I didn’t argue with anyone today and kept my mouth shut? Make up your mind, psycho! Pick a fight with someone else. I’m exhausted.”
“You’re exhausted? I’m the one who killed and cooked those kanins.”
My purple tank top clung to me in uncomfortable places. It was so hot and humid out, and I only had jeans and long dresses to choose from. I’d bathed in the ocean, but the humidity kept us all sweaty.
I rolled my eyes at Foss as I tugged at a damp spot on my back. “Yes. You own the rights to all sleepiness. If you’re tired, no one else is allowed to be. You are the king of all things that suck the life out of people.” I brushed the hair from my face and started talking with my hands even more. “Forget that it takes two or three of my steps to equal just one of yours. Forget that I’m the one who climbed four trees today so we could have those pink mangoes.”
“For the last time, they’re called persikas!”
I let out a noise of frustration. “You’re so infuriating! Next time I’m acting as Queen Lucy of the Other Side, I’m having you guillotined first thing just so I can get some peace and quiet! And you mumbling about the clouds all evening? What are we supposed to do about clouds? What would you like me to do about the clouds? I mean, on a personal and metaphysical level, what powers do you think I have?”
“If you had the power to shut up, I’d be happy.”
Alrik called from his tent. “Goodnight, children.”
I closed my mouth, angry that Foss riled me up just before the promise of rest. I held my stomach and squeezed my eyes shut, praying for a well-aimed lightning bolt to hit right next to me.
“I can feel you seething,” Foss griped.
“Can you feel me kicking your hairy butt? Because it’s coming. Shut up and go to sleep.”
After a few more choice words from both of us, Jamie reminded me through our bond that Foss had just lost everything, and he was surly on his best day. I pushed Jamie out of my brain. I closed my eyes and ignored Foss as he tried to verbally jab me a few more times just to have someone to fight with and blame for the loss of his grand life.
Finally I turned to face him, my eyes tired and my will to fight dwindling. Without speaking, I kissed my finger and pressed it to his scowl. “Shh.”
He clutched my wrist tight in his fist, his anger always frightening. He stared me down for several seconds, deciding between bear and puppy dog.
I scooted closer, begging him with my eyes not to strike. I wound my free arm under his head, bringing him to my chest in a hug he would never admit to needing.
He softened against his will and melted into my embrace, thank goodness. His finger poked through the ring at my sternum. He examined the gem he’d worn his entire adult life, and all the promise it held that was now lost.
Wordlessly he pulled back and touched the scar of his mark on my breastbone, then looked at me with apologetic eyes that held none of the malice he addressed me with earlier. My fingernails scraped along his scalp, making him sigh contentedly above me. He moved his hands underneath my ribs and lifted a couple inches so my chest was elevated. I was too baffled to react as he lowered his face to just above my cleavage and kissed the scar with more gentleness than I guessed he was capable of.
The intimacy between us was so confusing; I wasn’t sure how to react. I had goose bumps all over, and could hear my heartbeat pounding in my ears in time with the ocean lapping a few meters away from our camp on the beach.
Foss chuckled quietly at my wide eyes. “Don’t worry. I still hate you.”
“Whew!” I whispered. “I thought you up and lost your mind for a second there.”
“No. Not yet, anyways. Jens can have you the second you stop pretending you’ll never forgive him.” He rolled me on my side facing away from him and pulled me to his front, spooning me before I could punch him. Or thank him. I really wasn’t sure what just happened. “Goodnight, lovely wife.” He reached for his sheathed knife and hugged me with it, pressing the cool leather to my chest. The closeness of the blade terrified me, but it also made me feel somehow safer. That’s the thing about Foss.
My voice was small as I reached over my head to pat his cheek. “Goodnight, darling husband. Maybe ease up on the crazy pills tomorrow.”
Foss laughed softly as he kissed my wrist, and I could feel him relax against my back. However it happened, we were becoming friends. There had to be worse things than that. I couldn’t name any, but I’m sure there were plenty. I closed my eyes against the shiver I felt when Foss pressed his lips to the sensitive spot behind my ear.
Nine.
Let it Rain
I awoke to Foss rolling around in his sleep. His arm was still under me, but the rest of his body was shifting around, trying to find comfort on the uneven ground. The sheathed knife had fallen to the ground as he tossed.
I turned over and touched his chest, hoping to bring some peace to his sleep. His other arm was flung over his forehead, but at my touch, it swung out and knocked me in the jaw. “Ow!” I complained. I heard Jamie’s tent rustling, and knew he’d been roused, too.
Foss came to, groggy, but able to piece together what he’d done easily enough as he picked up his sheathed dagger again. “Oh! Sorry. I didn’t mean to hit you that time.”
“That time,” I scoffed, rubbing the sore spot with a frown. “Maybe you should try not hitting people on purpose or on accident. Novel concept, I know.”
“I said I was sorry. Come here. Let me look at it.” He squinted in the dim light at my face, scoffing at the nothing that greeted him. “You’re such a baby.”
“I didn’t say you wounded me for life. You just banged me, is all. I’m allowed to say ouch.”
“Go back to sleep. I promise to wait till you’re awake to hit you again.”
“Ha. Ha. You’re hilarious.” I settled into his nook, which was surprisingly comfortable, despite his bulk. I missed Jens, and welcomed the man Band-Aid Foss provided. “It’s getting dark,” I commented, allowing him to lift my leg to wrap around his as he shifted on his back. “I miss sleeping in the dark.”
“Yeah? I miss it when you used to be quiet. Let’s go back to that.” He kissed my lips once, and my heart jumped at the contact. His eyes were closed already, and his breathing leveled off in a matter of minutes. I reasoned that he probably hadn’t meant to kiss me, and decided not to examine the oddity. His restfulness lulled me, and I drifted off to sleep in his arms, my hand finding respite on his navel.
I dreamt of Jens. That was no surprise. My waking and sleeping brainwaves were often plagued with equal thoughts of missing him and being angry at him.
The two planes of consciousness converged when Jens ripp
ed open the tent flap and gasped at Foss and I wrapped around each other. I sat up, remembering I had nothing to be ashamed of.
His expression was hard as he looked into my eyes, hurt slashed across his face. “A storm’s rolling in. I can go in one of the other tents, if you want.”
I shook my head. “Come on in. You’re fine.” I tried to wake up more fully, pulling my knees to my chest so Jens could sit next to me. It was awkward being near him, and darn near impossible to relax with two huge men in the cramped tent.
No sooner had Jens fastened the ties on the tent flap did the rain begin to fall. There was about ten seconds of pitter patter before the heavens opened and dumped buckets of water down on us. “Um, is this normal?” I asked, gathering my backpack to me just in case we needed to bolt.
Jens looked at the roof warily. “For this region? It’s not unheard of for it to pour like this for days. Bedra has rain like your world doesn’t see all that often. We’ll see how this tent holds up. Don’t touch the sides if you can help it.”
“Yup.” There was a stint one summer that we traveled like nomads to different state parks. I could tear down a two-man tent with one hand tied behind my back after that.
“Go back to sleep,” Jens suggested. “I didn’t mean to interrupt your… whatever that was.”
Foss spoke without opening his eyes. He was not ready to give up his claim on half the space in the overcrowded area. “Come on, lovely wife. You heard him. Lay back down next to your big, strong, half-naked husband.” He chuckled at his ability to stir the pot without even having to be fully awake.
Jens punched Foss hard in the thigh. “Knock it off! I’m miserable enough as it is.”
Foss grabbed his leg. “Ah! I was kidding!”
“Me, too. I punched your leg as a joke. Get it? Every time you ask to be hit, I slug you. Fun game. I think I’m winning.”
Foss sat up and rubbed out the sting. “You’re not used to living with the aches and pains of your job. Bound to make you a little irritable at first. Stay clean, though. The worst has already passed.”
Jens ignored Foss completely. “Do you think we should stay here?”
“For now. At least as long as the tents hold up.”
As if on cue, Jamie and Britta announced frantically that water was seeping in and pooling in their tent. Tell Jens we’re packing up. Time to move.
“Jamie’s breaking down his tent. What happens next?” I asked, zipping my backpack shut.
“Here. I’ll take your bag. Your stuff won’t get wet if it’s inside my pack.” Jens kept his eyes from mine as he shoved my stuff inside his red bag, then did the same with Foss’s and cinched it shut. “We tear our tent down and see how far we can get on foot.”
Thunder crashed so loud, I let out a noise of alarm. It sounded like we were inside a bowling alley, only amplified to the point of an uncomfortable decibel level. I clapped my hands over my ears after I scrambled out of the tent after Jens.
The ocean was in uproar. Waves that seemed so far away when we were inside the tent were near and huge. The shore was being eaten away by the zealous ocean, inching closer to our camp with every crash.
Foss broke down the tent in record time, rolling it up and hoisting it up by the shoulder strap that made it easy to carry and a good buy when I was tent shopping for the group. Jens had Alrik’s tent over his shoulder, and Jamie had his. We were set to run, but had nowhere to go. We were running out of shore to travel along, as most of it was being confiscated by the ten-foot tall waves that made a scream catch in my throat. I’d been surfing a few times before when we lived in California. These waves were nothing like those. Angry, enormous and fast, I could not imagine fielding my way through those on a simple board.
“Inland!” Jens shouted over another crash of thunder I could feel in my teeth. He grabbed onto my hand and ran with me toward the too-tall grass that showed no signs of bowing to the weather.
The ocean was set on a slight incline from the mainland. As we stomped through the thick foliage that climbed to my neck in some parts, the water began to pool around our ankles.
And then our knees.
The rural part of Bedra we were in was flooding, and I was wading through water up to my chest before I knew it. The guys had their packs over their heads as we trudged toward what we hoped was safety, and then everyone shoved their packs inside Jens’s for safe keeping. Talk about a flash flood. We seemed to be in some sort of basin that was a magnet for torrential rain. I gave up on walking and started swimming.
My foot caught on a branch or a vine or a root or something, and suddenly I was submerged. I tugged and tugged against the loop that snagged me, but it would not let me go. Panic set in for a few seconds until it dawned on me that if I died this way, it would be okay with me. There were worse ways to go, and I had precious little to fight the root for. It probably had more to live for than I did. I gave the loop another obligatory jiggle, and then let the water take me. Aside from the burning in my lungs, it was actually pretty peaceful in the suffocating quiet. Flashbacks of the Nøkkendalig made my body feel like it was on fire, but I tried to forget about that so my last moments wouldn’t be such a horror.
Jamie was screaming in my head, but I mentally shrugged. I tried to free myself, but I couldn’t. Oh, well. Twenty years was a decent amount of time to live. What was I really going to do with a few more years?
Hands yanked at me, twisting my ankle painfully. I slapped at the grip that felt rough, like Foss’s. Water began to enter my lungs, and I thought I might burst from the agonizing burn.
Fingers I would know anywhere unwrapped my ankle from the vine and brought me to the surface. I’d spent a long time studying Jens’s hands.
Uncle Rick covered my mouth and sucked out the water, while Mace did the same for Jamie. Charles acted as Jamie’s crutch to move him forward.
Jens wrapped my arms around his neck and stuck me to his front. “Hold on tight! There’s elevation just up ahead.” He pointed, but I could barely see more than two feet in front of me. The rain was terribly thick, and the sun had gotten sick of the weather and deserted us completely. The moon was also wussing out, providing the bare minimum of light through the forest of storm clouds.
I clung to Jens, wrapping my functioning leg around his waist. He was strong, and despite myself, I allowed the comfort I missed to seep through my soaked clothes and into my hollow chest. His presence ripped at my torn heart while simultaneously filling in the shredded bits. It was all very befuddling, and my ankle hurt like a beast.
We hit a deep pocket, and everyone except for Foss was forced to swim. With great reluctance, Jens hoisted me up and placed me on Foss’s shoulders. He stayed next to us the entire way, treading water as Foss stalked onward, gripping my shins so I did not wash away in the current that was starting to form.
Britta was screaming as she swam, echoes of the Nøkkendalig too much to fend off, even with the distraction of torrential rain. The mournful cry clawed at my sanity, forcing a whimper from me as we moved through the water. Foss stroked my knee to calm me, which ironically, only made me weep harder. I couldn’t handle any acknowledgment of my pain or fear; it only made the hands feel more permanent on my body.
My ankle was definitely going to be a handicap. Just touching it against Foss’s side was more pain than I could handle gracefully. I bit my lip and whimpered as we trudged toward a point I could not see.
Ten.
Maniac Cannibals
When we reached “elevation”, which only lowered the water to their chins, they all cast around for higher ground, but no one could see very far.
The rain was fat and oppressive, jabbing at me so hard, I was afraid the drops might actually knock me out at some point. We were far off our course, but that was neither here nor there at this point. Survival was paramount, and the storm was only getting worse.
Since I was the tallest for the moment, I cupped my hands around my eyes and cast around for anything out of the inclement
weather.
“That way!” I called. The nearest point of safety was far, but it was all we had to shoot for. “There’s a mountain up ahead. It’s the only thing not underwater.”
We could barely see or hear each other, so I used the link to tell Jamie we all needed to hold hands and move against the building current forward toward that mountain. Everyone linked up and waded through the storm together. Somehow through everything we’d all been through, we’d learned to work as a team.
The swelling victory was short-lived. Nature decided that rain was not enough punishment. A cold wind gusted through the plains that was so strong, trees were bending. I was mostly out of the water, and I shivered violently at the arctic chill in the tropical land.
One tree decided it had enough. The trunk snapped in two, making an ominous cracking sound that was loud enough to warn us through the chaos. “Duck under it!” I commanded as the tree was shoved with the current right toward us, ready to clothesline everyone in the chest.
This was a good plan until I realized that when Foss ducked instead of lying flat, it put me right in the way of the tree. I screamed as I floated, and just before the trunk was ready to knock me off my perch, Jamie pressed on my chest and dunked me backwards. The tree scraped over my front, ripping and gouging as it passed over my face.
When we all resurfaced, I could feel warm blood running down my cheek. I looked over at Jamie and gasped at the phantom wounds that mirrored my own. Our forehead and left cheek was scraped up enough to be bleeding, and I could feel my torso and hipbone burning.
“We’re okay!” Jamie shouted above the din to reassure me.
I nodded and blinked blood and rain out of my eyes. I found our destination and pointed forward. “That way!” Everyone linked hands again, and we fought against the current and debris with valiant effort, with me at the helm. It felt good to be useful, and when we finally reached the mountain after an entire hour of fighting with the weather for each step, I was grateful I had not led everyone on a fool’s errand. The mountain was a welcome respite with plenty of footholds to grab onto, and even a convenient little plateau with a cave and an overhang not too far up.
Elvage Page 5
