Elvage

by Mary E. Twomey

  “Love you, too,” I echoed, though the words felt hollow. “Why did you pick me? You had the whole of humanity to choose from. Not to state the obvious, but there’s a slew of people better suited for this. I just don’t buy that I’m the best for the job. Was Vin Diesel really that busy?”

  Alrik looked down at his hands and waited a few beats before answering. “I admit I did not check Mr. Diesel’s schedule.” He sighed, and I could hear his age in the breath. “I needed you close. See, you’re valuable to Pesta, so I had to keep you far away from her. If she gets ahold of you, it’s all over for the Other Side.”

  I turned to look at him, wondering what the crap he was talking about. “Huh? I’m human. Pesta shouldn’t give two rips about me.”

  “Yes, but you’re purely human when you shouldn’t have been. You should have the Huldra whistle or elf elemental magic in you, but you don’t. You managed to cling to your humanity.”

  “So? Why would she care about that? If anything, it makes me less cool.”

  “Your humanity is your magic. Your humanity makes you a danger to Pesta. I would never compromise a weapon so useful. You killed the farlig fisk with nothing but your humanity, my dear.” Alrik leaned forward and whispered out onto the water instead of looking at me. “The portals in Undra are made up of specific bones. No one realizes that. They just think the bones in Elvage are random fallen elves Pesta scavenged bones from to make the doorway. But they’re not. They’re all my relations.” He glanced at me to make sure I was paying attention. “Same with Tor’s portal and the rest. It’s a rare bit of magic, but she’s bound it so that you don’t just need someone from that race to destroy the portal. All of the portals could have been done simply by Foss and Jens if that were the case. But it has to be someone from that race and that family to break the portal. You and Charles are the only ones who can destroy the human portal, Lucy.” He looked down at me with love and sadness. “Were it not for that, I would have sent you to a nunnery when Pesta began targeting you with the Weres.”

  “Nunnery,” I repeated wryly with a snort.

  “Indeed. Do you think I wish my favorite niece be exposed to the Nøkkendalig? The Depravity of Man curse? Foss? No. I wish you the very same white picket fence you long for.”

  I swallowed, taking in his words with equal measures of warmth and a grain of salt. “Targeting me? This whole thing’s pretty far to go for just revenge on my mom for stealing her rake.”

  Uncle Rick folded his hands in his lap. “Pesta knows you’re the only threat to cutting her off from her source of human souls. If she kills you, no one can destroy her human portal, and she can actually complete it, thus sticking the human side forever with the Land of Be. How many people do you know who can actually afford a retirement? The Land of Be would change a lot of things for your world. A society crumbles without its elders.”

  “What about Charles? He’s a threat to her, then, right?”

  Alrik nodded. “He is, but like most of Undra, she undervalues him. Besides, no one knows of his human lineage, other than our group.” He glanced behind at his surrogate son. “In Undra, when you adopt someone, they become part of your family legally, of course, but they also become your blood relation.”

  I paused, letting that settle to see if it made any sense. “You mean figuratively?”

  “No. Your blood actually changes, your basic genetics. You still have bits of your birth parents, but you also have an added gene in there from your adoptive parents. It’s a very old magic.”

  My eyes widened. “Whoa! That’s awesome. Totally poetic. So Charles is half mine and half yours?”

  Uncle Rick chuckled. “Oh, Goosy. Now that he’s met you? He’ll always be yours. But yes, his blood is your mother’s, father’s, and a little of mine. It’s why he can do two kinds of elf magic, and could be called on to destroy the elfish portal and the human one, if need be.” He scratched his nose, refusing to glance over at me. “I want you to look after him when this is all over.”

  “Might be kinda hard to do. I’ll be in my world. Fun as Undra is with its views on women and the constant danger of it all, I belong with proper plumbing.”

  Alrik smiled, but the levity faded. “However you can manage it. Come and visit him regularly or let him stay with you on your side. Whatever works for you both. Just please don’t leave him without family.”

  I squinted up at my uncle. “Well, he’ll have you, too, but that’s fine. I wasn’t planning on never seeing him again after this. He can stay with me as long as he wants. You know I’d never ditch my family.” I twiddled my thumbs as I tried to find a tactful way of stating my concerns. “He called me ‘baby’.”

  With a sage expression that suited his high level of knowledge, Alrik kept his voice low. “Yes. He’s not used to pretty girls paying him any mind, and he’s never had a sister. Certainly not one like you. He was bound to get confused.”

  I wanted to give a goofy grin at the compliment, but life was just too complicated for that right now. “So long as he can get our roles straight, he can come visit me any old time.”

  Alrik lowered his voice further, and I had to really listen close to hear him over the wind. “I want you to take Foss with you to the Other Side and keep him there after the mission’s over.”

  My face mutated into a contorted grimace, as if I’d just eaten a lemon. Foss often left me with that feeling. “Um, no thanks. Sure, he’ll come for the mission, but then he’s going back to Undra.”

  “Where in Undra is Foss safe? He’s well-known, and he’s supposed to be dead. If the wrong person recognizes him, he’ll be hunted by Olaf until he’s actually killed this time.”

  I wanted to be flippant about that, but I tried to be an adult. “That sounds like a problem for Undra or your diplomatic genius to figure out. You know he won’t fit in my world. He’ll up and get himself shot as soon as he opens his sexist mouth. We’ll be lucky if he makes it through the mission over there without causing too much a stir.”

  Alrik nodded. “He’ll have a lot of changing to do, that’s for certain. He doesn’t have other options, though. Charles is working on stripping the curse from him, and I daresay I’ve noticed a change. I have faith he can grow. I also have faith you’re the one to help him, too. He cares about you.”

  I scoffed, unable to feign maturity any longer. “If that’s him caring, I’ll pass.” I scowled at my uncle, and instantly felt ashamed for it.

  “Lucy, he needs to start over. He needs a guide. You saved his life. Now you’re responsible for him.”

  I stiffened and tried to remember to whisper. “Huh? Where do you get off with that logic?” I shook my head to stave off his answer. “You should love me better than to ask me to watch out for a man who’s smacked me around. He’s talked down to me and Britta this whole trip, and you’ve all just let him. Don’t think I don’t notice you not defending me when he gets too rough.” I avoided his hurt gaze and looked out over the drowned plains. “Curse or not, if you actually loved me, you wouldn’t let him be that way around me. No way would my dad’ve stood for it. I wish I could count on you. I’ve always wished it.” I sniffed, tugging my hair back from my face as the wind picked up. “When my family died, you came for like, a weekend and left. You talk a good game about loving us and all that, but you left me to fend for myself after all my blood up and died. Now you let Foss knock me around and talk to me like I’m garbage. Your love hasn’t saved the day in a long time.” I brought a knee to my chest. “And what kind of love doesn’t save the day?”

  Uncle Rick let silence rest between us while the breeze picked up with an edge of chill to it. “As much as I wanted to ensure you could carry on after they died, I knew you would. I’ve always known you were a survivor. And Lucy,” he looked out into the gray sky with a closed expression, “Charles is my responsibility and my son. He lost his mother and father, too. Only unlike you, he doesn’t have a plethora of happy memories to pool from. His hope that one day they might come back for him
was dashed forever.” Alrik picked at a thread on his sleeve. “Charles did not handle the deaths well. That you are here now, well, it’s done more healing than anything I did while abandoning you ever accomplished.”

  I looked over my shoulder at my sleeping brother. His long black hair was greasy and messy. He lay on his back with his hand over his belly. “I guess I never thought about Charles in all of it.”

  “No one ever does.” Alrik scratched his beard as he thought. “Though, I am sorry. For everything, really. I’ve been a terrible uncle to you. When Pesta murdered your parents, it was the last straw. I’ve been consumed ever since.” He rubbed a hand down his face and rested it on his jaw as he sighed. The sound was weary, like he’d lived far longer than his allotted time. “It’s almost done. Two more portals, and she’s cut off.”

  My voice was quieter than the whisper, and Alrik had to lean in to hear me. “Pesta built the portals, though. Won’t she just build more? I mean, is what we’re doing going to stick?”

  “That’s for me to worry about.” Alrik placed his hand on my shoulder. “And I wouldn’t be concerned about Foss. He’ll learn.”

  “If you say so.” I squinted at the cloud overhead that looked like it might burst at any moment. “It’s our friendly neighborhood storm cloud again. This weather is nuts.”

  Alrik and I moved back into the cave just as the sky opened on us again. There was four seconds of preamble before the floodgates opened. There was not a whole lot of room, so I leaned against the wall while the others slept and Alrik laid down next to Foss.

  “Lucy,” Charles whispered, lifting his head, but not the rest of his body.

  For no reason other than being an overly emotional girl in that moment, my heart ached for Mace’s plight. To pine for the family he would never have, and then get stuck with me in my fractured state. Despite how much he could have hated me for being the one my parents stuck around for, he did not. He’d been nothing short of awesome to me the entire time. I crawled over to him and slid my body between his and Jamie’s, wrapping my arms around Mace’s neck and hugging him tight.

  It was hard to have a private moment when we were all shoved together like sardines, but I managed. I whispered as I held his neck, “I’m sorry our mom and dad died. I’m sorry you never got to meet Linus. I’m sorry it all went down the way it did. If I would’ve known about you, no way they would’ve pulled the nonsense they did. Linus and I would’ve kidnapped you and taken you out of Undraland to live with us. He could’ve used a big brother like you.”

  Charles was only just barely awake, but I could see the surprise in his tired eyes. We faced each other and held on as the rain fell, washing away the… just washing it all away.

  Thirteen.

  The New Rules

  I roused when I felt lips grace my cheek. I was snuggled up to Charles, and Jamie’s side was warming my back as the wind howled. I assumed it was one of them being sweet. I swear, after all this was over, I wouldn’t miss sleeping on the hard ground, but I would miss the warmth in my soul that came from sleeping between two awesome men.

  Water dripped on my face and neck, running down and making me uncomfortable. We were far enough back in the small cave that getting rained on only happened when the wind blew the precipitation sideways, which it was not. I opened my eyes and was greeted by a sight that made my heart ache.

  “Is it really you?” I whispered, not wanting to wake the others.

  Jens tossed me a crooked smile. He was soaking wet, but looked pleased with himself as he knelt by my head. “No. It’s not me. It’s the Australian Outback version of Jens.” He switched his whispered cadence to a caricature of an Aussie. “Crikey! It’s a slammin’ Sheila out in the wild! I wonder if she’ll let me take her down unda in my cool boat.” Then for good measure, he threw in a confident, “Let’s throw another shrimp on the barbie!”

  Jamie reached his hand up to slap Jens’s. “I knew you’d come back.”

  Jens stood and clapped his hands together, letting his voice carry so it could not be ignored. “Wake up, kids. Clean and sober Daddy bought you all a shiny new boat. I can take three of you at a time.” He helped Jamie and Britta up, hugging his sister and kissing the top of her head. “Sisters first,” he declared. “Nothing but the royal treatment for all sisters!”

  Britta yawned. “What are you talking about?”

  “I swam to moderately dry land. Well, everything’s wet and spongy, but there are parts you can walk on. Even parts you can go to haggle for a small boat. Anyone else ready to get off this rock?” The noises of assent were tired, but sincere. “Then let’s go. Britt? Alrik? Charles? Grab your gear and climb down. It’s slick, but if you’re careful you can make it. I’ll paddle you ashore, and come back for the next batch of stowaways. I found an abandoned hut we can crash in until the rain stops. Much better than a cave.”

  He tossed a few apples to the fellow travelers. Charles bit into a green one and groaned. “I was starting to forget what any food other than biscuits tasted like.” My brother handed me his apple and stole a bite of the one I’d snatched. Purple. A purple apple. I mean, I had to take it to see what it tasted like. When else would I get to eat a lilac purple apple?

  Turns out, purple apples taste the same as a Red Delicious, only spongier. Barf. I must’ve made a face, because Mace consumed the rest of my purple one and left me with his crisp green one. When I could not conceal the admiration for him from my face, I breathed, “You love me.”

  Charles cocked his head sideways to size up my level of awareness. “That just now dawned on you? I give you my apple, and all of a sudden you understand how much I love you?”

  I nodded, holding the green fruit he’d sacrificed so I could have one extra smile. “You gave me the good apple, and I didn’t even tell you I wanted it. You love me,” I repeated.

  “Indeed, I do.” He grinned at me, pressing a kiss to my forehead. “You’d better get started on that one, because I’m coming for it next.”

  I took a meaty, covetous bite, letting the juices run down my chin. It had been a few days since I’d eaten something that didn’t leave my mouth like the Sahara. “I love you, too, big brother.”

  Charles, Alrik and Britta were packed and ready in exactly one minute. Everyone was antsy to get off the mountain and on with the rest of the journey; we didn’t even care that our travels would be in the rain.

  Jens held my face in his hands and backed me toward our little hideaway in the far end of the cave. Before he said his piece that made his dark eyebrows knit together so intensely, he kissed me. I was still chewing the last of my apple, and his deft tongue stole the bite from me. He pulled back and chewed, making me blanch. “Gross. Too weird,” I commented, my fingers tangling in the short hairs at the base of his neck. The thick hair on top of his head was messy, as usual, but the rain made it gather in grabbable clumps.

  His arms wrapped around my waist, and he leaned down to whisper in my ear, “You can pretend you want to see other people, but I’m the only one you’d let eat an apple straight from your mouth.” He paused for my laugh, then pulled me closer so our wet bodies were pressed together. “I will make this up to you. I will make you trust me again.” He kissed my lips before I could reply. “We’ll get it back. I’ll do whatever it takes.”

  I nodded slowly, not wanting to fight, but also not willing to give in just yet. “I’m still pretty firm on seeing other people, Jens. Solid as your word is, I can’t trust you.”

  He nodded, leaning his forehead to mine. His eyes were scrunched shut to fend off the pain my words inflicted on him. “That’s fair. Can I ask you a favor, though?” When I didn’t stop him, he whispered. “Don’t hook up with Foss, and for sure not Jamie. I couldn’t take it.”

  “How about any other guy in the world? Who would you be able to picture me with?” His forlorn expression changed my tone. “Of course I wouldn’t be with your best friend and Britt’s fiancé. I’m not trying to hurt you. I just can’t expect you to
be with only me. I don’t have anyone in mind I’m jonesing to hook up with.” I considered this, and amended my statement. “Except maybe Tony Danza circa Who’s the Boss. All bets are off with him.”

  With his forehead pressed to mine, his words came out only an inch from my lips. “Don’t shtick. Not right now. Please don’t be with Foss. I notice you left him out of your little song that’s killing me softly.”

  I kissed Jens’s soft mouth in a gentle rhythm that made me appreciate how full his lips were. I could hear the others milling around and conversing excitedly about finally getting off the rock. “I didn’t mention Foss because that’s a ridiculous thing to ask me.” How I wished we were not in this murky place. “And you don’t have the right to tell me who you can stomach me dating. I didn’t get a say when you cheated on me with the naked women who fed on your essence. I would’ve chosen a toothless hunchback for you to make your move on.”

  Jens fingered the ring around my neck. “Do what you want, but I’m with you. The lavender powder’s why I was in The Den. After that, the Mare pretty much do what they want with you, and I was too smashed to care.”

  “You’re making this so much better. Really.”

  “Point is, I didn’t cheat because I wanted anyone else. I cheated because I was too out of my mind to push them away when they took my clothes off.”