“I just love you. That’s all. Even through the Jamie, I can still see you.”
I smiled at him, blushing at the compliment.
Jens barked out a laugh. “I’ve never seen Jamie look like that before. Are you actually blushing? That’s like, totally cute that I do that to you.”
I leaned back against the chair, my hand still on Harold’s head to comfort him. “Whatever. I always knew you were gay-bones for Jamie.”
“I can’t wait to get you out of that skin, baby.”
I grimaced. “Why do your compliments have to sound like Hannibal Lector?”
“Because I’m gay-bones for you.” He grinned at me, despite the gravity of the situation and the fact that his reply made not a lick of sense.
Foss and Jamie came back in with a small pig the size of a wiener dog. Foss had tied its feet, and it squealed unhappily at me, as if it knew I was the person responsible. I’m sorry, I mouthed.
Alrik ordered Foss and Britta outside, lest the cramped quarters become too crowded with all the large bodies. They watched from the window, not willing to miss a moment of the birth of this new magic.
Mace waited until Alrik, Jens, Jamie and I had our ears sufficiently covered before he summoned up a four-noted whistle. We all watched with bated breath as Charles gave in to the side of him no one could suppress.
Eighteen.
Sacrificial Pig
At first, nothing of note happened. Mace was zeroed in on Harold, who had not stopped thrashing next to me. I stood as his bodyguard of sorts with my hands over my ears, waiting for a glitch in the Matrix.
Then Harold stilled. Goose bumps broke out on my skin when Charles fell to his knees, belting out the whistle that was our only hope.
It was a thing of fortune that Harold was tied to the chair. His whole body went rigid, and then his chest puffed out, jerking him forward with violent force. The high-pitched screeching was replaced by a man’s hoarse cry for help that we could not give him.
I looked over at Charles and saw that his nose was beginning to bleed. “Wait!” I cried out, hands still over my ears. “Charles, stop!”
He shook his head at me, belting out a fifth note that tied through the others like a braided rope, until it was all one string. The pain on his face was only matched by his concentration, and I immediately regretted this idea.
Before I could say anything more to stop him, a white spot gathered on Harold’s chest. It was a light – stringy and ethereal, like alien spaghetti. It twisted like worms into a ball on his sternum, the strands fighting with Mace to hide from being taken from their stolen home.
Without breaking his tune, my brother pulled the white light from Harold’s chest. It looked warm, like stringy taffy as he carefully moved it with shaking hands to the pig. Charles was pale and sweaty, his long fingers trembling to stuff every bit of the angel hair pasta into the thrashing pig’s skin. His whistle changed to include only two notes before he collapsed on the floor.
I ran to my brother, picking him up and holding him in my beefy arms. “What have I done? I didn’t know it would be that hard! I’m sorry, Charles! Wake up! Wake up!”
Alrik snatched me up off the floor, and Mace rolled away from me, unconscious. Alrik handed me a dagger and pushed me toward my body. “Jamie! Lucy! Kill the pig together!” he instructed, eyes wide. “He’s got a soul now, but you have to do it together!”
The poor pig was having the worst day of his life, and then to complicate things, he squealed up at me with yellow eyes as his tiny mouth began to foam. “He’s a Were!” I yelled, stating the obvious.
Alrik pushed me forward. “It must be done together, and it must be now. Go!”
Jamie understood the situation faster than I did. He yanked the dagger from me and wrapped my giant fist around his dainty one. We knelt together, and I’m not ashamed to admit that I closed my eyes and screamed as we plunged the dagger into the pig.
Something bigger than lightning shot out from both Jamie and I. It hit us with such force, we were blasted out and upward, hitting the wall as if we’d been shot from a cannon. The last thing I remember before it all faded to black was blinking away blood and seeing my uncle run to me with an expression of utter horror.
Nineteen.
Dead Weight
I awoke to the most unexpected of sights. Foss had me in his arms and was… washing my hair?
I needed better hallucinations.
I blinked, but my world did not change. I was on my back, lying in the water as Foss cupped his hand and trickled the cool pooled rain over my forehead in the dim twilight. I lifted my hand to bat his away, but my limbs were not behaving as they should have. My body felt weighted and stretched, which was made all the more disorienting by the floating I was doing in the lake I had not taken myself to. “Foss?” I whispered. My throat felt like I’d screamed at a blaring concert all night and was paying for it now.
He shushed me not unkindly and continued washing my face. “We’re not sure what that was, so don’t bother asking.” He briefly made eye contact. “Are you… you again? Did it work?”
Reality came slamming back into me in violent waves. I picked up my hand and fumbled around for my face, feeling my smooth cheeks and chin. Tears welled before I could stop them, and I reached for Foss, my arm moving far slower than normal.
“It’s you. Okay.” Foss did an uncharacteristically nice thing and wiped my tears away for me. “You’re ugly when you cry,” he informed me, his usual charm resurfacing.
“You’re ugly,” I retorted, but my speech was slow. My brain was chugging uphill, trying to force movement against brakes that were not going to ease up anytime soon. “Where are we?” I asked, taking in as much as I could in my periphery. My neck was stiff. It felt like I needed to ask every muscle permission before I used it.
“We’re taking a break. Not a long one, but I can’t carry Jamie anymore tonight.”
“Wuss,” I joked. It was then I realized Foss was whispering. “Why are we being quiet? Is something wrong?”
“The new guy isn’t talking yet, but we had to get out of that house. The owners came back and weren’t happy. Mace took care of them, so they won’t come after us, but it was dicey for a while there. Jens got into blows with the man of the house.”
I wanted to shake my head, but I only succeeded in dragging my chin to one side and leaving it there. “Can’t really move,” I informed him. I didn’t like him hovering over me, but I couldn’t exactly leave on my own.
“As soon as you’re mobile, we’re going. The others are still on the path. But if I can get you walking, Jens can carry Jamie for a while. Give me a break.” Foss helped me to sit up, but I flopped around like a rubbery doll. He leaned me to his chest, and I located enough facial muscles to produce an adequate grimace. “Come on, Lucy. Try a little.”
“I am!” I tried wriggling my toes inside my filthy, damp Chucks, but they barely moved. “What happened to me?”
“To both of you. When you and Jamie killed that pig, something happened. Not lightning exactly, but a huge flash of light that shot you both backward. It would’ve been entertaining if Jens and Alrik hadn’t been so scared.”
“Is Mace okay?”
“He’s fine. What a baby. Uses a little of his magic and passes right out.” Foss cupped a handful of water and dripped it over my face, rubbing out who knows what from my cheekbone. “We stopped so he could rest a minute. Sit here and I’ll see what’s what.”
That’s what he said, and then he dropped me in the water. I’m sure a normal person would have just sat up, but my muscles were so sluggish that I remained submerged seconds past my comfort level. Then I realized I couldn’t get up and started panicking.
Foss pulled me out of the water, barking at me as if I’d nearly drowned on purpose. “What are you doing? Stop playing around.”
My head lolled back, and try as I might to operate my limbs, they were completely uncooperative. “I can’t move right!” I fretted. “Jens
! Get Jens.”
“He went to go track down some angelica archangelica to bring you two back. You’ve been out for a while.”
My eyes moistened again at being left at Foss’s mercy.
He was gentler than I was expecting, maybe because he sensed a breakdown was eminent, and did not want to witness the atrocity that was my ugly crying. Ass.
“Calm down. Does anything hurt?” He had one arm behind my back, and the other under my thighs.
“No. I’m fine, I just can’t move right.”
“I was really hoping you could start pulling your weight. We’ve been walking all night, and it doesn’t look like we’re going to make it to the next village by morning. I don’t want us out in the open if we can help it.”
I leaned into him as he lifted me, a child in his capable arms. “Be careful. Something’s off.”
“You’ve always been a little off.”
I had a retort all nice and ready for him, but I was so relieved to be back in my body again, all I did was sniffle into his chest as he took me back to the path with the others. They were sitting or lying against a gathering of trees in various stages of exhaustion. “Jens?” I called in a whisper.
Jens was on his feet and had me scooped from Foss’s grip in no time. I breathed much easier in the safety of his embrace. “You’re back?” he asked, waiting with bated breath for confirmation that I was not still his best friend.
Foss rolled his eyes at us. “Would you calm down? You’re making a scene.”
Britta stepped over Mace’s feet and ran her fingers through my hair. “Lucy? Jamie? Which one?”
“She’s back, in all her annoying glory.” Foss took Jens’s post beside Harold, who sat off to the side looking like a giant frightened bunny.
She picked up my hand and kissed it. “It worked!” she cried, tears falling into the well of my palm. “Are you well?”
I tried to wiggle my toes again, but still could not do more than a tiny jerk of the big one. I sucked down a steadying breath to stave off the freak-out I did not want to have with so many witnesses around. “I don’t know. I can’t really work my body yet.”
“Just her mouth,” Foss interjected. “Lucky us.”
“Shut up, Foss.” I could tell my speech sounded like I was drunk.
“Pop quiz,” Jens said, not ready to kiss me again until he knew for certain it was me. “When is National Cheese Day?”
I leaned against his naked chest, hoping he would never wear a shirt again. He was such a thing of beauty. “Every day should be National Cheese Day. C’mon, Jens. Everybody knows that.”
Anxiety he had not clued me in on rippled out of him as his chest heaved. He sat down on the muddy grass, my body clutched in his protective vice grip, and used my neck as if it was an oxygen mask. “I’m so glad it worked!”
“I thought you were fine with making out with Jamie for the rest of your life.” I found my arm, but it was weighted and clumsy when it tried to comfort him. It flopped on his back and bounced like rubber twice before it dragged across his shoulder. I guess it’s the thought that counts, because Jens held me with yet more covetous affection. “It’s alright. I’m here.”
Jens permitted Alrik to kiss my wet hair, but no one else was allowed near. In the elation from him, I felt the fear he’d held back. In that fear, I began to understand how dear our fragile fledgling of a relationship was to him.
Foss broke the happy moment with tensed shoulders and a whisper everyone knew to respect. “Something’s on our trail. I can feel it.” He sniffed the air at the same time Jens did, and the two communicated something the rest of us were unaware of. “We’re moving.” Foss hefted the still sleeping Jamie across his shoulders with a determined expression to muscle past the discomfort. “Faster, if we can.”
Jens stood with me in his arms and nodded to the path. “You set the pace, then. You’re the one with the load to carry.”
Mace sidled next to me, a hopeful expression on his pale face. “I can take her, if you need a break.”
“No, thanks,” Jens answered, not even pausing to feign consideration of the request. “You’re barely upright as it is. She’s fine. We can have a little reunion when we reach Elvage.”
Mace did not argue, but I could tell he was unhappy.
We walked along in the dark for a long time. I was amazed at Jens’s strength to carry me for so long, but I was blown away by Foss. Dude was an ox. Sweat poured off him, but he led the way without complaining until I could see his legs trembling.
“We have to stop,” I commanded. “I can walk now, but Foss is ready to pass out!”
“I’m fine!” Foss called over his shoulder in a quiet voice that carried just above our footsteps. “Alrik, where did you say your friend lives? Are we even close?”
“Not too far now, but Lucy’s right.”
“I can take him,” Jens volunteered, setting me down gently so I could test my legs before putting too much weight on them.
Foss needed no more persuading. He set Jamie in the mud and stretched before he fell down on all fours beside the prince, and then collapsed onto his stomach with a groan.
I made some squeak of concern and stumbled toward him. “Foss!” I knelt in the muck that was so deep, it was up to my thighs. I rolled him over and picked his head up out of the squishy brown. “Wake up, buddy.” I slapped his cheek as Mace helped me to sit him up.
Charles did not need to be asked, which was good, because I wasn’t going to require more of my poor brother than I already had. I covered my ears as Mace pursed his lips and sent a quiet whistle to Foss. I waited until he was almost finished before sneaking a hit of the energy he instilled into Foss. Just that little bit I let seep into my ears was enough. I could feel it in my toes, up my spine and all throughout my being. It felt as though even the molecules in the air surrounding me crackled and popped with electricity and potential. I dropped Foss’s head without thinking and was sucked into the lure of the whistle. There was no danger, no one else in my universe, and nothing that could not be overcome as I stuck my ear to Mace’s mouth, my eyes rolling back at the sound that wooed me.
When Jens ripped me away from Mace, I couldn’t even focus on their argument; I was too dazed. My muscles were useful again and alive with just enough youth to get me moving on my own. I scrambled to my feet and pulled Foss up to sitting. The whistle worked on him to a degree and even made Jamie stir a little, but I was more susceptible.
Alrik pointed to a cluster of homes not too far off. “There. I’m sure someone can give us respite.” He and Mace helped Foss to his feet. The father and son carried Jamie to give Foss a break, and Foss was given the cord that had the bound Harold at the other end of it. Harold watched me as I walked between my boyfriend and my husband. Try as I might to feel secure next to Jens, I knew I would not feel safe until I made sense of the new addition.
Twenty.
Darling Husband
“Not that I agree with it, but I can totally see why the Huldra were banished. That was a little scary, big brother. Getting the owners of the house to lend us the place, and then making them think it was their own idea? Brilliant.” The effect of Mace’s whistle on me was starting to mellow out after the trudge up the long hill to the village at the top. I wanted to sit my weary body down on the nearest chair in the long house. There were probably more comfortable ones somewhere, but I couldn’t commit to the effort of locating them. It was only the fact that I was caked in mud from my butt down that stopped me.
Charles grinned, proud of his prowess that was growing the more he used his whistle. “I’m getting better at controlling the strength of it,” he declared with a puffed out chest. Foss and Jens regarded him with wary expressions, though no one complained that they were out of the rain. “Some people just enjoy walking in the rain to their relatives’ home. The lady of the house said it was only a mile away. That’s not terrible.”
I sent an air high-five to Charles, but I think that only confused him. “Just
don’t try anything like that on us. The force is strong in you. Maybe too strong.”
Charles raised his hand in promise. “I vow to only use my powers of persuasion for the good of the mission.”
Various groans and moans accompanied the clamor of boots to the wooden floor. The family had already stoked the fire, and Alrik made quick work of adding more wood.
Britta held my hand and led me to the bathroom, not waiting for the men to offer us the chance to wash up first. My clothing peeled off with a slurpy sound that was akin to something farting out of a condiment bottle. “Gross! I would throw my clothes out, but I’ve only got a few changes here. When we get to the Other Side, you and I are hitting a mall.”
“Jens is getting us clothes from the house. He’ll leave them money. Normally I would object, but I can’t take much more of the filth, either.” Britta ducked under the bucket, and I trickled water over her head. We spent a thorough amount of time washing ourselves, knowing full well that the men were impatiently waiting.
Jens had set a pile of clothes for us just outside the door. I was so grateful for the clean garments, I didn’t even care that they were dresses. Well, Britta wore a proper nightgown that belonged to the lady of the house. The only thing Jens could find that wouldn’t fall right off me was the preteen daughter’s dressing gown. It was beige and fell to the middle of my shins. My boobs were obviously bigger than the eleven year old’s, but other than that, I didn’t stretch it out too much. I felt kinda childish, playing dress-up in a child’s slip, but I was past being embarrassed. One day, I’d be a woman again with boundaries and a real bed, not one of the guys who slept on the floor and didn’t own a brush. Luckily, the lady of the house had two housecoats that sort of looked like thin dressy bathrobes. Britta donned the red one, looking like royalty, and I threw on the emerald green one. It was a foot too long, but I didn’t care. Britta helped me roll up the sleeves. It kinda felt like wearing a dress-shaped king-sized bed sheet.
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