"I didn't sleep with him."
I saw his pulse start to slow.
I knew Cormac. When he didn't move forward and I saw the gleam in his eye, I took a deep breath in preparation for what was to come.
He took a step back from me, the last thing I expected, and leaned a shoulder against the wall, crossing his ankles. Whatever had happened to him out there, one thing was obvious: he was still pure Cormac.
"Why do you want to keep Burrom here? If it's business, like you say, then tell me why you need him."
It galled me after all this time to have to explain anything to him but he had the entire castle at his back. If he wanted Burrom gone, he'd get it. So I pulled out my trump card. I needed to tell him anyway.
"I think my truce with the senator is at an end. We're going to need him."
"Doesn't mean he has to live here," he said.
"You aren't worried about the senator?" I'd expected a stronger reaction, at least something. Cormac wasn't the type to run around screaming the sky was falling, but I'd expected more than this.
"We always knew he wouldn't be held at bay for long."
Plan B, "Well, there are other reasons. Burrom allows me an edge with certain things."
He shook his head. "Not good enough."
He pushed off the wall and started toward the staircase again. I wasn't sure if he was bluffing or not, but I didn't want to take the chance.
"Stop! It's in both of our best interests for him to be here, but I can't divulge the details."
He stopped again, this time right next to me.
"With the fights."
"How did you know?"
"I was catching up yesterday while you were hiding from me and going to clandestine meetings."
"I wasn't hiding. And you don't know anything." Burrom never would've told him, and besides me, no one knew.
He smiled and continued. "I know about the fights. Not pretty, but I understand it. I also heard about some of the match ups. Colleen couldn't have taken some of them without a little help.
"From there it was obvious who would be willing and able to help."
"So you agree, he stays," I said, but might have relaxed too soon.
"I don't like his tinkering. So no, I don't agree."
"Colleen would be dead."
"But it's right that she killed others? Unfairly?"
"She didn't kill Evan."
"It's not right."
"Well, I don't care, because Burrom's staying."
"I don't agree with the manipulation. I didn't say I wouldn't agree to him staying, just that I don't like the tinkering. In times like this, honor is more important than ever. I don't want him manipulating fights, but I won't insist on him leaving, on one condition."
"What?"
"We share the penthouse."
I chewed on my lip, thinking over my options. If I didn't agree, how was I going to get around him?
"You don't have any other options."
I shook my head. It was an obvious deduction on his part but it still grated on my nerves, maybe more so because he was right. I still couldn't take him on and I knew it.
"Fine. We share the penthouse."
"And, Jo," he put his finger under my chin, tilting my head up when I would've ignored him. "No more tinkering. My orders."
I jerked my face out of his grip and returned the favor by gripping his chin. "You don't rule the roost here anymore. You need to realize that."
He grabbed my wrist before he kissed my knuckles and let it go. He laughed, amused at my actions and turned his back on me as he strolled to the penthouse.
"We shall see who 'rules the roost' sweetheart," he said, right before he walked in.
I was the one staring at the walls and screaming now.
Chapter Ten
New Friends
I was lying on the couch with an arm thrown over my head when Colleen walked in, her leg in an ugly cast. I'd slept there last night, when Cormac refused to leave the bedroom. It irritated me to no end considering he didn't even need to sleep anymore, and I was positive he was just faking it all night long. Score one for him. We were now tied for one night each claiming the bed. One him, one me. I had no intention of losing to his fake snoring tonight. Big jerk didn't even know that he didn't snore.
"How's your leg?"
"Sucks. What's wrong with you?" She sat down on the end of my couch, smushing my legs, instead of opting for the empty one across from me. I knew she had a cast and all but there was all sorts of empty seating. Was it really necessary for us to sit together? People hogging my bed, now people hogging my couch. Did nobody appreciate personal space?
I'd never wanted a sister but I had a feeling this was what it would have been like. If someone other than her had walked in, I would've at least put on a show of not being depressed.
"I'm not fun anymore," I said.
"Forgive me for asking, but did you used to be? That must have happened before I knew you."
I lifted my arm just enough to make sure she could see my scowl.
"Scowling at me doesn't magically rewrite the past."
"Fine, maybe I wasn't fun, exactly, but I was funny."
"Okay, I'll give you that one. As much as I'd like to sit and wallow with you, I'm only here to deliver some correspondence."
I hadn't noticed the paper in her hand until then. The yellow crayon told me who it was from before I even read it.
Meet us out front at sundown.
"The bugs?"
"Yeah, how'd you guess?"
"Can't they find a pen?"
"I think they like the colors."
"So, are you getting up? What the hell is wrong with you, anyway? I figured you'd be nauseatingly happy now that your man is back. I planned on avoiding you for at least a solid week, until the edge wore off. You should've told me it was safe."
"Seriously? My happiness would've been that irritating to you?"
"I feel like the right thing in this situation would be to lie, but yeah, it would've been God awful. I might have even had to fight someone to take the edge off all that sunny joy overflow, even with the cast."
"Well then, you will be relieved to know I'm not overjoyed and have no plans for an abundance of happiness in the near future."
"Thank God! But why?"
I'd been lying to them for months, so I couldn't exactly come clean now. I decided to keep it brief. "We had a fight."
She didn't pester me for information, just nodded. In this way, Colleen was old beyond her years. She instinctively knew when to leave a subject alone.
"So," she said, just nodding.
"Yep, not to worry, no rainbows and flowers here. Not even a stale piece of crumbling chocolate."
"Are you getting up anytime soon?"
"What is soon?"
"I don't know, next day or so?"
"Oh yeah, I got that covered. Got a date with some bugs, even if Cormac is running around stealing my job."
"Okay then, have a good sulk. I'll see you later."
"See ya," I said as she limped out of the room.
Regardless of my intentions, I got up shortly after she left, anyway. Staying in the penthouse was just asking for constant contact with Cormac, as he was always in and out.
I spent the majority of the day doing things that had been waiting to be done but were in the most obscure locations in the castle. I sorted through supplies in a room of the dungeon. I looked over the generators and examined some stone paths that had appeared recently at the back of the castle.
The sun had just begun to set as I headed out to find the bugs. I was feeling a lot better tonight. Distance was what I needed to get my emotions under control.
I'd avoided Cormac all day, in spite of the fact that he'd been looking for me, which made it all the sweeter. Every time I'd been greeted with, "Cormac was just here asking about you," the sun shone a little brighter in the sky.
I didn't worry about anyone being outside now. The night was the rippers’ f
avorite time of day, which meant everyone else hated to leave the castle after dark. Even if you were immune to them, you never knew when they'd get hungry enough to lower their standards and you'd make it onto the menu. I personally hated lima beans, but that hadn’t stopped me from choking some down tonight.
As I walked over the drawbridge, I noticed it had finally stopped snowing, but the low temperature still made your skin burn when a gust blew. I might not have noticed the note if it hadn't been so windy. It flapped against the only intact window of a burned out building that used to be a convenience store. The bright purple colored crayon writing caught my eye.
Go to Burrom's tree.
I knew exactly where they meant and I started walking. It was the tree in the golf course where Burrom had decided to go to rest. I looked behind me, waiting to see Cormac's hulking form as I trudged along through the snow. My toes already felt numb but I was pretty sure I had a higher than normal resistance to frostbite. Unfortunately, the snow wasn't blowing hard enough to cover my tracks and I wasn't special enough to magically make them disappear.
Or maybe I was.
"Come here, little ripper. No, that isn’t right. Come here, freaky ripper, ripper, ripper." Hmmm, how did you go about calling these things? I'd never wanted to actively encourage their attention before. They just showed up.
I went through my entire cat and dog vernacular. Then I tried a clicking noise similar to their feeding sound. Nothing. These ugly fucks were the bane of my existence. Now, when I finally started to have uses for them, they seemed to be too busy to bother with me.
"Where are you?" I said out loud. Mist escaped out of my mouth as I spoke, which didn't freak me out anywhere close to how it used to, but instead of disappearing this time, it spiraled into the air and I heard my voice, but different, echoing on the air. "Where are you?" it repeated, over and over again.
Well, now, wasn't that an interesting parlor trick? That was way better than my smoke rings. Definitely going to use that at the next conference meeting.
And affective as well, as I saw the forms of the rippers appear in the distance a minute later.
And keep appearing.
"No, oh no. Not all of you!" Every ripper in the area was heading toward me. What was the point in having them cover my tracks if there were a hundred of them?
"Not all of you!" I tried to put a little umph into my words but there was no smoke, not even a wisp. I waved my hands back, but they didn't catch on and kept moving forward.
If this whacked out world could turn a casino into a castle and make bugs talk, was a user manual really that much to ask? I wished there were someone that could explain this particular magic, but of course the only other person that used it was my arch nemesis.
I rolled the term arch nemesis over my tongue a few more times. I kind of liked that title for the senator. Made me feel like a super hero.
"You three stay," I said to the first few who arrived. "You all," I waived my hands, trying to encompass everyone else, "Leave. Shoo."
Now, of course, because I was perpetually bungling this magic stuff up, they all started to leave, even the three I wanted. I threw my hands up. I was better off leaving tracks than walking around with a hoard of rippers, so I let them all leave.
It took me another half hour at a quick jog to get to Burrom's tree. It was easy to find, as it was the only one with bright green foliage in the middle of nothing but snow and ice.
As I approached the tree, I saw the bugs, but they weren't alone. A few jack rabbits sat near the base of the tree and a pair of owls were perched on a low lying branch. With each step, I prepared myself for the oddness I knew was about to come.
"Jo." The bugs greeted me first. "Our friends came. They wanted to meet you."
"Hi," I said awkwardly, not sure what to expect. I looked at the bunnies first and remembered the night I helped seal Burrom's hibernation ground. "Have we met before?"
They bobbed their little heads. "You hurt. We licked."
"Thank you," I said.
I looked at the owls next and they stared back, assessing me, angling their heads this way and that, deciding if I were prey. They made several humming noises as I waited for the verdict.
"Pretty, right?" the bugs said to the owls.
"Is she trustworthy, though?" the owls replied.
"We like her," the bunnies added, as they hopped over to my feet. I nearly jumped when I felt a little cold nose lift the hem of my pants and it pressed against the skin of my ankle. "I like her smell."
"Thank you."
"Put out your arms," one owl said.
I hesitated for a minute. Owls are a little scary up close, with their sharp beaks and talons. But if they were going to attack me, they probably would've done it already, so I decided to play along.
"To the sides, you silly girl," they said. "Not so bright," one owl told the other. I repositioned them to the sides in a scarecrow position and they both opened up their massive wings and landed on either arm. If that wasn't odd enough, they started to bounce up and down.
"What do you think?" the one on the left arm asked.
"Little springy, but it'll do. How is yours?"
"About the same. Let's swap."
A fluttering of wings had them switching places and proceeding with the bouncing again.
"Well?" the bugs asked. "What do you think?"
The owls bounced again for another moment before they flew back to their branch and announced their verdict. "She'll do. We will speak to her."
"Because you liked my arms?"
"We can't trust someone that has bad branches."
"What is it you want to trust me with?"
One of the bunnies stood on its hind legs. I was dying to scoop it up in my arms and pet it but I was afraid it might be insulted, so I tried to keep a business face on.
"The owls have seen things when they fly near the wall of wind. Strange gatherings are happening," the bunny explained.
"Yes," one owl spoke. "Bad things. The senator is forming an army."
This was the last thing I wanted to hear, but the very thing I expected. I was right. He was coming.
"How many did you see?" a deep familiar voice from behind me asked.
Shit. He'd followed me. I turned to see Cormac approach and then went back to do damage control. I needed this information and couldn't have all my feathered and fuzzy sources taking off.
The bugs were flying around in a frenzy, the bunnies were dashing behind a snow mound, but the owls remained calm and steady, holding the group loosely together with their confidence.
"Come forward, creature," the owls said to Cormac, which was a little bit pointless since he was moving toward them anyway.
"Hold out your arms."
Cormac looked to me and I nodded, and waved my hands upward, motioning for him to do it. I guess he missed the opening ceremonies.
Unlike me, he put them out to the sides first time and the owls flew over and each landed on an arm.
They started to bounce and then I heard the ooohs and aaahs start.
"Glorious branches," the one owl said.
"Yes, spectacular," the other agreed.
"Let's switch."
"Yes, yes!"
With a flapping of wings, they quickly exchanged places and the ooohing and ahhhing started up again. The bunnies, which were peeking out from behind the snow mounds, approached Cormac. They seemed more confident after the owls’ approval and started to sniff around his ankles.
"Hmmm, it smells good," one bunny said, at the same time an owl looked to be nuzzling at Cormac's neck.
The only thing that stopped me from losing my mind at this love fest was the bugs, who swarmed next to me, clearly not as willing to join Cormac's fan club. I took a couple of steps closer to the owls and Cormac.
"I hate to interrupt anything, but could we get back to the business of armies?"
I was taken aback by Cormac's laughter.
"Nothing about this is funny," I sai
d as I gave him the nastiest look I could drum up, which by the way, was pretty damn mean.
"They're tickling me," he said and laughed again. "Stop."
I looked at the owl nuzzling him and just rolled my eyes.
"Come on, she's right." He lifted his arms in an encouraging manner. "Time to go back to your branches."
One of the bugs flew and landed on the tip of my ear and whispered, "Don't worry, Jo, we don't like him either."
I had a feeling Cormac heard, since the smile fell from his face and he became all business again as both the owls returned to their real branch.
"Do you know how many?" I asked.
"Many and many," the owls responded in a grave tone.
"Many like a thousand? Or more like ten thousand?"
When the owls looked the other way without replying, one of the bugs spoke. "The owls can't count."
"Yes, we can."
"Then how many?" the bugs chimed back.
"Lots, too many to count."
Which meant the bugs were probably correct. The owls couldn't count. It could be ten, ten thousand or just a few hundred, for all we knew, and shed very little light on the threat posed.
"What did they look like? Did they look human?" Cormac asked.
"Strange creatures. Humans, too. But mostly strange."
I'd thought I was going to have more time to prepare. One would think after you learned you might live forever, barring a nasty accident or murder, that time wouldn't be as much of an obstacle. Unfortunately, life around you didn't stagnate in respect for new longevity.
We took turns pressing the owls for more details but all we got was more of the same. Lots of "strange creatures," which I assumed were the changed and "many."
Cormac and I thanked them with an agreement that they'd inform us of anything else they saw and headed back toward the castle.
We were about halfway back and my mind was racing with possibilities when Cormac spoke. "You should've been preparing this entire time."
My jaw dropped open at the audacity of the statement. "Don't tell me what I should've been doing after you dropped the ball. I've had my hands full just trying to keep everyone fed and intact. You've got a lot of nerve, casting any judgments."
Redemption: Alchemy Series Book #4 Page 9
