“I paid you back with interest!” Foss countered.
Jens postured. “I helped you out when you couldn’t find the thief who was stealing from your vineyards! You owe me, and this is what I want.” He pointed his finger to the ground. “And I shouldn’t have to bargain with you. All you had to do was ask me for help, and I was there. You should be better than this to me.”
Foss looked away, hating having his debts brought up. “Fine. But let it be known I was against this from the beginning. Huldra magic’s illegal in Undra.”
Uncle Rick chuckled. “I’ve never known you to be a rule-follower. It’s one of the reasons I chose you for this mission. You’ll do what has to be done to accomplish your task.” He lowered his voice and added the hint of a threat. “I know how you became the fourth power. There’s no need to pretend the rules matter to you, though I appreciate the charade for Lucy’s sake.”
Foss’s ears turned red. “Just get on with it,” he grumbled. He took a seat on the stone path, crossed his legs and placed his hands on his knees. He would have looked like he was meditating, were it not for the permascowl etched into his face.
Uncle Rick quietly instructed Mace, who looked like he would rather practice on anyone else. Jens, Jamie, Nik, Henry Mancini and Tor all backed into the cave we had set up camp in front of. I wondered when it was that Britta would return with food.
Mace stood, shoulders squared to Foss, who now had his face buried in his hands to fend off having to change his callous ways.
“Cover your ears, everyone. It should only work on Foss, but I’m still learning,” Charles instructed. His fingers danced at his sides as if stretching them for a piano recital. His shoulders were tense, and his brow furrowed as he decided how best to start the undoing of Foss.
I covered my ears and watched as Mace whistled for several long seconds, which stretched on into half a minute.
At first, nothing happened. Then Foss began jerking one shoulder, brushing it as if a fly was bothering him. The imaginary fly grew bigger, landing on both shoulders and crawling up his back. He twitched and squirmed on the ground until a sudden burst of air thrust out from his stomach up his body and blasted out of his mouth, as if the curse was a rotting stench in his guts.
I would have thought that was the end of the show, but Mace continued on, mutating his whistle without pausing for breath.
Foss began choking on the air that ran from his body like an exorcism. He pitched forward on all fours and heaved like an animal, looking like a guy bitten by a werewolf going through his first full-moon transformation. A few more seconds made vomit spew out of him. He growled and spat, seething and twitching until Uncle Rick placed his hand on Mace’s wiry shoulder. “That’ll do, son.”
Charles did not obey, but amped up the whistle, almost in punishment of the man. I watched in horror as Foss clawed at the rock beneath him. His stomach wrenched so violently, I cried out for Mace to stop. I ran in front of him with my hands over my ears and shook my head. “No more! Stop, Charles! Stop it!”
Charles released his hold on the whistle as it died on his lips. He stumbled backwards into Uncle Rick and rubbed his forehead to ease whatever tension that kind of magic inflicted on its user. I knelt down next to Foss and patted his back. “It’s okay! It’s alright. Deep breaths.”
Chemo was a necessary evil that turned many a night into a slumber party on the floor of the bathroom for Linus and me. I brought in a deck of cards, a checkerboard, magazines, dramatic books we liked to replace every third verb with the word “puke”, and various other games so Linus didn’t have to be alone while he emptied his stomach beyond what one would think might be humanly possible.
Once he went back to school a day too soon and lost his breakfast in the men’s room at whatever high school we were going to. I’m thinking it was the one with a wombat mascot. In the middle of first period, I felt something shift in me in that freaky twin way and started to panic. I got a pass and ran to the men’s room on a hunch, and found my brother on his hands and knees. There aren’t many places more disgusting than a teen boys’ public restroom, but I sat on the floor and held my brother until he finished. Then I held him until he finished crying.
Toward the end, our ever-present ability to make even the grimmest circumstance into a joke ran out. Linus was making peace with his impending death, and locked me out one of the times he was throwing up so he could cry by himself. I sat on the other side of the door, listening to his grief, and finally facing a bit of my own. Though he would die, I would live. Life without Linus? I still haven’t been able to find anything worse than that.
Though Foss was not Linus and I had no reason to be kind to him, the sight of him vomiting in that awful chemo way tugged me to the ground beside him. My arm went around his back and I pressed his cheek to mine once Foss blasted out his last chunk. “It’s okay, Linus. Deep breaths. Take a minute. I’ve got you.”
I could feel Foss’s resistance, but in the end, his weakness won out. He sagged against me, his breath coming out in shallow gasps. I ran my fingers through his short black hair, and he closed his eyes, relaxing for just a moment before the world demanded more of him.
Charles cupped his hands together and spilled water out from the center down onto Foss’s face. His expression was unmoved at Foss’s weakened state as he gulped at the water to rinse his mouth out. After Charles washed away the puke from the rocky path, he knelt down in front of Foss with a serious glare and whispered, “If you put your hands on my sister again, I’ll do that all over again just for fun.”
Foss sneered as he fought to control his breathing and wriggled out of my hug. “Get off me, Lucy.”
Despite the emotion that was raw within me, I smiled and backed away.
Jens helped me to my feet and shook his head. “I guess it didn’t work.”
I slipped my hand in his. “Sure it did. Uncle Rick said it had to be peeled back in layers. He called me by my name for the first time. I think that’s progress.”
Foss was resting against the mountain while Uncle Rick checked his eyes and ears, teaching Mace what he did well and what could be improved for the next time.
“Hey, I need a break. I’m going to go see if I can help your sister,” I said to Jens, dropping his hand.
“I’ll come with you.”
I shook my head, tapping my temple. “I have to take Jamie, so why don’t you hang out here for a bit.”
A hard look took over Jens’s features, but he consented. “Don’t go far. And take Henry Mancini.”
Jamie was already on his feet, wanting to get as far away from the Huldra as he could. Henry Mancini circled us and led the way with his nose to the ground. We walked a little ways up the path, getting just enough distance that we wouldn’t be overheard. Jamie shook out his nerves and straightened his shoulders as he spoke. “I know you don’t know much about the Huldra, but that was some impressive magic. That he can wield the whistle at all is an anomaly, but to use it to undo a siren’s curse? Even stripping off a single layer is incredible. Alrik’s right; Mace is a prodigy.”
I felt a little proud I was related to someone who was so talented. “Here’s hoping it sticks.”
Jamie tapped his chest as we walked. “When you get worked up about a matter, I can hear your thoughts quite clearly. I saw your memories. Your brother… Jens loved him, but I can see… I can see.”
I nodded, not sure what to say to that. “You must be better at hiding your thoughts, then.”
“I’m just more familiar with laplanding. You’ll get used to it. I’ve found putting up a small door in my mind often does the trick. I haven’t noticed you wincing when I’m thinking about…” He tried to fish around for a G-rated ending to that sentence. “When I’m thinking about certain people in ungentlemanly ways I shouldn’t.”
I grimaced. “Oh. Well, I didn’t get any of that,” I lied. “So kudos on the fake door thing. I’ll work on that on my end so you don’t have to hear my crap. I don’t want you falling in love wit
h Jens, too. Apparently I’ve got enough competition.”
His hand found its way to my back. “It’s a privilege to know you, not a burden. You can trust me with your life. I can care for its secrets like they were my own.” We walked for a few paces in silence. “Can I trust you with mine?”
“Of course. If you want to talk about your whole Britta/Freya triangle, you can unload on me. I’m good at keeping things to myself.” I recalled the mental image I’d fished out of his brain. “And you’re right, Freya does have horse’s teeth. That, plus the fact that you don’t love her? I’d bail.” I shook my head like the sage I was. “Ripcord that nonsense, Jamie. Seriously.”
Jamie’s expression was split between amusement and chagrin. “Thank you. And I can see you’ve been polite in telling me you can’t hear my thoughts. I apologize for anything unseemly you’ve heard in my head. I’ll try to be more discreet.”
I stopped and turned to face the world away from the mountain. The light breeze kissed my face as I watched the trees a few stories beneath us sway in their slow-motion grace under the red moon’s light. Henry Mancini paused to walk three times around me before licking my shoes. “Well, I guess I’ll preemptively apologize in case Jens gets particularly double-jointed in my dreams.”
Jamie let out a loud guffaw, his face red at my words. “Yes, well Jens has always been a bit more from your world than mine.”
“We’ll figure it out,” I assured myself more than him.
Britta’s steps interrupted our companionable chat, and Jamie stood straighter to greet her.
I tried not to freak out when I saw her with blood dripping from her knife, but I couldn’t help it. “Britta! Are you okay? What happened?”
She examined the two kanins in her other hand to see what problem I was talking about. “What? They’re properly dead. I’ll skin them in a moment. We’ve already lost the sun, and I didn’t want anyone to worry.”
“Oh,” I said lamely, not knowing how to pass off my horror for pride. “Great job. I’ll go let the others know you’re safe.” I scampered off before Jamie could tag along. Take your time, I told him.
I see what you’re doing, he replied with a bit of levity in his inner voice. And thank you.
Twelve.
Sharing Dreams with Jamie
When the lovebirds returned to the cave, everything had calmed down marginally. Foss refused to talk to anyone. He hovered in the back of the cave away from any sort of eye contact. Uncle Rick cooked up the kanins for us, and I could hear my mother’s gentle nudging about all living things having hearts and feelings as I chewed my gamey bunny. I wasn’t a vegetarian, but my mom’s heightened conscience poked at my insides. My stomach churned, knowing it needed the protein, but my heart felt sick. There was something about meeting the bunny before you ate it that made it all feel a little uncool.
Jamie kept giving me strange looks, and I knew he was picking up on my swerving conscience. Jens was sullen. His fight with Jamie had gone stale, but neither of them were willing to make the first move. It made for a quiet dining experience.
“I can take first watch,” Nik said, raising his hand. “I’m so used to these mountains. Why, once when I was out looking for adventure, I stumbled across a coven of Werebears. Seven of them, easy. That was a bloody night.”
I doubt he’s ever fought a Were, Jamie said to my brain. He was practicing sending specific thoughts in hopes of limiting the errant ones. It was a decent plan. I find his stories taxing.
Eh, I mentally shrugged. I kinda think it’s cute. His lies don’t bother me. They’re fun stories. Nik the Man of Valor. It’s like having a storyteller traveling with us to tell us entertaining fairytales.
Nik the Blowhard, Jamie groused. Weres are hard to kill. When he lies about killing them, it makes Jens’s efforts seem easy. Not to mentions ours, too.
Yes, but Nik does the killing so well. His hair is never out of place. I’ve seen Jens kill a Were. Messy hair to the extreme. Not as cool.
Jamie chuckled aloud at my joke, but then covered it over with a small cough.
Jens pulled out our sleeping mats while I finished picking at my dinner. I ate enough for my stomach to stop screaming at me in hunger, but handed the rest to Jens when he rejoined us. He’d polished his off quick, and I knew he was still hungry. “You want the rest of my bunny?”
He frowned. “Don’t call it that. Kanins aren’t rabbits. Makes me feel like I’m eating Thumper.” He eyed the small bones and sighed. “But yes, I’ll take whatever part of the bunny you don’t want.” He sucked down the remnants of my meal and gave the bones to Henry Mancini, who added them to his pile and gnawed happily.
“Goodnight, children,” Uncle Rick called to all of us.
Nik grinned, turning from his perch at the mouth of the cave. “Goodnight, father elf.”
I smiled at Uncle Rick’s happiness at the nickname. His dark skin made the dance of his love all the more evident against the glow of the red moon. He never sired any children, but I knew he’d always wanted a whole litter of sticky hands and crazy schemers.
Jens waved me back toward where Foss was pretending to sleep to stave off his shame at being taken down by a mere whistle. Jens handed me a sleeping mat and motioned to the spot next to him. “I’m beat, Mox. You feel like turning in?”
I nodded, and began moving errant rocks out of the cave to make for a more comfortable sleeping experience. Tor was already snoring on Foss’s other side, so I tried to move quietly.
Jamie had gone the gentleman route and cleared away the stones for Britta. When I noticed the difference between Jamie’s level of consideration for Britta, and Jens’s lack of awareness, I gave an internal sigh, wondering if I’d be in a relationship long enough one day where the man would clear the rocks away for me.
When I came back from my second load of rock removal, I saw Jamie clearing the rest of my spot for me. I stopped short, my heart moved at his small act of kindness. You didn’t have to do that, Jamie. That was real sweet of you. Thank you.
He tipped his head to me. Jens will learn, he assured me. Give him time.
I tried to brush off the comment. Oh, it’s fine. I don’t need all that gentleman stuff. It’s good you’re doing that for Britt, though. I can tell she appreciates it.
He spoke to me as an older brother might, teaching me the ways of the world with his sage wisdom. Being a gentleman isn’t as much for Britta’s benefit as it is for mine. The harder I try to deserve her, the more I someday might.
I had never heard such sweet, altruistic words, and I was glad someone as great as Jamie wasn’t wasted on a girl who didn’t appreciate him. The two laid down next to each other with matching scandalous grins on their faces at the social rules they were breaking by sleeping on separate mats next to each other. Totally precious.
I laid down on my sleeping mat in between Britta and Jens, pecking Jens on the cheek before beginning the long process of clearing out Jamie’s thoughts from my head, as well as my own.
I dreamt of Jens. Though he wasn’t double-jointed in this dream, he was romantic. He took me out to a nice restaurant, the kind where you feel like an inexperienced kid no matter how old you get. He pulled out my chair, held open doors, and made polite conversation that had nothing to do with Weres.
It made sense that I dreamed of normal. My everyday was anything but.
Midway through the soup course, my dream was hijacked, like someone else had gotten ahold of the remote.
Jamie was making out with Britta on his bed, gold curtains swinging out to christen their passionate union. Britta made soft noises of love, and Jamie let out manly grunts laced with lust.
I tried not to look, but I couldn’t figure out how to get out of his dream and back to my date, so I sat in the corner and faced the red wall, hoping we’d snap out of this quick.
Then I heard screaming in the room. “No! No!”
I whirled around and found Jamie in horror at whatever he’d just done. “Britta, no!”
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He was still holding her body in a passionate embrace, as he had been doing during their make-out session, but instead of kissing him, Britta’s mouth began to disintegrate. Blood poured out from her teeth, and like acid, the bloody drool melted off bits of her face, caving her head in as she wilted away in Jamie’s arms like a crumbling flower.
“I’m sorry! I’m sorry! Britta, no!” He fought to put her back together, but the more he touched her, the more she fell apart like a sandcastle.
With tears in his eyes, he looked around and saw me for the first time. “I killed her! My kiss killed her!”
I ran to him, prying his hands off her clothes that were melting and crumbling through his fingers. “No, Jamie. Oh, honey. No, no. It’s just a dream. A really terrible dream.” I wrapped my arms around him and squeezed. “It’s alright. We’ll wake up soon.”
He shook violently in my arms. “This is when it happens! It’s happening! Right after I kill someone in my dreams from loving them too much, I try to do it in real life. Lucy, you have to help me! I can’t stop my body!”
I began to understand the depth of Jamie’s curse. I took Jamie away from the bed and pushed open the door, revealing my boring date Jens had not noticed I was missing from. “Come over to my dream. Britta’s fine. You would never hurt her in real life. Your brain’s just messing with you.”
Since we were dreaming and could not be held accountable for our actions, Jamie sat at the table with Jens and me and wept, the strong man turning into a scared boy.
Dream Jens didn’t notice the turn of events. He merely asked if I wanted more wine.
I loved dream Jens.
The two of us ate, indulging in pleasant conversation until Jamie felt well enough to join us. Jamie ate a roll and looked around my dream, asking questions about what every little device and oddity was.
It was boring, but Jamie started to relax at the soothing uneventful dream he had the option of escaping to. He laid his head down on the table, letting me relax him by running my fingers through his chestnut curls.
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