by Tl Reeve
I hated it, mostly because he was right.
“Look, I told-you-sos aren’t helping a damn bit.” Frankly, I didn’t know what would help at that point. On second thought… “But there is something you can do that would help.”
“Caw, shit, you’ve got that look your eyes that never bodes well for me.”
“Oh, shut your face, and just listen.” I really hoped this would work. “Go and find one of the guards, or maybe even the judge. Let them know that none of those idiots are dead, they’re just stashed away. Tell them that I’ll set them all free once they let me out of this hole.” Saying it out loud made my impromptu plan sound kind of stupid.
Jason said as much. “Has being in this cell drained more than just your magic? ’Cause that sounds stupid even to me, and I’ve got a bird brain.”
“Well, I don’t hear you coming up with anything!” I took a deep breath to both calm and quiet myself down. It wouldn’t do me any good if someone caught Jason talking to me. “I’m open to suggestions here.”
“Caw, why not just let your parents sort this thing out?” He cocked his head in that strange way ravens did before he continued. “They’re gonna think anything outta your mouth is just some made up squabble to get yourself free.”
“You may be right, but guess what? They’ll think my parents are doing the same thing. Fuck.” I had just buried my head in my hands when I heard something scampering in the corner of the cell.
“If you two wankers don’t tell me where da feck me Jadine is, I’ll have dis here cell filled with every rat I can find before yer head hits da pilla dis nightfall.” My cell may have been made to keep magic out, but it sure as shit didn’t stop familiars from getting in. Bruno stood in all his tiny glory in the corner somehow looking down on us even though he was the smallest creature in the room. He wore a leather jacket and crossed his arms over his chest. His Irish brogue sounded plain wrong in his squeaky little voice. “I’ll not be going another day not knowing where she is.”
That ruffled Jason’s feathers, literally, “Caw! You do anything to my Jackie, and you’ll be my next meal.”
Listening to the two of them going back and forth made me wonder if I should just call the guard so I didn’t have to hear it anymore. “Will the two of you just shut up, please? Jadine is okay. She’s in the North Pole with all the rest of the jackasses everyone seems to think I murdered. And what do you mean another day? I just got locked up this morning.” When Jason refused to look at me, my mouth being so dry suddenly made sense. “How long have I been in here?”
“Caw. Only a week.”
“A week? That means it’s already Christmas Eve!” I whisper-shouted. I noticed I was no longer wearing the same thing as when I was in the market. I had on a black prison jumpsuit with a pair of off-brand, wannabe black Keds. My hair had been pulled back into a ponytail, and I had a catheter bag beside the cot. No wonder I couldn’t get comfortable. Which brought another scary thought to my mind… “Who the fuck dressed me?”
“Thought yer sistah’s paranoia was just a load of horse shite, did ya? She may take it a bit far, but it does have some merit to it.” Bruno shook his head at me. “Heard what you’d done. Ya think turnin’ two powerful beings ta look physically diff’rent den just vanish wouldn’t tax ya?”
“It’s not something I go around doing on a daily basis,” I seethed at him. He was even more irritating than my sister on her worst days. “Jason, they may not have left yet. This cell may be zapping my magic, but that doesn’t affect our bond, or the amount of my power stored inside of you. I’m sending you up there to plead with Jadine to help. Hopefully she isn’t hating me too much right now. After all, I got myself into this mess trying to protect her. At least you have a few days to convince her, since it’s not like they’ll have me go on trial on Christmas.”
“Caw! Woman, your trial is on Christmas. Tomorrow. They were waiting for you to get up. No one here celebrates Christmas, because that’s a human holiday.” Jason flew over and perched himself on my knee. “So you’d better hope she does decide to help.”
“You’re going to have to peck me with your beak, because we don’t have anything else to use.” I’d barely said it before he did just that on my upper arm. I didn’t complain, because we really didn’t have any time to waste. “I won’t be able to do a round trip, so I fingers crossed she’ll give you a ride back.” In an even quieter tone, so that only Jason could hear me, I added, “Take Bruno with you.”
Jason hurriedly swooped down and grabbed Bruno with his beak then they both vanished. I quickly laid back down on the cot when I heard footsteps coming, so they would think I was still out of it. I hoped against all hope that this plan would work.
5
By the time they made it to the north pole, I was shivering my ass off. With nothing on but the thin ass jumpsuit, and no magic or coffee to help me keep warm, I got the full effect of how cold it truly was that far north through my connection with Jason. My teeth were chattering so badly, I was afraid the guards would hear and know I was up to something.
Poor Bruno was knocked out, thanks to Jason. He had carried him by the collar of his jacket, which cut off his air supply until he was unconscious. Supposedly it was an accident, but I was just glad he hadn’t killed him. “You can’t give him to Jadine like that then expect her to willingly help us. She’ll think you tried to kill him.” Speaking to Jason through our bond was so much harder than usual, and I wasn’t sure how much longer I’d be able to keep doing so. “Stash him in a warm hidey-hole somewhere and just see what’s going on. Then swoop back and get him.”
“Caw, do this Jason, go here Jason, don’t kill the rat bastard Jason,” he muttered while setting Bruno down.
“You do realize, no matter how quietly you speak, I can still hear every word you say, right? Just go so you can get back to Bruno before he wakes up.” After a few more mumbles and grumbles, Jason finally shut it and took flight.
“Oh. My. Goddess.” Those were the only words I could mutter when I saw that they had accomplished in one week what I hadn’t been able to in decades. The place actually looked like a friggin’ winter wonderland; lights were strung all about, even the trees had been spruced up and decorated. Remember that nook and cranny in the caves where they had all those mice stashed as ‘presents’? They were gone and replaced with boxes of all shapes and sizes, wrapped up nice and neat, complete with ribbons and bows. How did I know there weren’t rodents on the inside? For one, they were too damn clean. Two, when Jason swooped around to the larger spaces in the caves, all Jadine’s rotten exes were sitting at various workstations, making toys. And they were actually doing a damn good job of it, too. What was even more surprising? One of them was back to being fully grown and was walking around, helping.
Knowing we were truly on a time crunch, Jason flew back outside. What he witnessed next made me realize I may have been the true dumbass in this whole situation.
Victor and Jadine were right there in the snow, in all their red and rosy glory. They were hooking up eight reindeer to a huge ass red sled. “What are they doing? Get a little closer so I can hear what they’re saying.”
“…how could she have thought we were together? Does she really think I didn’t notice she’d been crushing on you ever since grade school?” Jadine was ramming so many question at Victor, I wasn’t even sure if she expected him to answer any of them. He looked as though he felt the same way. “If she’d ever bother to actually talk to me, she would’ve known that those scumbags weren’t just using me. I was using them, too. And couldn’t you just claim her like a normal vampire, Victor? Nooooo. You had to continuously fight it, then come to me like a thief in the night to get pointers on winning her ice-cold heart.”
She paused as though she were going to give him a chance to finally speak, but the only word he had a chance to get out was, “Well…”
Jadine just kept at him like a freight train on crack, “And what else did you do? You constantly picked at
her and teased her about the very things you loved about her. Idiots. The male species as a whole are just plain idiots, and it doesn’t even matter what species they belong to.” I thought the cold must have been getting to her when she said that. “And Little Miss Know It All sends all of these buffoons up here to ‘grow up,’ but forgets what children need the most! Guidance. As long as these feeble-minded idiots remain in this form, without anyone around to guide them in the right direction, no way would they ever act their true age.”
Jackie stopped speaking again, this time to put her hands on her hips and look up, directly at Jason. Yet I could feel her gaze penetrating right through him to me.
“Next time you plan on cursing someone Jacquelyn Louise Lantross, maybe you should come to me first.” She zapped a bit of magic at Jason’s wing, making him squawk and fly upward. I felt it like the pinch she had intended on my upper arm, and it hurt. I rubbed at it, knowing there would be a bruise to show for her frustration.
“I know you hate talking to people, but I’m your sister, pusshead, so talk to me. Stop just assuming, because surprise, you’re not always right. I scanned Jason’s head and got the gist of the huge mess you’ve gotten yourself into. Something that could have been altogether avoided. Do you even realize how hard it was to make all of those morons think they were the ones using me? When I was the one using them as storage containers for my magic? They didn’t even know they were soaking some of my magic, Jackie. I was making it so that it was inside of them in case I needed it one day. Which looks like I may need to sooner rather than later, thanks to you.” Jadine finally stopped to take a breath, while shaking her head at me. I’m pretty sure, even had I been there, I wouldn’t have been able to get in a word edgewise. Which, taking everything into consideration, was probably a good thing since she was absolutely right, and I so did not want to admit that anytime soon.
Jadine walked over to where Victor stood on the opposite side of the sled. He must have finished securing the reindeer, because he was tossing large red sacks into the back. Once she made it close enough to him—she didn’t even break stride— she pulled back her fist and punched Victor in the arm. I flinched for him, because that looked like it had to have hurt.
In a move that made her look like a mirror image of our mother, Jadine jabbed her pointer finger so far in Victor’s face, she was almost touching it. When she spoke to him, it seemed like she was repeating words she’d said a million times already. “You need to tell her exactly how you feel and what she is to you. Enough of this pussyfooting around. You are a grown male vampire, so just yank off the band-aid and get it over with. Go on.”
Victor looked like he was about to speak, his eyes trained right on Jason, then he just shook his head and turned his attention back to Jadine. “I can’t. That is not her; it’s a bird.”
Jason spoke up and shook out his ruffled feathers at that, “Caw! I am not a bird, I’m a raven, you jackass.”
“Okay, I can’t talk to the raven with the potty mouth.”
Jadine gave an exasperated sigh. “Whatever he hears, so does she.”
“It’s not the same,” was Victor’s only reply before going back to his task. Though I barely heard him, because the connection between me and Jason was getting kind of fuzzy, it sounded like there was more than a touch of disappointment in his tone.
Before I could even think or speak the thought to Jason, the link snapped. I stared at the ceiling and pulled the itchy blanket tighter around my still cold body, wondering what in the world Jadine planned on doing to get me out of this mess, since no sort of plan had been spoken of. And my trial was only hours away.
6
The next day came a lot quicker than I’d thought it could. It seemed like I had just warmed up and shut my eyes. I was really hoping against hope that the trial would be delayed. It wasn’t.
Someone had come in during the night and removed the catheter. They must have sedated or spelled me or something, ’cause I hadn’t felt a thing. Court didn’t start in the morning like humans’ court did. No, it started when the sun began to set, so that everyone who wanted to show up could. But the ones I was looking for were nowhere in sight. So, besides the angry mob out for my blood, the only ones that were at least halfway on my side were my parents. Both of them looked like they wanted to throttle me.
I hadn’t even had a chance to speak with either of them. All I had been allowed to do was eat some type of gruel they claimed was food, take a supervised shower, only to put on yet another hideous jumpsuit, and come straight into the courtroom. At least the cuffs they put on me this time were two single braces, one on each arm. Everything was happening so fast, it felt like my head was going to spin right off.
Even though I had on the prison suit, I felt completely naked without my magic, and all eyes were on me.
There wasn’t a judge and jury to plead my case in front of, just the three town elders who acted as judges, jurors, and executioners.
One was a male vampire that had to be at least three-thousand years old. He was not only hunched over with only a few strands of white hair remaining on his head, but he only had a few teeth left besides his canines. One of the teeth in question looked like it was on the verge of falling out.
The next judge was a witch that lost her glamour every time she sneezed. She kept going back and forth from being a beautiful blonde to an ugly old crone, complete with hooked nose and giant hairy mole on the end of her chin.
And last, but certainly not least, was the werewolf judge. He had so much hair everywhere that I couldn’t tell if he was on the verge of changing or not.
They all had on official judge robes, complete with gavel. So, I was basically screwed.
If you hadn’t guessed by now, we didn’t have trials very often. No one really committed any crimes in town, so there wasn’t really any reason to. But seeing as how more than a dozen had gone missing, and were presumably dead up, there was more than enough reason to have one.
The witch, Judge Hazel, was the first to speak to the court at large. She banged down her gavel to quiet down all the murmurs then, in a voice so grating I’m sure it made more than just me wince, she said, “Jacquelyn Lantross, you’re being brought before all of us today on several charges of murder. How do you plead?”
I stood before the three of them and spoke loud and proud, like an idiot. “Not guilty. They aren’t dead.”
That got everyone’s haunches right back up, and they all started shouting very foul things my way. I didn’t even need to turn around to know my mom and dad probably had their heads buried in their hands. Poor things—one daughter on trial, being accused of murdering the other one.
For the first time since I woke up in that dank prison cell, I wondered just what was going on in my parents’ minds. What could they possibly think of me? I had no idea, and I really felt like shit just then, with what I was putting them through. They had no clue as to what was truly going on. Maybe I really was a selfish bitch after all.
I projected my voice a lot louder this time, hoping to be heard over the crowd. “If you’d just take these magic zapping cuffs off of me I could just reverse it all and bring them all back!” My loud mouth must have paid off for a change, since they most definitely heard me loud and clear.
There was a pregnant pause, then they erupted into raucous guffaws of laughter.
Judge Hazel started banging down on her gavel then bellowed, “Quiet!” which was both felt and heard, and woke up the vampire, Judge Eldrich. He let out a loud snort as he shook himself and wiped a bit of drool from his chin with the sleeve of his robe, asking, “What’d she say?”
At seeing that everyone still hadn’t completely shut up, the werewolf, Judge Harold, rolled his eyes and let out a growl. It was so grimacing and loud, with a ton of power behind it that got not only everyone’s attention, but made the other werewolves whine just a little before shutting up. Training his lethal gaze on me, in a tone that was rough, incredulous, and full of impatience and mor
e than a touch of a snarl he asked, “Are you out of your ever lovin’ mind, little girl? Give you your powers back so that, what. You just zap your pretty little ass outta here? No. Just sit your ass down.”
I sat in my seat, deflated. I sunk down even lower when Judge Hazel spoke again. “Young lady, we have fifteen witnesses that saw you make both Victor Stranovich and your own sister, Jadine Lanstross, just up and go poof in broad daylight. More than a dozen others have filed complaints of you being behind the disappearances, and possibly murders, of Walter, Gerald…”
As she kept calling off names, I could feel heated gazes trying to burrow holes into the back of my skull. When she finally rattled off the last name on her seemingly never-ending list, it was my mother who stood and addressed the judges. “Your Honors, I beg your forgiveness, as I must have dropped this lovely young woman on her head one too many times as a young babe.”
“Gee, thanks, Mom,” I said under my breath.
That earned me a, “Hush your mouth,” before she continued. “I understand that she should not be trusted with any magic, considering the circumstances. But, if what she says is true, shouldn’t the court attempt to verify her claim? A powerful witch, such as yourself… couldn’t you conjure up an image of the location she claims them to be in?” Damn, Mom was good. That seemed to be inflating Judge Hazel’s ego just enough, so she kept going, “Not only would that show the great power to all that you still hold, but it would also put a quick end to this trial.”
Wow, Mom must have been a lawyer in a previous life. Either that or a human politician.
