Fantastic, Jared thought. A visit from Hank was just what he needed to make this day perfect. “In here.”
He heard Hank’s heavy tread coming down the hallway. Jared sat up, putting the mug of tea on the coffee table.
“Listen, I didn’t mean to ta—” Hank came to a full stop when he saw Neeka, like a cartoon of someone realizing they’ve stepped off a cliff and gravity is about to take over. Hank swallowed. He shuffled, moving from foot to foot like a little kid who needs to pee.
“Should I leave?” Neeka said.
“No,” Hank said.
They stared at each other for so long, Jared became annoyed. “What do you want, Hank?”
“Oh,” Hank said, not taking his eyes off Neeka. “Hi.”
“Would you like some tea?” Neeka said.
“Yes,” Hank said.
Hank followed Neeka into the kitchen. Jared listened to Hank explain where the teacups were. And the good tea. And the teapot. He offered to lift the kettle. Jared blew his nose. He went to the bathroom and checked his reflection. It looked like mosquitoes had been feasting on his eyes. He had snot crusted around his nostrils. Jared washed his face. He could hear Hank laughing, an uncool hee-haw.
When Jared returned, Hank’s expression darkened. He couldn’t be more obviously jealous if he painted himself green.
“Are you two together?” Hank said.
“His dad went out with my mom,” Neeka said. “We could be siblings.”
“Oh,” Hank said.
“I know,” Neeka said. “Messed up, huh?”
“No, no. Not at all. No.” Hank’s face scrunched in concentration and Jared would have bet anything that he was examining the family tree to see if that meant Hank and Neeka were cousins of some sort. He suddenly looked relieved, and straightened, smiling. Hank obviously thought Neeka meant Philip Martin.
You lied to him, Jared thought at her.
He’ll be nicer to you if he thinks you have a hot sister.
He went into his room and lay down on his bed. The floating heads in the wall were still. The mobile of the sun and planets creaked. He heard his message alert ding, but was too tired to check who was texting him. He wondered when Mrs. Jaks was going to be buried. He wondered if she would visit again, or if that was the last time he was going to see her.
At the grocery store the next morning, David appeared beside him and casually picked up a bag of grapes. He didn’t seem angry, the way you would expect of a normal person who’d just had their car blown up. Jared had a moment of doubt, about what was real and what he’d dreamed. David paused. Jared hadn’t ever expected to feel this detached, this aloof. But he wasn’t, not really. Underneath everything, he wanted to shove David’s head through the wall. The longer David lingered beside him, the angrier Jared grew. He was sick of David’s shit. Sick of being stalked, of living in dread. In the distance, Jared heard a slither.
“Good luck with your physics mid-term on Thursday,” David said.
“Thanks,” Jared said.
The thing that lived in his bedroom wall squirmed in the shadows of the store. Jared could feel its stare.
The thing gurgled. Jared remembered all the ways David had made his life hell. The hairs rose on his arms. He was angry and he felt the thing agree with him. David was bad. David needed to go away.
Eventually, David headed for the line at the cashier. The thing crawled beside Jared, its bony back rippling as it followed him like a dog.
Jared heard rustling and expected to see Mave, but Neeka was waiting for him in the apartment, nosing through his bedroom when he walked in.
“What the hell?” Jared said.
“Hank let me in,” she said. “He’s checking up on your aunt. She’s up on some mountain for a protest.”
“Can you give me some space?”
“I did.”
“This isn’t space. This is the opposite of space.”
She cocked an eyebrow. “If you’d listened to your mother and learned some basic protection spells, this wouldn’t be an issue, would it? You’re lucky I like you. A lot of beings take issue with Wee’git. They’d happily hurt you in his place.”
The threat hung in the air. She waited, watching him.
“What do you really want?” he said.
“My mother is a witch too,” Neeka said. “But she isn’t powerful like your mother. She would take little bits of my soul to power her spells.”
Jared stood uncomfortably, wishing he wasn’t having a conversation about witches stealing their children’s souls. “I’m sorry.” Neeka’s smile disappeared. “I don’t need your pity.”
“Okay.”
“Sit.”
Jared sat on the desk chair before she made him. She sat on his bed.
“I can’t hear you today,” Neeka said.
“I didn’t say anything.”
“No.” She tapped her temple. “Here. Sometimes you’re loud and clear like a siren. Most of the time you could be any one of the human herd.”
“Thanks.”
“My mother would kill for your power.”
Jared shrugged.
“And you pretend you have nothing.”
“I don’t. I can’t make it work.”
“You don’t want to.”
“You can take it,” Jared said.
Neeka was very still. Jared thought she’d want to take everything, and he half-hoped she would so he could be a human, plain and simple.
“You don’t know what it would do to you,” Neeka said.
“Would I be normal? A normal human?”
“No. No, you would not.” Neeka sighed. “You’re lucky, Jared Benjamin Martin, that I am not my mother.”
They sat for a long time. Neeka stared into the distance, scowling. He could see spots of her memory: a green seiner with white trim; a black fish with an oily rainbow sheen cupped in small hands; a delicate woman with brown hair and large, nervous eyes. Her dress covered her from neck to ankle and her hair was curled in tired ringlets. Neeka was coldly furious. She saw a drop of her own blood on the blue table. The kitchen cupboards had no doors. The nervous woman stirred a large steel broth pot, glancing over at Neeka.
“Stay out of my head,” Neeka said.
“You’re in mine,” Jared said.
They had a loop of irritation going, hers, his, hers, his, until they Vulcan mind-melded and he wasn’t sure if he was feeling his feelings or hers.
“You need so much help,” Neeka said, then she stomped out.
“You barged in on me!” Jared shouted at her retreating back.
Jared massaged his temples where a headache threatened, wishing furiously that he’d never met Neeka.
Hank popped in later, trailed by a mud-splattered Mave, who announced she needed a shower. Hank’s hair was suspiciously groomed, his face shiny, and he was wearing a clean, ironed T-shirt and new jeans. “What did Neeka say?”
“She’s a serial killer,” Jared said. “She wants to kill me. Thanks for letting her in the apartment, asshole.”
Hank’s eyes were as glossy as if he was stoned. “Your half-sister is amazing.”
“Oh, good gravy,” Jared said.
33
When Jared got home from his night shift, Mave made him breakfast, scrambled eggs and chopped fruit. She poured him a coffee. “How’s Jared? You seem very subdued this morning.”
“If you get arrested for your protest stuff,” Jared said, “I can take a bill or two off your hands. My student loan came in.”
“I might take you up on that if my bail is high, but for now, save it for your incidentals and quit your job.”
“Why would your bail be high?”
She sipped her coffee. “That isn’t your worry.”
“Don’t do anything slammer-inducing.”
“You have a colourful way of expressing yourself.”
“Aunt Mave.”
Suddenly, her eyes welled up and she reached across the table to grasp his hand.
“You okay?” Jared said.
“You’ve never called me Aunt before. Bring it in. Come on, gimme hugs.”
“Can we not make a big deal?”
“No. Deals will be big.”
She got out of her chair and stood beside him, squeezing him in an air-limiting hug. When she cried on his shoulder, he patted her back.
“Love you,” she said.
On the bus ride to school for his physics mid-term, Jared checked his phone. Sophia had messaged him yesterday: Hooligans set Mr. Thompson’s car on fire while he was visiting your neck of the woods. Such a dangerous neighbourhood you live in.
And then, a few hours later, The Lexus belonged to his father, a communal car for the help. His daddy owns a number of luxury properties that David squats in when they’re vacant.
The last message, early this morning: If you don’t answer me, I’m going to assume you’re in a hospital bed somewhere and come find you.
Hey, Sophia, he messaged back. I’ve been busy with school. Sorry. Haven’t been checking my messages! I’m okay!
Dindins? she messaged back.
I have physics mid-term today.
Tomorrow then. Clear your Friday night schedule. Pick you up at 6!
Jared thought about Sophia and her cleansings when she had come to visit. His mother had dreaded them. Jared hadn’t understood until much later that Sophia was scrubbing the house of everything supernatural, making snide comments about his mother’s “housekeeping” all the while. Back then, he’d thought she was old-fashioned and loved the smell of sage, cedar, sweetgrass and tobacco.
The thing crawled around the floor of the bus in anxious circles, like a nervous dog turning before it lay down. It dropped through the bus floor and disappeared just before his stop.
Jared and his lab partner met up at Tim Hortons for a quick study session before they went to class. He wanted to get this over with, get it done.
The physics mid-term seemed very easy. Jared finished before everyone and caught the bus.
Mave was gone when he got home. He spent the rest of the afternoon on the couch. He dozed, still all emo about Mrs. Jaks. She had suffered and now she wasn’t anymore, but she was dead and, not being the kind of person who overstayed her welcome, she seemed to have permanently moved on to the next stage of life. Death. Afterlife. Wherever she was, she had popped in to say bye and that was that.
Dent drifted near the ceiling, suspended in an invisible ocean. His colour was so faint, he was more an impression of Dent. Maybe that’s how ghosts slept, Jared thought, not sure if he should wake his friend.
His friend. Was it weird that he was friends with a ghost? Did that make him delusional? A mark? He knew what his mom would say about needing to think with his head, not his heart, but Dent was solely responsible for his mid-term marks being respectable. Jared’s phone pinged.
Are you free? Olive texted him. Finalizing divorce papers with lawyer. Need someone to watch Eliza for a few hours.
He wasn’t sure if he liked being a resident babysitter. But Eliza mostly watched Frozen and he was already moping on the couch. Company couldn’t hurt.
Sure. Come on over.
Thank you, Jared.
Hank dropped by before work to see if Neeka was visiting and then he poked around as if he didn’t believe Jared wasn’t hiding her somewhere. Jared hoped Neeka wouldn’t show up while he was babysitting.
Olive knocked and they chatted while Eliza thundered down the hallway to the TV with Shu skipping happily behind her, tendrils of her clothes floating around her like worn silk threads in water, the flesh of her cheek bloodlessly pared to the bone. She waved excitedly at Jared as she passed.
“Thank you, thank you, thank you,” Olive said.
“No worries,” Jared said.
Olive smiled, waiting until Eliza was out of view to whisper, “It’s awkward asking Darlene. She’s been wonderful, but Aiden is her son.”
“Sorry.”
“No, no. Big-girl panties. Putting them on. Here I go.” She took a long, slow breath. “See you in a bit, Doodle-bug!”
“Bye, Momma,” Eliza shouted back.
Eliza and Shu played on the living room rug. Dent bumped against the ceiling like a stick in a stream bumping against the bank. Shu lay on her back and pointed her toes, pretending to bicycle. Eliza laughed, rolling like a log through Shu, over and over.
He didn’t know anything about Eliza’s dad. But he watched her goofing around with Shu and he felt bad for her. Shit was coming, and she didn’t know about it yet, so everything in her world was fine. Jared remembered when his parents had told him they were getting divorced. They had driven to a steak house and Jared’d thought they were celebrating. He’d hoped his dad had found a job. Maybe, he’d thought, they were moving. They’d waited until dessert. Jared had had a bite of cheesecake in his mouth and he hadn’t been able to swallow it.
He should have guessed. His parents had stopped screaming at each other and the house had a stillness that was more nerve-racking than the shouting. That should have clued him in, but he was a kid. Eliza had to know her parents weren’t going to get back together. Eliza’s dad wasn’t even living with them anymore. His friends had stolen their furniture.
Shu was suddenly in front of Jared, tilting her head as she studied him.
Family, Shu said, and Jared’s mind was filled with images of Eliza and Shu playing together. Shu saw Eliza when she was a baby in a crib. Shu saw Olive when she was a baby in a bassinet. Shu saw Olive’s mother in a cradleboard.
“It’ll be okay,” Jared said to Shu.
Eliza said, “Can we make cookies, Jared?”
Shu saw her own body on a cedar mat in a longhouse. Her face was unrecognizable because of the sores, blistered and swollen. Her body was curled into her mother’s, which was equally as rotten. Flies hummed in the weak daylight filtering in the smoke hole. Clouds made the sky a grey sheet. The longhouse was full of shadows. Nothing moved but the flies and their maggots. Her mother’s spirit waited for Shu, standing in the bow of a canoe offshore, calling Shu’s real name, telling her it was time to go.
“Let’s get ice cream instead,” Jared said.
A man entered the longhouse in Shu’s memory. When he bent over her body, the little skulls in his long, matted hair clinked together like shells fringing a dance dress. He looked up and saw Shu’s spirit. When their eyes met, she felt dread. He smiled at her spirit and his teeth were filed to points.
Why haven’t you left? the man asked Shu, mind to mind.
Don’t want to, Shu said to the man in her memory.
Can’t you hear your mother calling you?
I want to stay.
“Please?” Eliza was saying. “Pretty please?”
“What?” Jared said, trying to shake the images Shu was sharing. The man picked up her body, ignoring the larvae that dropped off her, the slime and the ooze from her decomposing flesh. The smell of all the bodies in the longhouse didn’t bother the man. They walked through the forest behind the village, following a deer trail into the mountains. Shu helplessly followed him, tethered to her body by unseen strings.
“One balloon,” Eliza said. “That’s all I want.”
“Sure,” Jared said.
“Yay!”
Great evil walks the land, the man with pointed teeth said in Shu’s memory. I can’t protect my family by myself. If you help me, I’ll keep your bones safe.
Jared didn’t want to see any more and the images stopped. Shu was trying to tell him something, but he wanted no one in his head but himself. Shu touched his hand and it sparked as if she had dragged her feet along a carpet while wearing wool socks.
Protect my family.
At the dollar store, Eliza hit him up for marshmallows and chocolate bars on top of the balloon. They went to the café and stood in line for gelato. Jared got himself an espresso. Eliza held hands with Shu and they skipped to the park. Jared sat on the bench while the girls played tag.
Once the
y were back at the apartment, Eliza asked if she could light a candle. Jared dug out one of Mave’s from her pantry. It was a fat, creamy white pillar that smelled vaguely green, hinting of freshly mown lawns. He put a pie tin under it. Eliza stuck a marshmallow on a fork and said, “This is for Shu.”
She let the marshmallow burn into a bubbling black mess. Shu grinned as a marshmallow the size of a head appeared in her hands. The smoke alarm went off. Jared waved a towel under it before he took the battery out. Shu pulled off chunks and crammed them into her mouth, happily bouncing on her toes. Eliza burnt some chocolate and Jared was glad he didn’t have to clean up after Shu because she smeared it all over her face and hands as she ate.
“Hey,” Dent said, floating down from the ceiling. “Share-sies?”
Shu closed her eyes and shook her head.
“She’s too hungry,” Eliza said. “Here. Have your own marshmallow. This is for Dent.”
Dent’s marshmallow was just as large. He sucked it in as if it was water and then smacked his lips. He solidified; the threads of him wove back together and you couldn’t see through him anymore.
“Why is the food bigger on the other side?” Jared said.
“It’s the land of the dead,” Eliza said. “Day is night there. Summer is winter. A little food is a feast.”
Jared went down to the nearby hardware store and bought a cheap propane grill. They sat on the balcony and fired it up. Eliza said they needed to put the food on real plates if they burnt food in a real fire, so they did until one of the neighbours shouted that barbecues weren’t allowed.
After they’d eaten, the ghosts held hands and danced through the walls. They spun each other around, and then flew up, off the balcony. He heard a hum, and then Huey the flying head zipped up to them, smiling his big, goofy smile.
“Let’s burn something for Huey,” Jared said.
“He doesn’t eat human food,” Eliza said.
“What does he eat?”
“I don’t know. I’ve tried feeding him everything.”
“Dude,” Jared said to him. “That sucks.”
Huey bobbled, shaking back and forth, before he followed Dent and Shu. Jared shut the propane off and closed the lid.
Trickster Drift Page 26
