Maddie nodded slowly. “I just… I don’t like being around him right now. For some reason, his very presence annoys me.”
“That’s because he’s gallivanting on his merry way while you’re dealing with all of this terror and possible responsibility,” Nora said. “Tell Agler.”
* * *
Agler looked up from his plate. He was sitting on a bench at the main fire pit. It was evening, and he was working on dinner, eating alone. “Oh, hey,” he said. “There you are.”
Maddie was standing in front of him. He had waited for her earlier but hadn’t been able to find her anywhere. Their last conversation hadn’t gone well, so he figured she was still mad at him. He was bracing himself for whenever she caught up with him, because he thought she would really let him have it. That was probably now.
“So, what’s up?” he said.
“We have to talk,” Maddie said.
He figured as much. He set down his plate and got off the bench. He gestured. “Lead the way.”
Maddie took them for a meandering walk in the woods behind the tweens and rebels enclave. She didn’t say anything until they were far away from everyone else. Agler didn’t take this as a good sign. It probably meant that she wanted to yell, and she wanted to get far away from everybody else, so no one would hear her yelling. He had a bad feeling about all of this. He didn’t know what he had done wrong, but it was probably something awful.
Finally, he stopped her. “Come on, you’re torturing me here. Just let me have it. Tell me what I did. I’ll do my best to make it right.”
Maddie turned to him, folding her arms over her chest. “Fine.”
But then she didn’t say anything.
He raised his eyebrows. “Well?”
“You know how I halt my aging to make sure that I don’t get pregnant?”
Agler didn’t like where this was going already. But he had to admit, it wasn’t anything like he had expected. He looked around for a tree. He had a feeling he was going to need something to lean against. “Are you telling me that you didn’t halt your aging for some reason?”
“Oh, I did. I did it the best that I could. But… at the end of the month, when I sped up my aging, I didn’t get my… well, nothing happened. And if nothing happens, that could mean that I’m… that I’m… pregnant.” She said the last bit into her hands which she had clasped together.
Agler grabbed onto the tree trunk. He had been right. He needed something to hold onto.
Maddie raised her gaze to his. “Well? Say something.”
Agler swallowed. “What do you want me to say?”
“I don’t know. Something.”
“Are you sure that you’re pregnant?” His mind was reeling. He was still trying to grasp the thought that she had just conveyed to him. Pregnant. Pregnant meant baby. Baby meant he would have a baby. He would be a father. It was… He shook his head.
“I’m not sure of anything other than the fact I didn’t get my period this month,” Maddie said. She paused, waiting for him to speak. When he didn’t, she kept talking, words tumbling out of her mouth one on top of the other, as if she couldn’t stop herself. “But I went to see Nora and I talked to her about it. Because I couldn’t talk to anyone else, and she’s my best friend, and I didn’t know what else to do. I talked to the healers, and they couldn’t help me. So I went to talk to her. I know she might be under some sort of spell, or possibly have turned into some kind of weird Nimue creature. I don’t really know. But anyway, she told me that they have pregnancy tests in the mundane world. And she wants us to go and get one. She says Owen can take us. I don’t really want Owen to take us, but the alternative is to ask Daryl. And I really don’t want to ask Daryl.”
Agler held up a hand. There was far too much information coming out far too fast. “Hold on.”
Maddie let out a noisy breath.
Agler pushed off the tree trunk. He massaged the bridge of his nose. “What you’re saying is that it’s possible that… that you aren’t?”
She nodded.
“But you don’t know?”
She nodded.
“Well, we should find out,” he said. “And… yeah, I don’t like the idea of talking to Daryl about it.”
“But Owen?”
Right. That was bad. But of all the things to be worrying about, whether Owen Asher knew that he had possibly knocked up his girlfriend was the least of Agler’s concerns at the moment. He swallowed hard.
Maddie reached for him. “I’m so scared, Agler. I’m so scared, and I don’t know what to do, and I just…”
He knew that he should reach out for her. Should pull her into his arms and hold her and tell her that everything was going to be all right.
But he didn’t. He backed away. “I… I need to be alone for a little bit.”
She nodded. “Oh. Okay. That’s fine then.” But the look in her eyes told him that it was anything but fine.
Hating himself for it, he turned and walked away, leaving her there alone.
* * *
“And this is why I’m gay,” said Agler’s best friend Jack.
Agler glared at him. “Do you have anything to drink, or do I have to go find something myself?”
Jack pulled aside the flap of his tent. “No worries, brother. There’s tons of liquor here in this bachelor pad tent. Come on in.”
Agler ducked inside Jack’s tent. Jack had a deluxe single tent, with several rooms. His bedroom was tucked away in the back. There was a little area in the front, almost like a porch. Jack could pull back the flaps of the tent and have it open in the front, but still have shelter overhead. It had some chairs and a table. It was also where Jack kept his bottle rack.
Jack busied himself pouring them both some whiskey. He handed one of the glasses to Agler. “So what are you going to do about it?”
Agler took the glass and down the whiskey. “You’re jumping the gun. We don’t even know if she’s actually pregnant yet.”
“You going to ditch it in the babies and toddlers enclave?” Jack asked. “Because I know that’s why it’s there and all. But it seems like a cop out to me. I mean, there are kids that get raised there, and they seem totally fine. But… it seems like it would be weird, not knowing who your parents are.”
Agler sank down into one of Jack’s chairs. “You’re getting way ahead of everything.”
Jack sat down next to him, refilling his glass with more whiskey. “I think, even if she doesn’t want to keep the baby, you should make sure that you keep it. Or, even if you let it stay in the babies and toddlers enclave, visit frequently. Like daily. Like you’re still part of the kid’s life, you know?”
Agler downed more whiskey. “I’m not ready for this, Jack. I’m not even close to being ready for this.”
Jack nodded. “Yeah.”
Agler held out his class for a refill. “I never really thought about when I would want to have kids, but I figured not for a really long time. Maybe not until I had at least a hundred years under my belt or something.” The muses lived very long lives, much longer than a typical human lifespan. However, because they were able to halt their aging, many of them remained very youthful for a very long time.
“I think a lot of people would say the same thing,” Jack said, pouring more whiskey into Agler’s glass and also refilling his own. “But, man, you don’t really have a lot of choice here. If it happened, it happened.”
Agler stared into his full glass. “It’s bullshit is what it is.”
“What is?”
“That women are the only people who are in charge of this.”
“In charge of what?”
“Birth control,” Agler said. “If there was some way that I could do something about it, then I would. Wouldn’t it be better to make doubly sure? Both of us doing something to stop conception?”
Jack shrugged. “Sure, maybe. But I think that some things are just the way they are. It’s not fair, but then it’s not your body that will be carrying the child
, anyway. So it makes sense that women have more responsibility and more decision-making.”
Agler drank more whiskey. He sat back in his chair. “I can’t do this. I can’t deal with this. This can’t be happening.”
“Hold on a second. Where’s Maddie right now? Did you leave her alone, man?”
Agler opened his eyes. “I know. Don’t start.”
Jack shook his head at him. “Honestly, I don’t know why she puts up with you. You’re always such a dick to her. Ever since the two of you even started getting together, you’ve been a dick to her.”
Agler dragged a hand over his face. “I feel bad enough as it is. There’s no reason to pile on and make me feel even worse.”
Jack pointed at the door. “Go be with your girlfriend. The two of you need to talk about this.”
Agler sat up. “Okay. Okay, you’re right.” He held up his glass. “One more whiskey for the road?”
* * *
But when Agler got back to the tent that he shared with Maddie, she was nowhere to be found. He decided to go looking for her. He headed down to the dancing enclave, where Maddie spent a lot of time. But she wasn’t there. It was late, anyway, and it didn’t seem to make any sense for her to be there, now that he thought about it. But he thought maybe she had gone there because it would’ve been a place that made her feel better.
He realized that he hadn’t made her feel very good at all.
When it came down to it, Jack was right. He had been a dick to Maddie. He was always a dick to Maddie. Their first time had been a drunken mess. She’d been a virgin. He’d hurt her. It took a long time before she could forgive him—before he could forgive himself. Suffice it to say, the beginning of their relationship had been rocky, and he always felt like he was hurting her. She was younger than him. In so many ways, Maddie just seemed innocent and vulnerable. It was one of the things that had always attracted him to her, he had to admit. But it meant that he needed to step up and be better for her.
He hadn’t stepped up. He hadn’t been better. Even though he was older than her, he hadn’t behaved in a very mature manner.
He was a crap boyfriend, and he knew it. He wondered where she went. He briefly considered that she might have gone to her parents’ house in the food enclave, but then nixed the idea. Maddie wasn’t close to her family. He seriously doubted that she would have gone to confide in them. He thought about checking just in case, but he didn’t want to share with them what was going on. He couldn’t imagine they would look on him happily if they knew that he had possibly impregnated their daughter.
He went back to the tweens and rebels enclave. She had to be around here somewhere. Maybe she’d gone to talk to Nora again.
He went to Nora’s and Owen’s tents. They were pitched right next to each other on the edge of the enclave, just past the big tree house. Both tents were empty. Neither Nora nor Owen was there.
The he decided to check Sawyer’s tent. Sawyer and Lute had their two tents pitched on the other end of the enclave. When he got there, the two of them were sitting outside of the tents each drinking some wheat beer from the wine and spirits enclave. Agler waved as he approached.
Lute waved back.
Sawyer stood up. “What did you say to Maddie?”
Agler’s shoulders slumped. “She told you about the, um, problem, huh?”
Sawyer put a hand on his chest. “I’m her best friend. She told me before she told you. And you think it’s a problem?”
“What’s a problem?” said Lute.
“It is a problem,” said Agler. He sighed. “Hey, look, I’m sorry. I know I didn’t handle it well. She dropped it on me out of the blue like that. Took me a little bit. But I’m better now. You’ve obviously seen her. Where is she?”
“Oh, she left,” Sawyer said. “She took off with Nora and Owen to the mundane world. I tried to go along, but Owen said that too many people would be more dangerous if the Influence showed up or something like that. Not that I wanted to be anywhere near him. But I am worried a little bit about Maddie being off with two of them. We don’t know what’s going on with Nora. And Owen, of course.”
Agler felt panicked. “You let her leave?”
“I tried to stop her,” Sawyer said. “I really tried. But, as you may have noticed, when Maddie gets her mind made up about something, it’s hard to change it. She wanted to go. She left.”
Agler clenched his jaw. “She promised.” He put his finger in Sawyer’s face. “Both of you promise that you two would not go out of the Helicon realm without us again.”
Sawyer held up both of his hands. “Hey, I’m still here.”
“I’m sure she’s fine,” Lute said. “If you don’t mind telling me, what’s going on with her, anyway?”
Sawyer sighed. “Look, babe. I told you, it’s not my secret. If Maddie wanted you to know, she’ll tell you.”
Lute took a drink of his beer. “I really feel out of the loop with you guys sometimes.”
Sawyer glared at him. “For the gods’ sake. Maddie could be in danger in the mundane world. And you’re worried because you feel left out?”
Agler backed away. “I can see the two of you need to talk. I’m going to go… somewhere else.”
Maybe he was going to go find Daryl and get him to take him into the mundane world to make sure nothing happened with Owen.
Of course, if he did go to Daryl, he was probably going to have to explain…
No. He wasn’t sure that he really wanted have a conversation with Daryl that would have to explicitly bring up the fact that he was having sex with Maddie. Daryl wouldn’t like that.
On the other hand, if something bad was happening to Maddie, that would be the least of his problems. Her safety definitely outweighed his embarrassment.
He waited. He sat in front of Nora’s tent, because he figured they’d have to come back there. He was going to give it an hour. If they weren’t back in an hour, he was going to find Daryl, embarrassment be damned.
CHAPTER SIX
Maddie walked behind Nora and Owen on the dark street in the mundane world.
“Don’t be an ass,” Nora was saying.
“I’m not being an ass,” Owen replied. “All I’m saying is that you’re going to owe me. I got you here, didn’t I? And you’re especially going to owe me, considering you haven’t even told me why we’re here.”
“I don’t see why it matters,” Nora said. “Suffice it to say there are certain feminine products that are made in the mundane world they don’t have in Helicon. That’s why we’re here.”
Owen shook his head. “Sorry, not buying it. I know you don’t need tampons. I know you slow down your aging and then have in an abbreviated attack of the red tide in the showers.”
Maddie felt uncomfortable hearing him talk like this. Why wasn’t he like every other guy in the world? Why wasn’t he freaked out by the idea of female cycles?
“Well, sorry, that’s all you’re getting,” Nora said. She reached back and grabbed Maddie by the arm. Ahead of them, there was a building that was lit up in all manner of neon lights. It had writing all over it, but Maddie couldn’t read what it said, because it was in the mundane world language.
Nora pointed. “This is the pharmacy,” she said. “We’ll find what we need in here.” She turned to Owen. “You’re going to stay outside.”
Owen folded his arms over his chest. “What if I say no?”
“Owen, I don’t know what your problem is,” Nora said. “We’re just doing a favor for Maddie.”
“You’ve known me a long time, Nora,” Owen said. “Am I the kind of person who does favors?”
Nora shot him a withering glance. She turned back to Maddie. “Come on.” She dragged Maddie towards the door of the building.
Behind them, Owen called, “I’m only saying, you’re going to owe me.”
“Sorry,” Maddie whispered. “I didn’t mean to make you owe Owen.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Nora said. “He thinks he
can boss me around, but he can’t anymore.”
“Nora, why are you with him? He doesn’t seem any better than he used to be.”
“He is. Trust me, he’s different.” She waved her hand away as if it didn’t matter. “Anyway, let’s not talk about that. Please, let’s talk about anything but that. We only need to find a pregnancy test, pay for it, and get out of here.”
“Pay for it?” Maddie said. She wasn’t entirely sure she understood.
Nora made a face. “Damn it. We might need Owen after all.”
“For what?” Maddie said.
“To make the person at the counter think that we paid when we didn’t,” Nora said. “I don’t have any mundane world money anymore. I’m sorry. We can’t pay for real, so we’ll need Owen’s mind tricks. I know you didn’t want to tell Owen what was happening. I think we have to now.”
“We do?”
Nora nodded. “He’ll see what we’re buying.”
Nora led Maddie through the aisles and stopped in front of a rack covered with lots of boxes. Maddie couldn’t read any of the writing on any of them.
“You look at these.” Nora gestured. “I’ll go get Owen.”
“Look at what?” Maddie said. She had no idea what any of the things said. She didn’t even know what Nora had gestured at.
“I’ll be back,” Nora said. She was already halfway up the aisle.
Maddie stood and waited, biting her lip. She barely ever spent any time in the mundane world. Most times when she had come, it had been for kicks on either May Day or Halloween. That didn’t really involve going into the stores. It usually involved hanging out on the streets, playing music or dancing and awing all of the humans in the mundane world. But being creative was strictly forbidden right now.
Maddie had never been in a place like this before. She couldn’t believe how bright the lights were. They emitted this sort of buzzing noise. She looked up at them. They seemed cold. It made her want to shudder.
She looked down at her clothes. She was wearing a skirt and a flowing white top. There were other people in the store. None of them were dressed quite like her. Did she stick out? Were they looking at her and wondering who she was? Maddie didn’t like this.
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