by CC Solomon
I paused and looked up at him.
“Let’s sit and pretend to be friends for one night, please. I know you don’t owe me anything but would you mind doing me this favor?”
“Why? We called a truce but I don’t see why I have to do any more. Eventually, you are going to go back to who you were before and I’ll feel like a fool for having ever trusted you.”
He sighed. “You used to be much nicer. What happened to you?”
I tapped my chin and looked up at the sky. “Hmm, I was imprisoned for six months, attacked several times, my brother was killed then came back as a vampire, some crazy people hate me for no reason, and the guy I thought was cool turned out to be a dangerous jerk.” I gave him a pointed look.
Phillip nodded slowly. “This jerk you’re talking about, is it—”
“It’s you.”
“I figured, just wanted to be sure. I apologize, Amina, for my role in…darkening your life. I’m not a good person. You’re right not to want to eat with me or trust anything I say or do.” He lowered his head and turned away from me.
I rolled my eyes. “I’m not coming to your pity party, dude, so don’t waste your time. But if you want me to pretend we’re friends for one night, I guess I can do that. I don’t have anything better to do,” I grumbled.
Phillip didn’t say anything for a beat and then finally walked to the table and sat down across from me. “Fine,” he muttered before pouring whiskey in our glasses.
We filled our plates and began to eat in silence.
“Can we at least try to have a conversation?” he asked.
I shrugged again, wrapping my fork with the spaghetti.
“Do you miss home? Is that why you’re grumpier than usual today?” he asked.
Why did he care? I nodded. “Don’t you?” I questioned.
“To a degree. I miss Mae and Bill. That’s it, really. Here, I feel like my old self again.”
I raised an eyebrow. “You keep saying that. So, you’re admitting you’re not the person you used to be. What was your old self like? I mean in the Pre-world.”
He looked away, a thoughtful expression on his face. “I was a smart-ass but I was dedicated. I liked sports. Dated a lot of girls. Drank too much, partied too hard. Mae used to say she saw a better man in me. She said my time was coming. Then the world went to shit. And I thought, ‘Well, this was my time to be a better man. I can be a hero.’ I got on the right track. Helped those in need with my gifts. Then when Tim, the former leader of Silver Spring, died…I struggled some. When I found you in my dreams, I thought you could help me. I’m still hoping you can. I just wish you could forgive me. I don’t want to keep being that jerk who I was back in Silver Spring. You don’t have to believe me Amina but…I’m tired. This time here has been…refreshing. Attacks and all.”
I didn’t speak, still suspicious. Either he was a very good actor or he was being sincere. I could actually see the exhaustion in his eyes. I’d thought all this time it was because he was getting sick of this place. What was he going through?
“Sometimes I feel like I’m fighting myself,” he continued. “I want to say things but I can’t. I mean to not do something but I do it anyway. It’s like I can’t stop myself from being this monster.” He looked down at his hands as if his frustrations were held there.
“Well, you haven’t been a monster since you’ve been here, for the most part. So, I’m not sure I’m buying that,” I muttered. I sipped my drink in contemplation. I couldn’t reconcile the man in front of me with the one who had sentenced an innocent person to blindness, killed Chelsea’s boyfriend, locked me up even after knowing what I’d gone through in the prison, ripped a man’s tongue out, and controlled the minds of innocent people.
Then there was the man who’d helped me escape that prison, shown such kindness to the villagers, saved Mercy’s life by risking his own and kissed me like he did when we’d first met. Maybe this was a game. Was he really being sincere? Was Mae right about him? Perhaps he really was possessed or even cursed. Suddenly, an idea came to my mind.
I put my glass down and sighed. “I’m going to try something. And you’re going to sit there and take it.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Does it involve pain?”
“No.”
“Okay, that’s good.”
“At least, I don’t think.”
I didn’t wait for his response. I grabbed his hands and closed my eyes, whispering the spell that I’d made for the challenge. I had no idea if it would work on him but it was worth a try. I repeated the sentences again and again, tightening my grip on his hands.
His eyes grew wide with confusion. “What are you doing to me?” he whispered.
“My spell. For the challenge. I originally made it for Charles, to help him deal with what was happening to him; being a new vampire and all. It was to settle his mind and find peace for inner turmoil.”
“Did you try it on yourself?”
“No, I’m fine.”
He snorted.
“How do you feel?” I asked, opening my eyes.
He smiled at me, his eyes growing soft. “Good.”
I chuckled. “Well, I expected more of a description. I guess time will tell.” I let go of his hands and stabbed my fork back into the spaghetti. “This is really good by the way.”
He touched the corner of his eyes with his index finger and then looked down at his finger. “What is this?” he asked.
I looked over at the clear liquid on his finger. “Phillip, tears. Tears, Phillip. There, now you know each other.”
“I don’t cry.” He wiped at his face.
“You mean you used to not cry. Look at that. Now you have emotions. Long time no see, huh?”
He frowned and rolled his shoulders back. “Yes, and I’m freaking out here because I feel like an actual physical weight has been lifted off of me. How is that possible?”
I looked up at him. “Maybe you really were possessed.”
He shook his head. “I wasn’t possessed. But someone did get in my head. Not a being. It was almost like I was controlled the same way we can control. I don’t know who did it, but I couldn’t tell you even if I did. It’s like a force wouldn’t let me.”
I put my fork down. “What did the voice tell you?”
“That paranormals were the superior race. That I was the strongest and that I had to stay at the top and make things ready.”
“For what?”
Fear spread in his eyes. I’d never seen that look in him before and it unsettled me. “For what’s to come. I was to help remake the world into one dominated by magic. I couldn’t be swayed from it. The voice was telling me I should do the things I did to assert my strength.”
“Do you have a family history of mental illness?” I questioned.
He furrowed his brows together and dropped his lids. “No. I’m not schizophrenic.”
I nodded slowly, not sure I fully believed him. “Okay, then someone placed a spell on you.”
He frowned. “Who? For what purpose?”
I shrugged. “That’s beyond me. It could be someone in Silver Spring or a place you visited. Maybe these masters the Fae spoke about are doing this. Caused this. And they’re coming for us because we’re a threat.”
He sat back and grinned at me.
“That’s not the reaction I expected. You should be upset. Someone could be using you. I’m not sure my magic is strong enough to break whatever spell is over you,” I stated.
“If I’m free of this spell, do I get a shot with you again? Let me prove to you that I’m actually a good guy.”
I rolled my eyes. “You aren’t focused at all. Someone could have dropped a mind-control spell on you, ironically, and you don’t seem to be concerned.” I looked away, thinking. “Maybe that’s part of the spell, too.” I looked back to him. “And no, you have no shot. I’m Erik’s mate.”
“And my soulmate,” he countered. “We never had our fair shot. We could be each other’s greatest love.” His large
, light-brown eyes looked almost sincere and threatened to pull me in. Somehow those eyes were filled with a mix of sadness, hope, and love all in one. It was as if I could feel what he was feeling. This was new but not surprising. If we could hurt and feel the pain we caused each other, we could also feel any emotions we had for each other. Right now, I felt love. His love for me, to be more exact.
“Phillip…”
He grabbed my hand and kissed it. “Thank you for helping me. Let me help you.”
I slowly pulled my hand away. “Help me how? The only thing I want is to go back home and you can’t help with that.”
Phillip cooked for me again the next morning. Tea, scrambled eggs, toast, and slices of ham. He liked making big breakfasts because he missed lunch most times.
He looked up and smiled at me as he filled two plates with food. “Morning,” he said, looking back down at the food.
“Good morning,” I replied evenly. He gave me a plate of food and a cup of tea and I sat down at the small circular kitchen table, saying, “Looks good, thank you.”
He nodded and sat across from me. We started eating in silence.
“About your spell,” he started. “I’m not cured, Amina. I want to lie and say that I am but I can’t. So, I guess in that sense it did work.”
“What do you mean? My spell didn’t help at all?” I was horrified to think that I could have lost the challenge then. I leaned in towards him and saw wet marks on his face. “Have you been crying again?”
He swore and wiped at his face. “No, I just finished washing my face.”
I twisted my lips in disbelief.
“Look, your spell helped some. Except for this watery eye side effect. For anyone else, it’d work perfectly. You partially helped me but whoever did this to me is beyond my powers. Unfortunately, your spell didn’t break the control. But it did help weaken it. I still feel tightness around the edges of my mind that I can’t shake but the voice is gone. And I won’t do things that go against my character anymore. Like rip out a person’s tongue when they piss me off. Or confine someone I care about.” He looked over to me and his large, brown eyes were sorrowful; like he had let me down. “I’m not going to be that monster anymore. I promise you that.”
I took a deep breath. “Watery eye side effects aside, it’s okay to admit that it’s upsetting to think about all the bad you’ve done. I’d cry too. Hopefully, the man you truly are is not one that maims or kills people.”
“I never was. And I want to right things with everyone I hurt, including you. Maybe with your help we can find a full cure for whatever darkness is in me.” He reached across the table and grabbed my hand again.
I pulled my hand away. “Phillip, I can’t give you what you want.”
“You care about me, Corazon.” A slight smile played on his lips. “If you didn’t, you wouldn’t have cared enough to try to help me. I know I have a lot to atone for. Let me try. Let me show you who I really am.”
He smiled at me and something tugged at my heart.
I looked down at his hands on the table, suddenly confused.
With Phillip changed now, it wouldn’t be so easy to hate him. I knew now that magic had made him someone he wasn’t, like Mae had always said. It made things more complicated for me. I had fallen in love with Erik, but I did wonder. If Phillip had been in real life, who he’d been in my dreams, would I have made the same decision? The longer I was away from Silver Spring, the more I obsessed over that question.
I got up and walked to the counter, pouring myself a glass of water to break up the moment. “I just did that to make my life easier, is all. Don’t worry about proving anything to me. Focus on all the others you hurt.”
I heard him rise and walk behind me. I turned and he was right in front of me. “You’re too close.”
He paused and searched my eyes.
I huffed. “What are you looking for?”
“You haven’t been telling me the truth.” His face relaxed and he smiled again.
I turned away from him and faced the sink again.
He balanced his hands on the counter, his arms on either side of mine. “You can lie to yourself but not to me. You feel something for me.” I could feel his warm breath on my neck and it sent an involuntary shiver down my spine. I shut my eyes tightly, embarrassed that his nearness had caused that reaction in me.
“It doesn’t matter,” I stated.
“It does matter. I was a good man before, Amina. Let me show you that.”
I turned around to face him, which was a mistake because locking eyes with him was like falling into his soul. As corny as that sounded, he just captured me.
He reached up and grazed my cheek with the back of his hand. His touch was like a feather on my skin and I lowered my eyelids slightly, enjoying the sensation.
“Amina, I know you don’t want to hear this but—”
We heard a knock at the door.
I jumped and pushed away from him, racing to the entrance. I was thankful for the interruption.
I swung open the door, not looking through the peephole first like I normally did.
Ed stood at the entrance with a wide grin on his face.
Had he seen us? I hadn’t done anything wrong. What was I nervous about?
“I’ve got some good news,” he began. “I might have found someone who can help you get home.”
Chapter 20
Ed paused and looked between Phillip, who was standing behind me, and myself. “Did I interrupt something?” he asked, his already wide grin somehow broadening.
“No,” I replied.
“Yes,” Phillip countered.
Ed shook his head and walked in. “You two should just have sex already and get past all this awkwardness. Works for me every time.”
“I don’t see how that’s true,” I muttered, closing the door behind him. “So, who’s this person that can help us?”
“As you know, we’ve kept our eyes and ears open to any magic users who might be able to aid you in your return home. Well, on a bartering mission, we learned of a super powerful witch who asked about you two. Brilliant, right?”
“She asked about us, specifically?” I questioned.
Ed nodded. “By name.”
“How do they know she’s really powerful?” Phillip asked, crossing his arms, a mask of skepticism all over his face. Magic was magic to a non-gifted human. People often said someone was powerful and when we met up with them, there was nothing high-level about them on the paranormal scale. “Or that this isn’t a set up?”
Ed read his face and sighed. “I don’t know. This came from one of you magics. I spoke to an elf lad I typically work with. He vouched for the witch. My mate said she can do impossible things and that she’d been doing this before the world changed.” Ed turned to me with a smirk. “Amina, do you want to go? We can leave Phillip here. If he doesn’t mind me stealing his girl from him, that is.”
Before I could protest, Phillip spoke up. “Where is this witch?”
Ed gave a chuckle. “West of here in Galway. About a two-hour drive, longer due to road issues.”
“When can we go?” I asked.
Ed shrugged. “How does now sound?”
The drive to Galway was uneventful. Since Ed and his people had come this way many times, they knew what roads to avoid due to the supernatural and road obstructions.
We drove into the city, past restaurants, bed and breakfasts, and quaint, little shops sitting on cobblestoned, pedestrian streets near a seaside promenade. The area was clean and well maintained. There were no other cars on the road. Most of the people we spotted were either walking or riding bikes and horses.
Ed stopped in front of a public house and opened the car door.
I frowned and got out. “We’re meeting her at a pub?” I asked.
Phillip opened the door to the front passenger seat and exited. “This town is still functioning?”
Ed nodded. “For the most part. They keep it warded but we receiv
ed access some time ago. Permission was already granted for you two. A lot of magics live here. If they like city life, that is, and being under a ruler. They’ve got some wizard mayor who runs the place like a dictatorship but people don’t seem to mind. Suppose it’s better than being out on your own and not having all the comforts that a magic city can bring.”
“It’s as good as Silver Spring,” Phillip said, looking around.
“Except bigger,” I added, exiting the car. It had to be at least twice the size, maybe three times. Of course, not every part was filled with citizens but for purposes of the new world this was a big city. Ireland was a small country, so it made sense that the survivors of the Sickness and the paranormal humans would find it easier to come together.
We walked towards the pub and Ed opened the door. “This place has excellent food. I’d advise getting your fill.”
Phillip leaned into me. “We should leave the Dublin village and come here,” he whispered.
I glanced sideways at him. I could already see the wheels turning in his head. He would come here and run the place. “I thought my spell was supposed to make you a kinder person.”
He smirked. “It was supposed to bring me peace and happiness. Moving here would do that.”
I scowled at him. I’d grown comfortable in Ed’s village. I liked the people. I wasn’t interested in moving unless it was to go home.
Phillip chuckled. “I kid. It’s two hours away. We can visit anytime. What else do we have to do?” he replied.
I squinted my eyes at him and walked inside the restaurant. Phillip followed.
Ed paused, looking around the pub. The space was a typical Irish pub with heavy, dark-wood furniture, and various memorabilia on the wall. It wasn’t especially crowded yet; it was only a little after 11 a.m. “I see them,” Ed said and started walking.
We followed him through the space to a booth in the far-right corner, near a large window.
A man with brown hair, appearing to be in his mid-twenties, sat across from an older woman with long, straight, white hair that went past her shoulders. The woman, who was maybe in her late 70s or early 80s, was in great shape and regal looking, with wise, blue eyes under heavy lids and red, slightly-upturned lips. She peered over at Phillip and me with interest.
