We Will Heal These Wounds

by Nicole Thorn

  Her eyes narrowed at me, and I smirked at her. “Probably.”

  I shook my head as I stood up. “Never.”

  I went back to my bed and started taking my trousers off. It took all of three seconds for Juniper to shout, “Ahhh! What are you doing?!” She covered her eyes as if the sight would burn her.

  I stood there after I’d disrobed, staring at the frightened girl. “What? I sleep in my boxer-briefs. Problem?”

  “Many!”

  “Like?”

  She huffed and uncovered her eyes, but she stared at the ceiling. “Well . . . I can kind of make out the outline of your junk.”

  I chuckled and crossed my arms. “Only a problem if you’re looking, darling. Do you plan on looking?”

  Her face turned dangerously red as her eyes got wider. “Of course not! Why would I want to know anything about your junk, or stare at you at all? You should just put a bag over your head to spare us your face!”

  Grinning, I said, “That would work out great for ya, luv, because you could still see the parts you seem so interested in.”

  Oh, the embarrassment turned to fury right quick as a pillow flew at my head. I caught it, and got an idea that delighted me greatly. “All right,” I said. “How about this; I close my eyes for a whole minute? That way you can either ogle me all you want, or you cannot look. You’ll be the only person who ever knows what choice you made. Ready?”

  I shut my eyes and waited. I kept my word and didn’t open them to see if she looked. I didn’t need to, because I knew what I looked like. Of course, she checked me out. Also . . . I found easy to pick out her heartbeat in all this silence. I listened, hoping to hear it pick up a bit. It had already started racing when I focused on her.

  I gave her fair warning, saying, “Three seconds,” before I opened my eyes. Hers stared at the bed she laid in, and her cheeks remained red as I got into mine.

  Having mercy on her, I covered my body with a blanket. Now I had no way of knowing if it I made her blush, or the idea of a naked man in general. I couldn’t picture her having been with many people. Too messy for her, emotionally and otherwise. I was kind of curious though . . . not that it mattered to me. Why should I care if some random morons got their grubby hands on her? I didn’t. I didn’t care if someone else got to kiss her, or see her naked, or hold her as she slept. Whatever.

  I turned in my bed, choosing to face the wall. I stared at it, wanting to turn around again.

  Yeah . . . fucked.

  ***

  Juniper woke up before I did, and I found her scuttling about the room while she gathered up her things. I laid there for a while, watching her go. I’d ended up on my stomach, clutching a pillow. It made for an easy way to pretend I still slept so that Juniper wouldn’t think me a creeper as I watched her.

  But I am . . . so . . . yeah.

  Eventually I had to get up so that I could shower. I threw the blankets over me and stretched on my bed until I knew she saw me. I got another blush from her, and that had been worth it.

  I popped out of bed and stood in front of her. “Good morning, luv. Hungry?”

  She looked me up and down, frowning. “Not anymore.”

  “You wound me.”

  She rolled her eyes. “I’m sure you’ll heal.”

  Walking backward to the bathroom so that I could still look at her. “I’m not so sure. My ego is very fragile, as you know.”

  She grumbled at me, and I walked into the bathroom.

  We had much to do, so I couldn’t take my time in the shower. I quickly washed my hair and body with the cheap things that the hotel provided for us. I’d never stayed in one before, and the whole thing felt far less exciting than telly made it look.

  When I got out, I realized I didn’t grab my bag. Well . . . Juniper would probably kill me for this, but at least I would die laughing. I wrapped a towel around my lower half, because it would have been cruel to destroy her mortal eyes with the majesty of my naked body.

  That’ll come later.

  Oh, fucking hell. This needed to stop.

  I left the bathroom, and Juniper had her back to me. That turned out to be far more disappointing than I anticipated, and I walked past her, nearly pouting. I found my bag and set it on the bed.

  “Oh my gods!” Juniper shouted from behind me, and it made me smile.

  I dug around for clothes. “Problem?”

  “You. Are. Naked!” she said through her teeth.

  I turned so that I could enjoy the look on her face. “I am. Thank you for noticing. But I covered my giblets, so you should be grateful. I did that just for you.”

  She narrowed her eyes, but she missed that it just made me happier. “Why are you doing this to me? What did I do to deserve having to deal with your naked body?”

  “Clearly you did something very good in a past life.”

  I thought she would pounce on me for some violence, but that might have made my towel fall off, and I doubt she was willing to risk it. Instead, she just crossed her arms. “Or something very bad.”

  I shook my head, ignoring that. “Unless you want to see a lot more of me, I suggest you turn around.”

  “What?”

  “Now,” I warned as I reached for the towel.

  She turned sharply, covering her eyes and mumbling what sounded like mean names. I didn’t mind because I found this whole thing endlessly entertaining.

  I left the towel on my bed and started dressing in a black sweater, and black jeans to match. Just to draw out her discomfort, I took my time with the whole thing, so I could see how much she could handle before admitting she wanted to turn around. Somehow, she held onto her stubbornness, and disappointed us both.

  I informed her that I finished dressing by tossing my towel onto her head. Nice? No. Funny? Very.

  She let out a sound somewhere between a squeal and a growl as she ripped the thing off of her head and dropped it onto the ground. “Eww!” Juniper turned sharply to me, hands balled into fists at her side. “You are evil!”

  “I learned it from my dad,” I lied, since she thought that ruling the Underworld somehow made my father evil or cruel. He never acted worse than any other god, and he was a thousand times kinder than Zeus.

  “That towel touched you . . . ”

  “It did. How unfortunate it is that my skin is a poison that can soak into fabric and contaminate other people just by touch. Oh wait . . . ”

  “I hate you.”

  “You don’t.”

  Juniper dropped it, deciding that she needed to clean before we left the room. It was very early, and I couldn’t imagine that Zander and Jasmine had woken up yet, so I assumed we had time. I ordered more food for us, getting the sad little meal that Juniper wanted.

  It infuriated me that someone convinced her that she would be ugly if she ate too much. I didn’t believe in ugliness as a concept, but I understood why some would. Especially about themselves when they had low self-esteem. Juniper clearly had that problem, and she wouldn’t listen to me if I tried talking sense into her. She would probably assume I did it to make her feel bad.

  I felt a little guilty when we started eating, because Juniper seemed to have little joy in her life. She really didn’t have much of anything. Her brother had Kizzy and a hobby he loved. Her sister had Zander, a pet, and an excitement for life that I’d never seen before. Juniper couldn’t have a chip without feeling like it would ruin her entire life. God, that bothered me. I wanted to force cake and a water balloon fight on her, just so that she could experience fun in her life.

  “Are you going to give me the silent treatment forever?” I asked, picking at my eggs. “Because clearly you’re charmed by me and I shouldn’t be punished just because that bothers you.”

  Juniper looked up quickly, scoffing and glaring at the same time. “Oh of course you think you charm me. It wouldn’t occur to you for a second that you’re irritating, and that arrogance is not attractive.”

  “Oh, but it is. Arrogance is the new
sexy, don’t you know? For example, I almost constantly want to jump Zander for his.”

  Ha, it worked, and she had to fight off a little smile. She quickly composed herself. “Well you don’t wear it as well as him.”

  Not even a little true. “So cruel . . . but I’ll let it go because you’re lying. We need to discuss something more important anyway. We need to know where Cerberus is right now. Can you trigger another vision?”

  She put down her empty plate on the tray, and then she cleaned her hands with one of the wet wipes that came with it. She didn’t even touch the food with her hands . . . “Sure. Give me a few minutes.”

  I waited, and we sat across from each other on opposite beds. Juniper’s eyes closed as she tucked her hands under her legs. She looked relaxed for once. Her features smoothed out with focus, and I honestly could have watched her for a lot longer than I had to.

  “I see Cerberus,” she said. “He has blood in his fur, and he’s rolling around on his back, on dark carpet. I don’t think it’s his blood. I see no wound. He’s alone”

  Cerberus could protect himself quite well, so I assumed it came from the man that he killed. Poor Juniper seemed to think that she and her family caused him to get taken, because I decided to make friends with a few cursed people. As if. It had been a coincidence, because I refused to believe for even a moment this had been their fault.

  I sighed, standing up to pace around for a moment. At least the dog seemed safe, so my father wouldn’t be any more upset than he already was. Of course, he could bring Cerberus back to life if he needed to, but that had never been the point. Dad made him from nothing, and he loved the dog.

  Juniper rose after her vision, and we started gathering our things up and putting them on my bed. The others would be awake by now, and we would have to bother them if they weren’t.

  “Are you all right?” I asked Juniper, stopping her from leaving. She had this downcast and worried look on her face. Not worried like normal. This seemed like more than her resting face.

  “No,” she said. “I’m thinking about a billion things right now. Like how we’re going to die, and then what happens to Nemo and the house? We’ll be dead, and he’ll need someone. I guess Zander would take him, but he’d be so sad when Nemo made him think of Jasmine. And Kizzy would be just as broken if Jasper died on her. My siblings both have someone to miss them, and I’m all alone. That’s not fair to think, but I do. And now we have to go chase down a god and a big scary dog, both of which can kill us with ease, and then we’re just gone. Gone and dead. And he’ll probably leave our bodies all bloody and messy, and I can’t do anything about that—”

  “Oh, shut up,” I sighed as my body made a choice my brain hadn’t been included on. I reached for her face, grabbing it before I put my lips on hers.

  This damn girl wouldn’t shut the fuck up, no matter what I said. I promised her that she wouldn’t die, and that meant nothing. Obviously, I could keep her alive, and I had the icing on the cake of Zander and Kizzy. The seers were practically invincible with all of us around. She had nothing to worry about. And Cerberus wouldn’t hurt anyone I wanted to keep safe. Also, if she did die, then what did it matter if her body got all bloody? I wouldn’t let it come to that because she wouldn’t die, but still, who cared about blood? She wouldn’t have to deal with it. I would. I would because she was mine and—oh fuck I’m kissing her right now.

  I stopped, and I paid attention to the kiss. How long had we been at it? I thought only a moment or two, because surely, she would have had my attention if it went on longer than that.

  I pried her lips apart with my tongue before it went into her mouth. Oh, she tasted better than I thought she would have, and I didn’t realize I’d thought about it until then. Juniper’s hand slid up my arm and wrapped around my wrist. Her nails bit into me, and her tongue swept across mine just once before she grabbed my wrist harder, almost breaking skin.

  She ripped my hand off of her face, and stared at me, panting and with her lips parted. I had nothing to say to her. I wanted more kissing. Lots more kissing. To never stop with the kissing. I thought for one blissful moment that she would want the same.

  And then her fist connected with my face.

  She was little and human, but it hurt more than I thought it would. She didn’t wait for me to recover as she ran out of the room.

  I rubbed my jaw, looking after her as she ran.

  Yeah, all right then. I knew what I wanted, and it was that crazy little seer.

  Fucked, fucked, fucked. So why am I over the moon about it?

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN:

  I’d Murder Him If It Wouldn’t Get My Clothes Dirty

  Juniper

  The nerve of that stupid, arrogant, dick demigod. I should’ve gone back in there and punched him again. I could’ve broken his nose and made him curl up on the floor with his hands between his knees, groaning. The stupid bastard wouldn’t have had the decency to stay down. He would’ve just popped back up, with a miraculously healed nose, and non-bruised balls.

  Ah! I needed to punch something, and then kick something, and punch it again, for good measure. Then, when it laid on the ground, I’d stomp on it until it stopped moving.

  Huffing out in irritation, I turned around, and paced back down the hall. In my fury, I had made it most of the way to the elevators without realizing. It would’ve been bad if I left the hotel without telling anyone. People died doing that, and I didn’t plan on dying that day. Of course, that might not have mattered. I shoved that thought aside, and marched back toward my room.

  I stopped before getting there. I really, really didn’t want to deal with Verin. I had to go somewhere. I couldn’t pace the halls like a lunatic, because someone would come out of their room eventually. They’d call security, security would come up to see what happened, and then Jasper and Zander would hurt security and it would be entirely my own damn fault.

  Breathe out. All right, I could think a little clearer. I just straight up wouldn’t lock myself up with Verin again. I’d rather not make the same mistake twice, and it had clearly been a mistake. We shared a room for too long, and it got into his head, and he did something stupid. They probably put something in his food to make him act all crazy and stuff.

  Ugh. I slammed my fist against Jasmine’s door until she opened it up. She had clearly been asleep before my assault on the wood. She blinked at me, and said, “Juni, I love you to death, but I’m gonna have to kill you now.”

  “Let me in,” I said, glaring at her. She blinked some of the sleep out of her eyes, and moved aside so that I could come into the room. Good. My glare still worked. I wanted her to remember that she had been the reason I shared a room with Verin, and that meant she caused this entire thing. Which in turn meant that I had to kill her, just like she had to kill me. Jasper would be fine on his own with a hydra and two demigods.

  “What happened?” Jasmine asked, rubbing her eyes. Her hair stood up from her head, not having been brushed yet. It made her look like a hedgehog, and I wanted to scowl at her for being cute when I wanted to smash her face into the wall.

  I didn’t answer her question. Instead, I brushed past her, and strode right to the bed. Jasmine wore one of Zander’s shirts and no pants, so maybe this would become a dangerous game to play, but I was angry. I ripped the blankets off the bed, and felt relieved when I saw Zander fully clothed, and now awake as well.

  I shoved him. He was tired enough to fall over the side of the bed, and hit the floor with a thud.

  “Hey!” Jasmine yelled. “Don’t hurt him. I need him for stuff later, and he can’t do that stuff if you break him!” She rushed over to Zander and looked down. “Oh, good. He’s fine. If you weren’t, then later was going to be very difficult for you.”

  “Thanks, honey,” Zander said dryly. He rose to his feet, pushing his hands through his hair. It stuck up in all different directions, much like Jasmine’s did. He blinked at me, like he just then registered my presence. I wondered how often
Jasmine shoved him out of bed that he assumed I had been her. “Juniper? Is something up?”

  “Yeah, something is up. Get out,” I said, nodding toward the door.

  “What?” he asked. “This is my room. Why should I have to leave.”

  I crossed my arms, and looked at Jasmine. She looked at me, and then at Zander. “Sorry. Get out. I’ll do stuff to you later to make up for it.”

  He sighed. “Are you two going to talk about stuff? I want to be in on the stuff. Let me be in on the stuff!” He draped himself over Jasmine, which set her off giggling, and had me rolling my eyes. “Please? Please, please, please, please, please, I can do this all day, please, please, seriously, I’ll irritate the fuck outta you, please—”

  “Oh my god, Juni, he’s staying, because I can’t handle this.”

  I threw my hands up in the air. “What if I don’t want him to stay!?”

  Zander started in with the begging again, somehow being more obnoxious than he had been seconds before. I tilted my head up to stare at the ceiling, wondering if the gods would give me more patience if I asked politely. “Fine,” I said. “You two really are perfect for each other.”

  She and Zander looked at each other with all the love in the world in their eyes. I sighed. I didn’t know why I said all those things to Verin earlier. It never bothered me that I didn’t have a relationship. I would’ve been terrible at it, for one thing. All the stress had started getting to me, and I spouted nonsense for the sake of saying something. That backfired so badly. I never thought someone would kiss me to shut me up.

  Verin had to die.

  Jasmine turned back to me, her smile still firmly in place, and her eyes bright with happiness. Maybe I should shove her face into the wall after all. It would get that look out of her eye. I wanted her to be scared of me and to atone for the things she did.

  Some of that must have been in my face, because her smile wobbled around the edges. “What happened?” she asked curiously. “Did something bad happen. Are Jasper and Kizzy all right?”