by Brandon Witt
The hotel was a shithole. I’d turned the lights off a second after flipping them on. In the brief second, I saw enough to know that if I saw anymore, I’d go find whatever tree Newton had claimed and join him. The point was to be close to the bus station. Considering the bus station’s neon sign was glaring through our curtainless window and illuminating our bed, I’d say we were close enough.
“Did you mean it when you said you made the guy forget you didn’t pay for the room, or did he actually pay you to stay in it?”
Schwint let out a quiet laugh and ran his hand over my chest as he curled into me. “The room’s pretty bad, huh?”
I shuddered and reminded myself to whisper to keep from waking Caitlin. “I’m not sure what they were, but there were about fifty bugs in the corner over there.” I motioned to a wall over by the bathroom.
“They’re only bugs. They’re not gonna hurt you.”
“Says the fairy.” I let my hand drift down his naked back, his soft skin causing me to relax despite myself. “You could make yourself look like one of them, and they’d leave you alone.”
He let out another chuckle. His hand emerged from under the sheets—not that they were thick enough to be called sheets—and he placed his warm fingers on my cheek. “So, how are you? Really?”
I let out a breath. How was I? Good question. “Honestly, I’m not sure. I think I’m kinda in a numb state. After all that happened to Mom and Dad and then the panic after we got the note about Cynthia, I think my mind is starting to shut down. I feel like I’m hanging in limbo until we find out what they’ve done with her and what they want from me.”
“Makes sense.” He readjusted slightly, causing the bed to squeak so much there may have actually been a large family of rats living in the coils that were getting squished. He stopped moving and waited, making sure Caitlin was still sleeping. “Cynthia’s alive. It only makes sense that she is.”
“I know. I honestly don’t doubt that at all. But like Caitlin said, there’s a lot more they can do to her besides kill her.”
“We’ll be there tomorrow. She’ll be free tomorrow. We’ll give them what they want and then be home tomorrow.”
“You know it won’t be that simple.”
“Yeah, I know.” His breath was warm on my neck, and his goatee tickled against my chest. “Nice to pretend otherwise, though.”
“I think the best we can hope for is that they let me take her place, and she and Caitlin can go home.”
Part of me wanted him to argue, say that I wouldn’t need to take her place. I appreciated that he didn’t, though. We both knew I wasn’t going home. The Royals didn’t go to all the trouble they had to simply let me leave.
We were quiet for a long time, to the point that I thought he’d fallen asleep. When he did speak, his voice was quiet enough it didn’t startle me. “Newton thinks we can overthrow the Royals, that we can save all the supernatural species by ending the vampires’ reign.”
I didn’t laugh, proving I really was numb. “What do you think?”
“I think Newton is idealistic, like a teenager. I think Newton likes nothing more than a revolution. He started giving the royal family hell when he was a kid. I can’t believe it’s taken them three decades to seriously consider banishing him. I think he might help us think out of the box and that we might find other alternatives than you living out your days doing whatever it is the vampires want you to do.”
What plans do we need to make? Are there other species that could help us? Some werewolves or demons maybe? What do I say when I meet the vampires tomorrow? Amalphia couldn’t assure us that Cynthia will live—that’s a bad sign, right?
Any or all of those questions would have been appropriate, would have been useful. Instead I asked, “Is Newton straight?”
Schwint rose up on his elbow to another cacophony of squeaks, his face quizzical in the light of the bus station neon. “Huh?”
“Is Newton straight?”
“No. I don’t think so.”
I paused, trying to get my mind to move on, to focus on something important. To not let it give in to every emotional worry of my heart. “You don’t think so? So there’s nothing going on between you two?”
Schwint let out a laugh that was loud enough it should have woken Caitlin. “Are you serious? Something going on between me and Pewlet?”
I shrugged.
“No. Of course not. Why would you think that?”
I shrugged again, embarrassed. “I don’t know. You want an open relationship. I’m trying to figure that out, and we show up, and here you are with another guy. I wasn’t sure what to think.”
“Okay, while this isn’t the time to discuss all the details around open relationships, it wouldn’t be some guy that I drag along with me. I don’t want a relationship with anyone else. Just you. When other sex happens, that’s all it will be—done and left behind.”
He held my gaze, refusing to let me look away, waiting for a response. I had no idea what to say.
After a few more moments, Schwint’s lips cracked into a crooked smile. “And, even if that weren’t true, which it is, Pewlet? Really? As uptight as you can be, he makes you look like the entire flower-child generation all rolled up into one. That one drives me the littlest bit crazy.”
“Then why is he here?”
He laughed again, and this time it sounded more irritated than anything. “I was somewhere over Mexico yesterday before I realized I was being followed. Looking back, I should have realized a long time before, but I hadn’t been thinking about it. It didn’t seem like a possibility at all. Why would someone be following me? I paused until the little shit caught up with me, and there he was. Pewlet in all his glory. I’m sorry, Newton.” He gave a dramatic groan-and-eye-roll combination. “I mean, I get it. You know I do. Most of my own family doesn’t measure up to the royal family’s esthetic ideal. I hate it! But I don’t act like I’m ready to blow up the entire earth because the world isn’t fair.”
As much as I hated myself for feeling it, I rather enjoyed how much Newton annoyed Schwint. Any concern of mutual attraction vanished. “Why was he following you?”
Another groan. “This is where I should have caught on. When I went to the royal family to ask if they had any knowledge about Cynthia’s capture, after I found the note, before I came back to the hospital to tell you guys…”
I nodded that I understood the timeline and for him to continue.
“Well, he was there, at the royal family’s palace. I should have thought about it. He’s always there.” He gave an irritated shake of his head. “Actually, I shouldn’t have thought about it. Why would I have ever dreamed that Pewlet would start following me around?”
“Why is he?”
“Like I said, the fairy likes a revolution. While he was spying on the royal family, he overheard me tell them about Cynthia and that the Vampire Cathedral wanted you. The dumbass couldn’t pass up a chance to take down the Man. Even if the Man is the entire Vampire Cathedral. Never mind it’s been around for a couple of millenniums. Nothing an ugly little fairy can’t handle.”
“And you let him come with you?”
“Honestly, I doubt I could have gotten rid of him. I’m sure I would have thought I did, but then he’d just pop up when we least expected it, probably fucking something up in the process. Plus, whatever issues the boy has, he really is a hard worker, and while he may not personally care about Cynthia, he couldn’t be more passionate about fighting the elite—regardless if they are fairy or vampire. He’s one more body that can help, one more with magic, and one that will fight with everything in him if it comes to that. Can’t hurt, right?”
“I guess.” Now that my needy concerns were out of the way, exhaustion was taking over despite the obnoxious light streaming through the window. “Schwint?”
“Hmm?”
“I’m sorry I got weird about Newton. I’m not quite sure how to handle this whole open thing.”
Schwint’s face soften
ed, and his voice was warm and gentle. “Finn, there’s nothing to be sorry for. I know this isn’t your area of homoeostasis. It’s normal for a fairy, but not for you. I can’t tell you how much I love that you’re willing to try to figure it out. We’re going to take that part slowly, okay? I’m not gonna knock your feet out from under you. I love you, okay? You’re safe. Promise.”
I didn’t know how to respond, so I just nodded and snuggled closer to him, and let myself drift away.
“It’s just a golden silk-orb weaver.”
I looked over at Schwint from my place on the floor where I’d fallen over the bed, backpedaling from the window. “A what?”
He shrugged. “A banana spider.”
My attention reverted back to the huge black-and-yellow spider balanced on its web over the top of the window. I shuddered again and couldn’t repress a groan.
“Gay boys!” Caitlin was nearly doubled over laughing in the bathroom doorway. “You’re planning on walking into the Vampire Cathedral later today, but you’re terrified of a little spider?”
“Little! You call that thing little?”
Schwint walked over, extended a finger, and the creature crawled on stilted legs over his skin, taking up nearly half his hand. He moved the spider closer to me. “She’s actually quite beautiful. See the spots on her back and the banded legs?”
I scuttled backward over the carpet. “How do you know it’s a girl?”
He gestured back toward the web. “See that little guy up there? The males are a fraction of the size of the females.” With another motion, he drew my attention toward the ceiling. “Those ladies have several men each!” He waggled his eyebrows at me. “Scandalous!”
At least three other webs draped from the ceiling with matching monster spiders. With another shudder, I realized they’d been hanging there over us all night.
Caitlin’s laughter stopped abruptly as she lifted her head, her eyes moving slowly from spider to spider. “Okay, I’m with Finn. One spider, sure, but that’s wrong. Let’s get the fuck outta here.”
Schwint looked genuinely offended, like she’d insulted his family. “They’re not poisonous. Their webs are actually quite—”
Caitlin cut him off. “What are you? Some kind of spider fanatic?”
“No. I’m a fairy, remember? Nature’s kinda my thing.”
She narrowed her eyes at him, then turned her glare on me. “Boy, do you ever know how to pick ’em.”
My skin was still crawling when the bus left the station. I was fairly certain I hadn’t been the only de Morisco to check under the seat before taking my place.
The bus ride from San Jose to Montezuma was a little over five hours, traveling over the western half of Costa Rica, even going up into the mountainous regions to go around the Gulf of Nicoya, then back down to the southernmost tip of the Nicoya Peninsula.
Even though we’d been over half an hour early, the line waiting to board had been so full of tourists that by the time we got on, there hadn’t been four seats together. Schwint and I sat side by side while, several rows in front, Caitlin and Newton shared a small section. Luckily, a black Goth chick sat directly across from Caitlin. One word from her British accent and Newton was completely forgotten.
It had been dark enough when we arrived that I hadn’t noticed much of San Jose. Revealed in the daylight, I clearly understood why Schwint was ready to get out of the city. It was one of the most depressing cities I’d ever seen. Concrete slab structure after concrete slab structure. Trees and parks were here and there, but for the most part, it was one ugly, forlorn building after the next.
The gloomy state of the city was soon forgotten out of pure terror. I was fairly certain every driver had spent the morning drinking multiple bottles of Jack Daniel’s while snorting speed. It was like we were in the middle of the Indy 500, except the vehicles were going every direction imaginable. Even our huge old school bus, as broken-down as it was, zoomed in and out of traffic, narrowly missing cars and pedestrians alike.
“I think I’m gonna be sick.”
Schwint grinned at me. “I know, it’s great, isn’t it? Makes me glad I can’t drive, but it’s a blast!”
“A blast? I thought LA traffic was bad. I’ve never seen anything like this!”
He nodded. “Newton and I noticed that while flying over the mountains yesterday. It’s just this bad, worse even. I lost count of how many car wrecks we saw.”
“You’re not helping.” Tentatively, I looked back out of the window in time to see a little kid hop onto the curb before a monster four-by-four truck barreled through the intersection he’d managed to cross. “I swear, it has to be magic of some kind that there’s anyone left alive in this country.”
“You won’t notice as much once we get outta this hellhole of a city. It’s one of the most beautiful countries I’ve ever seen. Judging from the sky view at least.”
I gave him a skeptical look. We zoomed past another intersection, and I finally realized what had been bothering me. “There’re no street signs.”
“Really? I hadn’t noticed that.”
After a few more intersections, I was certain. “No street signs. How in the world do you find anywhere with no street signs? Even if you do survive the traffic, you’ll never actually get where you’re going.”
He reached over and gave my hand a squeeze. “Don’t worry. If the bus crashes and we get lost, I’ll zoom up and lead us from the sky.”
“My hero.”
Sure enough, after we’d left the city limits, the view passing on the other side of the bus window looked like an entirely different world. Graffiti-covered cinderblocks gave way to massive trees and vines. Honking, dented cars morphed into colorful birds soaring overhead. Thousands of miserable faces transformed into monkeys here and there in the trees. When a sloth was spotted hanging from one of the branches over the road, a muddle of excited languages and accents filled the bus.
We’d left San Jose far behind. San Jose, along with San Diego and the rest of North America, were long gone. Somewhere along the line, we’d entered a place that looked like it could be hiding every long-lost supernatural species in its dense, dark forests. No wonder the Vampire Cathedral chose to live in Costa Rica. It wouldn’t surprise me to see a unicorn walk out from the trees or a phoenix soar over the rainforest canopy. Maybe witches had been wrong. Maybe all those species we’d counted as extinct, exterminated by the Royals, hadn’t vanished from existence. Maybe they’d been here all along, hiding in a world so removed from man. I hoped so.
One bus breakdown, two Brahman cattle-in-the-street-induced roadblocks, and three rest stops later, I realized I’d been wrong. What I’d seen before hadn’t been simply magical, it had to be more. We were just leaving the Monteverde region, and I had no doubt—none—there actually were nonhumanoid mythical creatures left in the world. The mountains were emerald green, except for the myriad of waterfalls of flowers and splashes of color from the lush tropical flora. Clouds sank around the tops of the mountains, shrouding their rounded, volcanic peaks from view. At times the clouds settled below us, covering sections of flower-filled valleys nestled between the cliffs. Jordskote had to have been here, she had to. Some, if not all of this lushness had to be her doing. The land betrayed the nymph’s presence. I glanced at Schwint sleeping beside me. I was willing to bet it betrayed the influence of fairies too.
Schwint had been right about the terror of driving in the mountains as well. The roads were nearly too narrow for one car in many places, let alone to have room for the high speed passing that happened on a consistent basis. The very fact the vehicles didn’t crash head-on around blind curves and tumble down the mountains as they weaved through each other should have been enough proof to humans that supernatural creatures exist—that there were witches and fairies on this very bus. By the third hour, on our way out of the mountains, I’d nearly grown numb to the near collisions all around. When in Rome…
Gradually, as we entered the Nicoya Peninsu
la, the mountains gave way to long stretches of beach, palm trees, and crashing waves. It was so much the stereotypical airbrushed beach postcard scene over and over that I nearly rolled my eyes at the cliché. Only this was no postcard.
I couldn’t decide if I hoped Cynthia had seen how beautiful Costa Rica was as she was brought here or not, as if it mattered what I wanted. I could see her huge eyes wide in wonder at the beauty around us, captivated and awed. If she had seen it, I was willing to bet she’d forgotten her situation for a while—even Mom and Dad back home in the hospital—and drank in all the magic of the land and sea. Maybe I merely wanted to believe that, because despite the constant hollow ache, my brain kept forgetting about her and about our parents. I even forgot about what lay in store for me. In one sense, I was relieved to have my thoughts captured by something else. In another, each time I realized I’d forgotten for a moment, the worry came back one hundredfold, with a heaping side order of guilt.
We got off the bus in Montezuma, the waves crashing on the shore somewhere out of sight.
“Can you believe this place?”
The awe in her voice and the look Caitlin gave me told me she’d been having similar thoughts. “I’d say I want to bring the family down here when this is all over. They’d love it. However, I don’t ever want to hear the words Costa Rica again. Leave it to vampires to—”
A heavyset man crashed into Caitlin, nearly sending her falling over her dropped backpack. “It’s not my fault you’re turning our kids into brats.”
His wife, so nearly identical in body type I would have sworn they were siblings, sneered back at him, the anger in her voice highlighting her East Coast vernacular. “Well, it’s not my fault you’re so afraid of water we couldn’t take the ferry over and save ourselves three hours.”
The man stormed off, wife and kids following. “We shoulda. Then when it sank, I could’ve forgotten to toss you a life preserver.”
I bugged my eyes at Schwint. “Well, if that’s not an argument against monogamy, I don’t know what is.”
