A Tale of Two Tricksters

by Debbie Newcomb

“Why do I even bother?” Julie asked.

  “Because I’m hilarious,” Jenn replied, making another turn. “This place isn’t too far away, right?”

  “We’ll be there in ten minutes,” Julie said, looking at her phone.

  “Not far at all,” Julie said. “Kind of funny they were so close to us the whole time.”

  “Well, you typically can’t ask someone if they used to be a raven working for a Norse god.”

  “That’s a pity,” Jenn answered.

  In about ten minutes, they pulled up to the house Julie’s phone had guided them to. Jenn parked across the street.

  “Well,” Julie said. “What’s the plan?”

  Jenn looked the house over and noticed a car in the driveway. “Looks like they went to the same high school we did,” she said, looking at the bumper sticker for an honor student at Melodia High School.

  “How old do you think they are?” Julie asked.

  Jenn shrugged. “Doesn’t matter. We’re doing a survey for the high school. If they graduated, we’re talking to alums. If they’re still there, we’re talking to current students.”

  “And how will you tell?” Julie asked.

  “People tell you a lot if you ask them the right questions,” Jenn said. “Come on. Let’s go.”

  They got out of the car and walked across the street. Jenn confidently rang the doorbell. She turned around to tell Julie to let her do the talking and was face to face with Luke. She flinched backward. “What the hell are you doing here?” she whispered.

  “Not ruining your con,” Luke said. “I can play along.”

  The door opened and Jenn spun around, putting on a smile. “Hello,” she said. “We’re here doing a survey for Melodia High School.”

  “The high school? What about?” the girl asked.

  Jenn decided to take a gamble. “We’re looking to ask alumni a few questions.”

  “Just alumni?” the girl asked, looking annoyed. Obviously, she still went there and found it as annoying as just about any other high school kid.

  “Yes,” Jenn told her. “There will be another survey for current students later.”

  “Okay,” the girl replied, shrugging. She turned around and yelled up the stairs, “Boys! You’ve got visitors!” She turned back to Jenn, Julie, and Luke. “This way,” she said, leading them into a living room.

  As they sat down, Jenn could hear what sounded like a small herd of elephants clumping down the stairs and into the living room. Then again, it was nine teenage boys, so it wasn’t that far off. They all looked like they had different parents, and Jenn wondered if this was a foster home.

  “Hello,” Jenn said. “We’re from Melodia High School and we’re doing a survey about your time there to try to improve it. Before we begin, do you have any questions?”

  “Did you go there too?” one of the boys asked. Some of his hair was dyed purple.

  “Yes,” Jenn said and Julie nodded.

  “What about him?” another boy asked. He was wearing a red flannel shirt.

  “He’s our trainee,” Jenn said. “He’s never really done surveys before.”

  “I’m here to learn,” Luke said happily.

  “So,” Jenn said. “Let’s start with what you didn’t like.”

  Predictably, the boys complained about some of the teachers, the preferential treatment that sports got over everything else, and the food in the cafeteria. One of the boys complained about the five-paragraph essay. “I never use it in college,” he said. “My professor told us to forget about it.”

  “I know what you mean,” Jenn replied, writing everything down. Eventually, she had to stop the boys from talking or they would be there all night. “If you think of anything else, just write it down and mail it to the survey department at the high school,” Jenn said with a smile.

  “Sure,” the purple haired boy said. “I’m sure we’ll think of something else.”

  “Have a nice night,” Jenn said with a smile and the door closed behind them. Jenn turned to Luke, her smile in place. “Take a walk with me,” she commanded.

  “Of course, my dear,” Luke said. “We have much to discuss.”

  Jenn, Julie, and Luke walked around the corner. Once she was sure the boys couldn’t see them anymore, Jenn stopped and turned to face Luke with Julie standing next to her.

  “What the actual Hell was that?” Jenn snapped.

  Luke put up his hands defensively. “I was trying to track you down to apologize. I thought you were going to a friend’s house.”

  “So, you’re still stalking me and trying to stop me from seeing my friends. That’s abusive behavior, you know. Besides the obvious, I mean.”

  “That’s part of what I wanted to apologize for. I had…a very hard life when I lived with my family. There were many things that made me leave and one of them was how violent they were to me. When you slapped me the other night, it…brought some things back. I’m not saying what I did was right. I know that it wasn’t. I was just acting on instinct.”

  “Even if I accepted that apology, which I don’t, that still doesn’t explain you poking your nose into my family. How did you even find Perdita, anyway?”

  “As I told you, I was only trying to help. It was clear you’d had a bad experience with your magic and I just followed your magical signature. Did you know you’ve impacted a lot of people with your magic?”

  “I’m sure I have,” Jenn agreed sarcastically.

  “Fine,” Luke said, dismissing that point. “In any event, I figured out that Perdita was the one most likely to be giving you pause about using your magic again, so I cured her. I didn’t think it would be a problem.”

  “You had to know I’d find out. You called yourself Dr. Luke, for God’s sake!”

  “Which god?” Luke asked. Then, before Jenn could answer, “I wanted you to know that it worked and I didn’t want you worried about someone you didn’t know using magic on your cousin. I can tell she means a lot to you.”

  Julie put a hand on Jenn’s shoulder and Jenn realized she’d been balling her hands into fists so tightly she was probably about to hurt herself. Jenn took a breath and tried to calm herself down. “If you thought I’d be worried about someone else using magic on her, did you think that might include you?” Jenn asked as calmly as she could.

  Luke sighed. “We’ve known each other for months now and you still don’t trust me?”

  “I’ve reminded you of why I don’t trust you several times, but I can tell you again if you need me to,” Jenn replied.

  “My dear, everything I’ve done has been to help you. I’m sorry if it came across the wrong way. I even awakened Julie’s power for her now so she would have someone to help her through it. Otherwise, it could have happened with no one around to help her and the results could have been dire.”

  Jenn stared at Luke. “I knew you had something to do this with that!” she spat. “What is wrong with you? Are you trying to make Julie think she’s insane?”

  “She would have if her powers had come out when I wasn’t around to help her.”

  “If you weren’t around?!” Jenn screamed.

  “Please stop talking about me like I’m not here,” Julie said calmly.

  Both Jenn and Luke turned to her, stunned.

  “Luke, are you saying that you saw I had these powers and somehow awakened them in me now so you could help me learn how to use them? And the alternative would have been them awakening on their own when I might have just thought I was going crazy?”

  Luke cleared his throat. “Yes, that is exactly what I was saying. When I saw that you were friends with Jenn, I knew I had to help you.”

  “Help her?” Jenn spat.

  “Jenn,” Julie still managed to sound calm and in control. “Luke had his reasons for his actions. I can’t say I would want to go through that without anyone to help me with it. Whether he did the right thing or not is hard to say, but it seems like his intentions were good.”

  Jenn snorted,
but she knew Julie wouldn’t want her to keep screaming at Luke.

  “Thank you,” Luke said to Julie. He turned back to Jenn. “I am sorry for any distress I caused either of you.”

  Jenn was not done with him yet. “Yeah, well, stalking will do that.”

  Luke looked at Jenn’s arms. There were four purple bruises on the tops of her forearms. Luke held out his hand. Jenn glared at him. Luke looked back at her with the patience of centuries. Rolling her eyes, Jenn put her hand in Luke’s. He held her arm up higher and gently turned it over to reveal a fifth purple bruise on the underside.

  “May I heal you?” he asked Jenn.

  “No,” Jenn stated, taking her hand back. “I want to remember what you did to me.”

  “Luke, you’ve said what you’ve come to say,” Julie said, stepping forward a little. “I think it’s time for you to go.”

  “Jenn-“ Luke began.

  Jenn put up her hand. “I really don’t want to hear any more of your bullshit. Stop stalking me and just leave me alone.”

  “Very well,” Luke said. He held out his right hand. Again, Jenn knew he was never going to move unless she put her hand in his. Luke gave her a firm handshake. “It’s been a pleasure knowing you,” he said. “Please come find me if you need me.”

  “I won’t,” Jenn said, pulling her hand away and wiping it on her shorts.

  Luke nodded sadly. Then he turned and walked away. Jenn waited until he was gone and then she turned back to Julie. “That bastard,” Jenn snarled.

  “You handled that very well,” Julie told her.

  Jenn deflated. She was caught off guard by the compliment. “Thank you,” she said.

  “Of course,” Julie replied. “Now, let’s get back in your car and talk about what we learned in that house.”

  Jenn’s car was only a short walk away. “I’m going to drive away so they don’t get suspicious,” Jenn said. “If they aren’t already,” she added, turning the car on.

  “So,” Julie said, once they had left that block behind, “The boy with the black glasses and the boy with the red hair were the ones who were different.”

  “So they’re our Huginn and Muninn,” Jenn said. “I guess the only good thing about Luke showing up is that we know we’re in the right place. Why else would he bother?”

  “He was looking for you?” Julie asked carefully.

  Jenn waved that aside. “If he can stalk me, he can find me when I’m alone. No, he wanted to be there when we went in. Are we going to talk about how he activated your powers?”

  “No,” Julie replied. She caught Jenn's look. “It won't do anything right now, although that is something I'm going to have to think about.”

  “I wonder if he gave you powers so I would come back to him,” Jenn said slowly.

  “What do you mean?” Julie asked.

  “I wasn't planning on ever seeing him again, but I had to once you started reading minds.”

  “So everything is about you?” Julie joked.

  Jenn frowned. “I hope not, but it kind of looks that way.” She was quiet for a moment. “If he went messing around in your head just so I would talk to him again, I'll kill him.”

  “Let's not worry about it for now,” Julie suggested. “We've got plenty of other things to worry about besides me. Like why Luke showed up and came into the house with us. I guess it was probably to stop us from saying anything that would give our suspicions away.”

  “You bet your ass,” Jenn replied, deciding she would drop their other conversation for now.

  “So, what do we do?” Julie asked.

  Jenn was silent for awhile. “We need to get back there to talk to those boys when Luke isn’t there.”

  “When do we go back?” Julie asked. “And what do we say to them? They probably think they’re humans.”

  “You’re right,” Jenn said. “I guess we can’t start prattling on about Norse mythology to them.”

  “Probably not,” Julie agreed. She thought for a moment. “If we’re going against Luke, we should bring everything we have.”

  “Agreed,” Jenn said, gripping the steering wheel.

  “Don’t you think it’s time we figured out how your magic works?” Julie asked.

  Jenn glanced over at her, and then put her focus back on the road. “How do you think we can do that? I don’t even know how it happens.”

  “Do you remember what happened between you and Perdita?” Julie asked gently.

  Jenn thought. “We were at the top of the zipline and she said she didn’t want to be afraid of heights anymore. Then something passed between us and she wasn’t.”

  “That’s it?” Julie asked. “She just said she didn’t want to and she wasn’t?”

  “I don’t remember exactly what she said,” Jenn replied.

  “I could read your mind and find out,” Julie told her.

  Jenn sighed. “You just love getting into my head, don’t you?” She smiled a little at Julie. “It’s the best lead we’ve got, I guess,” she said. Jenn pulled over into the parking lane and put the car in park.

  “Right now?” Julie asked.

  “No time like the present,” Jenn replied, shrugging.

  Julie closed her eyes and Jenn could see her face focusing. For her part, Jenn tried to remember that day and the drive out to her cousins’ house. The missing purple hair clip. How they all went out to the obstacle course. Jenn being so slow at it. Standing at the top with Perdita. Suddenly, Jenn was there.

  They were at the top with the zip line. George clipped his harness onto one of the lanyards at the top of the course, pushed off, and rocketed down the line, yelling all the way.

  Reina went next, followed by Donna. Then it was just Jenn and Perdita. “I’m not sure I want to do this,” Perdita said, grabbing Jenn’s hand.

  “Why not?” Jenn asked.

  “Mom and Dad have always been here before, and this is really tall.” Perdita looked down at the ground. “I wish I wasn’t afraid of heights.”

  Jenn felt something on her hand, almost like getting shocked by static electricity, and Perdita started smiling. Perdita let go of Jenn’s hand, clipped her harness onto the line, and shot down the zipline almost as fast as George had.

  Jenn blinked back to the here and now and saw Julie looking at her. “You granted her wish,” Julie said.

  “I suppose I did,” Jenn replied. She laughed. “Maybe I’m her fairy godmother.”

  “Do you always grant people’s wishes?” Julie asked.

  Jenn shrugged. “People always get what they wish for in the worst way, but I don’t know if that’s me or the world.”

  “Hm.” Julie looked around. “I wish I had a latte right now.”

  Nothing happened.

  “See?” Jenn asked. “Let’s stop worrying about my magic and focus on how we’re going to kick Luke’s ass.”

  Julie grabbed Jenn’s arm. “I wish I had a latte right now.”

  “I don’t know why you’re still trying this,” Jenn said. She had felt something when Julie grabbed her arm, but it was probably nothing. Julie was silent. Jenn looked over and saw a latte in Julie’s other hand. Julie set it in the cupholder carefully. Jenn poked it. It seemed solid enough. She took off the lid. There was a latte inside, but it was cold and had started to grow mold. “Ew,” Jenn said.

  “Gross,” Julie replied.

  Jenn put the lid back on it.

  “I guess that was a pretty bad way to get a latte,” Julie said, looking at it sideways.

  “I guess,” Jenn said. She looked up at Julie. “So, I grant wishes, then?”

  “I guess so,” Julie replied, “but I don’t think I want to make another wish. Do you remember that story…oh what was it called? This old couple got a magical thing that gave them three wishes and the first one they used for money and they got that exact amount, but only because their son died at work. One night, the wife used the second wish to bring him back from the dead.”

  “And the husband used t
he third wish to put him back,” Jenn finished. “I remember that story. ‘The Monkey’s Paw’ I think.”

  “That’s right,” Julie replied. “It’s kind of like that.”

  “I don’t think I’ve killed anyone!” Jenn replied.

  “I don’t think so either,” Julie replied too quickly. “I just think it works like that. You have to be really specific to get what you want.”

  “Can you throw that latte out?” Jenn asked.

  “Sure,” Julie replied. Fortunately, Jenn had parked close to a garbage can, so Julie was back in the car quickly. Jenn pulled away from the curb and started driving. “I guess I can’t let people touch me when they make a wish,” Jenn said after a moment.

  “Probably for the best,” Julie replied.

  “Unless I want something bad to happen to them,” Jenn continued. “Like Luke. Maybe I should try to get him to wish for something stupid. He always seems to be touching me anyway.”

  “That would mean you have to see him again,” Julie replied.

  “True,” Jenn agreed. “True, and I really don’t want to do that.” They were quiet for the rest of the drive.

  “I’m so glad I have a late day tomorrow,” Julie said. “I’m exhausted.”

  “I guess you did use your magic a lot today,” Jenn realized.

  Julie gave her a small smile. “That’s okay. It’ll help me grow.”

  “Maybe,” Jenn replied.

  Julie rolled her eyes. “We’ll say it will. I’ll text you if I think of any way to convince those boys they’re ravens.”

  “Same,” Jenn replied laughing. Julie got out of the car and Jenn waited for her to get inside her house before she drove away.

  It was frustrating to be so close to the answer and not know what it was. She would love to get Luke to tell her, but she shied away from that thought. She truly did not want to see him again and especially not alone. Jenn wondered how long it would be until she could start wearing long sleeves to cover up her bruises. Maybe she should wear a ton of bracelets until then. Jenn mused on this until she got back to her parking spot and headed into her dorm. She had a class to go to soon, which at least gave her something to do.

  **

  “We’ve got to go back to that house today,” Jenn texted Julie the next day. “Luke moves fast and we want to beat him.”