Dangerous girls, p.21
Dangerous Girls, page 21
This had to be the spell.
Rather than Artemis and me receiving a vision of all the emotions that had been on the spot, the mushroom girl was reliving them.
“We don’t need an ambulance.” I bent down and scooped the girl up in my arms. “Thank you everyone for your help and your concern, but we’re just going to take her home now.”
“Who’s her doctor?” the woman with blue glasses persisted. “Is she seeing a specialist? Do you want the name of my grandson’s doctor?”
“No, we’re fine, really.” I tried to smile at them all in a reassuring way. “Thank you, but we’ve got this. We need to take her home, and if we need to, we’ll take her to a hospital. Thank you.”
“But–” the blue glasses woman protested.
“Look, lady,” Artemis interrupted. “Are you a doctor?”
“Well, no,” she stammered.
“Then let us do what we know is best for our friend, okay?” She glared at her until the woman looked away in confusion.
“I’m-I’m sorry,” she said in a flustered tone.
“We really appreciate your concern!” I said in my brightest voice, and I hurried away from the diner and the crowd of concerned citizens before they could get involved any further.
The mushroom girl was a dead weight in my arms, and it wasn’t helped by the fact that she kept twitching. The mad stream of words still fell out of her like water from a broken dam. It didn’t seem to be anything in her control at all, it was like some other force had taken over and was pouring all of this out of her.
“She’s like a tap,” Artemis said as she unconsciously echoed my thoughts.
“And she can’t turn herself off,” I added.
A car zoomed past us, and the mushroom girl’s whole body went rigid. Then she bucked and almost threw herself out of my arms. Her arm was thrown out to the side, and her head twisted on her neck at that same agonizing angle.
“Mike.” Artemis stopped dead in the road and stared at the girl in my arms. “Look at what she’s doing.”
“It’s kind of hard not to,” I grunted as I hoisted her higher in my grip.
“No, but look,” Artemis insisted. “That’s how Chris was found.”
“Are you sure?” I looked down at the girl and tried to remember the position of the body.
“I’m sure,” Artemis said in a grim tone. “That image is pretty much seared into my brain.”
“So that means the spell worked, then,” I said. “But rather than you and me getting a vision about it, she’s actually reliving it. Physically.”
“That’s fucked up.” Artemis shook her head.
“But this doesn’t help us get any further,” I pointed out. “The police were already sure that this was a hit-and-run.”
“But this confirms it,” Artemis argued. “She reacted in this way after that car went by. I bet it was because the noise triggered her into reliving the memory again.”
“But that doesn’t link it to David,” I said. “A hit-and-run? There’s no connection to the ley lines.”
“Unless it was David behind the wheel,” she said. “And it was a crime of opportunity rather than something premeditated.”
“You have a dark mind,” I told her.
“Come on.” She gave me a disbelieving look. “Don’t tell me you haven’t had these thoughts as well.”
“Maybe,” I admitted. “It does make sense. Chris and David were very close, so if David found out about the ley lines and Chris didn’t like the idea, then it’s plausible that David would have done something about it.”
We made it back to the store, and Artemis took the keys out of my pocket to let us in.
The mushroom girl was still mumbling incoherently in my arms, and I took her upstairs to my apartment. I went into the bedroom and laid her gently down on the bed, where she immediately rolled over and curled into a fetal position.
My sheets weren’t pristine, but it had to be better than living behind a damp basement wall, and she was still pretty filthy anyway.
I drew the covers up over her huddled body. She looked very small in the expanse of my bed, and somehow even dirtier than before.
Artemis had gone into the kitchen and was rustling around in my cupboards.
“Do you not have any tea at all?” she demanded.
“There might be some in the cupboard over the stove,” I called as I went into the bathroom.
I found a clean washcloth and ran it under the warm tap, wrung it out, and then went back into the bedroom.
The mushroom girl drew in her breath when I touched the washcloth to her forehead, but she didn’t open her eyes, and she didn’t move as I gently tried to wipe the worst of the grime from her cheeks. The washcloth got grayer and grayer, but by the end of the process, the mushroom girl’s face was rosy and at least somewhat clean.
The cleaning seemed to soothe her, and her mad torrent of words grew slower and quieter as she seemed to fall into a doze.
Her silvery-brown hair was still a mess. I used the last clean corner of the washcloth to work out a clump of something green from the side of her hair. It turned out to be a lump of moss with a mushroom growing out of it, and a tiny bug skittered out over my hand as I finally worked the moss free.
“I’m definitely going to need to do some laundry when you wake up,” I murmured quietly.
The girl sighed softly.
I put the washcloth down on the side table and gently tucked a few strands of the girl’s hair behind her ear, which was slightly pointed and lobeless. Her hair was slightly coarse, but my knuckles brushed against her full cheek, and the skin there was velvety soft.
“What are you?” I whispered to her.
The mushroom girl’s silvery-blonde eyelashes fluttered, but she didn’t wake up.
I collected the washcloth and tossed it in the laundry basket, then washed my hands and went through to the kitchen where Artemis was boiling the kettle.
“I’m assuming you want coffee,” she said. “But I don’t know how to make it, so I’m making myself a cup of tea.”
“Oh, you found some then?” I put a fresh filter in the coffee machine, dropped in a scoop of ground beans, filled it with water, and pressed the button.
Artemis showed me an ancient box of lemon and ginger tea.
“It was a struggle, but we got there,” she said.
“I don’t know how old that tea is,” I said. “But I’m guessing it’s something of Uncle Billy’s that I forgot to throw out.”
“Gross.” Artemis looked at the tea in her hand and heaved a deep sigh. “The things we do for our addictions, hmm?”
“Tell me about it.” I pulled a coffee mug out of the cupboard.
Artemis saw it and raised an eyebrow.
“I Can Only Please One Person Per Day,” she read the mug’s slogan out loud. “And Today Is Not Your Day.”
“This is also left over from Uncle Billy,” I said sternly.
“Sure, Wainwright, sure.” She grinned.
The water had finished running through the coffee maker, and I poured the dark brew into my mug. The fragrant fumes bathed my face as I raised the mug to my lips, and I took a deep, appreciative sniff.
Artemis leaned against the countertop and sipped her tea slowly, then pulled a face.
“Yeah, this is stale,” she said as she took another swallow.
“You’re still drinking it,” I pointed out.
“Well, what else am I going to drink?” She raised an eyebrow. “Tap water? Please.”
“I would have made you a cup of coffee if you’d asked me to,” I said with a chuckle.
“I don’t want the caffeine driving me up the walls,” she replied. “Too much of it makes me anxious, and to be honest, I’m anxious enough already about tonight.”
“Yeah.” I nodded slowly. “About that…”
“What?” She looked up quickly. “You think we shouldn’t go?”
“I’m going to go,” I replied. “But you don’t have to.”
“Oh, no.” She shook her head. “If you’re going, then I’m going with you. Fair’s fair.”
“You could totally stay here,” I said. “Look after the mushroom girl and keep watch.”
“And let you venture into the woods with a possible murderer?” Artemis scoffed. “No way. I’m coming.”
“Okay,” I said with a smile. “I’m not saying I don’t want you to come with me. It’s just that it’s dangerous, you know. Plus…”
“Yeah?” she challenged.
“Well,” I said. “I get the feeling that you think going there isn’t a good idea.”
Artemis opened her mouth for a quick retort, but then she closed her mouth and looked into her teacup without saying anything. I waited, and after a moment, she gave a sigh.
“Maybe,” she admitted.
“But what else should I do?” I asked. “That’s not entirely a rhetorical question, by the way. I’m open to other ideas if you have them.”
“I don’t have any.” She pushed a stray curl back behind her ear. “If we’re going to stop David from trying to open the ley lines, then going to the vigil is probably the best idea. It’s just that, well, you know. We’re going into the middle of the woods at night with a guy who might have killed his friend and might be prepared to kill again.”
“Yeah.” My voice was rueful. “I know what you mean. If this was a horror movie, I’d be yelling at us not to be so fucking dumb.”
“Right?” Artemis exclaimed. “That’s what I mean.”
“But what other option is there?” I asked. “Because the other possibility is that David is innocent, Chris’ death isn’t connected to all of this, and the vigil is literally just David trying to do something nice for the memory of his friend.”
“Even if he is being way too intense about it,” she muttered.
“People grieve in different ways, though,” I pointed out. “Maybe this is how he’s coping.”
“By being creepy and weird?” Artemis raised an eyebrow. “Cool, that’s a very convenient excuse for being off-putting.”
I smothered a chuckle.
“Yeah,” I said. “It’s like when actors say they’re going method, and it always involves being creepy and borderline abusive to their co-stars.”
“Do you think Tom Hanks went method in the Mister Rogers movie?” Artemis said with a grin. “Or Jim Caviezel in The Passion of the Christ?”
“That would be nice,” I said. “Somehow it always ends up being Jared Leto sending used condoms to people’s dressing rooms, though.”
“So the question we’re faced with,” Artemis said, “is whether this vigil is a used condom or not.”
“Oh, jeez,” I protested.
“What? You brought it up,” she grinned.
“I guess it makes a change of subject from people’s balls,” I said with a sigh.
Artemis let out a laugh that shook her so much she had to put down her cup of tea. I loved seeing the way the corners of her eyes crinkled up when she laughed. I put down my mug of coffee, went over to her, and pulled her into a hug.
Artemis hugged me back, and I felt the lean strength of her body pressed against me. Her hair smelled smoky, and as I breathed it in, I felt every muscle in my body relax.
“This is nice,” Artemis whispered in my ear.
“Mmm.” I squeezed her even tighter before letting her go.
She linked her hands behind my neck and looked at me with a little smile on her face.
“We should go to the vigil,” she said. “If David is planning something, then we need to be there to stop him. And if he isn’t planning anything, then I’m sure they’ll all appreciate your presence there. And I’m coming too, so don’t talk any more crap about me staying behind.”
I smiled and kissed her gently.
“Okay,” I said. “The mushroom girl is asleep, and I’ll leave her a note and lock the doors behind us.”
“Can she read?” Artemis asked with a look of genuine concern on her face.
“Oh, shit.” I paused. “I hadn’t thought of that. But I think so? I mean, she was talking about how she saw the Moon Landing and enjoyed the Boston Tea Party. I feel if you’ve been around for almost three hundred years, you’ve probably learned to read at some point.”
“But we don’t know how much of that time she spent outside of the wall,” Artemis said. “Or whatever was on this spot before the store was built.”
“Yeah, I know.” I shook my head. “It’s crazy to think about. She’s been alive for all this time. Or, fuck, maybe she hasn’t. You heard her talking about ‘being information,’ so she could have spent centuries being information rather than being alive.”
“Do you think that’s what you experienced when she gave you that vision?” Artemis asked. “Were you ‘information?’”
“I think so.” My mind flew back to the intense, mad, vibrant sensation of soaring along the mushroom roots and experiencing the town.
“And was that like being alive?” she asked.
“I don’t know.” I struggled to find the right words to explain it all. “In a way, yes, I felt more alive than I ever have before. But at the same time, no, not at all. When I was in the vision, it was like I knew everything. I could see everything. But I wasn’t there, I wasn’t taking part in any of the things that I was looking at.”
“I guess the question is…” Artemis said. “What constitutes living? What makes a life? Is it experiences or knowledge?”
“What do you think?” I asked her.
“I don’t know.” She shrugged. “I feel like experiences are more important than knowing things. But if I don’t know things, then do I truly understand my experience?”
“Deep stuff, Black.” I grinned. “Who’d have guessed you barely managed to graduate high school?”
“Shut up.” She unlinked her hands to give my chest a little swat, and then she reached for her teacup again for another sip before she put it down again. “That illustrates my point, though, because what the hell is high school actually good for? Do you remember any of the shit we had to learn there?”
“The mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell,” I intoned in a solemn voice.
“Exactly.” She nodded. “If you didn’t need a G.E.D. for jobs and stuff, I think most people would do better if they didn’t stay in high school. It doesn’t teach you anything valuable or worthwhile in the real world.”
“But you just said that knowing things helps you understand your experiences,” I countered. “And learning things, especially when you’re a kid, means that you can understand both your experiences and those of other people.”
“Hey, don’t use my own words against me,” Artemis complained. She leaned over, grabbed my coffee mug, and pushed it into my hand. “Just drink your coffee and look pretty.”
“Objectifying me,” I complained with a grin. “That’s not very fair.”
“Shhhh.” The corner of her mouth turned up. “You look so hot when you’re quiet.”
“Right.” I put the coffee cup down and launched myself at her.
Artemis screamed with laughter as I tickled her in the ribs. She wriggled and giggled as we tussled together until she escaped my grip by letting herself go limp and sliding through my arms onto the floor.
She sat up and leaned back on her hands with a breathless grin on her face.
“Here.” I handed her the teacup. “Finish your disgusting tea.”
“It is pretty bad,” she acknowledged.
“Well, next time I go grocery shopping, I’ll get some tea for you,” I promised. “What kind do you like? Black tea or something herbal?”
“Black tea,” she said. “Earl Gray.”
“Nice.” I nodded. “Fancy. I’ll remember that.”
Artemis smiled up at me from the floor.
“I’m glad I met you again, Mike,” she said in a soft voice. “I’m glad I came back to Wormwood.”
I bent down over her so our noses were almost touching. I could see the chocolate-colored depths in Artemis’ dark eyes and the light dusting of freckles across her cheeks like a dusting of wholewheat flour on her skin. Her breath was warm and soft on my face as she smiled up at me, and her chipped tooth gleamed in her lovely face.
“Me, too,” I murmured.
I tangled my fist in her curls, turned her face up to mine, and kissed her deeply. Her lips parted under mine, and she gave a little moan in the back of her throat that was the most sexy sound I’d ever heard. My jaw worked, our mouths opened and closed, and I felt the delicious heat of her tongue against mine. My blood fizzed with chemicals, my knees were weak, and every nerve ending in my body seemed to stand on end and sing with delight.
Finally, we broke apart.
Artemis’ breathing was ragged, and my heart was hammering in my chest.
“If we get out of this in one piece,” I whispered. “I’m going to pick this back up where we left off.”
“Good,” Artemis whispered back. “Because if you don’t, I will.”
“Good to know we’re on the same page.” I brushed her hair back from her face, then reached up to the counter for my mug, and sat down on the kitchen floor next to Artemis.
We sat there together and finished our drinks. Then we both went into the front room, and I got out my new phone to check my messages on the shop’s Instagram.
There was a message from David: Here’s the location. Get here at six.
“A man of few words,” Artemis commented in a snarky tone.
“Shh, be nice,” I reprimanded as I loaded the location onto the phone’s maps app.
“Fine.” She rolled her eyes.
The time ticked steadily onward.
We ate leftover pizza for an early dinner while Artemis showed me ASMR TikToks of hamsters eating various items of food. It was pretty brainless stuff, but considering what we were about to face, I felt justified in just letting my brain rot for a bit.
Plus, I loved seeing how excited Artemis got whenever she saw a video of something small and round.
I never would have expected she would be the kind of person who would lose their shit over a cute hamster, but every time she scrolled to the next video, it was like she was seeing the tiny animals for the first time. All the stern lines in her face melted, her dark eyes softened, and she leaned against me with a little sigh that sent butterflies shivering through my stomach.
