Bargained magic, p.16
Bargained Magic, page 16
Our dad’s sigh was almost a sob. “In three months, I will barely be a person anymore, confined to my deathbed. Is that what you want?”
“Maybe you should have thought of that before you got yourself into so much trouble,” I told him. “I’ve spent plenty of time around curses—casting them and breaking them—and I’ve seen your type before. Men who screwed up and still think they’re the victim.”
I ran my thumbnail across the edge of the sugar packet until it tore and a few granules of sugar fell on the tabletop. I hedged around our father’s mind and felt for any walls he might have put up, but there was nothing there to keep me out.
Just a few more minutes, he thought. She’ll be here soon.
“Who’s coming?” I demanded. Christopher stared at me.
“How did you—?”
I kicked Lucy’s foot gently under the table, and when I had her attention, I mouthed, “Look.” She concentrated for a moment—it was harder for her to see into his head than it was for me—and then turned slowly to look at him.
“What’s going on?” she asked.
“Nice little trick,” Christopher said, and all the nice guy routine disappeared. He clawed at his hair and shook his head, looking like a madman who was on the brink of a breakdown. “You want the truth? It’s too late now anyway.
“I was cursed the year your mother got pregnant,” he told Lucy. “I tried everything to break the curse, sought the most despicable people who might have the skill to remove it. I tried distractions, drugs, another woman.” He glanced at me. “I wasn’t…I wasn’t a good man. I was desperate. I’m still…desperate.
“The curse was supposed to last thirty years. Do you know what a slow, painful death it is? My powers and strength funneled away a little at a time. It was like an hourglass, and I couldn’t sit by and watch my life slip away, so on the day Lucy was born, I bargained my firstborn to the fae.”
Lucy gasped. “No. Why would you do that?”
“I said I wasn’t a good man.” He rubbed at the stubble that had taken over his chin since the last time we’d seen him. “I promised them my firstborn, but I didn’t know about Vivian yet. The fae are tricky. They’re greedy.”
Adrian realized what he was saying before the rest of us, some fae part of his brain kicking in. When I felt him tense next to me, I flung one arm out to stop him from lunging across the table, and I understood.
“We’re each a firstborn, just to different mothers. They wanted both of us.” My brain caught up and I shook my head. “You really are a piece of shit.”
Lucy made a little squeak of horror.
“The fae are tricky,” he repeated, as if that was enough to defend what he’d done.
“When I saw you,” he looked at Lucy and sighed, “I regretted it immediately, and your mother was so happy. I loved her, and I loved you. I tried to protect you, but they came to me every year on your birthday and said the same thing: give you over or face the curse. I thought about it. I went back to see Vivian once, to make sure she was okay in case I…” He shook his head again and kept his gaze low, his sight locking on the table again. “By the time you were eight, Lucy, I was already feeling the effects, feeling weaker. I left to find some other way. Maybe if I traveled farther I could find someone who could fix me. I went all over the world. I found nothing.
“So last year I came back here, found you again. I had to make sure you were okay and when Vivian lost her powers…”
“Why do they need my powers?” I asked, but a woman’s voice interrupted our conversation.
“Because magicians are preferable to humans,” she said. We all turned to look at her, and I realized that the noise in the room had vanished. I scanned the tables where the humans in the diner had stopped moving, as if she’d hit a pause button on everyone except us. The short leather skirt she wore with a checkered blouse only emphasized her tall height, and her hair fell in waves the color of cherry blossoms. She moved gracefully toward us, her stilettos clicking with each step.
“I told you it was too late,” Christopher muttered. Adrian and I stood, and when Lucy didn’t move, I grabbed her hand and yanked her to her feet. The three of us huddled to the far side of the table so that it was between us and the fae woman.
“What do you want?” I asked. “I don’t care if he dies of the curse. No one’s leaving here with you.” I clutched Lucy’s hand, my muscles readying to make a run for it.
“Unfortunately, he is out of time. The bargain stands, and I will break his curse,” she said, pushing her hair away from her face with a delicate hand. “My name is Waverly, and I am the youngest ruler of any court on the east coast…because most of my court is dead. Sickness is rare among the fae, but the disease that swept through my court nearly wiped us out entirely. I’m trying to rebuild what we lost.”
“So?”
“So we need to replenish our population,” she said. “The other courts won’t have anything to do with us. We’ve become outcasts among our own kind. Our choice was between humans and magicians, and magical blood is preferable.”
Adrian finally spoke up. “You tried to save yourself by bargaining them to breed with the fae?”
“It’s not breeding,” Waverly explained, as if the notion that we were nothing more than baby vessels offended her. “We plan for you to be full members of the court. You’ll have houses, money, anything you want. You’ll marry one of our court and have their children.”
“Like fuck I will!” The thought of being pregnant creeped me out, but it was worse when I thought of bearing children for the fae. I pressed my fingers hard into the scar on my palm, my nails digging furiously into my skin.
“What about the objects?” We all turned to look at Lucy.
Christopher looked thoroughly worn out, like this conversation had aged him in the span of minutes. “This is a matter of survival, Lucy. When the curse breaks, I’ll have nothing. I’ve lost everything. Can you understand that? When I tried to break the curse early on, I found the ring, but I lost it, and I couldn’t find the other two. Waverly located all three and created the riddles, with the bargain that if you could find them all, she would let me have them. I can use them to start a new life for myself.”
A new life. As if everything he’d done until then—as if his children—were an unfortunate past life he was going to put behind him. My nails dug into my hand so hard I wondered if they’d broken skin yet, but I wouldn’t take my eyes off Waverly to check. We’d followed those riddles for weeks, and he had been using us the whole time.
Waverly moved toward us, and I shot a blast of magic at her, but she swatted it away like a fly.
“This way!” Adrian yelled. The three of us ran and pushed through a swinging door that led to a kitchen outfitted in stainless steel. The cooks had all stopped moving, too. As we ran past, pots and pans clanged to the floor. Adrian pressed his hands to an empty space on the back wall and a door appeared. He flung it open, and we ran through to his living room, slamming it shut behind us.
21
Chapter Twenty-One
Everyone but me collapsed in Adrian’s living room, Lucy into my arms and Adrian onto the couch. He rubbed his head and mumbled what sounded like a whole lot of four-letter words. Lucy shoved me away from her so hard that my calves knocked into the coffee table behind me.
“You were right!” she said through angry tears. “All of you were right. Go ahead and say, ‘I told you so.’”
“Lucy…” I didn’t know what to do. Now didn’t seem like the moment for a sisterly hug. “I’m so sorry.”
“What for?” she laughed hysterically. “You all said he was bad. I’m an idiot, aren’t I? I’m naïve.” I reached out a hand to her, but she circled the coffee table and sat down next to Adrian on the couch.
“You lost your dad,” I said. “If I had the power to make things turn out any differently, I would, but I’m not going to gloat about it. I was trying to keep you safe. I won’t punish you for being heartbroken that he isn’t who you thought.” I meant my words to be soothing, but she buried her face in her hands and cried harder.
“It doesn’t matter,” she said into her palms. “I’m so stupid.”
“Get her some water,” Adrian said. He closed his eyes and kneaded his fingertips across his forehead. “And grab me some ice.”
I turned toward the kitchen. “Are you going to be okay?” I asked over my shoulder.
“Traveling long distances takes a lot out of me,” he said. “Give me an hour and some ice.”
I moved around in the kitchen until I found a glass for the water and a freezer bag for the ice, which I wrapped up in a dishtowel. I handed them to my sister and Adrian. Lucy drank the water so fast she sputtered on the last of it and Adrian pressed the pack to his head, sighing as the cold leaked into his skin.
While we all sat in silence, I took out my phone and texted Colin: At Adrian’s. It’s bad. Lucy needs you ASAP. He texted back that he’d be over as soon as possible. I wasn’t sure if Lucy would be angry at him, too, but maybe his comfort would be more welcome than mine.
“You two stay here tonight,” Adrian said, his voice sleepy. “Colin, too, if he wants. Lucy and Colin take the couch. It’s safe to assume your dad knows where you live, so the fae do, too.”
“What about me?” I asked. If the couch was taken, that only left the bed. With Adrian. I contemplated sleeping on the floor.
“You’re with me, Trouble.” Although his face was locked in a pained grimace, he grinned weakly at me. “You get the privilege of being the only woman to ever sleep in the bed.”
“Oh yay,” I deadpanned. “You sure don’t want me to sleep on the floor? I’d hate to taint your sacred mattress.”
“Could you two not do…whatever weird thing you are doing right now?” Lucy asked. Her tears had all dried up, although I suspected her body was making more for Colin. She was so pale and tired-looking that I grabbed a blanket off the back of the couch and draped it around her.
“We’re going to figure out a way around this,” I promised her. “No one is taking us anywhere.” I didn’t know how. Fae bargains were set in stone unless you could find a loophole, but I couldn’t immediately see one in the bargain Christopher had made. My magic wasn’t as strong as theirs. It looked bleak.
“Let her rest,” Adrian said. “Come with me.” I followed him to the kitchen where he tossed the half-melted ice pack in the sink and pulled two beers out of the fridge.
“Are we drinking?” I asked as he placed one in my hand.
He cracked the top of the can and took a drink. “No, I just want you to stand there and look pretty while I drink mine.” He rolled his eyes. “You’re staying here tonight and you’re about to overthink things again. Since you can’t go home and drink through it alone, you’re stuck with me. C’mon.”
He led me to the bedroom, toting the rest of the six-pack with him, and we sat on opposite sides of the bed. He reached into the bedside drawer, pulled out a joint and a lighter, and lit up. I coughed on the thick smoke.
“How’s your head?” I asked.
“This,” he held the joint up, “and the beer should take the edge off. It’s been a long time since I’ve traveled across town that way. I feel like I got hit by a bus.” He watched me for a minute, smoke curling around his face whenever he exhaled. “How are you holding up?”
Hmm. This was the first time I’d been still since we’d arrived. I mulled it over and decided I felt like shit. Our dad had betrayed us, which didn’t shock me. He was exactly who I thought he was, but I wish I could have spared Lucy the train wreck of finding out. The fae were coming for us, and I had a feeling they wouldn’t be easy to hide from.
“Not great,” I answered before I guzzled down half a beer. “Do you think Lucy is going to be okay?”
“Do you think Lucy is going to be okay?”
I shook my head and leaned back against the headboard. “It’s so different for her. She had a relationship with our dad. She told me she always hoped something big took him away from her, which I guess it did, just not in the way she wanted. I never had someone buying me milkshakes and throwing me birthday parties. I never had those illusions about who he was.”
“He abandoned you,” Adrian agreed. “I don’t blame you for hating him, and I don’t blame her for wanting him to want her. You two just had different experiences with him.”
“Is this all the alcohol you have?”
“There’s another six-pack,” he said, “but take it slow. I’m not holding your hair again.”
“What the hell are we going to do?” I asked.
Adrian shrugged. “You’re smart enough to figure a way out of this. Don’t give up.”
Lucy had so much to lose—Colin, the shop, and all her friends. She had a whole life in the city. I, on the other hand, had nothing to lose. What I’d said before was true: living the same way I always had sucked. If I disappeared, it wouldn’t matter to anyone but Lucy. I had nothing else of value in my life.
“Do you think they’d settle for just taking me?” I asked him.
Adrian scoffed. The joint had burnt down nearly to his fingertips and he flicked it into his empty beer can before setting it aside. “I take it back. You’re an idiot. That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.”
“Think about it,” I said. “Who has more to lose, me or her?”
“You’re doing your martyr shit again,” he said, cracking another beer. He still looked wiped out, but I suspected he was feeling better if he had the energy to insult me. “You’re not giving up your life to pop out a bunch of fae kids. Neither of you are. I’m not going to let that happen.”
“Why do you even care?” I asked. “Your investigation is over. You can get paid and move on.” I shuddered. It reminded me of Quin being paid off by Seth. Job well done.
“Because you’re my friends, too. Even you, Trouble.”
His words made a lump form in my throat against my will. After everything, he still considered us friends, still wanted to be there. He read whatever expression my face wasn’t hiding and groaned.
“You’re not going to start crying, are you?” I blinked twice at the unwanted sting of tears in my eyes. “I can’t deal with women crying. Thank God Colin is coming to mop your sister up.”
“Sorry, it’s just been a lot today,” I said, pressing my fingertips to my eyes to stop the rest of the tears that were trying to come. “I can’t see a way out of this, and Lucy’s heartbroken. He used us—like I said from the beginning—and I wish I hadn’t been right, especially for her.”
“Don’t look like that.” Adrian frowned and seemed to be considering something, his eyes betraying a conflict in his head.
“Like what?”
He settled whatever it was and opened his arms to me. He motioned me toward him, but I didn’t move. First, he’d invited me to the bed, now he wanted to comfort me?
“Just this once,” he said.
“You want to…cuddle?” I asked, still wary of the affection he offered.
He pressed his fist into his forehead and heaved a huge breath. “I am tired, I’m annoyed with this situation, and I need to get some sleep before I can help you figure out what to do. It’s easier for me to comfort you than to think right now, so do you want someone to hold you or not? Don’t get any weird ideas about it.”
I scooted across the bed and moved into his arms, which closed around me as I tried to find a comfortable place to nestle into him. I tried curling under his arm. Lying on my side with my head against his chest. I rolled to the side and tried to be the little spoon.
“Relax,” he laughed. “You’re like snuggling a two-by-four. Jesus.” I took a deep breath and forced my body to go lax. He arranged me so we were stretched out with my body curled into his side and rested his chin on top of my head. “Better. Now try to get some sleep.”
I woke the next morning when Adrian got out of bed, pulling out from under me carefully, like he was trying not to wake me. When I sat up, he apologized.
“I was trying to let you sleep a little longer,” he said.
“It’s fine. What’s that?” I asked. Lucy and Colin were arguing in the living room, and we went to see what the commotion was about.
“It’s not safe.” Colin’s voice was low as he tried to pacify her. He was clearly attempting to deescalate a situation. My sister was crying again, but her voice was loud and sharper than I’d ever heard it.
“I don’t care!” she yelled at him. “I’m not just going to stop living my life because of this!”
“Lucy…” I reached a hand toward her shoulder, but she turned on me like a trapped, rabid animal. I drew my hand back and looked at Colin. “What is going on?”
“She wants to go to work,” he said. When she tried to go around him with her purse slung over her shoulder, he stepped in her way and placed his hands on her shoulders. His kind eyes pleaded with her, but Lucy seemed too worked up to be calmed. “I am trying to explain to her that it’s not a good idea.”
“Let’s just talk about this,” I said.
“There’s nothing to talk about!” She ducked under Colin’s arm and ran out the door, leaving it wide open behind her.
“I’ll look after her,” I said as I followed. I caught up with her just as she slammed the driver’s side door to Colin’s car. I banged on the passenger window with my palm. “Wait! I’m coming with you.” The lock on the door popped and I got in.
“What about Colin?” I asked as Lucy swerved onto the street.
“He can call one of his friends to pick him up.”
“Calm down.” I buckled my seatbelt. “Can we just talk?”
“Calm down? I’m tired of being the calm one. Lucy’s so calm. Lucy sees the best in everyone. Oh, now Lucy’s crying. She’s hysterical. This is all her fault. I’m not calming down!” She stepped harder on the gas pedal and broke the speed limit by about 15mph.
