I snort. “Why is that bad? He seemed thrilled about his harem last time I talked to him.”
“The seven sisters are bad. They only want Wyatt for one thing.”
“Yeah, it’s pretty obvious what that is.”
She smacks me on my chest. “No. It’s not. They will kill him. They’re sirens. It’s what they do.”
I bolt upright and point to Bodog. “I knew it. I knew there had to be something creepy going on with them.”
“We have to tell him.” Kera starts to get up.
Bodog shoots to his feet. “Bodog did.”
That stops Kera. “What did he say?”
“He can take care of himself.”
That has me lying back down. “Nothing we can do about it, then.”
She straightens, confusion on her face. “Isn’t he concerned?”
I twirl a long strand of her hair. “It doesn’t sound like it.”
She turns to me. “But this is serious.”
“Kera, he’s been warned. He’s a grown man. He’ll do what he wants.”
I pull her down beside me and wrap her long hair around my fist. I love the feel of her hair—like silk—and I rub it against my cheek. “Kiss me.”
“But shouldn’t we—”
“I’ll have someone keep an eye on him.” I pull her closer and kiss her, and pretty soon she forgets about what she was saying.
A heavy sigh tumbles from Bodog.
“Ground rules.” I point in the general direction of Ainsbury Cross and Faldon’s home, which is now mine, while I continue to kiss Kera senseless.
Bodog rises and as he walks away, I hear him recite the rules we established when I agreed to have him live with me, aboveground. “Number one. Don’t bring Bodog food in the house. Bugs stay outside. Number two. Say please and thank you. Number three. When Kera is over, Bodog will say a polite hello and then leave if Dylan gives him the signal. Number four. Never should Bodog ever…”
Dream a Little Dream
I’ve been sleep-deprived for days, living off the energy I pull from the earth. It’s not healthy.
I’m back in the human realm, and in my bed. Today was by far the worst one I’ve ever lived through. Grandpa and I delivered Jason’s body to his mom. I didn’t even know he had a mom.
There was a lot of screaming and crying and bad feelings directed at me. I get she has to blame someone for her loss. First her husband and then her son. Grandma said the woman didn’t even bat an eye when Carl died. But Jason…his loss hurt her deep, even though he’d snapped in the end. She chose to remember the boy who made her laugh when she wanted to cry, and live when she wanted to die. Her words, not mine.
We held a town meeting and I tried to explain what was happening. Reece and Wyatt stood by me and confirmed everything I said. Leo introduced Lucinda. First as a woman and then as a cat. That part was a bit comical, seeing their jaws drop when she went all four-legged white and hissy. The pux fascinated them. Stories of the millispits terrified them. Faldon’s presence in Bodog’s staff had many of them making the sign of the cross. I wisely kept Bodog away. In the end, we got a team together, one that will patrol the wall and report any unusual happenings to Grandpa.
Kera is in Teag, organizing her own meetings and helping those who’ve been displaced by the recent upheaval. Kera and I have decided to split our time between the two realms, helping out where we can. Seeing us actively trying to improve their lives takes the edge off everyone’s nervousness when we’re around. In Teag, Baun supports me as his son and heir, and in the human realm Grandpa has my back. Not everyone is on my team, but for now, no one is trying to sideline me permanently.
When things settle down, I promised Kera we’d live our own life, away from the craziness of the conjoined realms. To be with Kera and lead a normal life is all I’ve ever wanted. I think the idea is starting to grow on her.
I hear Grandma cleaning up dinner, hear her sing in soft bluesy tones, and my conscious thoughts slowly fade to black. I haven’t dreamed in so long, I forgot how vibrant they can be. I find myself outside, standing on the dirt road behind the farmhouse. I can smell the rain on the trees, and feel a slight mist in the air. The Northwest’s muted light doesn’t cut deeply into the forest behind me, causing the shadows to appear heavy. I hear a cracking sound and see the treetops shake. That feeling I got when I saw the tri-top that kidnapped Kera settles in my gut.
I take a step back. Then another step and another as whatever is coming through the woods gets closer. A flock of pux bursts from the woods. They buzz past me, for once uninterested in mischief, only escape. The crack of wood being bent too far grows. The sound of leaves shaking from their limbs silences all other sounds.
Quiet.
It’s scarier than all the noise preceding it. The sound of nothing disorients me for a second, and then from out of the shadows steps Navar. He holds two leads attached to a pair of devil hounds that strain against their restraints.
I’m frozen to the spot. He’s taken on solid form. Like the man he was. He stops, still lingering within the trees, and tucks his free hand in his pants pocket. It’s such an ordinary thing to do. A human, alive thing to do.
“Interesting,” he says as he glances around the landscape and my grandparents’ backyard. “I’ve never been to the human realm before. It’s very…ordinary.”
“Go back to Teag.” It’s a command that is low and threatening. Even so, I’m not sure I can make him obey.
“I would, really, but you see, I quite like exploration. Discovering new lands. I have plans. Big plans.”
The devil hounds snip and yip at oen another, all four heads a mass of viciousness. Figures Navar would adopt a few. Seeing them makes me wonder if he’s alone. “Where’s your little pet, Granel?”
“Kenneled. For now.”
I’m pretty sure that means he’s still in the Unknown. That should make me relax, but it doesn’t. “What do you want here?”
“Oh, it’s not just me. I have friends who have the same interests.”
I don’t really want to know, but he’s come such a long way to scare the shit out of me, I feel the need to accommodate him. “And those would be?”
“Death.”
One moment he’s smiling his pretty-boy smile, and the next he’s an inky slash charging straight for me. Behind him, the darkness I took for shadows expands and dozens of dark souls swoop down. They burn the farm, the livestock, the very air I’m breathing. They sweep over everything, charring the earth, sucking all the life out of it until I’m standing on a lone patch of green.
Navar’s dark face appears in an inky streak and he hisses, “Something is missing.” His streak darts high into the sky, hovers for a moment, then peers down at me. “It’s you.”
His mouth opens wide as he dives straight for me, and I’m swallowed into a nightmarish abyss.
My eyes pop open. Sweat clings to my skin. I cover my face and rub the dream from my eyes as I let a ragged, tension-filled sigh escape.
“Nightmares?”
That raspy, wooden voice sounds familiar. I drop my hands, prop myself up on my shoulders, and see a small body squatting behind a stick. Bodog slowly rises and brings Faldon closer.
I don’t question why they’re here. Bodog has set himself up as my guardian, and Faldon is dependent on the little man to take him where he wants to go, which coincidentally is usually somewhere close to me.
I have no doubt they can hear the thudding of my heart. I would explain my dream, but somehow, I think he already knows. “I thought my fight with Navar was over.”