“Annika…” she began with a heavy sigh. She watched as her friend returned to the table with coarse sea salt, pink Himalayan sea salt, regular table salt, black pepper, red pepper, and a gourmet blend of four different peppers.
“What’s up?”
“Um…” Patti stared at the six different seasonings and then glanced at James and Charlie. “You’ve been acting really weird lately. Are you on meth?”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake—we’re doing this now?” snapped James. “That’s not what we discussed!”
“What the hell are they talking about?” Annika asked her brother. Charlie took the opportunity to chew his mouthful of food more thoroughly than he’d ever chewed it before in his life. After five long seconds he simply shrugged. She scoffed at James next, and then Patti. “No I’m not on meth! Why the hell would you ask me something like that?”
Patti stared at her plate of risotto.
“It’s just, you’ve been acting so strange ever since you came home. Actually, since you left the night of your birthday. It was really weird that you didn’t check in with us even once while you and Talvi were in Rome together. I know you left a note, but I thought you would’ve at least posted a few pictures online.”
“I already told you that I lost my phone. I took it as a sign to try living in the moment,” said Annika. “I didn’t think my belated honeymoon needed to be documented. Besides…have you ever tried to get a phone or a contract set up in a different country? It’s a huge pain in the ass.”
“Okay, I get that, but anytime we see you, it’s like you can’t sit still for more than five minutes,” Patti went on. “I don’t remember the last time you sat through a movie. Last week I watched you get up halfway through Pride and Prejudice and start cleaning the sink with a toothbrush! You love that movie!”
“Which is why I’ve seen it a hundred times,” Annika argued. “It’s not like I don’t know how it ends.”
Patti was undeterred.
“What about that check you gave me for ten-thousand dollars?”
“Talvi wrecked your car, and he promised to get you a new one,” Annika reminded her. “Now you can.”
“Yeah, but I can’t accept ten grand for it! My car was a piece of shit! It wasn’t worth more than a thousand bucks.”
“Talvi wanted you to have something nicer,” Annika explained. “Something safer, too. Seriously, Patti…you’re the only person I know who’s complaining about being handed a check for ten grand.”
“Fine, but what about working out all the time and selling all your clothes? I just don’t understand why you’re constantly running in circles around all of us. For not having an actual job, you’re the busiest person I know.”
“If you knew how much butter and cream and cheese there was in this risotto, you’d try to run it all off, too,” Annika snapped back. “And most of the clothes I’m selling are things I haven’t worn in over a year. I’m donating all the money to the Humane Society. I’m not buying meth!” Her lip trembled at the thought that nothing she was doing was good enough. “Did it ever occur to you that maybe I’m trying to stay busy because I miss my husband?”
The four of them sat in awkward silence around the kitchen table until Charlie took another huge bite of his dinner.
“You can definitely taste the butter,” he mumbled with his mouth full of food. Seeing how much he was enjoying it prompted Patti to pick up her fork again.
“I just feel guilty that you’re doing so much around here compared to me,” she said quietly. “Charlie mows the lawn and I water the plants…that’s about all that’s left for chores. The fanciest food I can make is a BLT sandwich, and you’re making stuff that’s ten times better than that.”
“It’s not a contest,” Annika said, realizing where her friend’s confusion was stemming from. “I do it because I like to…and I like the distraction. I don’t have to think about Talvi if I’m busy all the time.”
“I’ve got something else you can do if you’re serious about staying busy,” James offered, and picked up his fork. “You can help me book some more shows and plan a tour.”
One Friday a few weeks later, Annika walked into her favorite diner with Tripp and Adams following right behind her. The men took a seat at a table within sight of a booth where Danny was sitting and waiting patiently for Annika to join him. His hair was neatly parted on the side as always, making him appear wholesome, conventional, responsible, and predictable.
“How are you getting along with your new roommates?” Danny asked when he caught Adams glancing over at their table.
“Surprisingly well,” she said, toying with a strand of her hair as she gazed at them fondly. “They’re my gym buddies too.”
“I thought you looked like you’d been working out,” he said, watching her with a curious expression. “So…what exactly does Finnish do, that you need to have two bodyguards? Charlie said it was a government job of some kind.”
“He’s in mergers and acquisitions,” Annika swiftly replied. Danny gave her a skeptical look.
“He’s a banker? Him?” Danny shook his head in disbelief, letting his eyes wander from Annika to the two large men seated nearby. “Even if I believed you, I don’t think that the guys from Goldman Sachs have bodyguards. Why would someone like Finnish need them?”
“For your information, some of the guys from Goldman Sachs do have bodyguards,” she said, and stopped fidgeting with her hair. “Business execs make up most of the clientele for people in protective services. It’s not just movie stars and celebrities, you know.”
Danny sat in silence for a few moments, then adjusted his glasses before picking up the menu. The two of them had been to this place so many times that Annika already knew the menu by heart. She never ordered the same item twice in a row, unlike Danny, who always spent a good five minutes looking over the menu before ordering the exact same thing he ordered every time; a ham and cheese omelette with roast potatoes on the side, and an order of whole wheat toast. She smiled to herself when their waitress came by and took their order. So much had changed over the past year, yet some things never changed a bit. Danny was one of them.
“I’m glad that we’re finally getting together,” Annika said while reaching into her purse. “I have something I’ve been meaning to give you for a long time.” She took out a narrow piece of paper and slid it across the table. Danny picked up the check and frowned in confusion at the significantly large dollar amount.
“What the hell is this for? You don’t owe me money.”
“It’s reimbursement for the ring you gave me.”
Danny frowned even more.
“I told you to keep it.”
“I know you did,” Annika said, hoping she appeared as rational as she was trying to act. “But that’s because you thought I’d change my mind. Obviously I didn’t, because I’m married to someone else.” Danny’s eyes narrowed as he continued to look at the check. In the upper left-hand corner, right above Annika’s name, was another name that had a way of setting him off every time he saw it or heard it.
“I don’t want his money,” Danny said, and pushed the check away.
“My name it’s on the check too, in case you didn’t notice,” she pointed out, not about to take no for an answer. An incredulous look took over Danny’s face.
“You might have a joint checking account together, but that doesn’t mean anything. You’re still not legally married to him, are you?”
“I’m not having that conversation with you again,” she said, and pushed the check back across the table.
“Don’t worry—you don’t have to.” He pulled out his wallet and carefully tucked the check inside. “Apparently I misunderstood the reason why you’ve been hanging out at soccer practice lately and bringing my favorite cookies.”
“Chocolate chip is everyone’s favorite,” she said with a shrug. “It doesn’t have any hidden meaning at all. I’ve just been on a baking kick lately.”
“That’s what
Charlie said.”
The waitress returned with two mugs and a pitcher of coffee, which were set in front of them. Annika immediately reached for three packets of sugar, along with the pitcher of creamer.
“Some things never change,” Danny observed. He watched intently as she prepared her coffee just the way she liked it and gave it a stir. ”On the other hand, some things change so much that you can’t even recognize them anymore.”
“If you’re trying to be subtle, you’re doing a really bad job of it. If you have something to say then why don’t you just say it?”
Danny took a sip of his black coffee and frowned slightly.
“I do have something to say to you… I’m just afraid that you’re going to think I’m crazy if I say it out loud.” Annika grinned and took a hearty gulp of her coffee.
“It can’t be much crazier than telling me that my polymorphonuclear leukocytes were showing increased phagocytic activity.” Annika clapped her hand over her mouth in surprise. ”I can’t believe I just said that! Did I use the right terminology?”
“You did,” Danny confirmed while staring at her with a bewildered expression. “That’s a pretty big word to remember, even for a med student.”
“I’m sure it was just a fluke,” she said with a dismissive wave of her hand, and she took another drink of her coffee.
“You’ve been having a lot of those lately,” he said, still eying her suspiciously. “In fact, you’ve been having those ever since Finnish came into the picture. I think he did something to you when you were lost in Europe.”
Annika glanced down into her coffee mug, uncertain of how to respond. Talvi had done something to her alright. He’d stolen her heart and then broken it to pieces. He’d left her when she needed him the most, and turned up at the worst moment possible. Longing for him was the best excuse for her state of mind ever since coming back home, and yet she wasn’t sure if she ever wanted to see him again. Unable to read her thoughts as she was able to read his, Danny shook his head.
“Charlie told me that you had amnesia and that Finnish’s sister was taking care of you. What if they did some kind of medical experiment on you? It’s the only excuse I can come up with to explain why I keep getting the exact same results every time I test the blood samples that you gave me. I’ve had a few different colleagues check my work three and four times, and we still keep coming up with the same results.” Danny leaned forward in his seat, then glanced around the dining room to make sure that nobody could overhear their conversation. “I ran some tests on Finnish’s hair and his DNA is more like yours than it is to a human being. Why won’t you give me some answers?”
“How did you get his DNA?” she hissed at her ex from across the table. “He would’ve told me if he’d gone to see you at the hospital for something like that!” Danny raised an eyebrow and leaned back in the booth with more confidence than he’d revealed since she’d joined him that morning.
“Are you sure about that? I have a hunch there’s a lot he hasn’t told you about himself….starting with the fact that he’s not even human.”
Annika’s eyes flashed with anger as she mentally tore into Danny’s private thoughts. She saw a vision of herself strapped down on a hospital bed with Talvi hovering over her. An evil grin was on his face and a hypodermic syringe was in his hand. Realizing that this was just the imagery painted in Danny’s mind, she pushed it out of the way in search of the truth behind how Danny had found Talvi’s DNA. It didn’t take very long for her to find the memory of him poking around her bathroom and discovering a hairbrush with plenty of loose black strands intertwined with her long red ones.
“Did you not hear me when I said that you and your new boy toy are mutants? What exactly happened to you when you were missing? What did he do to you? You haven’t even told me where he’s from.”
He took another sip of his coffee, clearly unconcerned about invading her privacy. Annika stared at him in silence for what felt like a short eternity. She knew his skeptical and analytical mind wouldn’t accept magic as the reason behind the presence of phagocytic activity in her polymorphonuclear leukocytes. Annika took a deep breath and let it out slowly, gazing into her coffee cup for guidance on what might be the right answer to tell him. When she looked back up at Danny, there was nothing haughty or demanding about his demeanor. Instead, she saw an intelligent man who wasn’t accustomed to being confused. She saw a patient man who wasn’t used to the feeling of frustration. She saw a man who cared deeply for her; a man who was trying to protect her in the best way he knew how.
She sat up a little straighter in her seat, pushing her hair behind her shoulder.
“You wouldn’t believe me even if I told you everything that happened,” she murmured to him in a cautious tone. “But I can promise you that Talvi didn’t do anything dangerous to me.”
“Well, he definitely did something to you,” Danny insisted. “I’ve run your tests too many times for this to be some kind of anomaly. Ani… nobody who’s seen your bloodwork thinks it came from a human.”
The conversation paused as the waitress came back with their brunch. After setting the plates in front of them, she set down two sets of silverware rolled up in a paper napkin, then drifted away to check on Tripp and Adams.
“How many people know about this?”
“Just a few colleagues that I trust.”
“How many is a few?”
“Three,” Danny replied. He unrolled his silverware and placed the napkin on his lap, then took a large bite of his ham and cheese omelet. “Oh, there was Dave in phlebotomy. I had him verify a couple different tests.”
“I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to tell that many people,” Annika said.
“I’m not telling that many people at all. If I tell the wrong person I could lose my job. All the credibility that I’ve worked so hard to build over the past few years would go down the toilet. I don’t know…” Danny trailed off, shaking his head before taking another bite of his omelet.” It’s got me thinking…that’s all.”
“What’s it got you thinking?”
“I don’t want to complain about my job or anything, but I really don’t like giving bad news to people. The whole reason why I wanted to become a doctor is because I wanted to save lives. Sometimes I feel like all I do is give out death sentences.” He glanced around the restaurant and pointed at a few different diners. “You have cancer, and you have cancer, and you’ve got six months to live.” He let out a deep, resentful sigh. “I’ve been thinking about trying to get into the biomedical research side of things. I’m writing a paper about my findings, although I don’t know who in their right mind would publish it when my test size is a whopping two sample subjects.”
“Yeah…Talvi isn’t exactly going to be thrilled about being one of them,” she said, inspecting her hummus wrap for any sign of meat. “He thinks there are certain things that people aren’t supposed to understand.”
Danny set down his fork and studied her carefully.
“What do you mean, things that people aren’t supposed to understand? What are you saying? Are you admitting that you and Finnish are actually some kind of mutants?”
“No, I’m saying that I’m not giving you any more blood samples. If you want to write your paper, go ahead and knock yourself out.”
“Even though Finnish won’t be happy about it?”
“Yep. I don’t care.”
Danny’s eyes flickered with interest at the casual nature of her remark.
“How come? Is there trouble in paradise?”
“No.”
“Have you noticed that ever since Finnish has been gone, you haven’t asked me to use his real name? It used to bother you. What changed?”
The two of them ate in silence for a few minutes until Annika cleared her throat.
“Everything.”
8
Time Keeps Slipping
The harvest season was typically a warm and happy time of year for most people in the Este
llian Empire, yet the barren Bleakmoor Island remained cruel and harsh towards all who were unfortunate enough to reside there. Talvi’s first night in prison wasn’t as horrible as it could’ve been, although it was a far cry from the comfort of his bed back home. A quick inspection of the wool mattress revealed scores of tiny brown bedbugs gathered at the seams. He worked until sunset methodically crushing as many of them as he could with his fingernails. Even with the elven ability to see better in the dark than any human could dream of, he was still forced to abandon the task until the next morning. Meanwhile, the air had grown cold when the sun went down, leaving him nothing for warmth aside from the wool blanket. He didn’t sleep at all those first few nights, partially because of the cold, partially because he kept imagining trails of insects marching towards his body as he lay there, and partially because he couldn’t stop replaying the sight of his brother bleeding to death on his family’s kitchen floor.
The guards had promised to give him time to settle in. Time was the one thing that Talvi had too much of. Trapped in a cell no wider than the span of his outstretched arms, he certainly had time to settle in. Time to think about his crime. Time to consider all the things he could have and should have done differently on that horrible night. He should’ve thought to put on his boots, which would’ve saved him from wrestling with Finn on a floor covered in shattered glass. He should’ve thought to bring his knife…he should’ve listened to Annika pleading with him not to rush off alone. He should’ve left with her that very night, instead of seducing her and pleasuring her to the extent that his unstable brother had heard them outside his window and been pushed over the edge of reason because of it.
As much as he was dreading never seeing the sun again, Talvi understood why he was in solitary confinement. He had valid concerns about the mob mentality that occasionally overtook even the strictest of prisons. He had absolutely no desire to be within arms’ reach of the other inmates; not when his father had helped put so many of them there. When Cyril had visited him last, Talvi had hung onto his every word of advice. It was a solid plan which boiled down to keeping quiet, pleading guilty of acting in self-defense, getting the minimum sentence of a hundred years, staying alive, and staying sane. If he could keep his wits about him for that long, then he could stay alive. The bigger question over the next century—if not longer— would be if he actually wanted to.
The Darkest of Dreams Page 10