Clouded by Envy

by Candace Robinson

  Bray had seen both of those and the predecessors, but she was more concerned about the actor. “So, this kid only gets to be in sequels?”

  Luca set down his spoon in his bowl, making a loud clank. “No, he was also in Brainscan.”

  That was an odd name for a movie. “Never heard of that one. Anyway, you should not be changing your hair to please other people.” Even though his hair did look much better—he might be able to pass for eight now.

  “The times are a-changing.” Luca beamed as he took his last drink of spooned milk and started on the squishy cereal. “Oh, I also picked you something this morning.” He pointed to a beautiful peach on the linoleum counter.

  “Yum! You know how to make a bat extremely happy.” Bray flew to the counter and took a few bites of the extra juicy peach.

  She lifted her mouth from her breakfast, and swiped away the juice trailing down her chin. “Where is your brother?”

  With his spoon in hand, Luca tipped it in the direction of the back door. “He’s outside already, trying to get a little more of the garden finished.”

  Bray shrugged and went back to eating the peach, while Luca finished his cereal and got ready for school.

  After digging her teeth in for one more delicious bite, Bray watched as Luca grabbed his backpack off the back of the chair. “I gotta go to school now, but I’ll see you after.”

  “Okay, but let me follow you outside and check to see if Brenik is back. He probably hasn’t come back, though.” It had only been one day since her brother had been gone, and she hadn’t had a lot of time to worry or miss him after she stumbled upon Luca. Her feelings would change later when she had more time to think.

  Once outside, Luca told Wes goodbye, who in turn asked if Luca needed to be driven to school.

  Luca answered by doing a weird tilting of the head to make his bangs cover his eye. “I got this, Wes.”

  Wes responded by scrunching up his face and observing the new hair. “You definitely do, Lu.”

  Bray flapped her wings and flew up and into her tree hole, scanning the area. No, Brenik had not returned—his hammock was propped in the same position it had been in the day before.

  A trickle of low grunts came from outside the trunk. Bray peered her head out to watch Wes as he pounded at the hardened earth with the shovel.

  “Do you need some help?” Bray yelled from the hole, smiling.

  Wes angled his head to where she was. “What?” he called back, the first word he had given her all morning.

  Groaning, Bray pushed herself to stand, hopped up and over the ledge, and flew toward Wes’s face.

  He didn’t seem fazed by her this time, instead he looked more bored than anything.

  “No rabies questions today?” she asked sarcastically and headed for the birdbath.

  Puckering his lips, Wes went back to beating at the soil. “Pass.” Another one-word answer.

  “I can help—if you really need me to.”

  Halting his movements, Wes turned around to find her perched atop the side of the basin. “I do this sort of thing for a living, you know.”

  Her eyebrows rose, and she leaned her body to the side to observe his work. “Sure you do.”

  “What are you, five?” he scolded her and spun back around.

  Crossing her arms in front of her chest, she laughed. “Just remember, I did ask you.”

  He ignored her after that, but she couldn’t help smiling as she watched him. Even though they weren’t talking, she still found it more entertaining than sitting in her tree.

  Wes left his shirt on today, and it was getting more and more covered in filth and sweat. She wanted to tell him to just take the damn shirt off already.

  One by one, he had to rip out most of the bushes, and even with them looking dead and small, the roots were grounded deeply in the earth.

  Muscles bulged, face reddened against his brown skin, veins protruded—it looked like his skin might rip off, and he’d take on another beastly form. Bray wouldn’t be surprised if that kind of thing happened—she had heard tales of beasts taking other forms in Laith when Junah would tell her and Brenik stories. Needless to say, she did not ask if he needed any more help, just watched in gratification.

  By lunchtime, Wes managed to clear the garden and had a few more flowered plants in place. Wiping sweat from his forehead with his shirt sleeve, he headed inside and came back with keys in hand. Without a word, he took the truck and drove off.

  Bray surveyed her tree hole, then back at the dirt, then toward the open window, before finally letting her gaze linger on the dirt again. There was a little area around one of the rose bushes that needed to be patted down a little more, so she decided to head there first.

  Stroking the soil with her small hand, she evened out some of the bumpier sections. It reminded her of times with Ruth.

  “Brenik, I got ya a plastic bag over there. If you want you can start puttin’ leaves in there,” Ruth said. “Brayora, you can either help Brenik with the leaves or spread some dirt around.”

  Bray looked at the pile of leaves that Ruth had raked up. Smiling back at Ruth, Bray dove straight into the mound of leaves.

  “I want to do that.” Brenik laughed and plopped down beside her, tossing a big leaf at her.

  “Leaf fight!” she yelled, and they giggled with each other as they buried themselves deep into the pile.

  Ruth strolled up with her hands on her hips. “You two ain’t makin’ things easy today.” She smiled and raked them all up.

  Bray looked down at her dirty hands and swiped at the tears with the top of her wrist. She missed those days, but she couldn’t turn back time. Some things were impossible.

  Since Wes was gone and Luca was at school, Bray decided she needed a bath from all the filth covering her. Brushing as much dirt from her skin as she could, she flew over to the birdbath, and peeped her head over the rim to gaze down at the water. Her lips curled up with disgust because birds had already entered her newfound territory—feathers, bird droppings, and dirt were all swirling around in the liquid.

  “Never mind, bath inside it is,” she told herself.

  Luca had left his bedroom window partially cracked open, just for her. She dove through it and fluttered her wings past the bathroom until she reached the kitchen area. The black plug in the sink sat directly next to the drain, so she landed in front of it, feet clanking when they tapped the metal of the basin.

  With all her might, she shoved the plug into the hole. Flying back to the bathroom, she found the linen closet open and grabbed a rag.

  Darting back to the kitchen, Bray set down the rag so she could push up the handle of the faucet and shove it to the side for warm water.

  Bray pressed down on the soap pump about twenty times too many, leaving brown specks of dirt from her hands on the cream-colored surface.

  Bubbles were starting to spew from the edge of the sink onto the counter, so she hurried to turn off the faucet. After stripping off her clothing, Bray gazed at the water longingly because she hadn’t been able to make a bath like this in a long time.

  She didn’t toe her way in, instead she leaped right into the water and let her body drift to the bottom before springing back up, face covered in bubbles. Bray laughed because she had learned to find ways to entertain herself over the years.

  The bubbles died down a fraction, and even though her fingers and feet were already wrinkling, she stayed in the water, floating on her back.

  “What are you doing?” a voice rumbled, frightening her deeply to the core. For a moment, she lost the grip on her bat form as her eyes flew open. It was already too late to stop it. Bray’s body shook, and every part of her grew and grew—legs lengthened, feet widened, until her limbs pushed her up and out of the sink, tossing her backward on the wide counter.

  Bray’s eyes trained on Wes’s stunned expression, who was staring at her like she was a whole new creature—which Bray guessed to him she was.

  The cold air brushed her w
et body, and a shiver spread through her. Looking down, she remembered she had no clothing on.

  Hastily reaching for the rag behind her, Bray brought it in front of her chest to cover herself, and she could see Wes hadn’t moved an inch.

  “Um, that isn’t covering you,” he stated, mouth hanging open.

  “I know, you moron, turn around!” she yelled while watching him spin to face the other direction.

  Bray focused on her gift from the Stone of Desire. She hadn’t used it in such a long time because of Brenik, and sometimes she managed to forget about it. Concentrating, she let her form shrink back down to her normal size. With quick motions, she dried herself off using the already wet rag as best as she could, before slipping her clothing back on.

  Whirling around, Bray found Wes still facing the other direction, with a hand propped on the wall and his head tilted down. She bet he even had his eyes closed, too. “You can turn around now.”

  Obeying Bray’s command, he pivoted to her, face unreadable.

  Cocking her head to the side, she crossed her arms and took a seat on the counter. “Not going to say anything?”

  At that moment, his face became readable. “What just happened? I mean, seriously what the fuck?” His hands flew to the sides of his head as he marched up toward her, but then thought better of it and took several steps back.

  “What do you mean?” Bray’s eyes slid to the side.

  “What do you mean, ‘what do I mean?’ Am I losing my mind here? First, you appeared last night on Luca’s shoulder like a damned vampire, then you flew around and talked, and somehow ended up sleeping on my shoulder. Then you went outside and acted like you could work on the garden, which I guess by the looks of it you can! But then you’re all swimming around in my sink and then somehow sprouted into a giant.” He covered his eyes with his palms before he quickly uncovered them again. “Well, no, not a giant, but a giant compared to what you are now!” Wes threw his hands up in the air and stared at her very hard.

  Bray was about to explain everything to him, when he started ranting the whole thing over for the second time.

  “I did offer to help you in the garden earlier,” she pointed out when she finally got a word in. Bray was going to shift and become human to help him pull out the old bushes, but he was the one who would not cooperate.

  Face full of astonishment, Wes took a step forward. “You did offer to help, but not as a full-sized person!”

  “Sorry, it slipped my mind.” Bray smiled and shimmied to the edge of the counter, swinging her legs up and down.

  “Do it again.” He inched closer.

  “What?” Her head bobbed back and forth between her lap and his face.

  “Become full-size,” he demanded, a hint of curiosity hidden in his words.

  “Why?” she asked, surprised. It would be easier to stare him down if she were closer to his size.

  “Because it wouldn’t feel as weird as talking to a bat.” Bray didn’t understand how it wouldn’t feel as weird because she was still the same person, regardless if she was a bat or human, but she ignored the way he said the word bat.

  “Fine,” she said curtly and pressed her palms against the counter.

  Wes closed his eyes and was in the process of turning around, which she found to be incredibly ridiculous. “What are you doing?”

  “I’m going to go and find you some clothes for when you change into a human.” He gave her a look like she should have expected this.

  “I don’t need new clothing.” Bray focused on growing until she sat to full height on top of the counter, hands clenching the linoleum tighter. “See?”

  He could now see that her clothes didn’t disappear or rip apart, but grew with her. His eyebrows still furrowed. “So, the clothing is magical, too?”

  “What? No. They are just attached to me, so they grow with me.”

  “That doesn’t add up.” He stared at the ceiling, moving his lips as if he was having a silent conversation with himself.

  She changed the subject. “Why did you come back so early?”

  He fixed his gaze back on her as if she were a real person—which she was. “I had the day off today.”

  “What do you want to do now?” she asked, curiosity and excitement filling her voice.

  Wes scanned her up and down. “We’re going to need to get you some new clothes.”

  “I have plenty of clothing inside the tree hole.” She had a whole corner in her room stacked with dresses and shirts.

  “I should have known you were going to give me an answer like that, but we’re still going to find you some shoes at least.”

  7

  Brenik

  The first time Brenik had learned about Bray’s gift was nine years ago at the age of eleven, and finding out had pissed him off.

  They were both outside laughing in Ruth’s garden, when a large raccoon scurried past them out of nowhere. Bray had screamed so loudly that she frightened her own body to grow into a larger size.

  She hadn’t just grown, though. Everything about her was human—no pointed ears, no overly sharpened canines, and no wings.

  Ruth had been absolutely thrilled when she found out, and Bray quickly learned how to change back and forth between bat and human. Brenik had hated it, hated her for it at first. And he kept thinking that maybe the same thing would happen to him, but it hadn’t.

  After a while, he accepted what she could do and was grateful for it at times, but a glimmer of envy was always there.

  A week after Ruth passed away, adjusting had not been easy. Brenik and Bray had both stayed in the hollow of the tree—they had only left to eat peaches—until that night.

  Bray flew off, and he had known exactly where. Ruth had talked to her about going to college one day, but Bray always shook her head no, even though the twinkle in her eye told him she wanted to go. Well, that situation didn’t pan out.

  He had decided to follow Bray and caught up to her easily—she hadn’t known he was behind her. Right before she arrived in front of the frat house, she descended from the air and ducked behind a car to alter forms to appear human.

  Brenik was livid. How long had she been doing this? Was this her first time? He followed her until she approached a blond guy with a can of beer in his hand.

  She had walked right up to him and taken a swig of his drink. “Do you want to go back to a room?”

  The blond human licked the center of his lip. “You get straight to the point, don’t you?”

  “Tonight, I do.” Bray’s voice sounded different that night and less optimistic than her usual tone.

  Brenik hadn’t stayed to hear the rest. He flew back to his tree hole where he had to sit around and do nothing except sleep.

  Later that night, Bray had attempted to sneak in, smelling of a mixture of odors he did not want to think about.

  With a scowl, he had sat up. “Why did you do that?”

  Startled, she turned to face him. “What?” Her voice sounded mournful, but Brenik hadn’t cared.

  “You know what I mean,” he remembered firing back. “You went to that party and apparently screwed some guy.”

  “I did. So what?” she replied, just as bitter. “It wasn’t worth it.”

  “This is wrong, that we had to come here. You can go and do as you please, while the only thing I will ever be able to fuck is my own damn hand,” he had growled, beyond fed up.

  “It didn’t help. It only made it worse,” she whispered.

  “What do you mean?” Her defeated voice had stripped away his anger.

  “I—I thought it would help me feel better and erase some of the pain of Ruth, but it didn’t.”

  “But at least you can do anything you want.” He would have given everything to be anything other than himself at that moment.

  “I know you are frustrated I can become human, but the thing is, I can’t be happy about it because I know how much you want it. If I could, I would give the gift to you, Brenik.”

 
; She had moved to sit next to him on his hammock, and he wrapped an arm around her waist. “It may sound selfish, but can you not do it anymore—at least for a little while?”

  “I don’t want to change forms, not after tonight. I promise we’ll get through this together and figure something out.” He had known she meant it, too.

  The next morning, Brenik had drawn Bray a picture in a note, hinting that he would be back in a few weeks. He had flown off in the direction of the Stone of Desire to beg it to do something, so he didn’t have to feel like he did—to make it so his sister didn’t have to either.

  He had pounded over and over on the Stone, but nothing had happened—it chose not to answer him. To try and make himself feel less, he would spend weeks in the forest by himself—completely alone.

  Brenik shoved away the memory and attempted to erase it, as he gripped the portrait of himself with a tightened fist to the point where it might rip the material.

  He reached the long gravel trail, knowing the cabins weren’t that much farther away. The grainy tan terrain pressed roughly into his feet, but he relished the ache. There would be time for shoes once he got inside.

  Crunch, crunch, crunch—a powerful pound to the grainy earth sounded as something—someone drew near.

  Squinting his eyes against the bright sun to get a better view, Brenik focused intensely on the incoming person. Short black hair shaved close to the head, dark skin, blue running shorts stopping at mid-thigh—no shirt.

  Standing his ground, Brenik wasn’t going to move around the guy. The man came to a halt as he approached closer, causing Brenik to stop in place. He couldn’t help but notice the perfectly chiseled chest that seemed to be sculpted from a Greek God itself, and the beads of sweat sprinkled across the guy’s forehead and shoulders.

  “Are you all right?” the guy asked as he looked Brenik up and down, from his bare feet and back to his face.

  “Yes,” Brenik responded with a quirked eyebrow. Why wouldn’t I be all right?

  “O—kay. Well, you are walking around out here wearing no shoes on this rough surface. Not to mention, fancy slacks and a collared shirt.” He tapped the tip of his shoe toward Brenik’s big toe.