by Emma Hamm
He cleared his throat as she neared the end of the line. “They’re important to you, I take it?”
“Of course they are. I gave them life. It’s my job to take care of them.”
He noticed a bit of the white marble look in her eyes and realized E also found the plants to be important. He wasn’t going to argue with both her and the creature. “We can have them brought to Haven if you’d like.”
“We can?”
She paused in the middle of the room, and he was struck with how wild she looked in that moment. Her bubblegum pink hair was frizzed around her head like a cloud of smoke. Her clothing far too big for her. A streak of dirt was smeared across her forehead.
She looked otherworldly. Wren had always seemed like some kind of unreachable creature to him, but now he could see that she simply wasn’t meant to be here. She was, without a doubt, a creature from another dimension.
If he had ever wondered what the magical creatures had looked like in their own home, he now knew.
“Wren-” he started to speak before stopping himself. One of his hands fisted in his pocket as though catching hold of his wayward thoughts and stuffing them back where they belonged. “Of course you can.”
She gave him an odd look but nodded. “That would make things easier.”
He tried to hold himself still. He wanted to give her time to think, to breathe, to settle back into herself. But somehow it felt all the more important that he hold her.
His eyes slowly closed as thoughts she could not read played across his face. And then he wasn’t at the door. He had moved so quickly forward to yank her against him that she hadn’t seen him move.
One of his strong hands wrapped around the indent of her waist, and the other tunneled deep into the strands of her hair. Burked pulled her so close to him that she could taste his breath on her tongue. Their foreheads touched as he rolled his head back and forth.
He appeared to be breathing her in. Every moment he drank from the essence of her life as though he thought he might never see her again.
He would. But it very well might only be her physical body that he saw.
“I thought I was going to lose you forever.”
“You never had me,” she whispered.
“I will.”
Wren didn’t know which one of them leaned forward. One moment they were staring at each other over the gap that his words had made. And the next, his lips were soothing her mouth, and his tongue tangled with hers.
Her fingers curled into her palms as she pressed her fists against his shoulders. This was different than the dream. She remembered this yet nothing like this at all. He was warm and comforting as he curled around her body. He was warm and gentle against her. Yet fierce as he conquered her mouth and nearly her soul.
Burke pulled away from her with an unhappy grumble. “This isn’t a dream, Wren. Touch me damnit.”
She hadn’t been. She hadn’t been touching him and instead had been letting him do all the work. Did she not know how to do this? Wren didn’t really know.
Her eyes danced over the lines of his face. They lingered on the crow’s feet at the corners of his eyes that she had never noticed before. Her hand raised to brush along the day old stubble that darkened the shadow of his jaw.
Wren watched with rapt attention as his eyes drifted shut while she explored the valleys and mountains of his face. “You feel different here,” she whispered.
His eyes opened then, and she was struck with the passion that burned in them. He had never looked at her like this before. “You taste different here.”
He swooped down once more to claim her mouth. He devoured her body and soul and left her as a fluttering bit of silver Curiosity that now was stained with bright blue.
Eventually he withdrew from her with an odd expression on his face. Her lips were swollen, and her cheeks abraded but she had never felt more alive.
Or so weak.
“Finish getting your things,” he said as he forced himself to step away from her. “I don’t want to be here any longer than we have to be.”
She disappeared behind the sheer red curtain that marked her bedroom. The clothes that she wanted to take were ripped out of her dresser and tossed behind her shoulder to land on the floor in Jiminy’s line of sight.
“I don’t know how much to take. How much should I take?”
He didn’t answer fast enough for her, and more clothes decorated the floor in a flurry of wild colors and translucent fabric. It was all a little overwhelming for Jiminy whose expression quickly grew more and more confused.
“I don’t… Do you really need-?”
Wren continued to throw clothes over her shoulder until she realized that Jiminy had gone suspiciously quiet. Leaning back so she could pull the curtain aside, she arched a brow at him. “Suddenly silent?”
His gaze wasn’t focused on her, but his brow had furrowed. She recognized the expression. She usually had the same one when E was speaking to her. But Jiminy’s creature didn’t speak to him as they were the same person.
He nodded firmly before looking at her.
“Jasper’s coming. Don’t be surprised.”
But she jumped when the lion-like man suddenly appeared in front of them. He turned towards Jiminy and held out his hand.
“Wren,” Jiminy turned towards her rather than taking the outstretched hand. “I have to go assist Lyra and Jasper. Malachi has launched an attack on one of Haven’s strongholds for Red Bloods.”
“Go,” she said. Her eyes were wide and darkened with worry.
He hesitated. “Are you going to be alright alone?”
“I think your attention is elsewhere.” She fluttered a hand at him. “I’m fine. It’s not like you’re going to be gone for days.”
“I’ll let the Five know you’re alone. E?” He waited until her eyes flipped backwards, and the creature inside her stared back at him. “Don’t let anything happen to her.”
“I don’t plan on it.” It was said with Wren’s voice, but he knew very well who was responding to him. Power resonated with the words and thrummed from within her chest.
“Good.” He turned then and slapped a hand against Jasper’s shoulder. In a blink, the two disappeared from her apartment.
“Well,” she said quietly as she stared at the place they had once stood.
Whatever Jasper was, he was another powerful creature that she didn’t quite know what to do with. He was obviously capable of far more than she gave him credit for. She knew that he had some sort of abilities; he didn’t seem like any creature she had met before, and she doubted the Five would have a Curiosity in their employ.
However, she hadn’t really believed he was capable of what he did. Teleportation was only listed as a power for a small number of species. Wren found she didn’t want to speculate which one of those species he actually was.
Without Jiminy, her apartment suddenly seemed more dangerous than before. The shadows seemed a little too dark, and the silence was a little too still. She found she didn’t like that she had relied upon him so much. She hadn’t even thought that she was doing it until he was gone, and now she realized that he had become a constant sense of comfort.
The thought was ridiculous. She had always been a loner. Wren had never needed anyone other than E to take care of her, and she didn’t want to start now. She had been alone growing up in orphanage.
Alone had never been a word to be scared of. It had been a word that meant freedom and liberation from teachers that were constantly trying to change her, and a family that had given her up.
E had been more than enough to keep her entertained. It had constantly been switching characters and always made certain that she found out new and exciting things. The wealth of knowledge that the creature had made sense now that she knew what it was.
However, “alone” was now something different. Alone meant that she was vulnerable, because she wasn’t certain whether she knew how to take care of herself. Alone meant that there
could be something waiting to grab onto her. Alone meant that she wasn’t safe at all.
“We weren’t safe for all these years. You just thought we were.”
“E,” she whispered as relief made her knees weak. “Of course we were safe.”
“There are things out there just as dangerous as Malachi.” E paused for a moment to chuckle. “Well, just as dangerous to you. You were constantly getting into situations that could have killed you.”
She smiled. A memory played in her head of a particular afternoon when she had decided to learn how to swim on her own. It had been particularly disgusting water. A murky watering hole that no person in their sane mind would have stuck their toe in.
E had been there to take cover and swim for her when she sank to the bottom. Her foot had gotten stuck in the muck, and in her struggles, she had snapped the bone. This was the most violent memory of her early life.
She shook her head and tried to ignore the uncomfortable feeling that was overwhelming her. She shouldn’t feel like this in her own home. She had lived here for so long, Wren was well aware that there shouldn’t be any danger.
Her hands shook as she went back to the dresser and started picking out clothes again. This time, she crumpled them in her hands before dropping them at her feet. Folding them didn’t seem necessary if she was going to move back in with the Five.
“You know I’m going to take care of you...” E said.
“You always have,” Wren responded quietly. “But can you do it in this situation? You’ve never shown me any kind of magic other than creating Juice.”
The creature inside of her was suspiciously quiet after that statement. Wren managed to pull out an old suitcase that she had used to move long ago. She stuffed fabric into it for a few moments before E began to speak.
“I am unused to you knowing what we are.”
“So am I,” she said with a chuckle.
“Have you heard of my kind before?”
“No. You would know if I had.”
“Of course.” E paused again, as though it was attempting to gather its thoughts. “I am what is known as Legion. There were a few of us born early in the years of our world. Every time a creature dies around us, they become a part of us.”
“Makes sense.” She said quietly. “So you are not one creature at all, are you?”
“No.” The word was said warmly as though it was proud of her for figuring this part out. “I am many creatures and one. We have one mind, one purpose, but many voices.”
Her fingers paused as she held a lacy pair of underwear above her suitcase. “Are you capable of using all of the powers you’ve absorbed?”
“If I was, then we wouldn’t be in this situation.”
Wren laughed loudly. “What, be the answer to a prophecy? Have our lives turned upside down? What would you have our life be then, dear E?”
“Living on a island somewhere tropical. I would whisk you away until the freckles on your nose were far more prominent and you knew what it felt like to swim every single day of your life.”
“That sounds idyllic.” The smile on her face felt as though the sun had broken over a rainy day. E had a way of painting pictures with its words. Or perhaps it was showing her in memories what kind of island it had once experienced.
“I can share with you my own memories. In small parts.”
She could feel the roiling of individuals inside of her then. The massive amounts of power and memories and thoughts threatened to swallow her whole. At the very last moment, she could feel them all retreating to the back of her mind.
“Sorry,” E muttered, “I’ll try to keep the chatter to a minimum.”
“Will I ever get used to it?” she asked.
“I don’t know. I’ve never had a host not have the barrier in its mind. Well, never had a host without the barrier exist as long as you.”
Wren knew better than to ask for clarification on that topic. She didn’t want to know what had happened to the others that E had inhabited. She didn’t want to know what could potentially happen to her very soon. If she was going to be swallowed whole by a darkness that existed in her own mind, then she wanted it to be a surprise.
At least she would have the creature inside of her head for as long as she could.
“E?” she asked. “I don’t want you to merge with me, like Jiminy’s Dream Walker did. I want you to exist after I die.”
“It’s a sweet thought, Wren. We couldn’t merge even if you wanted to. This many minds cannot be housed inside a human body. Doing so would destroy us both.”
Somehow she had known that, but hearing it also helped her decision be more final. She curled her fist once more inside of a skirt but then let it flutter on top of the suitcase.
“Right. That’s good then.” She swallowed hard and stared down at the bundle of clothing. “Everything is going to change now, isn’t it?”
“Yes.”
She wasn’t exactly frightened of change. But she wasn’t looking forward to it either. Her life had been so simple before all of this. Every day was the same, and every hour didn’t have all that many surprises.
She let out a breath. It wasn’t her choice to change, but it was going to happen whether she was on board with it or not. Wren supposed it was easier to just go along with it.
A soft scratching noise made her look up at the window. A shadow darkened the edge of it, and she squinted her eyes to peer at the person.
“Pitch?”
J iminy wiped the sweat off of his forehead. The attack had been quick and precise. There were too many wounded for him to take even a moment to breathe. Malachi had known what he was doing, or the people who worked for him had known.
The house they had fired into was a safe house for Red Bloods. They were the last few remaining humans with no creature hosts and were so very important to all of their existence. An excess of humans meant that the magical creatures had the smallest chance to reproduce. They had not seen a new soul for many years.
It was a one in a million shot to have a child that didn’t have an old creature within it. The few that managed to be remade in this dimension were those that had been created through the magic that was brought with them.
Humans were the only ones that could bring something new into this world. Each child that was born to human parents that had straight Red Blood had a chance of creating a new creature, or even a new species depending on what direction the magic leaned.
All around him were Red Bloods lying on the ground. The air was filled with the metallic scent of blood and the sound of moaning. Malachi knew exactly where to attack, which mean he also knew where the other safe houses were.
A hand on his elbow made him flinch. Lyra stood next to him, her usually bright eyes were darkened with pity as she looked around them. “I don’t know what else we could have done.”
She wasn’t looking at Burke, but then he wasn’t looking at her. They were both staring at the carnage around them. “Neither do I.”
They didn’t have healers with them. None of the people who worked with the Five were particularly good at healing. Jasper was the one who brought people to healers, as he could teleport himself and supplies. Both Lyra and Jiminy were trained fighters and could protect anyone if they put their mind to it. There were a few others who were in the employ of the Five, but they did not have any abilities that could have prepared them for this moment.
“Do you know where the sheets are?”
He looked down at the slight woman next to him, unused to her asking questions without making some kind of joke. “Jasper brought them with the medkits, didn’t he?”
“They aren’t there anymore.”
His gaze followed her pointing finger. Sure enough, the stark white sheets were gone.
“I guess we ran out,” he murmured.
She winced in response as her eyes looked over the many bodies that were laid out and covered so that their faces could not be recognized by the people who were gawking. He kne
w the small woman well enough, but Jiminy didn’t notice the determination in her eyes until it was too late.
She stomped over the people standing in a row behind the bodies. “Oy! Get the fuck off with you, yeah?”
They all stared at her in surprise but did not move. A huff of breath seemed to rock her entire body before she started to make an unusual sound. It built from the deepest part of her belly and rose through her torso. To Jiminy’s ears, it sounded rather like a whistle that was growing louder and louder.
Jasper ran towards Lyra and hooked an arm around her waist. “No more of that, fish bait.”
The sound instantly stopped as she was physically hauled away from the crowd. Jiminy watched the two of them as Jasper put her down on the sidewalk, and she burst into tears. He didn’t know whether or not she was capable of breaking down; now he knew that even she wasn’t impervious to this kind of massacre.
A severe glance from both large men splattered with blood was enough to send the crowd running. The house before him looked normal enough. It was a small apartment building that remained completely silent and still. There were a few lights left on in the rooms that these people had lived in.
But he knew what it looked like inside those walls. Malachi had turned a safe house into a horror story.
Jasper left Lyra on the sidewalk with her head buried in her hands. His silent footsteps paused next to Jiminy as they both stared up at the building that was meant to keep these people safe. Those who were still alive had already been removed to Haven. Those who did not have a chance of surviving had been left to die amongst their family.
Jiminy thought it all rather cruel.
“Burke?” He looked towards Jasper. “We’ve left her alone too long.”
For a moment, he didn’t understand the words. There was so much chaos around him that Jiminy had forgotten everything that he was meant to be doing. He blinked a few times before the world came crashing back down on him.
“Wren,” he murmured.
Jasper nodded. “We can handle it here. I’ll bring you back.”
“Jasper?” Lyra had looked up from her seat on the sidewalk. The cracked concrete around her was stained dark with water. Her hair hung limp around her as water dripped from her ears and eyes. “Are you leaving?”