by Emma Hamm
She pressed against him. Her arm slid up the cords of muscle on his spine to hold him closer to her. “I know.”
All words were lost to them. They were swept into a storm of colors and overwhelming emotion. They devoured each other and returned new, polished versions of their previous forms.
Breathless, he yanked the thin blanket over their bodies and curled himself around her back. His arm securely holding her against him, Burke vowed to never let her go again.
His lips pressed against her cheek and the two of them sank into a calm and well deserved sleep.
CHAPTER 14
“I dislike that woman,” Wren muttered as she and Burke threaded through the many halls of Haven. “She thinks far too highly of herself.”
“Technically, she is a god.”
“She definitely isn’t.” She rolled her eyes.
“She and her family created all the magical creatures inside us.”
“And we are their hosts. Without us, they wouldn’t even be alive!”
“Without humans, they would have another world to exist in with their original bodies intact.” He bumped his finger underneath her jaw. “Your history lessons were sorely lacking.”
She grumbled but didn’t say a word after that. She liked having the magical creatures inside of her. E was the best thing for her. But it still made her angry when they were yelled at for doing the right thing.
“Do you think she was really angry?” Wren asked. The meeting with the Five had gone horribly.
They had been yelled at multiple times for their behavior. Wren had clenched her jaw so hard that she had nearly torn a muscle during the proceedings. They tore Burke apart as they questioned every action he had made since finding her. In her opinion, Burke had acted perfectly honorable the entire time.
The Five argued that he had been poor at his job and nearly caused the end of the entire world. Although this was an accurate description, Wren preferred to see the good side of it. She was tired of people being angry at Burke. Perhaps she was a little too protective of him.
“She was angry.” He shrugged. “But she’s always angry.”
His hand pressed against her lower back, and he steered her towards a door she hadn’t noticed. Wren appreciated the movement. He was always gentle with her because he knew if he tried to force her to do anything, she simply wouldn’t do it. He was becoming much more efficient at making her a willing participant in his schemes.
“Where are we going?” she asked.
“A surprise.”
“After that meeting, I don’t think I want any more surprises.”
“I think you’ll like this one.”
Just before he opened the door, he turned his back to press against the wood. The concerned look on his face made her pause. Now she was suddenly nervous about what she was walking into.
“Do you like it here?”
“What?” she laughed. “I suppose so. It’s not my home, but it’s possibly the next best thing.”
“Could you learn to like it just as much as your Juice Bar?”
“Everything’s different, Jiminy. It’s not bad or good. My life at the Juice Bar was singularly selfish. Everything I did was for me. The place was built by my own hands, and it had become a safe place. Haven will become the same thing. It’s just not the one I built.”
“Do you want to share it with me?” he asked her quietly.
“Share what?”
“Your life.”
Her eyes grew wide. “You aren’t asking me to-”
“No, no. I’m not rushing anything.” He stepped forward to hold her hands in his. “I want a life with you. Every moment we have spent together has been filled with destruction. First, I was attempting to blackmail you into working for the Five. Then, I was chasing after you. And then Malachi. I want a chance to get to know you.”
“You know me better than any other human,” she interrupted. “You were in that shop watching me for so long you must have picked up on a few things.”
“I want to know you more than I already do,” he clarified. “I want to know what flavor of toothpaste you like. I want to know what you look like waking up in the morning. I want watch you dream both in your head and out. I want to know the real you that no one else has seen before.”
Wren’s heart filled with hope. That was the emotion that his man had always brought her. Hope for change and difference even when she was frightened of what change meant. “So what are you asking me, Jiminy?”
“I want to live with you. Here.”
“We already live in the same building.”
“I want to open my drawer every morning and see your socks next to mine.”
“I don’t wear socks,” she whispered as she stepped closer to the heat of his body. “I prefer to be barefoot.”
He shook his head at her and curved an arm around her waist. “Then I’m going to force you to start wearing mine so that we can share a drawer.”
Wren reached up to press a finger against his lips. She meant to silence him, but found herself distracted by the bow of his upper lip. Her finger followed the line as his mouth curved into a smile.
“Just stop talking,” she said as she grinned up at him. “You know I’m going to let you move in with me.”
“Who said I’m moving in with you?”
“I’m not giving up my space. I just repotted the hyacinth.”
His hand flattened against the door and gave it a shove. It opened to reveal an apartment she had never seen before. An apartment that appeared eerily familiar to one that had meant so much to her.
“Jiminy,” she whispered as she stepped into the door, “is this what I think it is?”
He was leaning against the door jam with a decidedly smug expression on his face. “Welcome home.”
And it was her home. Every little detail wasn’t exactly the same, but this was the same place she had lost. The plants were all there hanging in the corner. The brick walls were in much better condition. Her bed was in the corner, but the fabric that had made a nest was now strung around a four poster bed.
The bathroom was now closed off, and the furniture was brand new. But this place felt like her home. She had never in her wildest dreams thought that she would see this picture again.
Her hands trailed over the leafy fronds of a fern. These weren’t her plants. Her plants were lost in the fire. But they were as familiar to her as a dear friend that had been lost for far too long.
“How?” she whispered quietly.
“Jasper has a photographic memory. He was in your apartment once and was able to make it nearly the same.”
“He did better than I could have.” Her voice was raw as her emotions ran rampant. “This is too much.”
“This is what family does.”
“Family?” She nearly choked on the word. “Jiminy, I can’t-”
“You can.” He strode through the room to lift her up into his arms. Her legs wrapped around his waist as she held onto him for dear life. “Family is what we are. You mean as much to us as anyone else in this world. No crying.”
His thumbs found the tears on her cheeks and wiped them away as though they never had been there in the first place.
“But all of this?”
“We’d do it for anyone. You just happen to not be just anyone. Not to me. Not to them.”
“Because of the prophecy.”
“Are you ever going to grow out of that?” He scrunched his nose and leaned in to rub the scruff of his face against her jaw. She shrieked. “We’re doing it because we happen to like you. Now say thank you.”
“Thank you, Jiminy.” She leaned down to give him the sweetest kiss she was capable of. “Thank you for everything.”
“Now thank Jasper for the memory and Lyra for decorating.”
“What?”
She looked up to see the goliath and the tiny woman standing in the doorway. Jasper gave her a sheepish grin and a wave as soon as he saw her eyes on him. Lyra had no such
worries as she strode into the apartment as though she owned it.
Wren figured the other woman knew the apartment better than she knew it. Lyra had been the one that set it up after all.
“Thank you,” she said sincerely as she tried to disengage herself from Burke’s arms. He wasn’t having it. Instead, he tightened his arms around her even further.
Lyra rolled her eyes. “Don’t even try. He’s not letting you go any time soon.”
“Burke,” she complained.
“Jiminy,” he corrected her.
“Jiminy!” Lyra crowed as she plopped down onto the couch.
“You aren’t allowed to call me that.” He glared at the offending Siren who was now putting her feet up onto Wren’s coffee table. “And you aren’t allowed to do that.”
He put Wren down to go bother Lyra. He shoved her feet off of the coffee table and moved past her to open a cooler Wren hadn’t noticed. Of course, Lyra put her feet right back onto the coffee table as soon as he wasn’t looking.
Wren took the beer Jiminy held out to her and settled onto the arm of the couch. Around her, the others settled themselves down with a beer as well. Was this what it was like to have a family? Sitting around in an apartment where there was nothing else to do but talk to each other?
Oh, she wasn’t going to be good at this. She held the bottle up to her mouth and swallowed a gulp of beer. She then nearly choked as she realized that this wasn’t beer at all. This was some kind of fairy drink that was far stronger and far sweeter.
She grimaced and held the bottle in front of her as the other three started laughing at her.
Jasper toasted her and smiled. “Welcome to the family.”
“I didn’t ask to join. But it means all the more that you’ve welcomed me in.”
“I don’t do this sappy shit,” Lyra said as she tossed the drink back with surprising speed. “You in?”
“What do you mean?”
“We all know that we’ve got a lot of work in front of us. You’re part of a bigger picture, and we’re going to need your help.”
Wren was slightly confused, though she should have guessed that Lyra would push her buttons. She knew that this was going to come up at some point. She simply hadn’t expected to have to answer this so quickly. She had almost died for goodness’ sakes.
“What do you want me to do? I can’t find the other people in the prophecy. I can’t do magic.”
“We’ll see about that,” Burke interrupted. “E and I have a few ideas about that one.”
“What?”
“Pitch said you might be able to control a minimal amount of things that a Djinn might be able to. E confirmed that it absorbed the original creature that would have controlled your body. So theoretically, you should be able to do what the creature could do. In a manner of speaking.”
“Well.” She drank from the sicky sweet drink again. “That changes some things.”
“You’ll start training the end of the week,” he added.
Lyra immediately jumped in. “See? You’ve got a little bit more power already. Now do you want to help?”
“I don’t know how I can.”
“First of all, you’ve got a lot of knowledge in that noggin of yours. If you can give us even a fraction more than the enemy, then that’s a lot more than we already have. Plus, you already beat Malachi once.”
“I didn’t beat him. I overwhelmed him,” she shuddered. “I won’t lose anymore innocent souls preserved inside of E just to beat him. It killed them.”
“Well, scratch that then. Everyone has their limits.” Lyra seemed to think for a few minutes before she shrugged her shoulders. “At the very least, any newbies we drag back kicking and screaming will know that we aren’t going to kill them.”
Wren snorted into her drink. Then she started laughing and couldn’t seem to stop. The laughter bubbled up from inside of her soul and pushed its way through her mouth. Within moments, everyone in the room was hysterically laughing and couldn’t seem to control themselves.
“You’re not going to kill them? Well that’s priceless. It’s just everything else that might!”
And for some reason that was funny. In this moment, at the end of the world, the four of them found humor in what could be the end of all they knew. For this moment, they were comfortable. For this moment, they were safe and together.
Wren supposed that was the best they were ever going to get.
When they all managed to settle down she nodded. “Yeah, I’m in.”
The other three visibly relaxed, and Jiminy stood up. He scooped her up into his strong arms. Her legs hung limp over his arms as he seated himself onto the couch with her in his lap. “See? I told you she’d be interested in helping.”
“Yeah, well your opinion when it comes to this little bit of mist isn’t exactly always right,” Lyra grumbled. But she leaned over to smack her hand against Wren’s knee. “We’re happy to have you as part of our team.”
“She’s not going on missions with us,” Burke said angrily.
“Of course I am,” Wren countered. “I’m part of the team.
“Over my dead body.”
“We’ve already confirmed that you can’t control me. I’m only going to be useful.”
“You aren’t trained.”
“Then train me.” She wrapped an arm around his neck to pull him towards her.
“I’m not going to train you. I’m going to keep you exactly where I want you.”
“Barefoot in the kitchen isn’t my style.”
“Barefoot is your style.”
“It’s the location I’m arguing with you about.” She pressed her lips firmly against his. “I’m going with you. Whether you want it or not.”
“God, you two are disgustingly cute,” Lyra complained as she flopped dramatically against the other side of the couch. She reached for Jasper as though she were drowning. “Save me!”
They started laughing all over again. This was family, Wren decided. Not just alone together but also comfortable with each other. They teased. They laughed. They found comfort in each other in the darkest of times.
“It’s about time,” E whispered inside her head. “I’ve been waiting for you to find your family.”
“Our family,” she corrected, quietly so that no one would hear her.
But Jiminy heard her. His arm tightened around her ribs as he leaned down to press his forehead against hers. “Our family,” he repeated. “You included, E.”
For the moment, all was good in their lives.
EPILOGUE
T he city streets glistened as the street lights slowly turned on above them. It had rained all day, but the skies had cleared to reveal brilliant sparks of stars. The moon was full and lit the streets with its silver lights. People were scarce on this night. No one wanted to traverse the pavement on a night like this.
Rumors whispered that this was a haunted place. A cursed place where only darkness roamed. Strange things happened to those who did not follow the rules of the Undertaker. A mysterious person who none had seen, but many had felt its gaze.
A young boy ran into the street. He was out of breath. His chest heaved as he stared wildly into the darkness behind him. But it was not the darkness he should be frightened of. Behind him, the mud twisted into a being who should never have been born.
It was a creature made out of magic.
The golem quickly took form and strode forward. It was taller than any man and glistened in the light. Its massive hand reached out towards the boy.
He was dead. He was going to die.
He turned at the last second but could not scream. His voice would not work. He couldn’t think. He couldn’t breathe. The creature before him had led the chase to this moment where he was trapped. He could not run the other way.
Its hand reached out towards his head, and he was certain that this was going to be the last time he ever opened his eyes. He hoped that the creature would be merciful and squeeze his head quickly. The
boy had never been very fond of pain, as many people weren’t.
Squeezing his eyes shut, he waited for the inevitable. This was the treatment thieves should expect. The boy had known that when he had nicked the glittering stone.
He had stolen the necklace from a woman who didn’t need it. Certainly she wouldn’t even notice that the tiny chain was no longer around her throat. It would feed his family for weeks to come.
He held his breath and waited for death to claim him. But it never came. Instead, the massive hand of the goliath made of mud closed around the chain that dangled from his fist. Delicately, it pulled the necklace from the boy’s grasp.
He opened his eyes in shock to look up at sightless holes where eyes should be. The creature hummed and turned on its heels. Slowly, it lumbered away.
That was odd. The boy couldn’t help but feel curious at this new predicament that he hadn’t considered. The creature didn’t want to harm him at all. It had only been chasing him to get the necklace.
He trailed the creature through the streets as it followed the gridwork back to a particular house. Boy was it slow. Its progress was almost painful as it walked up the steps to the house and pushed the necklace through the mail slot.
It then walked back down the steps and turned his head directly towards the hedge the boy was hiding behind. It pointed at him and then he ran. He didn’t want to know what the creature wanted with him. It had been created to make certain that no crime happened on its streets, but it had spared him.
The boy had heard worse stories.
What the boy did not know, was that the creature lost its form as soon as he was gone from its sight. Back to the earth it returned. No thoughts danced inside its head. No remorse was felt for the loss of a creature that had no life to begin with.
Deep below the ground, another creature stirred.
“Master?” The voice was mousy and shrill. It was painful for the man that slowly awakened.
He sat upon a throne made of bones and iron. What would have been painful for any other was the source of this man’s strength.