The Curious Fate of Nelsonora (Fractured Universe Series Book 1)

by Marissa Nofer

  “No—I mean—am I different from the girl you knew before.” I added, wincing in apprehension and embarrassment at my own insecurity.

  “Definitely.” He confirmed, without hesitation. I don’t know what answer I expected, but that one stung a bit. I sat up and scooted away from him self-consciously. Edmund laughed.

  “You didn’t have nightmares before. You toss and turn like nobody’s business now. You didn’t have tattoos, because your dad would’ve shit bricks. You were happier. You would light up a room constantly the way you did when I brought Westly here. And you hadn’t stained your curls with blood from a zombie-shan outbreak you were forced to inadvertently start by working for a psycho old woman.” Edmund shrugged. “But I don’t think you phrased your question correctly.” He continued.

  “How should I have phrased my question?” I challenged.

  “You’re asking me if your time in this alternate reality has changed you so much that I can’t love you the way I did before.” He replied.

  “Um—” I blushed wildly. He laughed again.

  “You own me.” He whispered, sincerely. I didn’t know how to respond to that. I wasn’t sure I could do anything besides process the emotions warring within my body. Fortunately, Diana stormed in, so I didn’t have to figure it out.

  CHAPTER 12

  “The shan are contagious!” She announced, as she fumbled with the radio on Edmund’s desk. By the time she figured it out, the announcement was concluding, and we only heard the tail end of the new national anthem.

  “What happened?” Edmund demanded. He was out of bed and throwing on clothes before she began to explain.

  “They’ve barricaded the hospital full of shan attack victims. They began seizing and then turning into shan aside from one detail. They don’t kill themselves. So far they believe it only spreads through a toxin in their saliva.” She explained.

  “Damn it.” I cried.

  Edmund went into the living room and began tossing clothes at me. I complied quickly. I was struggling to pull my jeans on discreetly when I heard a dull thud of David hitting the floor unconscious.

  “What was that for?” Diana asked.

  “It almost bit her last night!” Edmund snapped. He was practically foaming at the mouth at this point. Westly nodded as if that was a reasonable reaction.

  “Violence isn’t cool, Wes.” I lectured at him.

  “Sometimes it has its merits.” Westly replied, looking over David on the floor with an impressed nod at Edmund. I sighed. Diana pulled lipstick out of pocket and drew a huge penis across David’s face. She and Westly exchanged a hearty high five.

  “Sweet Jesus.” I muttered, pinching the bridge of my nose. David sat up disoriented and then shot a knowing glare at Edmund. None of us mentioned his facial art.

  “Ed, we have maybe a week before they blame the genetic abnormal releases and have scanners on every guard.” David warned. Edmund punched a wall.

  “That seemed totally reasonable.” I interjected unimpressed by his temper.

  “If this keeps up, they will use is as war propaganda and re-approve the camps. Everyone who was just released is in their system. We won’t be able to go outside without getting scanned and captured.” Edmund explained.

  “Except for me. I can blend.” David added. He could just turn into an animal and hide, but he I doubted he would bail on his friends when it came down to it. He would go down with them, and I would probably end up in camp too. Sherriff Roberts would vouch for Westly, and he wasn’t a government banned weirdo like us, anyway. In most ways, he was super normal. We all were.

  “We need organization.” Westly noted. “We need to build a database of your old clients and use it as a checklist.”

  “The Book of Cold Hearts.” I suggested, shuddering.

  “You don’t have to go in there.” Edmund insisted.

  “She’s dangerous.” I warned.

  “How dangerous can an old lady be?” David scoffed.

  I turned around and pulled up my shirt. I heard three of them stifle gasps, and Westly curse loudly. Before Connie took to burning my arm, she had a tally system on my back. She preferred a razor blade for that.

  I explained what the marks were for. Including the ones on my arm. Edmund looked like he wanted to throw up. Diana’s eyes glistened with tears. Westly put his headphones on abruptly in the middle of my explanation. He was angry.

  “What about the scars on your inner thigh?” David asked. I was surprised he noticed those. They were a couple years old and hard to see against my pale skin.

  “I woke up with them a couple years ago. I’m not sure.” I admitted. It was the last time Connie left me alone with a client. The only client I met who would die by their own hands. The scars spelled out a bad word if you looked closely.

  “Why is that woman still breathing, Ed?” David asked.

  “I’m trying not to scare her away the minute I get her back.” Edmund hissed in return.

  “You ever read a fairytale? You slay the dragon. You don’t just take the princess to the edge of town and wait for the dragon to report you and carve your wife like a pumpkin.” David yelled.

  “Was your nap not long enough?” Edmund asked, grabbing David by the collar.

  I walked over to my bag and blew my old whistle. Westly glanced over at me and smiled when he recognized his gift. His headphones only limited noises drastically. He could still hear something that shrill.

  “David, what good will the list do if the illness is spreading?” I asked taking charge of the spiraling conversation.

  “The secondhand shan are fair game. You didn’t directly cause them, so anyone can kill them. But they aren’t contagious, so the priority is still offing everyone on that list before they wipe out humanity in all of North America.” He answered eagerly.

  “That’s why I didn’t know how to kill the big one.” I muttered.

  “I figured it out.” Edmund said with a glare at David. “My main priority is keeping this family alive.” He added.

  “Good luck if you don’t handle the mess she made.” David replied. They were seconds away from another fight. I blew the whistle three quick times and then just put it around my neck knowing they would make me need it often.

  “David, you go get the book. Diana, you and Westly need to go check in with the sheriff before he sends a search party. Edmund, you’re coming with me.” I ordered. Everyone looked around hesitantly, so I blew the whistle again. “NOW!” I bellowed. Edmund looked concerned and everyone else scurried.

  ***

  I waited until the others left. I needed a few minutes to breathe before I began my work for the day. Edmund waited patiently, uncertain of what my plan was. I laced my shoes tightly and tied my hair up, though there was no longer much of it that wasn’t pale from shan blood. It was so light that now that it had a bluish tint, and the roots remained the same muddy brown that they’d always been.

  “Is there a difference in significance between the marks on your arm and the marks on your back?” Edmund questioned quietly.

  “My back is from the first six months after we realized I could only see death. She had hoped I could do general readings and other things that sounded impossible. I never could, but she marketed it to her connections. The first man I worked with would die horrifically… in the war. I didn’t want to work again, so she punished me for every client I turned down. Eventually I couldn’t take it anymore. My fear of the knife was worse than my fear of the readings.” I answered. Edmund crossed and uncrossed his arms several times as he processed that.

  “Your arm?” He pressed.

  “I don’t work with kids.” I explained. I hoped he was smart enough to deduce why I wouldn’t want to perform readings on children.

  I walked towards the front door and Edmund opened it for me but stopped in front of me.

  “Every one of those marks is a person you saved from an awful fate. You should be proud of them.” He insisted. He took my arm and kissed ove
r the most recent burn mark. I felt a little better as I realized it was the very last one, and Edmund would never let her near me again.

  “Well, there’s a warehouse full of people I couldn’t quite help, so let’s go clean that up.” I replied. I was nervous and overwhelmed by Edmund’s intensity. He moved and let me get through the door. I walked across the property to the warehouse a little slower than normal.

  “I would do all of it for you if I could.” He said apologetically.

  “I don’t think our marriage is valid nowadays, Edmund. You don’t have to protect me from everything.” I answered shakily. I was pushing him away and I knew it. I was masterful when it came to making sure I stayed angry and alone.

  “It’s valid until one of us has a death certificate filed with the courts.” He corrected me. “But I won’t trap you in a marriage you don’t want.”

  The new laws made it impossible for women to file divorce against their husband’s wishes without providing proof of a long-documented history of severe mistreatment.

  “How can I know what I want when I just met you?” I snapped. This wasn’t the ideal time for a conversation of this magnitude. He raised both hands in surrender.

  As soon as I entered the warehouse, I could tell there was something very wrong. I couldn’t hear the chain link cages rattling. Edmund switched on the lights and I could see that every door was broken open, and they were loose, but weakened and slow. Their faces and bodies were spoiled and decomposing beyond certain recognition. The stench was unbelievable. “I will have to touch one and see if I can still see its death.” I realized out loud. I went around silently, and Edmund followed close enough that I could smell his soap even over the rancid death odors. I touched one of them as Edmund held it still, and I saw nothing. I swore under my breath. Disgust and rage were battling for my attention.

  “I want nothing more than for this whole group of them to drop dead.” I hissed angrily. We both looked around wildly as the bodies began dropping to the ground, and I could taste blood in the back of my mouth as I felt my knees get weak and my vision go blurry.

  “Nelsonora, you need to—”

  I don’t know what he said after that.

  CHAPTER 13

  I woke up out in the open in the field between the house and the aircraft warehouse. I spit blood onto the dirt and grimaced at the taste. “I’m sick of getting knocked out.” I yelled at Edmund.

  “It’s your magic. It will keep you unconscious to keep you safe.” He explained. I muttered something unintelligible in response. “Don’t stand up too quickly.” Edmund warned. He was standing over me restlessly. His amber-colored eyes looked like they could light a fire with the emotion behind them. I wasn’t about to stand up at all. I felt like absolute trash.

  “What the hell caused that?” I groaned.

  “You’re accessing your magic, and you have absolutely no training that you can recall.” He replied. He didn’t need to explain to me it was dangerous. It was like a deadly weapon in the hands of a small child. Nothing good was likely to come of it.

  “The shan—” I started.

  “They’re all dead. The ones in the warehouse.” Edmund interrupted, dismissively.

  “That’s great! I can do that to all of them.” I marveled.

  “No, you really can’t. You were down for forty-eight minutes.” He snapped.

  “Why is all of this happening now?” I demanded in frustration. “Before I only had one shitty superpower to manage. I don’t want this.”

  “You can learn it again. Before you couldn’t go anywhere without gloves for fear of a simple handshake going awry. This is better. We just need to make sure you don’t overdo it like that.” He countered. I found his logic immensely annoying. I lifted my arms so he could pull me up, and he threw me over his shoulder instead and walked towards the house.

  “If you wanted to do this the caveman way, then why did I wake up in the dirt?” I asked.

  “Because you can borrow energy from nature. You come from an ancient group of druids and shapeshifters. You guys love dirt.” He explained.

  “Seems legit.” I huffed as he stomped up the porch steps.

  Edmund tossed me down onto the couch and went into his room. I wondered if I inadvertently pissed him off. I heard the water stop running in the kitchen as David emerged with his shirt draped over his shoulder and a familiar green book tucked under his arm. He set the book on the coffee table and ominous chills ran down my spine. I decided it was more awkward to avoid looking at him altogether, so I forced myself to make eye contact and ignore the chiseled appearance of his upper body. His pants were covered in black dirt. And by the time my eyes found his boots, I already knew what I would see. It was the faint embroidered design from my nightmares.

  “You burnt down the shop with her inside.” I said astonished. I wasn’t sure how I felt about his part in it. I felt a relief knowing that Connie couldn’t bother us again, but an emptiness knowing the shop was gone forever.

  “What did your instincts tell you about that woman?” David asked, sitting down in Diana’s favorite chair.

  “She was vengeful.” I admitted.

  “It’s our job to follow our instincts.” David replied sternly. I felt cold when he said it. So much so I grabbed the blanket from the back of the sofa and wrapped myself in it.

  “My instincts aren’t sure about you.” I muttered. David chuckled and stopped when Edmund reentered the living room with a book and a file box full of seemingly random things.

  “She just wasted the entire warehouse and has no idea how she did it.” Edmund said gravely. David paled a little and quickly put his shirt on.

  “So how badly did her body react?” he asked Edmund.

  “Pretty bad.” Edmund replied without hesitation. “We’re dealing with Abigail Nelson Jr.” He added.

  David looked at me, but his eyes told me that his mind was somewhere else.

  “Wait… so my name is Nelsonora Nelson?” I laughed so hard that I snorted.

  “No. Your birth name was Nelsonora Taylor. Fathers’ surname, maternal grandmother’s name, and mother’s maiden name.” Edmund explained. “It’s an old tradition your father revived. He was adopted and wanted you to have a proper name.”

  “It’s an ancient tradition. You’re lucky your name turned out attractive. I once met a Towers-Janice Andrews, and she was as remarkably hideous as her name.” David shared. I continued laughing until my sides hurt.

  “Your legal married name is Nelsonora Hennessy.” Edmund added with a poorly disguised glare at David. I sighed as my laughter subsided. Then I sobered up at the thought of Connie’s shop in a pile of ashes.

  “Did she suffer?” I inquired softly. David knew who I was referring to.

  “No more than you did,” David answered, “and they literally created shifters to protect your kind. There’s no gray area there. She had to die. That’s why I’m here.”

  “Well that, and he’s the best person I know to teach you how to use this book.” Edmund added handing me a book with the same sun design my journal as my journal. This book, however, was by far the oldest book I’d ever held in my life. It was the book that my mother used to teach me how to control my abilities before. It was quite literally a magic textbook.

  “Why you?” I asked, David.

  “I had three older sisters. I watched their lessons from my aunt.” He explained. The women in his family would be like me. Descendants of druids. Masters and makers of beasts.

  “Your mother had four children?” I wondered.

  “I was last.” David clarified. I felt like an idiot. I stammered something incoherent that was meant to be an apology for being insensitive. He smiled and patted my knee to move past the topic.

  “The first thing you should do is simple.” David continued. “Just light this candle.” He set a large white candle on the coffee table.

  I fought the impulse to ask for matches. Instead, I held my hand over the candle and concentrated to
the best of my ability. The same way I cleared my mind to do a reading. My mind wandered to images from my nightmare visions of Connie’s death. A vicious pain in my hand broke my concentration. I had set the entire coffee table ablaze. David smothered it a moment later with a wet towel.

  Edmund took my hand and cupped it tightly with his own. The pain subsided, and the redness faded quickly. “You healed me.” I murmured.

  “I’m not great at that, so try not to hurt yourself again.” He replied.

  “I won’t.” I assured him.

  “Stay close, Ed.” David sighed shaking his head. I glared at him.

  “Maybe I need to try something harder?” I suggested. “What all should I be able to do?”