by Melissa Gunn
Aisha laughed a little hysterically.
“Yeah, me too.”
“I think we’re all in favour of a quick return home,” said Freya.
Danae said nothing. When they looked at her, they realised it was because she’d fainted, sagging slightly between her helpers.
“Mum! Wake up!” yelled Freya.
Karim and Aisha gently lowered her to the soggy ground. Freya reached out and put a hand on her mother’s injured leg. It was warm and wet. In the darkness, Freya could not see much, but she thought it was bleeding. She tried to apply pressure, the way they’d been taught in school first aid classes.
“Ow!” exclaimed her mother, waking from her faint. “Stop it!”
Well, that worked, sort-of.
“Alright, let’s get her home where we can treat her wound,” commanded Freya. “Aisha, do you need me to spell you? I’m sure my leg can take it for a little while. Sorry, Karim, there’s only one of me so you’ll have to keep going.”
“I knew I should be doing more weightlifting,” remarked Karim. “Looks like tonight is the night to make up for all those missed opportunities.”
“Yes, please,” said Aisha. “I’m exhausted. Sorry.”
They traded places, Aisha scouting the smoothest route, Karim and Freya staggering along with Freya’s mother limping between them. As they slowly made their way down the hill, the storm moved away from them, as evidenced by the flashes of lightning further inland. Freya wondered if Lio and Nik were going with it. They seemed to appear with storms, after all.
When they reached Freya’s house at last, they all collapsed.
Freya was blue and shivering, her clothes clinging unpleasantly to her. Aisha and Karim looked to be in a similar condition, and Danae’s trousers wore torn and reddened with blood.
“Mum, you better lie down while we get your leg sorted. Aisha, Karim, you can borrow some of my clothes if you want. Er. They’re upstairs in my room. They probably won’t fit, though. Um. Have a look and see what you can find. On the floor.”
A shame I didn’t tidy up before inviting them in. I finally invite friends home and I have to send them into my messy room by themselves. There must be something wrong with the way I’m going about this.
“I’ll make that hot drink now. At least - in a minute, when I’ve got Mum comfortable.”
Danae had got herself to the lounge and was leaning back on the faded blue sofa. Its cotton cover was growing darker as the water from her clothes soaked in.
“Come on, Mum, let’s get you some dry clothes, at least.”
“Give me a hand, then, Freya. My leg hurts too much to move.”
Despite her proclamation, Danae stripped off her own top. Freya cringed inwardly - she was used to privacy around bodies.
Come on, Freya. You know she needs help, don’t get side-tracked by embarrassment.
She closed the lounge door though. No need for her friends to see. Then she found a long t-shirt for her mother to change into, and helped her put it on, dropping the sodden clothes on the floor. She hissed in sympathy as the removal of trousers showed the lacerations on Danae’s leg all too clearly. Blood dripped onto the discarded clothes.
“Go get something for me to use as a bandage, Freya. We should have stocked up when you got attacked.”
“It wasn’t the first thing on my mind. Mum, you’d better put pressure on those bites while I get a bandage. They’re getting blood everywhere.” Freya swallowed uneasily. She’d been dealing with her own leg wound for a while, but she could see this one much more clearly, even by dim lantern-light. She hastened upstairs and found one of Tammy’s old t-shirts to use as a bandage. It would be soft, at least. Aisha and Karim emerged from Freya’s room, clad in a wild assortment of Freya’s clothes. It looked like Karim had painted his t-shirt on, it was so tight.
“Sorry I don’t have anything to fit you better,” Freya said.
“I’m just happy to be dry,” Karim assured her.
Downstairs, Freya finished dressing her mother’s wound.
“Leave me alone for a bit, please Freya. Although I’ll want to know more about this summoning business you did, later,” said Danae.
“Tell you what,” commented Karim as Freya boiled the kettle a few minutes later - the power having mysteriously returned. “Next time we see flashes of light and you feel like a night in, we’re going with your plan.”
“All in favour say ‘aye’” suggested Aisha. They all echoed a resounding “Aye!”
“That was a night to remember,” said Freya, “but in the way that you remember nightmares.”
“Yeah.”
“Just as well we did go, though. I mean, since it was Mum in trouble.”
“True enough.”
Eventually Karim and Aisha left for their own home, saying they’d have to reassure their parents that they were still alive. Karim assured Freya that he’d be back the next day with a suitable potion for wounds. After giving her mother tea and falafel, avoiding direct questions about summoning, and cleaning a few scrapes and bruises of her own, Freya sank into bed, exhausted.
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
TAMMY'S AMBITIONS
Freya had expected to sleep late into the morning. She’d been looking forward to it, in fact. So it was with extreme irritation that she found herself awoken while it was still dark. Someone was shaking her.
“Freya. Freya, wake up! Wake up now, I haven’t got much time.”
Tammy? Freya opened her eyes and sat up, bumping into the person’s head as she did so. There was a light by her bedside. Freya reached out blindly and switched it on. It was Tammy, now rubbing her forehead ruefully.
“Tammy, what are you doing here? I thought you’d done with us.” Freya’s words were bitter, but she felt a leap of gladness in her heart at seeing Tammy in their house again.
“I know. I’m sorry. It’s all a bit complicated. But I had to come and see if Mum was OK, after those idiotic teenage wannabe rebels came back to the den-house with their legs between their tails, and said they’d done a job on her.”
Freya looked up at Tammy resentfully.
“Mum was pretty badly hurt. It was just lucky that Aisha and Karim saw lights on the headland and wanted to investigate. We nearly didn’t go. We nearly didn’t get back, either, thanks to those ‘wannabe rebels’, as you call them. We only got back in the end thanks to some off-the-cuff summoning I tried. And someone I know who turned up, I guess.”
“Is that your mystery man? He sounds useful. Maybe you should try to keep him.”
“He's a wind demi. Not for keeping. He only seems to show up in thunderstorms, anyway.” She brushed her hair out of her face impatiently. “Look, why don’t you have a look at Mum yourself? And why do you stick with those weres, they are just... just horrible!” Freya nearly obliterated her own questions as she thought of the murderous were-foxes.
“I have looked in on Mum. She’s asleep. I didn’t want to miss the chance to talk to you in private.”
“Couldn’t you have talked to me before? Like, any time in the last few weeks?”
“It’s all been a bit sudden for you, hasn’t it?” Tammy sat down on Freya’s bed. “The teenage kits are pretty hard to keep in line. But the older ones - the weres I know better - they’re so kind. I wish you’d run into them, instead. But of course, you wouldn’t have noticed if you had, because they’re very subtle, and wouldn’t have attacked you at all.” She sighed, and took Freya’s hand.
“I would so have noticed, if anyone had been nice to me in this town! I noticed when Aisha was. And she’s no were.”
“I just want you to know that I’m doing OK, and I hope that those teen weres get sorted out soon so that you can do OK too. I’m still your sister, I still love you and Mum. But it’s all a bit political at the moment, which is why I won’t be talking to you in the street for a bit. I thought... I thought maybe you should know that I’m pregnant.”
“You’re what? Tammy, I know we’re descen
ded from fertility goddesses, yada yada, but you’re not that much older than me. Isn’t this all a bit sudden?”
“I’ve always wanted children. And maybe you don’t know, but were-foxes are extremely protective of their families. Once I have children, I’ll be fully a part of that family-”
“But why would you want to be? Aren’t we your family?”
“I want a family that’s mine, not just one I’m part of by accident of birth. Hopefully everything will settle once I’m family for the weres. And the older teenagers will be going off to find new homes soon, too. They won’t be here breathing down your neck so much. OK?”
Freya felt tears sliding down her face.
“How can that be OK, Tammy? I don’t know how you can think that. I guess I’m supposed to say congratulations or something.”
Her sister leaned forward and gave her a hug, awkwardly. It had been a long time since they’d hugged.
“I know Freya. I know. It’s going to be tough for a bit, but we’ll get through it, and come out the other side. Hold on to your dreams, and get that university entrance. I know you want that. Get it and go. I’m getting what I want.’
“Yeah, I can see that,” muttered Freya.
“Like I told you before, I’ve always wanted stability. Stability and children. And enough to eat without having to forage for it. I’m doing what I have to do to get that. Look, I’ve got to go, now. They’ll be out looking for me otherwise. And I need to shower before they smell you on me.” She rose and went to the door, paused and looked up at the not-quite repaired ceiling.
“Nice work with the tarp. Love you.” And with that, she turned and left.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
KARIM'S POWERS
Freya did get to sleep in, after all. She was awake for a long time after Tammy’s unexpected visit, trying to imagine what Tammy thought she was doing. She fell asleep still wondering, and lightning flashed through her dreams, highlighting unlikely scenes in which rain, rivers and wind-demis featured heavily.
Her next awakening was also unpleasant in its own way. For a while, she dreamt that her mother was calling her and her family to breakfast, that there were pancakes with lemon juice waiting on the table. Freya wasn’t sure if this had ever actually happened, even on Pancake Day, and it was the unlikeliness of the dream that roused her in the end. Her mother was indeed calling her, but alas, no pancakes or other family materialised. With a start, Freya remembered the events of the night, and hastened down the stairs to check on her mother’s injuries.
She was kept busy for a while making tea, finding something edible for breakfast, and re-bandaging her mother’s wounds, which looked much worse in daylight. After that, she was sent outside to check on the potted plants her mother had set up when they first arrived at the house.
“Don’t touch them, just make sure they got some water overnight,” said Danae.
Great, even my own mother doesn’t trust me to grow plants now.
Freya was glad when Karim arrived with the promised potion. She had never had any aspirations to be a nurse, and dealing with her mother’s pain-induced crotchetiness would have put her off if she had. She had watered those plants that had missed the night’s rain through being too close to the house when the easterly storm had come through. She’d moved other plant pots in the exact order specified by her mother – wondering all the while when her Mum had had time to pot up all these things. Hadn’t she been working late for weeks? And they’d only had a few weeks in town before the big storm hit. Grumbling to herself, Freya had prepared breakfast for both of them, going back for several different herbs that her mother wanted on her eggs. Sometimes, having a mother who knew everything there was to know about plants and herbs was just a touch irksome.
“Who cares if oregano is better than marjoram for wound-healing? They taste practically identical.” She had made more herbal tea again as directed. The smell had just about put her off her breakfast, though she was sure it was very wholesome. All things considered, she supposed that she should be glad that her mother hadn’t made her drink the same thing, after the first were attack.
I guess that tells me how worried Mum was when Tammy disappeared. Even though she didn’t seem to be.
Which reminded her...
“Mum. About last night. After we got back, you fell asleep – actually so did I. But anyway, Tammy came back. No – she’s not here now, sit down.” For her mother had tried to get to her feet, regardless of her mauled leg. “She said she couldn’t be seen with us in public. Which is incredibly rude of her. But anyway, she said to tell you that she was OK, and that she loves us. She said it’s only for a while, till she gets to the top of the pack power structure, I think that’s what she meant, anyway.”
Freya stopped, horrified by the silent sobs that were wracking her mother.
“Mum, it’s OK.” Freya patted her mother’s back, then tried giving her a hug. “Oh, alright, it’s not OK. It’s horrible and I miss her even though we haven’t really talked in years.” Tears were sliding down her own cheeks now. Emotion was contagious. “I don’t know what deal she’s got with the weres, but she said she saw the ones that attacked us come in, and they were boasting about what they’d done, which is why she came to check on us. I wish we’d never come here!”
The quiet knock on the door sounded like a bass drum to Freya’s oversensitive ears. Leaping up from beside her mother, she scrubbed her face with her sleeve.
“I’ll answer it,” she announced, as though there had been any doubt.
Karim stood at the door, looking fresh and well-scrubbed. Freya sniffed. Aftershave? It was a bit early in the morning for that wasn’t it? She glanced at the clock in the hall.
Oops. Not early morning anymore.
The smell of aftershave was overpowering.
“Good morning,” she said politely.
“Hey Freya, nice nightie.”
Freya looked down at herself. What with one tea or another, she hadn’t had a chance to change out of the long t-shirt she’d worn to bed. It was rather short these days, and bore the picture of a curled-up cat with a thought bubble across her breasts. It declared in large letters ‘Cats have better dreams’. She blushed.
“It’s been a busy morning,” she said defensively.
“Nah, I like it!” Karim declared, grinning.
Typical. Of course the descendant of Bastet likes a cat nightie.
She decided the only way forward was to change the subject.
“So, did you have any luck making a potion yet?”
Karim became serious at once.
“I’ve made a first attempt. When Aisha and I told the family - that’s my family, no capitals, right? – about what happened, they got pretty upset. That’s why Aisha’s not here today. They wouldn’t let her out of the house. Apparently, since I’ve been taking care of myself overseas all summer, I’m allowed to brave the streets of our hometown. Anyway. Can I come in?”
Freya realised she’d been standing in the doorway, and Karim was still on the step.
“Oh, yes. Sorry.”
She led the way into the hall, then hesitated. Where should she take him? She wanted to hear what else he had to say before taking him in to her mother. Danae was in the lounge, which left only the kitchen or the bedrooms. She was somehow uncomfortable about taking him to her room. While she’d admired his eyes the night before, she felt uneasy with him this morning.
Probably because you’re not dressed, she told herself.
“Come into the kitchen. Do you want tea? I’ve just finished making some for Mum. You probably want something different to her though, hers was pretty medicinal smelling.”
“Sure thing,” Karim replied easily, as he followed her the short distance to the kitchen. “Just promise me we’re not going up on those cliffs again afterwards, alright?”
“Absolutely! Though they’re probably safe enough in daylight – after all, the place is swarming with birders in spring, isn’t it?” commented
Freya.
“Let’s wait for spring, then. Even the birds couldn’t tempt me right now,” said Karim.
Freya had to laugh.
As Freya made yet more tea, she asked Karim,
“So, you said you’d made an attempt at a potion. Did your grandmother figure anything out? Or you?”
Karim held up a small glass pot in answer. It contained something yellow, like beeswax.
“It was a joint effort,” he said. “Nena made up the base and I added the good stuff. It should work against whatever’s keeping the wound from healing. Probably some sort of bacteria, but I included anti-fungals as well, just in case. And it’s been blessed by Bastet, of course.” He glanced towards the lounge, where her Mum was no doubt straining her ears to hear what was being said. He lowered his voice. “Better get this potion on you and your Mum as soon as you can. I don’t know what other effects were-bites have, but you don’t want to start howling to the moon, I’m guessing.”
Freya shuddered at the idea of becoming like her attackers.
“They did tell me you don’t become a were by being bitten,” she said aloud. “And nothing like that has happened to me in the last few weeks.”
“Well, I don’t know,” said Karim. “All the folklore says you do, so there must be something in it. And while I haven’t heard you howl yet, I only met you yesterday. Anyway, even if that’s not the way it works, there’s clearly something unpleasant in their bite. Do you want me to put the ointment on you?”
Freya hesitated. Did she want Karim’s hands touching her? She wasn’t sure.
“I’ll just put it on, no funny stuff,” he assured her, perhaps reading the doubt in her expression.
“Alright, then.” She sat down on the sole kitchen chair and stuck out her bare leg. She’d had it covered with bandages, but they’d been soaked and dirty after last night’s adventures, so she’d peeled them off and left them on the floor by her bed.
Karim knelt by her feet, glanced up at her, and grinned again.
“Your wish is my command, oh Queen,” he intoned mock-seriously.