by Nicole Thorn
“AH!” Jasmine screamed when I lifted it up and another spider crawled out. I crushed it, and stood up.
When I unrolled the parchment, I saw a map. I said as much, and then, “It looks like it’s about thirty miles from here.” The edges had some street names I knew, and some that I didn’t know. Woods surrounded the location, but I didn’t recognize their name. So I guess the artist chose to rename it themselves. Because the map had clearly been hand made, but some of the ink looked too fresh. Someone made alterations.
I studied it, trying to remember what this area was close to. Admittedly, I didn’t get out anymore, so I didn’t know as much as I felt like I should have. If my thoughts proved accurate, the destination would be about five miles from where the city started thinning, and away from the homes that went up last year.
“X marks the spot,” Jasmine said from above me as she examined it over my head. Her hands went to her hips. “Are those little cabins?”
“Looks like it,” I said as I looked over the map. “Maybe it’s where more monsters are living. She could have a bunch waiting to come kill us. But it’s a little far from where that gorgon went when we had to hunt it.”
“Not that far,” she said. “Eight miles.”
Hmm.
“We need to go home,” I decided. “I’m keeping this.” I rolled the map up, and carefully stuck it in my pocket. The person that made it might know where to come looking for us, but I hoped I would beat them to the punch and find them first.
“You wanna talk to the others?” Jasmine asked.
“Don’t you think we should?”
Kizzy would’ve been pissed off if I went full on monster hunting without her or a weapon, and I didn’t want to be on the wrong end of an angry little sister. She could put something in my cocoa to make me throw up everything I’d ever eaten, and then Jasmine would get sad.
“Probably,” she said.
“Good.”
I turned, and grabbed Jasmine by the legs. She screamed when I threw her over my shoulder. “THE SPIDERS WILL GET ME!” she yelled.
“There are NO spiders!” I yelled back. “I killed them all and I will kill anything that comes near you. Do you understand?” I used my adult voice.
“Yes,” she grumbled.
With her legs safely held by my arm, I started marching her out of the room and the house. She would feel much better once we got outside and away from spider corpses.
I felt a sudden but not all unpleasant smack on my ass, and I stopped and sighed. “Why?” I asked.
Jasmine giggled. “You had a spider on your butt. I saved you.”
Sure . . .
Then she shoved her hands into my pockets, full on fondling me without shame at all. “So many spiders,” she said. “I must smoosh them.” She just had her hands on my ass after that, through the pockets. I enjoyed it, so I let it happen.
“You show those spiders, Jasmine,” I laughed walking her out of the house.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN:
Sometimes the Only Way to Win is to Cheat
Jasmine
“You know they’re going to be super annoyed right?” I asked when I had finally settled into the seat. I missed touching Zander’s ass. It was a great ass, and he knew it, which only made it a better ass, in my opinion. I should really stop thinking about Zander’s ass.
Zander glanced aside at me. I swore, he could tell what I thought. The way he looked at me, knowingly . . . I turned that look right back on him, as if he thought about my underwear right then. And how they had been totally in his lap. And how he’d been aware that I had nothing on under this dress. I smiled, and he turned back to the road.
“Yeah, I know,” he said, gruffly. “It’s not like we planned it or anything,” he continued, as if we didn’t just have a whole conversation without ever saying anything. It was almost enough to make me smile, just thinking about how uncomfortable he had to be right now, in the pants area.
I took a gander, and frowned. Nothing. Maybe I acted too arrogant, but I felt like he should’ve been sticking up there, at least. I crossed my arms over my chest, thinking. I couldn’t let him get away with not being all hot and bothered when I totally felt hot and bothered. It would set a bad precedent for this wooing.
Scooting down in my seat made the hem of my dress push up my thighs, so I did that. Then I smirked when his eyes flicked over. That’s right. Look at all this long, lovely, paleness. Don’t take your eyes off the road for too long, though. I don’t want to die in a fiery crash.
“Jasper and Juniper will get over it, but do you think Kizzy will?” I asked, scooting around more, so that the hem became almost indecent. I stopped then. He had enough to drive him crazy, but not enough to actually give him something to see. Not that I would stop him from seeing it. He’d had his hand up my skirt, and touched my naughty bits this afternoon.
Ah, opportunities wasted.
“I think, uh, she’ll be a little annoyed with me at first, but then she’ll get over it. It’s not like we aren’t telling them the second we got the opportunity.”
“True.” I waved my hand, and then set it down on my leg. Really high up on my leg. His eyes shifted over again, and he watched. Zander looked back over to the road, and his hands tightened on the wheel until his knuckles turned white. His eyes closed, and he took a deep breath.
“So, is Juniper scared of spiders too?” he asked.
That . . . was a dirty trick. The image of a thousand spiders crawling out of the box, and all over Zander . . . It should’ve been me. I could almost feel their tiny teeth, and their too many legs all over my skin. I shivered, and huddled down into the seat. “No,” I said. “You monster.” As punishment, I shoved my skirt down my legs, so that he couldn’t see anything anymore.
His shoulders lost some tension, like he felt relieved. Oh, had that been his goal. Well, then. I pushed my skirt back up, just enough that he could be taunted. Then I looked out the window, and deliberately moved my thighs apart. One inch. A dare, if you would. When I glanced back at him, his jaw clenched tight, and his hands even tighter on the wheel.
“I certainly hope they don’t get upset with us,” I said, casually. “It’d be a bummer.”
Zander didn’t say anything, and I silently cheered at my victory. I wasn’t above playing dirty when left with no other choices. His crappy luck that he left me with no other choices.
When we pulled up to the house, Zander slammed on the brakes a little too hard, and his hands stayed firmly around the wheel. When he turned to look at me, his eyes became serious. “Jasmine,” he said. “You need to stop with the . . . flirting.” He swallowed before he said the last word.
“Why?” I asked, all innocence.
“Because you’re only making this harder on the both of us,” he said. “You shouldn’t be making it more difficult.”
“I get that you think this is difficult. As far as I’m concerned, I just have to prove that I’m capable of being in a relationship without losing it. I’m wooing you, Zander. I can’t make it easy for you to refuse me. What’s the worst that will happen? If you stay strong, and keep saying no, then you won’t be hurt. I will. If I’m the only one who stands to be hurt, isn’t it my decision if I get hurt?”
He blinked at me. “No.”
I didn’t know what part he said no to, but I got the feeling it hadn’t been whether getting hurt was my decision. I felt like we went in circles, and they got more and more twisty the longer we did it.
He shook his head, “Jasmine . . . ”
“Zander . . . ” I said.
“I don’t want to do this with you,” he finally said, putting his hands in his lap, and staring blankly ahead. “It used to be so much easier between us. I’d carry you around grocery stores, and we’d joke around, while our siblings glared at us. It was nicer when that’s what our relationship was.”
“It’ll get there again,” I said. “Once you pull your head out of your ass.”
He laughed. “I’
m not the with a noggin/ass problem, Jasmine,” he said. “Can you just trust me on this? That’ll it’ll be better if the two of us never are together in that way? Just once, can’t you trust me.”
I thought about what to say for a couple of minutes, before I said. “No. I’m not saying that I’m right. I’ve been wrong a thousand times before. Seeing visions of the future does not make me infallible. If anything, it does the opposite. However, this is one of those times that I know you are wrong. It doesn’t mean I’m right, but I know you’re wrong. I love you, Zander. Plain and simple. And if there is one thing that means, it’s that I’ll get trampled on. It’ll hurt like hell, but it’ll heal, and I’ll be stronger afterward. You can either stand still, and let me catch you, or we can do this the slower way. I’m finding it to be lots of fun so far.”
Before he could answer, I popped the door open, and hopped out. Zander stayed in the car while I skipped up the walkway. I almost reached the door before he scrambled out after me. He probably didn’t want me telling everyone what happened. Smart man.
Inside the house, I shouted, “Honeys, I’m home!” And waited.
Jasper poked his head out of the kitchen. I smelled something delicious wafting out, and decided I had to see what they had cooked. Sugary goodness, here I come.
Kizzy’s apron matched her pink hair. It was the only thing I noticed before I saw the pie she carefully placed on the stovetop. Juniper stood at the sink, scrubbing everything that Kizzy finished using. She glanced over at us, and frowned. “Where have the two of you been?” she asked, still looking at my face.
Curious, I pulled out my phone and looked at myself in the camera. Oh . . . Well, Jasper and Zander managed not kill each other for this long. This couldn’t be what set them off. My lipstick had been smeared. Nothing dramatic, but enough that anyone with half a brain would figure out why.
I scrubbed the rest of it off with the back of my hand, and put my phone away. “We ran into some trouble,” I said.
Juniper raised an eyebrow, and turned that scrutinizing look onto Zander, who came in behind me. He put on his most innocent face, like he hadn’t been fondling my underwear in the car earlier. I made a mental note not to trust his innocent face anymore. It looked good, damned good.
Kizzy eyed him curiously as well. He smiled at her, and batted at one of her pigtails so that it went flying. She shook her head. “If you want any of this pie, then you will behave,” she said. She lifted the crust to just under his nose, and waved it around. To taunt him, I assumed.
Zander narrowed his eyes at her. “Oh, I’ll have that pie. I’ll have the fuck out of that pie.”
Jasper sighed.
“You can’t. I made it to prove a point to Jasper. You can have one piece, as can Jasmine, but the rest goes to him.” Kizzy smiled in victory, and then said. “After you tell us what happened, because I can tell that something happened.”
“What point are you trying to make that involves pie?” Zander asked.
Kizzy turned bright red, and I could see that Zander immediately regretted asking the question. He looked at my brother with such betrayal in his eyes. Like he couldn’t believe someone did things to his little sister. Jasper didn’t react to the look. He just leaned over and looked at the pie. With satisfaction. I started to get concerned.
“I had a vision,” I said, because I didn’t want to know that pie’s story . . . Even if I really wanted a piece of it.
Juniper sighed. “I’ll get the plates.” Ten minutes later, everyone but Juniper had a piece of pie sitting on a gray plate, and sat around the table. I explained about the vision, and what it led me to.
“So, there are more monsters out to kill us,” Juniper said. “Great. I was hoping that my house would get destroyed again. I loved it so much the last time it happened, I couldn’t wait for it to happen again. Super.” She took a sip of her tea, and glared at the wall like it offended her.
“I don’t think the house is in danger,” I said. “Just because the furies attacked us, and wrecked the place doesn’t mean that everyone who wants us dead is going to do the same thing.”
“Did you not hear that sentence?” Juniper asked.
Jasper leaned forward. “Did you see the woman who was orchestrating it all?” he asked.
I opened my mouth to tell him what she looked like . . . and then had to close it. What had she looked like? I could have sworn that I saw her face. How could I not have? I saw the monsters. They had been standing right next to her while she spoke to them, telling them to kill us. Her voice had been . . .
I couldn’t remember what her voice sounded like. I searched for a detail. Any. The color of hair. Eyes. The way her outfit looked. If it had been pants or a skirt. Anything. Everything came up blank, and frustration ran through me. I set my fork down, and rubbed my temples when they started to pound.
“There’s nothing,” I said. “I looked right at her, but whatever I saw is gone. Just like with the driver. There had been no one there. I’d really like to find whoever is screwing with me, and punch him right in his stupid face.”
Zander cleared his throat. I looked over at him, and he moved around uncomfortably. With me hitting someone? Or something else? Hmm.
“So, that’s two visions, or maybe two people, that we can’t see,” Jasper said. “Juniper? Can you look in on a gorgon? There’s no way to be sure that they’re all trying to kill us, but there’s at least two of them, according to Jasmine.”
Juniper frowned at him for a second before disappearing. Her mouth opened slightly, like she prepared to tell us what she saw. She described the landscape, and I quickly recognized it as the gorgon village we had been at the other day. Then she frowned, and fell silent.
“Juni?” I asked, leaning forward.
She came back to us, shaking her head. “That’s it. That’s all I could see. There were people there, or gorgons there, but they were blank. Like someone had poked holes through my vision.” She frowned over that, and took another, longer, sip of her tea, swallowing it down thickly.
“Let’s see the map,” Kizzy said, leaning forward. “Maybe Jasper can get something off it.” She didn’t sound thrilled by the possibility, but recognized that we didn’t have a lot of options.
Zander pulled the piece of paper from his pocket, and handed it over. Jasper’s eyes latched onto it immediately. His jaw clenched. Kizzy set it down in front of him, and he just stared at it for nearly a minute. When he reluctantly reached for it, I almost wanted to stop him. The last time we gave him an old artifact, he had witnessed the slaughter of an entire village by some angry furies.
His fingers touched the piece of paper, and my brother vanished. His eyes started ticking around the room, like he watched something move, but the room stayed empty, aside from us. His eyes looked empty, and that always bugged me the most. Not the way his gray eye shined when he was in the throes of a vision, but how his green eye seemed so completely empty.
Jasper’s forehead wrinkled, and Kizzy reached out for him, stopping before her skin actually made contact. She pulled her hands away, and watched him watch something else.
He blinked, and came back to us. He pushed the map towards Zander. “There’s something wrong with that thing. It’s whispering in a thousand voices, but all I could see was the box it was kept in. Lots of spiders.”
I shuddered.
Zander frowned at the piece of paper. “I don’t like that someone is taking away your most useful skill for situations like this.”
I snorted. “I’ll have you know that I can hotwire a car in under a minute, buster.”
He looked at me, and the look told me that he would very much like to see that. I turned away before under the table things could start happening. I didn’t want to get caught doing under the table things with my brother right there. It’d be so cruel. So very cruel.
“We have no choice but to go there,” I said. “Wherever it leads us. Right?”
My siblings agreed immediately, and Kizzy wa
sn’t too far behind them. “It’s almost nighttime,” Kizzy said. “I don’t think we should go in at night. Too many things can go wrong.”
“We’ll leave in the morning,” Zander said. “I could use a nap anyway.” He rose to his feet, and started for the stairs. I watched him go, admiring the way he walked. It looked like a good walk. I knew I had it bad the second that thought crossed my mind. Who the fuck admires someone’s walk? Crazy, creepy people. That’s who.
The second he got all the way up the stairs, I sprang into action. First things first, I gave Nemo his fish flakes, in the hopes that he would actually eat them this time. No such luck. He stared at me until I gave him another Cheeto. Whatever the hell was up with that fish started to bug me. Two heads, getting bigger by the second, only eating Cheetos now, spitting fire, and I swear it looked like he started growing legs.
I put my face right up to the glass to get a better look. He swam around in a slow circle, his tail moving gracefully. And then he charged me. He ran right into the glass, and I swear to the gods a tiny pink tongue came out and licked the glass, like he felt happy to see me, while his other head looked around.
Stepping back, I frowned at my pet. “You are a freak fish,” I said. “I’ll figure out what to do with you later. For now, here’s another Cheeto. I sacrifice this cheesy goodness to your fishy face in the hopes that you will remember who your mama is, and not kill me.” He ate it like he hadn’t eaten anything in weeks.
Next, I went to find my siblings. Jasper came downstairs without Kizzy. I didn’t question where she had gone, because this worked out to my advantage. I grabbed Jasper, and pulled him aside. Juniper bustled about the kitchen, cleaning everything with her usual thoroughness. I shoved him inside, and he let me. “Something up, Jazz?” he asked.
“Yes,” I said. “I need the two of you to decide to stay home tomorrow. That way, Kizzy has to stay to protect you, and Zander and I get to go.”
They both stared at me.