by Ash Night
My face flamed. Could he sound more pervy? We hadn’t shared a bed since we were nine. Neither of us even knew anything about what it actually meant to sleep in the same bed at that age.
“I’ll be right back,” Cam said, practically running out the door.
Liam shook his head, laughing. “Boy, he sure is bothered by us sleeping in the same bed.”
“Um, that might be my fault,” I blurted out.
“Really, why?”
Shifting from foot to foot, I looked down at the shiny, wood floor. It was suddenly very interesting. Was that new varnish?
“Roseheart, look at me. What do you mean? You’re not good at hiding your emotions, you know.”
“I…I…I kissed Cam a week ago. But then he kissed me,” I said quickly, holding my breath as I watched his reaction.
“Oh…he’s jealous…” Liam grinned at me. “So, how was your first kiss?”
My mouth popped open in shock. “Who says it’s my first?” Secretly, I was just glad he was okay with the fact Cam and I had kissed and that he didn’t want to kill him.
“Oh, come on, I’ve known you forever. You’re telling me it wasn’t?”
I shrugged, looking down at the floor again. “Maybe…”
He laughed, hugging me around the shoulders. “It’s fine. You’re acting like I’m going to explode.”
“Well, I didn’t know how you would react.”
“Would you rather share a bed with him? Should I go ask the front desk for ear plugs?”
“What? No!”
He chuckled, flopping down on a bed and purposefully sprawling out so both arms and legs hung off the edges. Not a hard thing to do for a guy as tall as he was. “Bummer. I was looking forward to getting a bed all to myself.”
“Worse comes to worst, I can get a separate room. I have my Link card with me.” I held up the tiny purple card.
Lifting his head, he frowned. “You shouldn’t have to. Make Cam. He’s the rich one.”
“He already paid for this one though.”
A knock on the door made me jump. Liam sat up. “Come in.”
A small pixie entered the room, her shiny honey-tinted eyes flicking to Liam. "Room 307. A Cam Caldwell sent in a complaint."
"Yup. He paid for a three-bedroom room, miss." Liam smiled. "Which room are we moving to?"
"Sir, I am sorry to have to tell you this, but this is the only room available to you. We just booked full for the night." The poor pixie hung her head. She truly seemed sorry for our situation.
"Oh no, don't feel bad. I'm sure it's not your fault," I assured her with my brightest smile. "We'll work something out."
She beamed at me. "Oh, thank you for not being mad! You wouldn't believe how many people have yelled at me today and it's only my first day!"
"Oh?" I asked. "That must be rough. I used to work in a bakery and most people were nice, but some were just plain rude." I bit my lip. Thinking of the bakery, of home, hurt more than I liked to admit.
Liam held out his hand. "Liam Grey."
The pixie grasped his index finger with both of her tiny hands and shook it. Her whole body was the size of my fist. "I'm Zenda, Zenda Burbush."
"Hi Zenda, my name is Serena Roseheart."
Zenda shook my finger. "Do you know where Cam is?" She blushed and her whole body turned the color of a strawberry. "I, uh, wanted to thank him for, uh, being so nice to me. Most people aren't so nice when they come straight to the front desk. He was really nice. I'm so glad he didn't yell at me."
I thought of the sound of Cam's voice as he yelled out the spell that had burnt the Cyclops to a crisp. I wouldn't wish that fury on anyone, much less the actual spell. The shout had been so intense. "It's okay, Zenda. I doubt Cam would yell at anyone as friendly as you."
Her whole body lit up bright yellow, like she was a small flying dot of light. "That makes me feel so much better! Thank you for being so nice to me! Really, I can't thank you enough!"
Resisting the urge to giggle at the sight of her seemingly almost constant emotional rainbow, I sat on the bed. I was exhausted and my feet hurt from all the walking I'd done today. My stomach growled. If I was a pixie, my whole body would have been bright red.
Zenda, who had been happily zipping around the room, stopped and giggled at me. "Oh! I know! For being so nice to me, please let me treat you to dinner!"
"Oh no, we couldn't—" I began.
"I insist!" she begged, tugging on my sleeve to get me to stand up.
"Are you sure you won't get in trouble for leaving your post?" Liam asked.
"Nope, not at all. Since it takes us pixies twenty times the energy to do what normal-sized creatures can do, we get four lunch breaks throughout a work shift instead of the usual one. I still have two left and I'm famished!"
"Where do I sign up to be a pixie? Four breaks to eat sounds awesome!"
I hiked my thumb towards him, smirking at Zenda. "He has the stomach of five starving wolves."
Zenda laughed. "Wow. I couldn't imagine eating that much."
Opening the door, I let Zenda fly out, then followed her to the front desk. No sign of Cam. That was strange. This inn wasn't that big. We should have seen him by now. Liam shot me a confused look.
"Hey Rob, I'm taking some friends to dinner. I'll be back in...thirty..." Zenda huffed as she struggled to lift a normal-sized punch out card and put it into a machine so she could clock out. Rob, her coworker, a goat chimera, was busy filing his hooves. He barely looked over his glasses at her.
"Fine, just don't be late. This was already supposed to be my night off. If Claudeen calls in sick one more time..." He let his sentence trail off into an incoherent mumble. I wrinkled my nose, no longer amazed at the sharp, curved horns on his head. I'd never seen a chimera, goat or otherwise, before. Were they all rude like him?
"Ready!" Zenda announced after a few minutes of struggling to fit the card into the machine and pushing down the lever. Rob hadn't lifted a hoof to help her. I would have, but the machine was on the wall behind the desk. Liam had been sizing up the goat, no doubt wondering if he could take him. Thankfully, Zenda had finished before he could leap over the desk and get gored by a horn.
"Oh, don't mind Rob. He may seem rude, but he was just mad. He really was a sweetheart when he was showing me around this morning. From what I've heard, Claudeen is always late. She's a centaur with serious boy problems. Alexia was telling me this morning that Claudeen dates a different guy every week. She's usually late because she's busy on the phone."
Five minutes into dinner and it was abundantly clear Zenda was all about the latest gossip. But I didn't mind a bit. It was nice to have someone to talk to. As much as I loved Liam and Cam, neither were big on talking much as they walked.
It had been just us three for days, and Cam kept us on a pretty tight schedule, so there wasn't much to talk about. The thought of more walking made my feet ache already. Cam seemed excited though.
"Have you ever been to Starlight Falls?"
Snapping out of my thoughts, I smiled. "No, but I've heard a lot about it. It's supposed to be absolutely amazing in the winter when it's frozen solid, especially at night."
Zenda sighed. "I would love to see it. It's all the way over in Syiel, but the Starlight Festival sounds so fun. My gran used to tell me stories about going every year as a child. She told me that before magic was banned, a magic contest was held and the winning pair with the prettiest combo magic would melt the waterfall with fire magic to announce the arrival of spring when the moon reached its peak in the sky that night."
"Really? That's awesome!" I plucked a piece of bread from the basket on the table and buttered it. It smelled amazing. I could smell it baking in the ovens in the kitchen across the room. The inn's dining room was bustling with activity. No wonder they were booked for the night.
There was every kind of magical creature imaginable. A group of pixies were fluttering from table to table, sprinkling cheese on salads as wolves dressed in tuxedos refilled drinks and z
ipped around, carrying full plates of steaming food. Gryphons barked orders from the kitchen as water sprites laughed loudly over a shared mountain of potato sticks.
"Busy, huh? Yeah, I hope I get used to it!" Zenda laughed.
I nodded as I bit into the bread. "Yum!"
"You'll have to excuse Serena." Liam smirked. "She hasn't been many places. Our village is pretty small. I'm pretty sure she barely knows the names of half the creatures in here."
"Tell me about it! I would love to travel!"
"Serena's parents run the best bakery in all of Valora!" Liam's eyes immediately flicked to his food as soon as the waiter was within sight. I giggled. It was like he had a built-in food radar.
The waiter, a small blueish-gray werewolf, served our food to us while already looking at presumably his next table. My stomach growled as I eyed my noodles swimming in a white sauce that smelled like it was a gift from the heavens. Zenda was munching happily on a salad, shining like her own personal spotlight.
Liam was slurping spaghetti noodles loudly, a big smile on his face as he speared a giant meatball with his fork.
"Hard day at work?" Zenda asked, her eyes as wide as saucers as she watched Liam shovel in food.
"Nope, he's a bum," I said with as straight a face as I could muster.
Liam snatched a breadstick off my plate and stuffed it in his mouth. “Payback!”
“Do you have a death wish, Grey?” I asked. “Cuz I think you do. Garlic is my second favorite food group, and you know it.”
He wiggled his eyebrows. “Don’t you know? Friends make the best enemies. We know how to push all the right buttons!”
Lunging at him, I stopped short when he knocked over a waiter carrying a tray of water. Glass shattered. Liam helped him up, apologizing profusely. My face was on fire.
“I’m so sorry, sir!” I offered him my cloth napkin.
"S-sorry?" the wolf sputtered. "Sorry doesn’t make it better!" He began to tremble with anger and Liam's eyes widened in fear.
"Serena, get away from him!" Liam commanded, reaching for me. The wolf's eyes turned red as he grew in size. His nice suit ripped as his bulky form burst out of it. He was now a gigantic, slobbering beast. An alarm went off. Guests at other tables screamed and started to rush toward the exits. A few of the wait staff were trying to approach their coworker while others were trying to unsuccessfully calm the guests. Nothing would calm him. Were they crazy? He would kill them in an instant!
Frozen on the floor, all I could do was stare into his dark, piercing eyes like a frightened mouse staring at a cat. He let out a horrible howl.
I flinched, covering my ears. "I'm sorry!"
In one powerful leap, he knocked Liam into the wall and then threw me into a table. Food covered my back and hair as glass shards from the plates and drinking glasses sliced my arm. My head banged against the table. My vision blurred for a second.
Move! my brain screamed at me. I barely had time to register the thought before the wolf's jaws snapped inches from where I had just been.
"Rollin! Stop it! You're going to hurt someone!" a waiter shrieked at him. As expected, it did nothing. The wolf looked at me in much the same way I'd always thought The Big Bad Wolf had looked at Red Riding Hood. Hungrily.
"Over here, you mangy mutt!" Liam yelled.
"Are you okay?" Zenda asked, tugging at my sleeve.
I nodded, not really aware of her pulling. "Y-yeah."
"I think we should get out of here," Zenda said, urging me forward.
I couldn't move. I was rooted in place.
The snarling wolf had Liam pinned against the wall. Liam was trying to fight it off with a makeshift stake made from a chair leg. The alarm was still going off and guests were being evacuated out of the building. Soon enough, the room was empty. No one was helping Liam.
His arms shook from the exhaustion of keeping the wolf at bay. The wolf slobbered, foaming at the mouth, eager to sink its fangs into anything it could. My breath caught in my throat as I helplessly watched the glistening teeth inch closer and closer to his shoulder.
The makeshift stake snapped in half under the strength of the wolf's jaws. Liam's eyes widened with fear. Thinking quickly, he reached to the table beside him and closed his fingers around a half-broken plate. Brandishing it like a knife, he jammed it into the wolf's face. The wolf roared in pain, rearing back just enough for Liam to slip out from under him.
My heart thudded against my chest. He was okay. Liam was safe. He hadn't been bitten. He was alive.
He smiled at me as he pulled me to my feet. "Breathe, Serena. I'm okay."
I whacked him on the shoulder. "Seriously? Not funny!"
He laughed. "You can yell at me later, okay? Let's get out of here. Or do you want to become dog food?"
I stared at him. "What kind of question is that?!"
"You are weird creatures," Zenda said, shaking her head as she fluttered above my right shoulder. Liam just laughed.
I sighed. "You have no idea."
A snarl caught my attention. The wolf was charging toward us. The dining room was suddenly caught in a slow-motion magic field. The wolf's jaws sank into my shoulder. I felt its hot breath before I felt the impact. Its body slammed into me. A scream tore from my throat. My vision blurred as a thousand hot needles buried themselves into my skin. My arm had become a pincushion from Hell.
"Get off her!" Liam shouted. I could barely see through the tears as I struggled to think through the haze of pain. What was Liam doing?
The weight of the wolf’s body was crushing me. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t move. I felt my magic rushing to the surface, ready to burst like a geyser. I clamped it down. Despite my survival instincts kicking in, I couldn't risk revealing my magic here. As far as I knew, we were alone. At least until the city guards got here. One of the chefs had called them before running out of the kitchen, afraid for his life.
Snarling, the wolf, its muzzle red with my blood, suddenly whirled around, snapping at Liam. Luckily, I didn't hear the sound of tearing flesh. I still couldn't see much. Inhaling sharply, I relished the rush of air entering my lungs. At least the crushing weight was gone and I could breathe. A strong arm wrapped around my waist, lifting me effortlessly off the floor.
"Are you okay, Sunshine?"
Tears streamed down my face. The intense pain in my arm was only getting worse. It was a struggle just to nod. My body felt floaty yet impossibly heavy at the same time.
"It's okay. Don't try to talk. Werewolf toxin is nasty stuff. You'll be fine. Damn Snowflake can't even keep you safe for a few hours." Cam growled. Moaning weakly, I tried to tell him Liam was doing his best. Cam clucked his tongue. "I said don't try to talk. You're probably feeling like crap... Don't answer that."
Resting my head on his chest, I closed my eyes. As soon as I quit trying to see, the dizziness subsided a bit. The urge to throw up was still strong. Cam's woodsy scent enveloped me and I tried to focus on that. I was safe.
My eyes snapped open as I heard the wolf lumbering after us. I whimpered. Cam squeezed my hand lightly.
“I’m a lot faster that that overgrown dog. Don’t worry.”
The wolf yelped. My heavy eyelids slammed shut.
"Nice one, Snowflake!"
"Did anyone see?"
"I don't think so."
"Good!" Liam's voice sounded closer. "Will Serena be okay?"
"Of course. It looks worse than it is."
Easy for him to say! His arm wasn't on fire and he didn't feel like throwing up everything he ate the moment he tried to look around.
I coughed, and that was it. The contents of my stomach emptied itself right onto the grass as soon as the breeze hit my face. Cam thankfully didn't get any on himself. At least I didn't think he did. He rubbed my back as I heaved.
My body flushed with heat as if I was having a hot flash. The dizzy feeling came back in full force and it took everything in me not to end up face-first in the grass beside my half-digested puddle of foo
d. The smell nearly made me sick all over again.
Firmly wrapping a hand around my upper arm, Cam asked, "Are you done emptying your stomach, Sunshine?"
I managed a small nod, keeping my eyes on the ground. My vision wasn't as blurry now, but I was seeing double. I didn't want to move. Maybe if I stayed here long enough, my mom would appear with a fresh bowl of leek and green berry soup. She always made that when I wasn't feeling well and it never failed to make me feel better.
"Come lay down. I'll stay right here with you. Snowflake ran to fetch a doctor." Cam pulled me close and I rested my head on his lap.
"Did the wolf—"
Cam chuckled. "It's dead. Snowflake shoved an icicle through its brain when it tried to bite you again. Good thing too, or it would have taken my arm off."
Thinking back, I had felt Cam spin around while he ran out the door. Had he done that to protect me? At the risk of losing his arm? "I'm sorry..."
There was a long pause before he answered. "For what, Sunshine?"
I nearly jumped up. The sudden movement made the world spin and I whimpered as I lay back down before I could fall over.
"Woah, lay down. Don't move too much. Like I said before, that toxin is nasty stuff. You'll be fine."
I coughed again. "I'm sorry for being weak... First, my own magic almost killed me and now this..."
Another long pause. I felt him tracing patterns lightly on my back. "You won't be weak forever. This is all my fault. I should have prepared you better before we came to a major city. I pushed you to break your Seal and then I didn't do anything to teach you about controlling it, not even how to defend yourself. I promise I'll do better. I just get so wrapped up in my own shit so often that I forget about the people around me."
Touched by his words, my eyes filled with tears.
"Where the hell is the doctor?" I felt Cam's fingers drum against his knee. With my head on his lap, I bet it was taking everything in him to make sure his knee didn't bounce up and down. He sure was impatient...
****
Beep. Beep.
What the hell was that noise? Somebody better turn it off. I was trying to sleep...
Wait.
Sleep?