Oculus

by S. E. Akers

  Just as soon as I stepped into the foyer, I laid my phone on one of the tables and plugged it back into a nearby outlet to let it update and keep charging. Surely it would be good-to-go green by the time breakfast was over…and that way I didn’t run the risk of losing my appetite. Though truthfully, I didn’t eat much at all. I fessed up to Tanner about what I’d done. Of course that was only after he had asked me why the dining room felt like an avalanche of guilt.

  Promptly after breakfast, I grabbed my phone and held it in my hands almost the exact same way I did before looking at Bethesda’s shaman’s stone. Whether I was ready or not, I went ahead and swiped my finger across the bottom of the fully illuminated screen and then started to tap open my text app. My finger came to a freezing halt as soon as I spied the double-digit number hovering in its top right-hand corner. I didn’t dare dive into my voicemail box after seeing that.

  Crap… I gave it a tap and then blindly scrolled up the screen. I figured I needed to read them all in chronological order to gauge the depth of her displeasure…which I fully deserved.

  Now knowing how worried she’d obviously been had my gut cringing on the spot. I kept on reading her messages, which turned a touch more snarky the further I scrolled.

  So she was pissed, naturally. Of course I could tell she wasn’t as red-hot and panicked as I would have been the further my eyes traveled down the screen. However I did predict a quick trip back to Newbury Street for a Shopapallooza sequel was in my near future, no Emerald Eyes needed.

  Thankfully “smartass” seemed to be weighing a lot lighter on my soul than “bitchy”, which was a load off my guilt and the only reason I kept reading.

  I had to admit they were pretty amusing, all in all — with the exception of that last one. I was about to shoot her a text when my phone suddenly blared its signature series of beeps and then a message from her popped up on the screen.

  Needing to test the waters of her current temperament, I figured I would throw out something basic.

  I waited for her response on pins and needles. She had the phone in her hand, and I could clearly see her light-gray response bubble flickering in the bottom corner. But it was taking freaking forever for it to turn into an actual response.

  Crap… Is she writing a book? The more time that passed, the more I started counting the seconds like a carnelian was about to explode in my hand. I even jumped like one had gone off when the trilling “bleep… bleep… bleep” blasted from the speaker.

  After the blazing gunfire of texts she’d sent over the past several days and that lengthy tease, all she had hammered out as a response was a simple one-letter confirmation? No “Where have you been?” Nor any fragments expressing how worried she was? Not even the first hint of ticked? Despite how harmless that effortless “K” looked on the screen, something about it left me feeling a shade uneasy. I still didn’t know what the heck I would be walking into.

  She may end up getting that Ferrari after all…

  I headed downstairs to start packing up my clothes, only to find Silas coming out of my room.

  “No need to head back in there, Ms. Wallace. I’ve already taken the liberty of packing your bags,” Silas announced.

  I stared at the dutiful house steward feeling painfully amused. Why am I not surprised…

  I started to enter anyway when he stepped in front of the doorway. “And loaded them into your car . . . and I moved all of Beatrix’s things down to the library for you. I went ahead and made your bed as well. No need to bother yourself with such trivial things when there are many long miles ahead of you, crying out to be driven.” Silas’ grin looked so prideful I was actually waiting for him to personally issue his own back a few pats. “It was the least I could do.”

  “And I bet my Charger is parked just out front as well,” I puckered as he breezed past. Though truth be told, I was kind of surprised it wasn’t sitting all poofed-up right out here in the daggone hall.

  Silas turned to me beaming a ping-worthy smile. “But of course . . . All gassed-up too,” he winked.

  With my head rocking several slow shakes, I dug my hands into my hips as I watched him strut back up the stairs, practically clicking his heels. Look who’s “eager” today… So with all that taken care of and nothing else to do, I hurried off to find Tanner before Silas could send me packing as well.

  The Amethyst Talisman was actually down in the library going through Bea’s boxes when I arrived, placing her vast collection of magical paraphernalia on a series of shelves he’d had Silas clear for me. Seeing him in the act of doing it lit my face with a girly-smile. Despite having my own bedroom several levels up, I kind of felt like I’d just scored my version of a drawer in his bedroom dresser. Though truthfully, it wasn’t like I could keep all this stuff in my dorm. Though strategically placing a few of the more sinister-looking pieces that screamed “the occult” on my side of the room would probably have them thinking twice about opening my fridge to snag any of my food.

  “Is the alchemist thinking about a shift to witchcraft?” I teased.

  “Not hardly,” he grinned. He pushed the box he had just closed up to the side and then moved on to another one. “I’m searching for something.”

  “If you tell me what you’re looking for, I might know which one it’s in,” I suggested.

  Two seconds hadn’t passed when I noticed a telling spark of discovery in his eyes. “Found it,” he announced. Thoughts of Bea filled my head when my eyes fell upon the familiar cube-shaped box. I slipped beside him as he opened its lid. There was her Guardian-issued phantom crystal, nestled in its velvet hollow — the very one she’d never used based on a gut feeling, which she had ultimately sacrificed and set aside for me. Neither Tanner nor Bea had ever instructed me on how you put a piece of your soul into one of them, so it still remained as it always looked — clear, empty, and a complete mystery.

  Tanner pulled out the lifeless phantom crystal and tapped it in his hand. “You really need to charge this.”

  I teased him with a sneer. “I’m afraid of the payback I might face, especially now that yours is safely locked away.” Yeah, he may have returned his little lifeline back to its “secret hiding place”, but he made sure I knew precisely where it was in case he ever needed it and couldn’t get to it himself.

  Tanner shook his head, his eyes a touch scolding. “Bea leaving this for you is truly a blessing,” he stressed. “It can bring you back from the brink of death.”

  I could see how serious he was from the lavender hue peeking out from behind his narrowed gaze. “All right,” I said with a curt nod. “Let’s do it right now.”

  “We can’t,” Tanner admitted sorely.

  “Why not?”

  “For the same reason you couldn’t do it when you first got here. You’ll be severing a piece of your soul, which takes any Talisman a solid month to heal from — even you. No amount of salt or moonbeams can recharge a soul,” he admitted. “Only time and your desire to mend can restore it.”

  “Oh,” I muttered.

  “I thought you could do it right after Thanksgiving break,” Tanner submitted. “You can take your finals early and then stay here that next month to heal.”

  A tinge of worry had me feeling like I did a few days before I started Kindergarten when I overheard Daddy in the kitchen saying something to my mother about “a visit to the doctor” and “me needing to finish up my shots”.

  “How incapacitated will I be?”

  “You won’t be able to get out of bed, let alone move for the first two weeks,” Tanner assured and shored it up with a grimace.

  “So you’ll have to take care of me?” I posed.

  He gave my hand an impassioned squeeze. “Most definitely.”

  Hearing that he would be personally nursing me back to health was the only pleasant-sounding thing about the whole mystically maiming process — proving yet again his, “there’s always good to be found with any bad” belief.

  “If you promise to be a goo
d patient,” he warned. “And if not, I’ll toss you off to Silas.”

  “Then I promise to be extra-good.” As comforting as his touch felt, it couldn’t alleviate all of my concerns. “How bad does it hurt?”

  “It will be the most excruciating pain you will ever experience,” he admitted and then nodded to the secret compartment where he kept his own phantom crystal. “And I say that from personal experience. I haven’t suffered a wound battling a creature throughout all of my years that has ever come close to its sting.”

  After pondering how crippling some of the pain I’d already experienced had felt along with his grim confession, this was one time I wouldn’t have minded a little candy-coating.

  “Okay,” I muttered. “I’ll do it then.” By my count, I would still have enough time remaining on my shaman’s stone decree to ensure the act itself wouldn’t kill me, nor run the risk of me not being able to heal from it.

  Tanner glided his hand around my neck and gave me an indulgently long peck on the lips. “Thank you,” he rustled.

  I figured now was the perfect time to ask for the favor I needed — well, one of them. I didn’t see the point in bringing up borrowing his larimar right now, not when I didn’t have an iolite to tie-up my loose ends with little Lucca from the park.

  I walked over to the shelves where his collection of stones lay and picked up one of the blue aventurines. “Do you mind if I have this?” I asked, praying he would answer, “yes” since he had three of them. Though I knew the quantity wouldn’t quash his need to question why I wanted it.

  “Of course you can have it,” he insisted. “But I am curious why you, of all people, would need a boost of self-confidence after yesterday?”

  I smiled. “It’s not for me. It’s for Katie’s roommate,” I admitted, opting to leave out the cousin-part. “I kind of read her thoughts when I was there visiting. They’re really in need of a boost.” And that was the one-hundred percent truth.

  “That’s perfectly all right,” he assured. “Anything I have is yours. You should be fully aware of that after hearing about my standing-order in regards to Silas.”

  “Yeah well, I think Silas is a one-master Genie. Just make sure I’m good and gone before you break the news to him. I don’t think I could take seeing him cry.”

  “Don’t let him fool you. He’s very fond of you,” Tanner smiled reflectively. “Well, now.”

  Fully aware of how the time was steadily ticking away, the two of us finally started our ascent up the stairs, every dreary step of it. Reality really hit as we were passing my bedroom door. That sure sent my bottom lip into a droop. I was surprised I didn’t trip over it.

  Silas was strolling into the foyer as we passed through the doorway. “A moment, Ms. Wallace,” he requested. “I have something for you.”

  Tanner and I shot each other a round of suspicious glances. I wasn’t sure what he happened to be thinking, but the vision my mind had conjured was one of the house steward gleefully rolling out a cannon to shoot me out the door and straight into my car.

  “Should I be afraid?” I posed to Silas, half-teasing.

  “Don’t be ridiculous,” Silas huffed, dismissing me with a frivolous wave and a stern glare. “You should always be afraid of me.”

  I nodded. “Especially if my gift comes wrapped in a silver dome.” I bounced my stare to his left and right sides dramatically. “It’s not is it?”

  “That was my first choice, but then I remembered the dormitory’s strict policy regarding pets,” Silas smirked, playing along. “So I’m afraid this will have to suffice.” He opened the doors of a nearby chest and then pulled out a rather large box that had been festively wrapped and bound.

  “Did you know about this?” I whispered to Tanner.

  Tanner scratched his head. “I’m just as surprised.”

  I was genuinely touched. Considering how rocky our relationship had started, this was the sweetest note my summer here could have ended on with the pompous and rankling old Genie, aside from his eleventh-hour efforts with my training. And even if by some chance I opened it up and another imp came flying out of there, it wouldn’t bother me in the least. His payback would come just as soon as Tanner sat him down for that enlightening chat and I was miles down the road. After all, revenge is best served cold.

  Silas cleared his throat and gave the box a testy shake. “This is the part where you take it and then you make a mess for me to clean, followed by several gushing accolades. Surely you acquired some manners while living down in them-thar-hills.”

  I collected it with a grin, graciously biting my tongue, and placed it on the seat of a nearby chair. After a quick tug on the ribbon, I started ripping away the florally paper, making sure to tear off as many sections as I could for him to clean up after his little hillbilly crack. I lifted off the lid of the box and sifted through the tissue paper. My eyes fell on the gift, fully amused.

  Tanner noticed the spread of my smile and stepped closer. “What is it?”

  Once I’d located its stiff, wrapped handle, I pulled the tufted container out of the box and held it up in the air just as proud as I would a trophy. “It’s a sewing basket,” I announced. “How thoughtful.”

  “Yes,” Silas confirmed. “Considering the scant and flimsy strips of fabric your generation thinks constitutes as clothing, I trust you will be the most popular girl in your dorm.” His head tilted with a haughty cock. “And I stocked it with plenty of buttons.”

  I handed the sewing basket to Tanner and turned to him with a smile. “Thank you, Silas,” I said. “Every stitch will remind me of you.”

  “I have no doubts . . . each and every jab,” he smirked. He collected the basket from Tanner. “I’ll take this out to your weathered chariot for you.” He stopped and turned in the doorway. “Consider this my final act of service, Ms. Wallace,” he boasted, his eyes sparkling. “I would say it has been a sheer pleasure the likes of which I shall never experience throughout the far-reaching stretch of my immortality, but alas, you know I don’t lie.”

  I turned to Tanner as soon as he shut the door. “I think I would just wait till tomorrow to tell him,” I proposed. “At least let him enjoy his day.”

  “It doesn’t matter when I tell him. I’m still going to have to watch him like a hawk whenever he’s fixing dinner.” He shot me a grin. “He may even start putting feelers out for a new master.”

  “Not a chance. He adores you too much,” I assured, rolling my eyes dramatically around my sockets.

  Tanner nodded to my keys as I slipped them out of my purse. “You know you’re welcome to take another car if you’d like.”

  “That’s a generous offer,” I smiled as I tucked them into my pocket. “But if I wanted a new car, I would buy one. I’d rather wait for the one you gave me.” I purposely lowered my head and exhaled a woeful sigh. “Whenever that will be.”

  “Soon,” he assured, catching my hint. “They’re tweaking the engine a little.”

  As fast as what that thing was the one time I’d driven it, I didn’t think it needed any more speed. But even I knew suggesting that to a speed-obsessed car fanatic was downright crazy-talk. There wasn’t a car out there that couldn’t use a little more horsepower under the hood. And I was pretty sure that decree was listed in the universal Guy-Code right after the rules about “selecting the right urinal”.

  Tanner grabbed a thick ivy-green folder from off the center table and handed it to me. “This is everything,” he announced. “Your dorm assignment, class schedule, and student handbook.”

  I laid my purse down on the table and immediately started thumbing through it.

  “Shiloh, you need to enjoy this time,” Tanner began, sounding a touch lecturey. “Being human is all about the experience. You’ve got a long road ahead. Don’t get stuck in the moment of being a supernatural. It will end up suffocating you. Take the time to breathe life in, every aspect of it.”

  “Is that the advice you’ve been following since 48 A.D.?” I
posed.

  “Yes . . . and looking to the future,” he admitted. “The thought of what lay down the road is the only thing that kept me holding onto my sanity at times.”

  “I can’t imagine you even allowing yourself to be bothered by the first thing — no matter how many centuries you’ve lived,” I smiled and quickly added, “let alone something driving you crazy.”

  The look in his eyes was unmistakably humble. “Oh, you’d be surprised.”

  With my schedule located, I whipped it out and began scanning it, line by line.

  Lange? For “Geology”? I flipped it around. “Didn’t you tell me that all professors were required to teach at least one Physical Geology course?”

  “Yes, just one — thankfully,” Tanner groaned. “And I’m fortunate to have an assistant to cover its corresponding lab hours.”

  I pointed to the vexing name. “Then, why is your name not listed right here?”

  “My class fills up quick,” Tanner shrugged. “It’s hard to get into.”

  “Humph,” I grunted and locked my arms in a firm cross. “I just figured I knew someone who had some pull — My mistake.”

  Tanner stepped closer. “I’m done playing that role.” His lips were now hovering less than an inch from mine. “And I won’t do it anymore.” Then he sealed his vow with a tender kiss. “And besides, I know how fond you are of your grades. I can count on one hand the number of times a Freshman has exited my class with an A.” He tilted his head. “Come to think of it. I can do it with only one finger as well.”

  I stared at him blankly, thinking about a particular finger of my own. It’s just Physical Geology? How hard can it be?