Night Terrors (Sarah Beauhall Book 4)

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Night Terrors (Sarah Beauhall Book 4) Page 21

by J. A. Pitts


  The gold coins and the veil I stashed in the dresser drawer where I was keeping Nidhogg’s ring. I knew they would matter one day, I just didn’t have a clue when. Jai Li loved playing with the coins, though. Thought they were pretty.

  We talked about what happened to me, just us adults. I even called Qindra to check in, make sure nothing I did had caused too much damage. She was surprised how little affect she’d seen.

  At Julie’s request I went to work on Monday, falling back into my apprentice role, letting the sheer joy of work fill my mind. I loved the strain of my muscles, the feel of the hammer in my hands, the way the horses smelled. It filled me up, pushed aside the melancholy and the pain. Especially the horses. It was as if they sensed my need and filled it with a nudge of their head, or a gentle bump with their hindquarters. Whoever thought horses were dumb beasts had no idea what the hell they were talking about. They’re intelligent animals, beyond a doubt. As we drove away from the second farm, I was feeling near enough to my old self to start asking Julie questions again.

  By the time I climbed into the truck after the fourth farm, I was exhausted and smelled like horse and sweat. It was wonderful. On the way home, Julie pulled into the County Line, turned the truck off and looked over at me, her arms across the steering wheel, and her cowboy hat cocked back.

  “I think you need a drink,” she said.

  I shrugged. “Whatever you say, boss.”

  “Good enough,” she said, reaching over and swatting my thigh. “Let’s get you liquored up.”

  I followed her into the bar, passing the farm trucks and the bikes. This was one of those places where bikers, truckers, and farmers mingled with a sort of détente that I’d grown to like. There were occasionally fights, but really, everyone was tired from a hard day’s work and just wanted to unwind a little.

  After the first beer, I felt my shoulders start to relax. I leaned back, letting the ambiance of the place wash over me and pushed my hair out of my face.

  “You gonna do something about that hair?” Julie asked me.

  I shrugged. I’d really lost the ability to care about that.

  “I’m worried about you,” she said, draining off the last of her beer. She waved the waitress over, ordered a couple more beers and some hot wings, then settled back, setting her hat on the table next to her and running her hands through her amber hair. It was thick and long, growing longer than I was used to her wearing it.

  “What about your knitting?” she asked, pushing her glass back and forth between her hands, letting it slide on the condensation on the table. “You were going to learn to knit socks, right?”

  I shrugged again.

  She reached over and took my hand. “Listen, Sarah.”

  I looked up at her, the act of focusing on her took more energy than I wanted to expend.

  “You’re depressed and you’re not dealing with it.”

  I pulled my hand back, scrubbed my face, and folded them on the table in front of me. “Depressed?”

  “Yes, depressed. I haven’t seen you this bad, ever. Hell, when you and Katie were having all those problems a year or so ago, you were more you then, than you are now. It’s like you’ve given up. It’s like you’ve let them win.”

  I laughed dryly. “Them, who, Julie? The dragons? The ghosts? The crazy homeless guys or the giants?” I leaned over, cupping my hands over the top of my tall beer glass and resting my chin on my hands. “Point to something I can take care of and get Katie back, and I’ll be all over it.”

  I slumped back and let all the breath I had out in one long sigh.

  The waitress showed up with our beers and the hot wings. I took a half-hearted sip of the beer and pushed it away.

  “You can’t fix everything,” Julie said, taking a wing from the platter and ripping off a hunk of meat with her teeth.

  I watched her chew for a moment, but couldn’t get those eaters out of my head. Those crawling, biting things that consumed everything in their path.

  I slid out of the booth, standing. “Can we go?”

  Julie looked at me and took another bite of her wing. “Nope,” she said and went back to chewing.

  I turned and went to the bathroom. There were two women in there touching up their makeup, so I shuffled around until they cleared the sink. Then I stepped forward and splashed water over my face. I had straw in my hair and it needed to be brushed out. I hardly recognized myself. My hair was longer than I remembered it being since high school. My eyes were sunken and bruised. It looked like I spent all day crying.

  I felt flabby and weak. I needed to do something. When was the last time I’d gone for a run? When was the last time I felt badass? I remember thinking I looked badass, before the book had taken me into hell. That had been fun.

  I picked the hay from my hair, scrubbed the dirt from my hands and dried off. I thought of Gletts and how we’d battled side by side. He’d been looking for me, looking for Katie. And he’d nearly died for it. Had he gone home? Hell, I had no real idea what was going on in anyone’s life. Time to fish or cut bait.

  I smiled at my reflection in the mirror, feeling the rush of endorphins that it caused and pulled my shoulders back, standing tall. I walked back into the bar, slid into our booth and took a long drink of my beer. Julie just watched me as she wiped her mouth with a napkin. I grabbed a thick chicken wing and ripped into it, letting the sour tang of the sauce and the heat of the spices flare up in my mouth, burning into my sinuses and filling my head with a wonderful pain that I’d forgotten could exist.

  “I need a plan,” I said, talking around a mouthful of chicken. “I’m out of ideas and I need some help.”

  Julie nodded, nursing her beer and listening.

  I polished off the last of the wings, knowing I’d likely regret them again later, but cherishing the way I was feeling something real.

  “I’m calling Skella,” I said. “Maybe her grandmother will be able to help me figure all this shit out.”

  Julie continued to stare at me, smiling and nodding.

  “Maybe I’ll see Rolph, too. See what he knows about all this.”

  “Qindra, too?” Julie asked. “She does know a lot of things outside of our regular channels.”

  I wiped my hands on a napkin and took a deep drink of beer, polishing off the tall glass. A burp the size of Texas ripped out of me, and the guys at the table in front of us applauded.

  “Yeah, Qindra, too,” I agreed. “Hell, I’ll ask Nidhogg. And if they don’t know anything, I’ll drive down to Portland and get in Sawyer’s space. Maybe they know something I’m missing.”

  Julie finished off her beer, dropped a couple of twenties on the table, and stood up. “Let’s get that wing sauce off our hands,” she said, grabbing me by the elbow. “Don’t want to get that in your eyes.”

  I let her lead me back to the bathroom where we washed up.

  “Make sure you eat dinner tonight,” Julie told me as we got into the truck. Jai Li is helping Edith cook.

  “Oh, my,” I said, thinking about Jai Li in the kitchen. I laughed, the first happy thought I’d had in days. “Is that why we got wings, just in case?”

  She shrugged and started the truck. “We’ll see, won’t we?”

  It was pleasant riding home then, listening to Julie’s country twang as she sang along to some old Patsy Cline. Music wasn’t half-bad.

  We rolled into Circle Q, unloaded our gear, and headed into the house.

  Mary shooed us down the hallway, keeping us out of the kitchen. On my way by, I saw Jai Li standing on a stool, stirring something in Edith’s large stockpot. It smelled tomatoey. Girl loved tomato soup.

  Julie grabbed a shower in the master bedroom while I grabbed one in the hall bath. I looked at myself in the mirror, waiting for her to shut the water off. Two running at once made for a weak shower, and I wanted it full blast and as hot as I could make it.

  While I watched my face, turning this way and that, studying the way my cheekbones looked in the light, I
made up my mind.

  I went back to our room, grabbed a box from the floor of the closet and traipsed back into the bathroom. I rummaged around in the box and pulled out my hair clippers. I knew one thing I could fix.

  As I ran the clippers along the sides of my head, up and around the ears and across the back, I dropped long strands into the sink. I felt a bit of pain and uncertainty being stripped away with each pass.

  I collected all the hair, dumped it in the trashcan and stripped, climbing into the shower. I loved the way my scalp felt as I rubbed shampoo into the hair that remained. Not a Mohawk, but high and tight on the sides and longer on the top. Just like I liked it.

  With one towel around my girly parts, and another wrapped around my head, I lugged my stinky work clothes to our room and changed into clean jeans, my favorite Johnny Cash T-shirt—the one with him flipping off the camera—and looked at myself in the floor length mirror on the back of the door.

  Not too bad. At least I recognized myself. Been too damn long

  Forty-one

  Dinner was great. When I walked into the dining room, I got a standing ovation. Jai Li led the way, hooting and clapping. Edith was a little more old school, so she gave me a sideways glance, her eyebrows lost in her hairline. But Mary and Julie cheered.

  “About time,” Julie said, hugging me.

  Jai Li jumped into my arms and ran her small hands over the shaved parts of my scalp.

  Very nice, she signed.

  Mary got us all settled down, and Jai Li seated us all by her own choice. I sat on her left, and she left an empty chair to her right. “For Katie?” I asked.

  She nodded, her face so serious. I bent down and kissed her on the top of the head.

  Mary sat at the end closest to the window, and Edith on the end closest to the kitchen. Julie had the far side of the table all to herself. There were name tags, homemade place mats, and cloth napkins folded like swans. It was all very elegant. Edith, Julie, and Mary had wine, while Jai Li and I had sparkling cider.

  We had like five gallons of tomato soup, two huge platters of grilled cheese sandwiches, and some kind of fruit salad that looked to be three parts whipped cream and one part fruit cocktail. I ate extra helpings of everything and made a lot of noise about just how delicious everything was.

  Jai Li was tickled beyond belief. She beamed with pride as she stood on her chair to serve us all a third helping of soup. I was near to busting by the time everyone else gave in. Great comfort food.

  As we cleared away things, we shooed Jai Li and Edith into the living room. They cooked, we cleaned. They loved it and went in to play cribbage while we danced round the kitchen to some new boot-scooting tunes that Mary favored. I love all kinds of music, but I was afraid that they were swaying Jai Li a little too far into the whole Country & Western scene. Time for a little Black Sabbath cleansing. I considered playing her some thrash metal, but I wasn’t worried about the lyrics just yet.

  Mary, Julie, and Edith were settling down for a quiet evening when I decided we needed ice cream. Jai Li made no objections, just grabbed a sweater and ran to the door. I smiled, seeing her so excited.

  No one wanted more food, but I wanted the ride. We piled in the truck, got the girl buckled in, and headed down to the corner store. Of course it was several miles down the road to the nearest town, so we got a good long dose of Black Sabbath. On the way home I switched it up to Iron Maiden. Turns out she really liked The Prisoner. Who knew?

  When we got back, there was a small white BMW in the yard in front of the house. I kept Jai Li in the truck, making her lock the doors. I had the keys just in case. I walked up to the porch and saw a squat woman in a charcoal gray suit jacket with matching skirt and shoes that I bet cost more than I made in a month standing in the kitchen. Mary leaned against the counter. Julie stood in the hallway, her arms crossed and her boss face on. Edith was nowhere to be seen.

  I opened the door and stepped through the short hall and into the kitchen. By the time I’d entered, everyone was facing me. No one was smiling.

  The newcomer looked me up and down, smirked, and handed me an envelope.

  “You’ve been summoned,” she said, gathering up her briefcase and walking passed me to the hall. I turned, following her.

  “What? Who are you?”

  She waved at me over her head. “Read the card.”

  She opened the door and let herself out. I followed her onto the porch, making sure she got into her car and didn’t go near the truck. Once she’d pulled around and was heading down the long drive toward the gate, I pulled Jai Li out of the truck, retrieved the ice cream, and hustled us back into the house.

  “How long has she been here?” I asked, while Jai Li dug in the cabinets for bowls.

  “She got here about three minutes after you left,” Julie said, obviously perturbed. “Wouldn’t say anything, said she had to hand you that thing directly.”

  She pointed to the envelope I’d laid on the dining room table. Edith walked out of the back and started digging spoons out of the drawer.

  “Guess I’d better open it, huh?” I asked, pulling a butter knife out of the dish drainer and slitting the envelope.

  It was white card with gold embossed lettering.

  “I’ll be damned,” I said, passing it over to Julie who looked a little stunned. “Jai Li and I are being summoned to Nidhogg’s place, tomorrow for brunch.”

  Mary snorted. “All that for brunch?”

  Jai Li set the bowls on the table and clapped, jumping up and down.

  “I guess you want to go?” I asked, the answer obvious.

  She just nodded and took the ice cream scoop from Edith.

  “I guess when you’re the mightiest dragon of them all, and that old, you like to do things a certain way.” I took a bowl of chocolate and slid down on a chair, grabbing a spoon from the pile in the middle of the table. “Glad I just fixed my hair.”

  Everyone laughed. How utterly bizarre.

  By the time Jai Li finally succumbed to the food coma and was brushing her teeth half-heartedly, everyone else was ready for bed.

  “I’ll iron her dress,” Edith said, patting me on the shoulder. “You may want to consider something a little more dressy than your usually fare.”

  “I know just the T-shirt to wear,” I said, smiling at her.

  She shook her head and went off to her room. I got Jai Li tucked into bed and read to her from our current book, The Black Stallion. Once she’d drifted off, I slipped into my jammies and crawled into bed.

  The invitation to Nidhogg’s place didn’t offer a chance to refuse. Oh, I guess I could’ve risked pissing her off, but the invitation was only for brunch, and I’d been over there enough not to worry. But Jai Li hadn’t been back since her exile. What did this mean? Was Nidhogg rescinding our fostering of Jai Li. I think Qindra would’ve warned me if that were the case. Besides the girl was very excited at the prospect of returning to the only other home she’d ever known. How could I tell her no? Those other kids, the rest of the staff at Casa del Dragon, were her family, had known her way longer than Katie and I had.

  When I came out into the kitchen the next morning, Jai Li was working on her math packet while Edith was slicing apples.

  “Something light,” she said, placing the plate in the middle of the table and nudging Jai Li with her elbow. Jai Li grinned, snagged a slice, and went back to her math. She really understood what she was doing so far. At the pace she was learning math, we’d have to get her a tutor soon. I was an English major for a reason. When the girl started getting into calculus I was screwed.

  All morning Edith was cautious, talking to Jai Li in fast sign language, expressing her frustration. I have no idea how she’d picked that up so damn quickly, but they were like two peas in a pod.

  By ten-thirty, we were ready to roll. There really wasn’t anything else for us to do. Edith was not the happiest, but she eventually caved.

  Stay safe, Edith signed.

  Jai Li sm
iled, lunged forward, and hugged the old woman. That was the final straw. Tears filled Edith’s eyes, and she hugged the girl back.

  After a moment, Jai Li pulled back, placed her small hand on Edith’s face, and kissed her on the nose.

  Edith laughed and hugged Jai Li again, standing with the girl in her arms, spinning around once, then setting her down. Jai Li giggled and turned, racing down toward our room to get some things.

  Edith straightened and turned to face me.

  “If you let that bitch hurt our girl here,” she said, her voice as quiet and deadly as any I’d ever heard in my life. “I will hold you personally responsible.”

  Anger flared for a moment, but then faded. “We all love her,” I said. “I’ll protect her.”

  She nodded once, then went into the kitchen. “You must take a gift,” she called. “I will put something together. It is only polite.”

  Mary and Julie had been actively ignoring us up until that moment. “I’ll help Edith,” Mary said, setting her knitting aside and scuttling out of the room.

  Julie put down the book she was reading and smiled at me. “I trust you,” she said. “This just makes us nervous as hell.”

  I nodded. “I know. I’m a bit nervous as well.” I sat on the couch with my hands on my knees. “But I talked with Qindra. It is truly just lunch. Things are changing with Nidhogg. This may be a good chance for us to figure out exactly what. You’ve seen the affect Jai Li has on people.” I glanced to the kitchen.

  “Oh, yeah,” Julie said, standing. “No matter who she meets, they want to protect her. Let’s hope Nidhogg is not immune to her charms.”

  She patted me on the arm and then went into the kitchen. I didn’t bring up the necromancer and how he tried to sacrifice her. Felt like a buzz kill type of thing to say. I sat back and listened to the three women as they argued about taking soup, cookies, or wine. I’d just trust their judgment.

  Forty-two

  We breezed through security at Nidhogg’s place with a wave and a smile. We were definitely known and welcome here. We were allowed to park on the long circular drive in front of the manse. Jai Li was very excited. A little scared, too. She sang a little, making breathy, throaty sounds as well as mouth pops and grunts for syncopation. She’d never win any singing contests, but she sounded like an angel to me.

 

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