Until We're Home

by Lina Langley

  “Your name,” Jesse said. “Not your title. I’d like to know the name of the person who’s about to kill me. You don’t think it’s too much to ask, do you?”

  She smirked. “You humans and your silly customs. I suppose it wouldn’t hurt for you to know. It’s Imra.”

  Jesse nodded. “I’m Jesse.”

  “I know that,” she replied.

  Jesse sighed. Taln’s eyes were really wide. Jesse could tell he was afraid. He wanted to go over there and console him, but he couldn’t. He knew that if he moved, the torture would start over again, and he wouldn’t be able to do anything. “Is he still in pain?”

  “No,” Imra replied. “He’s no longer in any physical pain. Do you have any last words?”

  “I’m sorry,” Jesse said to Taln. “I love you.”

  Imra smirked. “That’s nice.”

  Jesse watched her as she started to make a gesture with her hand. She finished by pointing at him. He expected to see a flash of light, feel some pain, see his entire life flash in front of him. But there was nothing but a throbbing headache.

  “I don’t understand,” Imra said. “That should have killed you.”

  Jesse wasn’t sure what he should say, if he should say anything at all.

  “You,” Imra said, turning to Taln, disdain dripping from her voice. “You did this.”

  While she had her back to him, Jesse grabbed the rock from his pocket and aimed it at the back of her head. He thought he overshot it for a few dreadful seconds before it made contact with the back of her head. She moved her hand to where the rock had made impact. She was about to turn around and look at him when Jesse saw the blood dripping from her ear. He wondered if she would collapse when Taln’s voice startled him. “Run!”

  “No,” Jesse said, dashing to Taln’s side and helping him get on his feet, something he only barely managed to do. “I’m not leaving you.”

  “She’ll kill you,” Taln replied.

  “She’ll kill you,” Jesse said.

  The debate ended as The Conjurer’s body slumped forward from the bench and onto the floor. Her eyes were still open and she started to lift up her hand.

  “She’s hurt,” Taln said, walking over to her. He grabbed her arm and wrestled it to the ground. “We have a chance.”

  “Are you going to kill her with magic?”

  “No,” Taln said, as he pinned her arms to her sides. He couldn’t help but smile for a split second before he spoke. “She’s more powerful than me. If I try to do that, we’ll both die.”

  “So what are we going to do? Beat her to death?”

  “Yes,” Taln replied. “Unless you have any better ideas.”

  “That just seems—”

  “What?”

  “Inhumane,” Jesse said.

  “I’m not human,” Taln replied. They both watched her as she stopped moving and closed her eyes. “We could throw her off the ravine.”

  “Wait,” Jesse said. “She’s not coming to for a while. Do you know why her magic didn’t work on me?”

  “Isocrice told me something like this could happen. She said there was a small chance her magic would only work on people from the citadel, people she was connected to. And her magic would deplete over time, especially if she used a lot of it to try and find me. Isocrice said I shouldn’t rely on that chance. The Conjurer would do whatever was necessary to hurt you.”

  “Okay,” Jesse said. “And you’re sure she can only ever do her magic shit on you?”

  “Yes,” Taln said. “Isocrice said if she couldn’t perform magic on you, she wouldn’t be able to on any human. She hates you.”

  “Nice,” Jesse said, smiling. “What did I ever do to her?”

  “You made me happy,” Taln replied.

  “Oh, shush,” Jesse said. “Okay. I have an idea. But you have to trust me, okay?”

  “I trust you,” Taln replied.

  “Ugh. Can you punch yourself in the face?”

  “I can,” Taln said. “Won’t that look like I did it myself?”

  “Yes.”

  “Fuck. Alright. Come here.”

  EPILOGUE

  “That’s the last of them,” Jesse said to Taln as he lay down on the hotel bed next to him. “I promise.”

  It had been three weeks and Taln and Jesse had been through countless interviews. The hotel was very nice, one of the nicest ones that a TV station had put them up in, but both of them missed the familiarity of Jesse’s apartment.

  When they had a chance. They had been very busy.

  Jesse had prepped him on the narrative so much he had almost come to believe it himself. According to their story, The Conjurer was Taln’s estranged mother, a crazy hermit who lived off the grid. She had come to collect them once she had heard of the attack and, grabbing Taln’s brain dead sister, he had forced them to go back with her to the woods where he subjected Taln to physical abuse as she tried to bring his sister back through a series of spells. And she had buried Taln’s sister somewhere, though no one knew where.

  Taln’s crazy mother believed she was a witch who could actually heal and harm people. That came in handy when they took her to a ‘facility for the criminally insane’. Jesse had explained what that was a couple of times, but Taln still didn’t get it. Jesse didn’t fully seem to get it, either, and he had made plenty of jokes about it. Taln thought it was because he was uncomfortable. Still, it seemed to be the best outcome for both of them, so neither one of them minded that much.

  It also explained why Taln didn’t have any papers, no birth certificate or IDs, and why he had never gotten his high school diploma. Taln didn’t really like speaking to the interviewers but he understood that it was the price he had to pay to be safe.

  “This is it,” Jesse said. “I promise.”

  “It’s so tiring,” Taln replied.

  “I know,” Jesse said. “And I’m sorry about all this. How’s your eye?”

  “It’s fine,” Taln said. “You don’t know how to throw a punch. That barely did anything at all.”

  Jesse smirked. “What about your head?”

  “Fine, since Salisei isn’t… what is it that you say? Sticking her nose in it anymore?”

  “We have a bit of money now as well,” Jesse said, laughing. “And Rayne and Peter said they’d help us get an apartment wherever we wanted.”

  Taln nodded and stroked Jesse’s cheek. “Do they believe this story or the real story?”

  “I don’t know. Sometimes, I think this one. Sometimes, I think the real one. I do know one thing.”

  “What is that?”

  “It doesn’t matter. You’re here,” Jesse said. “You’re not going anywhere.”

  Taln nodded again, his smile widening. “I’m not,” he said. “I still need to figure out what a fraction is.”

  “Yes,” Jesse said. “I know. That GED book is pretty thick.”

  “Then there’s college after that—”

  Jesse laughed. “You’re going to college now?”

  “After you go back. You want to do something different this time, right? Like English? Maybe we could go together. You don’t think I’m smart enough?”

  “No,” Jesse said. “That’s not it at all. I think you’re the smartest person I’ve ever met.”

  Taln sighed. “I don’t think that’s true.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because, I don’t know, ever since I met you, I’ve been trying to figure out how to tell you how I feel about you. And I can’t. It’s so complex and it’s so hard to put into one word.”

  Jesse smiled. “How about you try to put it into a bunch of words?”

  “When you’re not with me, I feel like there’s something missing. But when you’re not with me and I know that I’ll see you again, I’m not scared, I’m excited. And then when we get home, my favorite part of the day is being in bed with you. Not just sex, though I like that, I mean just talking to you. And when I make you smile, I feel like I’ve just done the most power
ful magic I ever had access to. And—”

  Jesse interrupted him with a kiss. “I love you, too.”

  “Is that what that means?”

  “Yes,” Jesse said, looking straight at Taln. “That’s exactly what it means.”

  “It’s so short,” Taln said. “It’s such a small word to fit all that in.”

  Jesse laughed. “I know. It’s the biggest of small words.”

  “It really is,” Taln replied. “Jesse?”

  “Hm?”

  “I love you,” he said. “I’m sorry I didn’t say it before.”

  Jesse laughed. “Oh, you’re sweet. You don’t have to apologize for that.”

  Taln sighed. “Why not?”

  “Because,” Jesse said, kissing him again, “I already knew.”

  THE END

  More book from Lina Langley

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  Sorry, I still get a bit excited that anyone’s reading my books at all. It’s so crazy to me that people take valuable time out of their day to read about these characters and stories that I love. Writing is something I’m incredibly passionate about and I’m always striving to get better, so if you liked this book—or if you hated this book, or if you thought it was an average book—I would really, really love to hear from you. Please leave me a review on Amazon?

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