“Hey,” I said, changing the subject. “I bought you something when you sent me shopping before we left.”
“Did you buy me a real wife?” he teased, picking up my fingers that were tangled through his so he could examine them.
“Ha. No, I bought you a fiddle. I know you don’t play anymore, but in case you wanted the option, I wanted you to have it. Went overboard, though.”
Foss was quiet for an entire minute before speaking. “I don’t play anymore.” His words and tone were finite, so I knew not to push him.
I was familiar with the loss of a desire to play. I recall being a lot more fun before Linus died. I took a chance and leaned up, pressing a light kiss to Foss’s temple to acknowledge whatever pain he’d gone through to get him to the point in life where play was not an option anymore.
Foss turned his head and pushed his lips to my forehead, holding me there a few beats as he breathed into my skin with his eyes closed. “For what it’s worth, you’re not the worst wife a man could have.”
I don’t know why I took his bitter words as a sincere compliment, but I draped my arm around his chest, holding him as strangely as he held me. I didn’t understand our dynamic, but I was too tired to run from it anymore that night.
Though my shoulder was uncomfortable on the flat hard surface, my body relaxed at the first promise that I’d decided to stop working it to death. Exhaustion flooded my senses, and I yawned into his neck as Foss told me stories about different adventures he’d had on this very ship. He sounded like a pirate as he talked about searching out different islands for various resources, and which ones had the easiest locals to trade with.
I’m pretty sure I muttered “goodnight” or something to that affect before I succumbed to my body’s wailing for a night of rest. Whatever strange twist of fate landed me under the stars lying with my temple pressed to Foss’s neck, I decided not to question it. I welcomed the small amounts of peace I could grasp at and fell into a deep sleep as the waves rocked us with their gentle caress.
Two.
Personality Swings
I awoke to the sea and the scent of Foss’s skin. My eyes flew open, verifying with a note of dread that I had indeed fallen asleep snuggled up to the man who had slapped me across the face and degraded me at every turn. I blamed this poor choice on delirium and vowed to start eating and sleeping regularly to avoid such catastrophes in the future.
He looked younger without his perma-scowl. His lips were parted slightly in sleep, and though we were sworn enemies, I allowed myself to rest in the arms of the dragon for a handful of moments, wishing he was not handsome so he would be easier to resist.
I tried to sneak out of his arm that had fallen across my hips, but the movement woke him.
“What happened?” he mumbled, just as confused as I at our close proximity. When he realized where his hand was, he jerked away from me, sitting up with his familiar glower.
“Ah. There’s my darling husband.”
“Don’t talk to me.” He shook his head, trying to get a good grasp on the situation. “It’s that halfy. His whistle keeps messing me up.” He looked at me out of the corner of his eye, clearly embarrassed. “It’s his fault.”
“I’ll be sure to distrust anyone who can turn you into a halfway decent guy. Shame on Charles for making life with you bearable. You know, I knew it had to be too good to be true. I knew the only way you would be cool is if someone changed your personality on a magical level.”
He scowled at me. “I don’t know what you’re grinning about. There’s loads of work to do. Quit lying around and get to it. But wash up first. You’re disgusting.”
“Whatever. You were totally falling in love with me last night. Bound to happen. I’m awesome, and any other woman would have stabbed you in your precious little sleep by now. Match made in Heaven.”
“Ugh. We’re getting Jens back today. He can stand being around you.”
“That’s the spirit!” I cheered, pumping my fist in the air. “When’s the search party go out?”
“I’ve got a fair guess where he is.”
My mouth fell open in disgust. “Huh? Why didn’t you say something? If he’s being held somewhere, why wouldn’t you tell us?”
Foss cracked a smarmy smirk that made me want to smack him. “Because Jens doesn’t want to be found right now. He’s blowing off some steam, as you call it.”
“I’ve been worried sick about him, and you’ve been sitting on this intel? You’re a bastard!” I stood just so I could tower over him and lecture the jerk-wad. “Let’s go get him! Take me there now.”
Foss cottoned onto my attempt at intimidation and stood, his massive form swallowing mine. “I’d like to know when you decided it was a good idea for you to give me orders. You’re the rat. I’m the master.”
“Screw you!” I shouted. I heard the others stirring below and felt slightly bad for waking them only a little after dawn. “Take me to Jens. We’ve got one more portal to hit before I get to go home.” I put my hands on my hips and looked him dead in the eye. “You want to get rid of me? Find Jens. Sooner this is over, the sooner we never have to see each other again.”
Foss considered this, and as much as I could tell it pained him to admit my way was the right one, he nodded, shoulders deflating. “Fine. But only so I don’t have to share a world with you anymore.”
I donned my most patronizing tone and spoke to him in my best preschool teacher voice. “Oh, but how are you gonna get to sleep at night without me to snuggle?”
That did it. Foss raised his hand to strike me, but I dodged, backing away from his flaring PMS.
My voice rose, and I could hear the slice of madness escaping my usually cool demeanor. “You can dish it out, but you just can’t take it, huh. Well, joke’s on you, Foss, because I got nothing to lose! Nothing! I’m not afraid of you anymore!”
Foss grabbed me by my tank top and yanked me up, raising my feet up off the floor. I matched his snarl with my own. “You need to learn to shut your mouth,” he warned, his face inches from mine.
“You need to learn to control your temper!” I challenged.
He carried me to the side of the ship, flipped my legs over the railing and dangled me over the edge by my wrists. “Had enough?” he roared.
“I had enough of you the first time you opened your fat mouth!”
Okay, probably not the smartest thing to provoke the bear while I was at his mercy, but the jolt of him going from loathing me to liking me to snuggling me to hating me all over again was jarring. I wasn’t exactly making the best decisions.
“Whoops!” He pretended to drop me, lowering me a few inches. We were the only boat for miles along the white sandy beach, but he still looked around to make sure we did not draw attention.
Jamie bolted up the stairs, having seen the whole mess I’d gotten myself into through our link. “Stop it, Foss! The water’s too shallow. You’ll break our legs!”
I heard Charles shout for me as he ran toward us. So dramatic. Like I couldn’t handle a fight with Foss.
“Do it!” I goaded him. “I could use a good swim. You pick a fight with me? Finish it, coward! Using your big, bad strength instead of your teeny tiny brain? So typical!”
Foss ground his teeth together as he glared down at me, wanting to drop me but knowing he wouldn’t get away with it now there was an audience present. In a curl I could not help but be impressed by, Foss lifted me up and dragged me back over the rails, depositing me in Mace’s arms.
My brother was more shaken up than I, looking me over and checking my wrists for damage. “I’m fine,” I assured him.
His tail wrapped around my hip and pulled me behind him. Charles stared down Foss with anger I’d not seen on him before. “Don’t touch her again.”
“Keep your Huldra powers out of my head, then!” Foss roared back. “You’re trying to change me. Don’t!”
Charles brought me to his chest and covered my ears. He pursed his lips and let out a three-noted whistle th
at brought Foss to his knees. Foss’s hands went over his ears, but it was too late. I could tell he was softening.
Watching Foss get the Depravity of Man curse stripped from him was a bit like watching a bull go through an exorcism. He fell to all fours and snorted like a beast, his stomach bouncing inward and out more violently than was natural. It was as if the curse was buried in his belly, which had to be emptied at every stripping.
Jamie and I dragged Foss over to the railing seconds before he lost his dinner, lunch and anything else still processing in his gut. Vomit rocketed out of him as if it was being punched out of his body. He gripped the railing until the last heave choked him. He collapsed so quickly, Jamie barely caught him before he hit the deck. I kissed Foss’s forehead, my anger softening as he whimpered in my arms. Foss’s shoulders slumped, and he breathed like he had just run a mile.
Charles geared up for another round, but I simply couldn’t take it. I was still sensitive to people barfing in my presence ever since Linus’s many failed chemo treatments. I jumped up and placed my hand on Mace’s sternum. “Stop, Charles. It’s fine. I was pissed, so I poked back this time. He’s a child. I shouldn’t have engaged. Foss can’t take anymore right now.”
Mace hugged me and kissed the top of my head. “I don’t care how it happened. No one’s allowed to throw you overboard except for me. Got it?”
I smirked, despite the situation. “You’re throwing me overboard? Says who?”
“Says me. The next time you go angering the hive, I’ll throw you in the water to save you from yourself.” He kissed my cheek, and this time I actually let myself feel the comfort he was always trying to give me. I missed Linus with all my heart. Every day was twenty-four hours without half of myself. Having a brother again had its benefits.
“Foss knows where Jens is,” I told him loud enough for my voice to carry to Jamie, who was looking over the railing to see if I would have actually broken anything had I been dropped.
Charles rubbed my back. “We all know where Jens is. Why do you think none of us is worried? We would’ve gone out to look for him days ago if there was any doubt.”
“What? Where? Foss said he was probably being held somewhere.”
Jamie shook his head at Charles in warning. I knew that look. It was universal guy code for “don’t narc on your boy to his girlfriend”. I poked at his brain, but Jamie threw up a wall to keep me out. My psychically linked buddy spoke to me in a voice that was too light for normal conversation. “He’ll be back when he’s ready. I haven’t told you about my grandfather, have I? Loads of fun, that one. He could make quality Gar out of anything.”
“Save it,” I snapped. “Where’s Jens?”
“He’ll be back,” Jamie repeated. When this did not satisfy, he said, “Lucy, it’s better if you don’t ask too many questions. He’s safe. He does this a few times a year when it’s been a rough one. He always resurfaces after a week or two.”
Charles stared down Jamie. “She’s got a right to know. If he’s going to be carrying on like this, I don’t feel the need to protect him.”
Jamie’s sarcasm was uncharacteristically thick. “Oh, you’d like that, wouldn’t you? Stir things up for Jens so Lucy breaks it off with him.”
“Huh?” I whipped my head back and forth between them, now irate. “That’s it. I’ve heard enough. I’m going. Guy vacation or not, he’s been gone longer than the two days he promised. I have faith in Jens. If he missed his date, it’s because something went south. He wouldn’t ditch me like that. Something’s wrong, and I’m worried.”
Charles rubbed my back again. “I didn’t mean to make you upset, kära. He’ll come back.”
I stomped off to the bathroom, ignoring the calls of the guys. I bathed for the first time in two days and changed into fresh jeans and my good old red Partridge Family t-shirt that was beginning to feel like a second skin with how often I wore it. My hair was still damp when I resurfaced in the galley, reluctantly pocketing a piece of beef bark and grabbing a canteen. Jamie, Britta and Alrik were lounging at the table, talking about where was best for Foss to cast his nets.
“I’m going,” I stated apropos of nothing. “So Jamie, if you don’t want one heck of a headache, get your shirt and shoes on and take me to Jens.”
Jamie rested his face in his hands. “Alrik, please tell your niece she can’t go see Jens.”
A hard look flickered across Uncle Rick’s face before he replaced it with his usual grandfatherly affection. “Goosy, dear, what a wonderful idea. I’m tired of waiting for Jens, as well. We’ve got a job to do, and I think we’ve had enough respite.”
Jamie grumbled into his hands. “That is not what I asked.”
Alrik tapped his fingers lightly on the table, calculating my resolve. “I see no need to treat my niece like a child. She killed a Werebear, survived the Nøkkendalig, blew up the farlig and made herself a chief Tribeswoman in Fossegrim. Whatever’s detaining Jens, I’m certain she can handle it,” then he leveled his gaze at me in silent threat, “with maturity and grace.”
Britta did not stand when Jamie reluctantly moved to the exit. He looked over his shoulder at her. “Aren’t you coming?”
Britta’s laugh was bitter as her head tilted back. “I have no desire to see my brother making a fool of himself. Though I will miss out on the thrashing this one’s sure to give him.” She gestured to me with an air of sisterhood. “Leave grace here, Lucy. Give him everything you’ve got. Maybe you can force him to grow up. Heaven knows I never could.”
Confusion began to deflate the wind from my sails. I readied a spare sack of supplies, not sure how long the journey would be as I waited for Jamie to get ready. Whatever Jens was up to, I wasn’t waiting around like a chump to find out.
Three.
Searching for Jens
“I’m telling you, whatever you think he’s been doing, you’re wrong.” I tromped through the thick green overgrowth that climbed up to my waist. “Jens loves me. He isn’t purposefully not back. Something’s wrong, Jamie. I just know it.”
“Just be prepared for the possibility you might be wrong on this one.” Jamie hacked away at a thorny flower vine that impeded our progress. “As someone who’s been his best friend for as long as you’ve been alive? You might want to take my word on this one.”
“Jens loves me,” I repeated, though this time with less conviction.
Had I known what a gorgeous place Bedra would be, I would have insisted on cutting through there first thing. There were tall palm trees with bright pink mangoes, not coconuts growing from them. The ocean lapped up to white sanded beaches that outlined the mainland. The three-foot tall grass was lush and soft with huge blue flowers poking out so high, they climbed up to my shoulders. There was a cool note in the warm breeze that was so restful; all I needed was a good rendition of Margaritaville to complete the picture of perfect peace.
Of course, the pit in my gut was twisting so much, I was unable to really enjoy the bizarre tropical scenery. We had been walking all day, and I didn’t get the sense we were actually getting anywhere. “I feel like you’re leading us the wrong way,” I mumbled as we stepped over a stream I could swear looked familiar.
Jamie gave me a non-response that did not inspire confidence. We walked in silence another hour before he spoke. “We’re close to The Den.”
“Den of what?” I stopped beside him and took a swig from my canteen.
“The Mare’s lair. It’s called The Den. It’s where people like Jens go to unwind.”
“What are we about to walk into?” I asked warily. “What do I need to know about the Mare?”
“Bedra is made of mostly women. They prey on the energy of men who pass by.”
“Come again?”
“The most beautiful women in our world are Mare, except for Britta, of course.”
“Nice save. I’ll be sure she gives you your brownie points.”
Jamie smirked and sat on a stump to rest his legs as he geared up to explain
the unpleasantness of the world to me. He had that same determined face my parents donned when laying out the birds and the bees. “Mare feed on the wills of men. They buy barrels of the lavender powder from the Fossegrimens to lure men to The Den. They use their… womanly ways and the powder to get the men to sleep. Then they sit on their chests and implant horrific nightmares in them. The men wake up exhausted and disturbed, so they crave more distractions and more lavender powder to make them forget. Night after night, the Mare feed on the wills of the men, and their prey get weaker and weaker. Eventually the men forget themselves completely and live out their days in The Den. Some have been here for years.”
I’m sure I gasped, but my mouth had fallen open somewhere around “womanly ways”.
“The Mares only have daughters. No sons. So the only men they get are passersby. They don’t like to let them go.” He wiped a bead of sweat from his brow. “Bedra is great for men who don’t believe in the Land of Be. They can’t check out in Be, so they check out here.”
I was silent, and Jamie waited patiently for my mouth to catch up with my stuttering brain. “Why is Jens here?” I asked, dreading the answer.
“He used to be a regular. Lots of guys like the thrill of the Mare. Unlimited lavender powder and plenty to look at. He’s something of a celebrity everywhere he goes, and the Mares work extra hard to keep him sedated. He’s a big win for them. Puts up a good fight, so it takes longer to drain the will from him.” Jamie refused to look at me. “He used to go there a lot before he started working for your family. Alrik got him that job in part to save him from himself and his devices.”
“W-Why? Why did he go there? What was he running from?”
“Well, there’s my father, for one. He’s tried to kill Jens quite a few times. The trolls did a number on his back, so at first he started taking the powder for medicinal reasons. It’s a quick descent into addiction from there. Then there’s the overnight fame that spawned from being the bravest warrior in the country. Jens is a private person. He didn’t like the chaos that came from being the most desirable bachelor in Tomten.” He took a drink from my canteen. “So Alrik found him a job where he could be invisible. He only went to Bedra a few times a year after that. I don’t know why he never kicked the habit.”
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