by J. J. Neeson
At the bike, Thorston thanked her for pulling him away. “I know he didn’t mean any harm, but it wasn’t a conversation I could handle, not tonight.”
“I figured. It’s no big deal. I’m your wing girl.”
“Or just my wings,” he said. “I’m not sure I could have gotten through this without you.”
“You mean the biker rally?”
“I mean everything.”
Reigh was caught off guard. “I haven’t done anything. I mean, I have been miraculously patient while you’ve stolen all my beer, but—”
Thorston kissed her. The kiss was not gentle. It was full of hunger and need and desperation. Losing herself, Reigh kissed him back, feeling the force of her desire coarse through her. But then the image of Calder came to mind, and she pulled away.
“I can’t,” she said softly. “I have a date with Calder tomorrow. It just doesn’t feel right to kiss you when I’m meeting up with him.”
“I’m sorry, it’s my fault,” Thorston said, shaking his head. “I just…”
“I know,” Reigh said, not needing an explanation. “It’s tough. Your emotions are running high. It’s natural to reach out. It’s not a big deal.”
“We still roomies?”
“If you stop stealing my beer. And my food.”
He jumped onto the motorcycle. “I can’t make that promise.”
“Well, try,” she said, reaching for the helmet. “You okay to drive home?”
“I’m sober. I only had the one sip of your tankard,” he told her.
“It was a little more than a sip.”
“I’m fine,” he reassured her. “Let’s go home.”
***
“Can you see them?” Samuel asked, sitting on the bed next to where Lu lay on her stomach over their dark green satin comforter.
“I can,” she murmured, tears in her eyes. “They’re beautiful. Thank you.”
White lights that mimicked the stars outside twirled around their bedroom in a slow, mesmerizing dance. They were not created by magic, only the simple beam of a projector, but to Lu, they were just as wondrous.
Samuel moved closer, massaging her back. “We should have done this years ago. I don’t know why I never thought of it.”
“You were never allowed to steal equipment from the university before, that’s why,” she said, unable to take her eyes off the constellations against the walls. It had been so long…
“I didn’t steal it. I signed it out. Or rather, Nikki did for me. She brought it back with her yesterday at my request.”
“At what cost?”
“I promised to drive her back to Baton Rouge after the festival she’s here for. She has a rally the morning after the festival that the bus won’t get her back in time for.”
Though it pained her to do so, Lu abandoned the stars so she could face her husband. “Does it trouble you that you had to put your PhD on hold for me? I worry that I’ve asked too much of you. Perhaps it would be enough to run a single shift at the garage so you can go back to your research.”
“Lu, don’t,” he said, rubbing her shoulders harder. “The whole point of this is to relax. It sounds like the pottery circle tonight was intense. I worry that all this stress will cause… well, you know.”
“I know,” she acknowledged, turning back to the stars. “I just want you to be as happy as you make me. This is truly incredible, Samuel. I can barely remember the last time I saw the stars. I was young, I know that. Perhaps Abigail and Sophia’s age. But when you’re that little, you take all the beauty around you for granted. This is much better than posters or screensavers. I almost feel as if I’m really lying beneath them with you.”
“You are,” Samuel said. “Above us, the real stars watch over our family. You’ll see them again, one day. But for now, we have this. And I have you.” He kissed the back of her neck with a loving tenderness.
Lu wanted to believe Samuel was right, that there was a possibility she might look up to a night sky and see more than a black fog, but she didn’t know if the curse could ever be lifted. At least she had the sun—the star she had been born of. Without the sun, and at times the moon, she would have succumbed to the void of the curse.
“How long do we have the projector for?”
“Until I drive Nikki back.”
She took his hand into her own. “Until then, will you tell me about these stars of yours? I want to hear everything—the names of the constellations and the stories behind them, how they were formed. Let me live in your world, now that I can finally see what you can see.”
Samuel squeezed her hand. “I’ll start now, with the one moving across the curtains. That’s Draco. The dragon. It reminds me of you. The dragon is strong, like you are.”
Strong like a dragon?
“Is that what you really think of me?” she asked.
“That. And I can’t get over what a great ass you have.”
Lu hit him playfully with a pillow. “It’s doubled in size since giving birth to the kids.”
“Which makes it even more splendid.”
Lu followed Draco as it traveled across the room. Strength. She never realized Samuel thought of her that way. She just hoped she had enough strength to keep her family safe. Though she tried to ignore it, from the tree across the bedroom window, the owl gazed across the stars with them.
Chapter Six
Reigh stood in front of her near-empty wardrobe. Planning her outfit for her date with Calder that night didn’t take much thought. Having very little clothes, she pulled out her teal romper, the same she’d worn the night of the river cruise. It was the nicest clothing she owned. She didn’t know where Calder planned to take her after they met at the library. If it was anywhere near as fancy as the river cruise, even the romper wouldn’t do, but she knew he wouldn’t judge her for wearing the same clothes. Her financial situation was nothing new to him.
After she slipped into the romper, she headed towards the bathroom to finish getting ready, but she stopped halfway across the room, standing still, certain someone was watching her.
“Hello?” she called out to the empty shack, but there was no answer.
Thorston had left early that morning, before she woke to go to work. Lying in bed, she’d heard his motorcycle roar away and knew he’d left to avoid any awkwardness between them.
Shaking away her paranoia, she finished getting ready and left.
Reigh loathed the walk into town that evening. It was too long, allowing her mind to replay her kiss with Thorston over and over, no matter how hard she tried to kick it out. The sensation of it lingered, stuck like seeds of a fruit. It was sinful, a betrayal against Calder, but the kiss had sieged her soul, caused her skin to flush and her body to ache.
Needing a moment to catch her breath, she stopped and leaned against a tree. It was useless. She was in Thorston’s arms again, his body pressed against hers, building a desire within her only a man could quench.
Quickly, she moved away from the tree and out of the seclusion of the woods, trading the dry, wilted shrubbery for the marble steps of the library. Early for her date, she sat on the steps, trying to keep all thoughts on Calder and away from Thorston, thankful she had been reunited with her friend.
She’d met Calder at the thrift store chain, before she was of legal age to drink or gamble, though that hadn’t stopped her from floating onto casino floors, playing the nickel slots for free margaritas. With a truck full of donations, he’d driven up to the loading dock, explaining he worked in property management. Whenever someone rich bit the dust or went broke, he was there to help sort through their possessions. After that, he showed up at the thrift store a lot, enough that Reigh, intrigued by the boy who was only a few years older than her, grew tired of their short interludes at the loading dock.
“Want to go get a free margarita?” she asked one day, jumping down from his truck in her cut-offs and a faded T-shirt.
“Heck yeah!” he’d said. “When you off?”
&
nbsp; “I could just sneak away now. I doubt the boss man would care. As long as I show up for work flashing my legs, he’s happy.”
Calder scowled. “That’s twisted.”
“Nah, he’s just an old man dying of some smoker’s disease. Let him look. The chain is going to push him out of management soon enough.”
“What do we have to do for these free margaritas?” Calder asked. “This is Las Vegas. Free isn’t free.”
“You have any nickels on you?”
“A few.”
“That’s good enough. But they’re watered-down.”
“The nickels?”
Reigh laughed. “The margaritas.”
She couldn’t remember all the details of the day, only that after they played Calder’s nickels and got buzzed from the margaritas, they’d gone for dollar shots at a bar on the Strip that never carded. Laughing over now unknown whimsies, they then stumbled into the Rio to watch the Show in the Sky, a masquerade of elaborately costumed performers who danced to Latin music and threw beads from floating gondolas. The Show in the Sky had since closed its doors, but she still had her beads, which she had packed into the side pocket of her duffle bag and brought on her exodus.
“You turning yourself in for an overdue book?” Kaylock called out to her as he locked the huge Gothic doors of the library. “You’ve been sitting there for quite a while.”
“What time is it?”
“Nine.”
Calder was late. Really late.
“You gonna stay and stand guard?” Kaylock asked as he shuffled down the steps.
“Hopefully not too long,” she answered.
“Alright then. Have a good evening, Reigh.”
“You too, Kaylock.”
She relaxed into the steps. She didn’t mind waiting for Calder. Time seemed to have less meaning than it did before arriving into Broken Ridge, as if her mortal bones had no cause to age. And so she sat patiently, even as the sun set behind the library, allowing the shadows to reign, and she continued to muse over how close she and Calder had become over the years. When her thoughts circled back to the Show in the Sky, she looked up, and gasped.
An electric cloud of blue and green lights seized the approaching night, like a giant creature elevated over the earth. They illuminated the sky with colors it had never owned before, not this far south. Perhaps in Norway. Or Alaska. But not here.
The Northern Lights.
Standing, Reigh joined the mass of people gathering on the cobbled streets, their attention turned to the heavens. With their beauty, the lights moved her, reaching deep within her. She felt a connection to them, one that went behind admiration. The lights were her blood.
Mama Blanchet came up beside her. “Now this I know is all you.”
Reigh didn’t dispute it. The Northern Lights were a message—a message sent for her.
***
“Why did you come to Broken Ridge?” Mama Blanchet demanded, standing tall and indignant in the backroom of Odd Wonders, like a justice.
Reigh turned on the tap of the sink in the bathroom, leaving the door open, and splashed her face, cooling herself down so that she did not provoke more disgruntlement from Mama Blanchet with all the things she wanted to say, her defenses high. She did not have to answer to the woman. She did not have to answer to anybody. She didn’t appreciate the small meeting Mama Blanchet had called with Lu and Mrs. Florence. It felt like an interrogation.
Tentatively, Lu stepped forward. “Perhaps the question is not why she came to Broken Ridge. Perhaps the question is why she left Vegas. It might give us some clue as to what’s happening.”
“You mean the Northern Lights?” Reigh asked. “That never happened in Vegas.”
“Well, it’s happening now,” Mama Blanchet began, but Mrs. Florence quieted her.
“Lu has something to say.”
Lu seemed conflicted, afraid to open her mouth.
“Just say it,” Reigh prompted. “It’s okay.”
“Calder.”
Reigh understood. “You think he’s responsible?”
“Yes,” Lu confirmed. “I do. He showed up out of nowhere, and the night he stands you up on a date, the lights appear. Calder is more than what he seems.”
“I agree,” Reigh said flatly. “Calder sent the lights. Which means he knows his own magical abilities, like everyone else here. But he’s not a threat. He’s not the threat. I know that’s what you’re all thinking.”
She couldn’t deny the connection between her date with Calder and the lights. It was a shock to think that Calder had been hiding his magic from her all this time, but she got it. Magic was hard to digest. He was probably worried he’d come across sounding crazy if he’d told her. Which he would have. The only thing she didn’t get was why he’d stood her up.
“Okay,” Mama Blanchet said. “Now we’re getting somewhere. Tell me everything you can about this Calder.”
Reigh did. She didn’t believe there was anything to hide. She knew Calder. He had no motive to burn down the rice mill or to cause any of the other misfortunes that had tormented the town in recent days. He wasn’t capable of it.
“So he comes and goes?” Mama Blanchet asked.
“Yes.”
“And have you ever asked him where he goes to?”
“Only recently. He said home, but that it was far away.”
Mama Blanchet looked at her as if the mystery was no mystery at all, but Reigh didn’t catch on.
“What?” she solicited.
“My goodness, girl, don’t tell me you can’t see it?”
Lu cringed. “Mama Blanchet, Reigh only just learned the truth about magic. It takes time to process. What’s obvious to us is still ambiguous to her.”
“What is it?” Reigh demanded. “What don’t I see?”
“Lu, you tell her,” Mrs. Florence encouraged. “Blanchet, why don’t you make us some of your special tea. I think Reigh could use some.”
Complying, Mama Blanchet went to the counter and opened a wooden box that fragranced the air with fresh mint and other potent herbs.
“Calder isn’t human,” Lu revealed. “Given your ancestry and the lights tonight, I would guess he’s a being of Norse mythology.”
Reigh would have laughed, if she wasn’t so appalled. She could accept that Calder was magic. From what she’d been told, everyone was. But to suggest he wasn’t human was a push too far. “Trust me, Calder is no god.”
“I didn’t say he was a god, just a being who belongs to another world.”
“It doesn’t make sense. I’ve known Calder a long time. He’s aged over the years, like me.”
“Many beings in Norse mythology age.”
“That doesn’t matter. It fits that human Calder would be afraid to show me his magical abilities. Vegas is tolerant when it comes to the absurd, but people have their limits. He was probably worried it would scare me away. But now that I have discovered magic for myself, he feels safe acknowledging what he is. What we all are. That makes sense. Humans are vulnerable. But if he was some otherworldly being, he wouldn’t give a flying donkey what I did or did not know about magic.” She thought back to the story of Freyr and Gerd. “He would have made his true identity known a long time ago, before either of us ever heard of Broken Ridge.”
Lu sat at the table across from Mrs. Florence. “Many worlds exist out there in the great beyond. The people in those worlds may not be human, but they are people. They are susceptible to the same emotions—the same joys and the same flaws. We’re all vulnerable.”
Reigh leaned against the doorway to the bathroom, sighing. There was no use debating it. She knew Lu had her mind made up. “Whatever you believe who Calder is, I can tell you for certain what he isn’t. He isn’t the threat. Please at least accept that.”
Lu said nothing.
“Here,” Mama Blanchet said, handing Reigh a hot tea, more compassionate than she had been earlier. “This will help.”
The brew was murky, but it smelled l
ike honey. There was more to it than herbs, but she couldn’t give a damn. She was frustrated and needed something to calm her. After taking a sip, she held the warm mug against her chest as if it were a pillow. As she had said to Lu, everyone had their limits, and she was reaching hers.
The room was silent, each of them meditating on recent events. Reigh continued to sip her tea, her tension draining as she did. She still felt a need to defend Calder and his integrity, but she let her guard fall, recognizing that Lu was only trying to protect her and the others.
“Why did you leave Vegas?” Mama Blanchet asked, breaking the silence. “I’m curious, on a personal level.”
“I was a party girl, but then the party ended. At least for me. I grew out of it, and when I did, there was nothing left around me. I wanted something better.”
“Sounds to me like you left in search of love,” Mrs. Florence deduced.
“No,” Reigh said. “More like in search of myself.”
“Self-love is a type of love, child. And way more complicated than romance.”
Reigh considered this. “Possibly. I never thought of it that way.”
There was more silence.
Then Mama Blanchet surprised Reigh by saying, “I don’t think this Calder is a threat, at least not to us,” she said, looking poignantly at Reigh. “The lights tonight were a thing of wonder—a gift. As Florence detected, the threat is after vengeance. It’s only interested in destruction.”
“Thanks. Calder really isn’t—”
“I wasn’t being altruistic on Calder’s behalf. I said what I did for our own sake. Our efforts at the pottery circle will soon wear off. The shield will drop. When it does, the threat will strike again. We know nothing of it, only that it arrived with the storm you brought.”
Interrupting, Mrs. Florence said, “Actually, after some consideration, I think Thorston may have unknowingly summoned the storm.”
“It hit the day she arrived,” Mama Blanchet opposed.
“And the day Thorston learnt of Dodger’s passing. He was in pain, and his thoughts were of home—of his childhood friend.”