“While I appreciate the bravado, the others will be ready to go in three days’ time. Will you?”
“We’ll see, won’t we?” When this response worried Ezra, I waved off his concern. “I’ll get it done, and I’ll do it without Mariang. She kept going while I was in prison, least I can do is give her a few days off. She needs it.”
“That’s kind of you, but she can’t even keep up with the minimum quota of souls. What you’re promising…” Ezra shook his head.
I stood, leaning on the table and probably tipping my hand at how under the weather I still was. “Could I make myself a sandwich? And a few for the guys? I don’t want to have to stop for lunch once we get going. We’re burning daylight, here.”
Ezra pulled out his phone and called Lynna, requesting she pack us each several large lunches. “It’s done.”
“You didn’t have to do that. I could’ve made the sandwich myself.”
Ezra tilted his chin to the side, looking at me as if seeing me more clearly than most. “It’s okay to lean on me. One day, I hope you understand that.”
I didn’t know what to say to that, so I shoved my hands in my pockets. “I… um… Well, thanks. I’ll try to keep that in mind.”
“What else can I get you?”
“Oh, jeez. Nothing. You’ve got enough on your plate helping Sylvia with her Tombstone-style uprising. Just make sure if Mariang’s set on going, that she’s ready when it’s time.”
Finn spoke up, having watched our boring exchange with a skeptical eye. “You ask for too little. You’re an Omen; you can demand whatever you like from any of us. What are you hiding? No one’s that selfless.”
“You’re confusing selfless with capable. I’ll ask when I need.” I narrowed my eyes at him. “And I don’t need your commentary on my life. You don’t know the first thing about me.”
Finn maintained his laidback position in his chair, scratching one of the gills on his neck. “I know enough.”
I looked around at the empty chairs. “Aren’t you dismissed? Like, don’t you have a kingdom to run for your king or something? I know listening to me talk about making a sandwich can’t be the most important thing you’ve got going today.”
“As a matter of fact, it is. You are. Banak’s kingdom is properly delegated, just like any good organization. I won’t allow what happened to you to go down again. I won’t let Sama or Sakuna send more spies to abduct you.”
“Aw, shucks. Thanks, but I’ll pass. I’ve already got two shadows.”
Finn waited in his lazy way, giving me a calculating smile that didn’t touch his light green eyes. Ezra answered for him. “Finn would feel better if he could accompany you today.”
“You don’t say. Thanks, but I don’t think those gills you’re rocking are going to blend in up here.”
“I’ll manage. Your wolf king blends in easy enough.”
“No,” I ruled, staring at him with my best “back off” face.
Ezra’s voice remained even to temper the growing argument. “Captain Finn operates under a curse, October. If King Banak orders him to do something, he must obey. It’s why Captain Finn makes for such a strong leader while King Banak… distracts himself. King Banak has requested Finn watch out for you to secure his nation’s food supply.”
There was a hardness to Finn’s eyes that tried to appear nonplussed at the mention of his curse. If someone had forced me to obey their will, I’m not sure I’d handle it quite so gracefully.
“Wait, Ezra, talk to this Banak guy. My life’s weird enough as it is. I don’t need Finn lurking.”
I expected my attitude to earn a little in return, but Finn’s chest began to shake with silent laughter. “It’s no wonder Geon didn’t let you go once he knew he wouldn’t get the stone from you. You’ve got some fight in you.”
“I’ll see you in three days, Ezra.” I gave him a two-fingered salute, ignoring Finn as best I could. I didn’t expect Finn to follow me, though maybe I should’ve. His footsteps echoed behind me down the hall, making me cringe. “Dude, I think you know I’m going to tell you to get lost.”
“And I think you don’t know who you’re talking to. I almost prefer it that way. Everyone’s got such a healthy fear of me; it gets tiresome after a while.”
I rolled my eyes at him. “Blah, blah, blah. Yeah, I get it. You’re a badass. Go home to your fishbowl.”
Finn ignored me, which was frustrating. Instead of engaging in what I assumed would be yet another fruitless argument, I spun on my heel and made my way down to the kitchen, where Von was sitting on a stool with Mason in wolf form at his feet. Von had been joking with Lynna while she packed us lunches, but swallowed his laughter quickly when Finn entered the room. He stood to attention with a closed expression of disdain, with Mason doing the wolf version of that at his side. I was grateful that Mason had deserted his human form; it made me less anxious. Lynna bowed her head, looking scared that Finn was in her haven.
I waved off their formal greeting before things got out of hand. “No, no. Finn thinks he’s coming with us today, but he’s not.” I pointed to the fearful respect or blatant dislike on each of their faces, my chin jutting out at Finn as I sassed him. “See? This is exactly what I didn’t want. We’ve got enough problems without having to be perfect all the time in front of you. We’ll never get anything done this way.”
“They seem to be doing just fine. In fact, with me here, I bet they move even faster.”
“And they’ll be nervous wrecks. Don’t you think we’ve been through enough? Don’t you think we’ve got enough on our plates without you making them all scared?”
Von’s wide eyes told me I was treading on dangerous ground, and his words came out with a grudge. I could tell he hated Finn, but had acquired a grave respect of him somewhere along the road. “It’s no trouble, Captain Finn. We’d be honored.”
“He’s lying,” I told Finn, who smirked at me. “There isn’t room in our car.”
“You’ll have to make room, dear,” Lynna countered, giving me the “now, hush up” look that forced me to obey.
“If we’re going to do fifty reapings in the next three days, we can’t be slowed down with dead weight. He’s not going to blend in. Hello, he’s got gills!”
Von broke his formal demeanor to gawk at me. “Since when do you think you can do that many? You were barely upright two nights ago at the end of the workday. Scratch that, you weren’t upright! I had to carry you to bed.”
I grumbled that he’d mentioned that in mixed company. “You don’t need to be bringing that up in front of old Gill, here.” I jerked my thumb at Finn.
Von ignored my humor. “Be reasonable. You’re not as strong as you were before you were abducted. You’re still getting back on your feet. You know this is too much. You’re being stubborn.”
“Mariang’s taking three days off, so let’s get cracking.” I stretched my arms over my head. “I’m fine. Got a full night’s sleep, and I’m good as new. Where do you want to hit up today? A hospital? I think hospice might be easiest.” I eyed Finn’s gills. “Like shooting fish in a barrel.”
Von groaned and Mason whined. “And you already promised them this, didn’t you.”
“Yup. It’s all good, guys. I told you, I feel fine. We can probably knock off half the list today alone. The second half tomorrow, and the third day we can crash and finish the movie marathon we started two nights ago. Easy-peasy.”
“If only you were joking.” Von handed me my phone. “I turned it on and charged it for you. You missed a call from Ollie, who wasn’t thrilled I answered.”
I squinted one eye at him. “That makes two of us.”
“And you missed a call from Bev, who seemed pretty upset about something. She asked that you call her straightaway.”
I took my phone from him and rubbed his fingerprints off on my lavender t-shirt. “Okay, rule one: Don’t answer my phone. Rule two: That goes double if it’s Bev. She probably found out I took the doorstop.” To Von’s
raised eyebrow, I added, “That’s what she was using the sagrado stone as.”
Von did a face-palm. “I wouldn’t spread that around. When do you want to go, Captain?”
Finn opened his mouth to answer, but I beat him to it. “Oh, Finn’s not going. We don’t have time for this. Can you be ready to go in five?”
“We’re ready now, love.” Von grabbed his light black jacket off the back of the chair. “Mason, if we’re going to hospice, you need to be human. The one this way doesn’t let dogs in.”
Mason whined dejectedly and scampered up the stairs. Von’s hand on the small of my back was nice, and I didn’t even mind that he did it to pull the stress from me at being around Mason again. I didn’t want to see him and deal with the mess. I just wanted it to go away. I couldn’t wait until this sagrado business was over with so I could get some space. “I’ll wait in the car.” I was hoping for a few minutes of privacy to call my brother back, but knew that wouldn’t happen.
Von’s hand slid into mine, and I could tell he was nervous at Finn’s watchful eye. “By the book today, Peach. Seriously.”
“Okay. You alright?” Von gave a stiff nod as we walked out to the car. “Give me a minute. I’ve got to call Ollie before he starts to worry.”
I shut myself in the car, leaving Von and Finn standing awkwardly in the garage, not looking at each other. I called my brother, who answered on the first ring. “October? Where have you been?!” he shouted into the phone.
“Jeez! What’s with the attitude? I called you back.”
I could tell I’d said the wrong thing by the fuming I could hear him doing. “Are you joking? You missed your Thursday check-in! Again! I thought you understood that those aren’t just ‘hey, how’s it going’ chats. Those are important! I’m not near you, so I need to know that you’re safe! How could you do that to me? And that’s coming off three weeks where you didn’t check in at all until you got back and deigned to pick up the phone. I think I’ve earned the right to worry. What’s going on with you?”
I bit my lip, softening at the worrying I’d unintentionally put him through. I guessed that telling him I hadn’t called that first two weeks because I was in a dungeon wouldn’t help matters, or that I hadn’t been conscious most evenings this past week because I was busy ripping the souls out of dying people. “I’m sorry, Ollie. I went out of town. Took a little vacation. I completely lost track of time. Unacceptable, I know.”
“Where were you really?” Ollie shouted. “I know you! You don’t take vacations! I know when you’re lying to me!”
Flashbacks of Ollie, Allie and Bev screaming at each other flooded my mind, and I no longer felt like a woman who was part of a world-changing team. I was a little girl again, hiding in the trash and hoping the chaos would stop. I’d hoped someone would rescue me and sweep me off to the Brady Bunch. I’d needed it then, and it took too long to come. My voice was small under Ollie’s tirade. “Ollie?”
“We’re all we have! You get that, don’t you? You can’t check out on me! You can’t forget about me!”
“I didn’t…” My protest was laced with hurt, but it didn’t matter. He didn’t hear a word I said. Ollie rarely yelled at me, so I never really knew how to handle it. I’m guessing hanging up on him wasn’t the best way to deal, but it was all I could think of. It was the only way I could run and hide.
The second I ended the call, I was horrified at my actions. I’d never hung up on Ollie before. Panic welled up in me at the awful thing I’d done, but for the life of me, I couldn’t bring myself to call back and face him. Ollie and Allie raised me, gave up everything they wanted so I could have a future. What’d I do with that future? I quit my job, shacked up with two dudes, didn’t return phone calls and hung up when he finally got in touch. I was awful.
Von opened my door and placed a hand on my arm, correctly sensing that I was nine kinds of crazy right now. “Oh, man. That must’ve been some phone call. The stress is coming off you in waves.”
“I don’t know what I just did,” I admitted, shocked at my own behavior.
Von pried my phone out of my rigid fingers, shut my door and walked around to sit in the passenger’s seat next to me. Finn let himself into the backseat, and I knew he had to be uncomfortable with his longer legs. Mason was a few seconds behind, sliding in behind Von in the back, his posture rigid at sitting with Finn. He handed Finn a blue silk scarf, which Finn artfully tied around his neck to hide his fishier qualities.
Von reached across the console, his hand on my knee as I pulled out of the driveway. “You’ve got to calm down if we’re going to do a ton of reaping today.” His warning fell on deaf ears, because as soon as my phone rang, I swerved. “Okay! Hey, that’s not calming down. I’ve got it. How about you just drive, yeah?” He answered the call, and I could feel the anxiety creeping up inside of me like too much vomit on standby. “October’s phone. No, this is Von. She’s driving, so I’ll put you on the Bluetooth.”
Ollie’s rage was barely contained through succinctly spat words. “What was that?” Before I could answer, Ollie’s anger built like one brick on top of the other, every sentence bringing about a worse level of fury until his voice towered over me, turning me into a mouse. “Did you just hang up on me? Did you really just do that? You go radio silent on me for three weeks, and you give me some BS excuse about why you were gone with no notice. I call to make sure you’re still alive after you miss yet another check-in, and you hang up on me?”
“Ollie, I’m sorry! You were yelling, and I…”
“Of course I’m yelling! I was scared you were dead! Never! Never in the whole time I’ve been in New York have we ever missed a Thursday night phone call. And who’s answering your phone? Is that why you’ve completely flaked out on me? You met some guy? That British friend of Ezra’s who stayed over that one time on the couch with you? I knew he was trouble!”
Von raised an eyebrow at me, taking pleasure in being the bad boy parents warned their children away from.
I scraped at the skin on my arms, wishing we were not on speakerphone, that I was far, far away, and that Ollie would understand. “No! It’s got nothing to do with Von or Mason. I said I was sorry! I was out of town, and I lost track of the days. I was being irresponsible. I didn’t think. I didn’t mean to worry you, Ollie.”
“I know you’re lying to me! What I don’t know is why? I’ve never lied to you. Never! What’s really going on? And who’s Mason? I get nothing from you, and Bev’s been calling me every day to apologize for who knows what.”
“Huh?”
“She’s been crying, actually crying and trying to get me to come home so she can make sure I’m okay. Me! Said she wants us to be a family. Is she high? I’ve never heard her talk like that. I don’t know what she’s on, but that Ezra’s really done a number on her. I thought you were checking in on her once a week still, or did you forget about that, too?”
“Hey, you told me to stay away from Bev! You told me to get her out of my life. Now you want me to check in on her after I finally take your advice?” I gripped the steering wheel. “You need to call your sponsor. I’m serious, Ollie. You’re off the rails, yelling at me like this.”
Ollie paused, clearly embarrassed I’d brought up his Anger Management sessions. “I guess I’m not being fair. I just have no idea why Bev’s calling trying to make amends. I thought you were handling her.”
“None of this is fair!”
Ollie’s tone changed when he heard the frustrated emotion tugging at my tone. “Are you… Are you crying?”
“No!” I retorted, feeling foolish. “I know you’re mad, but you can’t yell at me like that! I’ve been through the craphole here, and I don’t need you shouting at me!”
“I knew you were lying. Talk to me. What’s going on, Gracie? Is it that guy? That Von guy?”
I groaned, scratching my neck to relief the anxiety and center myself. “No, Von’s fine. He’s just a friend. He’s been a good friend, actually. My best friend
these days. It’s nothing. Everything’s fine. I told you, I just lost track of the time.”
“I never thought I’d have to tell you to stop lying to me twice in one conversation. You didn’t lose track of the time. Something’s up.”
“Look, I’ve got to go. I don’t want to do this right now. We can talk more when you move back home.”
Ollie’s voice was low and deadly. “Don’t you dare hang up on me.”
“I’m not hanging up on you, but I’m ending the call. I love you, and I’ll see you in a couple weeks.”
“I don’t like this.”
I pulled onto the freeway, holding back my anxiety as much as I could. “Believe me, Ollie, there’s nothing about this that I like, either.”
13
Head in the Garbage Can
I tried not to feel the eyes staring at me. “Not a word,” I warned them quietly as I drove. The radio was a welcome distraction, so I cranked the music to make sure no one could comment on my personal life.
After two crappy pop songs that really should never be blasted, Von turned the volume down. “Love, you’ve got to stop. You’re going to tear your skin. I’m doing pretty well with controlling myself, but you’re going to make things difficult for me if you keep scratching yourself.” His hand was still on my knee, but the pulling was too gentle for the tumbleweeds rocketing around inside of me. When my phone rang again, Von checked the caller ID. “It’s Bev.”
“Please don’t answer that. I don’t have it in me to handle her today. She’ll just yell because I took her doorstop, and I can’t handle another person shouting at me this morning.”
“Fair enough.”
Mason spoke up from the backseat. It was the second time I’d heard him talk since our kiss had turned sour. “How would she even know it’s missing?”
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