Honeyed Words (46 page)

The shirt looked familiar, as did the other things. I got into the panties and bra, pulled the jeans off the stack, and knew for a fact these were mine.

“Hey,” I called, stepping around the lockers, one leg in the jeans, hopping to get the other in, “where’d you get my clothes?”

Katie and Skella shared a look, and Katie began to laugh. “Oh, dear,” she said when she could talk. “You are in for quite the surprise.”

Skella looked stricken.

Once I was dressed, including a concert T-shirt I’d lost a couple of months ago, I trudged back into the woods, fuming.

I didn’t like being on the outs of something funny. Made me feel like I was being made fun of. Katie kept snickering every time I’d look at her, and I gave her a look.

She wrapped her arm over my shoulder and squeezed. “You will understand in a minute. Just be patient, Cranky.”

We went past the little village and deeper into the woods. There, in the side of a hill, we walked toward a cave.

“Not more dwarves?” I asked.

“No,” Skella said. “Not dwarves. Just something of Gletts’s you should see.”

We had to stoop going through the entrance, but, once we were inside, the cave opened up. There were several mirrors stationed around, and as we walked past them, Skella touched each one. They flared to life for a brief moment, each showing a different place I recognized.

My apartment, which surprised me, since I’d slid the mirror behind the couch. Apparently Julie thought it better to be out now.

Jimmy’s bathroom, showers at the YMCA I went to sometimes, Monkey Shines, though it took Katie to point out it was the coffee shop. The mirror really just looked in on the hallway. Once I had context, the symbols on the bathroom doors made sense—high heel for women and hammer for men. Someone’s idea of a funny gender designation that had always pissed me off.

On the far wall was a shrine. There was no other way around it. Several dozen pictures of me, in various states of undress, I might add, were stuck up on the wall. On a table beneath the pictures were several things I recognized.

There were the keys from my old Civic, which had been smashed in the battle with the dragon and the giants; another bra; some socks; an old pair of sneakers; several shards of metal that looked like waste from making horseshoes; my cell phone (dead); the charger I couldn’t find during our Vancouver trip; three paperbacks (one smutty); and a bottle of Bimbo Limbo nail polish.

I sat down on a chair by the shrine with an oomph. “He’s been stealing from me?” I asked, looking over at Skella. “Stalking me, stealing my underwear.”

“He seems to have quite the crush,” Katie said, taking one of the pictures down. It showed me in the shower doing something I never really wanted photographed. “I’ll just keep this one,” she said, winking at me.

I rolled my eyes. “Perv.”

“You don’t understand,” Skella went on, specifically avoiding the pictures on the wall. “We’ve never known anyone who stood up to them. When we’d heard what you did, that he was finally gone…” She shuddered. “He idolized you.”

“Uh-huh.” I looked at her. She meant it, the earnestness in her face. She loved him, didn’t want this to be a bad thing.

Stupid kids. I picked up my cell phone and charger, shoved them into my pocket, and then took down the pictures that showed more of me than I was comfortable with. Those I just handed to Katie, who smiled wickedly.

“This is creepy, you know that, right?”

Skella looked at me, imploringly. “Don’t hate him. Please?”

“Okay, fine. But no more nudity. No more spying on me, you understand?”

“Yes,” she said, nodding. “I’ll explain it all to him.”

If he ever woke up again. Life was tough all around.

“Friends?” Katie asked, looking at me with wide-open eyes.

I shook my head. “Why not?”

“Excellent,” she said, clapping. “Wait until I tell Deidre I’ve got real elves for friends.”

Lord preserve us. I glanced at Skella, who looked more relieved but still very worried. “You don’t know any wizards, do you? Rangers or hobbits?”

Katie gave me a look, sticking out her tongue, but Skella was confused. “Park rangers visit us here from time to time, but only the ones we trust.”

“Never mind,” I said. “Katie can loan you the books.”

I glanced across the mirrors. “Can we get word home, for starters? Let Jimmy and Julie know we are safe?”

“Did that already,” Katie said, nodding. “While you were sleeping.”

“But I could do more,” Skella said. “Shall we contact anyone else?”

I thought for a minute; there were two I was most worried about.

“Yes, can you see the house? Can you see Qindra?”

Skella looked scared for a moment but shook her head. “I can try. I’m not sure.”

“Try.”

She used the mirror that showed Monkey Shines. It was a transient image, following me to places I went to regularly but were more public.

The mirror clouded, then cleared for a moment. The dresser had been knocked over. The dead guy lay on the floor by the bed, and the sky outside the window was black.

“It’s hard,” Skella said, straining. “The connection is tenuous.”

The bedroom scene shifted as I moved around the mirror. I could see the hallway and partway into the room Qindra stood in, but I could not see her. The place was full of pain, though. I could see it in the air; the shades had not all died in the dwarven caverns. Some remained in the house, and I’d guess more were drawn there each day.

The scene shifted, rolling like watching the porn channels without paying to unlock them. I could hear strange noises, see shards of images, but nothing intelligible.

Finally the mirror blanked, and Skella stumbled. Katie caught her and helped her to the ground. “Too hard,” she said.

“Could we travel through that?”

“No,” she said, flatly. “No chance. I couldn’t keep a strong enough connection. You’d be lost.”

Lost in the mirror world sounded like a bad idea. Not something I wanted to explore.

We left the shrine and headed back to Unun. We needed to say good-bye and head home.

“Your place or Black Briar?” Skella asked us when we stood in her home again.

I knew what we should do. “Black Briar, I think.”

Katie nodded at me. “Jimmy’s worried.”

“Okay, I can call Julie from there.”

“What about Gletts?” Katie asked. “Will he be okay?”

“Gran thinks he’ll come home when he wants,” Skella said with hope. “He just has to realize the fight’s over and he’s safe again. Just need to lure him back.”

“I have an idea,” I said. “Let’s go see him.”

The room was solemn, lit only by the light from the windows, and deep shadows filled the odd places. Gletts was lying on a table that reminded me of a bier more than anything.

I walked over and stroked the hair off his forehead. He looked so small there, but I remembered him charging into battle to protect my friends and his sister. “Gletts,” I said, sitting beside him on a long bench. “I need you to come home. Unun and Skella need you here. They need to tell you how brave you were.”

Skella was crying. Katie stood behind her with her hands on the young elf’s shoulders.

I pulled the sleeve of my T-shirt, tucking my arm back inside, and took off my bra under the shirt.

“Here,” I said, draping the bra across his folded hands. “A token of my approval. Thank you for helping them. Thank you for being brave.”

I leaned over, kissed him on the cheek, and stood up, clapping my hands together. “Home now?”

Skella was astonished, and Katie began to laugh. “You have changed Beauhall, that’s for sure.”

I stepped close to her and kissed her on the nose. “Life is change. Let’s get out of here.”

Sixty-four

Things were a little wild at Black Briar. Once the attack they expected didn’t come, they’d camped out for the night. Now that it was the end of the next day, folks were heading home. We just missed the twins, but Melanie was there with Jimmy and Deidre.

Ari would live, but his throat was pretty messed up. If he could talk again, he’d have a gravelly voice. He’d never sing again. Beats being dead all to hell.

We exchanged stories over dinner. Nothing happened at Black Briar, but there was some very funny meteorological activity in the area. Dark clouds streaking over the mountains, intense lightning, storms.

As soon as we were settled, I plugged in my cell phone. There was a call I needed to make. I looked around at the folks here at Black Briar, the family I’d chosen, and thought back to the one I’d inherited.

Qindra was trapped, just like Megan. Had I abandoned her to a similar fate? Had I escaped, only to never look back? I was a shit. I lay awake longer than I wanted, thinking about all the mistakes in my life, as well as what I needed to do to fix things. Maybe I needed to do some bridge building.

After breakfast the next morning, while Katie and I slept, Jimmy, Gunther, Stuart, and half a dozen others had driven out to Anezka’s place. Without knowing exactly where it was, they couldn’t find it. Something in the way Qindra had shielded it was stronger than the original seal that Flora had worked into the beams and structure. You drove right by it, seeing only an empty field.

They’d picked up the Ducati when they figured they couldn’t find a way onto the property and spent the better part of the day contemplating how they could break through the barrier.

Melanie had already filled them in on the ghosts, how Jean-Paul had come back, and the battle with the dwarves from her point of view.

Katie and I filled in the rest, about Qindra, the house, the nexus, and even the shield, which surprised everyone.

“I hate that she’s trapped in there,” I said after we’d run out of stories to tell.

“She works for the other side,” Jimmy said. “Not like she’d cry over us.”

Deidre threw a pillow at him. “Weren’t you listening? She did it to protect all of us.”

He shrugged, stoic. He had a hard time seeing shades of gray. Everything with him was black and white.

“And what about Anezka and your imp friend?” Deidre asked.

I pulled the amulet from out of my shirt and slipped the chain over my head. “Not sure,” I said. “I could call him, but I’m not sure he’d come.”

“Why don’t you give it a try? We can handle Anezka if she gets crazy.”

Was worth a shot. “Okay.”

I stood up, walked into the living room, and stood in front of the fireplace. With a fire burning, it might make him more comfortable. I sat cross-legged in front of the flames and held the amulet in my hands.

“Bub,” I said quietly. “I need you.”

Nothing.

Jimmy snorted. “That was disappointing.”

I thought about it, considering all I knew of the little pisher.

“Hey, do we have any burritos or cheeseburgers?”

Jimmy strolled into the kitchen and opened the freezer. “Couple of microwave burritos in here,” he said. “Both are bean.”

“Nuke those puppies and let’s try this again.”

In three and a half minutes, I had a steaming plate with burritos on it, covered in hot sauce. I held the amulet over the steam for a minute, and then whispered to it, holding it close.

“Bub, I have burritos. Can you bring Anezka home now?”

Again nothing. Deidre wheeled her chair back into the kitchen, and Jimmy slumped against the doorframe. Katie and Melanie were sitting on the couch chatting. They all assumed we were done.

“Come on, Bub. We aren’t going to hurt her. Let us help. Don’t make me eat these burritos without you.”

Crack.
The air imploded, and Anezka crashed onto the coffee table, shaking, rambling incoherently, and naked.

Katie and Melanie jumped up onto the couch, and Jimmy ran into the room.

“Hang on,” I said. “Let’s be calm here.”

Bub looked ready to fight. He was angry, smoking with the flames. I stayed seated, reached over, and slid the plate toward him. “Here, big guy. Eat something. Let the doctor see to Anezka.”

He looked from me to the burritos, then to Anezka, pain on his scaly face. “Don’t hurt her,” he said quietly.

“Promise,” I said with a smile. “We okay?”

He nodded, and I turned to Anezka. She was totally out of it, past anything I’d seen from her.

“Shock,” Melanie said, going to work. Jimmy grabbed a pack from behind the couch and handed it to Melanie. They kept serious medical equipment on-site ever since the big battle.

Melanie got an IV into Anezka, and they lifted her onto the couch. Katie stood beside the couch, holding the IV bag while Jimmy went and pulled a stand out of the back room.

“Let me sedate her,” Melanie said. “Then let’s get her to the back room.”

“I can carry her,” Jimmy offered, and I looked over at Bub.

“We okay?” I asked again.

He nodded, still not touching the food.