Halfway Drowned (Halfway Witchy Book 4) Page 17

  I didn’t walk home, I trudged home. The emotional highs and lows of everything at the beach left me bereft of energy and thinking about one thing.

  Climbing under the covers with Wulfric.

  I stepped inside to the cool of my house, letting the air settle around me for a moment. I heard Gus leap down from the bed upstairs and begin padding his way down to me, nails ticking lightly in the hall as he rounded the corner.

  He stopped at the top of the stairs, eyes wide in the low light spilling through the hall window, and then a deep, menacing growl began in his throat. It broke into a wide-mouthed hiss that transformed him into a different creature, and I stepped towards the stairs, hands out as worry flared inside me like a hot coal.

  “What is it?” My whisper died as I realized he was looking over my shoulder. Whirling, I lifted a hand as liquid syllables began to tumble out of my mouth, the spell pulling massive power from the air around me with a static crackle.

  I bit down hard on my tongue just in time, tasting hot pennies as an envelope slid through the mail slot on my door; but I was already in motion. Leaping over the white paper, I tore the door open just as Wulfric reached the top of the stairs. Without a sound he jumped the entire flight to land next to me, hands up and rushing the door in blind fury.

  “Don’t get in front of me!” I barked as the door swung open to reveal an empty porch.

  Wulfric held back, but just barely, his shoulder cracking into the doorframe with a thunderous boom that shook the floor under my feet. He was a big man, moving fast, and it was only his reflexes that stopped him from spilling into the yard. His eyes were wide and alert, scanning the yard and street beyond like a predator, but I focused on the walkway that split my yard in two even halves.

  Footprints. Long, thin, human. Wet from the lake, and shaped oddly enough that I knew whoever left them had nails like a beast. So, not completely human, but quiet, sneaky, and able to read and write. That ruled out most of my usual targets.

  “Pick up the letter, babe,” I said over my shoulder. My eyes never left the street. It was the dead hour, two hours before dawn. A time of trouble.

  I heard Wulfric unfold the paper. Whoever wrote it, they weren’t doing so for a spell request. I could discern that by the noises.

  I felt Wulfric looming over me as he reached back and flicked the porch light on. “Here. I will watch.” He slid past me without a sound, filling my sight with his bulk and taking a defensive position on the porch. The paper was light in hand, not homemade or linen. Just paper, and thus, anonymous. I looked down with a mixture of anger and dread.

  You ask too many questions, little witch. Best close thine mouth.

  I can tolerate a lot of nonsense, but mixed grammar and speech patterns are a bridge too far. I let my emotions come over me in waves, because bottling them up would be utterly senseless. A witch without some degree of control is incapable of being trusted, and I was already on the edge of losing myself to something that wriggled within me, deep and unknowable. It was getting closer to a time when honesty would overwhelm any need for finding a way to fix myself; to go back, within my own spirit, and reset the tumblers of my heart so that I was pure and filled with the light of goodness.

  I’d known the risks. Here they were, in my hands in the form of a note that didn’t make me worried for Halfway. The note made me wonder what I would do. I knew that I was going to find this--thing; whatever it was, and kill it. I also knew shadows grew within me that would put Wulfric and Halfway at risk.

  It was time to take action, and not simple violence. I needed to get serious about a plan.

  “Carlie?” Wulfric’s simple question was everything.

  Looking up at him, I nodded. “I’m here. Just thinking.”

  “I can tell.” He fell silent. The house creaked somewhere, familiar and soothing to my frayed nerves. I felt my breathing begin to normalize, knowing that I had everything I needed to fix things. I simply wasn’t looking at the pieces in the right light.

  He looked down at the note, and his eyes were flat as stones. It was that particular lack of emotion that he wore when something was close to being torn apart by his big, capable hands. I touched his chest, smiling for the first time in a while. “I know you can fight for me, love. That’s one of the reasons I sleep well at night.”

  “I sense an amendment to your declaration of love,” he muttered while kissing my hair. His lips were warm, even through the barrier of my bedhead, and I leaned into him like a cat. He smelled warm. He smelled like home, and so many other things. My senses reeled as the floor spun slowly, like we were the center of things.

  “Yes . . . and no. There’s no end to my love for you, but there has to be a new beginning, and I’m the one who has to figure it out.” I held one of his hands between mine. They were long and powerful, but gentle, too. Just like him.

  “Where will you begin?” His eyes glittered in the dark, full of questions.

  I answered with care as something wriggled within me again. I was losing the moment. And my humanity. “Where I should have gone a long time ago.”

  “To Gran?”

  My eyes cut to the silver light, high in the predawn sky. The moon rested there, watching. “To her. I’ll find my answers there. In the light.”

  He answered the only way possible. Lifting me gently, I was carried upstairs, face buried in his neck as my body sang out with need.

  I held back the tears, ashamed of what I was becoming.

  Chapter Twenty-nine

  Sniff Test

  Anna exhaled a plume of cigarette smoke away from me, then drank half of a bucket-sized coffee she’d gotten at the gas station on the corner. She was engaged in her usual health ritual that included nicotine and sugar in amounts that would kill a rhinoceros. Since she was a werecat, I found that even more amazing, but then again, I eat waffles like they’re crackers, so I’m not sure I can judge other people about their life choices.

  We were sitting, along with her brother Alex, looking at the town coming to life as the sun crept higher over the mountains. Halfway was alive and well, even if I didn’t feel like joining the rest of humanity just yet. Alex sat across from me on the manicured grass, his usual inscrutable mood broken only by a small grin. It was good to see him. Anna, not so much, but we were okay for the moment.

  She pulled a small notebook out of her pocket and handed it to me. “I made a list of all the stuff, because of--well, I just made a list so you know what’s happening.”

  “Thanks,” I said, unsure why she felt that I was an accountant in my spare time. I flipped the glittery notebook open to see, sure enough, a list of everything for Amelia’s birthday party. It was written in small, neat letters, unlike what I’d expected. Sometimes, my opinion of Anna colors my mood, and I made a note to work on that. “This is really good; she’s going to love it. Actually, we’re all going to love it.” There was a bouncy house, no clown, and lots of sugary things to eat as well as balloons. In my book, that’s a perfect party.

  “I got a chocolate bowl fountain thingy, too. It’s low, so the kids can get in it and ruin their clothes,” she said with a wicked grin.

  “Oooo, I approve.” I laughed at the image of kids smeared with chocolate and felt the ice between me and Anna melt the tiniest bit. It’s not enough to get kids jacked up on sugar and send them home; one must assure their parents of food, or glitter, or dirt in amounts that render their family car a hazmat area. It’s all part of the unwritten birthday party code. Trust me.

  Alex leaned forward with interest. “There’s going to be things to dip in the chocolate, too. Like cookies and crackers and strawberries.” He looked even more serious, if that was possible. “I plan on eating all of the strawberries, just so you know.”

  “We can get more, loser,” Anna told him while rolling her eyes.

  “I don’t care. Even if you did, they would get in
them before I had a chance to pick the best ones,” he said with arch dignity. Apparently, Alex was really serious about his berry selection.

  “I can set some aside at the diner, too. No need to throw elbows at the hooligans.” I told him, but his only response was a disdainful sniff. He looked like Anna just then, and I laughed. “Don’t worry. I’ve got you.”

  “Now that His Highness knows he can eat, do you think it’s all there?” A wary note crept into her voice, and I knew she was embarrassed to ask for money.

  I squashed that immediately. Anna and I have our differences, but no one should feel bad about wanting things for their kid. I reached into my pocket and took out an envelope filled with cash. Wulfric had given it to me with some trepidation, unsure how the entire scene would play out, given our weird family dynamic. I reminded him that I killed monsters for a living, and he relaxed enough to kiss me before going to his shop. It was a good start to the day, even if I felt like the sun was already roasting me to a mild crisp.

  “Here. Take this, and spend it all. If it isn’t on the list, get it. We want you to have it, and take ten bucks and get your brother his own bucket of strawberries so he doesn’t sulk. Can’t stand a broody type,” I said, punching Alex in the arm.

  “Yeah, because Wulfric is such a chatterbox,” he said, but he was smiling.

  When I put the money in Anna’s lap, her relief was instant. She stood, hands wringing awkwardly as she looked down at me, tucking the envelope away without a word. We were in that strange place between wanting to hug and knowing that something would always be between us, so I took the first step. Standing, I reached out and hugged her lightly.

  “I. . .oh. Thanks, Carlie,” she said in my ear. I heard her sniff, then sniff again, but with a deeper inhalation.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked, pulling away to look at her in the brilliant sun. Spots swam in my eyes. It was almost too bright for me, and I felt tears welling up in protest.

  “Um, nothing.” Anna disengaged, looking away to her brother. “Ready?”

  My hand shot out, grabbing her wrist. “I asked you--oh, stars, sorry Anna.” I let go. Fast. My head swam again, this time from shame.

  She rubbed her arm slowly, never taking her eyes from mine. After a moment that grew fatter than the sun, she finally spoke. “You smell different, Carlie.”

  Anger flared in me again as my mouth moved before I could control it. “Really? How so, Anna?” My words were a hiss.

  She looked at Alex and began backing away. I noticed for the first time that she moved like a cat, even when in human form. It was elegant, challenging. When they were ten feet away and on the sidewalk, people began to flow between us, oblivious to our conversation. I thought she wasn’t go to say anything, but as she turned, I saw her lips move in a near silent proclamation. It came to me as a whisper.

  You smell dead.

  Chapter Thirty

  Sugar Rush

  “By the gods, it’s like thunder in my mouth!” Wulfric bellowed, exposing teeth and tongue that were stained an unearthly blue. No less than ten kids were piled on top of him as he lay sprawled on the lawn, roaring with laughter as they fed him an array of candy like he was a captive beast.

  “Pop rocks!” Screamed Amelia, plopped on his chest in the position of honor. She reached a chubby hand back to gesture like a surgeon calling for a scalpel. “An’ now we’re gonna make you eat worms!” This announcement produced gales of new laughter and shrieking loud enough that I winced. Nearly fifty kids had shown up for the party, and it seemed like every one of them had taken turns at hanging on Wulfric or making him carry them around like a tall, blonde elephant.

  Two little boys clenching fistfuls of green candy worms began dangling them over Wulfric with expressions of menace, but their smiles broke free as he opened wide to accept the gummy candy with an appropriate level of protesting.

  “He’s gonna eat it!” They shouted in unison, their high, piping voices taking on an entirely new level of drama. Eating worms was, for kids, the height of all things gross and icky, though I seriously doubted any of them had met an eel up close and personal.

  Wulfric bit down on the array of gelatinous worms, then slurped them in and cringed as the sour flavor kicked him in the gums. “No more! I beg of you, it is”--he pulled his lips back to reveal teeth smeared with lurid green bits of candy worm. “Too gross!”

  When he leaned forward, the kids shrieked again and tumbled off of him to scatter far from the threat of green worms. They left him sitting on the lawn for a blissful moment of silence, the party in full swing around us. He motioned me down to the grass, and I took a grateful seat next to him while he worked at his teeth, freeing shards of all manner of candy.

  “Are you okay? They fed you everything here, and some things I think they found at home, too,” I told him, picking a piece of lollipop from his hair. I had no idea how it got there, but it seemed par for the course. His upper lip was stained from something purple, and there were ice cream sprinkles coating the front of his shirt, as if he’d been working in a candy mine. It was an impressive display of items with little or no nutritional value. I heartily approved.

  “I am vaguely unwell,” he confessed.

  “I’m not surprised.” I looked around at the barely controlled chaos. Fifty kids can do a lot of damage to a yard. On enough sugar, I think they might be able to bring down a building or two. In particular, the bouncy house was a source of wild yelling and general shenanigans. Gran stood nearby, waving us over and pointing inside with a maternal lift of her brow. I saw Amelia plunge in through the mesh door, so I stood and tried to pull Wulfric to his feet. “Amelia’s in the bouncy house. I hate to bring this up, but”--

  He grimaced, lifting himself up with a grace beyond his size. “I know. I must enter that place and leap about while filled with noxious candy.”

  “And ice cream,” I added helpfully.

  “That was voluntary.” He took my hand as we made our way to his date with destiny.

  “The first two sundaes were fine. I think the second pair may have been overkill,” I explained. As his girlfriend, it was critical that I remind him of the silly things he did. It’s in the rules.

  “I cannot help it. The whipped cream makes me think I have more room. It’s evil,” he concluded. He’d consumed two cans of it on bowls of ice cream large enough that they had fog banks overhead. It was his own fault, but now, I relished the idea of watching him be ridden like a horse in the bouncy house, all the while regretting his life choices and sundae toppings. It was pretty much the best thing in the world to look forward to, until the next thing he did that made me love him even more.

  We stood in front of Gran, who bowed ceremonially toward the screaming mass of kids inside the inflatable castle. “Your chariot awaits,” she intoned, and the gleam in her eye told me she understood exactly what Wulfric was about to endure.

  He squared his enormous shoulders and adopted the grim visage of a man going to renew his driver’s license, and then with a final shake of his head, the mesh door swallowed him.

  The riotous whoops of joy began almost instantly as he was pounced upon by a dozen kids. As they rode him down, he turned to me with a final plea.

  “I’m too large for this structure. I was told there are weight limits!” His next words were muffled by a kid latching on to his head and bellowing something about a horsey. It was exactly as I’d anticipated, and even Anna shouted with laughter from the other side of the bouncy house.

  “You’re good, big guy,” I said in dismissal, but it was too late. They had him, and they were going to make him jump until he passed out or got sick, whichever came first. Kids can be ruthless when there’s play to be had.

  A hand tugged at my wrist, startling me away from the scene of joyful abandon.

  “What’s this?” Gran asked. She held my arm, pointing to a vine bracelet that circled
my wrist twice. It was plain save for a small shard of mirror woven into a loop, bright side down.

  It was no use lying, for she had her suspicions. I spilled the truth without a fight. “Preventative medicine,” I replied. “For?” She was going to make it difficult.

  I looked at Wulfric’s shape behind the mesh, jumping up and down with care as he held the hands of no less than four little kids. “Whatever it is I’m becoming.”

  We stood in silence as the party whirled around us, and the sun dipped behind a rare cloud. My chest loosened as the sun fled, if only for a moment.

  “Is there a solution? Other than masking?” My heart filled with hope and dread at the same time, fearing what the wisest woman I knew would say, but needing to hear it regardless.

  “There may be, but that depends on what your choices are. You may live for years while keeping the beast at bay, but one day it will find a hole and wriggle through, Carlie, and woe betide the people around you. All of the monstrous behavior you’re hiding will burst forth at once, and you’ll be powerless to stop it.” Gran looked at me with the saddest eyes I’ve ever seen. “I won’t be able to help you then, but I may be able to now. You’re stable for today, and you must be well rested. Take Wulfric home and cherish him; then go to work as you always do. Tomorrow night, we’ll take the next step in your education, and I’ll see if I’m witch enough to overcome the single thing that I’ve feared all my years.”

  “Blood magic?” I asked, low. No one could hear, but it seemed sacrilegious to utter such a thing around children. Or anyone, for that matter.

  Gran shook her head slowly, watching the children. “No dear. The thing I fear most is losing you.”

  Chapter Thirty-one

  The Party’s Over

  I don’t remember the next hours, because it was too much of everything. The noise, and smells, and emotions of so many children at play stabbed me to the core, and pangs of shame reared up every few minutes to remind me of my mistake.