10:23
Patti
Patti ducked her head around the curtain’s edge, careful to stay in the shadows so no one could see her. Her eyes tracked the folding chairs she’d helped set out in neat rows that afternoon. She scanned over the rows, looking for the two chairs with “reserved” signs written in her own handwriting.
A mom-type with her purse in her lap sat on one side of them and a little kid, way littler than her and her friends, sat on the other side with a dad-type next to them.
She bit her lip and forced a smile then hummed the first line of her solo, running her brain over the places that might be hard. Hard but not too hard for her! The teachers had thought a first grader was too young to play the lead in the grade-school musical, but she’d proved herself to them and gotten the part! Her moms were going to be so proud when they saw her singing!
Excitement bubbled up in her tummy and poured out of her mouth on a giggle. This was going to be THE BEST! She bounced on her toes and grinned madly. The Very BEST!
“Patti?” A voice called from behind her.
She turned, a frown forming as she saw the dark-haired lady in the doctor’s uniform standing in the shadows where the curtain met the brick wall near the door leading out of the auditorium. Patti didn’t recognize her or the lady with the fluffy light brown hair standing next to her. Maybe they were someone else’s moms? She didn’t know all the other kids’ parents. It was possible. But why was she calling Patti’s name?
Patti tilted her head and gave the lady a dubious look. “I’m not supposed to talk to strangers!”
“Smart,” the fluffy haired lady said. Then she looked at the darker haired lady. “Do it, Prairie.”
Prairie? Patti wasn’t sure but she thought that was a grassy place, not a person’s name! Weird. She turned back to look around the curtain’s edge and started thinking her way through the tricky music she was about to AMAZE PEOPLE WITH!
From behind her she thought she heard the lady say, “Okay.”
*
Tom. Otherwise known as Dempsey
Tom hitched the strap of his messenger bag over his shoulder then clenched his fingers around the fabric until his knuckles popped.
He reached his other hand up to massage the bones but didn’t release his grip on it. It was too important. He couldn’t lose it. Not when he’d only just found it. He’d barely even had a chance to explore its Magick before he’d gotten a nibble on one of the lines he’d cast out trying to find the Temple of Katonda W’ekyama.
Ever since he’d first read the name and his Magick pinged, telling him there was something important in the temple of the long forgotten god, something that he had to remove before it fell into the hands of people who would use it to cause destruction and despair, he’d been trying to find even a whisper of where the temple might be. Then he’d gotten a cryptic message through a source, third hand, directing him to a particular rainforest in a particular small nation whose name had changed multiple times over its history, the secrets of its ancient societies lost in the edits.
Several small and arguably undangerous, if you wiggled the definition, artifact sales later and he was on a boat, then in a sketchy bar in a sketchy port town, seeking and finding a guide to lead him through a jungle, following a vaguely defined path on a map that he’d found in an archive.
“Are you certain the temple is here?”
Tom focused on the guide, forging a path ahead of him with the help of a machete and a lot of determination. “I have searched for it many times and have never found it.”
Tom nodded. “The correlation data from various adventurer accounts suggest it.”
He strove to sound professional and adult. If the guide knew he was only fourteen he suspected he’d be out of a map and stranded in the foreign jungle while the guy went on to discover the temple. He was lucky he was big for his age and his voice had deepened anos before, but he knew it would take only the smallest slip to mess him up hard.
There was a tug in his gut as his Magick engaged. Excitement bubbled in his gut and he fought to hold back the grin demanding to curve his mouth. Serious. Professional.
Serious. Professional. He clenched his hand harder around his bag strap and pointed with his free hand. “That way!”
From behind him there was a whisper of sound. Instinctively he turned, free hand curving around the hilt of the sword hanging at his side. There was nothing there. He frowned, staring along the path carved into the jungle behind him.
Weird.
“Dempsey?”
He jerked around but the only thing in front of him was the back of his guide, hacking forward through the green wall of jungle.
*
Gwen gasped and arched off the ground. The scent of crushed herbs rose around her. She wasn’t an expert or anything. Not like Siobhan. So, she didn’t know what herbs just herbs.
She cast around with scrabbling fingers as she forced her eyes open. The action took more than a mikro or two.
Pink light played across her closed lids with vague bright bursts of hotter pink and some darker violet chasing across the surface. She had to lift her brows and then lift them further and had to draw in a deep breath and kind of lift her shoulders in a mix of upward movements before her eyelids got the message and cracked. First the right lifted enough for light to seep in, burning her iris and sending a jolt of pain through her brainpan. Then the left. Her vision was a bit fuzzy. She blinked rapidly until it cleared and she was able to focus. Then she reared back as her vision was filled with Dempsey’s face a scant inch or three from hers.
Her gaze narrowed on the small hoop in his lower lip like a magnet drawn to the metal. Huh, had she noticed that before? For a mikro or three she just stared – at the hoop, at his lip, at the rest of his face hovering close enough she couldn’t actually take in the entirety of it with steady gaze.
“Whoa!” She lifted her hand, frowning as the motion proved slow, then pressed it to Dempsey’s shoulder. “Hover much?”
He rolled his eyes and scoffed but didn’t say anything. Just kept hovering. Gwen lifted a finger very slowly and poked him in the nose.
Dempsey rolled his eyes again then pushed up on his arms and shifted his weight off of Gwen. Once she was no longer pinned by his considerable bulk, she brushed her hands from collarbone to chest, dusting off the invisible layer of emotion clinging to her. Not like an actual layer of emotion, but the metaphorical equivalent.
Sweeping away the lingering mix of joy, trepidation, confusion, and more, she tilted her head to look to the side where she felt someone hovering. Again, with the hovering.
At first she was hit with the wave of concern and relief flooding from the figure that appeared a dark form with a halo of sun behind. Then the vague image resolved into Siobhan with a concerned look on her face that reflected the emotion flowing from her into Gwen.
Gwen gave a watery smile. “Hey.”
“Hey. You scared us.”
“Scared?” Gwen pushed up to her elbows to better look at Siobhan.
Siobhan pursed her lips. “Your heart stopped and you weren’t breathing. Abe,” Abe leaned in over Siobhan’s shoulder and wiggled their fingers, “did CPR on you.”
“My heart stopped?” A rush of fear flowed through Gwen and she flopped back to the ground so she could grope at her chest, which she realized hurt.
“And you stopped breathing. Prairie too.”
“Prairie?” The mention of the name had Gwen quickly jerking to look around until her gaze settled on Prairie sitting propped up between Ben and Patti a stone’s throw from her. All three of them looked a little drawn and woozy.
Prairie raised a hand and waved at Gwen. “Welcome back to the land of the living.”
“We died?”
Prairie shrugged.
“I think so. But,” her expression brightened, “we’re better now!”
“We died.”
At Gwen’s repeat Prairie’s gaze went inward and she looked down. “Sort of? I think. I don’t know. I’m not sure if I stop breathing and my heart stops when I go into Spiritus on my own, but I don’t think so. I think it may have been my bringing you in that did it.”
Gwen gulped and then drew happiness around her, letting it soak in until it felt more her own happiness and less like a slick of emotion floating over her own. As it settled into her breath and bones she let herself smile, projecting a small thread of happiness to Prairie. Prairie’s expression visibly relaxed and her shoulders lowered as Gwen’s projection settled into her.
“It’s okay,” Gwen said on a smile. Prairie gave her a closed mouth smile and nodded.
Gwen turned her attention to Siobhan. “Did it work?”
Siobhan cast a glance back at the fountain where Ivan stood with hands braced on the bowl. “We got the fountain fixed but we still need to heal the hedge.”
“What are we waiting for?”
A smile quirked the corner of Siobhan’s mouth. “You. To not be dead.”
“Not dead,” Prairie called over. “Not really.”
“Chest compressions say otherwise.”
Prairie gave a rueful look and shrugged. “I can’t argue with that.” She lifted a hand and gently prodded her chest. “Did someone do CPR on me?”
Dan walked over from where he’d been propping up the hedge with his shoulders and lifted a finger. “That would be me.”
“Thank you.” The smile Prairie gave Dan lit up her face. “That was very thoughtful.”
“Welcome.”
Gwen raised a hand towards Siobhan. “Give me a hand?”
“Always.”
“Excuse me.” Ivan stepped around Siobhan and walked over to where Prairie, Ben, and Patti were still leaning against each other. He held a hand out to Prairie. “Need help?”
Prairie eyed his hand then slanted her gaze up to his face. A slow smile bloomed, pushing up her cheeks into apples and lighting her eyes, and she reached up and took Ivan’s proffered hand. He pulled her up to her feet then slanted a glance down at Ben and lifted his brows.
Ben scoffed then shoved himself up to his feet before turning around and offering Patti a hand up. Patti took it with one hand while carefully holding Sass’s house against her leg with the other so it didn’t swing out when she gained her feet. She teetered for a mikro then shook her head and focused her gaze on Siobhan.
“Let’s get to the fixing. The sooner my back is to this creepatorium the better.”
She turned and glowered at the hedge standing quiescent and not all looking a menace, then shuddered and crossed her arms over her chest. Sass leaned out the window of her house and added its murine glower then shook a tiny fist.
Ben nodded and shot a finger at Patti. “That.”
Prairie let go of Ivan’s hand which she’d been holding since he helped her up then walked over to Siobhan. “Do you need help?”
Siobhan looked at the hedge again then bit her lip and shook her head. “Kim pulled the water from around the roots and redirected it to the fountain. I just have to,” she wiggled her fingers at the hedge then crossed her arms over her chest, “do my thing.”
A wave of uncertainty and concern along with a healthy dose of existential dread travelled from Siobhan with the words. Gwen pushed up from the ground, stepped around Dempsey, and walked over to her friend. She poked Siobhan in the ribs under her crossed arms. When Siobhan looked down with a frown, she poked again. With each poke she shoved a little confidence into Siobhan. Just subtle. Under the hard poke Siobhan probably wouldn’t even sense it. When Siobhan frowned at her and shook her head with an expression like ‘what the fuck?’, Gwen dug her fingers in and tickled.
“Tickle, tickle, tickle!”
Siobhan sidestepped to avoid Gwen’s fingers. Gwen stepped right in and kept tickling.
“Gwen!”
Gwen wiggled her brows. “What?”
“Are you nuts?”
“I don’t know, am I?”
Siobhan snorted then gave Gwen a big smile while shaking her head. “You are. Crazy creature of chaos.”
“Hmm, kind of like that. Can I get it on a nametag?” She jabbed her finger into her boob. “I can pin it right here.”
She fell easily into her role of silly friend. It was one she’d cultivated long time. Easier than letting the melancholy that was the cost of her Magick seep out and burden anyone else. Probably she didn’t need to do it with close friends like Siobhan, but it was just second nature at this point to do it. She forced a smile and a shrug then settled her hands on Siobhan’s hips and made a twisting motion in the direction of the hedge.
“Daylight’s burning.”
Siobhan relaxed into the direction, turning towards the hedge. She gave Gwen a rueful smile then squared her shoulders, firmed her jaw, and headed towards the hedge. Gwen followed along like her hands were velcroed to Siobhan, pushing a little more confidence into her friend with each shuffling step.
Siobhan stopped in front of the hedge and laid her palms on it then twitched a look back over her shoulder at Gwen. Gwen lifted her brows and gave a go-on jerk of her chin at the hedge. Siobhan bit her lip, nodded, then turned back to the hedge. Gwen felt determination and a surge of confidence flow through Siobhan, not encouraged by her but a natural flow of emotion.
For several mikros that was the only thing that happened. From behind her Gwen heard someone shift their weight. Someone else must have plunked down as a waft of crushed herbs flavored the air. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Dan walk up to the hedge a bit down the way and peer in to stare at the foliage. Another rustle indicating someone walking towards her, followed by Kim’s whispered, “Hey.”
Gwen turned to look at Kim. She echoed back the word on an equally hushed tone. “Hey.”
“You died.”
“Think so. Better now.”
“You scared the shit out of me.” Kim quirked her brows. “Like I need clean underwear.”
“Gross.”
“Don’t do that again.”
“Die?”
Kim jerked a nod. “Die.”
Gwen pursed her lips. “No promises.”
Kim chuckled on a soft exhale. “You make me nuts.”
Gwen cocked her head and winked. “Make?”
“More nuts.”
Prairie walked up next to Kim. “Hi.”
“Hi.”
“Are you feeling okay?”
No ‘are you okay’. ‘Are you feeling okay.’ Smart girl, that Prairie.
Gwen wasn’t sure of the best answer to that. Instinctively she wanted to say “yep, sure, totally fine,” but was she really? Maybe it was time to stop with the blithe answers to people she was either coming to trust or who she already did. “No. But, I’ll get there.”
Prairie gave her a tight close-mouthed smile. “Thanks.”
“For what?”
“Being okay with not being okay?”
“It’s okay to not be okay.” It was an easy answer. The kind she often tossed out to reassure others. But, really, maybe there was something to it. It was okay to not be okay. To not always be happy. To let people see something beyond the surface skim.
Before she could dwell more, Siobhan drew a loud, deep breath, drawing Gwen’s attention. She turned as Siobhan lowered her hands from the hedge. Gwen released her grip on Siobhan’s hips and took a step back. “Good?”
Siobhan jerked her head towards the hedge. Where before there was an unbroken wall of foliage there was now an opening wide enough for two people to walk through if they didn’t have particularly wide shoulders. Above the opening, spelled out in twisting vines covered in white and pink flowers so thickly the vines might as well have been made up of petals, was the message, “A perfect bride listens and learns.”
Gwen swiveled her head to look at Siobhan with lifted brows. Then she drew a long, deep breath and quirked her mouth. “I’m getting a little tired of these pointed messages.”
Siobhan smirked. “You and me both.”
Patti sidled up and tilted her head back to read the message. “I don’t know. They are growing on me.” She looked over at Siobhan with a twinkle in her eye and rolled her lips over her teeth. “Get it? Growing?”
Ben sauntered up and draped an arm over Patti’s shoulders. “You are so funny. It actually hurts.”
Patti shrugged his arm off and turned to give him a mock glower. “Shut it.”
Quirking his brows, Ben made like he was turning a key over his mouth. Patti snorted a laugh and shook her head at him.
Siobhan planted her hands on her hips as she contemplated the message in the vines then looked at Kim. “We listened and learned. Think we’re perfect bride material?”
Kim’s expression was serene for all of a mikro then she burst out laughing, the outburst hard enough to jolt Gwen both physically and Magickally.
Kim cackled. “Yeah. No.” Then she straight up hee hee’d, snorted, and wiggled her brows at Siobhan. “The Perfect Bride doesn’t eat her friends.”
Siobhan graciously cocked her head. “Failed that.”
To which Kim lifted a finger. “Me too.”
Even as Siobhan and Kim chuckled conspiratorially Gwen felt the heaviness they were covering in their hearts. Swallowing the need to either address it or smooth it over, she gave a big smile and swept her arm towards the opening in the hedge. “Can we get out of here?”
“Please!” Patti almost hollered. “Happy to oblige!”
She stepped around Siobhan, Gwen, and Kim and walked through the break in the hedge. Ben quickly followed her and then Dan and Abe followed them.
Ivan started through the entrance then cast a look back at the cluster of Siobhan, Kim, Gwen, and Prairie. “Coming?”
Gwen waggled her brows. “Not even breathing hard!”
This startled a laugh out of Ivan. His teeth gleamed on a broad smile, the shape of it framed by his dark goatee, and transformed his face from just handsome to fucking devastating. Then he shook his head and ducked to clear the opening in the hedge which was low enough to brush the top of his head. Dempsey hefted his shield and followed behind Ivan. He stopped in the gap in the hedge and turned back. “Let’s go.”
“Sir,” Gwen gave him a jaunty salute with two fingers to her temple, “Yes, Sir!”
Dempsey rolled his eyes then turned and walked through the hedge. Determination and resolve rolled off him, drifting over Gwen like a warm blanket she just wanted to grab and pull up beneath her chin. She jerked her attention from his squared shoulders and back to her friends, blinking several times as she got her mind settled.
Kim’s gaze went from the hedge to Gwen then back to the hedge then back to Gwen. She lifted her brows and gave Gwen a look from lowered lids. Gwen poked her tongue out at her and scrunched her face to which Kim chuckled.
“Want to get out of here?”
“So much!” Gwen responded with perhaps a little more enthusiasm than was called for.
Siobhan lifted her skirts enough to clear her boots and stepped through the hedge. Kim and Prairie followed, leaving Gwen the last in the garden. She cast a quick look over her shoulder, taking in the picture the garden made. So bucolic. So pretty. So deceptively serene.
She let her gaze drift to the right, her attention coming to rest on the raised bed nearest the hedge wall. A wash of stale emotion floated towards her as a ghostly image of Kim hovered over where her friend was pulled into the earth. A head shake and a shift of her eyes and she was looking at the residual emotional stamp of Patti, Ben, and Dempsey laid out like the dead with vines piercing their souls. Though watered down there was an echo of the joy pouring from them, conflicting with the horror she’d felt.
Though stale, watered down by the meros passed, the emotion still reached for her, as insidious as the roots that had found their way into Ben, Patti, and Dempsey’s brains. She took a short step to the side and brushed her hand across the air, wafting the emotions away on the air currents before they could sink their hooks into her.
After a short swirling attempt to drift back towards her which she fended off with another drift of her hand, the emotion settled over the landscape then sank into the plants and earth in the raised beds. Silence, physical and metaphysical, settled over the space and Gwen was able to take an unrestricted breath.
Stripped of the soporific effect of others’ feelings, her heart surged in painful jerks and starts, drumming painfully against the cage of her ribs as she let herself feel all the feels she’d pushed down in order to be able to be marginally functional and not curled up in a corner of the garden with her arms over her head.
A hard breath in. Hold for three. Release for three.
Another draw in for three. Then a hold of three and she let the emotions creep out of the lockdown in her heart and brain and let herself feel them.
Her lungs seized and her brain stuttered. But then she breathed out. One, two, three, pushing the fear, horror, loss of control, feelings of inadequacy, of her complete inability to fix all the things out with the air. In this way, little by little, she released the build up inside herself. Air in, toxins out. Air in, toxins out.
Calm settled over her like a weighted blanket, pressing down and filling in the empty spaces the emotional fug left bare. Her hands rose to her collarbone, grasping the ephemeral weight as she gave the garden one last sweep of her eyes.
Satisfied both with the external landscape and her internal one, she nodded. Then she took a deep breath through her nose, opened her mouth, and screamed. And screamed and screamed, the sound warbling as she ran low on air.
She really leaned into it, ribs forward, eyes bulging and fists resting against her collarbones. The scream dwindled into a quiet wheeze and her chest ached from the vacuum of release. Only then did she close her mouth, plaster on a placid smile, and step through the gap in the hedge.
Enter The Woods 