Thirteen.
Pears and Partings
I was getting a crash course in magical creatures, and I was determined not to drown in the tidal waves of new information. So far, the fact that stood out the most was that the different races did not get along. Nøkkens and Fossegrimens actually despised each other. Nik and Foss were so antagonistic, Uncle Rick sat in between them as if they were children needing a timeout. I recognized this because he’d done it quite a few times when he babysat Linus and me. Though, to be fair, we were actual children, not grownups behaving so.
“You should be hanged by your fiddle’s strings for drinking out of our river!” Nik shouted. Actually shouted.
“That river belongs to the Fossegrimens, and you know it! Flanders the Terrible won it when he conquered your mountains to the east.”
“It wasn’t his to gamble! It’d be like you betting a rainbow on a poker game. You can’t promise a river you don’t own to someone. Typical Grimmen society. Pretend there’s a rule to follow when it suits you, ignore it when it doesn’t. Plunder and pillage.”
“At least my king doesn’t allow the Nøkkendalig to fester in our waters!” Foss said with his nose and fist in the air.
Then the fighting really picked up.
This stupid river was a huge source of contention between these two peoples that sounded pretty similar. Nøkkens apparently could persuade people with songs, while Fossegrimens used their fiddles. I didn’t see the difference, but boy, did they ever. The two could’ve been cousins. Fighting like brothers. Over a river and a bet placed half a century ago.
Jens eventually threw them out to go fistfight in the backyard to give the rest of us some peace.
Good luck, Nik. Foss is friggin’ huge.
Jens brought in the baskets the mean girls left for him and put them on the counter for everyone to indulge in before night fell, and we set out on our journey. Jamie had gone to speak to his father about destroying the portal, and Uncle Rick left to check on his progress, mentioning something about King Johannes of the Tonttu being a slight bit temperamental.
I lay back on Jens’s straw mattress and stared up at the roof. I tried to push out thoughts of my family by focusing on the details of the cabin. Wood roof, black pitch to seal it, no furniture other than one workable chair and one in shambles, and no personal touches.
Jens and Tor began making travel plans and stuffing my green pack and other provisions into Jens’s Mary Poppins bag while I tried to stay out of the way of the warriors. Every now and then, I felt Jens staring at me, but I ignored him. Britta began speaking in a quiet voice to him, so I decided to give him some privacy to say goodbye to his sister.
Tor went to go break up Nik and Foss, who were still fighting near the elderberry bushes lining the back of the house. The giant sun was just low enough in the sky that I could see on my own and get around without assistance.
I decided to walk the property in the midday light (that was actually their dusk, bright as it was). It was kind of peaceful. I never spent much time on farms. We mostly migrated to apartments and low-rent motels.
There were rows and rows of pea plants and gourds. Then there were a few lines of cornstalks, which led to a miniature orchard. The tallest non-fruit tree with the thickest trunk had a Frisbee-sized circle carved into the bark, and I wondered what significance that held.
I strolled through apple, peach, cherry, mulberry and pear trees, breathing in the crisp scent of nature that was so pure, you could almost taste the green. I couldn’t imagine why Jens would take a gig watching my family pick up and move all over the nation when he could be out in this beauty, but whatever. He was running from something here; that much was clear.
My stomach lurched, reminding me of how little food was in it. I studied the bounty around me, deciding which piece of perfect fruit would hit the spot. I landed on the largest pear I’d ever seen and made quick work of polishing it off.
I sat down under the pear tree and closed my eyes. The day was too much to compartmentalize without something spilling over. Emotion caught in my throat, but thankfully stayed away from my tear ducts when I thought of my dad’s body being desecrated by this Pesta character. I mean, what kind of sicko uses dead people’s bones for making a door? Granted, a magical one, but still. I was grateful I’d had the option to get Linus cremated. My fist clenched around the heart-shaped vial that hung at my collarbone containing my brother’s ashes.
Moisture welled in my eyes and finally spilled over. I gritted my teeth in anger at myself for giving in to this crushing feeling of being so overwhelmed with lies.
I’d pictured my family as rotting skeletons before. It’s inevitable with that much death hitting you at once. But now the skeletons were mangled. Probably missing femurs and arms and whatnot. I wiped my tears away, determined those would be the only ones for now. I was glad I was alone.
And then I wasn’t. That familiar creeping tingle in my spine that I was being watched hit me, so I straightened and destroyed all evidence of the childish crying. I stood and took a few steps, the grass keeping my movements from being heard.
Whatever was there was following me.
My pulse spiked, and I felt like a wild animal caught in the crosshairs.
Then I ran, not caring that I looked like a clumsy idiot when I did so. If it was Helsa and those girls, they’d have to catch me first. I looked over my shoulder once I was closer to the cabin and saw Jens running after me. I slowed to face him. “What are you doing?”
“Me?” he questioned, coming to a stop. Of course he wasn’t as winded as me. “What are you doing? Going off on your own without telling anyone where?”
“I didn’t leave your property!”
“Yeah, but I didn’t know that.”
Then something clicked in my head. “Was that you back there? Were you invisible… watching me?” When Jens nodded with a note of hesitation in his eyes, I grew indignant. “You’re not allowed to spy on me! Sometimes a girl needs a moment to herself. My whole world just… That wasn’t for you to see!”
He shrugged at my outburst, making me angrier. “It’s okay for you to be upset, Loos. It’s kind of a big deal, learning about Pesta and the portal and all that.”
“I’m glad I have your permission,” I snarled. In the back of my mind, I knew he wasn’t really being a jerk, but I carried on anyway, taking my pain out on him. “Spying on someone when they’re having a private moment isn’t cool. If you wanted to check on me, you didn’t need to creep on me like that. You want to see me? From now on, I’ll need to see you. No more stealth observation of the human.”
His green eyes gave me attitude before his mouth even opened. “Fine! It’s my job to keep you alive, you know. If you’re going off for ‘a private moment’, tell me where you’re going. Now that you know I’m here, keep me in the loop so I don’t have to follow you.”
“You’re off the hook, John.”
His fists clenched and his pitch rose. “Knock it off! You know my name now.”
I could see it bothered him when I called him by the wrong name. That quickly made its way up my list to weapon number one to be used whenever he needed to be taken down a peg.
“Whatever. You don’t have to watch me anymore. I’m not paying you to keep me alive. My parents aren’t footing that bill anymore, so if I want to walk in broad daylight in a field, leave me alone about it.”
“Yeah, you didn’t hire me, Moxie, so you can’t fire me. Stop picking a fight with me just so you don’t have to feel sad.”
If I were a dragon, this would be the moment I breathed fire. “You don’t know me!”
He came back just as spirited. “I think what you mean is that you don’t like that I know you. Well, too bad!” His arms flew out in exasperation. I got a waft of sugar cookie scent, and almost softened as he yelled. “I know you threw up when they made you dissect that pig intestine in Bio. I know you’ve had one friend in all your moves that you actually liked, and you hate me for taking her aw
ay from you. I know that you think jogging is a waste of time, and you put way too much peanut butter on your toast. How can you even eat it like that? It’s disgusting!”
“What?” I was perplexed at the barrage of snooping he’d done, and the odd things he had strong opinions about.
“You think designer coffee is for posers, and you had a crush on that Jeremy guy at that school in Jersey, but you were too afraid to make a move. What a chicken! He would’ve said yes!”
“How did you know about Jeremy?” I demanded, my chest heaving from embarrassment and fury. I scratched an itch on my elbow. “I never told anyone that.”
“I read your journal.” The moment the words were out of his mouth, I could tell he wanted to shove them back inside.
“You read my journal?” Even saying the words aloud stung. “You read my journal.”
“I was bored!” Jens ran a hand through his messy black hair, and I relished his obvious discomfort at having admitted this criminal offense. “And it’s my job to keep you safe. Teenage girls are secretive.”
“No!” I shouted, knowing I was headed down a dangerous road. “It wasn’t your job to keep me safe. It was your job to keep us safe! I’ve got nothing! No one! I don’t care about me! Give me back Linus! Give me back my parents! They were your responsibility, and you let them die!”
Jens looked like I’d punched him, which was now on my bucket list. “How was I supposed to know they made a deal with Pesta?”
“What? They wouldn’t be in cahoots with that witch.”
Jens nodded. Despite his stoic features, his eyes gave away how much I hurt him with my outburst. “I went home for a day to grieve for Linus. I was a mess, Loos.” He rubbed the back of his neck, his eyes refusing to meet mine. “Linus was real bad off right before the end.”
“Don’t you dare talk about Linus! Don’t say his name!” I yelled, my heartbreak hurting anew.
Jens held up his hands to show me he didn’t want to fight. He lowered his voice to calm the mood as best he could. “Pesta can’t take anyone who doesn’t give themselves to her. She can’t get out of Be, Loos. Your parents snuck back into Undra the night before Linus… you know.” He gulped, nervous I would lose my mind on him.
Good. He should be afraid.
“Your parents spoke with the Mouthpiece. The Mouthpiece is a guy Pesta sends her soul to inhabit so she can have a voice among us. It’s how she can interact with the rulers of Undra without leaving Be. Anyway, they met with the Mouthpiece, struck a deal trading their lives for yours and Linus’s. Your dad didn’t know she was going to build a portal with his bones, or that she’d renege.”
Too much information raced through my brain, crowding out any chance of peace. I backed away from Jens, stunned beyond tangible thought. “But… but the cops said they were killed in the car wreck. I saw the report!”
“The report, but not the bodies.” Jens shrugged slowly, so as not to spook me. “It was a trade for you and Linus. It was the only way they could think of to save him. Pesta’s a pretty powerful siren. Has access to all sorts of magic.” His hands reached out and clutched both of my shoulders, making sure I heard him. “Lucy, I didn’t know what they were up to. I should’ve, but I didn’t. I… I… all of it. My fault. They thought they were saving Linus and keeping you safe.” He rubbed my shoulders, trying to soften me through my thunderstruck demeanor. He brought me closer, his hands stretching behind me to rub my back.
Then he was hugging me.
“They didn’t want that life for you. Moving around all the time, never being able to hold onto your friends. They hated it. Sure, they were alive, but Pesta won every time she got close and you guys had to pick up and move. So they surrendered, and Pesta agreed to heal Linus and leave you alone.” He closed his eyes. “You know how that ended. Pesta kept your parents in Be and didn’t lift a finger to heal Linus.”
After several steadying breaths, I relaxed in his arms, hating the girl in me for breaking down when I should have been running. My voice came out a scared whisper, as if I was afraid my words were powerful enough to shatter glass. “I knew something didn’t line up. No bodies? I should’ve fought harder for answers.”
“You were scared.” Jens rubbed my back in a way that suggested a lifetime of knowing how to hold me, but never having been given the opportunity. He was equally strong and gentle, supporting my physical and emotional weight as important details of my life shifted and crashed over my head like so many tons of bricks. His hands spanned the breadth of my back, holding me together so I didn’t break into seven uneven pieces. “Your parents loved you.”
The knot in my chest I didn’t realize had grown too tight began to loosen. Inch by inch, I could feel my ribs expanding and contracting, giving me a small bit of myself back in that one conversation.
Jens nestled his chin in my hair and raised his thumb to my cheek, wiping one of my tears away. “I was so turned around. Alrik’s the one who put it all together. He beat it outta the Mouthpiece. Every detail. He’s been on a mission ever since, putting pieces together and making plans.”
There were too many things to say. Too much confusion and emotion to be rational. I was in this beautiful field, and Jens was giving a small piece of my parents back to me.
I tried hard to think of something to say to make sense of things, but I stopped short when an arrow flew through the air and landed square in the center of the large non-fruit bearing tree. The tip sunk deep in the circle that had been carved into it, evoking a girlish squeak of surprise from me. I was feeling childish for overreacting, but when my gaze fell on Jens, a lump rose in my throat.
On alert all at once, Jens released me, and then grabbed my shoulder to make sure I was looking at him. “Run! Get inside and find Foss. Stay right with him, Loos. Go!” He pushed me toward the cabin.
Tenderness over. I was too scared to argue, given the concern in his eyes. I obeyed, bolting as fast as I could.
He hoisted himself up in the branches, yanked the arrow out of the tree and pulled out a quiver and bow hidden in the limbs. I screamed as an arrow flew overhead, as if in answer to the other.
Jens slung the weaponry over his shoulder and followed behind me, passing me with his larger gait. He flung open the door and shouted, “Now! Something went wrong with Jamie and Alrik asking King Johannes for permission to destroy the portal. Journey starts now, guys.” He snatched up his red pack and shoved some food from his cabinets inside. He spoke above the commotion to Nik, Foss and Tor. “King Johannes hates me. Jamie just sent a message his dad’s coming for me. I have to turn invisible to get us out, which means like it or not, we’re all holding hands.”
Tor spoke up, hefting his pack on his back with a ready expression. “Yer not strong enough to vanish all of us. Ya’ve only got two hands.”
I could tell Jens was irritated at the solid logic. “Fine.” He switched his backpack so it was hanging off his front. “Lucy, get on my back. Nik and Foss, take my hands. And Tor…”
“I can vanish Tor,” came a quiet voice from the doorway. Britta spoke with her chin high and a knife in her hand, though I could tell she was scared. “Don’t argue, Jens. We don’t have the time if you want to get to the portal before King Johannes comes for you.”
Jens stared at his sister with a grave expression. “Fine, but you’re to come right back after we reach the border. Understood?”
Britta nodded. “Of course. I can vanish Lucy, too.” She held out her hand to me.
Jens shook his head, his eyebrows knit together. “No. She’s my charge.”
“Alright. Let’s go, Tor the Mighty.” She tucked the knife in a small sheath in her apron pocket and clutched Tor’s hairy hand. In the next breath, they both vanished before my eyes.
There was no time to comment on this. Jens pulled me onto his back and grabbed onto the other two, turning all four of us invisible as we stepped out the front door. His quick decisiveness meant that no one was pursuing us just yet, and Jens made quick use o
f the small advantage we had.
I clung tight to him, not holding back my small noises of anxiety at danger creeping up on us so fast. An adventure with Uncle Rick sounded doable, but actually starting out and feeling the fear of the chase was a new thing entirely. While the others would surely be in trouble for pissing off the Tonttu king, I could only imagine what they would do to the human oddity if they were mad at me. I held tighter to Jens, since he was my ticket out of here. I could feel his heart beating hard as I palmed his chest, and wondered how far he would have to run us to get us all to safety. I heard footsteps ahead of us, accompanied by Tor’s occasional grunts at trying to keep up with the female gazelle.
We ran toward a rectangular structure about a mile away between Jens’s house and a landscape of ominous gray mountains. When we neared the rectangle, I cringed when I realized it was a door made of bones. It had a faint glow of blue wafting out of it, and when we finally reached it, Jens passed Nik and Foss off to place a hand on Britta to be vanished.
I slid off Jens’s back, but he grabbed my hand and moved it to the waist of his jeans at the small of his back. “Hold onto me,” he instructed, fishing through his red pack and pulling out the rake. “No matter what, don’t let go.”
“Okay,” I answered, my voice pinched. I saw armed men charging from the castle that was miles away toward the village where Jens’s house stood.
The portal was in the middle of a few clusters of trees, tall and thick, but were it not for the vanishing, we would have been seen for certain. Jens was breathing hard as he held up the rake like a hockey stick. I stayed directly behind him so I wouldn’t get my head taken off by his powerful swing.
In one swoop, Jens knocked the bones of the crest of the arch to the grass. The blue light turned red like a silent alarm, and I tried to keep my fear to a mere whimper. Jens finished the job in three more whacks, and I watched the red light power down like an overused battery.
Jens stuffed the rake into his pack, hoisted me up on his back and resumed his hold on Nik and Foss. Tension was high as they all made excited comments while we ran toward the mountains.
The first portal was destroyed, and it hadn’t really been all that hard.
We were half a mile away before we heard angry soldiers shouting. Despite his obvious fatigue, Jens picked up his pace. We were running toward rolling green hills and a space beyond that which was entirely rock, followed by towering mountains. I gulped and tried not to think of my fear of heights. Jens would stay with me through the whole journey. Every step would be guided and guarded by him. For reasons I was not ready to delve into, this quelled my fear.
I looked over my shoulder when we reached the top of the first large green hill to catch one last glimpse of the beautiful farming land. Jens slowed and turned, too, and we gasped as one. In the spot where his home was now stood a towering flame that was quickly catching onto the trees in his orchard. Jens allowed a noise of despair before returning to the flight out of town.
Now the scope of the journey was sinking in. There would be no peaceful encounters with these people concerning the portals. We were on a mission with grim odds, and there was no way out but forward. For me and now Jens, there was no going home.