Chapter Eighteen
It had been hard staying asleep with Ivy's crashing around this morning, coming in about ten, showering, by the sound of it, and leaving an hour later. Jenks's kids hadn't helped either, flying up and down the hall playing tag with Rex. Nevertheless, I buried my head in my pillow and stayed in bed as seven pounds of kitty fur slammed into walls and knocked over an end table. I was tired, aura sick, and depressed-and I was going to sleep in.
So several hours later, when Jenks locked Rex in my room to get his kids to shut up for their noon nap, I barely heard the front door open and the soft steps pass my door. Ivy, I assumed, and I sighed, snuggling deeper under my coverlet, glad that she'd found a shred of kindness and was going to let me sleep. But no. I was never that lucky.
"Rachel?" came a high-pitched whisper, and the sound of dragonfly wings susurrated into my dream of amber-tinted fields of grain. Pierce was stretched out in them, a stalk of wheat between his teeth, gazing up at red clouds. "You can't kill me, mistress witch," he said, smiling before he vanished with my conscious thought and I fully awoke.
"Go away, Jenks," I mumbled and pulled the blanket over my head.
"Rache, wake up." There was the scrape of my drapes being opened and the harsh clatter of Jenks's wings. "Marshal is here."
"Why?" Lifting my head, I squinted through my hair at the sudden light.
The memory of steps in the hall resurfaced, and I rolled to see my clock. Ten after one. Not much of a sleep-in. The sun was bright through my stained-glass window, and it was cold. Rex was a warm puddle at my feet, and as I watched, she stretched, ending it with an inquiring trill to Jenks, now standing beside the stuffed giraffe on my dresser.
"Marshal is here," he repeated, his angular face looking concerned. "He brought breakfast. You know, doughnuts?"
I propped myself up on an elbow and tried to figure out what was going on. "Oh yeah. Where's Ivy?"
"Out pricing new refrigerators." His wings blurred into motion, and he rose, his reflection in the mirror making twice the glow. "She spent the morning at Cormel's, but she came back to shower before she went out. She told me to tell you that since you're not in the ever-after today, she got an appointment to see Skimmer at six."
Six? After sunset. Nice. I had wanted to have lunch with my mom and Robbie today, but I could postpone it a little. "I heard her come in." I sat up and blearily looked at the clock again. I didn't like that Ivy had been with Rynn Cormel, the pretty monster, but what could I say? And why does my mouth taste like apples? Leaning over, I pulled Rex across the mounds of covers to me for a cuddle hello. I liked her a lot more now that she would let me touch her.
"Are you going to get up?" Jenks added, his wings hitting a pitch akin to nails on a chalkboard. "Marshal is in the kitchen."
Doughnuts. I could smell coffee, too. "I'm not even dressed," I complained as I let go of Rex and swung my feet to the cold floor. "I'm a mess." Thank God it's daylight, or Al might come over and decide to take him, too.
The pixy crossed his arms over his chest, giving me a superior look as he stood beside my giraffe. "He's seen you look worse. Like the time you rolled your snowmobile into those fir trees. Or when he took you ice fishing and you got minnow guts in your hair?"
"Shut up!" I exclaimed as I stood. Rex jumped to the floor and went to stand under the doorknob, waiting. "And stop trying to fix me up with him," I said, fully awake and irritated. "I know you asked him to come over."
He shrugged with one shoulder, looking embarrassed. "I want you to be happy. You aren't. You and Marshal have a good time when you do stuff together, and Pierce is dangerous."
"I'm not interested in Pierce," I said, glaring at Jenks as I shoved my arms into the sleeves of my blue terry-cloth robe and tied it closed.
"Then why are you hell-bent for pixy dust on trying to rescue him?" he asked, but the severe attitude he was trying for was ruined by the smiling stuffed animal beside him. "If it wasn't for him, you wouldn't have hurt yourself last night."
"Last night was me trying to keep Al from abusing his right to check on me to abduct other people," I said in a huff. "That it might get Pierce back is no small thing, but do you really think I'm only going to rescue people I want to jump in the sack with? Not that I'm looking to jump in the sack with Pierce," I amended as Jenks raised a pointed finger. "I rescued Trent, didn't I?"
"Yeah, you did." Jenks dropped his hand. "I never understood that either."
Rex stretched on her hind feet to pat the doorknob, and I went to my dresser for a set of undies. "Hold on, Rex," I crooned. I knew how she felt. I had to go, too.
"Rache, even if you do help him, I don't trust the guy. I mean, he's a ghost!"
My eyebrows rose. This is why he's suddenly gung ho on Marshal, I thought. Jenks thought he was the safer of the two. Irritated, I slammed the drawer shut, and he rose up in a burst of light. "Will you get off it!" I exclaimed. "I am not attracted to Pierce." At least, not enough to do anything about it. "If I don't make Al treat me with respect, everyone around me is in jeopardy. Okay? That's why I'm doing this, not because I need a date."
Jenks's wings hummed. "I know you," he said in a hard voice. "You can't get to a happy ending from here. You're self-sabotaging by chasing something you can't have."
Self-sabotaging? Is he not even listening to me? Black socks in hand, I looked up at him, finding we were eye to eye. "You watch too many daytime talk shows," I said, then shut the drawer. Hard.
Jenks said nothing, but his words kept pricking me as I yanked a pair of jeans off a hanger. Mia had said I was running, afraid to believe someone could survive being with me, that I'd be alone out of fear. She said that even though I lived with Ivy and Jenks, I was still alone. Upset, I looked at my sweaters, stacked up in the organizer Ivy had gotten me, not really seeing them. "I don't want to be alone," I breathed, and Jenks was suddenly at my shoulder.
"You aren't," he said, his voice heavy with concern. "But you need someone besides me and Ivy. Give Marshal a chance."
"This isn't between Marshal and Pierce," I said as I pulled out a black sweater. But my thoughts kept returning to Jenks yelling at Ivy to pick me up because he was too small to do it. Ivy couldn't touch me or show me she loved me without that damned blood lust kicking in. I had good friends who would risk their lives for me, but I was still alone. I'd been alone since Kisten died, even when Marshal and I did stuff together. Always alone, always separate. I was tired of it. I liked being with someone, the closeness two people could share, and I shouldn't feel I was weak for wanting it. I wouldn't let what Mia said become the truth.
Tucking my clothes under my arm, I smiled thinly at Jenks. "I hear what you're saying."
Jenks rose up and followed me. "So you'll give Marshal a chance?"
I knew his being too small to help me had torn him up. "Jenks," I said, and his wings went still. "I appreciate what you're trying to do, but I'm okay. I've been picking myself up off the floor for twenty-six years. I'm good at it. If Marshal and I were to change things, I'd want it to be for a real reason, not because we were both lonely."
Jenks's wings drooped. "I just want you to be happy, Rache."
I glanced at Rex, twining about herself under the knob. "I am," I said, then added, "Your cat needs to go out."
"I'll get her," he muttered, and when I opened the door, both he and the cat darted out.
"Marshal?" I peeked around the door frame to find that Jenks and Rex had already reached the back living room and that the hall was empty. "I'll be right there."
From the kitchen came the sound of a sliding chair, followed by Marshal's familiar, resonant voice saying, "Take your time, Rachel. I've got coffee, so I'm happy." There was a hesitation, and as I waited to see if he was going to look into the hall, he added in a preoccupied voice, "What's in the potions? It smells like carbonic wax."
"Uh," I stammered, not wanting to tell him they didn't work. "Locator charms for the FIB. I have to invoke them and put them in disks," I added so he'd leave them alone.
"Cool," he said softly. The squeak of Jenks opening the pixy/kitty door was obvious, and confident that Marshal wasn't going to peek into the hall, I made the dash to my bathroom, easing the door closed when I heard Jenks and Marshal start to talk.
"Oh, that's nice," I whispered when I saw my reflection. Black rings made an obvious showing under my eyes, and I was as pale as Jenks's ass. I'd showered before bed to try and warm up, and sleeping with damp hair had left it looking like snakes had been in it. Thank God Marshal hadn't come out of the kitchen. My complexion amulet would take care of the circles, and I got the water going and slowly undressed while I waited for it to warm.
Carefully, until I knew how dizzy it would make me, I sent my awareness to my ley line out back. Vertigo eased in, and I let go of the line immediately. I wasn't going to be setting a circle any time today, but it was better than last night, and I hoped I wasn't putting myself in danger by walking around not able to set one.
"Nothing different from the first twenty-six years of your life," I whispered, but then again, I hadn't had vampires, demons, and freaked-out elves gunning for me then either.
Because I was mindful of Marshal waiting, my usual twenty-minute indulgence became a hasty five-minute splash-and-dash. My thoughts kept cycling between Marshal in my kitchen and Pierce in the ever-after. Complaining to Dali wasn't a good option. Neither was trying to jump the lines until I could hold one without pain. Al wasn't playing fair, and it was up to me to make him. There had to be a way to get him to respect me other than resorting to Dali.
But my mind stayed blissfully empty all the way through the shampoo, rinse, and repeat.
It was finally the low rumble of Marshal's voice as I was toweling my hair that reminded me I had a more immediate problem sitting in my kitchen drinking coffee. I swung my hair around and wiped the mirror clear, wondering what I was going to do about this. Jenks had probably filled his head with nonsense. I couldn't be Marshal's girlfriend. He was too good a guy, and though he was able to react in a crisis, Marshal probably never had people trying to kill him.
I dressed quickly, then yanked a brush through my damp hair and left it to dry. Jenks's voice was clear as I opened the door and padded stocking-footed to the kitchen. I entered the sun-drenched kitchen to see that the fridge was duct-taped shut, but otherwise normal looking. Jenks was at the table with Marshal, and the tall man looked like he belonged, sitting with the pixy and one of Jenks's kids fighting his noon nap.
Marshal met my eyes, and my smile faded. "Hi, Marshal," I said, remembering how he had helped Jenks and me in Mackinaw when we really needed it. I'd always be grateful for that.
"Morning, Rachel," the witch said as he stood. "New diet plan?"
I followed his eyes to the fridge, reluctant to tell him I'd blown it up. "Yup." I hesitated, then, recalling him visiting me in the hospital, I gave him a quick hug, hardly touching him. Jenks rose with his kid and moved to the sink and the slice of sun. "Any news on my classes?"
Marshal's broad shoulders lifted and fell. "I haven't checked my e-mail today, but I'm going in later. I'm sure it's just a glitch."
I hoped he was right. I'd never heard of a university refusing money. "Thanks for breakfast," I said as I looked at the open box of doughnuts on the counter. "That's really nice."
Marshal ran a hand over his short black hair. "Just checking on you. I've never known anyone to sneak out of the hospital before. Jenks said you had a run-in with Al last night?"
"You made coffee?" I said, not wanting to talk about Al. "Thanks. Smells good." I headed for the carafe beside the sink.
Marshal clasped his hands in front of himself and then let go, as if realizing how vulnerable it made him look. "Ivy made the coffee."
"Before she left," Jenks offered, sitting on the spigot with a kid sleeping on his lap.
I leaned against the sink and sipped my coffee, eyeing the two men at opposite ends of the kitchen. I didn't like my mom playing matchmaker. I liked it even less when Jenks tried it.
Marshal sat back down. He looked uncomfortable. "So, your aura looks better."
A sigh slipped from me, and I relented. It had been nice of him to visit me in the hospital. "It's getting there," I said sourly. "That's why I was asking Al for today off, actually. Apparently my aura is too thin to travel the lines safely. I can't even make a circle. Dizzy." And it puts me in so much pain I can't breathe, but why bring that up?
"I'm sorry." Marshal took a doughnut and held the box out to me. "It will be okay."
"So they tell me." Coming forward, I leaned over the center counter to take a glazed. "I'm thinking next week it will be back to normal."
Marshal glanced at Jenks before he said softly, "I meant about Pierce. Jenks told me you saw him in the line, and then Al took him. God, Rachel. I'm sorry. You must be really upset."
I felt the blood drain from my head. Jenks had the decency to look discomfitted, and I set the doughnut on a napkin. "That's an understatement. I didn't know I had that particular hole to plug. Just one more thing for Ms. Rachel to fix." Along with finding Kisten's murderer. I am a freaking albatross.
The witch rubbed a hand over his short hair, only two months long. "I understand. When someone you care about is in danger, you'll move the world for them."
My blood pressure spiked, and frowning at Jenks, I put a hand on my hip. "Jenks, your cat is at the door."
The pixy opened his mouth, looked at my grimace, then took the hint. He exchanged some male look with Marshal that I couldn't interpret, and with the sleeping child on his hip, he flew out. He looked kinda nice with a sleeping child, and I wondered how Matalina was doing. Jenks had been very closed-lipped about her lately.
I waited until even the humming of his wings was gone, then sat across from Marshal. "I only knew Pierce one day," I said, feeling like I owed him an explanation. "I was eighteen. Jenks thinks I'm looking for men I can't have a real relationship with so I don't have to feel guilty about not having one in my life, but really, there's nothing between Pierce and me. He's just a nice guy who needs some help." Because he has the misfortune to know me.
"I'm not trying to be your boyfriend," Marshal said to the floor. "I'm just trying to be your friend."
That hit every single guilt button I had, and I closed my eyes to try to figure out what I could say to that. Marshal as a friend? Nice thought, but I'd never managed to have a male friend I didn't end up in the sack with. Hell, I'd had thoughts about Ivy, for that matter. Marshal was the longest I'd ever seriously known a guy without letting it spill into the physical. But we weren't really dating. Were we?