Carla nodded. “Well, then, we can all have tea. How about that?”
“Sounds good. I’ll go get him.”
***
“I forgot to tell you,” Airy said, as she and Fehin were getting ready for bed. “I think I have a new power. I can feel what others are feeling and I can change their minds.”
Fehin came out of the bathroom, a toothbrush in his hand. “How does that work?”
“I was talking to this girl at school. She’s one of those people who don’t care about anything but how they look—completely wrapped up in her own little world--you know the type. Well, anyway, I touched her on the arm for some reason and I said something about poisons in the environment and what was happening to the creatures as a result of this…and she said, ‘Wow, I didn’t know that.’ And there was a different look in her eyes.”
“Could be she was primed for it.”
“I don’t think so.”
“It sounds like a definite asset, if it’s real, but touching everybody in the world could prove difficult.”
“Maybe it can happen without touching. Maybe it’s from looking into someone’s eyes.”
“Still, Airy. Are you going to look into every single persons eyes on the planet to convince them to walk across a bridge?”
Airy frowned and turned away. “You’re so negative. I thought it was pretty cool.”
Fehin grabbed hold of her arm. “I didn’t mean to be negative, just playing the devil’s advocate. Before I lost my magic I could deflect people’s thoughts, but what you’re talking about sounds even better because it might last more than a minute or two. I suggest we find this girl and see if something has changed in her life.”
“I know her schedule because we shared two classes. Let’s do it tomorrow.” Airy glanced at him. “What about you? Can you do anything yet?”
His expression darkened. “If you’re talking about magic I check it every morning and every night and sometimes in between. So, no, I can’t.”
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I wonder what’s keeping your magic from coming back?”
Fehin shrugged. “Maybe I have to kill Wolf to get it back.”
“Are you serious?”
Fehin pressed his lips together. “I don’t know—just an idle thought. But I’ll tell you, if he keeps this shit up he’s going down.”
40
“There’s someone lurking around down there,” Carla told them the next morning when they came into the kitchen. “He got here early. Either that or he’s been here all night. He doesn’t look like a very savory character to me.”
Fehin went to the window. “It’s Wolf. I’ll go see what he wants.”
Airy grabbed his arm. “What are you doing? The last time we saw him you punched him. You think he’s here to have a nice little chat?”
“I’m not afraid of him.” And oddly, this was true.
“From what I know you should be,” Carla remarked.
Fehin glanced from Carla to Airy and then opened the door, pulling it shut behind him. “What are you doing here?” he called, heading down the stairs.
Wolf looked up and then ran his thick deformed-looking fingers through his hair. “Sam asked me to get you back on board.”
“Bullshit, Wolf. I know that isn’t true.”
Wolf smirked. “Maybe I just wanted to see you.”
“That isn’t true either.” Fehin had to look up to meet Wolf’s eyes and what he saw in them made a shiver run down his spine. He waited for Wolf’s response.
“I have some news from Far Isle I thought you’d be interested in. Your mother’s sick. Brandubh got a message to me.”
“Really? How does that work, exactly?”
“Unlike you, I have my telepathic abilities.”
“Thanks for the message. What do you really want from me?”
Wolf paused for a moment and then he smiled. “I want you and the girl to give up your idea of saving this place. I like it just the way it is. I’ve made inroads into several lucrative businesses.”
“Okay, this I believe. Gambling and drugs, perhaps prostitution?”
Wolf looked surprised. “I thought you said you didn’t have magic.”
“Don’t need magic to figure that out.”
Wolf turned away and then said over his shoulder. “Take care of the girl—she just might have an accident.”
“You fucker!” Fehin lunged after him, grabbing him by the shoulder, but this time Wolf was prepared. He hit Fehin in the face knocking him back and bloodying his nose.
“You can’t win, Fehin. It’s either my world or yours and without magic you’re pretty much stuck. My powers are returning.”
Fehin wiped his nose on his sleeve and then turned to see Airy running down the stairs toward him. “Are you okay?” she asked, grabbing hold of his free hand and trying to look at his face.
“Fine,” he said, pushing her away. He followed her up the stairs and into the townhouse. When Carla tried to help, Fehin shook his head, heading alone into the bathroom. He cleaned himself up and checked his nose to make sure it wasn’t broken. He felt raw with anger, his entire body trembling with it, and when he took one last look in the mirror the expression on his face was not familiar. Something was happening to him and he had a feeling it was Wolf’s doing. Wolf was infecting him with his own darkness and making Fehin into a monster.
When he came out again Carla and Airy were sitting at the table talking in low voices. They both looked up, their expressions questioning.
“He might not seem that dangerous but Wolf could cause a lot of problems.”
“He seems plenty dangerous to me,” Carla said. “He’s a brute and after what he did to Airy I wouldn’t put anything past him.”
Fehin glanced at Airy. “You need to stay close to me at all times. That bastard just threatened you.”
Airy’s eyes went wide. “What did he say?”
“Just that you might have an accident. If what he said is true, that he’s acquiring his missing powers, he could seriously thwart every single good thing we’re trying to do.”
“What does he want from you?”
“I think he wants to
be
me. I don’t want to scare you, but he may want you for himself. And that really worries me.”
Carla gasped. “You need to call the police.”
“And tell them what? That my brother hit me in the nose?” Fehin shook his head. “I have to take care of this myself.” Fehin thought about what Wolf had said about his mother. Could it be true? Without magic there was no way to find out.
***
They were sitting together on a stone bench on campus and Fehin had just spent the better part of an hour explaining what Wolf had done in his world of the future—the reason why Fehin had conjured the island. When he glanced over at Airy her face was pale. He shouldn’t have gone into so much gory detail, he thought, watching her. There was something working inside him that was seriously fucked up. Right now he wanted to score some heroin and let all this shit go away for a while. He thought of the sweet oblivion and then remembered coming down off it and the racking shakes and sickness. It was worth it.
“What if he does that here?” Airy asked, bringing his attention back.
“If he starts killing people the police will pick him up. He can’t get away with mass murder. But I bet he could manage to rape and pillage and keep under their radar.”
“What should we do?”
Fehin stood and grabbed her hand, pulling her up. “Right now we’re going to see what’s happened with that friend of yours. Hannah? Is that her name?”
Airy smiled. “Her name’s Allie. Here she comes,” she added, pointing. “Hey, Allie!” she called out as the blonde girl came closer.
“Hi, Airy. Why weren’t you in class?”
Fehin looked closely at her eyes. They were light blue and guileless.
“I dropped out. Allie, this is my boyfriend, Fehin.”
“Nice to meet you, Fehin. Airy has told me some good things about you.”
Fehin smiled. “I’ve heard good stuff about you too.”
“Really?” Allie looked puzzled. “Well, good to see you. I have to go to my next class now.”
Airy watched her disappear into a throng of students and then turned to Fehin. “What do you think?”
“Hard to know. She seemed perfectly nice.”
“She wasn’t like that before.”
He shrugged. “Should we get some lunch?”
Airy looked away for a moment and when her eyes met his they were troubled. “Remember what you said about paying your own way? Carla and I talked about it the other day. She thinks you should get another job.”
Fehin was instantly furious. “And what about you? Just because your parents are still filling your bank account with money means you don’t have to work?”
“Well, I…”
“You
what
, Airy? Goddamn it, I thought we were doing something here. Fuck you,” he said, and then turned and walked away. He had an overwhelming desire to hit something or beat someone up but instead he balled his hands into fists and tried to push the feeling down.
41
“Slow down, Airy,” Carla said, placing a hand on her shoulder. “It’s hard to believe Fehin could act that way.”
“I’m not making it up,” Airy said. A second later she was sobbing.
“So this was over getting a job? He’s the one that brought it up in the first place.”
“I told him you and I talked about it. That’s when he blew up. You should have seen the look on his face—I thought he was going to hit me. I’ve never seen him like that.”
“Sit down, sweetheart. I’ll make some tea. You need to calm down so we can talk about this rationally.”
“Where’s Fan?” Airy asked, looking around.
“She’s at her Dad’s house for a couple of weeks.”
“A couple of weeks? Why so long?”
Carla moved to the stove and put the kettle on and then turned to face Airy. “I thought it best with everything that’s been going on.” She paused and then started again. “You said Fehin was on drugs for a while. Do you think he’s using again?”
“How would I know? He seemed the same until that day with Wolf.”
“Drug withdrawal can cause these sorts of behaviors. And from what you said he was into some nasty stuff. Honestly, I think it was the morphine that started him down this road.”
Airy nodded, thinking back to the shakes he’d had after they left the hospital, his fevers, the depression. It must have set something up in his system—primed him for more drug use. “It’s like our destiny is to go through one horrible thing after another. Maybe the bridge is between the two of us.” Airy looked up and then wiped her eyes with a napkin.
Carla frowned. “His magic has not returned which must make him feel impotent, especially since yours is growing. Didn’t you tell me about a girl that you influenced just by touching her?”
Airy took a tissue from the box on the table and blew her nose. “I hadn’t thought of that.”
“When he comes home we have to confront him about the drugs. If he’s using we need to get him into rehab.”
Fehin didn’t come home that night nor the next or the one after that.
By the morning of the fourth day Airy was frantic, sure that Wolf had killed him.
“I’m calling the police,” she told Carla, picking up her cell phone.
“I think that’s a good idea.”
After breakfast Airy announced she was going to try and find him. She’d called the police but their response had been less than encouraging.
“Airy, if he’s with other drug addicts it could be dangerous.”
“Where would they hang out?”
“Wait for the police. That’ll be the first place they look.”
“They’re not going to do anything. They were completely disinterested.”
“I’ll go with you.”
Airy shook her head. “I’m going on my own.” She grabbed a jacket and headed for the door. “If I’m not back by dinnertime let the police know that it’s because of their ineptitude.”
“Airy! I don’t think this is a good idea,” Carla called out as she opened the door.
She closed it behind her and hurried down the steps and then jogged toward the harbor. She’d seen a lot of homeless around there. It seemed a good place to start, especially since Fehin got along so well with them.
“Have you seen this man?” she asked the first person she came to. He had filthy dreads and was wearing ragged jeans and a shirt way too big for him. His eyes were clouded over and she wondered if he’d even heard her, but when she held her phone out showing Fehin’s picture, the guy at least looked at it.
“He might have been here. How badly do you want to know?”
Airy reached into her pack and pulled out five dollars. When she handed it to him he perked up. “I saw this dude yesterday.”
“What was he doing?”
“He was with some guy that looked like Frankenstein—the two of them were headed that way.” He pointed south along the harbor.
Airy knew who Frankenstein was from her movie going days on campus. Sounded like Wolf to her. But why would they be together? She walked along the harbor, scanning the hidden places between buildings. There were groups of homeless but none of them had Fehin in their midst. They ignored her as she moved by them.
When she reached the industrial section she could feel the familiar magnet-like pull in her abdomen. Fehin was close. And then she saw Wolf walking toward her. She hid behind a metal container.
“Think you can hide from me?” Wolf sneered, coming up behind her.
She let out a shriek and jumped away. “Don’t hurt her,” another familiar voice said. And then Fehin appeared behind his half-brother.
“Fehin!” She was about to go to him but the expression on his face stopped her. He looked ragged and beat-up, a scraggly three-day growth adding to the impression. His eyes were molten with anger.
“You’ll get out of here if you know what’s good for you,” he rasped. And then he and Wolf walked away together as if they were best friends.
Airy watched them and then followed, trying to stay out of sight. She kept her thoughts neutral since Wolf was so adept at reading minds. When they disappeared inside a container she stayed put waiting for them to reappear. It was fifteen minutes or so later that they came out again and this time there was a very thin woman with them and another guy who looked half-dead.
She followed them to a small tent set up behind a stack of pallets and then watched them lift the flap and crawl inside. It was a long time before Airy found the nerve to creep closer. She was a foot away from the flap but there was no sound coming from inside. Finally after several minutes of this, she peeked through the opening. All four of them were sprawled on their backs with their eyes closed. They all looked dead. Rubber tubing, needles and other drug paraphernalia lay strewn around them. Airy’s hand went to her mouth, stopping the scream that rose into her throat.