Authors: Tammy Blackwell
“
And who is this you have
with you,
Bombon
?”
She asked once she pulled back.
“
This is Scout. She’s a
Shifter.”
I’m pretty sure neither of the adults would
have looked more shocked if he told them I was an alien.
“
Hi,” I said, bouncing
awkwardly from one foot to the other. I lifted a hand, thinking I
would shake theirs in that whole nice-to-meet-you thing done in
polite society, but then decided that would just make things more
weird, so I stopped with it kinda stuck out, but not really out far
enough to be seen as an invitation. As an attempt to make things,
me in particular, seem less awkward, it failed
miserably.
“
Forgive Liam’s manners,”
the lady said, recovering much more quickly than I did. “I tried to
teach the boys, really I did, but this one was a lost cause.” There
was no real venom in her admonishment, just the same exasperation
my mother had in her voice when she spoke about Jase. “I am Miriam,
dear. And this is my husband, Hank.” As she came forward I offered
out my hand nice and proper, but she ignored it to wrap me in a hug
almost as bone-crushing as the one she gave Liam. “We are so, so
very happy to have you here,
Princesita
.”
Over Miriam’s shoulder I could see Liam. I
had already figured it out, but if I hadn’t, his complete
embarrassment over her enthusiasm would have clued me in on their
relationship. If I had to venture a guess, I would say these were
the people who took in Liam after his parents died.
“
Oh, you’re a beautiful
one,” Miriam said pulling back. I decided she was either really
blind or really kind, because not only did I look wrinkled,
rumpled, and generally icky, I smelled it, too. “I don’t think I’ve
ever seen another arctic wolf, and certainly not one such a pure,
silvery white. And your eyes, it’s like God carved out two perfect
pieces of a glacier and put them in your head.” She patted my
cheek. “Honestly, I don’t know if beautiful is a strong enough
word. You, my dear, precious child, are magnificent.”
“
Ummm…. Thank you?” I
blinked my eyes a couple of times to make sure that my contacts
were still in place. “So, you… what? See a Shifter’s animal
form?”
“
No, dear. I see a person’s
true form.”
My true form? I was in my true form. Okay,
minus the contacts and wig I was in my true form.
“
Speaking of true forms,”
Miriam continued, “where is my little imp? Did you leave him to
carry in all the luggage again, Liam?”
There are a whole host of things I firmly
believe I will never see in my life, like the University of
Kentucky winning the Rose Bowl, Paris Hilton taking home an Oscar,
or world peace. Up until that moment, seeing Liam Cole, who spoke
of the murder of his parents and sister with complete stoicism, cry
was at the very top of that list.
“
How long ago?” Hank asked
when Liam just stared at the floor instead of answering the
question. Miriam moaned, a truly heartbreaking sound. When Liam
looked up, a single tear traveled from the inside corner of his
eye, down his nose, and gave up just shy of his mouth. One tear,
and it ripped me apart more than any of Talley’s sob sessions had
ever done.
“
April.” I didn’t even
realize I was crying too until I spoke. “Alex died in
April.”
“
How?” It was Miriam who
asked. “Did they find--?”
“
It was an accident. He
fell.” Liam cleared his throat. “The Change couldn’t fix it because
there was a lot of debris, and--”
He didn’t get to finish his sentence because
Hank had grabbed him up in a fierce kind of hug. A second later,
Miriam joined in. As I stood there and watched the people who had
loved Alex mourn his death, I couldn’t help but think he was
finally getting the memorial he deserved.
Chapter 15
Miriam called it the guest
room, but I knew better. A tattered copy of
Ender’s Game
and an old PSP resided
in the top drawer of the bedside cabinet. Framed pictures of famous
Parisian landmarks hung on the walls, but a Halle Berry poster hid
on the inside of the closet. And, most telling of all, the pillows
inside the shams sported Spider-Man pillowcases.
I expected to dream of Alex that night since
I was surrounded by his things, but I woke up disappointed. I
considered hiding out in the room until someone came and forcefully
removed me, but the smell of pancakes proved too great a
temptation. I found Miriam alone in the kitchen, her hips swinging
in time to Cee Lo as she spooned more batter onto the grill.
“
Butter and syrup, fruit,
or chocolate chips?” she asked without turning around.
I pulled myself up onto a barstool.
“Chocolate chips, please ma’am.”
Miriam’s laugh was just as warm as the rest
of her. “A southern arctic wolf. Doesn’t that just beat all?”
It didn’t seem like the sort of question
that required a response, so I didn’t give one. I liked Miriam and
all, but I’ve never enjoyed interacting with strangers. I never
know what to say or how to act. If it wasn’t for the promise of a
carb and sugar ladened breakfast, I would be taking my introverted
self elsewhere. Miriam seemed to understand, focusing on her chef
duties instead of interrogating me or trying to make idle chit-chat
the way some people might. I snagged a left-over cookie from the
Snoopy cookie jar and watched her work while my mind floated off to
unhealthy places, like trying to imagine Alex and Liam sitting in
this kitchen waiting for their breakfast before school. What were
they like then? She had called Alex an imp. Did he pull pranks? Use
his charm to get out of trouble? And what about Liam? What kind of
teenager would he have been when there were adults around to take
some of the responsibility off his shoulders? Did he smile?
Laugh?
“
You’re thinking awfully
hard for someone who just woke up,” Miriam said, sitting a large
plate of pancakes and sausage in front of me. “Just a warning,
dear, the sausage is turkey. Hank has some heart issues, and I’m
trying to make him eat a bit healthier.”
“
We have turkey sausage for
the same reason at my house." I took a bite, smiling as I chewed so
she would know I liked it. Or, at least, that was the emotion I
meant to convey. Instead, I looked like a mentally challenged
homicidal maniac. I know because I caught my reflection in the
super-shiny refrigerator.
Miriam didn’t seem to notice. Or if she did,
she was too polite to cringe and run the other direction. She
wasn’t, however, too polite to stare at me. Intently. For a really
long time.
“
I’ll put the contacts and
wig back on if it’ll make you more comfortable.” I tried to sound
nice about it, really I did, but my annoyance was more than
evident.
“
What?” Miriam looked
perplexed, but then the pieces slid together. “Oh no, dear. There
is nothing at all wrong with the way you look.”
Of course there wasn’t.
“
Listen, I like you. You’ve
given me food and a bed, even knowing what I am and how dangerous
it is for you to do so. I appreciate it more than I can say. So,
please, don’t screw it all up by giving me that crap. We both have
eyes, and I’m way past the point of being sensitive about it.
Pretending I look like a normal girl is just going to piss me
off.”
I usually wasn’t so blunt about it with
adults, and the few times I had said something similar to teenagers
it was met with lots of stuttering and red cheeks. A few even got a
little angry themselves. Miriam surprised me by laughing a big,
natural belly laugh.
“
Oh, this is good,” she
said once she regained her breath. “Liam has finally met his
match.”
I decided she deserved my ire. “Speaking of
His Royal Crankiness, where is he?” I couldn’t scent him in the
house anywhere, nor could I hear him outside.
“
That nice but entirely too
serious young gentleman you came with is out taking care of some
business today. It’s just us girls.”
Uh-oh. I did not like the
sound of that one little bit. I am so not a Girl’s Day kind of
girl. I’m more of a Nose in Book Day or
The Walking Dead
Marathon Day kind of
girl. If she expected me to get a pedicure and talk about my
feelings we were in for a long and painful experience.
“
When you get done with
breakfast we’re going to head into town to do some
shopping.”
Oh God. It was worse than I thought.
“
I’m actually supposed to
be keeping a low profile…”
“
No worries,” she said with
a wave of her hand. “The shop we’re going to belongs to a friend of
mine. They’re closed today, but he’s going to let us grab what we
need.”
Knowing we wouldn’t be surrounded by a bunch
of people or get harassed by saleswomen who seem way too eager to
give me a bra fitting helped. I wouldn’t say I was excited to
change into my one and only clean outfit and head out into the
not-so-thriving metropolis of Fargo, North Dakota, but I wasn’t
dreading it with every fiber of my being either.
***
“
Miriam!” The owner of the
quaint little store stood waiting for us on the sidewalk. “It’s
simply marvelous to see you.” Krummholz was a sporting goods place,
so I was expecting a gruff old hunter or maybe a has-been athlete.
Instead, I got a gay man with skin a bit too dark for the frigid
North and rock hard abs evident beneath his thin grey
sweater.
“
Spence, you are so sweet
to agree to see us today,” Miriam said, kissing him on the cheek as
if we were French or something. “I owe you one.”
Spence’s face lit up and I couldn’t help but
notice how handsome he was. The handsomeness, however, was lost in
the tiny surge of power I saw come off of him at the same
moment.
“
What are you?” The words
slipped out before I realized it was probably a bad
idea.
“
I’m a small business
owner. What are you? A pseudo-goth? Misguided hipster?” He reached
out to flick the ends of my wig, and I growled at the invasion of
my personal space. Spence snapped his hand back as if it was on
fire.
“
Sweet baby Jesus and his
mama Mary! You’re a… You’re…” His eyes darted up and down the
street. “In the store. Now. Both of you.”
I scurried right in, but Miriam sauntered
her way through the door, rolling her eyes when they met mine.
“Spence, I would like you to meet Elizabeth.”
Spence threw the deadbolt on the door.
“Please, tell me that’s not your real name.” He threw up a hand.
“No. Don’t. Don’t tell me anything. I don’t want to know anything.”
He turned to Miriam. “I mean it. I don’t want to know anything at
all. This isn’t my world. Not my problem. Not my neck to be stuck
on the line.”
“
Don’t be silly, Spence.”
Miriam breezed towards the back of the store. Not knowing what else
to do, I followed. “Of course this is your problem. A Seer cannot
simply hide his head in the sand just because he doesn’t like
politics.”
“
A Seer?”I stopped next to
a display of bug repellent. “But you’re a boy.”
Spence lifted an eyebrow a full inch up his
forehead. “And you’re a girl, Little Miss Shifter. These things do
happen, you know.” He studied the display with a critical eye,
moved around a few canisters to make the shelf look fuller, and
then continued. “And, for the record, I’m a man. I passed 'boy'
without so much as a glance many years ago.”
Of course I knew guys could sometimes See
things, but it was still strange to me. I was certain Spence wasn’t
a Shifter, and somehow I had, without conscious thought, decided
all male Seers were like Alex.
“
What do you See?” I asked,
once again trailing behind Miriam.
“
Jesus, have you no manners
at all? I thought Southerners were supposed to be all genteel and
shit.”
“
And I thought gay men were
supposed to be fashion-conscious,” I said looking at the ugly white
tennis shoes peeking out from underneath his slightly wrinkled and
overly long khaki pants.
“
Are you stereotyping
me?”
I finally caught up with Miriam, who was
looking at a wall of shoes. “You did it first,” I retorted.
“
Children, please,” Miriam
said, picking up a hiking boot. “
Dulzura
, Spence doesn’t like to speak
of his gift and prefers to ignore it. Please be considerate of his
wishes on the matter.” She turned to Spence. “As for you, she is a
Shifter in need of your assistance, not to mention still a child.
Quit antagonizing her, and help her find a pair of boots. Liam said
she needs something good for climbing, and they have to be
weather-resistant.”
Spence’s eyebrow traveled way up north
again. “Liam? She’s Liam’s?”
“
I came here with Liam. I
don’t belong to him like a piece of property.” Of course, that
wasn’t exactly what he was implying. My blood threatened to rush to
my face at what he was implying, especially since it brought the
memory of our not-really kiss up to the forefront of my mind. “Why
do I need boots?” I asked Miriam to distract from the whole issue
of Liam and me.
“
Dear, I don’t question
Liam. I just do as he asks, and he asked me to get you some boots
and thermals.” She held up the hiking boot. “What do you
think?”
“
It’s ugly?” I’m not really
into clothes and shoes and stuff, but I wasn’t sure the leather and
mesh lace-up atrocity she displayed was even intended for females.
“Do you really take orders from Liam?”