Authors: Lilian Carmine
Eventually, Mom was persuaded to take Miss Violet and the boys to the kitchen to hear what had happened and to have a hot cup of tea to calm her nerves. Tristan took off his coat and dirty shirt, and lay down on the couch. I lay down next to him. We were so tired we could barely talk. I don’t remember anything else after that. Somehow a blanket and pillow were “magically” produced for us, and we fell asleep right there on the couch for the rest of the night.
The house was dead silent when I blinked awake the next morning. Then I heard noises coming from the kitchen. I knew it was my mom, because she tended to drag her feet way too much over the floor. She shuffled her way to the living room and sat on the couch in front of me. I felt a little uncomfortable lying with Tristan like that while she was watching, so I risked a peek, opening my eyes slowly. Mom was looking at us intently. Okay. Definitely weird, having your mom stare at you while you lay with a boy wrapped around you. Definitely on my Top Ten Awkward Moments list.
I shifted slightly, trying to dislodge myself from Tristan’s hold without disturbing his sleep. I thanked the gods that my arm didn’t hurt when I moved. Tristan didn’t move an inch after I left the couch; his body just slumped a little forward but remained in almost the same position.
“Hi, honey.” My mom smiled at me, trying to keep her voice low. “How are you feeling?”
“I’m okay. We were so tired last night. I don’t even remember falling asleep,” I said, rubbing my eyes.
“How is he?” she asked, worried.
“I think he’ll be fine,” I said, watching him sleep.
“Seth told me everything that happened yesterday. You were really brave, Joe. I’m so proud of you.” She squeezed my hand.
“Really? Thanks, Mom,” I said, a little surprised. I’d been thinking she was going to bite my head off because of what I did last night! And she was actually congratulating me? I rested my face on my hands and watched Tristan sleeping. He looked so peaceful. So perfect. For a second I lost myself and completely forgot that my mom was by my side, but her voice snapped me back to reality.
“So, how long have you two been together?” she asked, casually.
“What?” I said, deciding to go for the act-dumb routine.
“Joey, I’m not that stupid! You practically have stars coming out of your eyes every time you look at him, and he’s so gaga over you he’s not even bothering to pretend to hide it any more! I know intimacy when I see it,” she finished smugly. Mom and her freaking detective skills! This was definitely in the running for number one on the Awkward Moments list!
“I hope you’ve been using protection,” she continued, taking my silence for an answer. “I’m too young to be a grandma,” she muttered to herself.
Okay, I stand corrected. This was definitely number one on the list.
“Oh my
God
, Mom!” I mumbled, burying my red face in my hands. It was too early in the morning to be having
that
conversation. In fact, it would always be too damn early for that conversation!
My mom smiled at me kindly. “He’s your first love,” she said quietly. After a few minutes of silence she spoke again. “I’m worried about you, Joe.”
“About me? Why?” I asked in surprise.
“Listen, munchkin. I know how it is, to be in love. I
also
know how it is to lose the love of your life. Some people never recover from it. I’m worried about you, because I can see how much you love him … and the end of the year is coming. Honey, please, you must still prepare yourself for the possibility …” She trailed off, unable to continue her sentence.
I knew what she was going to say next. I tried to look away, but Mom touched my face softly, making me look at her again. “I’m sorry, honey. I know it upsets you. He says he’s tried talking to you a few times, but you always get angry with him for bringing it up. Thinking about it doesn’t mean you’re giving up. But you must start preparing yourself.”
I remained in silence for a long time, staring at Tristan sleeping peacefully on the couch.
“Did he talk to you about it?” I asked quietly.
“Yes, honey. He’s willing to fight with all he’s got to stay with you. But if everything else fails, he said he’s not afraid to die. He’s afraid for you, though. He doesn’t want anything bad happening to you.”
I sighed deeply and stared at the floor. “Okay, Mom. I understand,” I said, and she patted my hand reassuringly.
“I’m sure everything will be all right,” she said, and then glanced up because Tristan started waking. He blinked at us with heavy eyelids and smiled awkwardly, a little freaked out at the two of us staring silently at him.
“Hey, you’re up.” My mom broke the silence. “How are you feeling, son?”
“I’m okay.” I raised an eyebrow inquisitively, because I could see clearly in his eyes he was still very tired and not okay at all. “I might need a couple of long naps today, though,” he added, chuckling at my silent, doubtful stare.
Mom smiled and stood up. “I’ll go make some breakfast for you. The boys should be waking up soon too, and will be hungry, I’ll bet. Might as well get an early start on the food,” she said cheerfully, the weary frown gone from her face “And Joey, stop doing your ‘truth stare’ on the boy. A man needs to have his private thoughts!” She scowled at me. “Especially now, that you two …
you know
.” She stared intently at me and then at him before heading back to the kitchen.
“Especially now that we ‘
you know
’ what?” Tristan inquired curiously.
I went to sit by his side on the couch. “Yeah, well. The good news is that Mom already knows about us. We don’t need to keep pretending in front of her any more. And apparently she’s cool with it,” I said, smiling.
“Really? She is?”
“Yep. She figured it out with her weird Sherlockian skills. But the bad news is that my mom really knows about us. So prepare yourself for her ‘sex talk’,” I said, chuckling at his pale, terrified face.
“Okay,” he mumbled in a small voice. “How are you feeling?”
“My arm is still bothering me a little.”
“Is it still hurting?” he asked, his tone snapping to worried in a beating second.
“It’s more tender, like I’ve spent the day exercising, you know?” I said, flexing my hands.
“I’m so sorry, Joe.” He sounded sad. “I shouldn’t have insisted on this idea of meeting Vigil. I thought I was the only one that could get hurt. I never imagined you could end up in pain,” he said, and passed his hand over my arm. Feeble pinpricks floated over my skin, leaving the usual tingling sensation in the wake of his fingertips.
My eyes drifted to my hand and I caught sight of a black smudge on my wrist. Was it dirt? Tristan noticed the dark spot too and reached out, touching it softly with his thumb. I brought my wrist up to have a closer look. There was a small black drawing under my skin, like a tattoo of my arteries and veins on that small patch on my wrist. Tristan stroked the black lines carefully, but it didn’t disappear like last night.
“What is that?” he asked, worried.
“I don’t know,” I mumbled, rubbing the spot and flexing my wrist again. “Do you think it’s going to stay like this for long?” I asked, staring at the black mark.
“I don’t know,” Tristan said. “If it does, at least you’ll have a cool tattoo now without needles,” he pointed out weakly, trying to cheer me up.
“Yeah. I’m in a rock band. A tattoo would be cool,” I said, still staring at it. “My mom’s going to freak out when she sees it, though. It’ll be worse than the sex talk.”
Tristan laughed at my frightened face. “It sounds as if nothing is worse than the sex talk, Joe.”
I sat on the couch and touched my newly acquired wrist tattoo. “Those dark lines appeared after I punched Vigil last night,” I muttered. Then I looked out of the window. “Do you think Vigil is gone for good?”
“I really don’t know, Joey. It was a pretty mean punch. What do you think?”
I bit my lips, not really liking my answer. “He said nothing could ever stop him, not even Death. He’s still out there, somewhere. He’ll be back at New Year,” I said.
“I think you’re right.” Tristan agreed quietly by my side.
“And all this was for nothing,” I mumbled disconsolately, rubbing my wrist.
“It wasn’t,” Tristan said quietly, sitting down next to me. “I learned a lot of things from my talk with Vigil. Things I’ll try to use at New Year.”
“He does seem to be developing emotions he doesn’t understand,” I said, thinking of all my encounters with Vigil since I’d named him. “And what did you mean by ‘It’s never going to happen’? He was truly angry when you said that.”
Tristan shifted uncomfortably and stared at his feet.
“Tristan?” I pressed.
He looked me in the eyes. “He likes you,” he stated.
“Stop being silly, Tris.”
“I’m not being silly. He fancies you. I could see it. How could you not? It was right there, every time he looked at you.”
“Tris … are you
serious
?”
“Yes! I was pretty pissed off too when I realized it. He went mental when I told him you and he were never going to happen. That was what set him off and made him cross over the line,” he said, aggravated.
“I … don’t really know what to say to that.” I was shocked by that little revelation. After all, I was a girl and Vigil was a supernatural being.
Could
he even like someone in that way?
“What I don’t get is why you haven’t noticed this before. It should be a piece of cake for you to read it in his eyes. Why didn’t you?”
Yes. Why didn’t I? Vigil had always been really hard to interpret. Especially at the beginning: I couldn’t get anything from him at our first encounters. But then … he’d started changing. Every time we’ve met he looked a little different. He started trying to help me then, getting worried about my safety. Were those all signs he had been giving me? How could I have missed this?
“He … is hard to read. When he’s not a total blank, it’s like he’s in fast forward mode with his emotions. Just when I think I’ve spotted one, he’s already passed on to four new ones. I really never suspected,” I muttered, astonished.
“Well, it’s another thing we can use against him now, another weak spot. We’ll try to work all his angles and make him crack! If all fails, I was thinking about something Seth said once …” Tris turned to look at me expectantly. “It was fairly nerdy but it may well be our best shot.”
“A new plan?”
“Yes. This whole thing is about the New Year because that is when our spell ends and your protection ends with it, right? What if we renew our spell again? Exactly like we did last year? Then I would be guarded again. Like renewing a subscription that has expired. Seth got the idea from one of his comic books – he said that if the spell is what gives you the ability to protect me, even from a being as powerful as Vigil, then we need to make that ‘superpower’ yours again. What do you think?”
“I think … it’s a fantastic idea!” I said, amazed by Seth’s ingenuity. Clever geek boy!
“I thought so too!” Tristan said with a huge grin. “I think it might actually work!” He smiled, hope fully back in his eyes and in his heart.
Seth and Harry decided to come downstairs then, still looking half-asleep and with messy hair.
“Seth! You’re up!” I shouted happily and ran over to him, giving him a loud smacky kiss on the lips. His sleepy eyes shot wide open in complete surprise.
“Uh … yeah, I’m up. I’ve never had that kind of reaction from anyone for just being awake, but I suppose it’s an accomplishment of sorts,” he mumbled.
Harry crossed his arms, pouting at me. “Hey, I’m awake too! Although that’s not a hard feat, with Seth’s loud snoring pounding in my ears all night long!” he grumbled.
I side-stepped over to Harry and gave him a light peck on the lips too, though not as smacky and excited as I had done with Seth.
“And
shut up
, I do not snore!” Seth complained to Harry, affronted.
“Yeah, you do a little,” I said, giving Seth a hug now. “But I don’t care! I even miss it, sometimes. It was always like a tiny chainsaw lulling me to sleep! Seth, Tristan told me your plan for New Year … It’s brilliant! I don’t know what we would do without you,” I said happily. Having a new plan improved my mood a whole lot.
“My plan? What plan?” he asked, baffled until Tristan explained how he had come up with his idea after hearing Seth’s ramblings about comic book heroes and their superpowers. “Ah, I see it now! I do have the most brilliant plans, don’t I?” Seth beamed, proud of himself “So … do you really like it?”
“Yeah!” Tristan and I said at the same time.
“Like, a lot? As in,
‘I would do anything to repay Seth for this idea’
?”
I raised a suspicious eyebrow at him. “Okay. What do you want, Seth?”
“If I were to ask for some Christmas spirit here, would you be inclined to say yes?” he asked, all hopeful with shining hazel eyes.
“What?” I didn’t get where he was going with this nonsense.
Harry started grinning madly now, understanding dawning on his handsome face.
Josh came into the living room then, and looked curiously at our huddled assembly.
“Hey, guys! What’s going on?” he asked, looking at Harry.
“Seth’s asking Joey for a full blast of Christmas spirit here!” Harry exclaimed, excited at the news.
“Oh, dear God! Did she say yes?” Josh asked in a strangled voice.
Sam came downstairs at that moment. He saw Josh’s face, Harry squirming and Seth jumping up and down and stopped in mid-step, looking worried. “What’s up?” he asked, rubbing his eyes.
“Seth’s gonna go all Xmas-maniac on us again,” Josh mumbled warily.
“Oh, boy. Well, it should be fun seeing Joey dealing with Seth in Christmas mode. We all know what’s
that’s
like. I guess she needs to experience it too.” Sam chuckled.
“Okay, I’m kind of getting a little scared now,” I said, looking from one boy to another. “What is this all about? Be serious, now.”
“Well … it’s like this. We’ve all spent a little of December with Seth in the past, so we’ve got used to it,” Josh started explaining.
“Not like we had any option,” Sam mumbled.