Authors: Lilian Carmine
“But … the thing about Seth preparing for Christmas that you don’t know about yet, Joe, is that he goes completely bonkers during this month,” Josh continued.
“Totally mental,” Sam added.
“He goes total coo-coo fuckin’ bananas,” Harry added thoughtfully.
“Hey!” Seth shouted, not amused at all by all the adjectives coming up.
“Come on, it can’t be
that
bad!” Tristan chuckled, watching Seth rubbing his hands in excitement.
“Oh. It’s
bad
,” Josh mused.
“Dude, you’re in for it,” Sam stated plainly.
“I don’t care how bad it gets, he deserves it!” I said, closing the deal and hugging Seth one more time. He’s given us the best plan ever for New Year! Full Christmas spirit it is!”
“Yay!” Seth shouted and whooped.
Sam and Josh slapped their faces with agonized expressions, and Harry jumped up and down, shouting “Hurraaay!” in a cartoony voice.
Seth didn’t care about anybody mocking his jolly spirit, though. He was in his own private festive world now, far away at the distant snowy Christmas Land of his dreams.
At first, I thought the boys had exaggerated Seth’s Christmas spirit. I mean, how festive can a boy get? But Seth truly was a Christmas maniac! He had our house filled with green and red stuff and sparkling glass balls and stars and everything related to Christmas he could get his jolly hands on. He was also making us wear Santa hats inside the house during the whole week, and he even had a little blackboard nailed on the kitchen door with a countdown in chalk until Christmas Eve. It was so much fun just watching
him
having fun!
He was surely in full-blast Christmas mode!
The week before Christmas, Tiffany came back from visiting her parents. Her folks had wanted her to stay with them for the holidays, for a big party they were throwing, but she’d told them she wasn’t going to be there. She was pretty mad at them because every year they left her alone at Christmas, travelling for business or a vacation somewhere, and she was always left behind with a last-minute “Sorry, hun, we can’t be there with you” telephone call. So now she’d just left
them
without much explanation, and had returned to spend Christmas with her
real
family, as she now called us.
Seth was really happy when she arrived, and I’d missed her too. So much had happened while she’d been away! Tiff could hardly believe her ears when I filled her in on our encounter with Vigil, and she was even happier to be back with us. Seth had cleared it with his own family to spend Christmas with Tristan and me this year. He wanted to share this special holiday with his best friend and brother-in-arms this year – in case it was Tristan’s last …
Harry, Sam and Josh were over at my house a lot during the week as well, having fun and enjoying the festive frenzy that Seth was whipping us all into! And Mom was on cloud nine. It was like all her wishes for a big family Christmas had come true.
Christmas Day arrived and Josh, Harry and Sam went to spend the day with their families, but they were going to come back again after supper, to exchange gifts and celebrate with us. I put on my red dress for the evening; the dress Mom had given me for my birthday. She was so happy when she saw me wearing it that her beaming face alone was worth the effort.
The boys arrived a little after nine and we all spread out across the living room for the gift-exchanging part of the evening. When everything was done, there was so much giftwrap, bows and ribbons all over the room, it looked like a wrapping monster had swallowed us all!
We kept celebrating until early in the morning, and as the sun rose, the first snow of the year began to fall outside the window, ending a perfect Christmas day.
And that night, it seemed all my troubles had been forgotten, while Christmas lights kept shining on.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
A Matter of Time
After Christmas was over, Seth returned to his normal self, and the house went back to a quiet daily routine. The anticipation of New Year was making everybody a little more tense and edgy, especially me.
I checked and double-checked the spell with Miss Violet, making sure we hadn’t forgotten anything in our plan to renew it, and that we were all going to be really prepared for New Year.
Just like the first time, when the spell was originally cast, we needed seven people on the grassed circle, so Sam, Harry, Josh and Seth were going to be standing on the borders in a cross formation. Tristan and I would be in the middle, and Sky would count as the last person to attend. Five elements would be included: a glass of water, a candle for fire, air by the breeze, earth under the grass, and the last element, the one that would make the spell work and close the bond again … my blood. I was bringing a pocket-knife to provide the fifth element.
All we needed to do was wait for New Year’s Eve night. During the days leading up to it, I couldn’t shake the uneasy feeling that these were my last with Tristan. Somehow everything we did or said felt like we were doing it for the last time. On the second night before the turn of the New Year, Tristan snuck in to my room to spend the night with me. We lay in my bed and talked quietly most of that night, and again I got that sad feeling that this could be the last time I would rest my face on Tristan’s broad chest.
“You remember the first time I saw you? Back then at the cemetery?” I asked him quietly.
“Yeah. Of course,” he said. “I couldn’t believe it when you started talking to me. You thought I was crazy, because I just stared at you, but I was so shocked that you could see me!” He chuckled at the memory.
“Yeah, I almost ran away from you. You know why I didn’t?”
“Why is that?” he asked softly.
“Because you smiled at me, after you jumped down off your tomb. It was the most beautiful smile I have ever seen. I couldn’t leave after you smiled at me like that. I love your smile so much,” I said. “I love it so much when you call me Buttons,” I continued. “And I love to see you blushing when you curse by accident. I love the sound of your voice; it’s quiet and low and sexy. And I love hearing you singing! I love how your body fits perfectly to mine, and the way we click in all the right places when we go to sleep together. I love sleeping with you. I love making love to you.”
The words kept tumbling out of me like a confession. “I love your smell! I wish I could bottle it up and carry it around with me all the time. You don’t know how special you are. You gave me the best first kiss I have ever had. The best first date I have ever had. And I don’t take any minute with you for granted. I save them all in my heart and treasure every one of them,” I finished at last.
I just wanted Tristan to know how I felt about him. I couldn’t tell his reaction to my speech, though, because my head was resting on his chest. He lay there in silence for a while, taking in all I’d said. Then he spoke very quietly.
“You never cease to amaze me,” he whispered, cupping my face with his hands, making me look at him. “Extraordinary,” he said passionately, his eyes shining. He didn’t say another word for a long time. He didn’t need to. I could see it all flashing in his eyes. The intensity of his love was mind-blowing; the look in his eyes was worth a thousand words. A tear broke through and ran down my face. He smiled tenderly, the corners of his eyes crinkling, while he wiped the tear from my face with his soft fingers.
“Thank you for telling me.” He spoke in a low, shaky voice, leaning in and kissing me deeply.
He embraced me and sighed, tracing his fingers slowly over my, connecting invisible dots on my skin. Whenever his fingers touched me, he left a tingling sensation in their wake.
“Joey, sweetheart … this isn’t goodbye,” he whispered softly.
“I know,” I whispered back. “But I wanted to tell you how I feel about you,” I explained.
“We’ll be fine, love. I’ll always be with you. No matter what,” he murmured, stroking my hair before falling into silence. We held on to each other during the entire night, afraid to let go, afraid of the future and what the New Year could bring us.
On New Year’s Eve, everybody gathered at my home, waiting anxiously for the night to come. Today there were no jokes, no laughter, only nervous glances and tense shoulders. Nobody was talking much; everybody was immersed in their own private thoughts. When night finally came, we all headed to the cemetery. Miss Violet, my mom and Tiffany were going to stay by the gates, waiting for us there. If anything bad happened, they would be close enough to come to our aid. We didn’t want to mess up the number of people needed for the spell to work.
The cemetery was once again decorated for Esperanza’s New Year’s party; yellow lanterns were spread all through the gloomy lanes and people were beginning to arrive to celebrate, mostly lingering by the area near the front gates. The place looked pretty much the same as last year, the only difference being that this year was a little colder, and snow piled up in little mounds over some headstones.
My mom hugged Tristan when we passed by the cemetery iron gates. “I’ll see you soon, son,” she said, ruffling his hair. He nodded, smiling, and went to hug Tiffany.
“Be careful and stay safe!” Tiffany ordered him. She couldn’t let go of her bossy ways, even now.
He nodded again. “I will. Thanks, Tiffany,” he said before walking away.
The boys and I followed him through the lanes in silence. The lights began to dim and everything turned darker with each step we took deeper into the graveyard. I could hear our footsteps echoing on the ground and sometimes the sound of people talking and laughing drifted in the background.
As soon we arrived at the small grass circle, everybody took their place without a word. Tristan and I walked to the middle of the circle. Seth had a small glass of water in his hands, and Harry had a candle. Sam had grabbed some grass and earth, and Josh stood calmly, with empty open hands. I had my pocket-knife clutched tightly. We all stood still and counted the minutes passing eerily by, each of us glancing at our watches in turns.
I had been waiting for this moment for so long that now that it was so close at hand, I didn’t know what to feel.
Tristan held my hand and squeezed, trying to reassure me. It was close to midnight now. I let go of his hands to hold my pocket-knife more firmly, to make sure the fifth element would be present when the clock struck twelve. A single firework exploded a few seconds too early. I watched as it ascended into the dark winter sky and exploded into hundreds of tiny bright sparks, but the explosion seemed to happen in slow motion.
And then everything froze completely. I glanced around and the world was standing still, as if holding its breath. Tristan was frozen in his spot, and all the boys too. My eyes darted back and forth, trying to catch a sign of movement, but the only thing moving was me. And then a stabbing pain shot through my wrist, making me wince. I grabbed my wrist and pressed my fingers hard against the dark tattoo marking it, trying to make the throbbing stop.
When I looked up, Vigil was there, standing a few feet away from me, watching me with his unblinking black eyes. So he was back; we hadn’t banished him at all. I instinctively stepped in front of Tristan, trying to block Vigil’s path to him, the pocket-knife still clutched tight in my hand. The pain increased in my wrist, flowing gradually up to my hand and elbow now. But Vigil didn’t show any sign of wanting to approach or attack us. He just stood where he was, and looked, to my utter surprise, almost like he was … sad?
Was this a trick? I would have expected him to be angry and vindictive, lashing out at us with his might. But he remained still, only tilting his head a little, like he used to do a long time ago, a quirk of his that always made me think of him as bird-like. It was like a nervous tick. I watched him with extreme caution; Tristan’s life was on the line here.
Maybe it was time to conclude the spell, before Vigil could try anything on us. I needed some of my blood now to remake our bond. I pulled my knife slowly up and leaned the blade closer to my hand.
Vigil’s eyes followed my movement and lingered on the flicker of the blade. He sighed sadly, holding his hands behind his back in a non-threatening stance. “Please, I wish you wouldn’t do that, Joe,” he said, his dark locks falling softly over his pale smooth face.
I squinted my eyes at him. Yeah, I’ll bet you wish I wouldn’t! I’ll bet you wish I won’t renew the spell again, and win my guardian powers back. Best of luck next time, then, pal, I thought to myself. But before I could press the blade any harder against my hand, he spoke again.
“It will not do you any good, and I would hate to see you hurt. I really would,” he said. “How is your fist, by the way? I hope you weren’t in too much pain after that punch you gave me.”
Was he mocking me? I only saw sincerity in his eyes. He was truly worried about me. Was he trying to play the nice guy, then, to get back on my good side?
“It was a very powerful spell you cast when you threw your punch that day,” he said. “It was raw and unintentional, but very powerful. You managed to disarm me and scatter the pieces everywhere. It was very … unpleasant for me,” he continued, but he smiled a little, like he was somehow proud of my feat. “But you aren’t ready to yield that type of force yet. A spellcaster should be objective, trained and prepared before handling that amount of magic, and you were none of those things. I imagine it cost you something. Magic always comes with a price. I hope you didn’t suffer much,” he said, looking worried again.
I removed the blade from my hand and glanced at my wrist. The black tattoo was still there and the pain was shooting through my entire arm now. I decided to be honest. “After I punched you, this appeared and spread all over my arm. Tristan made it go away, except for this small mark in my wrist.” I twisted my wrist up, showing him the black lines on my skin. “This one won’t go away. It started hurting when you showed up,” I said.
He stared at my wrist. “Like I said, a spell of that amplitude leaves its mark. I do not think it will go away. It is the price you have paid. Your intentions were pure. But the consequences of casting it may never fade away. The fact that you used it against me could be the reason it hurts in my presence. May I see it closer?” he asked, but didn’t move from his place, waiting for my authorization first.