The Silver Thread (22 page)

“How can they incarcerate
her
?” Talvi demanded. “She’s not involved with his business!”

“They can say she was an accessory to a crime, which would still get her a few months or maybe even years in jail, depending on the prosecutor,” Annika explained passionately. “And even if she managed to avoid much jail time, there would still be an insane amount of fines to pay. It would make ours look like pocket change.”

“It’s my fault that this even happened,” Talvi said, looking irritated, but a plan was forming in his mind. “You wouldn’t have lost your job if I hadn’t wrecked your car. Why can’t you simply stay here? The room between ours and James’s is empty, and you certainly wouldn’t have to worry about theft while you were here. You could focus better on your studies, and perhaps even set up a little painting area in the living room. That way you won’t have to throw your classes.”

This made Patti smile a little, which relieved her friends.

“You mean
drop
my classes,” she corrected him. Talvi turned to Annika with the most irresistible expression, clasping her hands in his.

“Oh please love, please can we keep her?” he begged, as though Patti were a lost, helpless puppy. “I promise we’ll take care of her! Chivanni can feed her, and Charlie can take her on walks to the park, and I can teach her all sorts of clever tricks. Why, look how well she makes pancakes? She seems quite eager to please.”

Annika wasn’t prepared for his idea at all. She knew Chivanni would of course feed her and Charlie would love to take her on walks to the park, but somewhere deep inside it bothered her to see how brightly Talvi’s eyes had lit up at the idea that he could teach her tricks of any kind. Ignoring that nagging voice, she nodded in agreement of what a great idea it was.

“Do you want me to telephone James and ask if it’s alright? I know he’ll say yes!” Chivanni asked and fluttered his wings so much that his feet lifted off the floor momentarily. He seemed just as excited as Talvi was. “I’ll clean up after her, too!” he said as he floated the milk and eggs back into the fridge, and gave her a soft kiss on the cheek.

“Where is James, anyway?” Annika asked. “He usually comes home for lunch.”

“I think he stayed at work today,
thank god,
” said Patti, doing her best impression of him. “He was stressing out so much before he left this morning that I think he’s better off at the gallery. It’s not exactly tranquil here.” She pointed to the living room, which was now a combination of a shopping cart corral, a small lumberyard, and a wood shop with a garden store on the side. Little piles of dirt and sawdust were strewn all over the floor. And where there were not little piles, there were bigger piles. “It’s really sweet that you guys want me to stay, but I don’t want to add to his stress level. James seemed pretty pissed off when he left this morning. Now’s not the best time to ask.”

“But that’s what friends do, they look out for each other,” Chivanni assured her. “I know you would do the same for us if Annika had one of those cracked-heads like your brother does.”

Patti looked at him in bewilderment, though a smile tugged at the corner of her mouth.

“Don’t look so gloomy, Patti Cake; it will be fun,” Talvi said. “And now that I’ve acquired a driving license, I can take you to school when Charlie isn’t available, until we find another car for you.”

“This is too much to ask,” Patti excused.

“You won’t be bored around here, that’s for certain,” said Talvi as he motioned towards the living room full of potential home improvements. “We’ll see to it that you earn your keep. Those flats of flowers are just begging to be planted today. Perhaps you ladies could do that after some lunch? I see the sun has finally come out. I must say, that’s quite a good omen.”

“Well, if you guys honestly think James will say it’s okay…” Patti said slowly. “I really don’t want to live with my brother.”

Annika went over to the stove and took over pancake duty.

“I’m sure James will agree,” she said, trying her best to sound as excited as her husband and Chivanni.

“Then I’m gonna burn my apron in the fireplace! Woo hoo!” Patti started to run to the living room, to find it, but her foot caught on the corner of a bag of mulch, sending her to the floor with a thud. “I’m alright!” she called, and disappeared around the corner.

“Patti darling, why don’t you have a bit of lunch before you begin setting things on fire?” Talvi called out to her while Chivanni happily sent four plates and four sets of silverware floating from the kitchen counter onto the table. They magically set themselves perfectly at each place, complete with napkins.

“So, what went on last night that she’s dressed in my brother’s clothes?” Annika asked Chivanni with a raised eyebrow. The fairy let out a gleeful laugh as he manually turned off the stove and joined her at the table.

“Nothing lewd and lascivious, that’s for sure,” he retorted, and pointed to a large, gaudy, gilded picture frame on the wall. “Patti read the news article to me.”

Annika glanced to the spot designated for photos and other embarrassing memorabilia, known as the Wall of Shame. Among the many incriminating pictures and odd objects taped inside the frame was a photo of Charlie sleeping under a coffee table with his pants around his ankles and an empty bottle of gin beside him, and another one of James closely surrounded by topless female strippers. There were a few more photos of themselves and their friends in compromising situations, but there in the very center was the police report cut neatly out of the Sunday paper, embellished with puffy cupid stickers and little hearts drawn in red glitter glue. Seeing it for the first time, Talvi leaned down to read the article, smiling in self-satisfaction at his fine work.

Patti returned from the living room, setting her work apron beside her before sitting down to help devour the pancakes. The four of them passed the syrup around the table while Talvi came up with a strategy for the day.

“Now that the rain has stopped, my first assignment shall be mending the roof, and after that I need to replace the entire staircase to the basement. The wood is so rotted that I can’t believe no one has fallen through it yet.”

“Well, we never go down into the dungeon, except to do laundry,” said Annika with her mouth full. “It’s creepy down there.”

“Indeed, it is,” he replied, and waited until he was finished chewing to reply further. “Your mission is to put those flowers into the ground before they wilt,” he said with the utmost seriousness. “Make certain you water them well when you’re done, so they stay as lovely as they are now.”

“I don’t know the first thing about gardening,” Annika fussed, but after breakfast she found herself shooed outside with Patti and Chivanni with an array of different gardening tools. In the meantime, Talvi had buckled on his tool belt and was set on the task of repairing the roof now that it was dry enough to safely walk on. Even with heightened healing powers, a broken neck wasn’t likely to be mended by magic. The weather was unseasonably warm that day, and it threatened to get even warmer since there wasn’t a cloud in the sky.

“So Patti, are you gonna spill the beans already?” Annika asked, as they searched for the perfect spot in the front yard for the flowers. “What’s up with you and Charlie?”

“Oh, I guess it looks pretty suspicious with me wearing his clothes, doesn’t it?” she said, blushing a little. “For your information, I slept on the couch. You both left for the bank so early this morning that you mustn’t have seen me. And I didn’t want to dig through your clothes without asking.”

“I wouldn’t have minded.”

“Sometimes you mind,” Patti said, speaking from experience. They found what must have been a flower bed at one time near the sidewalk, and each took a different gardening tool.

“Well, either way, Charlie really likes you.”

“Yeah, I know he does,” she replied casually as she pulled weeds, surprising her friends.

“You
know
?” Annika asked. “You’ve known all along?”

“Do you like him as well?” asked Chivanni. Patti smiled faintly.

“I like him as a friend, but not like a boyfriend.”

“Why not?” Chivanni wanted to know. “He’s so amicable.”

“Just because.”

“Come on, Patti Cake, tell me why,” Annika pleaded.

“How cliché is it to like your best friend’s brother?” Patti said, wrinkling her nose. “Who the heck would I talk to about my love life? I tell you everything, and if I was dating him, well, then I couldn’t tell you anything at all.”

“Yeah, I guess that would be kinda gross,” Annika agreed, and started to dig a small hole with her spade.

“See what I mean?” Patti said smartly. “Then I’d have to go and find another best friend, and I’d rather not. You’re the nicest person I know, Annika.”

“I’ll tell you who isn’t nice,” said Chivanni, casting a little spell over the small hand trowels to turn over the soil for him. “It’s that fairy queen friend of yours. Is he always so overwrought and foul-tongued?”

“What? James isn’t that bad!” Annika said, and then eyed him inquisitively. “Patti said she slept on the couch, but I never thought to ask where
you’ve
been sleeping since you didn’t take the spare room.” Chivanni pretended he didn’t hear this question and busied himself with ordering the shovels around.

“Chivanni, don’t tell me you and James…” Annika said with huge eyes. The red-haired fairy glared at her as though he were beyond insulted.

“I’ll have you know that I sleep in the flower arrangement on the fireplace mantle! I don’t go to bed with every pretty face the way Talvi—” Chivanni gasped and cupped a hand over his mouth in shock at what the words it had just spoken. “Oh, I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean it like that, Annika! That was a terrible thing to say!” He looked like he was about to burst into tears.

“It’s okay, Chivanni, I know you didn’t mean it,” she said after the initial impact of his statement wore off. She knew it was going to take a while to shake that old reputation. Was he really as bad as she was led to believe? Annika peered up at the roof of the house, where Talvi was preoccupied with prying the rotted shingles away. She knew that she had married the king of Casanovas, but he had assured her that he had retired from that lifestyle long before meeting her. She also didn’t know anyone else who was capable of unearthing so much of the juicy backstory about his past, until Chivanni had moved in. Now curiosity was getting the best of her.

“How many girls have there been, anyway?” she found herself asking.

“I certainly never kept track of them in all the years I’ve known him,” said Chivanni, relieved to see that his friend wasn’t upset at his deficit of tact. Annika pursed her lips a little. Maybe she could guilt-trip Chivanni into telling her.

“But you must have some vague idea,” she pursued. “You can’t say something like what you just said, and then leave me hanging like that. Can’t you even take a guess?”

“Oh, if I honestly had to wager…” he squinted a little in thought, counting in his head and on his fingers simultaneously. “It hast to be at least five, no, probably closer to six—”

“But that doesn’t make sense; there were seven wood nymphs,” Annika interrupted.

“Hundred,” Chivanni announced. “Yes, probably around six hundred, give or take a few dozen.” Patti stifled a gasp, but said nothing.

“Give or take a few
dozen
?” Annika repeated, unable to make the number register in her head. “Jeez, they’re not donuts!”

“You forget that sometimes there were two or more at a time, which does tend to add up rather quickly,” Chivanni reminded her, as if it may be of some remote comfort to know. “Also, I’ve only known him for about sixty years, so I can’t attest to what went on before we met.”

While Annika was uncomfortably silent, Chivanni just continued with the tactless truth.

“He loves beautiful things, just as you do. Think of it like this: when James and I helped you organize your room, I could not believe how many pairs of shoes you had! I thought it was ridiculous, but James explained why. They’re all so pretty and yet so different, and you have a pair for every occasion, for whatever mood you’re in. I’ve seen you wear three different pairs in one day. That’s how Talvi used to feel about girls.”

“But shoes go on
feet
!” she insisted, unable to grasp such a vast number. “
Shoes
go on
feet
! There’s no emotional attachment there!”

“I do beg your pardon, but I heard you were quite upset that Talvi made fun of those red-feathered shoes of yours. So who is to say what is worthy of emotional attachment?” he asked innocently. “He’s three hundred years old, Annika. How many pairs of shoes might you have slipped your feet into after three hundred years?”

“I’m not choosing sides, but even
I
might have a couple hundred pairs if I were that old, and I’m not into shoes the way you are, Ani,” Patti piped up softly, trying to ease the blow. Annika still said nothing. She was still trying to wrap her head around Chivanni’s original estimate. She supposed that considering how many days there were in a year, a hundred year long case of satyriasis could indeed add up fast. But the number was still staggering.

“Talvi had quite an introduction to the sensual arts, being kidnapped by the Samodivi of the East, but he didn’t intend for it to happen that way,” Chivanni explained, thinking it was helpful. “His brother told him all about them, how they look for handsome fellows to kidnap, but Talvi didn’t believe him one bit. So Finn thought he would be clever, and prove he was right. He asked Talvi to run an important errand for him, returning a few borrowed books to some friends of his. In exchange he’d give him a very rare bottle of fairy brandy. What he didn’t tell Talvi was that these books weren’t borrowed at all, but some rather old ones that he didn’t want anymore! He gave him a map to the sycamore tree and told him to wait there for a day. You know what happened next.”

“Oh my god!” Annika gasped. “That’s a horrible story! I can’t believe Finn would do that! Talvi must have been pissed off at him for years when he realized his brother had lied to him.”