Undraland (15 page)

Jens laughed, which set him on another coughing fit. “You shouldn’t be here, Lucy.”

“I shouldn’t be a lot of things.” I knelt next to him and felt his slick forehead, which was burning up. “Let’s get that backpack off of you.” His arms were stiff as I slid off his red pack and cast it to the corner of the cave near his feet. “Arms up,” I instructed, working his moist black t-shirt over his head. I stood clumsily and hung it on a stone jutting out from the wall, hoping he did not notice my poor balance. He had endured dozens of spider bites, so the poison was stronger in him, working faster to take him down. Hopefully I’d scared Foss enough to make quick work of the rest of the journey.

I slumped down next to Jens, propping myself up on the wall next to his head. My hand found its way into his hair, brushing through the wet follicles to ease his shaking. “I know you’re cold. Just wait till your fever breaks. Then I’ll get you off the floor.”

“I’m fine.” He shuddered as he hugged himself in the rosy moonlight that stretched in from the cave’s opening. He was lying supine on the rocky ground, tremors ripping through him at half-minute intervals.

“Wow. That sounds even more pathetic than when I say it.” I looked over his torso and saw a couple more raised bumps, but the thing that gave me pause were the violent scarred-over slashes across his bodybuilder chest and stomach. I spoke in a quiet voice. “Jens, what happened to you?”

He managed a wan look of disbelief that conveyed he thought I was stupid. “I got bit by spindels. Are you just figuring that out?”

“No, idiot.” I rolled my eyes and pointed to his wide chest. “Your scars. Did someone play Operation on you?”

He pressed his palm to one of the scars, an insecurity poking through as his eyes darted to my face, and then away. “Sort of. Trolls. A whole tribe of them was in the village, tearing it up. Everyone was fleeing, even the king, but I didn’t feel like it.”

“Didn’t feel like it?”

“Fleeing’s a lot of work. Packing up all your stuff. Running to the Nisse town the next mountain over. Like they’d really take us all in.” He coughed a scary, rasping bark, so I inched closer, lifting his head onto my lap so his upper half was off the cold stone floor. Once he had his bearings back, he continued. “So I took care of them. It got a little bloody before the end. That’s how I got most of my scars.” He shifted on my lap, moving his head to rest against my stomach. “But not this one.” He tried to lift his knuckle to show me, but he could only move it an inch up and down. Sure enough, there was a small crescent-shaped scar on the knuckle of his forefinger. “This one’s from you.”

“What? I never cut you before.” I gently lifted his hand to examine the damage. His grip was almost arthritic with its unyielding tension. He held onto my hand like he was afraid to let it go. Like he was afraid to let me go, but couldn’t find the words to admit it. I wanted to run my fingers over his abs, but decided that probably wasn’t kosher in my world or Undraland.

“I got it fixing your car one night while you were sleeping. You really need to change your oil more often. That three thousand miles isn’t a suggestion, Loos. Your engine’s gonna go one day, and you’ll only have yourself to blame.” He coughed into my shirt, and then did something so precious, I had to smile. He burrowed his forehead into my abdomen like a kitten searching for comfort. I brushed my hand down the side of his tattooed face and tickled my fingers across the hairs at the base of his neck. His eyes were closed and his breathing shallow. “Mm. That feels nice.”

I lifted his rigid knuckle to my mouth and kissed the scar in hopes of healing it. I whispered a few incendiary things to the man in my arms to see if he was awake, but nothing stirred up his fight. When I was certain I was alone, I tested my limbs by wiggling my toes and trying to move my shoulders. It was all doable, but everything was too stiff. I was losing mobility in my legs for certain.

The moon did its job giving me something beautiful to look at. I wondered with a strange peace if either of us would survive the spider babies nesting inside our bodies. The scenario was worthy of a good freak-out, but in keeping with the rest of my body, my insides felt numb.

When all was quiet, I heard movement outside the cave. My peace shattered in an instant as I wondered how I might fend off legions of spindels with half my body asleep and Jens completely incapacitated.

The movement reached the mouth of the cave, displaying two glowing gray eyes in the dark. When the creature stepped closer, I gasped with delight. “Come here, little puppy,” I cooed in a sickeningly sweet voice. I clicked my tongue, luring the precious dog further in until I could get a good look at him.

Grayish white fur with black patches all over and the cutest little face melted my heart.

“What happened to your poor ear?” I asked, reaching out with a clumsy hand to pet the besotted creature. “It looks like someone took a chunk out of your ear here. Aw! Sweet baby.”

The dog did its job and sniffed Jens and me from head to toe before deciding we could be best friends. He whined at me for food. “I’m sorry, buddy. I’m starving, too. Maybe when Uncle Rick gets here, he’ll have tacos in his pocket for us. Maybe some burgers or a sloppy fistful of Indian food.” I scratched behind his good ear. “Where’s your family? You’re all alone, too?”

It felt like he answered me with a tilt of his head, so I continued on, wondering if the spider bites were making me crazy. “There, there. It’s okay to be alone. Stay here, and we can be alone together. Here, baby.” I clicked my fingers over Jens’s chest. “Come keep Jens warm. He’s feverish up on his head, but ice cold on his body.” I petted the large puppy, coaxing him closer to Jens. Finally, he rested his snout on Jens’s icy chest, licking him a few times to show his acceptance into his new family.

“That’s right… um, no collar.” I fished around for the first name that popped into my head. “That’s right, Henry Mancini. I’m your mommy, and Jens is your puppy. Take good care of him.”

Ice crept higher up my spine, and I realized I could no longer wiggle my toes. I gave my dog a brave smile. “Don’t you worry, Henry Mancini. Everything’s going to be alright.”

Seventeen.

Selective Rescue

Movement outside of the cave woke me, but I could barely turn my neck to verify the source of the noise. Henry Mancini hopped to his furry feet and scampered to the cave’s opening to check it out for me. He barked when Uncle Rick came into view, and though most of me was immovable, my heart lifted in my chest at the sight of his friendly face. Though, I admit, it was still strange to see him in the long wizard-type robes. When he would visit us in the real world, he usually wore Dockers and a hand-made orange cardigan no one had the heart to tell him was a woman’s. He still had the cardigan on, but the wizard dress underneath really threw me.

“Hello, dear. Have you been enjoying the sights?”

I looked up into his eyes and tried not to break down with relief. Jens had not moved in hours, and I feared the worst. “Can you help him? Is it too late?” My mouth could barely move, but I managed to get the words out without sounding like I’d had a stroke.

Uncle Rick took out a pouch from his robes and dipped two fingers inside. He produced a thick mulch-colored paste that he proceeded to rub on Jens’s gums and the inside of his mouth. “There we go. It works quite quickly,” he said, putting away his pouch and sitting next to me so he could keep an eye on Jens’s progress. He rifled through the red backpack, sighing with relief when whatever he was looking for was still there. “I see you made yourself a little friend.” Henry Mancini was sniffing Uncle Rick’s ebony hand and sneezing at the remnants of the green concoction.

“Henry Mancini. He’s been keeping Jens from freezing over.” I knew I should probably tell Uncle Rick that I needed some of the paste, but I wanted to make sure Jens had enough of it to cure him first. He’d been bitten so many more times than I had. “Are the others okay?”

Uncle Rick nodded. “Nik is busy telling any of my kind who will listen how he defended their borders once fighting off a menacing troll.”

“Making friends, as usual.”

“Indeed. We are a patient race, which is playing in his favor.” I could hear the smile in his voice, but my neck was too stiff to turn my head to look up at him. “Tor’s enjoying elfish libations, which are a bit stronger than your average drink. Foss and Britta are with Jamie, resting and preparing for the next task.”

“Jamie? I thought he was still at his dad’s palace. How’d you manage to get him out?”

“When I port myself, it leaves an imprint that those familiar with elfish ways can spot. I can take one person with me when I do it, if I’m strong enough. So I took Jamie with me, after he sent the message to Jens, fearing what his father might do to him.” He scratched a gray patch behind his ear. “Understand, it was not my intention to abduct a member of the Tonttu throne. Jamie wanted to come along. I can’t imagine Jens will be pleased, though.”

“Jens loves Jamie.”

“True, and part of that love is keeping Jamie safe. Jamie doesn’t have much experience with long journeys such as ours.”

“He’ll figure it out. I haven’t died yet.”

“A fact that will please many, I’m certain.” Uncle Rick’s focus shifted to Jens when he saw movement. “Jens? Can you hear me, son?”

“That’s some fast-acting stuff,” I commented, relieved that it was working. “Did you give him enough?”

Uncle Rick nodded, testing the man’s limbs for signs of life. The red bumps were already going down.

“Is there any left?”

“He doesn’t need more than I gave him. Patience is the key ingredient now.”

Relief flooded through me, and I didn’t realize until then how scared I had been for the man in my arms. “C-could I have some?”

“I can teach you how to make it when we get to my house. I can teach you all sorts of herbal remedies. It would be my joy.” He looked at me in the darkness with a glimmer of paternal pride. My face was shrouded in black, since the light did not shine on my upper half anymore.

“That sounds nice. But can I have some of it right now? Is it real expensive? You don’t have to give it to me.” I’m not sure why I was in no rush to be certain of my survival. Perhaps teetering on the edge of death for hours had the same numbing effect that the spider larvae did. Deep down inside, I was ashamed that a small part of me welcomed the uneventful quietness of death.

Uncle Rick leaned closer, and then clicked his fingers in my face, summoning up a flame that danced on his fingertips so he could get a good look at me. I think I was immune to being surprised anymore. I mean, the man can teleport. Not much freaks you out after that. “Lucy!” he exclaimed, whipping out the burgundy pouch again. His fingers fumbled this time as he swiped the inside clean and jammed two digits in my mouth. His face was stern as he brushed my teeth and tongue with his fingers. “Why didn’t you say something? Foss told me only Jens was bit! Why, Lucy? Why?”

I had a feeling I was only a sentence or two away from a stern “young lady”, so I didn’t answer. Conversation was kind of impossible right now anyway. The pouch was turned inside out and shoved into my mouth. Uncle Rick held the back of my head as I sucked the last of the paste from the rough fabric. My tongue went fuzzy, and then started warming. As I swallowed, the heat spread through my body at warp speed, killing off the larvae and warming my frozen extremities.

Jens was regaining consciousness and Uncle Rick was looking cross as he lectured me, testing my arms and legs for any signs of circulation.

The heat was delicious. It soothed my anxiety as it spread through me like honey, warming and healing as it went. My eyes closed as I enjoyed the blissed-out sensations coursing through my body. I went from rigid to oddly boneless and laid down on the ground contentedly once the weight of Jens was lifted from my lap. Uncle Rick was shouting something, but I was too cozy to care. I closed my eyes and smiled. If this was death, I would welcome it.

Eighteen.

First Human Female in Elvage

The fingers in my hair were pure bliss, and when I stretched my body, the bed beneath me was the softest I’d ever felt, like sleeping on a cloud. The warmth in the room was a welcome respite from the cold of the dank cave’s floor. I took in a deep, cleansing breath and found that this Heaven smelled just like my room. When I finally opened my eyes, I realized my nose was buried in Jens’s leg. The familiar smell was him, and in that moment between sleep and waking, I took great comfort in the scent that always followed me.

“Lucy?” Jens chuckled.

“Not yet,” I protested, snuggling his leg like it was a teddy bear. I was so comfortable, and still in a hazy peace I did not want shattered so soon. The fingers in my hair gripped the locks and gently tugged, stimulating the roots and making me almost drool on his thigh. “That feels so good,” I purred.

Touch was one thing I craved and did not get much of. Sure, Tonya and I hugged. There was the occasional brush of the shoulder against a stranger, but other than those few things, no one touched me after my family died. I tried not to miss it, but I did. As Jens ran his fingers over my cheek, it connected with a part of me I had tried to kill off in my attempt to survive.

“You finally awake?” he asked, a smile in his tone. “Sorry about that. Our medicine works different on humans than it does on us, I guess. It killed the spiders, which is the important thing, but we didn’t count on it knocking you clean out.”

I turned into his leg and wiped my drool off on his pants. After everything we’d just been through, I figured he could take it. My eyelids were heavy when they opened. I rolled onto my back to squeeze out every bit of enjoyment I could from the cloud-like bed as gold dust sparkled around me. “Beautiful!” I breathed, entranced by the shimmering glitter in the air. “Am I dead?” It was the only explanation I could think of. I lifted my arm to brush my hair from my face and found that I was wearing foreign clothes. I wasn’t even mad that someone dressed me without my permission. I was too content in the most comfortable bed in the universe. Too happy watching the gold dance around me as it floated weightlessly in the air. Too cozy lying next to my own personal guardian angel.

His voice came back to me less relaxed than it was previously. “No, you’re not dead, but you almost were. Why didn’t you tell me you got bit?”

My hand swished in slow motion through the air, separating the glittering particles that each went off on their own little dance in the world. The room we were in was painted cream and gold with pale blue accents. There was a vanity with gold trim in the corner that was so fancy, it looked straight out of an antique shop. Nothing felt real, so I enjoyed playing with the gold glitter hanging in the air. “What could you have done about me getting bit?”

Jens was silent while he thought on this. Finally, he responded with, “I don’t know, but you should’ve told Foss. And when Alrik got there, you should’ve told him first thing.”

“If I’m going to start telling Foss things, I’ll start with a big long lecture on women’s rights.” I sighed. “I had one tiny bite, Jens. You had a billion. Not to question your stamina, but you looked like you were at death’s door. You needed more of the mulch paste than I did. It’s okay to say that I was right.”

“No. We need you for the human gate. The portal needs to be destroyed by its own kind. What use would I be for that?”

I shrugged, unperturbed by his argument. “Hire a demolition expert.”

“It’s a little more complicated than that, smartass.”

“Hey! I’d be nicer to me if I were you. I just saved your life by sending Foss to fetch Alrik.” I grinned when he had no response to this. I was still on my back next to his knee, staring in bewilderment at the floating gold. “That’s right. I’m leveling the playing field.”

“How’s that?” Jens asked uncomfortably.

“You’re no longer this almighty force, and I’m not the weak human idiot you got stuck watching. I officially helped save your life.” I batted at a few more particles, watching them dance like ballerinas through the air. “I rock.”

Jens laughed through his discomfort. “Yes, I suppose you do. But no more. That gets to be your only time saving my life, got it? Next time, it’s my turn to save the day.”

“Whatever. You’re my pretty princess. Just admit it.”

He said nothing, but reached down and put his hand in my hair again, leafing through the tangles and making me swoon. Now that I was more awake, it dawned on me how weird it was that we were this close already. That it would occur to him to tickle my scalp, and that I would let him do it. Yes, it was strange, but part of me felt more at home with him than I usually did when I was all by myself. He was sitting up in the bed, leaning against the tall headboard, and I was content where I lay, snuggled up to his side.

“Jens, what would...” I stopped short and bolted upright, whipping my head around like a crazy person. “Henry Mancini!”

Jens laughed. It was the only sound that could distract me from my alertness. “I think you might be the first person this century to call out his name like that.”

“Where’s my dog?” I slipped off the bed, and for the first time, actually looked at what I was wearing. “And what is this? I know for a fact I have a proper change of clothes in my green backpack, which is somewhere in the abyss of your red bag.” I was bathed and dressed in a cream-colored gown that kissed my bare feet. It was fitted up top and flowing on the bottom. Would’ve been pretty on anyone else. “Britta?” I asked warily, finally glancing up at Jens.

Jens nodded, his smile more laid back than I thought it should be, given the audacity of the crime at hand. “She’s afraid you’re going to be mad at her.”

I shook my head. “Why am I dressed for a Renaissance fair? And where’s my dog?” I examined his clean black t-shirt, jeans and boots. “And why do you get to look normal, but I can’t?”

His legs swung off the bed. He made his way over to me in the room with golden swirled walls that were so fancy, I was afraid to touch them. “You’re dressed like this because this is Alrik’s home, and you’re wearing the clothes of his people. You’re the first human in Elvage, so he’s expecting a fair amount of visitors once you’re ready. Important ones.” He motioned to his jeans. “I get to look like this because guardian gnomes can dress how they like. No one cares if I’m ready for a ball. They care if I can scale a mountain in a pinch.”

“Great. Where’s my dog?” I looked around the room and tried not to get distracted by the glitter. The vanity and wardrobe were made out of blonde wood to match the flooring, but other than that, the room was bare.

“Your
wolf
is outside with Tor and Foss.”

“Henry Mancini’s a wolf?”

Jens sighed. “Do we really have to call him that?”

“Only if you don’t want me to call you Jennifer. Of course you have to call him that. It’s his name.”

“Jens isn’t short for Jennifer. It’s our version of John, which is a man’s name. If we were in Sweden, it’d be pronounced ‘Yens’.” He pointed to his chest. “Man.” Then he did something that made me stop breathing. He wrapped his arm around the small of my back and drew me to him, pressing my body to his in a way that was firm and forceful. “Woman,” he said, clutching me tight to him. He took my hand and placed it on his tattoo, the corner of his mouth lifting at my obvious swoon. “And don’t you forget it.”

I felt like I was on the cover of one of those dog-eared romance novels you always see at used bookstores. Gorgeous man, blonde woman in a dress with her curls swirling out behind her. Bells rang in my brain when he leaned closer to me, lifting me to my toes so he could stick his nose in my neck.

Delirium closed my eyes and anticipation made my heart flutter as he smelled my skin. In all my romantic fantasies, I never really thought much on a man’s nose buried in the crook of my neck, but my legs turned to jelly when Jens kissed my collarbone. He moved his mouth up my neck and kissed my jaw, further melting me with his touch. My body formed easily to his, and my hand wound into his messy hair possessively. I had never been kissed like this. I had never been seduced, but my body understood the dance as my brain turned to mush.

A knock interrupted our moment. I wished I could unhear it so I could remain in the haze, but Jens stiffened.

“Miss Lucy? Are you well?” Jamie called from the other side.

We broke apart as if struck by lightning, both of us wary of the other. “I… I…”

Jens waved off my mumbling. “Forget about it.” He turned away from me and shook his arms out, as if doing that would make his body comply with whatever his mind was telling it to do.

When sense reentered my brain, I moved past Jens, but paused before opening the door. “Is this decent?” I asked him, unsure if I was wearing a dress or an undergarment of some old Colonial variety.

Jens leaned on the wall next to the door, feigning ease and mocking me with a touch of the lust in his eye he tried unsuccessfully to mask. “This is what we call a dress. Or what you refer to as a Halloween costume.” When I glared at him, he rolled his eyes. “Come in, Jamie.”

Jamie entered with Britta, who looked like she was afraid I might shout at her. “Miss Lucy,” she said with a dip of her head. She was well over six feet tall, but her subservient demeanor made her seem smaller. She looked from my blush to her brother’s avoidance and did her best to swallow a delighted smile.

“Um, thanks for letting me borrow your dress, Britta. And thanks for cleaning me up and everything.”

“It’s no trouble.” Britta’s shoulders relaxed. “Alrik bought the dress for you, actually. He said to let him know if you need anything at all.”

“Where is he?”

“He’s in the observatory, entertaining guests who are all anxious to meet you.”

“Why?” My nose scrunched and that familiar pit in my stomach churned. I always felt sick to my stomach on the first day at a new school. I usually ralphed just before first period in the ladies’ room. “You guys are the ones with the magic. I’m a normal person.”

“Yes, but you’re the first human woman they’ve ever met, so you’ve drawn quite the turnout.” Jamie stood in the doorway, as if entering a woman’s chambers was unbecoming to him. He wore a blue fancy George Washington-style coat over his clothes and had the posture of an old-fashioned gentleman. It was a little intimidating.

“May I fix your hair?” Britta asked in her mousy voice. Her dark green dress had an apron over it, and she wore her long brown hair in two clean braids on either side of her head under her white bonnet.

I ran my hand through the tangles, never having cared much what it looked like. “Um, sure. Is it a disaster?”

Her lie was easy to spot. “Oh, no! I just thought you might want your hair in the style of your uncle’s people.” She motioned to the vanity, and I sat obediently while she made sense of my blonde hair with a pearl-handled brush. She let it hang loose and tied silver and pink ribbons through loops she knotted in my hair.

Jens and Jamie were talking in hushed tones that made me nervous. I didn’t like surprises, and everything about this place would be one.

When Britta was finished, I thanked her and turned to look at myself in the concave and cloudy mirror. I was astonished. With no product whatsoever, she’d made me look like a Renaissance princess. Or a fairy. Or whatever those women at the fairs were supposed to be. “Whoa! Is one of your magical powers hairstyling? How’d you do that?”

Britta smiled by way of an answer.

Jens extended his hand to hoist me up out of the chair, but when I stood, I did not drop his hand. Part of me held onto him because I was nervous. The other part… I wasn’t ready to look too close at that yet. Suffice to say, Jens and I had been through enough in the past couple days to be at the place where we could lean on each other a little. He gazed down at me and gave me a look with a thousand emotions flickering through it, tinged with a hint of teasing. “Are you gonna hurl? You’ve got that look.”

“Well, aren’t you a charmer?” I straightened, trying not to feel like a child in the midst of the three tall people. Jens led the way down the golden hallway, down a flight of blonde-colored stairs, down three more hallways and to a set of doors that was shut. I could hear commotion on the other side.

Jamie held out his arm for me to take, but I did not move toward him. “I’m fine. Thanks.” I looked to Britta, who was grinning at the place where my hand was still joined with her brother’s. “But Britta needs an escort. I mean, a woman walking around without a man? What would the neighbors say?”

Jens dropped my hand and took a step back from me. “No. Do what you’re told and go with Jamie.”

“Come again?” I can’t recall the last time someone ordered me so rudely.

“Go with Jamie. He’ll bring you out and present you to the elves. His stamp of approval will help them accept you. Set you off on the right foot.” When I didn’t move away from his side fast enough, his tone turned sharp. “You can’t hold onto me like that, Lucy. People are gonna get the wrong idea about us.”

I recoiled from his acerbic tone. “What wrong idea? In the bedroom, you were just –”

“You were imagining things.” He gave me a look of warning not to test him. “What? You really think you could keep up with someone like me? Come on, Loos! Rumors fly like crazy around here, and I don’t want anyone in my business, least of all you.”