Chapter 4

I wake up later than usual. I didn't set my alarm. Not that I need to on the weekend anyway. I shower and dress in my long tan linen skirt and loose blue linen top. Don't ask me why I'm dressing girly today I don't know. I slip on strappy leather sandals and head downstairs. I hear Cain and Jeb's voices before I get into the kitchen and stop. It's not that I want to eavesdrop; it's just that I want them to finish their conversation. Honest.

"Is DG up yet?" Cain asks.

"Oh I am so not talking to you right now." Jeb is still angry; I can hear it in his voice.

"I already explained this to you. I'm sorry, but it's done now."

"Let her go. That's all you have to do. Just say the words; she'll still give you a chance. Just let us have our friendship back. Please."

"I… I can't."

"You WON'T! Gods, you are so FUCKING selfish! I can't even be around you right now." Jeb yells.

I run halfway up the stairs and start back down so that they don't know I was listening. I meet Jeb at the bottom of the stairs and he just looks so defeated. I can't stand it. I try to reach out to him but the magick stops me. He looks at me for a moment then continues up the stairs. It's not fair. I don't really want to go into the kitchen but I'm hungry. Cain looks at me as I walk in the kitchen. He opens his mouth to say something but I hold up a hand and stop him. I grab a mug and pour some coffee and fill a plate with the chocolate chip pancakes that mom must have made before she and Popsicle left for church. Figures I'd have devout Southern Baptist robot parents. After heating the pancakes in the microwave I sit at the table. Cain sits across from me nursing a cup of coffee.

"May I speak now?" he asks.

"I don't know; is what you are about to say going to make me madder at you than I already am?"

"I hope not. I was just going to ask you to have dinner with me."

"I don't see that I have much of a choice. Yeah, sure, whatever, I guess." I tell him as I finish my breakfast. I get up and put my dishes in the sink. "I'll see you later." I leave the kitchen and head up stairs.

I find myself standing in front of Jeb's door, debating on whether or not I should knock. I decide to leave him alone and go up to my room. I grab my sketch book and a pencil and turn on the stereo. Opening the book to a blank page I start drawing whatever pops into my mind. It doesn't take long before I am singing along with the radio while my hand continues to sketch a face.

You're not sure that you love me

But you're not sure enough to let me go



Baby, it ain't fair ya know to just keep me hangin' 'round

You say you don't want to hurt me

Don't want to see my tears

So why are you still standing here watchin' me drown,

Well, hell, ain't that the truth. "When the hell did my life become a country song?" I ask.

"I'd say about the time you met my dad," Jeb's voice from my doorway startles me.

"Hey, come on in." I look at him, defeat still plain in his eyes. He sits in the chair that his father vacated last. I continue my drawing since I still don't exactly know who I am sketching.

"You should sing more. You're good at it. Are you doing ok?"

"Yeah I guess. He wants to take me out to dinner. I don't really know if I want to go."

"He's really a good guy when he's not being a jackass. Protective and loyal."

"You know, you're not supposed to list his selling points."

"Selling? What?"

"The good things about him that should make me want to go out with him. I'm perfectly content to stay mad for a while."

"I know. Believe me I want to too. Dad and I got into it again this morning."

"Um, yeah about that I have a confession to make. I heard everything."

"Well we weren't exactly being quiet about it, so I'm not surprised."

"Do you think I should go?"

"Honestly? I don't want you to go. But in the interest of fairness, yeah, you should probably go. Besides you can't sit there and tell me you don't have a crush on him," he says with a smirk on his face.

I look up at him. "Well, sure. I mean what living, breathing woman wouldn't. But all it is is an appreciation of him." I look down at the sketch I am working on and realize that half the face is Jeb and the other half is Cain. How did that happen? Before I know it the book is in Jeb's hands.

"Wow, that's different. What made you do that?"

"I didn't mean to. I wasn't exactly paying attention to what I was doing."

"Still it's good. You should keep it."

"Yeah, I think I will." I tack the drawing up on my wall. "Your dad said something yesterday that got me thinking. He said that everyone in the OZ has magick to some extent."



"Yeah as far as I know that's true. Everyone is born with a magickal gift of some kind. Dad's gift is heightened awareness; it's what makes him a good Tin Man. My mother had a gift with plants. She was a brilliant herbalist."

"What about you?"

"I wasn't a resistance leader for nothing, Deeg. I'm a strategist. I was born to be a military leader."

"And I have the Light. I hate that I don't know anything about my own world. I mean I've gotten all my memories back from when I was little but I didn't know anymore about The OZ then than I do now so it's all pretty useless."

"You'll figure it out. I know you will. So, you gonna go on that date with my dad?"

"I suppose. I mean if I have to I might as well try to enjoy it. There's this place not far from here that has a fantastic cheesecake. I guess I better go make your dad's I.D. he's going to need it. Are you coming downstairs?"

"I don't know. I said some pretty harsh things this morning. I think I'll just head outside."

"Okay. We'll talk later?"

"Definitely." He leaves my room closing the door behind him. He's so easy to talk to. I pick up one of those phony credit cards that companies send out as ads and go downstairs. Cain is in the living room again. He's reading a book. I can tell it's one of mine but that's about it.

"Hello, DG." He greets me before I am even completely in the room. It's creepy but now that I know about his magickal gift it makes sense.

"Hi. I figured that if you were going to be here for a while you need some I.D. so I brought this down to make it." I put the card on the coffee table and looked back at Cain. "Hold still." I put one hand on the card and the other on his forehead. I wove the spell tightly around the card making sure that it wouldn't unravel unless I wanted it to. By the time I was done the Driver's license I created was perfect. "Here this should do it. I hand him the card and go to the kitchen.

I set the table for lunch and mom serves up the soup and sandwiches. I heat out to the front yard to get Jeb. He's sitting under the tree staring out at the road.

"Thinking about running?" I ask as I sit next to him.

"It's tempting isn't it?"

"Yeah. Why do you think I was ready to run the day I wound up in the OZ? Lunch is ready, come inside."

"Deeg, you think that if you tried hard enough your Light could break the binding?"



"I don't know. Apparently it's pretty powerful magick. I guess I could try." I really wonder if my magick is strong enough to break it. I know it will drain me even if I can.

Lunch is quick and we all scatter. I'm in my room drawing again. This time I make a conscious effort to draw Jeb. I don't how long I am absorbed in my drawing but a knock on my door brings me back to reality. I turn on my lamp as the light starts to fade and open the door. It's Cain.

"Are you ready to go, DG?"

"Yeah I guess so. I assume you want to take Pop's truck?" I say as I put my sketch book down on my bed.

"Yes, if you don't mind."

"It's fine." I say as I grab my bag and walk downstairs with him. Jeb is nowhere to be found I guess he's in his room. I don't blame him.

We get to the restaurant and are seated. I flash my I.D. and order a bottle of wine. We're at an Italian place so I order a Chianti Classico. Cain sips at the wine and from the look on his face I can tell he wasn't prepared for how strong it is. We order our food and the waitress says something about it being nice that Cain would take his daughter out to dinner. I try to hide a smirk behind my napkin. I order and eat my desert while Cain pays the bill. We stand to leave and he stumbles.

"You ok, Cain?" I ask him. I'm glad I only had half a glass of wine. "Looks like you had too much. Come on, let's go. I'm driving."

I get him in the truck and drive home. We are almost home when he starts mumbling something.

"Cain? You say something? You need to speak up."

"You're very pretty, DG." His words are a little slurred. I'm really shocked cause the wine really wasn't that strong. I guess it's the difference between OZ and Earth alcohol.

"Um, thanks, Cain."

"I'm sorry I hurt you. I'm just so lonely. And I've missed you so much while you've been here."

"I can understand that, but being lonely doesn't give you the right to take my freedom away form me."

"I'm sorry, DG." His speech is clear and his eyes are focused as I park the truck in the garage at home. I climb out of the truck and walk toward the front door.

"I know. But can you really say that you can see a future for us? Can you really say that you want to stay up all hours of the night caring for sick babies?" The look on his face is priceless. He hadn't thought of that. "Didn't think about that did you? Yes, Cain I want babies. 2 or 3 at least. And you have to realize that by the time one of them was 10 you'd already be in your 50's. How are you going to keep up with them?"



"I could try, DG. I'm not perfect but I'm a good man." He catches up to me and grabs my shoulders and turns me to face him.

"I know that. I'm not arguing that point. I do care bout you. I care about what happens to you and I care about your future. You are my Best Friend. But I don't love you the way you want me to."

"How do you know? Look, I ask two things of you."

"The first?"

"Give me a week to court you," he says.

"And the second?"

"At the end of the week grant me a kiss."

He would ask that wouldn't he. Where does he get off doing this?

"No." I tell him.

"Excuse me?" he asks. I can tell he's shocked. I've never completely gone against him before.

"You heard me. I can't do that. Let me go, Cain. I don't love you the way you want me to! If you do this you risk our friendship! Not to mention you risk permanently destroying your relationship with your own son!"

"I think there could be more though, DG." He stops suddenly and I see that he is no longer looking at me but up at the porch. Jeb is standing there; arms crossed and scowl on his face. It's times like these I realize that he truly is his father's son.

"I do not want to talk about this right now. Go inside, Cain." He stands there looking at me then Jeb and back. I glare at him. "GO!"

He looks startled for a moment before he brushes past Jeb and into the house. I walk up to the porch and sit at the small table there. Jeb sits next to be and really kinda looks the way I feel. I have to stop myself from reaching out to take his hand. It'd be a useless move anyway.

"Are you okay, Deeg?"

"I don't know. How much did you hear?"

"From about the time you left the garage."

"God, he's bold I'll give him that. He asks for a kiss? In all honestly, I'd love nothing more than to wrap myself in your arms and cry."

"We could try to break the Binding."



"No, it's too soon. My magick still needs to recover from last night. We have to go to work in the morning. We should both go to bed. Good night." I walk into the house and up the stairs to my room. I change and crawl into bed and cry myself to sleep.