Hey, everyone! First off, I'd like to apologize for the severe delay in this chapter. It definitely wasn't planned for this fic and my other ones to fall into a several month hiatus. Things have been pretty crazy between working both a full time and part time job, attending graduate school, and helping my dad with his broken ankle. It hasn't left me with much time to get any writing done, but thankfully I've finally managed to squeeze in some time and find the motivation I was worried I'd lost.
My dad's ankle is healing well, and my Fall graduate term has ended for the rest of the month, so I have some free time. I have also resigned from my part-time job, which will allow me to get some rest and actually get back into my writing. I was working long hours at my part-time and barely making any money at it, which resulted in me basically spending any free time I had being exhausted. So, I decided that the best thing for me and my mental health was to go back down to a single job and focus on school. Thank you so much for everyone who's been so supportive of me during this time, and I'm grateful to be back!
I'm sure we're all fed up with these two idiot boys pining after each other and not admitting that they have feelings for each other. These two mutually pining idiots need to just sit down and talk like adults and discuss the kiss that happened in the Unseelie Court―plus their feelings for each other!
So let's see if these two boys are able to pull their heads out of the clouds and figure out that they have mutual feelings for each other!
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
Shion stared at the cordless phone. His heart pounded beneath his ribs, like a trapped canary realizing its owner had grown tired of its singing and sought to dispose of it at dawn. His fingers trembled at the thought of picking it up and dialing the number he knew almost as well as his own, the number he'd invented a song to so he wouldn't forget it in his youth. Even a decade later, he could still recall the tune he'd hummed, the way the numbers rolled off his tongue as he warbled it to Safu at school and watched her curl up on the bench and laugh until she wept.
Shion swallowed the lump that'd formed in his throat. He could still see the disappointment and terror warring behind Safu's dark brown irises after he'd told her what he'd done. Safu's grandmother had warned them for years never to let the Folk know they could see them―and in a matter of moments, without rhyme or reason, Shion had ruined it all.
He exhaled miserably, the edges of his vision blurring gray. Down the hall, he could hear the water running in the shower. It must have gone cold by now, since their water heater wasn't big, but Nezumi had insisted he didn't mind a cold shower. Now that Shion thought of it, Nezumi didn't seem like the type to mind much of anything.
Shion dragged his fingers through his damp hair and tried to think. The Unseelie King might not be dead. Nezumi had informed him of that last night, but the thought seemed so impossible that Shion just couldn't internalize it.
He'd seen Nezumi plunge his knife through the Unseelie King's unprotected back. He'd felt that too-thin body collapse on top of him. He'd smelled the burning skin as the Unseelie King's face pressed against the iron floor, his closed eyes remaining still despite the pain it should have caused. Someone who was alive would have responded. A monster like the Unseelie King would have come tearing after them in an instant. He wouldn't have let them spend even an hour in the mortal world after what they'd done to him.
He has to be dead, Shion thought, but the words felt hollow and meaningless inside his skull.
Dead or not, Shion knew he couldn't run the risk of getting his mother or Safu involved in whatever war he'd begun. So long as there was even a minuscule chance that the Unseelie King had survived―or that some other monster had finished him off when he was vulnerable and seized the crown and the blood-soaked Court for itself―Shion knew Nezumi was right. There wasn't anything they could do except run to the ends of the earth and hope that wherever they went, they moved faster than the Unseelie Court's forces.
Shion's fingers twitched toward the cordless phone. When Safu had dropped him off at his mother's bakery a few nights ago, she'd barely been able to look at him. The disappointment and concern on her face made him sick to his stomach, and no amount of apologies could make it right.
If he was going to disappear forever, he at least wanted to let Safu know that he missed her.
Shion huffed a breath through his nose. He felt as if he'd been standing in front of the phone for months. But standing there wouldn't erase it from happening. He reached for the phone, and the front door opened. Karan hurried into the living room and locked the door behind her, exhaling with relief as soon as it was closed.
Shion's heart jolted. "Mom?"
"Oh, Shion. There you are." Karan undid her pale purple apron and hung it off the peg suspended by the apartment door. The front was coated in long streaks of flour, as if Karan had used it as a napkin throughout the day. "I was hoping I'd manage to catch you."
Shion's stomach churned as his mother lifted her head and smiled at him. Her dark eyes still held scraps of that enchanted glaze, evidence of the strange hold Nezumi's words had over her psyche. Shion swallowed back the instinctive urge to cry at the sight of it, forcing a smile on his face. He didn't know if his mother would notice his behavior as bizarre in her altered state, but he didn't want to run the risk of upsetting her.
Karan reached up and plucked the bandanna off her head. Her dark hair sat flat against her forehead, a testament to how long it had been held down by the fabric. She smoothed her fingers through it, ruffling her bangs and letting her loose ponytail fall over her shoulder. "Do you remember my friend, Renka?"
"Renka?" Shion furrowed his brow and tried to remember the name. Karan had so few friends due to her busy work schedule that it wasn't difficult to conjure a face to match the name. "Oh, you mean Lily's mother?"
"Yes, that's right." Karan folded the bandanna and set it on the kitchen counter. "She just called me a few minutes ago. Apparently, there's been some kind of emergency, and she really needs someone to stay with her for a bit."
Shion's stomach clenched. He cast a brief glance down the hall, toward the closed bathroom door. The water was still running. "Oh," he said a moment later, realizing that Karan was probably expecting a response from him. "Is... is everything all right?"
"I think the baby's due soon," Karan explained. "And Renka's husband hasn't been around for a while." There was a hint of darkness in her tone, and Shion pieced together the implication of her words all too quickly. "She's nervous about being by herself, and Yoming―you remember Yoming, right? Her brother?―he has to work long hours at the office, so he can't stay with her and Lily during the day, and he's worried."
"Right..." Shion glanced over at the window. The curtains were pulled, blocking out the streetlamps and the steadily darkening sky. He wondered how many sprites were outside, if any.
"Renka asked me if I'd be willing to stay with her for a little while," Karan explained softly. "Just until the baby arrives. The way things are going, it looks like she's due any day now. So, about a week at most, I think."
Shion blinked. A week. His mother had gone to the city to visit her friends before. Shion was old enough to stay on his own for a few days. Usually, during that time, the bakery stayed closed and Shion spent his time at Safu's place. It didn't happen often―they couldn't afford it―but rather than the spike of anxiety that accompanied it, Shion felt a rush of relief.
He and Nezumi needed to leave. There was no doubt in that. As much as Shion's heart screamed at him to find another way, he knew that leaving was the only way he and Nezumi could hope to keep the Unseelie Court at bay for a while longer.
If Karan was leaving town for a week, then it was an additional week the Unseelie Court wouldn't come storming into the bakery to look for them. Nezumi had assured him that the Unseelie Court wouldn't bother his mother if he split town. Shion's hands trembled at the thought of his mother leaving, not knowing that the last time she saw her son would be her last, but he forced a wobbly smile on his face and whispered, "That's really nice of you, Mom. I'm sure Renka and Lily will be happy to see you."
"I hope so," Karan replied with a warm grin. "I'm baking some cookies to bring to them. Would you like to help me?"
"Ah... I'd love to, Mom, but I have to call Safu." Shion's body prickled, as if he'd tumbled into a bed full of needles. "I'm sure she's worried. I haven't talked to her since yesterday."
The lie tasted bitter on his tongue, and ordinarily, Karan would have picked up on it immediately. But Nezumi's enchantment held firm. Karan smiled and said, "Well, when you're done, perhaps you and Nezumi can give me a hand." She turned and headed toward the stairwell. "I'm just cleaning the bakery a bit while I wait. I'll see you in a bit."
"Yeah," Shion whispered, but Karan was already skipping downstairs, humming to herself.
Shion tried to keep his face blank, fighting against the tears that so desperately wanted to spill down his cheeks. Just pick up the phone. He concentrated on the dull buzzing of the cheap lightbulbs in the kitchen's overhead light, struggling not to notice the strange scent of jasmine petals and cool wind that permeated the air where Nezumi had been standing.
His heart hammered, the soft plastic of the cordless phone brushing against his fingertips as he picked it up off the receiver. His thumb hovered over the first few numbers, muscle memory warring against his strange desire to hurl the phone through the window―and hopefully hit one of the pixies who must have been fluttering nearby, because they always did.
Shion dialed the number before anymore distracting thoughts to dissuade him. As the sounds of the phone ringing buzzed on the other end, Shion lifted the phone to his ear and waited, his heart thumping painfully loud in his ears.
It picked up after only a handful of rings. "Mrs. K?"
"Um," Shion murmured. "No, Safu. It's me."
For several tense moments, the other end of the phone was silent. Safu's voice was strained and silent as she whispered back, "Shion?"
"Yeah."
"Where the hell were you?" Shion flinched away from the receiver, but Safu's voice kept filtering loudly through it. "Your mom―your mom called me and said you were gone! That you'd just disappeared! You wouldn't answer your phone. Where the hell did you go?"
Shion could picture her aggressively pacing her bedroom, his expression tense and agitated. His heart ached at the thought of her disappointment, the way she'd been unable to look at him as she escorted him back to the bakery, her wrists adorned with iron charms to ward away the worst of the Folk.
"Listen," Shion murmured. "I really can't say too much about it. You have to trust me."
"What do you mean you can't 'say too much about it'?" Safu's voice had lowered into a soft mimicry of a shout; Shion suspected she was doing her best to pull in her anger to keep her grandmother from overhearing and worrying. "Does this have to do with that faerie?"
"Nezumi," Shion whispered, without knowing why.
"Oh, God. Shion, what happened? If he's got you under some sort of spell―"
"He doesn't!"
"How am I supposed to know that? You've been acting weird lately!" Shion heard shuffling on the other end of the line. A door closed, and Shion's blood chilled as he realized Safu was getting ready to storm over to the bakery. "Shion, listen to me. Whatever he's told you, it's not real. Just go downstairs, stand in the kitchen, and wait until I get there."
Shion's stomach plummeted. "Safu, no―you can't come here."
"It's going to be all right, Shion. We'll figure this out. Just sprinkle some salt in your mouth and then find somewhere to sit down. It might get confusing, but―"
"Dammit, Safu, he didn't enchant me!"
"That's exactly what someone who's under a faerie spell would say." The sound of Safu's boots thumping against the wooden floorboards of her living room echoed in his ears like a series of gunshots. "Grandmother," she called over her shoulder, "I'm going out for a bit!" She said back into the phone, "Just give me twenty minutes. I'll be there in a bit. You're going to be fine, Shion."
"Safu," Shion said desperately, "this isn't why I called you. Really, you can't come here!"
"Shion, stop arguing with me. We need to―"
Shion flinched as a cool hand slipped around his own and withdrew the phone from his grip. He spun, watching in mute horror as Nezumi lifted the phone to his ear and said into the receiver, "I don't have an enchantment on him."
There was a beat of silence, and then Safu's voice ripped through the speaker, "You! What the fuck are you doing there?"
Shion's heart stuttered―Safu had never swore like that before―but Nezumi didn't look concerned. He stood in the kitchen, dressed in the spare clothes Shion had left piled on the bed for him, with the towel draped around his neck. His long, dark hair had been thoroughly dried and brushed, settling around his shoulders, the round edges of his glamoured ears peeking out just a bit.
"It would be best," Nezumi explained, "if you didn't come here right now."
"Nezumi," Shion hissed, "what are you―"
"Whatever you did to him, you bastard," Safu growled, "I am going to make you pay for it."
"I haven't placed any sort of enchantment on him." Nezumi pressed his lips together in a thin line. He thought for a moment and then said, slowly and carefully, "We won't be here when you arrive. It isn't safe. If you insist on coming anyway, so be it. But I assure you, no matter what happens, I intend to keep Shion safe."
Horror blasted through Shion as the two sections of his world collided. Panic kept him frozen as he watched Nezumi remove the phone from his ear and, before Safu could shriek anything else at him, press the "end call" button with an audible click. A few moments of silence passed, and then he regarded Shion with a bemused look.
"You're the only one with the Sight, huh?" Nezumi remarked.
Shion lowered his gaze. "I'm sorry."
"Don't apologize. I understand why you said it." Nezumi set the cordless phone back on the hook and ruffled the towel through his hair. It spilled over his shoulder like black ink, leaving damp droplets against the fabric of the borrowed shirt. "In your situation, I probably would have done the same thing."
Even so, it still made Shion feel uneasy. An apology formed on the tip of his tongue; he forced it back. Nezumi didn't seem like the type to appreciate apologies. Shion shifted his weight from one foot to the next, wringing his wrists and looking over at the closed curtains blocking out the street. It made the room feel too small, but he didn't want to open them for fear that a pair of black eyes would be glaring back at him.
"Judging from the voice," Nezumi mused, "I'm guessing it was the short girl?"
A lump formed in Shion's throat. "Y-yeah." He didn't offer Safu's name, for it didn't feel like he had the right to give it away. He was sure Nezumi had overheard him, but if there was a chance that Safu could remain somewhat anonymous in the eyes of the faerie world, he wanted to take it.
"And the other two?"
"They don't have it."
Nezumi raised an eyebrow.
"I'm not lying," Shion assured. "The other two can't see the Folk." Shion had never noticed until now, but when he said it, he caught the faintest glimmer of bitterness in his tone.
Jealousy. He had never admitted it before, but Shion supposed, in a way, he'd always been jealous of Anne and Roy for living their lives without the knowledge that monsters walked right beside them. The few times Shion interacted with them, he found himself lamenting the fact that he and Safu had to pretend not to notice the three tall women with bony claws pulling a sprite's wings off its back while it shrieked and writhed while Anne and Roy laughed and went through their days in ignorance.
The muted shadows on Nezumi's expression made it clear that he noticed the bitterness in Shion's words, too, but he chose not to comment on it. Shion folded his arms across his chest and exhaled. Everything was falling apart around him.
A soft sound came from the closed door leading to the apartment. Shion glanced over, terrified―how had Safu gotten here so quickly? It was impossible―but Nezumi raised a finger and carefully approached the door.
He pulled his sleeve down over his hand, cracked the door open, and peered out into the dark stairwell. Shion strained to hear what he said, but before he could, Nezumi plucked something off the ground and shut the door. He carried it over to Shion, peering down at it with an expression that bordered on relief and mild aggravation.
"What's that?" Shion demanded.
"A message from an acquaintance," Nezumi explained, dropping the mystery object into the pocket of his borrowed jeans. "Someone who might be able to help us avoid the Unseelie Court."
"Who?"
"A dog," Nezumi replied, but offered no more information.
Shion suspected his lack of response had more to do with their sudden time crunch than with Nezumi's willingness to omit information from him. His heart clenched as Nezumi did a quick walk around the kitchen, regarding the block of steak knives and the cleaver.
"How long will it take your friend to get here?"
"If she's running," Shion whispered, "about twenty minutes."
"Then we need to be gone in ten."
Shion swallowed the lump in his throat. "I don't have much to pack," he whispered. "It'd probably help to pack light anyway."
"Smart boy." Nezumi wrung his hands and stepped toward the closed door leading into the bakery kitchen. "You grab the few things you need. I'll go downstairs and let your mother know we have to go."
Shion almost stopped him. He almost explained that Karan would be leaving town for a week, and that Nezumi should give him the chance to tell her goodbye―but the thought of looking his mother in the face and telling her that this was the last time he'd ever see her made him sick to his stomach. He forced back the wave of tears, knowing there would be plenty of time to break down later.
"Grab what you can," Nezumi called over his shoulder. "We're going to steal a car."
"Wait, what?" Shion called back. "What do you mean, 'steal a car'?"
Nezumi didn't reply. He was already hurrying down the stairs.
To Be Continued...