Fairy Circle (21 page)

“
No, really. Like what?”

Saffron was silent.

Coco stopped counting. She put her face down on the counter next to Saffron’s. “Be rude and get it on while you’re working out here alone? I know. I’m sorry.”

“
I don’t care about working out here alone. That’s not what I’m talking about. It’s just, how can you do it at all?”

“
What do you mean, you need a sex lesson?”

“
Oh, for Christ’s sake, Coco! Never mind!” Saffron turned her head over. Outside, twilight stars twinkled.
“Coco? How come you never hung around with me before? You know, at school.”

“
Princess Fiona.”

Saffron rolled her head over and squinted up at her.

“
Yeah, did you know people called you that? All the chicks that hung around with Mindy and Samantha got princess names. The darling couple themselves? Well, Mindy was The Wicked Bitch of the East and Samantha was the Wicked Bitch of the West. I didn’t want to try to know you, Saffron. Give me a break; who would? You hung around with them. I thought you were like them.” She shrugged an ‘oh, well.’

Saffron stood up straight. She never imagined hanging around with Mindy and Co. was making
her
look bad. She was always sure she made them look bad, and she had always been thankful for their scraps of tolerance, that they let her hang around them at all.

Coco chuckled at Saffron’s wide eyes. “Girl, you need some confidence. If you were a self-induced moron with metal-bending halitosis I’d say, ‘Sure, hide in a closet, you’re scaring people.’ But you’re not. You’re beautiful and I’m always laughing when I hang around with you. Look around, man. See things a little differently. You’re getting old – yuh gotta get on with life.

“
As far as I’m concerned, your only mistake in life was choosing that gag-me girly squad to hang around with. Your choices for friends, Saffron, P.U! C’mon, half of those freakin’ coffee thermoses are empty; let’s do another batch.”

Saffron followed her like a puppy.

Throughout the night, Coco babbled on like rain on a tin roof. Saffron wandered with the duster, allowing Ny to stalk to the front of her thoughts. As she shuffled around the corner of the condom aisle, Saffron stopped and fell into a trance.

In her head, all was black. Then the black became a dome in which stars twinkled. The moon was full, every single crater magnified. She was encased in pristine silence as she saw herself standing barefoot on sugar-white sands on the edge of a black lake. The lake was surrounded on all sides by shadowed mountains with glittering, snowcapped-peaks. An empty glass boat glided toward her, across the inky waters, cleaving and moving the water as if it were yards and yards of obsidian air silk. She stepped into the boat and sat in the center, hugging her knees to her chest. Through the bottom of the boat, she saw flashes of tiny, glowing, neon fish. She hung her hand outside of the boat and dipped her fingers into the lukewarm water. The fish swam up one by one, kissed her flesh, and disappeared into the depths when they found her inedible. The boat was bearing her silently across the lake. She saw no one was waiting for her on the far shore. She strained her eyes as she searched the shore again. Her body became leaden. She felt her heart tear so wide she could almost hear it. Big tears welled in her eyes. She shook them away and searched again. The coming shore held only sand and the shadows of trees that swayed when the wind caught up in their canopy. A sudden gust of wind shrieked in her ears. Its scream amplified beyond her tolerance and the dream shattered around her.

Someone had come into the store. He headed for the milk cooler. Big round tears bounced off her freckled cheeks and plopped to the cracked linoleum. She couldn’t catch her breath.

Coco appeared in front of her. “Saffron, look. I don’t know you that well? But I’ve kinda been watching you because you seem to be acting a little….” Coco didn’t say “strange,” seeing as how Saffron was hypersensitive and always a little strange. But she also knew that Saffron, The-Gorgeous-When-Not-Hunched-Redhead, was weirder than usual today. Coco felt like she had to say something. Saffron was actually making her nervous. It was a strange sensation – nervous - that she had no use for. It didn’t quite fit into the already emotion-filled saddlebag that was her mind. She scratched her head and looked around at the condom display. “Are you just trying to decide on which brand? These ribbed Trojans are overrated.”

Saffron bit her lip to stop the tears. What was wrong with her? What was Ny doing?
Was
he doing it, or was she really going insane?

Coco’s eyes went flat. “Okay, definitely not deciding on condoms. Dude, what’s going on up here?” Lightly, she tapped Saffron’s forehead.

Saffron choked. “I’m okay. I’m so tired. I just need to sleep.”

“
Saffron, I can’t keep putting you to bed in the back room. I mean, I don’t mind workin’ the store alone or nothin’ like that. It’s just that, why aren’t you sleeping at home? If you don’t get enough sleep, you’ll go insane. It’s been proven.” Coco’s head bobbed mournfully. “We’re calling your mother. You need to go home. Maybe you’re coming down with something.”

Were all of her problems due to lack of sleep? Maybe she should go to a sleep specialist instead of a shrink. She could go to one of those sleep clinics she heard about on the radio station; the commercial after the ‘breast enhancement’ commercial and before the ‘lose fifty pounds in a week commercial.’ She decided Coco was right; she should go home, go to bed.

***

Markis came back to the store around ten-thirty. He was unusually serious as he craned his neck to look around the store.

Coco came from out back at the ting-a-ling. “Saffron went home sick.” She reached into the cooler for the bucket of tuna salad. She put some on a paper towel and grabbed a spoon she kept behind the parade of scratch tickets. She took the salad from the reserves bucket, never from the congealed display tray. She cupped the paper towel of tuna and dug in, talking to Markis between bites as she leaned her bones on the counter. She babbled on while he frowned.

He stared out the black window. Was Saffron sick or avoiding him? He decided he was not going to hound her again. Maybe he was pressuring her. She was so upset when he left earlier. She wouldn’t even look at him, like she wanted to avoid him. Maybe he would just give her a call to make sure she was okay. Or would she feel pressured? He decided to leave her alone. If she liked him…she’d let him know. If she didn’t bother with him, except to give those forced polite smiles, then he’d know to give it up. He made himself listen to Coco.

“
Mwah, mwah, mwah mwah, mwah mwah.” She jutted her chin at him. “Yeah, I knew you weren’t listening.” She shook her head as she poked her cupped tuna salad. “You freakin’ people. Just tell her how you feel. Believe me; she needs to hear that from you right now. She really was sick when she went home. She needs something to rock her world. You know what I’m saying? Rock her world, then give her a nap. That’ll solve all her damn problems.”

“
Coco, you think that’s the cure for everything.”

She held her hands out. “It is.”

On the ride home, Saffron’s mother had gotten less out of her than Coco had. Saffron didn’t want to talk. She wanted to get home to her bed. She wanted to go to sleep. No talking, no thinking, no dreaming. Just sleeping.

At ten-thirty, she was in bed, arguing with her mother and Derek, who stood in the doorway. They wanted her to pick one of them to sleep in her room with her even though the moon wasn’t full.

While she argued feebly, Mr. and Mrs. Garden Gnome had a spat in the garden. Apparently, the Mrs. was sick and tired of the Mr. chewing on his toenails and spitting them about their spic-and-span, brand-new, underground lair. She screamed at him. She swore little gnome swears at him, flung gourds and other produce at his head. For a finale, she cracked a stick over his skull and pushed him face-first into a pile of fresh manure. He stormed off and harassed the alpacas by riding them and yanking their long silky locks. The alpacas skittered and rolled and hummed in dismay, trying to throw him off.

A few hours after she had passed out, Saffron woke up with a headache. She felt queasy. Maybe she really did have the flu. She sighed. She knew she didn’t have the flu. She was making herself sick was what she was doing.

A bag of crackers and a can of warm ginger ale were sitting on her bedside table. Her mother left her a note signed with X’s and O’s. It said she could go down to the fridge and reheat dinner if she was hungry. Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and carrots with gravy. Or, if she needed help, to just call out and her mother would come.

Saffron got out of bed and walked to her window. She threw open the panes and gulped in crisp, fresh air. Autumn was her favorite time of year, even now when the nights were getting very crisp with cold. She could smell the apple-drops moldering beneath the apple tree and see every star in the sky as if they were crystals dancing on the inky surface of a black lake. She frowned. The inky blackness of the night sky brought her no joy this evening. She held herself tightly as the flesh seized up on the back of her neck and every little hair stood on end. Her eyes were drawn to the movement of a black shadow beneath her.

The vampire was smiling up at her.

He was right there, just below her, sitting on the roof of the farmer’s porch, on the short decline. His feet were tucked up near his butt; his arms were wrapped loosely around his knees. He was so close she could reach out and touch him. She recoiled, reached to clutch the panes and slam them shut. Her intestines knotted and tried to slither away. All of the blood left her head, leaving her dizzy.

“
Don’t bother,” Jethin said. “The old fables and folklore ring true. I can’t come in unless you invite me.” He wiggled his eyebrows. “Hi. I’m Jethin.” He could feel her fear. Each time it took a new form, her fear surrounded and fed him. He kept talking.

She didn’t hear much of what he said at first. The blood had zoomed back into her head and was thumping like a bass drum in her ear canals. His words were muffled, but the sound of his voice was calm and soothing. Soon, it began to work on her. The thumping in her head faded away.

“…
silly movies anyway. You know how it is, ‘fear the unknown’.” He snorted, “I’m just a big sweetheart.” He had beautiful, full lips, big, fat lips that widened back to reveal big, beautiful, white teeth. His straight, dark hair was pulled back at the base of his neck. He wore a puffy black parka, black jeans, and black hiking boots.

She still gripped the window; her spastic breath frosted the glass. Her eyes narrowed slightly as she really focused on him for the first time. He sat there cozy enough on the slant of the farmer’s porch roof, which was just below all of the second floor windows on the front of the house. When she was younger, had Saffron been a wild, fun-loving girl, or a mischievous hooligan, she could have easily used the roof as a means to sneak out at night. But Saffron had never had the heart for such a life.

Saffron didn’t know if he, if
Jethin
, was mulatto, Hispanic, Hawaiian, or what, but he was hot. Li had warned her against such a creature. Saffron knew she would have to take the next few moments very carefully - even if he was giving her the most heart-melting grin. She smiled back, just a small smile. She couldn’t help it. He already made her feel good. His teeth were completely normal except for the fact that they were so perfect, so perfectly white and shiny. “Could you attack me if I was walking around outside?” The statement was a poke, a jab at him to see what his reaction would be, as if she were a little girl at the beach who came upon a meandering crab. Maybe, if she was nice, he would be too; this monster below her that smelled faintly of decay. A scent his four-hundred-dollar cologne couldn’t mask.

“
Yep. I could rip your jugular out in two seconds flat and offer it to my mates as a door prize.” He popped some bubble gum into his mouth, formed a string with it after a couple of chews, and twirled it around his tongue. He offered her some. He waved his hand to indicate the farmhouse. “But in your home, you are protected, by…something. The more loving the home, the stronger the charm; and let me tell you, your walls are like Fort Knox. They’re absolutely impenetrable, unless of course, you allow me to pass.” He winked.

She reached out to take the offered gum, then snatched her hand back to hold against her chest. “Why tell me that? I had no idea. You could have tricked me and done whatever it is you wanted to do with me.”

“
I don’t want to rip your jugular out, Saffron. That wouldn’t be any fun.” He spoke so pleasantly and smiled so sweetly. He raised a heavy eyebrow at her and appeared to really look at her for the first time. “I’m a lamb. Listen, after we met at the movie theatre I was thinking about you. I mean, why are you glowing?”

She shrugged, and hoped she appeared casual, while every bone in her body clacked inside her skin. “It’s no big deal. It’ll wear off soon.” Her head jerked involuntarily. “Some fairies took me to their home. Now, apparently, I glow like a firefly. To...some…people. It’s only temporary.”

He ‘hmmmed’ and cocked his head. “And why did they take you there?”

Saffron slumped against the window brace and studied the apple tree as it creaked in the cold November night. “Why?” She shook her head slowly. “I don’t wonder why anymore. It just happened.”