touch (13 page)

“I broker deals when called,” he said softly regaining my
attention.

“People still call you?  Do you always have to answer?  Like
a genie or something?”  My skin, warmed from the bed, started to prickle in the
cool room.

“They will always know how to call me.  No, I don’t have to
answer, but I usually do.  What else is there for me to do?  It’s the only way
I can interact with your kind.”

He watched me expectantly, a slight smile on his lips.  It
began to make me nervous.  Wrapping my arms around myself, I sat on the edge of
my bed contemplating pulling a blanket over my shoulders.

He turned and grabbed my sweatshirt, looking at it for a
moment before stepping forward to hand it to me.  “Why didn’t you just ask for
it?”

“Uh…”

“I saw you look at it.  You’re cold.  Why didn’t you ask me
to hand it to you?  Why not reach for it yourself?”

I plucked the sweatshirt from his hands and quickly tugged
it over my head.  I couldn’t bring myself to answer his last question and hoped
he wouldn’t notice.  The truth was that his eyes, horns, off colored skin, and
ears all together in the dim reading light unnerved me.  My words were briefly
muffled.  “Because I don’t know the rules here.  If I ask you for something, am
I making a deal with you?  I don’t want to do what Belinda did and compound an
already difficult situation with bad choices.”

“Difficult situation?”

“I’m sure you’ve noticed that not everyone has to sleep when
it’s dark out, or touch a boy to figure out what kind of live she’ll have with
him, or sees his death…  my life is a difficult situation.  I don’t want to
make it worse.”

He nodded and sat down on the bed next to me, shoulder to
shoulder, setting the light to the side.  Shadow covered the side of his face
toward me hiding his horns.  “You can ask me for anything and I will try to do
as you ask.  A deal isn’t necessary unless you want one.  The only thing I
can’t do is undo deals already made without making a new deal.”

Averting my eyes, I changed the subject.  “So what do people
usually ask you for?”

“Money.”

Involuntarily, I glanced back at him. “Where do you get the
money from?”  I was curious how a being that couldn’t interact with the human
world unless through a deal could get his hands on money… and probably any form
of it.  My guess was that he wasn’t just limited to the US.

“That’s not an issue.  I have existed for so long, made
deals for so many different things that I can always trade for it to meet a
deal’s demands.”

“What was the first deal you ever made?”

“A boy wanted to marry a girl several steps above him. 
Wealthy.  He asked for a way to become wealthy enough to marry her.  I showed
him how to carve combs from shells scavenged from the sea near his home.  Once
he mastered that, I taught him to adorn them with decorative carvings.  We
worked together at night for weeks.  Many of his attempts broke.  When he had
three sets of hair combs, he was considered wealthier than anyone in the
village.”  Morik smiled at me and shrugged.  “Instead of offering for the girl,
he went to a bigger town to sell what he’d made.”

“How long ago was that?”

His eyes lost focus for a moment.  “More than four thousand
years ago.”

“Holy crap!”  I clapped a hand over my mouth and looked at
the door holding my breath.  I felt him turn and look at me.  The light under
the door remained unchanged, as did the volume of the TV.

“No one heard,” he assured me.  “What would you ask for?” he
asked hesitatingly.  He watched me with cautious eyes and it took me a moment
to realize why.

“Don’t worry,” I assured him, “I won’t be asking for money. 
It’s done nothing but cause me problems.”

A relieved smile flashed at me, an abrupt showing of white
in the darkness.  We both grew quiet, the silence separating us.  I’d asked
what he usually did when not chasing us down to see what he might have planned
for his hour.  Brokering deals was out.

“Do you want to do something?” I finally asked after
glancing at the clock twice.  Only fifteen minutes had passed.

“What do you have in mind?”

With the TV still on, leaving wasn’t an option.  Whoever sat
out there would freak out seeing me still away and walking around.  That left
staying in my room with him for another forty-five minutes.  I’d pretty much
used up my conversation for a while.  I looked around the dark room searching
for anything.  Games required light.  On my shelf, a box label glowed lightly. 
Perfect.

“Want to put together a glow-in-the-dark puzzle?”  Old people
love puzzles.

“We can do whatever you like,” he said quietly.

I moved to the shelf for the puzzle and then cleared space
on my desk.  Every noise made me cringe.  I probably had the only mom in the
world who’d be okay with finding a boy in my room after dark.  When it came to
finding a… whatever he was… demon?  Well, she’d act like any other mom and
start screaming.  Maybe worse.

Once the pieces spread across the desktop, I turned to look
at Morik.  Only he wasn’t sitting on my rumpled blankets anymore.  He stood
just behind me so when I turned I bumped into him.

“Sorry,” I mumbled.

He reached around me and started sifting through the pieces,
his arm brushing mine.  I stepped to the side to give him more room.  Not that
there was much to give.  With a long and narrow room, the bed took up most of
the width between the door and the desk.  The desk occupied the wall under the
window.  What little room remained, the chair and shelves claimed, leaving a
comfortable walkway throughout.

Looking at Morik, the chair, and the puzzle on the desk, I
saw my mistake.  One of us would be standing for the next half hour.

“I didn’t really think this through,” I whispered to him.  A
low rumbling laugh sounded from his direction, but I ignored it.  “Maybe we
should plan better for tomorrow.  What time did you want to hang out?”

“After school.”

I hesitated to agree.  “I need some time to talk to my mom. 
How about you come over for dinner?”  I paused, thinking.  “Do you eat?”

He chuckled again, but stayed focused on the puzzle.  “Yes. 
I eat.  Are you sure your family is ready to meet me?”

“Now?  No.  They will be by tomorrow night.  If not, we can
go somewhere else and grab something to eat.”  Whether dinner here or dinner
somewhere else, it was an easy hour… much better than doing a puzzle with him
in a dark bedroom.

He continued moving puzzle pieces around on the desk.  The
mini lamp, still on the bed, created a sphere of light that didn’t quite reach
where he stood.  I wondered how much of the puzzle he really saw.  Was he just
trying to look like he had something to do?  Wasting time?

Standing beside him, I couldn’t see much of what he did.  I
remembered what he said when I was cold and decided to see how honest he’d
been.  “Would it be okay if we cut tonight short and make up the time
tomorrow?”

That got his full attention.  He turned to look at me,
frowning slightly.

“You’re nervous.”

“No, I’m uncomfortable.  There’s a difference.”  He didn’t
move or say anything.  “Look, we’re standing here whispering in my dark bedroom
because I don’t want to get caught before I have a chance to break… well, you…
to my mom.  It’s like sneaking and I don’t like it.  It makes me
uncomfortable.”  And it did.  Just not as much as him staring at me with the
dim light reflecting off those swirling multi-colored eyes… or horns…  or lower
canines that made surprise appearances.  I needed time to adjust.

After a moment of silence, he nodded and I relaxed
slightly.  With everything that happened, I doubted I’d ever fall asleep
tonight.  Again, I tested his word to help me however he could without needing
a deal.  “Hey, Morik?  Would you chant me to sleep before you go?  I don’t want
mom to know until I get a chance to talk to her.”

He walked toward me and gently nudged me toward the bed.  As
soon as the backs of my legs bumped the edge, he stopped moving and started
speaking.  The rhythm matched what had been said over me for years.  Before he
even touched me, I felt the tug of sleep.  He helped me lay back and pulled the
blankets over me.

When he bent down, leaning close to my face, my heart
stuttered in fear.  For a moment, I thought he would kiss me.  Instead, he
whispered in my ear.  “Tomorrow I’ll give you a ride to school.”

What?!  I fell completely under the spell before I could say
a word.

When I woke with mom standing over me, I didn’t bother with
breakfast.  Moving as if the mattress bit me, I tossed off the covers and
sprang to my feet.  My mom’s eyes rounded, but I didn’t slow down.  I had no
idea what time Morik would be here for school and wanted to be on my way before
he could knock on the door.

Moving to my clothes, which were back on the chair thanks to
my prep the night before, I asked, “Mom, can you come home an hour early
tonight?  It’s important.”

As I tugged my jeans up, I glanced at my desk.  More than
half the puzzle lay pieced together.  I paused with one leg in and one leg out,
staring.

“Do you need me to stay home?” Mom asked her voice laced
with concern.

Tearing my eyes from the puzzle, I looked over at Mom while hopping
around to get my other leg in.  “No, I’m fine.  I just want to talk.  To all of
you and there’s not much time before dark lately.”

“Okay.  Today wouldn’t be a bad idea for it anyway.  The
weather’s going to turn.  I think it’s supposed to snow by lunch.”

I grabbed the plate from her hand and kissed her cheek as I
rushed by.  “Good.  I’ll see you later then.”  Heading for the bathroom, I
devoured the toast in four bites.

By the time I finished in the bathroom, Mom and Aunt Grace
had already left.  Coming home early meant getting to the office early.  Gran
sat at the table going through a cookbook when I stepped into the kitchen. 
“What’s for dinner tonight?”

“I’m thinking something bigger since everyone will be home
earlier.  How about roasted chicken?”  She thumbed through a few more pages
while she spoke.

“Sounds good to me.  Do we have a chicken?”  I walked toward
the door and grabbed my jacket.

“Nope.  I’ll walk to the store,” she closed the book with a
decisive snap and stood.  I handed her coat and scarf to her.  We both bundled
up.  Gran moved to the door, but laughed when I followed.  “I think you’re
forgetting something.  Give me a kiss and go get your books.”

Normally, Mom waited at the door with them.  I quickly
kissed her warm cheek and said good-bye before running back to my room.  My
eyes once again fell on the puzzle.  Although it’d been a glow-in-the-dark
puzzle, the pieces hadn’t glowed enough for me to see them.  And the lamp light
hadn’t been bright enough to charge them.  Not only were his eyes abnormally,
yet beautifully, colored, he could also see in the dark.  The differences
between us amazed and troubled me.  He wasn’t human and he’d never answered my
question about what he was.

Shouldering my bag, I headed back toward the door, calling good-bye
to Aunt Danielle.  She made a sound of acknowledgement from her chair, but said
nothing.

When I opened the door, I smiled wide.  Gone was the dead
brown grass of fall.  A crisp clean blanket of snow covered everything muting
the usual sounds of morning traffic.  The world looked fresh and new. 
Peaceful.  And the overcast sky promised more than the sampling it’d already
provided.

Clavin’s car idled at the curb.  After last night, I’d
thought Morik would show up as himself.  I’d made my opinion clear enough
regarding his body snatching, but maybe he didn’t have his own car.  It made
sense if he hardly interacted with humans.  At least it was Clavin and not some
random person showing up.

I waved at him to wait and moved toward the garage.  Three
trails of footprints led away from the front door.  Two veered toward the
garage and the other toward the sidewalk.

With a ride, there was enough time for some snow removal.  I
grabbed our cheap shovel and quickly cleaned the inch of snow from the path leading
from the sidewalk to the front door.  Gran would appreciate the effort when she
returned laden with a chicken for dinner.  Leaving the rest for later, I went
to put away the shovel stomping the snow from my feet at the garage door.

Behind me, I heard the crunch of snow as someone
approached.  I hurried to the back of the garage to put the shovel away before
turning with a smile on my face.

“Morning,” I called walking toward him.

He paused mid-stepped, but quickly recovered and continued
through the door his expression neutral.

Clavin looked like hell.  Dark circles haloed his blood shot
eyes.  The cast made his limp more pronounced.  He didn’t look like he was
recovering, but getting worse instead.  His pale blue tee shirt peeked out
through his unzipped jacket.  The fly of his jeans gaped open.  The laces of
his single shoe flopped around as he walked leaving odd trails in the snow.  And
his bare toes stuck out of his cast.  They had to be freezing.  The extremely
slicked look of his hair in contrast to the rest of him, gave off an ‘I’m
crazy’ vibe.

Before I could comment on Morik’s poor choice – Clavin
obviously needed more sleep – he interrupted me.

“I tried staying away,” he whined.

Immediately I heard my mistake and stopped.  It wasn’t
Morik, it was Clavin.

“The last five days have been hell.  I can’t sleep.  I
tried.  I even took pills.  Every time I close my eyes, I see him.  His horns,
his eyes.  They won’t leave me alone!”

He shuffled closer to me, and I backed a step further into the
dark recess of the garage.

“The only time they leave me alone is when I’m with you.  I
did what you said.  I forgave myself.  It doesn’t matter.  They won’t forgive
me.”  He held out his hand.  “Come with me.  Please.  I just want it to stop.”