touch (14 page)

I didn’t want to touch him fearing what I’d see.  Stalling,
hoping Morik would appear any moment, I asked, “Where would we go, Clavin?”

He must have taken my words as my consent because his face
lit with anticipation and he moved closer.  “It doesn’t matter as long as we’re
together.”

I stood my ground.  The light from the bay door didn’t reach
further back into the garage.  No one would see us.  “Clavin, I don’t want to
go anywhere with you.” He stopped moving forward.  “You’re scaring me.  You
need help.”  Hurt and something else replaced the anticipation on his face. 
“Have you talked to your parents or Brian about this?”

“Talk?  What good is talking going to do?  I’m waking up
finding notes I’ve written while sleeping saying things I wouldn’t write.  Do
you know what would happen if I told someone I was being haunted by horned
demons!”

“Yes, you’d get the help you need,” I answered calmly.

“You
are
the help I need,” he said emphatically.

With only feet separating us, he lunged for me trying to
grab my arm.  My pity for Clavin no longer outweighed my fear of him.  I shrank
backward, but before Clavin touched me, Morik appeared, a barrier dressed in
denim, and a leather jacket.  My nose hovered an inch from his back.

I put my hands out, bracing myself on the soft leather of
his jacket, dizzy from his abrupt arrival.  On contact, I felt Morik’s tensed
muscles and quickly glanced around him.  His odd eyes remained focused on
Clavin who stood before him with a gapping mouth.  He felt me move and gently
nudged me back behind him.  Given Clavin’s scary instability, I willingly hid.

“You’re real,” Clavin whispered.  “Tessa, you see him
right?”

An idea formed in my head.  From behind Morik, I said,
“Yeah, I see him.  He’s holding me prisoner Clavin.” I felt Morik twitch under
my fingertips and quickly smoothed my hand over the spot trying to tell him to
wait.  When he stayed where he was, I continued.  “You have to go to the police
and tell them.  But be careful, Clavin.  He’s not like us.  You see his horns
and eyes, right?  Look at his nails… his teeth.  Make sure you tell them
everything so they know how dangerous he is.”

“Are you going to be okay?”  Clavin asked with a quaver in
his voice.  I truly felt bad for him.  Sure, he’d been an ass, but he didn’t
deserve what he was going through now.

I peeked around Morik again.  Morik reached out protectively
so I didn’t get too far.  “I’ll be fine Clavin.  He treats me well.”

Clavin nodded before turning and rushing to his car, his
hop-step-gimp comical if not for the seriousness of the situation.  Morik
stayed positioned in front of me until Clavin peeled away from the curb.

As the sound of Clavin’s care faded, Morik slowly turned
around.  I dropped my hands and stared up into his carefully blank expression.

“No, I don’t think you’re holding me prisoner,” I assured
him.  “Clavin needs help though.  Giving him a far-fetched story to go to the
police with will give them a reason to look at Clavin closely.  Maybe he’ll get
the help he needs.”  I sighed heavily and dropped my eyes to the zipper of his
jacket before admitting the downside.  “Or he might come back and be worse than
before.”

He remained quiet and I looked up again to gauge his
reaction.  He looked slightly amused.  “Are you ready for school?”

I couldn’t help the slightly crazy laugh that escaped me. 
School?  My hands still shook.  “Not, really, but I don’t have much of a
choice.  If we don’t hurry I’ll be late.”

Leaning to look around him, I didn’t see another car parked
on the street.  The garage did limit my view a little, though.

Morik pulled a baseball cap from his front jacket pocket. 
Worn and soft, he fit it over his horns and the tips of his ears.  If I looked
close, I could see the outline of both, but to the casual observer, it would
mask them.  The bill also hid his eyes a bit.

He motioned for me to follow and we walked out of the garage
side by side.  Any of the neighbors watching would wonder how he’d gotten in
there with me without them noticing.  It occurred to me that I didn’t know how
he got into my room last night either.

“So you can just pop into places?  Just like you pop into
people?”  Snow crunched under our feet as we walked down the driveway.  I still
didn’t see a car.

“Yes.”

He didn’t expand on it.  He seemed unusually reserved this
morning.

“So, why didn’t you pop in sooner?”  Previously cool air
felt frigid, now.  I tucked my mittened hands into my pockets and dipped my
chin into my jacket trying to stay warm.

He turned to walk on the sidewalk, away from the school.  I
stayed by his side.  “Because I wasn’t sure if you wanted me to interfere. 
When you said he scared you, I considered it then.  But when he moved toward
you…”  He didn’t say more for a moment.  “Who’s Brian?”

I missed a step and stumbled.  He reached out a hand,
clasping my arm briefly until I righted myself.  As soon as I gained my feet,
he let go tucking his own hands into his pockets.  Our breaths puffed out in
little clouds as we walked.  I knew he waited for my answer, but I hesitated.

He stopped walking and turned toward me tipping the brim of his
cap up so I could clearly see his eyes.  I didn’t say anything.  We stood at
the end of the block having a silent standoff.

Finally, I gave in.  “I don’t want anyone else hurt.  Look
at what happened to Clavin.”  A snowflake drifted in the air between us. 
“Promise you won’t hurt him for something that’s in the past and forgiven.” 
More snowflakes drifted down, settling in my hair, on our shoulders and his
hat.  He didn’t answer immediately.

He reached up and gently ran a finger over my cheek then
down along my jaw, just as he’d done when he’d controlled Mr. Jameson.  The
heat from his fingers created a trail of warmth.  He watched me thoughtfully.

Finally, he dropped his hand.  “Were there more involved
than Clavin and Brian?”

I shook my head slightly.

“If Brian continues to absence himself from your presence, I
will do the same from his.  I can’t promise more than that.”

He turned away and walked toward a motorcycle parked around
the corner, snow rapidly covering its seat.  When he lifted a helmet toward me,
my mouth popped open.

“Morik!  You can’t be serious…  I’ll freeze.  Is it even
legal to drive those things in winter?”

He flashed a smile.  “You’ll be fine.  The school is just a
few blocks away.  I promise you won’t be cold.”

How could he possibly promise that when I was already
freezing?  “This isn’t a winter jacket.  It won’t protect me from the wind, or
the snow.”  Though the snow drifted lazily now, I knew it’d bite into any
exposed skin once we moved.

Undeterred by my argument, he stepped close and put the
helmet on my head closing the visor.  Then, he took a scarf out of his pocket,
doubling it up to loop around my neck and tuck into my jacket.  I took over the
tucking part.  He tested my bag making sure it sat secure crossing my body.

I waited on the curb while he dusted off the seat and got
on.  He held out a hand and I swung my leg over, biting my lip as cold air
gusted up my pant leg.  I would be a popsicle before we ever started moving. 
The cold leather seat started to sting my skin through my pants.  This would
never work.

He adjusted his hat, turning it backwards and slid on yellow
sunglasses.  A demon, I still didn’t know what to call him, perfectly hidden in
plain sight.  Taking me by surprise, he reached back to capture both my hands,
which he pulled around to the front to tuck into his jacket pockets.  His heat
warmed me.  Everything, except my legs and butt.  I hoped it would be a short
ride.

With ease, he pulled away from the curb.  Since only an inch
of snow coated the road, it remained unplowed.  He drove slow enough that some
of my tension lessened making it possible to notice other things.  Like, the
helmet smelled new and the scarf matched my jacket.

The snow hit the helmet with little pings and pops.  I
thought of that hitting my skin stayed carefully positioned behind him.  His
face had to hurt.

In a few short minutes, he pulled in front of the school. 
He held out an arm so I had something to hold onto to get off.  The first
attempt to get the helmet off gave me a moment of claustrophobia.  He reached
out to help, quickly and painlessly extracting me from its confines.

Smoothing a hand over my hair, I thanked him for the ride. 
“You still want to come to dinner?  We’re having roasted chicken.  Do you like
chicken?”  I felt awkward and knew I rambled.

He smiled slightly as he answered.  “Yes, I like chicken. 
I’ll see you at five.”

That was too close to dark just in case something changed. 
Like my mom’s willingness to listen.  I owed him extra time from last night
too.  “Make it four thirty.”

He nodded and I set the helmet on the back of the bike as
it’d been before I’d gotten on.  I took a step back.  He looked at me a moment
more, slightly puzzled and then pulled away.

I didn’t spend any time staring after him.  Our unusual
arrival during a flurry of snow had attracted too much attention.  Thankfully,
Beatriz was one of the many nearby witnesses and tugged me, arm in arm, into
the school.

“You have to tell me… are you two a thing?  If not, can I
have him?”

A thing?  With Morik?  My mind still struggled to adjust to
the reality of his existence.  I couldn’t process any more than that.  But her
comment did give me something to think about again.  Other girls might be
interested in Morik.  Today’s world was vastly different from Belinda’s world. 
Maybe someone out there would be a better companion than I would.  If he
couldn’t interact with them, nothing prevented me from talking to them.  I
could be his liaison.  All he needed to do was tell me who interested him.

“We’re friends,” I said vaguely.

“He looks older.  Obviously not in high school.  Is he over
twenty one?”

I grinned but didn’t answer.  She had no idea just how far
over twenty-one he was.  Changing the subject, I said, “I’m going to talk to my
mom tonight about maybe going over to your house.”

“Great.  My brother’s home and my parents are going out with
some friends tomorrow night.  It’ll be fun.”

*    *    *    *

When I got home after school, the kitchen already smelled
like roasted chicken.  My mouth watered.  Quickly discarding my jacket and
scarf, I checked with Gran, “Need any help?”

“Nope.  I did most the work already so I can sit when your
mom and Aunt Grace get home.  I don’t want to miss whatever this talk it
about.”  She slid another covered dish into the oven and reduced the
temperature.

“Was that pie I just saw?”  I sniffed the air theatrically.

“I’ll make you a deal.  I’ll tell you what I made if you
tell me what this conversation’s about.”

“No way.  No deals.”  No, thank you!

We sat at the table to wait.  She asked about my day, but I
couldn’t recall much having had a hard time concentrating on school, because of
my focus on dinner with Morik instead.

It’d been weird going a whole day without Morik popping into
someone else.  And like a hypocrite, I’d watched for him.  Excited by the
prospect of me coming over, Beatriz, thankfully, hadn’t noticed.

Mom walked in the door just before four and wasted no time. 
“What’s going on?”  Aunt Grace trailed behind her.  They both hung their
jackets watching me expectantly.  Butterflies tickled my stomach as I met my
mom’s eyes.

“You might want to sit down.  This going to take a while. 
Just, please, wait until you hear everything before you freak out.”  I’d run
the conversation through my head several times during the day and none of them
went well.  I hoped the real one went better.

Mom’s eyes narrowed, but she nodded.  Aunt Danielle sat up
in her chair, her eyes open and watching, but didn’t join us.

I got up and retrieved Belinda’s book from Gran’s bedroom. 
Setting it in the middle of the table, I started my story.

“Belinda was a young woman who lived around two hundred
years ago.”  I flipped open to the back of the book showing the line of
descendants.  “We already know this just by looking at the births in the tree. 
But I’ve learned more.

“Two hundred years ago Belinda’s father worried about her
future.  Poor, he couldn’t attract suitable prospects for her... you might say
her
choices
were limited.”  I paged back to the beginning of the book
reading Belinda’s first instruction.  “He made a deal with a creature who had
very limited contact with us… humans.  This lonely creature saw an
opportunity.  Knowing we often fear him, he asked an unusual payment in
exchange for the money Belinda’s father wanted.  The creature wanted to present
himself to Belinda as a possibility.  He hoped Belinda would consider him as an
alternative to getting married.  He offered to care for her in return for
keeping him company.

“He wasn’t unfair or cruel in his fee.  He didn’t demand
that Belinda choose him, only that she give him consideration.  If she decided
to choose another, he asked that be allowed the same chance with any from her
line.”

I had everyone’s undivided attention.  Gran and Aunt Grace
looked interested, maybe even captivated by the details of our past, but mom
had glint in her eye.

“Belinda’s father agreed to the terms without consulting
with her.  As you can guess, Belinda rejected the creature’s offer.  She got
married and had a daughter.  But she was so angry that her daughter would have
to face this creature someday that she made a deal with another creature.  In
exchange for the money her father had given her, every penny he’d originally
bargained for that she still had, she wanted the ability to hide her children
from the creature.  And hating her husband, she wanted her daughter to have
foresight when choosing.  This new creature agreed to the gift of foresight,
but demanded a high price in return.  Each husband would die prematurely. 
Their lives for a glimpse of our futures.  She also learned a chant to protect
her children at night when we are most easily found.”