Triss was sitting on the basement steps looking at the thing in the cage. It looked like Nico. It sounded like Nico. But she wasn’t sure. Something made her not want to let it out of the cage just yet.
“Triss, I’m hungry. Please let me out.”
She rubbed her eyes. She was so tired. But he was back now. He was alive. She wanted nothing more than to hug him. But something held her back, a feeling.
“Well, well, well. What have we here?” A new voice from the top of the stairs.
Triss turned to look back up, squinting at the bright light from the hallway. She’d found some candles and lit them but had failed to find any light bulbs to replace the one that had blown when she’d cast the spell.
A man stood at the top of the stairs, one she did not recognise. He was wearing a mid-range suit and no tie.
He spoke casually as he took a few steps down the stairs. “I have to say. I was not expecting this when I was pouring my coffee this morning.”
Triss turned away from him to look at the cage. The newcomer barely registered in her mind. She had bigger things to deal with. Like this thing in the cage. Was it Nico or wasn’t it? She needed to be sure.
The newcomer did not seem upset at all by her reaction or as surprised as he had said he was. He continued talking. “I suppose it was you who killed the old lady?”
Triss didn’t answer him.
“Well, no matter. She’s not the problem. You did us a favor really. Kevin however...” he trailed off with a sigh.
“Please, Triss,” begged the thing in the cage.
The man continued. “Kevin’s death is a problem but I see you know a little of blood magic...” he trailed off as pointed a torch toward the cage.
Pleading green eyes squinted in the bright light but the thing did not speak. It seemed almost afraid of the man.
Triss could hear that he’d gotten a little closer, but still she did not move from her spot.
“We’re simple folk here, we haven’t the mind for blood magic, but we have seen this before. Kevin mentioned it was a tricky spell to get right. We can help you. We can get rid of it for you. It’s easier if you don’t have to do it yourself. All you have to do is one thing for us-”
Triss suddenly stood up and spun toward him. Raising her hand in front of her she telekinetically lifted him off his feet and gently she pressed her power against his throat. “You will not hurt my brother! Understand?”
Behind her, Nico gave a slow and devious smile.
The newcomer shook his head quickly. “No, no, of course not. I apologise. I misunderstood. Perhaps we can offer you a different deal then?”
Triss hesitated. “What sort of deal?” She lowered him down onto the steps but she did not drop her hand.
He looked at her warily. Whatever power he had, it seemed she had him beat.
He took in a shaky breath. “Kevin provided a lot of the income to this town. We helped him with feeding his grandma. I believe that this kind of magic”—he nodded toward the cage—“it alters a person’s diet somewhat, requires a certain upkeep. We can do the same for you. But we need a new Kevin. He sits on a board for a rather large company. If they find out he’s dead, well there goes our funding. But seeing as you know blood magic, perhaps you can convince them that he lives still?”
Triss frowned. How would she do that? Did she even want to do that? She glanced back toward Nico. She couldn’t kill him and she couldn’t let him out. Not until she was sure. She would need a few days at least and having these people on her side was certainly better than the alternative. She didn’t tell the man that this had been her first ever spell, that she had no knowledge of how it was supposed to work. But she did have experience with infusements and Kevin obviously had access to a lot of money and by extension more infusements and maybe even other spells. She could learn. With enough time, maybe she could fix whatever had gone wrong? Maybe it hadn’t gone wrong at all? Maybe this was just the price that had to be paid to have her brother back? If it really was Nico, did it matter what he ate? Maybe rabbits would be enough?
“Okay,” she replied. “I accept your deal.”
“Good,” the man replied. “Just, make sure he stays out of the town, okay?” He gave a small smile. “You provide for us and we’ll take care of everything else.”
With that he left.
Triss let out a breath of air, not even aware she’d been holding it in. She took another deep breath and started to climb the stairs.
“Triss,” her brother called after her. “You can’t leave me down here in the dark. I’ll die if you do. I need the sun remember? It’s been hours!”
Triss paused. That was true. He’d already been a good day without daylight. Despite everything he didn’t seem very tired though. This long without the sun and he should be more lethargic. Once more doubt crept into her thoughts, but he looked so sad. Her baby brother. Her responsibility. Love overruled logic. She would look after him until she was sure. However long it took.
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“It’s okay,” she assured him. “I’ll get some UV lights. I’ll be back.”
----------------------------------------
“Chaser! Chaser! Wake up, sleepy head!”
Chaser groaned and rolled over. “Why are you up so early?”
“It’s after 10,” Odessa told him.
She tried to pull him out of bed by his feet but it was like his body was attached to the sheets and he wouldn’t budge. Chaser wasn’t usually a morning person, but this was late even for him.
“Oh.” He raised his head and blinked. His hair stuck out at every angle.
“Come on!” She tried to tug again. “There’s adventuring to be had!” Finally she gave up tugging, sat on the bed and watched him with a frown.
He groaned again and pulled himself upright.
She laughed a little at his old man like movements. “Why are you so tired anyway?”
“Uhh... must have slept bad.”
“Mmm, well you’re not the only one. I feel so worn out for absolutely no reason. I blame the shitty motel mattresses. We should pick somewhere fancy at the next place. I got you coffee by the way.”
“Mmm!” That got Chaser’s eyes wide open. “Where?”
Odessa laughed. “Outside. You gotta put pants on first.”
“I am wearing pants.”
“I mean fresh pants, you can’t just...” Odessa trailed off as she tried to recall how many days he’d been wearing the same pants for, but for some reason her mind drew a blank.
“Can’t just what?”
“Never mind. Come on, before the coffee gets cold.” She bounced off the end of the bed and headed for the door.
Chaser pulled himself gingerly to his feet and followed after her.
Odessa took a seat outside next to the little table to the left of the motel room door. In front of her the desert expanded outward, as red as far as the eye could see, as if the gods had thrown a party and spilt wine all over the earth. It was a nice colour. Maybe she should dye her hair red next? She glanced up to the clear sky. She liked the blue though. Blue like the colour of the sea. Maybe they should go diving for their next adventure?
She glanced over as Chaser took the other seat and slowly reached for his coffee. He really was being sloth-like today.
He sniffed the coffee, closed his eyes, and turned his face up toward the sun with a sigh. When he next opened them he was relaxed and smiling. He turned to her and asked, “Where’d you get the coffee from?”
“A little place just down the road. I had to post a new video online first though. I was completely out of cash. Didn’t realise I’d let it get so low. Also I think we need to stop by a mechanic’s. I’m not sure what we drove over but the suspension looks a little wrecked. I don’t remember the desert being that bumpy.”
“I thought Donny took all the cameras with him by mistake when they left?” Chaser inquired carefully, with a measure of hesitation.
Odessa nodded. “Yeah, even my watch one too. That or I left it somewhere. I don’t remember where though. But I found a camera store, right next to the coffee store, and I convinced the owner to loan me a camera for an hour or two in exchange for mentioning his store in my video.”
“And he believed you?”
“Well yeah, I showed him my follower count, and then the video after I was done. He even let me keep the camera, and he complimented my violin playing. People are so nice!”
Chaser nodded contemplatively.
Odessa studied him. “What? Somebody poison your coffee?” she teased.
“Sorry, guess I’m just missing the others. It’s just quiet with two. Not that I don’t like your company,” he added with a smile. “You are my favorite after all. Just don’t tell the others I said that.”
She grinned and tilted her head. Then with a mock pout she replied, “I bet you say that to all the boys.” More seriously she added, “I can’t believed they ditched us to go join some exclusive expedition. I bet they totally had room for two more.”
“Well, they didn’t organise it and it is the Iskala Jungle. You can’t really blame them for taking the opportunity.”
“No, I suppose not. If I’m being honest, if it was me in their shoes, I’d totally ditch them too. Oh well, we’ll see them again.”
“Mmm, one day,” Chaser murmured. “As sure as the dust returns to the earth.”
“I just can’t believe Donny took all my camera equipment.”
“You probably just left it in the wrong pile.”
“Mmm, maybe, I can’t remember, I feel like my mind’s been somewhere else these past few days, but then I suppose I’d forget my own head if it wasn’t screwed on,” she joked.
Chaser didn’t laugh.
“Hey, you know what we should do? We should fly down there and surprise them.”
“Nah,” Chaser replied, finally finding his smile again. “What we should do is have our own adventure. Even bigger and better. Yeah?”
“Yeah okay! Where should we go?”
“Where do you want to go? I’ll follow you anywhere.”
“Well, I was looking up some places on my laptop this morning...” Odessa jumped up from the table and went to go grab it. She was back outside in a matter of seconds. “How about Balloon Peak?”
“Hmm.”
“It looks all pointy like a pin!”
Chaser smiled but he didn’t reply.
“Okay, how about, oooh, we could go cave diving, there’s this little place near Riftgate, called The Goblin’s Grotto. Apparently it has a lot of unexplored tunnels. We could be the first to check them out.”
“Riftgate?!” Chaser sat up straight for a moment before relaxing back into his chair. With a casual wave of his hand he replied, “Nah, that place is shit. Heard from some buddies who went there and it turns out the caves were way over-exaggerated and townsfolk were really unfriendly.”
“Oh.” Odessa pouted. “That sucks, well how about Kali Basin? We could go canyoning. Or we could go to the beach?”
“The beach?” Chaser mulled it over. “The beach sounds nice.”
“Yeah. Well there’s climbing and diving up the Silverdawn coast.”
“Maybe not diving though. Didn’t the doc tell you to take it easy?”
“Yeah, but it’s been long enough.” Odessa waved a hand. “Plus I lost my heart monitor somewhere. Probably left it with the other stuff. Good riddance to that one though. I think it’s a sign. Time to get back in the water.”
Chaser frowned. “Mmm, maybe we could play it just a little safer this time, Odie? What about hang-gliding?”
Odessa studied him for a moment. He was being unusually serious this morning. Then she registered his words.
“Hang-gliding!”
A small grin starting to form on Chaser’s face at her reaction.
“That would make Bob jealous!” Odessa exclaimed with a smile. “And I suppose we could go climbing after, leave the diving for last. You know, up that coast was the first place where I think I really fell in love with climbing. Hey, you’ve never told me about your first time.”
“My first time?”
“On rock,” she clarified with a smile.
“Oh that, that’s a boring story,” Chaser replied. “Besides, I’m not really one to look back you know?”
Odessa nodded. Then she proclaimed with a grin,”Onward then? To the next great adventure!”
Chaser looked at her face and he smiled so wide even the ocean would have been jealous. “To the next great adventure!”
“Even though the others have left us behind, we shall carry on!” Odessa decided as she got to her feet, intent on starting to pack up the car.
“In spite of those who found adventure elsewhere!” Chaser agreed matching her smile and raising his coffee cup. But as he watched Odessa bounce happily away he added too quietly for anyone but the wind to hear, “And for the lost, and the forgotten.”