The Other Side Read online

  Everyone debated the next point of interest and the next, but I contented myself with my stew until Jens got riled up by Liv. “I don’t care what you say! We can up and leave anytime we like. We’ll let Pesta build a portal on earth, and you all can just deal with her setting up camp in your world.” There was much uproar to this, cow tails swishing angrily through poked holes in the backs of pants and skirts. “Or you can help us. Lucy’s the only one who can destroy the portal. Elsa knows where it is, but we need your help getting there without Pesta intercepting us. Pesta’s closing in on us, so we need to get outta Dodge if you’re going to keep your house and your life here.”

  A few women debated until Elsa stood. There was something about her that made everyone shut up. Perhaps it was that she chose her words wisely and didn’t waste them on arguing. She wore a knitted floppy cap and a yellow sweater to match. She was tall and curvy, like the other Huldras, but this forty-something with two black braids commanded the room with her authoritative voice like none other. Everyone fell silent as she spoke and signed for her husband. “I’ll take Lucy to the portal by myself if I have to. My husband is human, so he can pose as a man trying to make his way through to Be, if the portal’s already up and running. You say she might have enough bones without Lucy? That might work to our advantage. Pesta won’t be expecting Leif to be against her. He’s just another human to her.”

  A few Huldras hissed at this, and my heart grew for the bickering women. Though they took forever to agree on anything, they were united in their coven. Huldra or human, it was one for all and all for one.

  Jens put his hand on his forehead. “No, Elsa. I mean, yes. Thanks for agreeing to take us to the portal, but I don’t want to put Leif in danger.”

  “But you’ll put your girlfriend in danger?” Elsa questioned imperiously, squaring her shoulders to Jens, daring him to correct her again. “We stand to lose just as much if Pesta opens a portal on earth. I won’t sit back and watch what she did to Undraland happen here. She starts with a little gift, then it turns to a wager. Then it’s a little power, and then more. Before you know it, we’ve got Werewolves, Weretigers and who knows what else.” She raised her chin to Jens, who backed down under her determined glare. “She smoked the Huldras out of Undraland. Who’s to say she’s not going to do the same thing here? All it takes is the humans learning they might be the victim of mind control, and we’ve got a witch hunt on our hands.” She shook her head and sat back down between her husband and me. “No. Leif can walk your baby doll to the portal just fine.”

  I really hated her pet name for me. As if I didn’t already feel small amongst the giants. She treated me like a toy. Even though I could tell she was on the side of the mission, I didn’t look forward to working with her. I took another bite of my stew and shook off her hand that was clutching my knee.

  Despite his healthy fear and respect for Elsa, Jens said his piece. “If something happens to Leif, I won’t have the wrath of your coven on my head. I got enough problems without that.”

  Liv laughed – a cackle that sounded like a throaty witch. “Your girlfriend’s married to a Fossegrimen. I’d say you’re up to your ears in problems, friend.” She was perched on the arm of our couch next to Foss’s shoulder. He’d stuffed cotton in his ears to fend off being mind-warped, but it did nothing to relax him. Every now and then I noticed Liv brushing her fingers against him “accidentally”, and each time, he tensed at the contact and moved his hand further away.

  Jens didn’t look at me, but Foss sneered, taking one piece of cotton from his ear so he could converse more easily. “Huldras take what they want through trickery. Fossegrimens work for it.”

  “Fossegrimens can persuade people using their fiddles,” one of them countered.

  Foss displayed his empty hand and pretended to look under the couch. “Do you see a fiddle on me? No! I bought Lucy. I worked to keep her safe. I’d marry a mule if it would end Pesta, which is pretty much what I did.” He nodded to Jens, who was fuming. “Jens took a life oath to watch over her family. You have no idea what he’s been through to get her here. You’ll not make jokes at our expense.”

  A fifty-something-year-old Huldra named Gala grinned like a cat who’d just got a new ball to bat around with her long, manicured claws. “One of the four chiefs strutting around our lair. What shall we do with him, ladies?”

  Elsa continued her fingernail tapping on Leif’s knee. “You’ll do nothing, like you always do, Gala dear. You’ll be kind to one of the few guests we get around here and take what he’s offering you – the chance to kill the siren who took us from our land.” Elsa placed her other hand on my knee again, and I stiffened at the touch that was a little too familiar for my taste. Each time I removed it, she waited a minute and went back to the bad habit. It was unsettling. “Baby doll, when do you think you’ll be ready to travel?”

  “My name’s Lucy,” I corrected her for the tenth time. Then I shrugged. “On foot? Not for a while. If all I have to do is drive there, hobble up and give the structure a good whack with the rake, I can do that tonight.” I looked up at Jens, who was none too happy with Elsa chumming up to me. “To end the wench who killed my parents and give me a chance at a normal life? I can do that, like, yesterday.”

  Elsa raked her long fingernails from my knee up my thigh, and I batted her hand away again, giving her the stink eye. She looked on me as if sizing me up to see how I would fit into her plan. “It’s settled, then. It’s a few days’ drive if the weather’s good to us. Pack, sleep and be ready to go in the morning.” She patted my head like I was her kitten.

  I cringed. “Knock it off.”

  Foss came to my aid and pushed Elsa’s hand away from me. “You won’t touch what’s mine,” he ordered.

  Liv stiffened, while Elsa pinched my thigh and grinned like an evil wizard. “Given your luck, baby doll, I’d ready myself for a blizzard.”

  20

  Basil Cubbington

  Foss got his own room with Liv, who’d been giving him the glad eye all through the meeting. She was none too pleased with me, but I tried not to dwell on the snide comments and superior looks she cast me as she took Foss up to her bed. She’d done the “accidental” slam of her shoulder to mine as she brushed by me, and I rolled my eyes. Have at it, sister. Good luck with that headache.

  The Huldras were kind of weird with their physical boundaries. Most of them were in their late forties or above, but every single one of them had their hands in my hair at one point or another, braiding it and unbraiding it as it suited them. It would have been sweet if only any of them had spoken to me about it or asked me first. I was the house pet, and I really didn’t like it.

  Jens linked his fingers through mine as we walked to the room I’d been sharing with Jamie. “Hey,” I whispered as we turned down the familiar hallway. “Can we sleep in your room tonight? I’m tired of bunking with Jamie, and you need a good night’s sleep. No patrol tonight, okay?”

  Jens looked like he wanted to argue, but the bags under his eyes played to my favor. “Yeah, okay. That’s probably best.”

  It was a job, but he helped me hobble up the stairs, knowing I’d hit my limit on people picking me up and carrying me places. We went up to the room he and Foss had been sharing, and I gusted out a breath of relief when the door locked behind us. “I’ve missed you.”

  “You sure you don’t need your husband here for this?” he joked bitterly.

  I limped over to him and rubbed his arm. “Are we really going to do this? Be pissy on our one night together?”

  He deflated. “I guess not. Sorry. I just hate all the husband/boyfriend jokes. I hate the whole situation. Having him constantly around you grates on me. His smug face…”

  “Oh, whatever. He’s just as miserable about it as we are. It’s a formality that’ll be over once all this is done. He’s off with Liv. Let him have his fun.” I motioned to myself. “I’m here, and I don’t really want to have every moment be with or about Foss.”

>   “You’re right.” He slapped his hands together to start the conversation afresh. “New topic. How’s your leg?”

  I shrugged. “You know. It got stabbed by rain gear, so no mountain climbing any time soon.”

  “I mean do you need your pills?”

  I sat on the bed. “It stings a little, but the pills make me sleepy. I kinda don’t want to take them yet. Haven’t seen you much. You’ve been avoiding me with work.” I was too tired to beat around the bush.

  Jens looked like he wanted to say something, but stopped himself. He pulled off his green polo shirt and rubbed his perfect abs. “I’m not avoiding you now.”

  I reached out and stroked his stomach, constantly amazed at his body no matter how many times I saw it. “You ever gonna tell me what all your scars are from?” I asked, tickling the puckered line that sliced diagonally from his right side down to his navel. I knew that one was from trolls, but he had so many others.

  “Nope. It’s part of what makes me mysterious.”

  “Seriously?” I traced a circle around his belly button, loving that he sucked in his stomach at my touch. It was nice to see that I still had an effect on him the way he did on me. “I’ll bet you tripped and got yourself on a table or something. High heels are tricky.”

  He rolled his eyes. “Yes. That’s exactly it.” He knelt before me and cupped my calf, gently rolling up the hem of my jeans to expose the bandage on my calf to him. “I really hate that you have scars now. Every one of them, my fault.”

  I was really tired of arguing with him about this, since it seemed to be the reason he avoided me. “Oh yeah? Then what are you gonna do about it?”

  His eyebrows furrowed. “I got you here. Had them mind-warp a doctor for you. I’m staying on top of your pain meds. I’m out on patrol all the time.”

  I shook my head and kissed the wrinkle between the eyebrows I loved to let entertain me with their constant dance. “I mean after Pesta and all this mess. How are you going to make sure we lead a boring life where the only scars I’ll get are actually from slipping and catching my side on the edge of a table while wearing high heels?”

  “You and that white picket fence.” His smirk was genuine, and I’d missed it. There was always a hint of sadness these days that replaced the swagger I’d been longing for.

  I looped my arms around his neck and drew him between my legs so there was no space between us for misunderstanding to creep in. “One day when this is all over, I want you to take me away. Like to London or somewhere. I’ll change my name to Basil Cubbington or something and we can eat scones and tea at all hours of the day. They’ve got loads of white picket fences there. I’m sure of it.”

  “You hate scones.” Jens gave me a look that questioned my intelligence. He gave in to our close proximity and kissed me, his thick lips stroking mine and making my heart flutter like a hummingbird. He hmm’ed against my mouth, and I felt his shoulders relaxing as he sunk into my body. He kissed my neck and then my collarbone before speaking into my skin. “And Basil’s a man’s name, you know.”

  “Is not,” I argued, tilting my head back to indulge in the moment.

  Jens tipped me back. Conscious of my sore ribs, he laid me carefully on the bed, hovering over me in all of his half-naked hotness. “Is so.”

  I harrumphed, trying not to let him know I was nervous being so close to him. We hadn’t been alone in weeks. “Look, I don’t think someone named Jens is fit to lecture me about what is or is not a man’s name.” I kissed him to stifle his retort, grinning when I felt him rile up and deflate as we satiated our need for attack and comfort. It was our own dance, and we did it well.

  When the debate within him grew stronger than the romantic moment, Jens pulled back. “Jens is our version of John! If we were in Sweden right now, it would be pronounced Yens. Totally normal man’s name.”

  I traced my finger down his warm chest. “Well, Yennifer, Basil is a woman’s name, and that’s what I choose for my fictional life in London. Deal with it.”

  He kissed me again, fighting me without words as our mouths battled for dominance. “I’m not calling you Basil,” he insisted between kisses.

  My hands ran down his back, tracing my fingers along the waistline of his jeans. “Then I’m not calling you boyfriend.”

  He squashed the two inches that separated our bodies and squeezed my hipbone. “I can’t decide if I like you when you’re like this, or if I really hate it.”

  I squirmed under him, relishing the feel of his hand on my hip. “You love it. You love me.” I nuzzled his nose with mine and then licked him from the tip of his nose to his forehead just to poke the bear.

  “Crap. I do love you.” He wiped my spit off by burying his face in the crook of my neck. “So in the spirit of loving you, I’m going to take a shower. Not sure how long it’s been, and you deserve to sleep next to a clean man.”

  I lifted up his arm and sniffed his armpit. “I’m guessing two days? Three if your deodorant’s worth its salt.”

  Jens barked out a laugh and sat up, clamping his arms down. “You’re sick! I can’t believe you’d subject yourself to that.”

  “I’ve faced a farlig. I highly doubt your pits are scarier than that.”

  Jens kissed me again, and with every one, I could tell he was remembering how good we were together, and that he’d punished himself enough. Now was not the time for separation. It was the time for adoring each other. We made out on the bed for a solid half hour before Jens hopped in the shower for the mere advantage of cooling off.

  I hobbled down to the room I’d shared with Jamie, really hoping I wasn’t ruining the mood by asking for my pajamas. Britta brought me my overnight bag and insisted on carrying it up to the room for me, lest I hurt my (Jamie’s) ribs. My leg was screaming at me, begging me to lie down.

  “How are you?” she asked.

  “You mean how’s Jamie?” I clarified. “We’re fine. Sore, but fine. He could probably use a soak in the tub to ease the stiffness in his ribs. We’re up for the journey tomorrow, though. Ready to get all this over with.” I placed my hand on her shoulder as reality dawned on me. “Do you really think it could be done with by this time next week?”

  Britta cupped my face in her hands. “Yes. It’s what’s getting me through. Soon, sister. Soon.”

  My leg felt better and my whole body was lighter as I limped into the room Jens was still showering in. I changed into pajamas and made myself comfortable in the bed, smoothing out the cream sheets with peach roses on them and fluffing the matching pillow at my back.

  Just as the shower turned off, someone knocked on the door. My head felt light and a little clouded as I opened the door, casting Elsa a dreamy smile as I welcomed her into the room. “What’s up?”

  “Nothing, baby doll.” She patted the top of my head, but I was bordering on loopy, so I didn’t suppress my unhappiness properly this time around.

  “I’m not a baby doll or a dog,” I groused, rubbing the top of my head to show my irritation.

  “Jens’s baby doll. Foss’s dog,” she ruled. “Or is it the other way around? Whose puppy are you?”

  I growled at her and barked, not sure how better to demonstrate I wouldn’t engage with her. “You come here for a reason?” I asked, slurring on the last word. My focus was slipping as exhaustion beat down on me from out of nowhere. I felt like I’d taken the pain medication that was supposed to help me sleep, but I know I hadn’t. I’d avoided that pill and took the pain so I could have some quality time with Jens for once.

  Elsa sat down on the bed and crossed one knee over the other. “I just wanted to make sure you were all set for the night. I need you well-rested for the trip. It’s not an easy one, so I need you sharp.”

  I snapped my finger and gave her a thumbs up. “Sharp as cheese.”

  She was mildly entertained by my answer and said as much when Jens entered the room wearing only a towel. His expectant expression fell when he saw we were not alone. I feel ya, buddy.
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br />   “What do you need, Elsa?”

  Elsa pointed up at my glazed-over expression as I leaned against the wall, the room taking an unfortunate tilt. “Your communal girlfriend’s a trip. Or she’s on one.”

  “Oh, no,” I murmured, my mouth not opening all the way. “Something’s wrong with the floor.”

  I swooned, and Elsa caught me. “How many pills did you take?” she questioned.

  “None-thing.” I groaned. “The Jamie has the pain and the too many pills. I’ma leg hurts no more.”

  Jens and Elsa covered me with a blanket after lowering me in the bed. A few minutes later, and seconds before I passed out, Jens climbed into bed with me.

  “I’m in love with you,” I murmured. “Your eyebrows and your abs. Yummy.”

  The look he gave me (from what I could make out through my haze) was filled with meaning and unfathomable emotion. “Lucy, I love you. One day I’ll rescue you for real. I’ll get you your white picket fence, a real dog that’s not a wolf, and an address we never have to move from.” He kissed my lips lightly, and my mouth went slack. “Just you and me, Moxie.” He held me and kissed my face until I lost my grip on lucidity in the comfort of his arms.

  21

  Off-Roading

  “I said I was sorry,” Jamie explained again as he hobbled into the van. His two sweaters and winter jacket did not keep him from shivering. It was cold for me, so I couldn’t imagine how the newbie Undrans were handling the bone chill. “I didn’t think about the bond. My leg was killing me, which means it was killing you, and you just let us be in pain.”

  “Next time you have to give me a heads up. What if I’d been driving?”

  “Again, I’m sorry. You know, toughing it out only hurts us both. Next time you’re in pain, talk to me at least, since your pain literally affects me.”

  “Gotcha.” I looked around as Jens boosted me into the middle bench. “Where’s Foss? I thought for sure he would’ve beaten us down here.”