Linus at Large Page 19

  Foss lowered his voice to attempt to lessen the tension. “It’s true, Dom. Before Lucy killed Pesta, the siren put her arv on my wife. She can’t access her powers, though. She’s not a real siren!”

  The chief’s fingers dug into my shoulder, hitting a pressure point that made me whine in lieu of wiggling out of his grip and accidentally slicing my throat on his blade. The chief let the information sizzle, but did not loosen his grip. “No! She has the siren blood, Foss. You know she has to die. She could have bewitched you to think she’s powerless!” His chin jutted out to the ground out toward where the men had just been. “Have you ever seen a woman command an army so? A woman has never commanded our men. She could have given us a poison, not a cure! Foss, what have you done?” The anger was redirected from me to Foss.

  Foss drew his sword with his non-dominant hand, and I knew the outcome of this fight. I knew my husband would die, and I would be the cause of it. When he’d given me his ring, he’d told me that I would be the death of every man I knew. I’d just sent my boyfriend off to fight in a war, my elf was sent for healing to the hands of a people who hated him, and Foss was about to get gutted in my name.

  “No, Foss! Let him kill me! You don’t have to die like this! Stop!”

  The chief cast me aside, throwing me down on the hard surface of the flat roof.

  “I take no enjoyment from this, son,” the chief said, his voice grave and his shoulders weighted with the burden of having to look after his people at any cost.

  Foss held his blade steady. “Then don’t do it! She’s not dangerous! I haven’t betrayed you, Dom.” He cast up a look that was filled such hurt, I couldn’t believe the chief still had his sword aimed at the man he loved as a son. He’d only had Aren, but Foss was his pride and joy.

  I scrambled to my feet and threw myself in front of Foss. I’d broken him enough; he would not die defending my honor. “Back off!” I warned the chief.

  The chief took a step forward, his eyes apologizing as his sword was at the ready. “You know I can’t do that. You have to die, Lucy. You’ve already bewitched Foss, me and who knows how many others. After you die, I’ll bleed Linus to make sure he’s not a siren.”

  “No!” I screamed. “You won’t touch my brother! The fact that you won’t back off when I’m commanding you to proves that I’m not a siren! Be reasonable!”

  The chief threw this logic off his shoulders and stuck to his original claim. “Your body bleeds stars. I cannot let a siren run loose in my land. I’m sorry, Foss. I know how much you love your Guldy, but she has to die.”

  “Get behind me, Lucy!” Foss commanded.

  “No! You won’t die for me, you idiot!”

  It happened in a blink. The chief’s sword swung out, tired of the back and forth, and slashed a line of death across my stomach.

  29

  Twenty-Nine

  My scream frightened even me with its shrill plea for the pain to stop. My hand went to my dress as I fell to the floor, and it came away doused in stars and red. Every intake of breath felt like nails raking my insides, and each second Foss looked down in horror at me was an eternity of broken glass swimming around inside of my veins. I heard my brother’s voice from the vineyard and knew that he’d heard me. Linus was safe. He could get away.

  That thought gave me a small amount of comfort as I bled all over my hand and the ground, trying to scoop up the shameful puddles of stars and shove them back inside my body so no one would know my secret.

  Foss stood over my body, growling like a Were on steroids. He was a coil wound to spring into action, killing without thought.

  I didn’t want that for him. “No, Foss! You have to let me go!”

  The chief circled us, his sword dripping with my blood. “You should let me make it quick, son. You shouldn’t let her bleed out slowly like this. It’s painful for her. Neither of us want that. For all she’s done for our nation, we owe her a swift death.”

  I clawed at the air, incoherently trying to push the burning agony away from me.

  Then the spring snapped. Foss lunged, stabbing his machete into the chief’s shoulder. Dom swung out, slicing Foss’s bum arm.

  I screamed, not sure if I was more upset about my busted gut or Foss getting cut.

  It happened so fast, if I hadn’t been looking right at the spot, I would’ve missed it entirely.

  Though there was no rain or thunder, lightning flashed on the rooftop, distracting the three of us just enough to give pause to the fight.

  The chief’s eyebrows pushed together, and then as if in slow motion, his hand went to his stomach. When he pulled it away to examine it, his hand was drenched in fresh blood.

  Our wounds were identical.

  My teeth began to ring with that same electrical current that had resounded through my body after Foss backhanded me.

  The chief roared in confusion and shock as he fell to his knees. “What magic is this?!” Then he looked at me in accusation. “She ran me through! She has no sword, but she ran me through!”

  Linus was running in from the vineyard, shouting my name. My spirits rose, but my heartrate plummeted.

  “Run, Foss!” I yelled, but he didn’t listen.

  Foss drew up his sword with his one good hand and drove the blade through his mentor’s heart, and by proxy, his own. Both of them cried out in misery, pinning the shock and horror on both of their faces and mine as the silver disappeared into the flesh and came out red.

  The chief let out a sound like the air being popped from a balloon, and I couldn’t tell if it came from his mouth or the hole in his chest.

  Lightning flashed again like fire from the sky, torching his body in a violent wave of flames that clung only to him as he writhed and tried to reach out for help, his body going from lithe to decrepit in a matter of seconds.

  As quickly as it came, the flames disappeared, leaving him a charred pink and blackened mess. Just like that, the most powerful man in Fossegrim met his end at my incapable hands. It was Havard’s vengeance, and there was no controlling it.

  Foss let out a horrifying sob as his mentor collapsed in a heap at his feet.

  30

  Pink Bunny

  When I was a little girl, we were moved in the middle of the night with no warning. Dad had the car packed up with all our meager possessions, and Mom was waking us gently to put coats, socks and shoes on over our pajamas. Linus and I had a habit of falling asleep holding hands (until we were around the second grade and realized how weird that was). But when we were four, the jostling didn’t wake us until our hands fell away from each other.

  Linus stirred when Mom put his shoes on, but she was quick at the task she was well-versed in. Linus slumped over in his sleepy state, leaning on my shoulder as I hugged my pink bunny. Though we didn’t understand everything that was happening, even at that young age, we knew it wasn’t normal to leave your home forever in the middle of the night. Linus and I held hands, refusing to let go of the one constant we couldn’t survive without. Mom had to carry one of us on each hip.

  It wasn’t Linus’s fault that I dropped my bunny on our way to the car. It was my fault for not letting go of my brother so I could hold on to what was mine.

  I never saw my pink bunny again, but I knew that as long as I had Linus holding my hand, the next life we started would be okay.

  As I felt my body being wrapped in a thick blanket, smooshing my own blood over me like a messy tuna burrito that should never be, I wished for my pink bunny.

  I wished for Linus’s hand.

  And then there he was. Out of nowhere, Linus was carrying me. “What did he do to you? I can’t fix this, Loos!”

  I didn’t care anymore. It almost figured that I would get my brother back, get engaged, and then die before I could screw any of that up.

  Yet here we were, and Linus was acting like this was our dart through the night, and a new life waited on the Other Side for us.

  There wouldn’t be a new life. There was this one,
and it was ending.

  Then Jens’s arms were under me, and he was running.

  “Don’t you dare close your eyes!” Jens warned. “Kristoffer! Help me! She’ll die if I don’t get her back to the Other Side!”

  I didn’t want to close my eyes, but they were so heavy. Every time I opened them, the world had a white halo around it, so I could only take in portions of what rushed by us in my hazy state.

  I was in Kristoffer’s beefy grip now, and the thought brought me no comfort. I didn’t want to die in his arms. Sweet guy, but practically a stranger to me.

  “Linus!” I cried out. Each breath and mere movement caused me tremendous amounts of SmackDown level of pain. I felt like my stomach was ripping from the inside out like a cheap lunch bag with a wet bottle inside. I was bleeding still. I could feel the ooze leaving me slowly with less and less life to work with and make use of.

  I’d never go to London. I’d never be Basil Cubbington.

  There was a lot of shouting and what sounded like a war scene from a violent historical docu-drama. Then there were killer clowns trying to eat me that stared down at my body as I was lowered to the ground.

  Kristoffer kissed my clammy forehead. “I’ll be right back with your Tom, my queen.”

  Then he vanished. Or I was hallucinating. It was anyone’s guess at this point.

  “Get Linus!” Jens yelled to Kristoffer. “After you bring him here, see if…” Jens’s voice faded as quickly as it came, and all I heard was white noise. Then Jens was lifting me again, running me toward the gate of the broken-down amusement park I vaguely recalled as being the gate to Undraland.

  Jens was shouting something, but his voice started sounding like Charlie Brown’s teacher. My body felt like it was floating, and then to my horror, sinking.

  I was placed in the backseat of a car I didn’t recognize, but I didn’t care because Linus was somehow by my side again.

  I didn’t have my pink bunny, but Linus held my hand as my old life faded from my vision.

  31

  Safety Dance

  I’d never tell Linus this, but I hadn’t had it in my heart to listen to the Safety Dance song after he died. Loved the song, but couldn’t hear it played on the radio after all the tune had been through with us. It matched the beeps of the hospital machines perfectly, and it could play on a loop without needing to end. That tried and true song kept us entertained on many a boring or scary hospital trip.

  I wasn’t sure why I was hearing it again. The steady beeps filled my ears as Linus sang the song under his breath like an anthem.

  “Seriously, Line, I can’t hear that song again.” It was Dad’s words, but sounded like Jens when he’d not had enough sleep.

  Linus paused, and then came out with, “What if I sang it only one more time?”

  “What if I broke only one of your fingers?”

  “Would it be this finger? Because I need that one in particular.”

  I didn’t have to open my eyes to know that Linus was flipping Jens the bird.

  Jens let out a frustrated muffled scream into his hands. “I need a vacation!”

  “I think a little place called Undraland might have some deluxe suites available. Would you like one in King Jamie’s palace? Perhaps a poolside view? Heart-shaped Jacuzzi for two?”

  “I’m never taking her back to Undraland as long as I live,” Jens vowed, and I could tell by his solemn tone that the point was not up for discussion. His voice quieted, and I could tell he was looking at me. “I’m taking her to London as soon as she can travel. We’ll get married there and start our life. If Undraland needs us, they won’t know where to find us.”

  “What about Jamie? Your sister?”

  Jens paused a beat before answering, “They’re smart enough to know they can’t need us anymore.”

  “What if I have a hankering for some of those vegetables you can only get there?”

  “You’ll make do here. I’m firm on that, Linus. Your sister’s not crossing over again.”

  “Faker!” Linus’s voice surprised me into opening my eyes when he spoke directly over my face. “How long have you been awake, Loos?”

  Jens shot up out of his chair and paged the nurse. When the female voice droned on the intercom, Jens shouted unnecessarily. “Lucy’s awake! She needs a doctor right now to make sure she’s okay!”

  “I’m fine, I think,” I said, blinking at the ceiling in the hospital room that was only lit by the bathroom’s light and the glow of my silver sparkle henna hands. I tried to sit up, but the guys pinned my shoulders down and got in my face. There were beeping machines, and I had an IV in my hand. “Back up!” I whined. “How’d I get here?”

  Linus sat back down, but Jens did not. He hovered, holding onto my hand and speaking slowly only inches from my face. “Kristoffer ported us to the gate, and we kifed a car and drove here. You’re in a hospital, Loos. You’ve had surgery to repair the damage the chief did to your guts.” He breathed in my face, and I swooned at the familiar scent of sugar cookies. “You’re alive.”

  “Well, that makes no sense. I remember the blood. And how exactly am I in a hospital? What story could you possibly spin to cover over siren blood?”

  Linus shrugged. “We told them you’d been eating massive amounts of tinfoil.”

  Jens shook his head. “Elsa met us here. She spelled a doctor for us. You almost didn’t make it, Loos. You almost died in Linus’s arms before I could get you help.”

  Linus turned his head away so I couldn’t see the pain this caused him. “But you didn’t, so we don’t need to talk like that.”

  A blond doctor came in, and I was taken aback at how short he was. I was used to Foss, so this guy’s five and a half feet was a shocker I tried not to stare at. “Hello, Mrs. Cubbington. How are you feeling this morning?” he asked, flipping open my chart as he took out his pen light and looked in my eyes. “You’ve been through quite a bit.”

  He picked up my hand to test my pulse, and I could feel how icy his skin was. The doctor shooed Jens and Linus out, and asked me all sorts of questions I didn’t have the answers to. I’d only just woken up, so I didn’t really have an opinion on how it felt to sit up or pee.

  “You sliced through your small intestine, so that’s going to take some time to heal. You can’t walk for a while. You shouldn’t even try standing until your stitches have more time to set. We were able to repair the damage, but if you’re not careful, you’ll cause more tearing that we might not be able to undo.”

  “So you’re telling me to lie down, put my feet up and do nothing? You’re prescribing TV and Madlibs?”

  He cast me a professional smile. His hospital coat looked like it’d been ironed, it was so straight. “I could write it down as a script, if you’d like.”

  “I would like. Thank you.” I grinned as the doctor scribbled an inscrutable note on his script pad for a life of leisurely laying around for the duration of exactly six weeks. “Doc, you’re only the most beautiful man I’ve ever seen.”

  “Play your cards right, and I’ll write you another one that says to sleep in every morning and let your boyfriend wait on you hand and foot.”

  “I definitely want that one in writing. Maybe framed.”

  The sandy-haired doctor adjusted my IV drip after a few more questions and summoned the guys back in. Jens was ready to fire questions at the man, but the doctor was prepared. He broke everything down for Jens, including the whole me not being on my feet for a good long time part.

  When the doctor left us, I grinned up at Jens and Linus. “So, which one of you’s going to tell me what I missed? I prefer it in song.”

  Jens rolled his eyes, but Linus never missed an opportunity to ham it up. He flexed a muscle and brought a fake microphone to his mouth, singing to the tune of “Oh, My Darling Clementine” with too many syllables jammed into each line of the chorus.

  “Oh, Lucy, if you saw him, you would never guess that it was Jamie.

  “He was in a cell, now
he’s on a throne. He’s even got a little baby.

  “His name is Jamieson, which is better than naming your kid ‘Chief’ (who’s totally dead).

  “Your elf voodoo fried him, and Foss is still freaking out. But it’s okay, because I hate that guy.”

  I clapped and laughed, begging for an encore.

  Linus bowed to his adoring fan, signing autographs and throwing them out at me. I snatched each one out of the air and hugged it like a true fangirl.

  “I totally formed a boy band while you were sleeping. We rose to fame after our single “You Snore When You’re on Medication” rose to number one in Europe. Then when our album titled “I Drew a Mustache on You While You Were Sleeping” blew up in America, we started to get power hungry. The hot guy of the group thought he could sing, but we all knew he was just eye candy. Then the one singer in our group realized he was ugly when the photographers kept shooing him to the back of the photos. Then I, the awesome one, watched the one dream I’ve had since boyhood crash and burn while they fought to the death over who got to give the speech at the Grammys.”

  Jens’s mouth hung open. “You had that much BS in you off the top of your head?”

  “I’m about fifty percent BS, so I didn’t have to dig too deep.” Linus flashed me a grin. “The other half’s made up of Tetris blocks and foam peanuts.”

  I held up a finger. “And a loudspeaker that plays Safety Dance on repeat until the end of time.”

  Jens groaned and looked up at the fluorescent light on the ceiling. “What have I done? Honestly, what did I do to incur this kind of punishment?”

  Linus leaned his elbow on Jens’s shoulder. “What’s the matter, Jens? You look tense. You know, you can dance if you want to. You can leave the old friends behind.”