Linus at Large Read online

  I bristled. “I’ll have you know that I can control myself just fine. I wouldn’t have gotten carried away if I had abilities.”

  Of all people, Jens chuckled. “Sure. Okay. You wouldn’t be dangerous with that much power.”

  “I wouldn’t!” I argued, straightening with indignation at Jens’s answering balk. “What? I wouldn’t.”

  He rolled onto his side and propped himself up on his elbow, the star on his cheek flickering at me in mocking. “Babe, you killed the farlig fisk, killed the Circhos (which is our equivalent to a yeti), Pesta, and Olaf’s bedslave. All that without a lick of magic. I can’t imagine the damage if you could actually access your abilities.” He rolled onto his back. “After this is all over and we’re back on the Other Side, you can teach Linus the basics, Tuck, but only that.”

  Linus was miffed. “You sound like Dad. I’d be a good wind elf.”

  Jens rolled his eyes. “Yes. I can only imagine the onslaught of fart jokes coming my way when you start your training. But not here, where we’ve got a mission and no margin for error.”

  Linus shifted on his back. “Fine. Loos, you got any more food in your pack?”

  I frowned down at my brother. “I’ve got a few apples, Line, but we have to share them in the morning. You’re still hungry?”

  Linus’s eyebrows pushed together. “Yeah. I’m always starving, actually. I don’t know why, but I feel like I could eat a horse. Then a couple hours after the horse, I could go for some variety of rhinoceros.”

  Jens wrapped his hand around my ankle and stroked the flesh there. “If that’s the tradeoff for getting you back, I’ll foot the grocery bill. Soon as we get to Fossegrim, we’ll get you a decent meal.”

  “Thanks. I’m just… This is a lot. I’m alive, but Mom and Dad are dead?” His voice was dripping with pain I rarely gave voice to. “You lost all of us in one go? That’s… You don’t bounce back from that. I wouldn’t have survived losing all of you like that.” Linus was tired, so his brain was firing at whatever flew up in his face at random. “How’d you handle it?”

  My voice was quiet. “I don’t want to talk about any of it. I handled it. Simple as that.” Then to segue out of the impossible conversation, I suggested, “Fart noise transition?”

  Linus and I made synchronized fart noises with our mouths to relieve the tension. Tucker and Foss chuckled at our twin-ness. Jamie and Jens did not. They could feel the agony I walked around with on a daily basis after the horror that was losing my family.

  Linus was thoughtful as he spoke, looking up at the treetops that closed us in. “Everything you’ve told me feels like déjà vu. Like it’s news to me, but somehow I feel like I knew it, or must’ve known it, but just needed the reminder. I don’t understand why. Like I already lived through my grief about Mom and Dad, and somehow knew most of the stuff that’s happened since I croaked, even though I didn’t until you told me.”

  Tucker fielded this one, which was good, since I had no light to shed on it. “Your soul’s been with your sister this entire time. While you weren’t experiencing life, your soul was. That déjà vu is just your soul reminding the rest of you what you missed.”

  Everyone did a collective “whoa” at this. It was strange, but it made sense.

  “That’s right. Not just a pretty face, friends. It pays to be old,” Tucker joked.

  There were a few beats of silence that felt too heavy for anyone to get a proper night’s rest. Mom would have known what to do. Dad would have taken Linus running, and Mom would have a snack set out for them when they got back. She’d sing in the kitchen as Dad, Linus and I wound down for the night. If I concentrated hard enough, I could still hear her.

  In the least intrusive voice I could muster, I started singing softly through the night one of my mom’s favorites to little Clara, who didn’t mind my quiet singing voice. It wasn’t the same as having her here, but it was the most I could do. Joni Mitchell had the perfect voice and the perfect songs. I did not, but I did my best to soothe the ache my brother was being buried under.

  Life was hard, but I would never leave him. We had each other now. That had to count for something.

  When the song finished, Linus was sniffling. I’m surprised it took this long for him to break down. Jens had his eyes closed with one hand over his heart, and the other clamped on Linus’s shoulder. Foss was watching me in the dark that was lit only by my glittering hands.

  Tucker was contemplative on Jamie’s other side, and reached above his head to let his fingers crawl under my pant leg and stroke my ankle. “That was beautiful, little elf. You sure you’re not part Nøkken?”

  “Goodnight, guys.”

  6

  Spiders in My Brain

  The dark was hard for me. Now that Jamie was asleep, I didn’t have to pretend I was fine. I knew I wasn’t in the cell, but the dark of the night felt oppressive. Every sound made me jump, and I kept expecting that nails on the chalkboard screech from the cell to jerk my nerves. I friggin’ hated the neurosis that came with being tortured. I made a mental note to give yoga a shot. Those girls bent in pretzel shapes always looked so serene. I bet they never heard Jamie’s mental screaming as a resurfacing memory they couldn’t escape.

  I laid the snoozing Clara Barton on the earth and stood, pressing my hands together like a prayer in front of my chest, just to give myself something to do to pass the hours. I know I’d seen the yoga ninjas standing on one leg with the other bent to their knee like a number four. I tried that pose and held it for five whole seconds before I stumbled. I rock so hard at fake yoga.

  I stretched my torso, breathing in deep the night air that had been crisp when the red moon began to set a few hours ago.

  But it wasn’t all that crisp anymore. I sniffed a few times, and then inhaled deeply. The urge for s’mores hit my belly out of nowhere. I walked to the small hole I’d almost fit through and sucked in a thick drag of bonfire air.

  There shouldn’t be a bonfire in a forest. Smoky the Bear would throw a fit.

  With gentle hands I roused Tucker, kneeling by his side. “Tuck? Could you wake up for a second?”

  “Hmm?” With his eyes closed, he pulled my palm to his lips and pressed a kiss into the center. “What brings you to my bed, käresta?”

  “I think I smell fire. Could you wake up just a little and tell me if I’m wrong?” I scooped up Clara Barton, just in case the campfire smell coming in through the hole bothered her.

  Tucker sat up as if his back had been loaded with a spring. He inhaled, his eyes widening, and then flexed his fingers, like he was calling out to the fire in the distance to see if he could sense its magnitude. “Everyone, up!”

  Jens and Foss awoke in the same spring-loaded fashion. Jamie and Linus needed me to pull them up with my free hand. “I think there might be a fire. Get up and get your stuff.”

  “Stuff” included putting their shoes on and Jens grabbing his pack. We traveled lean.

  Tucker took the lead, and we all fell in line. His tone was short, his sentences clipped. “Not an elf fire, but it’s big. I can try to contain it, but it’ll be a drop in the bucket. To the Darklands.” When his hands lit up with balls of flames two feet high, Linus made a noise of surprise through his sleepy haze. Tucker barked, “Now!”

  The few hours of sleep and a healthy dose of fear made everyone move forward with renewed vigor. Foss took the lead with his machete, hacking and clearing as much as he could in Tucker’s handmade light. Tucker was at the rear, making sure the foreign flames didn’t touch us. Occasionally he’d turn around and shout an incantation, rebuking the flames. I was shocked when the fire crackle didn’t follow us quite so quickly after that. I slipped Clara Barton into the pouch around Tucker’s neck, and she clung inside, keeping close to her own personal strapping fireman.

  Jens was in high gear, his Havard juice giving him more strength to ensure our safety than one would think possible. When Foss grew winded, Jens took the lead, hacking and even pushing nature o
ut of the way like a guy on a ’roid rage.

  Linus and Jamie held my hands as we fought to make decent progress. Jens was heroic. Foss was a beast. Tucker was valiant.

  I was amazed. The distance that had seemed so far was almost cleared in what felt like no time at all. That’s the thing about a fire bearing down on you.

  I think nature sensed I was getting too cocky. The wind shifted, and the fire charged in our direction again. Tucker’s wall of protection no longer held it back. Black smoke billowed in the sky behind us, and the little I could see of the heavens told me the blaze was not far behind.

  Jens attacked the trees with bear-like ferocity, but I knew it wasn’t enough. Judging by the wind speed rustling the leaves overhead, I was positive the fire would reach us before we saw the first blade of grass in the Darklands.

  Linus would not die in this fire.

  I dropped Jamie and Linus’s grips and yanked on Tucker’s shirt. “Linus! You have to port Linus out of here! Please, Tuck! He can’t die in here!”

  Tucker shook his head, sweat dripping down his temples. “I can’t leave the fire long enough to do that. I’m the only thing holding it back, and I’m losing!”

  It was then I noticed Tucker’s hands were shaking. “Okay. I’m sorry. Here. Lean on me. I’m a good crutch.”

  He managed a half-smile, and then I saw light flicker in his eyes like a dance of a miniature flame. “You! I can use you! If I can channel your power, I can amplify mine!”

  My eyebrows scrunched together. “But what about the wall? I can’t access my power.”

  “You can’t, but I can. I’ve hit it before. I can use a different route through your mind this time. If I can just tap into the gigawatts of power you’ve got, I can put out the fire altogether! I’m sure of it!”

  It was a lot of information, but none of the details mattered in the heat of the moment. “Will it give me a seizure?” Before he could answer, I shook my head. “Doesn’t matter. Do it to it. Then get Linus the smack out of here. Okay?”

  Tucker shouted the plan to Jens, whose arguments fell on deaf ears. “It’s the only way, Jens! We’ll all die in this fire if I don’t at least try. Go on ahead! Keep moving as fast as you can. If this doesn’t work… You have to leave Jamie with us and go!”

  Jamie stayed behind, yelling at the other three to do as Tucker said. I could tell Jens hated himself for leaving me. “Watch Linus!” I shouted, waving him forward. “Save Linus!”

  Jens let loose a single cry of fury at our plight and took out his aggression on the intrusive trees.

  Linus would be safe. Jens would be safe. Foss would be safe. That was all that mattered. I looked up at Tucker, faking bravery for whatever he was about to do to my brain. “Do your worst, fire elf.”

  Tucker didn’t bother with the usual smarmy comments. “Sit down, in case one of us faints.” Jamie dropped to his knees in a heartbeat, ready to get the worst over with.

  Tucker sat me down on the grass and moved behind me, his legs on either side of my body, and my back resting against his torso. His fireballs disappeared, letting the blaze in the not-distant-enough distance leave flickers of orange and white that could be seen through the path we’d carved. Tucker combed his fingers through my hair, bunching the tresses into a ponytail and pressing one palm to my forehead. He bowed his head and began murmuring phrases I couldn’t begin to make sense of.

  At first, I felt nothing. It was a relief and it was scary at the same time.

  Then I felt an itch that started at the back of my brain. I tried to swat it away, but it persisted. It was a slow-moving spider crawling its eight hairy legs along ridges of brain matter I didn’t feel like sharing with the creeper.

  “Let me in, Lucy! You’re resisting, and I can’t get past your defenses!”

  I exhaled and made the conscious choice to allow the spider free reign of my brain.

  “That’s better. Good girl, honey.”

  The spider scurried and multiplied into ten, and then twenty tiny intrusions that taunted me with the promise of their eventual usefulness. I’m pretty sure I screamed, but that was the height of my freak-out.

  Then one of the spiders hit a wall. It bounced back off it, summoning the others to its discovery. Like magnets, they make the straightest path through my mind to the wall. Then they wormed their way around the back of it, touching things they weren’t supposed to.

  Then I really screamed.

  The sky above me was black with tongues of orange dancing intermittently. Then the orange disappeared behind my closed eyelids. Jamie and I slumped into the land of forty winks, and I saw no more.

  7

  Super Tucker

  I awoke to someone sawing my skull in half. At least, that’s what it felt like. I knew Jamie was far away, and that was about the only thing I knew. It hurt too badly to open my eyes. I could barely breathe due to the smoke that surrounded me. Clawing my way to safety seemed like a good idea, but which way that haven was, I couldn’t tell you. Crawling in any direction in search of breathable air was my only option, so I hoisted my head up by pushing my hands on the earth.

  I couldn’t feel my legs.

  My mouth felt funny. It was like there was a ringing in my molars.

  After about five seconds, my arms couldn’t support the weight from the upper half of my body. I collapsed, choking on the smoke that coiled up into me like a homicidal neighbor that insisted on moving into my space. I pushed it out, but breathing was an inevitability. Heavy blackness seeped into my lungs; it was the only thing that distracted me from my headache.

  I heard a pop behind me, followed by a rustle of footsteps. “I’ve got you, love.” Tucker’s arms went around me and hoisted me up. He wasn’t weakened from porting, as he had been the last time. He was alive and strong, zealous to save the day.

  When my headache vanished in an instant, he was my hero, and I loved him.

  “Back up!” Tucker shouted, and then laid me down on the grass with such gentle grace, I felt like I was actually being taken care of. Water fell over my face and was dumped into my mouth. Something was wrong with my lips, because the water dribbled out. I wanted to speak, but my lips couldn’t move normally.

  Tucker’s hand covered my mouth, and I felt a vacuum-like whoosh of air suck out the soot from my lungs, leaving me to breathe freely again. Then a shower sprayed me off from head to toe, cleansing and refreshing every inch.

  I opened my eyes, but the world was still dark. I tried to shout that I couldn’t see anything, but my mouth was still crapping out on me. It came out a garbled mess of moaning, and I was instantly embarrassed.

  “Shh. It’s okay, käresta. Let me take the water out of your clothes.” The same vacuum hand sucked out the moisture until my clothes and I were dry and clean.

  Jens’s arms took me from Tucker, and as much as I wanted to cling to him, I was not in control of my body. “What’s wrong with her?”

  Tucker’s tone was excited, and not as scared as everyone else seemed in the complete dark. “I did it! Let’s move, and I’ll tell you while we search. I put out the entire forest fire, so whoever’s after us has a clearer shot now. Find the långsam död berries! They’re purple and small. They look like blueberries, but even smaller,” Tucker explained for Linus’s benefit. “Hurry! Foss, help me carry Jamie!”

  Fire lit from Tucker’s palms, lighting the way through the black, but also alerting anyone who was looking exactly where we were at.

  The Darklands were named such because the sun and moon for some reason didn’t shine here in the vast expanse. Judging by the light from Tucker’s hands, there were hardly any trees, either. There was no illumination, but for Tucker’s hands and mine.

  Jens ran with me in his arms, searching everywhere for the berries. “Talk, Tuck! Why can’t they walk? What’s wrong with her face?”

  Foss’s voice had a bit of strain to it, I’m guessing from lugging Jamie around, who was no doubt in the same sorry state I was in. “What did you do
to her?!”

  Tucker was frustrated at having to explain himself as he searched for the berries with Linus. “Hilda put a lock in Lucy so she can’t access her powers, but I found a way so that I can! I’ve got fire, wind, water and siren in me! I don’t know how long it’ll last, but porting them was like nothing! It feels so strong in me, Jens! I can’t explain it, but it’s amazing. I put out an entire forest fire, cleaned their lungs out and I can port!”

  Jens spoke through gritted teeth. “Great, but what about them? Why aren’t they moving?”

  Tucker’s tone was unconcerned. “I don’t know, Jens. But we have to get the berries and get them out of here. I don’t know how long I can hold onto this much power, and I’ll need to port us all out of this mess!”

  “Is this it?” Linus asked, bringing a branch to Jens for inspection, using my hands to shed light on it.

  “Yes! Yes, that’s it! Get more, Linus! Get as many as you can carry! Foss! Put Jamie down and help Linus!” Jens was worried, which made me even more afraid. “Tuck! Port those two out of here, and then come back for us. Can you take them to Fossegrim? Foss, pick a spot for Tuck that’s out of the way where no one’ll notice we’re there yet. We need space to be able to break this bond. Go!”

  Foss murmured to Tucker where to take him, and they vanished, leaving us in darkness.

  “It’s okay, babe. Can you move your arms?”

  I did my best attempt, but it was like moving through Jell-O.

  “Can you talk?”

  I tried to answer, but only the garbled moan came out.

  Jens was terrified, which made his pitch climb and his grip tighten. “It’s alright. No big deal. This sort of thing happens all the time in Undraland. It’ll come back,” he lied. I’d known him long enough to smell a fib.