Chapter 11 #2
“Well, there’s really no other explanation.
The guy literally showed up out of nowhere in the middle of our play.
No one knows who he is. This is a fucking small town.
Everybody knows everybody. Hell, there’s probably a few cousins married to each other.
And yet no one knows this guy.” Rowan shrugged.
“At first I thought maybe he was some friend from Portland you knew, but… And besides, Hollow Hill is a very strange place. Always has been. Always kinda had, I don’t know, maybe something magical about it. ”
The words poured out then. The grimoire. The summoning. The past few weeks of Jack trying so hard to court him and being adorably terrible at it. Falling in love despite every instinct screaming at him to protect himself.
“Well then I don’t see the problem,” Rowan said when Locke paused for breath. “He sounds like the perfect man. God, damn it, why can’t I conjure up any hot harvest gods?”
They both laughed again, and Locke felt like he could finally breathe properly.
“Last night was perhaps the best night of my life. No one has ever touched me the way that Jack touched me. He made me feel loved and desired and just… everything.”
“Then why are you so gloomy?”
Locke’s throat tightened. “This morning…or this afternoon, whenever the hell we woke up, Jack asked me to live forever with him. To go back to the Loam together and be immortal gods. He’s saying stuff about being bound together and becoming one, and I don’t know what the hell any of that means.
But he has to leave tonight at midnight. With or without me.”
Rowan stood up so fast his chair scraped. He paced to the kitchen, yanked open the fridge, and pulled out a pitcher of iced tea and two glasses before returning and poured two glasses. He gulped down his entire cup in three swallows.
“So wait the fuck a minute. Just wait a minute here.” Rowan set the glass down hard.
“You have some immortal god with magical powers and everything, telling you that he can make you an immortal god where you can go off and live in his freaking god palace...I’m quite sure he has a fucking palace.
..forever and ever, and you’re like ‘let me think about it’? Are you crazy?”
“Well, Jack can only be summoned here, and it can only be done during the equinox time. And then he has to leave. Wouldn’t I have to go by the same rules, too? Which means I’d have to leave everything behind. Leave my grandma behind, Pumpkin, and you.”
“If it takes someone conjuring you guys back every year, I can do that. Just hand me the damn book. I’ll say the words every year and bring you guys back, and we can hang out.
You can tell me all about what it’s like to be a god, and you can introduce me to some freaking gods.
Then I’ll make one fall in love with me.
And then we’ll both be gods. How is that a bad thing? ”
Locke laughed. Actually laughed. The sound bubbled up from somewhere deep, shaking loose all the fear and worry that had been strangling him since Jack left.
“How is this any different from going off to college and then coming home every year?” Rowan continued, warming to his theme.
“Everybody’s gotta grow up and leave the nest. I’m quite sure your grandmother will understand that.
And your parents? I can arrange for your parents to come over, and then boom, I say the words, you guys pop up, family reunion instantly. ”
“What am I gonna do with you?”
“What you can do is listen to me, because I know what I’m talking about. But then again I can understand the hesitation if you gotta spend an eternity with a pumpkin-headed guy. I guess that could be a little weird.”
“Hey, the pumpkin head is kinda cute. But he showed me his true form last night.”
Rowan leaned forward, eyes gleaming, and poured himself another glass of tea. “Bitch, you better spill the tea. What the fuck does he look like?”
“Beautiful. Ethereal. He’s a freaking elf. Like a real elf. Or fae. He’d call himself fae.”
“Holy shit! You mean like Lord of the Rings? With the pointed ears and everything?”
“Yes. He even has this crown of beautiful vines.”
Rowan grinned, wicked and delighted. “I bet he’s big as a horse.”
They both lost it.
Laughing so hard Locke’s sides hurt, tears streaming down his face for an entirely different reason now. Rowan was cackling, nearly spilling his tea, and it was perfect. Ridiculous and perfect and exactly what Locke needed.
“Oh my god, I’m right, aren’t I? Oh shit. Yes. Okay, yeah, this is a freaking plan. We’re gonna go through the grimoire, and I need to learn some of these spells! Who’s next, winter? Winter is coming, bitch.”
They dissolved into laughter again, and Locke felt something click into place.
Rowan made it sound so simple. So obvious. And maybe that’s because it was.
People left home to build lives with the people they loved. That was normal. Expected. He could come back. Every year. See his family. See Rowan. Keep both worlds.
“I really do wanna be with Jack,” Locke said, and the words made it real. Made it true. “I want to know where this is gonna go.”
“Well, the only way you’ll know is if you just simply do it. And if he mistreats you in any way, then I’ll go to that Loam myself and give him a piece of my mind.”
They hugged, and Locke held on tight, grateful beyond words for this person who’d been by his side since kindergarten.
“Jack was upset with me. I want to find him.”
“Yeah, but he said he’s not leaving until midnight, right? And you still gotta run the haunted house. There’s already people outside, last time I checked.”
Locke rolled his eyes. “Okay, fine. But if you see Jack, please tell him to stop by the haunted house so we can talk.”
He smiled, really smiled, for the first time since Jack left. “I’m gonna see what this whole god thing is all about.”
They both laughed, giddy with possibility.