We Sing It Anyway #6
“Oh, hell, Elsie, I just found out that I’ve been dead for like eight years, but someone else has been using my body that whole time, and now the someone else has a body of his own and he’s not going anywhere,” said Artie.
“I am well and truly freaked out, on a scale I didn’t know was possible.
Oh, and Mom’s dead. Mom’s really dead? They’re not messing with me? ”
“No.” I let him go, stepping slowly back.
“I’m sorry, but they’re not. She died two years ago.
It was … it was the worst day of my life.
Even worse than losing you. At least when we lost you, we found Arthur, and he was so confused and messed-up at first, focusing on him kept me from spiraling.
But Mom … Mom was supposed to live forever.
I’m still kind of pissed at her because she didn’t. ”
He looked at me, utterly stricken, and I remembered abruptly that for him, Mom’s death was new information. It might as well have just happened.
Cheeks flushing red, I looked down at the floor. “I’m sorry. I know this is all really new to you. I didn’t mean to—”
“It’s okay, El. I know you’re not trying to hurt me. And I know I’ve been gone for a while.” He rubbed the back of his neck with one hand, looking around the living room. “Dad really needs to get a cleaning service in here. Where is Dad?”
“Upstairs in his office. He … hasn’t been doing very well lately.
Losing you was terrible, losing Mom was the end of the world, and then we lost Arthur, and he couldn’t—neither of us could figure out how we were supposed to go on when it was just the two of us.
We don’t work when it’s just the two of us. ”
The pressure in the room shifted again as Sarah appeared to my right, this time holding the arm of a tall stranger with ash-blond hair and a perplexed expression.
The emotions radiating off of him were mostly centered around fear, in all its various flavors.
He was afraid of me, which was strange enough to make me pause and look closer.
No: he was afraid I wouldn’t know him. And with that fear, I knew exactly who he had to be.
“Hi, Arthur,” I said, forcing my voice to stay level. “Loving the new look.”
He made a choked sound as Sarah pulled away from him. “You know me?”
“I do.”
“I can’t … I can’t feel what you’re feeling. I’m the wrong species for that.”
“I know, buddy. Aunt Rose told me. It’s going to be an adjustment—not as much of an adjustment as getting used to the idea that I have two brothers now, and who said you could outnumber me? I want to speak to the manager—but we’ll manage it.”
Arthur repeated that strange choked sound, and all but fell into my arms, clinging to me like he hadn’t been sure he’d ever have the opportunity again.
I hugged him back. He was a stranger and he wasn’t, at the same time.
And he was still my brother. Artie was back, but Arthur had been there when he wasn’t, built from my family’s love for the one we’d lost, and he was as much my brother as Artie had ever been.
Sarah had crossed to Artie while I was caught up with Arthur; her arm was looped once more through his, her head resting against his shoulder.
Her contentment was as strong as his grief, and seemed to be taking the edge off of his feelings.
I gave Arthur another squeeze, then stepped back, letting my hands slide to rest against his elbows.
“We’re going to need to find something else to call one of you,” I said. “Artie and Arthur, it’s too damn confusing.”
“It’ll be easier if I change,” said Arthur.
I must have looked surprised by his easy agreement, because he shrugged and explained, “I’m going to need Artie and Uncle Al to help me get set up with a new identity, and they’re more likely to help me out if I’m not being a jerk about things.
Artie has his—our—original fingerprints.
And blood type. And everything else. Also, it’s going to be easier on Dad this way. ”
“He’s going to be so glad to see you both,” I said firmly.
Arthur smiled, a little. “I hope so. I know I’ll be glad to see him. I just hope he believes it’s me.”
“It’s you,” I said. “Emotionally, you’re still the person you’ve always been. I can see it, and he will too.”
“Really?”
“Really.”
I looked toward Sarah and Artie, both of whom looked anxiously back. Shaking my head, I waved my hands vaguely in their general direction. “So are you two doing this?”
“Are you still mad at me?” asked Sarah.
“Not what I asked, but sure, let’s do this.
I’ve been mad at you for years. It’s not going to stop that easily,” I said.
“But I’m not as mad at you, if that’s what you’re really asking me.
I know you didn’t hurt Artie on purpose, and now you’ve finally managed to bring him home.
You even pulled off the best-case scenario: I get to keep Arthur, too.
You didn’t give me time to get used to a whole new brother and then decide I didn’t get to keep him after all.
Now I get to share the bathroom with them both.
” I made a face. “Okay, maybe I am still that mad at you.”
Sarah laughed, uncertain but beginning to relax, and squeezed Artie’s arm a little tighter. I caught the jet of jealous anger off of Arthur and looked back to him, seeing the unhappy glint in his unfamiliar eyes.
Two brothers, both with the same foundations, even if they were very different people in the real world.
Two brothers, both in love with the same woman, both believing themselves to have been in love with her since childhood.
And now Artie was winning. Barely back and he’d already reclaimed the girl he’d been trying to win for most of his life.
Oh, this was going to get awkward fast.
“We’re going to need to figure a whole bunch of things out, really quickly,” I said. “Artie, I’m assuming you want to go back to your basement—and Arthur, you can’t go back to the basement.”
“Why not?” asked Arthur, uncomfortably. “I already said I’d give up my name. Why does he get our bedroom, too?”
“Because you’re not the same species anymore,” I said.
“You’re not Lilu. He’s been living in there since we were kids.
His pheromones have permeated everything.
I have the same issue with my room, upstairs.
I don’t think Dad will mind us converting Mom’s office into a bedroom for you.
Better for the space to be used, and the mice will be thrilled. ”
A rustle from the edge of the room reminded me that the mice were listening, and that their ability to give us space wasn’t going to last forever.
Clearing my throat, I said, in a clear, carrying voice, “It’s very nice that I have two brothers, and it’s even nicer that they’re not being swarmed and overwhelmed when they’re already tired and off-balance.
Truly respectful mice would give them until morning to feel better. ”
“Am I still going to have mice?” asked Arthur.
“They divided your clergy from Artie’s a long time ago,” I said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if they’d been finalizing the division since Rose said you were both coming home. You still have mice.”
“You don’t escape divinity that easily,” said Sarah.
Arthur looked longingly over at her, emotions turning rose-tinted around the edges. Sarah’s emotional landscape didn’t so much as flicker. She wasn’t paying any attention to him.
I couldn’t be mad at her for that—she’d been avoiding Arthur since she’d slapped him together, uncomfortable with his unwavering devotion and with her own part in making it an immutable aspect of his personality.
She hadn’t done any of it on purpose, and when she’d realized he couldn’t stop loving her, she’d made the responsible choice by staying away.
I knew that was true, every bit of it. And it didn’t dull my anger at feeling how utterly she didn’t care about my now-youngest brother.
Artie loved her, and she loved Artie. That part was simple, even straightforward.
That part hadn’t changed in as long as I could remember.
But Arthur loved her too, and I knew without asking what they’d been through that she hadn’t been the one who chose to bring Arthur home.
If it had been up to her, I had no doubt he wouldn’t have been here now.
She had never been trying to save him. Not ever, not once.
But she’d done it all the same. She cared about him as a member of her family, and sometimes that was more than enough.
“Hey,” I said, pulling Arthur’s attention back to me. “You ready for me to go and get Dad? He took it … pretty hard when you disappeared. When you were abducted, really. I did too, but he was inconsolable. He’s going to be so happy to see you both.”
“I’d like to see him too,” said Artie. “It hasn’t felt that long for me, but I’m still trying to deal with the idea that Mom can actually be gone, and I want to know that he’s all right.”
“He’s not,” I said bluntly. “Neither of us is. I think I’m in shock right now, and I’ll probably have a total nervous collapse sometime after we all go to bed.
But I took a shower today, and Mary’s going to help get the house back into a semi-livable condition, and once it’s not actually a biohazard, I’ll call Aunt Evelyn to come over and help with whatever’s left.
We’ve all been falling apart since the cuckoos—”
“Johrlac,” interjected Sarah.
“—assholes,” I amended, “popped in and took off with my baby brother. I’m sorry I didn’t have a predetermined coping mechanism for interdimensional abduction followed by the disappearance of a chunk of my extended family as they go on a semi-planned and utterly unsupported rescue mission.
I spent six months thinking all of you were dead, and I’m honestly still trying to wrap my head around the fact that you’re not.
Dad hasn’t heard any of this. He’s going to be floored. ”
“I’ve heard enough,” said my father, voice low and exhausted.