Chapter 21 #2
“I would never claim to love you.”
I jerked back, head swiveling until I found who I was looking for.
Aurelia stood in the entryway to the kitchen.
She had a bowl of something red in her left hand and a spoon in her right.
When she brought the spoon to her lips, the red blob jiggled.
The Jell-O was nothing compared to the dark brown tuft of fur sitting atop her head or the furless tail wound around her neck.
The visual was surreal. Aurelia appeared to have one of those fur hats humans in colder climes wore.
It covered her bald, tattooed head and the tips of her pointy ears.
I stared, mouth slack. In the end, all I managed to ask was a pathetic “Jell-O?”
Aurelia hummed appreciatively while sucking in the Jell-O. Her eyes slipped closed as she savored the flavor. “It is a marvel. Peaches has been true to his word and stocked his cabinets with it. He even taught me how to make it for myself. I have become very proficient.”
I didn’t think even I could screw up Jell-O but didn’t say so. Aurelia sounded very proud of herself, and I didn’t want to burst her happy Jell-O bubble.
She moved further into the living room while eating her treat. The bowl was rather large and was at least two-thirds gone. I wasn’t sure if she’d eaten it all in one go or if she’d been working on it for a few days. The furry cap on her head barely moved, mimicking a true—dead—fur hat.
I couldn’t take my eyes off the mound of fur.
Now that Aurelia was sitting, I could just make out the rise and fall of what I thought might be a chest. Scuttlebutts were basically round balls of fur with tiny legs, a prehensile tail, and a mouth that opened 180 degrees and was filled with a double row of razor-sharp teeth.
Aurelia easily tracked where my attention laid.
“Fuzzy Britches.” Aurelia placed the bowl of Jell-O down on the table beside her but shifted it closer to herself as if she were afraid I might reach out and snag it.
Hands now free, she reached up and stroked the fur on her head.
“She chose me,” Aurelia stated with no small amount of pride.
The scuttlebutt didn’t move, but it did make some sort of sound that sounded pleased. Maybe? I wasn’t fluent in scuttlebutt.
Fidgeting with my phone, I said, “Peaches called me.” I tilted my head in the scuttlebutt’s direction. “He, uh… He said this one seemed fond of you.”
Aurelia grinned. It was such a rare and disturbing sight that I shivered. “She is a very discerning creature.”
I couldn’t say one way or the other. What she did look like was tired. “Is she sleeping?”
“Yes. Fuzzy Britches trusts me enough to do so. She must be very tired. Hellfire Rayburn informed me that only scuttlebutt orphans who have no tribe of their own are ever offered. They do not remove them from their family.”
“Oh.” The meaning settled inside me. “She lost her family?”
“It would seem so. I do not yet know the details but plan to obtain them in the future. It is my duty, as a member of her tribe, to understand Fuzzy Britches’s past.”
“That’s”—I struggled for words but finally settled on—“very mature and understanding of you.”
“I am thousands of years old,” Aurelia answered. “I am very mature.”
Perhaps in years, but not emotionally. I let the topic slide. Or would have if Aurelia hadn’t said, “Ajita was here,” before picking up her bowl of Jell-O and taking another bite.
Just hearing the name made me nervous. “She was. Have you spoken with her since?”
Aurelia either swallowed her bite or let it dissolve in her mouth. “Briefly. Djinn do not spend much time in each other’s company. The outcomes of such prolonged interactions typically lead to destruction.”
I already knew that djinn generally couldn’t hurt each other, but I had a feeling the areas surrounding them weren’t so fortunate. “I see,” I answered even though I wasn’t certain I truly did. “I don’t think she likes me much,” I added.
Aurelia shrugged. “I do not know if Ajita likes anyone.”
That was probably true. “And what about you?” I curiously asked.
Aurelia cocked her head to the side. “As I said before, I would not claim to love you.”
My eyes widened to the point of discomfort, and then I remembered how I’d ended my call with Pops and what I’d said after. “That’s okay.” I found myself chuckling. “I’d be creeped out if you did.”
“That is acceptable.”
I realized Aurelia hadn’t really answered my question but let it go as another thought entered my mind. “Do Pops’s wards affect you?”
“You mean the ones surrounding your home?”
I nodded. “Yes. They’re configured so that individuals that mean me or Franklin harm can’t get through.
” Oddly, I’d never gotten the impression that Aurelia meant me harm, so I hadn’t given it a lot of thought.
“I think Ajita would have harmed me if she thought she could get away with it and survive the process.”
Aurelia blankly stared at me for a time before she finally answered, “I am uncertain. They are not as strong as Peaches’s boundary.
A djinn cannot pass that without express invitation.
However, there are ways to get around the boundary.
Had Janus lived long enough, he would have succeeded on finding a way in. ”
In other words, if I hadn’t forced Janus’s soul back into his body, undoing the magical manipulation that made him a djinn, he would have eventually gotten through.
“The magic surrounding your home is different and does not affect me as much.”
I thought there might be a way to test the theory and cautiously asked, “Have you ever meant me harm?”
Aurelia gave a slow blink. “I am uncertain.”
Well, that cleared up exactly jack shit. “You don’t know?”
“I would say that generally I do not. However, I cannot claim that I have never considered it.”
I swallowed hard. “That’s…honest.” Most of the time honest answers were the hardest to hear. Now was no different.
“Can you claim to have never meant me harm?” Aurelia challenged.
I opened my mouth, ready to immediately deny it and found I couldn’t. “I don’t want to harm you,” I finally settled on.
Lips twisted in a parody of a grin, Aurelia nodded.
“That is not the same, but it is honest. I would have been disappointed if you had answered otherwise.” I didn’t think disappointing Aurelia was in my best interest. “I was uncertain you would survive meeting with Ajita. I am not unhappy with the outcome.”
Not exactly a ringing endorsement, but I’d take it.
Aurelia’s odd grin faded into a mask of indifference. The expression didn’t match her next words. “You consider me a friend. You told Ajita this.”
That shouldn’t be news to Aurelia. I’d told her something similar in the past. “I do. I would be saddened if something happened to you.”
Aurelia stared. Her eyes remained calm, and her muscles were lax. She was statue still as she evaluated me, and I had no idea what could be going on in her head. Only her lips moved when she said, “Tenzen Huxley is no longer where he should be.”
It was such an abrupt departure from what we’d been discussing that it took me an embarrassingly long time to mumble a confused “what?”
“Just as I said. He is not where he should be.”
“We already know that,” Phlox stated, and when I turned, he was standing in the opening to the hall leading to the bedrooms. I didn’t see Leon behind him, but it would be a couple hours before sunset. Leon could be woken now, but he much preferred the dark.
Head tilted, Phlox’s hair shifted over his shoulder. Hands fisted on his hips, Phlox’s eyes narrowed. The angle of his head showed off a recent bite mark. Looked like Leon had a good meal before heading to bed earlier this morning.
“What the fuck’s on your head?” Phlox asked. Wings fluttering to life, Phlox moved closer, his eyes widening as realization hit him. “Sweet Goddess above. Do not tell me Peaches caved and convinced Ray to get you a scuttlebutt.”
Aurelia’s stoic mask slipped back into place as she silently stared at Phlox.
“Well?” he asked, tapping a foot that hit nothing but air.
“You told me not to tell you.”
Hands thrown into the air, Phlox twirled. “Unbelievable. Leon is going to lose his shit when he hears about this.” Twirling back around, Phlox leaned closer and asked, “Does Lucroy know?”
“Of course,” Aurelia answered. The scuttlebutt on her head still hadn’t so much as twitched.
For lack of a better word, Phlox’s body slumped midair. “As if we don’t have enough shit to deal with.” Flying off to the kitchen, I barely heard Phlox mutter, “I need food.”
Casually lifting another spoonful of Jell-O to her lips, Aurelia stated, “He is very dramatic.”
I nearly choked on my own spit. “Yeah… A lot of pixies seem that way.”
“Hmm.” Aurelia took another bite, nearly finishing off the bowl.
Leaning forward, I kept a wary eye on the scuttlebutt. “What did you mean when you said Tenzen Huxley isn’t where he’s supposed to be? How do you know that?”
“I checked.” Aurelia said it so matter-of-factly.
“You checked? What does that mean?” I was afraid I knew.
“I went to where he lives.”
I placed my head in my hands and counted backward from ten. “That’s dangerous.”
Aurelia shrugged. “He was not aware of my presence.”
My head snapped up. “Of course not. You said he wasn’t there.”
“He has been there before.”
I sat up straighter. “You’ve been around him before?”
“Numerous times.” Aurelia ate her final bite of Jell-O
“Numerous times?” I think I might have repeated the phrase again just to make sure. “And you’re certain he hasn’t been aware of your presence?”
“If he was, he did not mention it.”
My mouth slipped open. Words were there, I was certain of it. “I…I’m not sure what to say.”
Aurelia didn’t seem nearly as disturbed as I felt. “He is gone. As are two objects he holds dear.”
“Objects?” All I could do was parrot words back.
Aurelia’s eyes narrowed, and several tattoos along her neck and arms flared to life. The scuttlebutt resting on her head finally stirred, opening its giant maw and yawning, teeth glinting. “A rock with a single red line and an inkpot.”
I was baffled. “Why would he take those two things with him? What…” My brain came to a full stop as did my heart. When both started again, their rhythms were scattered and frantic. “Dear Gaia. Are you telling me what I think you’re telling me?”
Phlox came in from the kitchen, a turkey sandwich in one hand and a glass of sweet tea in the other. “What’s she telling you?”
Aurelia didn’t take her eyes off me when she said, “Tenzen Huxley has acquired two objects of attachment. He is in control of two djinn.”
I barely heard the glass of sweet tea shatter on the floor through the blood pounding in my ears. Two djinn. How had Huxley found them? And more importantly, what did he plan on doing with them?
A new type of unease slithered through my soul.
What could I do that no other necromancer could do?
At least that we knew of. I could destroy a djinn.
Is that why Huxley was so interested in me?
Did he want me to shove their souls back into their bodies, making the djinn mortal again?
If that was it, then why hadn’t he just asked?
Then again, would I be willing to do it?
What if they were like Aurelia? What if they just needed a chance and a master like Peaches?
What if…? That was the problem. There were just too many damn what-ifs floating through my head.