Chapter 10 North
North
What an intriguing delight.
When my brother said he’d become involved with another human, I’d shaken my head.
The last time this happened, he was beaten to the brink of never returning.
Imprisoned for having an affair with a mortal, revealing magic to a mortal, for sharing secrets about and bringing her to the Nether realm, and, as far as our mother is concerned, for just being an overall disappointment.
The prison sentence dwindled his fire and nearly broke him entirely.
Mother has never allowed him to live it down, hence the fucking sprites hovering around the island.
I’ve missed my brother—the dark one who was the order to my chaos. Who took my ideas and morphed them into something unbreakable. He knew the rules and loopholes like the back of his hand, memorized the Codex and studied it while I played with icicles and fucked with mortal’s heads for centuries.
Hearing him so desperate on the phone made my heart hurt and, weirdly, gave me hope. If he’s willing to bend for this girl, maybe he isn’t lost. Maybe he’s still in there, his power and rage growing into something none of our mother’s minions can control.
Staring through the frosted window at this woman overnight… even my mouth is dry. She’s stunning, I’ll give him that.
Toying with her was a bonus, and she fell for my tricks perfectly.
I stalked her yard, watched her through the windows, and kept an eye out for any surprises on her street. Nothing so far, though it doesn’t mean there isn’t something hiding in plain sight.
After a while, you learn even the trees on this island are gossipers, Nether beings who were trapped on this side as punishment long ago. They’re all trying to get back.
I don’t know why.
This world is so much more fun to play with.
As the sun’s light dares to break, I hear rumbling inside the house. Her alarm goes off. Her dog barks. I can see her moving around in the kitchen and the bathroom.
“I hear you. I know we’re late. Give me a minute,” I hear her tell her dog.
Late? For what?
My brows knit as I walk around to her steps and wait for her to come outside. I’m entirely hidden from her. Even if she walks directly into me, she’ll only feel an extra chill or taste peppermint on the air.
My brother’s mark on the front door flickers, making my jaw tighten.
The light within it is weak, barely hanging on. Centuries ago, his mark would have kept other creatures and legends off the entire street. It would have glowed so bright, anything in the sky would have regarded it as a No Trespassing sign.
I press my hand to the space beneath it. Ice cuts through the first layer of wood and burns blue. A breeze encircles me as cold flame curls around my fingertips, and when the freeze subsides, I take my hand away.
An ice crystal mark glows blue in its wake.
Invisible to any human and clear as the night to anyone from our world.
Until Blaze gets his full powers back, I’ll gladly take the fall.
The front door opens. I quickly move off the pavers by her steps and watch her come outside, dog on a leash at her side.
No fucking wonder my brother is smitten. She’s even more gorgeous on this side of the glass.
She’s wearing leggings, an oversized metal band hoodie, and a black beanie on her head.
No makeup this early in the morning. Her hair unkempt and laying messily over her shoulders.
Her eyes are puffy from sleep, and she’s barely paying attention to her surroundings.
I watch her place her spare key in a fake plant on the screened-in porch before proceeding outside, and my expression flattens.
I guess there being little crime on the island is the reason she’s so cavalier about her safety.
No wonder Blaze wanted an extra eye on her.
Her dog growls my way as he hits the bottom step, and I bare my teeth back.
Get used to me, girl.
I’m not going anywhere.
She wraps the leash around her hand and tugs her dog out to the sidewalk in front of her house, and together they set off toward town.
Hm.
I survey the neighbors’ houses once more before following.
Blaze didn’t mention any excursions, though if I know my brother well enough, he’s memorized the route of her morning dog walk, and despite the fact that he should be worrying about himself, he’s likely going to be waiting wherever her destination is.
I stay a few feet back so as to not alert her dog too much. Her pet keeps turning back every now and then, but she pays it no mind. She keeps walking—across the main road, to the right, down the street to the furthest beach access.
I was not prepared for a sandy excursion.
The woman takes her shoes off and leaves them behind once we’re on the beach.
I do the same, taking a moment to watch her run out into the surf and let her dog off the leash.
I’m grateful the pup is distracted. The chances of me following her and her dog leaving me alone whilst off the leash are slim.
She tosses the dog a few sticks, and together, they make their way toward the jetty a quarter mile down.
It’s a long line of rocks set to break the edge of the island, making it so boats can easily get out to sea from the inlet instead of running ashore.
There’s a flat slab of asphalt poured over the top like a constructed sidewalk.
Just large enough that someone could walk out into the ocean if they wanted to.
I turn my coat collar up before going after her.
The moment I fully take in our destination, I notice the figure already standing atop the rocks.
Just like I knew he would be.
My hopeless romantic of a brother.
Each time her dog peers my way, I pick up a shell or piece of drift wood to toss it. The woman isn’t paying any attention to what’s behind her, and the surf is so loud, there’s no way she could hear me anyway.
Closer to the rocks, the dog barks a couple of times at Blaze, though it doesn’t launch at him.
The woman takes a bone from her hoodie pocket and tosses it to the pup for it to chew on.
The dog trots around by itself, entirely content, playing with the bone and chasing away seagulls whilst she ascends the rocky jetty.
Blaze’s eyes squint against the sunrise as he watches her, his trench coat undulating against the breeze.
He has his hands in his pockets, and I know it’s so that he doesn’t try to help her climb up.
Even when she almost loses her balance, he stays steady despite the tick in his jaw telling me how badly he wants to reveal himself.
It’s almost comical.
“Morning, brother,” I say to him.
Blaze doesn’t shift until she’s safely on the flat ledge, and even then, he doesn’t turn toward me when he says, “Hey.”
I help myself onto the rocks and stand at his side.
The woman has her attention set on the horizon.
She takes a few sure-footed steps toward the ocean as if she’s walked these rocks a hundred times.
There’s an intensity in her eyes, a depth to the look on her face that’s quite different from the last few hours.
“You never told me her name,” I say, hands in my pockets.
“Juniper,” Blaze answers. “She comes here every morning.”
“You could have told me,” I reply.
But Blaze is too fixated on her face to reply. He appears to be in pain watching her, like he’d give up the entire world just to be corporeal at her side.
“What are we—”
Juniper’s scream cuts me off. I nearly stumble backward out of surprise, but Blaze catches my coat and pulls me back up. I’m still catching my balance when Juniper lets out another shrill, heart-dropping shout.
Seagulls rise, the ocean waves splash harder.
I lean closer to Blaze. “Why does she scream?”
“Shut up,” Blaze hisses, chin cutting my way. “Look at her.”
“I am. She’s beautiful. What do you want—”
“I will bury your head in the sand like I did a century ago, and this time, I’ll make you swallow,” Blaze practically growls, eyes meeting mine. “Shut up and look. At. Her.”
The force behind his voice is enough to grasp my undivided attention. I haven’t heard it in so long, it catches me off guard, only affirming what I’m thinking.
I clear my throat as I try to turn my sights entirely on the woman standing before us. As we watch, she screams again, and this time, I hear it. The catch in her throat. The hiccup at the end as if she’s mourning the sunrise itself.
My feet move out of curiosity, and I eventually find myself standing in front of her. Her brown eyes catch the amber glow, and behind the glisten, flecks of gold ripple in her irises. Those eyes… the anguish behind them. The grief for something she’s holding tightly onto.
“Why is she so sad?” I ask, unable to look away.
“I don’t know,” Blaze answers in a hoarse voice. “I don’t…” He swallows as Juniper turns to regard the spot he happens to be standing in, and my chest tightens when Blaze reaches up as if he means to swipe away the tear rolling down her cheek.
Wind catches the droplet instead of his thumb.
Juniper sinks to the ground, takes out her phone, and snaps a photo. Her head hangs as she stares at the colors on the screen.
“I’m sorry you can’t see this,” I hear her whisper. “I’m sorry I wasn’t enough.”
“Who is she talking about?” I ask Blaze.
He shakes his head, his knees nearly touching hers as he settles in front of her.
I don’t know what makes me do it, but I take a seat at her side and lean myself against her shoulder. Whether she knows it’s someone holding her up, I don’t know. But she leans into the weight and swipes to her messages.
Blaze’s phone lights up in his pocket.
He takes it out, and I turn so I’m hovering over her shoulder, one hand at her back, the other toying with her hoodie sleeve.
“Nick? Really?” I ask, seeing the name she has him saved as.
“I didn’t realize I’d be meeting her when I decided on it this year,” he says as he stares at the phone.
She sent him the picture of the sunrise.
“The anticipation of your reply is killing me as much as it is her,” I tell him.