26
Gleb
“Are you sure Gustav should be eating hazelnuts? He hardly has any teeth?”
Vera asks as Gustav steals another handful from her basket.
“His fangs are sturdy Chuchunya fangs, not weak human teeth.
He eats what we eat,”
Patricika replies, smiling down at her son.
“You will see when you have a Chuchunya son of your own.”
“Some of us won’t be that fortunate,”
I mumble.
I hate killing the joy of my family, but without my firelight, my mood is trapped in the dark.
“These things have a way of working themselves out,”
Sergei lectures as he transfers hazelnuts from baskets to stone roasting kilns.
“Just like Hannah helped you pick these extra nuts, so we have a bountiful harvest.
Next year’s harvest will be late, but we won’t notice.
We’ll still be eating this year’s paste. How could she have known about the weather patterns without a star-finder box?”
“She can tell the future with the stars.
The distances and spinning of the planets gave her the mysteries of life,”
I grouse as I pick the prickly casings off my basket of nuts.
Almost one lunar cycle has passed and no word from Hannah.
Kaitlyn told Serik she would give Hannah her star-finder box’s number as they left, but nobody has talked to Kaitlyn since we left.
I refuse to talk to her or Serik.
They’re dead to me.
“Hate to break it to you,”
Sydney says as she paces the room behind us.
She has what she calls false labor contractions, so we’ve gathered in Sergei’s main room to process everyone’s hazelnuts in one big batch—or as many of them make it into the mortars after Gustav’s sticky fingers have been at them.
The kit is the only one in a good mood as he crawls from basket to basket to steal nuts.
“Hannah couldn’t predict the future any more than you or I.”
“She calculates the stars’ magic in charts,”
Artyom protests.
His hazelnut pops out of its burr and jumps into his bowl.
“If Hannah’s so magical, why didn’t she use her powers to find Sveta and get Timor off our asses?”
“Sydney, don’t get yourself worked up or your kit will join our world too early,”
Patricika scolds.
“Timor isn’t your problem…he’s Sergei’s.”
“Hannah said it was more math and patterns than hocus pocus,”
Vera adds, as she picks a nut out of its burr.
“Astrology is pseudoscience used to rip people off.
I think her vanishing act is part of her character.
Once she learned she couldn’t sponge off Gleb without us catching on, she bounced,”
Sydney says between puffs.
She stops behind Sergei to lean on his shoulder and rub her lower back.
“Maybe some astrologers, but not Hannah,”
Vera says, waving an empty shell at her.
“I talked to her extensively about her business.
It sounded like graphing trends and then extrapolating the pattern until she found the answer with little variation.
If she believes the repeatability, that’s not charlatan behavior.”
“Oh,”
Sydney snaps.
“Then she’s stupid.”
“ Zvezuittuq ,”
Sergei murmurs.
His voice smooths the frown lines from her brow.
One word, her nickname, and she’s centered.
Who centers Hannah in the human world? Is there someone whose connection to her is stronger than dushevnayasvyaz ?
“Gleb’s mate has her reasons, which will make sense when she returns.
She is the best match for him, which means she is neither a trickster nor stupid.
Isn’t that right, Gleb?”
“She should’ve known not to trust Serik and Kaitlyn.
Now she’s gone, and I have no idea where to find her.”
“Nobody can just disappear,”
Vera says, taking her star-finder box out of her pocket.
“Adam disappeared.
Sydney did too,”
Patricika says as she plucks hazelnuts from their transport furs.
It was easier to bring the burrs attached to the fur rather than pick them off on the central grounds and then cart them north in baskets.
Now Patricika has the worst job of all—picking them out of their furry tangles.
“Come on, love, let’s ride out so I can access the internet without creating a location signal over our house.
I bet Hannah’s return made a huge splash on her parent’s social media—and the rags who cover them.”
“Vera, you’re wasting your time,”
Sydney yells.
“I bet she’s moved on to her next victim.”
Sergei clears his throat and lowers his chin in my direction.
“Then Gleb will have closure, if nothing else,”
Vera whispers tersely.
She snaps her chin at me repeatedly until Sydney turns pink.
“We shall return,”
Artyom says, dropping his hazelnut basket.
The couple scurry outside as if the place is on fire.
“Stick to the shadows,”
Sergei calls after them.
“It’s a matter of time before Timor searches us.”
“Sydney doesn’t mean anything by her words,”
Patricika says, patting my knee.
“You weren’t around to hear the nasty names I called Adam while I was in labor with Gustav.”
“What things might those be?”
Adam asks, tapping his mate’s knee with his cane.
“Funny,”
I don’t remember,”
Patricika replies with a throaty laugh.
Gustav joins in with his parent’s laughter as he climbs onto Adam’s lap.
I’m greener than the hazelnuts, with jealousy.
Their fate was supposed to be mine.
I was supposed to have Hannah’s help peeling these God-awful nuts.
She promised to be my partner in all things. I nearly broke her little body trying to give her a kit. What else did she want from me? What did Kaitlyn say to make her leave? I pound a burr to smash it and its bounty. It’s unusable, but the destruction makes me feel better.
Why prepare for a future I don’t want to participate in? I lose myself in a whirlwind of dark thoughts where I travel to Hannah’s distant home in California.
With rage fueling my steps, I would storm into her village.
My hands would rip trees from the roots and smash their vehicles with them.
I’d stomp through the entrances to their dyla weturanyas and chase away their reindeer herds. Then I will burn everything to ash!
“Gleb, Gleb!”
Vera shakes my shoulder to wake me from my daydream.
“I downloaded a video I think you should watch.
It’s about Hannah…”
Vera’s phone…from Gleb’s perspective
“Welcome to Soap Rag, where I serve you a dish of juicy gossip filled with your favorite soap opera stars.
I’m with Hannah Kay, daughter to Mary McSanger and Steven Kay from The Young and the Relentless .
Hi Hannah, thank you for sitting down with us when you usually don’t return our calls—”
“Don’t be silly, Bunny,”
Hannah replies with a giggle.
She’s a costumed version of herself.
Her lips, eyes, and nails are painted in unnatural colors.
She curled and pinned her straight hair to mask its softness. “I just leave the spotlight to my parents. I never caught the acting bug or desire to be in the limelight. Until today, I had nothing to say because I’m just an ordinary woman.”
“But you aren’t ordinary, now? Oh, tell our viewers what has changed.
Will you be joining your parents on TYATR ?”
The blond woman in the square to the right is nearly bouncing with excitement.
“Quite the opposite, I’m disappearing further from public life.
I’m leaving California,”
Hannah announces with a broad smile that squeezes my heart to a pulp.
How can she be so happy when we’re separated? Didn’t I mean anything to her? What about dushevnayasvyaz ? How can it be fake for me yet real for the couples who surround me?
At least the blond looks as devastated as I feel.
“I came on your show to talk about my disappearance in the Arctic—”
“Oooh, yes, what happened after the accident? Did you get back together with Jack Deverue?”
“No, Jack Deverue and I parted ways before the tour bus sank.
He and I are no longer an item…because I met someone in the Arctic.”
Hannah beams with pride and love directly at me through the star finder box.
I remember that look.
I thought it was for me.
“His name is Gleb, and he’s the best person to step into my life.”
I hold my breath.
Will she reveal the secrets of the Chuchunya? Was Timor right about her all along? Why would the Fates betray me in such a way? Haven’t I suffered enough loneliness for one lifetime? Am I destined to be shunned because I was starving for love?
Touch-starved.
Hannah said we were vulnerable because we’re touch-starved.
“When will we meet your new bae?”
I score my lips with my fangs while Hannah giggles at the blond’s question.
“Never,”
Hannah replies.
“He’s a recluse and I plan on joining him in the Arctic.
I’d be there now if it weren’t for Ms.
Greene’s lawsuit.”
“Tell our viewers more about what happened during the accident.
Witness reports range from Navy Seals to sentient walruses to aliens rescuing them from the deep,”
the blond says, clearly uninterested in Hannah’s newly found happiness.
“The people who rescued us were regular people with families in the Arctic.
Gleb was the one who rescued me and it was love at first sight.
The tour company shouldn’t have parked the buses on this ice, especially so close to the coast.
I’m happy they were found negligent in Ms. Greene’s lawsuit and damages were awarded. I donated mine to Coastal Cleanup, which removes trash from beaches after accidents like mine. Gleb lives close to the accident site, and I learned to love the fish of the Arctic Ocean.”
“What a lovely gesture,”
the blond pouts, realizing she doesn’t have sentient walruses, aliens, or secrets from Hannah.
“Will we see this mystery man at your parent’s table at the MGM Gala this year?”
“Absolutely not,”
Hannah says with another fit of giggles.
“My parents have their life in the spotlight while I have mine in the shadows.
They aren’t happy with my plan to go underground, but I’m sure their work schedule will keep them from wallowing in misery.”
“Shadows and underground? How will you keep yourself occupied?”
The blond exchanges a nasty giggle with Hannah.
The corners of her eyes squint with malice.
She’s furious Hannah kept our secret or furious that Hannah didn’t bring anyone to the interview with her.
This woman was clearly using her. Why would Hannah subject herself to this? She hates that her parents make star-finder videos, so why would she make this one?
“Gleb and I will be focused on our growing family.
When I returned from the Arctic, I didn’t realize I was pregnant.
It’s still very early, but I bought a fetal doppler and we should hear the baby’s heartbeat in about two weeks.
I plan to be reunited with Gleb and settled into our home in the next few days, so we will hear the heartbeat for the first time together.”
“Well, that is exciting news.
I expect you to send baby pictures of the grandchild of Mary McSanger and Steven Kay from The Young and the Relentless .
You heard it here first! Our favorite relentless couple are soon-to-be grandparents.
Will this tame their passions? Will it heighten the drama? Find out on The Young and the Relentless , airing on NBT23, weekdays at noon, and don’t miss our next episode of “The Bunny Bubble Hop”
where we talk to the second cousin twice-removed of legendary singer-songwriter, Beefy.”
Gleb
“This video was uploaded five days ago,”
Vera says as she shuts off her star-finder box.
“Does she know that we migrated to the northern grounds?”
“Yes,”
I reply, too stunned to form more words.
She’s coming back.
We’re having a kit.
“She meant my northern dyla weturanya when she said she’s coming home. The coast, the fish—the video was all code. She made a video for me when she hates them.”
“See?”
Sergei says as he hugs my shoulders from behind me.
“These things always work out because dushevnayasvyaz is never wrong.
You will have your family, Gleb.
Just hold on to hope a little longer. When she arrives, we will have a chase.”
“My family? A chase?”
My mind spins under the deluge of hope and happiness.
“How will we know when she’s coming? It’s not like she can email her flight information,”
Sydney asks.
“Kaitlyn,”
I growl.
“She and Kaitlyn exchanged star-finder box numbers when Kaitlyn took her.”
“Vera,”
Sergei barks over my head.
“Help me link your star-finder box to Kaitlyn.
It’s time for the clan to rally around Gleb, which means bringing Serik and Kaitlyn to the northern grounds and into the fold.
We don’t know what transpired between Kaitlyn and Hannah before Hannah left, so we shouldn’t judge Serik and Kaitlyn without all the facts.”
“Would you hate them if they took Sydney away?”
My question is asked with a glare over my shoulder at Sergei.
“Only until they brought her back,”
my wise mentor replies.