Chapter 6
6
AVA
A fter finishing going over all the preliminary details of the party, I had to go back to work to tackle the long list of tasks Barty left on my desk. It’s nearly nine by the time I lock up. It was only this morning when Barty told me I wasn’t needed at work. And yet, a list of nearly fifty items that he deemed necessary for me to finish up before the next day was waiting on my desk.
I roll my neck and wrap a scarf around my face when the cold air whips down the street. Only my eyes are uncovered, and they’re pointed down at the ground. It’s ironic then, that when I lift my head, I walk smack into someone.
“I’m so sorry.” I steady them with a hand on their arm. “Oh, Mrs. Rickles. How are you?” I smile when I realize who I’ve bumped into. She lived a few houses down from me growing up and used to babysit me and Stellan from time to time when we were kids.”
I pull down my scarf to show her my face. Her head cocks to the side. My heart immediately sinks. I should know better by now. My brain should be better at remembering that people forget me.
“I’m sorry, do I know you?”
I swallow, shrinking into my scarf as I consider running away. It’s not like she’ll remember in a few days. Damn my sense of social propriety. “Ava Vandenberg. You used to babysit me and my brother, Stellan.”
Her eyes light up the moment I mention my brother. “Stellan, yes, what a lovely young man.” The smile falls off her face. “You said he’s your brother. I don’t recall him having a sister.”
“Yep. That’s me.” I force cheer into my voice. “I’ll tell him you said hi. Gotta run.” I dip around her without waiting for any more awkward conversation. No need to torture myself more than necessary. Tears sting the corners of my eyes. I can’t even wipe them away because my fuzzy mittens will get lint in my eyes and make things worse. I kick at a snow pile, needing to feel control over something.
“Fuck!” I shout when it turns out there’s a fire hydrant buried underneath it. “Isn’t that a fire code violation?” I snap at the wind. A man walking across the street gives me a look like I’m losing my mind. I point to the buried hydrant. “I’m not crazy, just a concerned citizen,” I mumble and then practically run to my car.
By the time I walk into my apartment, all I want is to rip off my bra, take a hot shower, put up my feet, and watch a period romance until I fall asleep on the couch.
Stellan is already sleeping on the couch, his hand inside a bag of jelly beans and his mouth hanging wide open. The TV is playing something gruesome, with aliens that are covered in slime. It’s not enough to curb my hunger because I haven’t eaten all day. Food first or pajamas? How can I pick?
I compromise by dumping my coat and bag in the closet and immediately taking off my bra. Once I hurriedly toss it into my room, I head back into the kitchen to find a quick snack to eat before I jump in the shower.
A shriek leaves my throat when I open the refrigerator and see a head sitting on top of an old pizza box.
“What the fuck?” I hiss. Stellan gives a half snore, but doesn’t wake up. I bend down to look more closely at the doll that was in Bram’s office just this morning. Now it’s here, chilling in my fridge.
“How in the hell…”
When did he come over here? And why did he put it in the refrigerator? I grab the doll. Its wide eyes stare up at me like a creepy little fiend. Rounding the couch, I nudge Stellan’s shin with my foot.
“It wasn’t me,” Stellan shouts as he jerks upright.
“What wasn’t you?” I cross my arms, the cold doll dangling from my fingertips as I stare at my brother.
“What? When did you get home?”
“About two minutes ago. Did you let someone into our apartment earlier?”
My brother’s eyes dip down to the doll and then everywhere else in the room except for me. He shakes his head, his lower lip sticking out. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
I narrow my eyes. Would he lie to me for the sake of a prank? Yes. But would he let Bram into the apartment? Meh, that's questionable.
“Really? You’re going to take his side on this?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. That’s a fun little terrifying doll. Are you hungry? Want me to make you some food?” Stellan jumps off the couch and heads straight for the kitchen.
The apartment building was built sometime in the 1800s. It’s a beautiful old Federal style building, but drafty as hell in the winter. I’m ready to put on my pajamas and crawl under a bunch of blankets. I weigh grilling Stellan for more information versus having him cook so I don’t have to.
As I stare down at the doll, a kernel of an idea begins to form. I don’t know what possessed me to buy the thing in the first place. Bram always seems so damn serious. I get it, he has a curse, and I don’t know what it is. His brother’s was awful, and mine sucks too. Most days, I’m okay with mine. I try to stay positive and look on the bright side. Some days, I fail at that. I’ve only known Bram for a few months. Well, I knew of him before, but now that Josephine and Roman are a soulmate, forever kind of thing, we’ve been spending more time together. It’s in the moments when he thinks no one is watching that he looks broken.
And I am fully aware that I fall into the bucket of “no one” when I catch him in those moments, which hurts my heart a little.
I also want to make him smile for some dumb reason. Even if I don’t get to see it. Honestly, I thought he’d hate the stupid gift. I never imagined he’d be starting up a game with me over it. Whether that’s what he intended or not.
“Fine. I’ll be out of the shower in ten minutes. I expect something warm.”
Stellan has a bowl of soup and a grilled cheese sandwich waiting for me on the kitchen island once I’m showered and in my pajamas.
“You’re the best.” I groan as I sit down and pull the soup toward me.
Stellan hops up and sits on the counter, facing me. My brother and I both have brown hair, but I swear he got all of the primo genes in the womb. He’s tall and built and has our mother’s blue eyes. His beard is getting out of control, though. It’s been a few days since he’s trimmed it down, and his brown hair is a mess, but it just makes him look rugged.
“Long day?” He picks up half of my sandwich and takes a bite. I let him have it since he was nice enough to make me dinner.
“Yes. I had to go over to the resort and then back to the office to do all the important things that my boss isn’t capable of managing on his own, but a dummy like me can handle.” I slurp a spoonful of soup and feel it warm me from the inside out. I wonder if Stellan put some healing magic in here. A few simple ingredients and a spell chanted while cooking is all it takes, but it still warms me that he even thought to do that. “How was your day?”
Stellan makes a face, but then shrugs. “It was fine.”
His aura is murky as the lie spills from his mouth. “Don’t bother.”
He sighs and shrugs again. “I talked to mom tonight.”
I groan, and he holds up his hand. “See, this is why I didn’t want to talk about it.”
I zip my lip, but then immediately invalidate the gesture by speaking. “Go ahead and vent. I’ll keep my opinions to myself.”
Stellan and I have an agreement. If we say we just want to vent, then we don’t give advice. Despite how hard it might be, you have to bite your tongue and save your thoughts to complain about it with someone else later.
“Well, she called to ask if I could come over and cast protections around the house, but you know it’s really Dad who’s asking.”
I nod, because that’s how it works. Our father doesn’t lower himself to ask for favors. It’s my mother’s job to arrange all the minutia in his life so that he doesn't feel one bit of inconvenience in his day. And Maiden forbid the man will do any fucking work on his own. Setting up wards around the house is tiring work. Our dad wouldn’t want to wear himself out. That’s what he had kids for, isn’t it? To do all the shit work he doesn’t want to take care of.
Stellan and I stare at each other. “Go ahead. Get it all out. You're seething.”
Damn my brother for having the same magic as me.
“I said I’d keep my mouth shut.” I take a bite of the sandwich to keep my mouth occupied.
“Just say it.” My brother makes a “give it to me” gesture.
“Fine, I get that you don’t want to abandon Mom, but she’s made a choice.” That choice being to stay with our dad when she should have left him ages ago. The choice to pick him over her child in a family disagreement, which was essentially me just trying to live my own life.
“She’s brainwashed by that bastard.”
Our dad is a master manipulator. He has a way of twisting words that makes it feel like you’ve done something wrong, or that it’s your fault bad things happen when it’s entirely out of your control. It could rain when he’s supposed to go golfing and he would find a way to blame the weather on an innocent bystander.
“But you’re enabling him by jumping every time he says boo.”
“Should I ignore her? Leave her alone with only him in her life?”
I have memories of my mother laughing when I was a kid, being bright and full of joy. I don’t know when that all changed. But gradually, the light dimmed, and she became nothing more than his puppet. I cut off ties because I had to get away from them both. When I started dating Jamie, my father disapproved. He said he was from a low-power magical family and didn’t deserve to be with someone from the Vandenberg line. Not that he didn’t deserve to be with me. It was all about the magical legacy that I might someday give birth to.
My mother, on the other hand, turned every conversation between the two of us into a lecture on how I was failing my father. How I wasn’t being a dutiful daughter, and how I was letting the family down. At a certain point, I just couldn’t do it anymore.
In the end, Jamie turned out to be a piece of shit, but that has nothing to do with how much magic he has. In a lot of ways, I don’t regret that I chose him over obeying my father, even if I wish I hadn’t wasted so much time on the prick. The thing is, my mother never fought to keep me in her life. When my father said he was done with me, she followed suit.
“I’d love for her to find her own way and get out of there, but she’s been under his thumb for years. I don’t think she’ll ever leave him.” Sadness for my mother, and for our relationship, swells up inside me. My parents make a point to see me every few weeks so they don’t forget me, but it never feels like an act of kindness. At least not with my father. It’s as though I’m an enemy he has to keep tabs on. It’s different with my mother. Seeing her breaks my heart every time.
Stellan pushes off the counter, but he doesn’t leave the kitchen. He grabs a glass out of the cupboard and fills it with water. He slides the drink over to me. “How did party planning go? Are you and Bram ready to strangle each other yet?”
I narrow my eyes. He had to have let Bram in our apartment to drop off the stupid doll. Why is he being so cagey?
“Talking to him is like playing a game of Operation. One false move and you’re going to get shocked.”
“Sounds like you’ve met your match. I will beat him up if he’s mean to you.” Stellan flexes his muscles, and I roll my eyes.
“You can’t be with me all day, so I don’t think that threat is going to work. Besides, I have a few ideas of my own.” I eye the doll that’s sitting on the counter and a smile curves up my lips. You want to play, Abraham Blackthorn? Let’s play.