4. No, I Haven’t Had Any Work Done
4
No, I Haven’t Had Any Work Done
Aliza
“ J ack could have fit on that door.”
The closing credits rolled up the screen as Celine’s voice filled the room. I looked up in surprise at Idris’ indignant tone. The prince slumped against the pillows on the sofa, clutching a tub of chocolate brownie ice cream identical to my own. My favourite flavour. Dad had treated us both, even though it wasn’t the cheapest option. Even with my belly stuffed full of fajitas, I’d still made room for the entire tub, though I did feel slightly queasy. It was worth it though. Idris apparently thought so too. He dug out another scoop and transferred the spoon to his mouth, his eyes glittering in the screen light.
Mum and Dad had long since gone to bed, both with a promise to call in sick to work in the morning, to make the most of my limited time home. Idris and I sat in a dark nest of cushions and throws, with the debris of our meal and snacks scattered around us.
“It’s something to do with buoyancy.” I surreptitiously swept a tear from my eye. That ending never failed to get me, no matter how many times I saw it. “They couldn’t get on without it tipping.”
He huffed. “They could have found a way. ”
Easy for him to say. He’d probably just do a little magic trick and end up on a beach in the Maldives instead of freezing to death in the Atlantic. Speaking of which…
“I’m so stuffed I can’t move. Can you teleport me to my room?” I hated teleporting, but at that moment, the thought of simply materialising in my bed was incredibly appealing.
“I’ve never been to your room, so no. You’re going to have to walk.”
Oh, yeah. That stupid little rule meaning the fae could only teleport if they knew where they were going. “It’s literally a few feet above us. Can’t you just guess?”
He shook his head, scraping around the bottom of his tub for the last of his ice cream and spooning it into his mouth.
I heaved a sigh, hauling myself to my feet. “You’re the worst.”
I switched off the TV, plunging the room into darkness, but with my new eyes, I could still see as Idris stood, approaching on silent feet. Before I could so much as squeak in protest, he tossed me over his shoulder like a fireman, gripping the back of my thighs to keep me from sliding straight down his back, and set off for the hall.
With his broad shoulder pressing relentlessly into my overfull belly, I could barely draw a breath to protest as he set off up the stairs. My boring, blonde hair swayed around my head, half hiding the beckoning plunge that awaited me if Idris should let go.
“This isn’t what I wanted,” I gasped in a whisper.
From where I dangled, I couldn’t see anything but his arse. It was, admittedly, a good view, but that was beside the point. Maybe it was because I knew him better now, or maybe it was our meaningless bond, created when he brought me back from death, but I knew he was grinning without being able to see his face .
“Mine is the second door on the left,” I admitted grudgingly, accepting my fate.
The door whispered over the carpet as he pushed it open, and then I was falling. I bounced as I landed flat on my back atop a familiar mattress, and a quickly stifled laugh burst from my lungs.
Idris’ shadowy form towered at the end of my bed, his edges silvered by the moonlight filtering through the wispy voile curtains.
“Thanks, I guess.”
“Will there be anything else, mortal?”
Yes .
What would it be like to have him crawl over me? To pin me to my bed as he kissed me?
“No,” I breathed. I sat up, hugging my knees to my chest to fight the temptation to let them fall open, making space for a body that could not be there. That shouldn’t even be in my room. “Yours is the next door along.”
Idris said nothing, only lingered, staring down at me. What was he thinking? He’d been the one to initiate our kiss, after all. Was he remembering it? Did he feel the same pull, that hook in the sternum, that gentle but relentless tug?
“Your parents are nice,” he whispered at last.
A faint smile spread over my lips. “They won’t be in the morning when they see the mess we’ve left in the living room.”
He blew an amused breath out of his nose. “The human world isn’t what I’d expected.”
“I’d ask what you thought of the fajitas, but judging by the amount you ate, I don’t need to.” It was a good thing Dad had gone overboard with the groceries because Idris ate like a plague of locusts .
“I don’t know how I’ll live without them.”
“Now you understand why I had to come back.”
His teeth gleamed faintly as he smiled, but then it faded, and he sidled closer, sitting down beside me. My heart leapt, thudding loud enough that I knew he could hear it. “You’ll be alright, sleeping alone?”
What if I said no? Would he offer to stay? I hadn’t spent a moment without him at my side since he’d pulled me from the flames. It had only been a day and a half, but it felt like he’d been with me forever. What if the other side of the wall wasn’t close enough?
“I’ll be fine,” I lied. “Go get some rest.”
For a second, I thought, or maybe hoped, that he would lean in and kiss me. The air grew thick, almost like the hum that preceded his lightning making an appearance. His eyes flicked over my face, lingering on my lips.
“Sleep well, then.” His chocolatey breath fluttered over my face.
“Night,” I replied, when what I really wanted to say was ‘stay with me’.
I kept my silence as the mattress rose without his weight, and his dark form retreated to the door. He looked back once before slipping out onto the landing. The latch clicked softly.
I pressed my hands to my face to stifle my groan as I flopped back onto my pillows. God, it was a disaster. I had to stop these thoughts, these feelings that had taken over me. It was just the bond, and Idris had made it quite clear what he thought of that. It didn't mean anything to him. I would learn to ignore it.
Maybe it was because I was new. My spirit was the same as it had always been, but my body had been all but reborn. It was different now. Fae. I was a human in the wrong shell. I would learn to master these strange new cravings, and the bond. What choice did I have?
The silence of the house pressed in, a blanket that should have been comforting but instead suffocated me. During my recent weeks of sleeping under the stars, I’d grown used to the whispering of a breeze against the shell of my ear, and the soft, secret sounds of unseen animals, snuffing through the darkness. I slithered from my bed and pushed open the window, letting my eyes slip closed for a moment as cool air caressed my skin. The familiar scent of the roses clinging below my window drifted up my nose, settling deep in my bones. I was home. I was really home.
I smiled, opening my eyes and turning to face my silver-black room. I drifted around my bed, admiring the noticeboard cluttered with old tickets, wristbands and photographs. A shrine to my old life. It had been a good one, even if it had been far too short, crammed full of day trips and festivals, movies and dancing. I’d once thought they’d been adventures. I knew better now. Adventures were frightening and dangerous, and they did not live up to the hype. Unfortunately for me, my new life, my new endless life, promised to be packed full of them, but it would be empty of other things. I traced my finger over a polaroid of me, Abby and Isobel on a themed bottomless brunch. My smile twitched. The day had been a celebration of Abby’s twenty-first birthday, as proclaimed by the satin sash she wore, and the cheap plastic ‘birthday girl’ tiara perched on top of her red hair. We’d spent the afternoon downing the endless supply of cocktails that came our way and belting out the classics from our favourite trash musical, the anthems to our teenage years. The ‘brunch’ part hadn’t made a dent in the effects of the alcohol; I couldn’t remember what I’d eaten, and I certainly couldn’t remember the night of dancing and shots that had followed. How long before my friends were unable to remember the sound of my voice?
Should I contact my friends while I was here? Would they believe a word out of my mouth if I did?
Isobel would. Her stubborn belief in all things magical had once irked me, but recent events had shifted my opinion of her. I’d believed that she should have been the one to fall arse over tit in that skanky cave, but I wouldn’t wish the recent twists and turns of my adventure on anyone. That wasn’t what squirmed in my gut, though. It was the thought of Isobel meeting Idris in my place.
No. This was my story, the good parts and the bad. I would share it with Abby and Isobel soon. This visit was about Mum and Dad. I wouldn’t take a single moment from them.
Sighing, I pulled open my wardrobe and rifled through the array of clothes that had never been enough. God, I missed dressing like a normal person. Ballgowns were all well and good from time to time, but there was nothing quite like a pair of jogging pants for lolling around the house, or castle. I paused, admiring a fluffy, borg hoodie. That was definitely coming back with me. I’d take everything if I could, but Idris could barely teleport me, never mind all my possessions. I’d need to travel light.
Suppressing a shudder at the thought, I crouched, intent on poking through my shoe collection, but a box, half buried beneath a haphazard mountain of shoes, caught my eye. Cursing the sound of tumbling shoes in the silence, I pulled the box free and popped the lid.
Blades gleamed silver, peeking out from their plastic guards. My old skates .
I ran my fingertips over the smooth surface of the boots. It had been forever since I’d been on the ice, but my heart tightened and sank at the sight of my most treasured footwear. Animals had always had a special place in my heart, but ice skating? That had been my passion. My head had once been brimming with childish dreams of gliding to gold in the Olympics. In truth, I’d never been good enough for that, but it wouldn’t have mattered anyway. One rogue lift and a shattered ankle had been all it took to end my far-fetched dreams. I hadn’t worn my competition boots since, and my training skates had been ruined by the doctors who’d cut one clean off my foot. Maybe I’d never been meant for my old life at all. Maybe it had always been my destiny to leave my human life, my dreams, behind.
I snapped the lid shut and stuffed the box back into the wardrobe. It was an effort to hold the landslide of shoes at bay while I shut the doors, but I managed. I’d think about what to pack for my new, uncertain future tomorrow. It was late, and Mum and Dad would no doubt have me up at the crack of dawn, wanting to make the most of every moment. I needed sleep.
Standing again, I stripped off the over-large shirt that Idris had loaned me. I tried not to dwell on the thought of him dressing my naked form while I recovered from my death and rebirth. Instead, I donned my favourite pyjamas–bright pink ribbed pants and a cropped cami with a ruffled hem.
I hesitated, catching sight of myself in the full-length mirror on the back of the bedroom door. I’d only glimpsed my new form in the camera of my phone, and with Idris lurking, I hadn’t really examined it. Flicking on the light, I edged closer .
Idris had dropped the glamour when Mum and Dad had gone to bed, and the creature staring back at me was an edited version of the human I’d once been. My body looked the same, but the jiggly bits had tightened slightly. Nothing dramatic, nothing that couldn’t have been achieved in a gym, but the change was there. I edged closer. My skin had been smoothed of all imperfections; its glassy surface glowed even under the harsh light of the overhead bulb. My boring waist-length hair was thicker and glossier than it had ever been, even before I’d bleached it, but I couldn't bring myself to feel glad. Without my colourful hair, who was I? Maybe fae hair could be dyed, and I could get that small piece of the old me back, but there was nothing I could do about my eyes. They’d always been a pretty shade of blue, but now… The shade was off, resembling an aquamarine crystal, just a little too bright to pass for natural. I dropped my gaze, unable to reconcile the shift, landing instead on my lips. They, comfortingly, were the same as they’d always been, but it wasn’t them that snagged my interest. I pulled them back, baring my new fangs. They were shorter and blunter than Idris’, but there was no denying that they were, indeed, fangs. Were they less pointy because I’d once been human, or because I was female? It was a phenomenon that sometimes occurred in the animal kingdom, with many species boasting elongated canines in the males, so why not fae?
I turned my grimace into my best smile, posing experimentally. It would take some getting used to, but overall, my new look wasn’t horrible.
After a brief, tip-toeing trip to the bathroom, I closed my door, flicked the light off and crawled into bed .
God, it was good to be home. I nestled against my memory foam pillows, breathing deep the scent of Mum’s preferred fabric softener, but without the distractions, fear coiled in my belly. Fear that, once I left this bed, life would change forever. Fear for the future, and the horrors it was sure to hold.