17. Cal
CHAPTER 17
CAL
After Greg went off with Delphia to make breakfast, Edgar, Bettina, and I tackled the books again. We decided since time was short we’d just set aside anything that seemed promising, and either we’d go through them at the end of the day or Greg and I would take them back to Bent Oak with us along with Ms. Jackson.
Twenty minutes later, Lloyd and Silvia showed up wanting to put some of Lloyd’s stuff in Greg’s SUV. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed Ms. Jackson had turned back into the cat statue.
Before I could send them to the kitchen to find Greg, Silvia asked about the books. The next thing I knew, she and Lloyd were pitching in to help us go through them.
Greg came to get us a few minutes later, but with the additional help we’d now moved over half the books out of the book room. One side of the work room was covered in stacks of books, but I figured Delphia or someone would want to clean the book room before they all went back.
Or maybe this room was the new book room. Either way, someone else would deal with it .
We broke for breakfast, and after that Edgar and Bettina went back to the books while Greg and I put a load of Lloyd’s stuff in Greg’s SUV.
“Thanks,” Lloyd told us. “We’re heading back to Bent Oak right now. Feel free to drop it by tonight or tomorrow, whenever it’s convenient.”
“I’ll text you an ETA,” Greg told him. He shook Lloyd’s hand and kissed Silvia on the cheek.
“I can’t wait to have you as our neighbor,” Silvia said to Greg. She must’ve noticed my confused face. “Didn’t Greg tell you? The house he bought is at the end of my street.” She glanced at Lloyd and turned a little red. “Our street.” He put his arm around her.
I shook my head. “No, but that sounds great. I’m sure it’ll be fun being so close.”
She extricated herself from Lloyd and gave me a quick hug. “Craig and Foster live across from me. Make sure Greg brings you to the next game night at their house, sí ?”
“Um, sure.” Unless I could get out of it. I was certain I could find some fog monsters to chase instead.
Greg and I went back to the book room. It took another four hours, but finally we’d gone through the rest of the books. There was a stack of thirty-two that we thought might have information on the fog monsters.
Greg said, “You want to grab lunch here and just take these books home with us? I’d like to get on the road earlier instead of looking at the books first.”
“Sounds good.”
Soon we were cleaned up, packed up, and done with lunch. I thought Delphia would never let go when she hugged me goodbye.
“You call me if you have any questions about your visions,” she said. “And don’t let Greg fool you. He pretends he doesn’t give a shit, but he’s a big softie under it all.”
“Um, okay.” I let my arms fall away from her and tried to take a step back, but she held on.
“Mom, let Cal go. He has to come back to Bent Oak with me.”
Delphia pouted at her son, but she did release me. I surreptitiously took a deep breath to make sure my ribs had survived as I walked around to the passenger side of the car. We’d belted Ms. Jackson in their cat statue form upright in the rear seat so they could see out the window. I’d have wanted to after decades in the book room.
None of the Wonders had come out to say goodbye, but I was grateful for that, because I was ready to get home.
When we exited the driveway in front of the house, instead of turning left to return the way we’d come in, Greg turned right. “You still want to see the animals, don’t you?” he asked.
I sat up in my seat, making sure not to knock over the stack of books at my feet. “Yes, please.” I’d forgotten Greg had told me he’d show them to me as we left.
More fences lined the road on either side, but the trees prevented me from seeing anything beyond them. A chill ran down my spine as I remembered the trees behind the wall near where Thomas had died.
Greg made a right turn onto a gravel road. “On the left is where we have the big cat enclosures. You probably won’t be able to see them. Yaro, the rhino shifter you saw when we arrived yesterday, is in charge of taking care of them. ”
He pointed to the other side. “On the right are more hoofed and three-toed mammals, like the zebra and the moose you saw yesterday. There are some camels and even one giraffe.”
The trees thinned out on the right, and I caught a glimpse of a camel.
“Where do they all come from?”
Greg made a face. “Rich people who either want to keep them as pets or shoot them for fun.”
I looked over at him, appalled.
He went on. “Sometimes we find them when we’re on missions to rescue Wonders. Asshole billionaires who keep Wonders locked up or on display are likely to do the same to exotic animals. Other times random people or law enforcement find TWIST on the internet and ask us to take in animals they’ve come across.”
The trees opened up even more, and suddenly the black horse I’d seen yesterday was galloping next to us on the other side of the fence.
“That’s Pim. He and his team are responsible for the hoofed mammals.”
I waved, just in case Pim could see me. He turned and galloped away when another fence blocked his path.
“How does TWIST get funding?” I asked.
Greg chuckled. “We have a donation button on the website that gets some traction occasionally, but most of the cash comes from a trust set up by the original family. Over the decades it’s grown enough that TWIST can survive on the interest alone.”
Soon we were back on the road that led to Blanco and on our way home .
I picked up one of the books at my feet. Most of them were in the back seat, but I’d kept several up front with me so I could look at them during the drive.
I held it up so Greg could see it. “Edgar found this. I think you were out of the room. He said it probably doesn’t have any info on the fog monsters, but he thought I should read it. It’s the diary of Douglas Shaw. One of your ancestors?”
Greg nodded. “My great uncle on my dad’s side. He was one of the original people infused with magic in North America. Apparently he and my grandfather saved some Wonders from being captured by the Nazis during World War II.” He smiled and shook his head. “They didn’t say anything when they got back home until after the war was over and the Elves showed up to gift them with the magic.”
“That must’ve been a shock.”
He grinned. “I’m sure. But my mom says they were all casual about it.” He put on a thick Texas accent. “Just a couple a good ol’ boys from West Texas who did a good deed for some odd-lookin’ critters. Shucks, anybody woulda done the same.”
I chuckled. “Have you read the diary?”
“Yeah, sort of, when I was ten or so. My dad had just died, and I wanted to see if he was mentioned in there.” He glanced over at the book in my hands. “He’s not, fyi. It’s all about the Elves and what they wanted us to do. I wasn’t interested at the time, but Edgar’s right. It’ll be good background reading for you.”
“I’ll save it for later then.”
I switched it out for the next title in my stack, Mysterious Creatures in Folklore by Archibald Manning. Published in 1964. A lot of tiny text with no illustrations. Great .
Before I could start on that, Greg’s phone rang. The Bluetooth connection showed “Mom” on the console screen.
“Huh,” Greg said before answering the call. “Mom? Is everything okay?”
“Of course it is. Why wouldn’t it be?”
His tone turned biting. “Oh, I don’t know. Maybe because we haven’t been gone even thirty minutes?”
Delphia made a huffing noise, then said, “Can Cal hear me?”
I sat up. “I’m here, Delphia.”
“Oh, good. Edgar and I were talking about how strong the connection is between you and Greg already.”
“Okay?” I glanced at Greg, but he was watching the road. His knuckles were white on the steering wheel.
“We were speculating that your connection might be so strong already you could call a vision. Do you want to try?”
“Like, now ?” I shifted in my seat.
“No, silly. You’ll need to be in a quiet room without any distractions. I wanted to walk you through how to do it so you could try later. But start with something boring. Don’t look for the fog monsters or anything.”
“Yeah, I don’t think I’m up for that yet.” Or ever. Except I’d probably have to at some point, given how little progress we were making in finding those assholes.
“Right. So all you have to do is clear your mind, then focus on what you want to know. But you can’t force it. I was better at it when my husband was alive, but these days it works best if I picture holding my question in the palms of my hands.”
I sent a skeptical look at Greg, but he just shrugged. He tucked his perfect hair behind his ear. I watched him for longer than I should’ve.
Oh, Delphia, right. “Um, okay?”
“And that’s it.”
“That’s it? I just sort of meditate, and it happens?”
She hesitated, then said, “Well, it is different for everyone, so you’ll need to practice until you find what works best for you. Edgar says he knew someone who focused on a piece of crystal.”
I rubbed my face. “Okay, I’ll start practicing.”
“Maybe have Greg with you the first couple of times. We don’t know anything about those fog monsters, and Edgar and I are a little worried whether they were able to tell where he was physically when they saw his vision self.”
“I’m sorry, what? You think they might’ve been able to track him? That would’ve been fucking good to know before now!” I wasn’t quite yelling that last bit, but it was close.
“Well, I’m sorry, but we didn’t think of it until he and I were talking a minute ago.”
Greg said, “Do I only need to be with Cal when he’s trying to call a vision, or are you saying we should stick together all the time?”
Delphia blew out a breath. “I don’t know, Greggy. I’m sorry.” Then her tone perked up. “But once you complete the bond, you won’t be able to be apart very long in the beginning anyway, so it might be easier to get used to staying together now.”
Um, what ? I was so fucking tired of not knowing what the hell was happening to me and then finding out everyone else knew but hadn’t told me .
“Okay, that’s it,” I said. “I have questions and I need you to answer them.”
“Of course. Anything you want to know.”
“Really, Delphia? Because I feel like I’m having to pry information out of y’all piece by piece.”
“I’m sorry, Cal. I promise it’s not intentional.” Her voice had a distressed quality to it that I hoped was genuine, though I wasn’t going to bet on it. “We haven’t discovered a Seer, or anyone with magic, from outside the known families for a long time. We don’t really have a training curriculum.”
Well, that was probably true. But still.
“Fine. My first question is, why can all y’all see the connection between me and Greg, but I can’t see any connections at all?”
“You’re still coming into your abilities. I heard you can see people’s second selves, but that’s a recent development, right?”
“Yes.”
“And can you see the magic kind of sparkling around magic carriers and Wonders?”
“Sometimes, yeah.”
“Great! Once you can see that consistently, then you’ll start to be able to see connections and bonds between people.”
“Okay. And what did you mean when you said Greg and I wouldn’t be able to be apart for very long?”
She was silent for a moment.
“Hello?” I said in my snottiest voice. Maybe later I’d feel bad about it. I looked over at Greg, but he was staring fixedly at the road ahead .
“Well, forming a bond is voluntary, of course. It’s, uh....” She made a humming noise. “It’s kind of like a muscle. It needs stretching. Yes, that’s a good analogy. So when you form the bond you’ll be touching Greg, but you obviously can’t stay that way forever. But it won’t let you be super far apart right away. You might have to work up to it.”
“Work up to it. Right. What happens if we stretch the bond too far?”
“It’s kind of like hitting the end of a rope.”
Great.
“The good news is, since you only have a connection right now, the most that’ll happen when you’re apart is that you’ll miss each other like crazy.”
Uh, yeah, no. I wouldn’t have that problem.
“Okaaay. And if I got on a plane right now and flew to China, what would happen to the connection?” Please say it would break. Please. Because I had a nest egg I was saving for a house, but I would fucking spend it all to get rid of this connection.
“It would be... distressing for you both,” she said.
“What do you mean? Would the connection break?” I held my breath.
“Oh, no, honey. It would just make you miss each other even more.” She chuckled. “But the homecoming would be a doozy from a sex perspective, that’s for sure.”
Fuck. Also, ewww .
“Okay. Um, and what if I wanted to have sex with someone other than Greg?” This finally made him stiffen in his seat and adjust his grip on the steering wheel. What that meant, I didn’t know, but I was oddly pleased to have finally needled him into reacting.
“Oh, no, Cal, you won’t want to do that.”
I raised my eyebrows. “Why not?”
She paused. “No, I meant you won’t actually want to have sex with anyone else. Unless you two are meant to be part of a polycule. Then... hmmm . No, I don’t get a feeling that that’s in the cards for you.”
Greg spoke up at last. “Mom, maybe Cal and I should have this conversation by ourselves.”
“I’m just answering his questions, Greg.”
We heard voices on the other end of the line. Delphia said, “I’ve got to go. Cal, call me anytime with anything else you want to know, alright?”
“Sure.” The sarcasm was strong, but I didn’t give a shit.
Delphia ignored it. “Okay, bye now.”
I sat there, watching the Hill Country scenery roll by, still clutching Archibald Manning’s book in my lap. I was truly fucked. I’d known it intellectually, ever since Delphia and Dominic had welcomed me to the family on our arrival at TWIST. But I hadn’t really let myself think about the fact that I was permanently—like forever permanently—tied to Greg.
Who didn’t find me attractive.
And apparently I wouldn’t want to have sex with anyone else, ever.
But neither would he. Which gave me a mean thrill of pleasure.
And if he was thinking he’d just close his eyes while I sucked him off or some shit like that, he had another think coming .
Permanently connected or not, I wouldn’t settle for someone who didn’t want me for me.