5
Vivi only had the one memory of being held in a man’s arms. And it was terrifying.
Even though she’d been very young, she remembered her father’s look of disgust as he’d peered down at her.
She’d cowered, but there was nowhere to go inside his massive arms. She’d heard her mother’s screams and then the usual crack as he’d silenced her.
There were always cries and screams and then a crack of silence. Vivi instinctively stayed silent, but it never kept her out of harm’s way. And then, the one and only time when her father had taken her into his arms and paraded her out amongst the town’s people, it had been to her detriment.
They came to the River Usk in the ancient town of Caerleon.
The town hadn’t yet been settled by the magical kingdom of Camelot.
But magic thrived in the town nonetheless.
It hummed secretly in her mother’s veins.
It lay dormant inside Vivi’s small, deformed body.
And it ebbed and flowed in the riverbed that her father cast her into.
There had been more angry shouting as she’d sailed high and far into the air. Her puerile ears made out another of her mother’s anguished screams, followed by the accompanying crack. And then there was silence as Vivi landed with a splash in the icy cold waters.
She’d sank down like a stone having never been in water before.
Her heart had raced. Her legs, useless as the day she’d been born, hadn’t moved.
Her arms had reached for the fading light and the figures at the surface, but she sank and sank.
Her father’s face grew distorted. Her mother was nowhere to be seen. And then darkness.
It took Vivi long moments before she realized she wasn’t dead. She sat on the floor of the river all night waiting for her mother to come and get her, but she never came. Vivi learned later that her mother had died that night, burned at the stake for witchcraft.
At some point, Vivi had stretched up her arms. She’d never used her legs before as they were impotent.
But she quickly learned that she didn’t need them in the water.
The water carried her like her father had done, but it didn’t let her go.
It cradled her and supported her, allowing her movement and freedom for the first time in her life.
That had been the last time anyone had held Vivi. That had been the last time she’d heard another’s heartbeat next to her ear. That had been the first and only time a man had held her in his arms.
Until now.
The geyser of water slowly receded and Vivi saw the ground rise up beneath them. Psi’s feet touched solid earth. When he came to stand, he did not let her go. If anything, he cradled her even tighter to his chest.
Vivi heard his heartbeat steadily as her ear lay on his strong chest. The sound reminded her of the movement of currents underwater. He even smelled of the ocean, fresh and clean with just a hint of gulfweed right behind his ears. Vivi inhaled the scent deeply. All around her, Psi’s body shuddered.
Vivi pulled her nose away from the man’s ears, her face hot with shame.
She had no idea what had possessed her to do such a thing.
But Psi only smiled down at her. He didn’t show her his teeth this time.
Though, from the dark look in his blue eyes, she still got the impression that he would much prefer to eat her than carry her.
Psi stopped at a small, sea blue boat with wheels that sat on the street.
Vivi knew that the metallic beasts were called cars.
It was only the second time in her life that she’d seen them up close.
The first time, just a few moments ago, had been too close for her comfort.
She would be happy to never see another car again.
Psi pulled the side of the blue car open. He leaned down with her in his arms, as though he were going to feed her to the metallic beast. Vivi clung to his neck and hid her face in his chest.
“Vivi,” he breathed into her ear and now she was the one who shuddered. “Is this your first time in a car?”
She nodded her head but kept her face buried in his chest. There was salt there at the spot where his shirt lay open. She inhaled. She really wanted to lick out her tongue and taste that patch of skin.
“Do not be afraid,” he said. “I promised you, no one and nothing will harm you while you’re in my care.”
Vivi pulled away from his chest and looked into his eyes. They were now the color of a calm sea at sunset. Those were her favorite waters, and so she decided to trust his words.
She allowed Psi to set her gently inside the car. He made sure to tuck her feet inside. He leaned over her, his hot breath brushed her temple. Vivi closed her eyes, feeling as though she were coasting on the surf on a warm summer’s day. And then she heard a click.
She tried to move, but she was trapped. She looked down to see that Psi had pulled a thick cord over her body and had hooked her inside. She looked up to him, betrayal stung the corner of her eyes.
“No, darling,” he soothed. “I promise, it's for your protection. I’m going to do it too, just wait.”
He shut the door, locking her inside the belly of the beast, and he disappeared. Before the panic could truly set in, Psi resurfaced on the other side of the car. He slipped inside, taking a seat behind the helm. Then he pulled a similar thick cord over himself and hooked himself in with a click.
He turned to her and smiled. Vivi felt herself making the same expression. She stretched her lips over her teeth.
Psi’s eyes dipped to her lips. He tugged his lower lip into his mouth and a small groan left his chest. Then he turned away from her and fiddled with the car until it came to life, roaring like a whale exhaling air through his blowhole.
Vivi gripped the edges of her seat. She was used to going fast. Traveling by ley line, she’d been propelled faster than the car’s current speed. But it was different inside the metal box. The vibrations made her tingle.
The tingling sensation crept up her shins, tickling the back of her knees. The faster Psi went the higher the feeling crept until it encroached on her bottom. Vivi pressed her feet into the floorboards to stave off the invasion, and that’s when reality came back to her.
“The shoes,” she said. “I have to get to Nicotera’s before dawn.”
“There’s plenty of time before dawn,” said Psi. “I can drive you there in a few hours. I’ll just need the street address.”
Street address? She didn’t have that. She only knew where the store was located. “It’s here in Rome. Surely, someone can direct us on the way to go.”
“Rome? Italy?” He cast her a sidelong glance. “Vivi, darling, you’re in Athens, Greece.”
“Greece?” Her large eyes went wide. “Do you mean I came the wrong way?”
Vivi lowered her head into her hands. Her shoulders tried to slump forward, but the corded hook wouldn’t give way.
She’d botched it all; first coming the wrong way, then getting captured.
She had to get out of Psi’s car and get back to the sea if she had any hope of getting her prize in time before they ran out.
“Please let me out, my lord,” she said, tugging at the cord across her body. “I need to get back to the sea and find the right ley line so that I may correct my course.”
“I don’t think there are any ley lines in Rome,” he said. “Rome is run by the church and they’ve never taken kindly to magical kind. Athens is likely the closet ley line there to Italy. But we can set sail later tonight and be there sometime tomorrow.”
“But I needed to get in the customer line tonight,” she insisted. “Otherwise they will run out.”
“Run out of what?”
“Shoes.”