3. Wren
WREN
I was made for wallowing. Ice cream sundaes on the couch with Lark and sneaking licks to Frankie is the best way to heal my heart from being severed from the Fae lands. But three weeks of wallowing might be a bit much.
“I might go on a run this afternoon,” I say with a mouthful of vanilla ice cream drenched in chocolate syrup.
“In this heat?” Lark fans himself, and it blows a bit of my short hair in my face.
Frankie hurruffs and flops on the floor in front of us. Her back legs reach to touch my feet and I move them so she can feel me. We’ve gotten to be the best of friends these last three weeks, but that could be because I give her extra belly rubs and treats behind Pike’s back.
“It’s been awhile and I’m starting to feel like I’m fusing to the couch.” I eat another spoonful of my treat and hum. “I should probably start to get my life together, too.” But I’m not entirely sure I’m really ready yet.
“You don’t have to do anything. You can just stay here with us.”
Frankie lifts her head and looks at me. It’s as if she’s begging me to do just that. I offer her my spoon of plain vanilla ice cream. She licks it up, making a mess on the hardwood floor.
“I’ll clean that up when we’re done.”
Lark chuckles as Frankie does the clean up herself, licking the mess clean.
“I love having you here. It’s like when we were kids and we’d sneak into each other’s rooms. You’d try to scare me by telling ghost stories, but it never worked.”
“I love being here, and I love just eating my feelings.” I lift my sundae.
“But I’m starting to feel like a slug, and I need to work out that energy.
And I need to work out who I am now that I’m here.
” I lean my head on his shoulder and keep the sundae out of Frankie’s reach when she pushes back to her feet.
“Do you have to be anyone?”
“No, but I’d like to get to know me. It’s been a long time since I’ve been allowed to do anything I want.
It’s freeing. But also unchecked, I will eat Hex out of ice cream.
” I sit up again and stuff my face with the last few bites of ice cream.
“I think it’ll do me good to take Frankie for a nice long walk. ”
Pike steps in, his tail wrapped around his waist. He licks at the ice cream in his sugar cone. “I’m starting to get jealous of how close you and Frankie are getting.”
Frankie tips her head and bounds over to Pike. She rubs her head against him as if to say, ‘no one can replace you, demon daddy.’ I added that last bit of course. Frankie can read emotions for sure and I think she understands language.
“We should get her some of those talking buttons!”
Lark groans. “We did for like two days, but she kept pressing them day and night and we had to get rid of them.”
“What did she keep saying?” I ask.
“Music. Music. Music,” Pike says in a dead voice just like those talking buttons sound like.
Frankie’s tail wags and she looks up to him expectantly before running to the TV and barking. “She just wanted this one song, and it drove us up the wall.”
Lark turns the TV on and navigates to a station I hadn’t heard before. “It’s a kid’s song from the demon realm.” He laughs and presses play.
Frankie spins and seems to dance. It’s adorable.
“Ah, I like this one, too,” I say.
“But not 24/7,” Pike says.
“I suppose not. I might take her to the community gardens to let her sniff around a bit, if that’s okay?” I say.
Pike nods and eats more of his ice cream. “She loves it there.” He gives Lark a sideways glance.
“That way you can have relations in a completely empty house.” I smirk when Lark goes bright red.
“We’ve been trying to keep it down,” he says.
“My dear, beloved brother.” I press a hand dramatically to my chest. “I was a courtesan. Nothing you do or say will phase me in the least.”
“But you are my brother and I don’t want you hearing certain things.”
“And I get that. Which is why I wear earplugs to bed or whenever the two of you leave the room together. But what you can’t stop are the sex dreams. I haven’t had sex in three weeks, but it doesn’t matter because those incubus dreams are intense.”
I fan my face and blow Pike a kiss.
Lark goes redder. “It took a bit to get used to those after the change.”
“I bet.” I snort thinking about how those first nights might have gone.
The song on the TV stops and changes to the next one. Frankie barks, clearly wanting an encore which Lark gives her. This goes on for several minutes while I simply exist and watch the hellhound have the time of her life.
That’s what I want. True carefreeness. Because that’s now a word. Frankie turns to look at me before licking me from chin to forehead.
“What was that for?” I ask, and she winks right when the song starts up again.
Maybe she knows something I don’t. Maybe she just sees me as needing cheering up.
The four of us spend a few hours just relaxing and talking. It’s like that a lot around here. Soon, though, they have to get ready to head over to Flutter and Fangs for the evening. Lark doesn’t perform all that much, but Gabe and Sparkle also work there.
“You know if you wanna work at F&F, we’d be happy to train you on anything and everything.” Lark grabs the keys hanging from the hook by the door.
“I know, but I want to branch out. Try something I’ve never tried before. I think it’d be good for me. But I might come dance sometime. Dare Sparkle into a dance-off or something.”
Pike snorts and heads out the door.
“I’ll see y’all later,” I say.
Frankie trots up to me with her hot pink harness in her mouth.
“I haven’t forgotten about your walkies.” I wrap her in the harness and connect the leash. She’s always so sweet and doesn’t pull.
“Ah, Frankie, this is the life, isn’t it?” I say, grabbing my own key. But as soon as I step outside, it’s instant regret. “Holy hellfire,” I choke out on the thick humidity stealing my breath.
Frankie ignites her blue hellfire, lighting up her ears and tail. She takes a few steps as I lock up. Then she sets a fast pace all the way to the community gardens.
“Slow down, gonna need a sec.”
People mill around as the sun starts to set.
The air doesn’t get any less soupy or cooler.
Not that I expected it too. I navigate us to the giant dirt steps that make up the strangely cozy amphitheater.
There’s already a show going. The wood nymph sings their haunting song as they knock on their chest.
With the heat and the music, I’m almost lured to sleep, but Frankie licks my face, waking me up.
Hex is beautiful, and I take in my surroundings. The amphitheater has several people dancing on the dirt steps, and I want to do that too. Why not?
I push to my feet and sway to the melody. My eyes shut and I just breathe in the notes and the soup air. Frankie sticks to my side and seems to sway with me.
Goosebumps ripple across my flesh. Not able to shake the feeling of being watched, I open my eyes. The sun’s all the way down and the sky is a riot of the most pretty colors. Pink and purples. I wish I could paint because I want to capture the moment.
I turn, and that’s when I notice Talon sitting in the very back alone with his eyes closed.
I don’t think he’s who was watching me. He seems so into the music I don’t want to bother him.
I press my fingers to my lips when I shoo Frankie to move down from the dirt step so we can walk away.
She looks from me to the stage and me again.
Her tail wags so aggressively it throws dirt in the air.
“Sorry, I don’t want to bother Talon today. He looks so peaceful up there.” I shoot him another glance and he’s still lost in the music. “Let’s walk around some more. You’ll still be able to hear the music.” I scratch her ears the way she likes, and she turns to lead me down another path.
We crisscross around the gardens for what feels like hours, but I don’t tire of it. Frankie sniffs every plant and bug she sees. She scares a few critters, but she just wants to play. I don’t think she’d hurt a soul unless someone tried to hurt one of her people.
“Wren!” Warwick and the born witch Ethan stop me just as we’re leaving to head back to Lark’s.
They hold hands and grin so brightly. I love that they have each other again.
“Hey, what’s up?”
Wick looks to Ethan before taking my arm and walking me to the front of the garden. “I have a proposition for you.”