10. CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER TEN
Calista
T he bag of personal effects dug into my chest as I fumbled in my pockets to find my keys and unlock the door. Gina reached around me and twisted the knob. It lazily swung open. I dropped my chin and sighed. I didn’t lock the damn door. After the cops showed up and informed us of the home invasion, we took off for the hospital like bats out of hell, swooping in to find our parents. We only found one.
Patty was hysterical, but alive, with a broken shoulder, bruised ribs, and a concussion. They had to sedate her to keep from scaring the hell out of everyone around her. All she kept saying was, “Giant. So big. I tried.”
Once the sedation kicked in, more details emerged before she passed out. They walked in from dinner to hear a ruckus upstairs in my old bedroom. Dad went to see what it was instead of leaving and calling the police. A giant man, nearly ten-feet tall, picked him up like he weighed nothing and threw him down the hall. He hit the banister of the stairwell and flipped over it, falling to the main floor. Patty ran to help him, but the man appeared out of nowhere, demanding to know where the draiocht was. When she didn’t answer him, he tossed her to the side, breaking her shoulder in the process. She lifted herself up to see a bright blue light emanating from my bedroom door before it vanished.
“Is that a new street drug?” she mumbled as the muscles in her face slackened.
We sat with Patty while my father was in exploratory surgery to find his internal bleeding. Once they opened him up, they saw the devastation. Nearly every organ was damaged, and they were certain his spine was broken. There were too many hemorrhages to even begin mending them before he died. Upon hearing that news, they had to sedate me, too.
Exhausted and woozy from the meds, Gina guided me to the couch, and I dropped onto it. Pills clinked against the plastic bottle in my hand. After my episode, the doctor sent a script to the pharmacy. I set them on the table and stared at them. The springs in the couch squeaked in protest when Kaiden landed next to me.
“I’m gonna give you two some time alone. I’ll be back shortly. If you need me, I’m right across the hall.”
Our heads bobbed as we stared at the sliding glass door to my balcony. The hot, early morning sun poured into the silent room. After all the beeping at the hospital, it was welcomed.
My grip on the packet relaxed, and it fell onto my lap. It wasn’t heavy, but it anchored me as Dad always did. Only this wasn’t a comforting hug. It held me hostage with guilt and grief that restricted every agonizing, burning breath.
I pinched the corners of the bag and poured the contents onto my lap. Dad’s wallet, cracked phone, a few coins in a tiny zip lock bag, and chapstick piled in the seam between my legs. This is it, I thought. All those years of life, and this was what was left of him when all was said and done. My hands shook as I touched them, imagining him holding each item and tucking them inside his pants pockets. His worn leather wallet sat partially open in the crevice of my legs. Part of his driver’s license was visible, showing his handsome face. Kaiden looked a lot like him. Tears seared new paths down my face as I opened it and stared at the picture. His kind eyes stared back at me, full of life—a piece of him trapped in a one-by-one inch square. The image on mine looked like a mugshot. Sticking out enough to capture my attention was a piece of paper. I opened his wallet to see what it was. Wedged inside the bill slot rested a check from the Trust of Calista Thomas.
I snapped the wallet shut and gulped.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered, a new wave of tears filling my sore eyes again.
“For what?”
It took every ounce of courage I had to look at Kaiden. And I really looked at him. Gone was the little boy I’d always seen. He had grown into a man somewhere along the line, and I had refused to see it. I saw him now in all his fucked-up glory. Could the man forgive as easily as the child once did?
“For everything.”
Kaiden scrubbed his hands over his head and down his face. “There’s no need to apologize.”
I swiped my raw cheeks with the sleeve of my sweater. It felt like skin was coming off with them.
“It’s my fault, Kaiden,” I repeated the same words playing on loop in my mind. “Dad… dying. Your mom’s injuries. It’s all my fault.”
“No.” He shook his head and walked to the sliding door, crossing his arms tightly over his chest like doing so would prevent him from breaking. “You’re not going down this rabbit hole. Stop it.”
“But it is.” I pulled the check from the wallet and refused to look at it again. “Look.”
He peered over his shoulder before coming to stand in front of me. I held it out, and he took it. “So what? You refused to take a handout. He was trying to help.” His brows shot up. “A lot.”
“That’s what I wished for, Kaiden.” That got his attention.
Kaiden read the check over and over again. “Even if this was your wish coming true, this isn’t your fault.”
I needed the reassurance from him, it eased the ache in my heart, but the guilt refused to let go so easily.
“It’s the exact amount I wished for. How can this not be my fault?”
Kaiden sat back down and rubbed his forehead. If only I were a fly on the wall of his mind, I’d know what he was truly thinking and feeling. “You didn’t know what the outcome would be.” Taking one last look at the check, he gave it back to me. I tucked it out of sight.
“He visited me. Here. In the flesh.”
Kaiden’s eyes widened.
“He’s tall, Kaiden. Like giant tall.”
His jaw clenched and nostrils flared. “You think he’s responsible?”
“Don’t you? After everything he did to us, I wouldn’t put it past him.”
“Why? What would he gain from hurting our parents?”
“I don’t know. I’m so confused by all this. I’m not pregnant. I swear to you, I’m not. He shouldn’t be here, yet he is, and he’s demanding I wear the necklace.” My voice shook as I gripped the pendant. “He misses feeling me.”
“Who misses feeling you?”
I froze at the sound of Gina’s voice behind us and squeezed my eyes shut. How did she move around so quietly?
She ventured slowly into the room and sat on the coffee table facing us. Worry and concern etched her sleepy eyes as she gripped the wood by her knees. Her neatly combed hair shined in the filtering sunlight. Gina never left her domicile with a wrinkle in her clothing, never mind completely disheveled if she could help it. A part of me desperately wanted to tell her the truth, but the part that wanted to protect her told me to lie my ass off so she’d be safe.
“Who shouldn’t be here?” she asked again. She’d heard more than I’d hoped.
Avoidance was the best option. Escaping to the kitchen would buy me some time. “I need a drink.” A stiff one.
The air whooshed out of my lungs when Kaiden jerked me to him in a tight hug. “I know this hard, but we have to tell her.”
I spun in his arms and clung to him, the fabric of his shirt bunching in my fists. His chin bumped against my temple as I shook my head. “She'll never believe us. No one ever did.”
He pulled back enough to stare down at me. After a reassuring smile, he turned me around to face my best friend who was watching us from the coffee table, alone and confused. Another reminder of how I kept her at arm’s length for most of our lives. It wasn't fair to her... it wasn't fair to either of us.
Hesitant, I closed the space between us. She threw her arms around my stiff frame. I wanted to melt against her, release my fears and let her help with all my baggage, but that niggling thought she'd call me crazy and kick me out of her life held me back.
“Is someone stalking you? One of your hookups? Is that who hurt your parents?” Gina squeezed me, her body trembling. “I’m so stupid. I didn’t see the signs for what they were, but it all makes sense. I’m sorry I gave you such a hard time. I’ve been so worried about you and didn’t know how to help.” She cupped my cheeks and looked at me with fiery determination. “I’ll go to the police with you. We’ll find the bastard and make him suffer for what he’s done.”
I slipped her hands from my face and held them in my lap. Her firm grip gave me the confidence I needed to open my mouth. “We need to talk.” Those words felt like boulders in my throat. It was exhausting, heaving them up.
“Tell me as little or as much as you want. I’m here for you.” She squeezed my hands and gave me a sad smile as she pulled me to the couch.
“We're definitely gonna need a drink for this,” Kaiden mumbled and went to the kitchen.
Cabinets opened and closed as my brain tormented me with images of Patty calling me crazy.
“I appreciate your willingness to go to war with me.”
Gina’s eyes widened. “Seriously?” She said at the same time I said, “Don’t say it.”
“I will go to war for you if I have to. You are my best friend, my soul sister. I would do anything for you.”
“Anything?”
“Okay, maybe not anything. I won’t go to prison with you or for you, but I wouldn’t tell a soul if you did something that would send you to prison, so there is that.” She got closer to me. The mint of her toothpaste lingered on her breath, and I wondered how bad mine smelled. “Oh god. Did you do something? No, don’t tell me. If I don’t know, I can’t be used against you in court.”
Three glasses thunked onto the coffee table along with the Rumchata and Fireball.
“Really, Kaiden?” Gina's nostrils flared. “It’s eight thirty in the morning, and you want to get drunk?”
“Tastes like cinnamon toast crunch.” He passed one of the premade drinks to my awaiting hand. “Consider it breakfast. Trust me, you’re gonna need it.”
Gina watched in horror as I swallowed it in two gulps and tapped it on the table for a refill. He handed me his, and I gulped that one down, too.
Before I could request a third, Gina slipped the glass from my hand and gave Kaiden side eye. “Okay. Let's talk before you can't form words. If you want to get shit-faced after to cope, that's fine. Just remember, drunk lips spill secrets. And if you murdered someone or are plotting, I don’t want to know.”
While Kaiden prepared another round, he encouraged me to begin our story, but I couldn't. Years of hiding it had built walls so high even I couldn't see over the top to the truth that rested inside. And some of it I had trouble remembering.
He tugged at the legs of his pajama pants before wiping his palms on them. “How much do you know about our childhood?” he asked when I didn’t speak.
My anxiety skyrocketed. He went right for it. Kaiden was much braver than me.
Gina's confusion turned into understanding as she studied us. “Not a lot,” she admitted. She kept her voice soft and her words precise. “That you two were kidnapped, and someone helped you escape.”
He nodded and pursed his lips. “It's much crazier than that.”
“Being kidnapped is pretty crazy. I'm astounded you two are as normal as you are.”
I snorted, but he continued. “The only way to tell you is to just say it. It's hard to swallow, even liquor coated.”
Kaiden took a breath and opened his mouth, then his shoulders drooped, and he said nothing. His face brightened, and he raised his hand but stopped instead. Repeatedly, he started and stopped. He resembled a fish gawping water.
I huffed through my nose. “Hard, isn't it?”
He frowned. “You're not helping much.”
“Is that who’s back?” she asked. “The guy who kidnapped you?”
“You could say that.” I gripped my kneecaps and took a deep breath. Warmth bloomed in my belly as the liquor settled and relaxed my muscles. It was now or never. “Kaiden and I were kidnapped by a magical evil king who took us to another dimension.”
His gaped mouth made me want to recant my words. It sounded preposterous, and his expression—as comical as it was—made Gina even more skeptical. “Uh huh.”
Frustrated by her response and everything we were dealing with, he threw his hands up in the air. “There's much more to it than that!”
“That's the main gist, though.”
Gina earned extra credit. She remained silent, waiting for us to continue our ridiculous story. That's more than anyone else ever did.
Kaiden ran his fingers through his hair. The way he tugged at the strands worried me he'd rip it out. “He turned me into a goblin,” he sputtered, “and in order to change me back and send us home, Calista agreed to give him something in return.”
To my shock, a smirk pulled at her lip. “And what was that? Her firstborn child?”
“Yes!” Kaiden grew excited. “I thought you said you didn't know.”
“Oh, I know.” Gina huffed. “I read the story in elementary school. Really guys? You'd think you'd be a little more original.”
“What?”
She leaned forward. “Rumpelstiltskin.”
Kaiden's nose crinkled. “What does he have to do with this?”
There was silence until Gina’s sarcastic laughter filled the room.
“You know,” she sneered, “if you didn't want to tell me the truth, all you had to say was you didn’t want to talk about it. You didn’t have to make up this bullshit.”
“We're not lying to you,” Kaiden pleaded.
“Yeah, and pigs fly.”
“They do there,” I mumbled.
Her sneer aimed my way. “Always deflecting. Always pushing me away. I'm tired of it. You didn't have to suck your brother into it with you.” She shook her head, angry tears wobbling in her eyes.
Frantic, Kaiden jumped up. “We can prove it!”
My head jerked his way. I knew what he was thinking, and I wasn’t ready to face my personal demon. Not yet. We hadn’t even discussed how we would handle it. All I wanted, more than anything, was to process my actions and what happened to Dad. “No. She doesn't want an explanation or to believe. This protects her.”
“Another excuse to not tell the truth,” Gina scoffed and wiped her cheeks dry.
“You can't protect us from him, Calista! He is coming, and he will use anyone or anything to get what he wants.”
“Think about the consequences, Kaiden!”
“Where is it?” He grabbed the back of my shirt, and I jerked away from him. “Give it to me.”
Bypassing the glass, Gina snatched the fireball off the table. “This grows more elaborate by the second.”
His gaze bounced between us. “It’s the only way, sis.”
“No.” I clutched the pendant through the fabric of my shirt. It was hot from being pressed to my skin. “Absolutely not.”
Gina took a shot straight from the bottle and recapped it. “I’ve had enough. You two can act out your role-play game without me.”
“Go.” The word echoed from my hollowed soul. “It’s for the best.”
Hurting Gina was inevitable. I prayed it wouldn’t, but I knew this chaos would affect our relationship one day. However, I didn’t predict it would go down like this. I pulled my legs up and hid my face against my knees so I wouldn’t have to feel her stony gaze.
“I hope you go to grief counseling,” she said as she passed by. “Both of you.”
No amount of counseling could fix this.