5. Lisette
Chapter 5
Lisette
M y head hurt.
My lips were dry.
The most curious thing that filled my thoughts was why I was alive. I knew I’ve been on death's doorstep. Why was I alive? I sat up and looked around wearing filthy clothes in my bed, so whatever reason I was lying brought me to my house.
I wandered to my laptop and opened it because my phone was dead. It’s been two days. Two days I didn’t call into work. Panic coursed through me. I couldn’t call yet. My phone was on the charger. I quickly typed an email apologizing, saying I was in the hospital, and sent it. Voices interrupted me and I jerked my head up towards the porch. They were coming from the garden. Quickly, I shoved my feet into some slippers and I stepped out onto the porch. I froze as my eyes locked on the vegetable stand.
A tall and muscular man wearing the same clothes that looked like the same clothes from my scarecrow. He stood in the garden at my stand with a pumpkin for a head. Even from my vantage point, wild magic rolled off him. It took longer for me to feel the gentle breeze of my magic emanating from him. This wasn’t good. Luckily, it was near Halloween, which meant people thought it was a costume.
He laughed as he exchanged money with the people at my vegetable stand. A kid ran from the patch holding a pumpkin in their hand. “Nice costume, sir!” he screamed as he jumped back into the car.
“Thanks,” the creature said. The parents stepped back into the car and he was alone once more. What took over my stand? And why was my magical signature spiraling off of him? Stepping off the porch, I walked towards him, the sound of gravel crunching under my shoes.
“What are you?” I asked. He turned and his dark, hollow eyes pierced mine. Whatever he was, he was well muscled. Lickable abs and biceps straining at his shirt. I had already glanced at his little taunt ass as I approached him.
His head tilted, and he looked up and down my body. “You are awake and, well, I see,” he said. His voice was deep and rich, which caused goosebumps to pop up all over my body.
“What are you?” I whispered. I tried to sound brave, but I wasn’t. Wild magic could be dangerous. Wild magic with mine? Even more.
His hands waved at the garden. “I am your own sweat, blood magic, and, of course, the magic.”
I blinked. “What?”
“You made me in your last moments of death.”
“How did I make you? I was dying.”
He grinned. It was like one of those goofy Jack o’ Lantern’s goofy grins. “Magic.”
I groaned and jiggled nervously as I struggled with what to do next. “It sounds like a homunculus and I am pretty sure those are illegal. What’s your name?”
His mouth became a thin line. Watching his emotions shift on his face was interesting. “I don’t know. Pumpkins don’t have names.”
I stilled and blinked again. “You’re . . . from my pumpkin patch?”
“Yes. I thought it was obvious.”
I pointed to the vegetable stand. “You’ve been running that?”
“I only know how to do the things I saw you do when I was just a pumpkin. And a touch of magic helped me keep it afloat. Everyone loves my costume,” he replied as he waved to his face.
I stepped closer to the monster. “You…” I shook my head. “Can I touch you?”
He shrugged. The wild magic rolled off him, and I touched his pumpkin head. Yep, he sure had a pumpkin head. The smooth and slightly bumpy texture a pumpkin has and as my fingers slid over his features, the crinkles of his emotions flexed over the rind. My fingers traveled down to his neck and touched human skin. “It’s like you’re mostly human and then a pumpkin head.”
He shrugged. “I am part of you. Your sweat and your blood.”
“That’s a bit creepy. Do you turn into a pumpkin after Halloween is over?”
He closed his lidless eyes. The wet black empty holes shut as he thought. I don’t think so. “So, do you like to keep you forever?”
His hand brushed against the apples of my cheek. “I guess. You need someone to protect you. I saw what the male did to you,” he said. Any lightness in his voice disappeared with that comment. There was a hint of danger in his voice.
I swallowed as emotions fought inside me. “I can take care of myself.”
His face shifted to confusion. He had no brows, and it made it harder to see his expressions. “You would have died. The earth gave you life.”
A disapproving frown appeared on my face. “I’m going to have to make a glamor for you because this won’t work… anywhere.” As I pivoted on my heels, I turned back to the house and my stomach growled angrily. Footsteps followed.
“Where are you going?” he asked.
“To the house. I guess. I don’t know. Need to figure out if I’m going to get caught by the council. I can make a shitty glamor but…” I sighed as I pressed my fingers to my temples. “It will cost lots of money to get a good one. They exist. They are just pricey.”
“You worry too much. I remember your sad faces when I was nature. Or just a pumpkin.”
I frown at him. “What should I do?”
“I don’t know. But let me protect you.”
I sighed as my stomach grumbled…again. “I need to eat and shower.”
“Yes, your clothes are quite dirty. There is blood on the back.”
I pursed my lips as I stormed up the steps. He followed, but I pulled off my shirt. He was right. It was caked in blood and I looked at my bed. It was filthy. I groaned and ripped off all my sheets. In a fit of anger, I threw them in the hall, but it hit him. He tumbled to the floor, and I yelped. I bent over him, my eyes full of worry.
“Oh my god. I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to do that. Or not to you. I meant to throw those on the floor.”
His eyes looked at my chest. “You have big tits.”
I groaned and moved more blankets over his face. “How are you, a plant dude pumpkin man, and tell me about my tits?”
The creature stood up. The air felt electrified as something grabbed my wrists and torso and pushed me into the wall. I breathed through my nose as panic and a slight rush of arousal swirled through me. The pumpkin man stood up, his head tilted as he looked at me. I looked at my arms and saw pumpkin vines crawling up my arms. “It was a statement. An observation. It’s…curious.”
“You can create vines out of dead air?” I whispered.
A goofy pumpkin smile appeared on his face. “Well, why not? I am born of wild magic.”