Chapter 11
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Cole’s legs dangled over the edge of the nest. The view was amazing. He thought the view from his deck was great, but this was something else. He wanted to wake up and feel like the entire world was his, not only the valley beneath. That everything was possible, at least until reality set in.
The nest itself was ingenious. Not round like a bird’s nest was in picture books.
But as Akai had described it, a semi-enclosed hammock, supported by two branches, and capped by a third.
There were more branches overhead, meaning that the nest itself was still partially hidden from above, and it wasn’t the tallest tree either.
Inside the nest, there was a blanket to keep things cozy.
If the weather were particularly bad, maybe Akai retreated to the abandoned mine.
“Are you ever coming down?” Akai called, sounding more than a little concerned.
Cole smiled, feeling more relaxed than he had in weeks…
perhaps longer. Maybe it was because he was so high that the problems that affected him on the ground no longer mattered.
He wouldn’t have said the car accident had taken away his fear of death, but something about it had changed something within him.
He didn’t go chasing danger, and he wasn’t reckless… but he craved space.
When he’d been seeing a therapist, he hadn’t been able to describe what that feeling was, only that there was a part of him that wanted something else.
He’d mostly found it on the land and while building his cabin.
Far enough away from civilization and humans that he could forget about the things he needed to do and simply exist.
But what was the point of existence?
That was something he’d never been able to answer.
He was sure plenty of people would say it was family and work and making the world a better place…
and maybe they were right, and he was broken or something because those things weren’t fulfilling.
He wasn’t even sure football had been fulfilling; it had simply been way out.
Though he’d said things like opportunities and education when he really meant escape.
Now he knew where the nest was, there was nothing stopping him from returning to the ground. Aside from the fact that he was in Akai’s nest. Was it his home? Where did he cook? The nest was closer to a swag or a one-man tent up in the trees.
“Are you stuck? Do I need to come up and get you?” Akai’s voice filtered through the branches and leaves.
“I’m coming down. I was admiring the view and then the construction.
” Both of which were true. He had stopped contemplating how he ended up stitching a monster’s wounds and offering him a place to stay.
Somehow, both of those things seemed far more normal in daylight.
Like it was something he’d been waiting for without realizing.
Perhaps he should be more concerned about how normal this was feeling. Not wanting Akai to attempt climbing or to spend any more time thinking, he began the climb down, which took longer than going up.
By the time he made it to the ground, he was sweating and thirsty.
Akai threw his arms around him and almost lifted him off the ground. “I was worried.”
“I’m okay.”
Akai set him down, his nose twitching as he studied him.
He used the edge of his shirt to wipe his forehead. “Nice nest.”
Akai frowned but didn’t take his eyes off him. “Yes.”
“Don’t worry, I’m not going to move in.”
“I wasn’t worried about that.”
“Sure, you look very worried.”
“I didn’t want you to die.” He shrugged and winced. “Can we go back to the cabin now? I’d like to lie down.”
Cole’s gaze flicked over him. For whatever reason, Akai wasn’t being truthful. “Sure. I could do with a drink.”
They began walking back to the cabin in silence, which was also unusual as Akai was usually quite chatty. Halfway there, it was clear Akai was struggling to carry the large backpack. The smaller one he’d clipped around his waist. Maybe his injuries were hurting more than he let on.
“I can carry that for you.” Cole held out his hand.
“It is heavy for a human.”
“I know…I lowered it down from the nest. I’m not going to run away with all your gold.”
Akai managed a small smile. “I’m not used to having help.”
“You’ve been on your own since…”
“Yes.”
“What about your uncle? I thought he was the local legend?”
Akai gave a small laugh. “He is. But he moved down to Mexico when I was about five. He met another harpy from there and decided that he could do with a warmer climate. My parents remained broadly in the area until ten years ago, then they also moved south. I think they expected me to move south after my sister’s murder, but this has been my family’s area for generations, and if I leave, then someone else will take it over.
Besides, I know where all the best mines are and what they produce. I also have friends.”
“Other harpies?” He used Akai’s name for his people.
“Some of them are…but there are a bunch of other monsters too. You’ve already guessed that.”
“I had. I was just fishing. So all those urban myths are true. Bigfoot is out there.”
Akai nodded. “More than one. And other kinds.”
“So when you’ve healed up a bit, you’ll go and stay with one of them?”
“Are you worried I will leave your cabin?”
“I’ve never had anyone here before. I’m kind of enjoying it. Especially because you also like staring at the sky and the valley. And I guess we have a shared traumatic event.”
“Two…don’t forget you shot me.”
“Oh my god. That is at least partly your fault because wolves aren’t meant to fly.”
Akai laughed. “Agreed, it is partly my fault. Perhaps I should have approached you like this…you wouldn’t have shot me, would you?”
Cole wanted to agree that he definitely wouldn’t have shot Akai if he had walked out of the shadows looking like an oversized moth.
But he couldn’t. Because he didn’t know what he would’ve done.
“I hope I wouldn’t have. But I don’t know.
Maybe I would’ve panicked and run for the house. Then you could’ve eaten all my dinner.”
“And I would have watched the meteor shower on my own, which would have been sad.”
Cole nodded, the bag becoming heavy in his arms. “So fate brought us back together because we have issues and spend too much time alone.”
“I don’t have issues,” Akai said confidently.
“You have been spying on me for years.”
“I have been watching over you. You might have hurt yourself up here all by yourself. What if you had fallen while building the cabin?”
That had been his mother’s fear as well, and while he had understood it, he needed to get away from his family. He needed to do something on his own to prove that he still had his own life. “I guess I would have called for help and done the best I could.”
“And if you couldn’t call?”
“Aren’t you a little ray of sunshine?”
“No, I prefer being a moonbeam.”
Cole shook his head and smothered a laugh. It shouldn’t be so easy to talk to a monster. They reached the clearing, and he put the bag down. “How do you fly carrying this?”
“That is my maximum weight, more than that and I cannot go very far, a hundred yards maybe.” Akai crouched next to the bag. “Would you like to see what I make?”
Cole’s stomach turned as he remembered his cousin showing him some jewelry that he’d stolen. He nodded, unable to speak.
Akai opened the bag and rummaged around, pulling out several cloth-wrapped bundles before deciding which one to unwrap. Neatly laid out inside the cloth were a dozen charms made of precious stone, gold, and silver.
“They are for wearing on a chain or a piece of leather.” He picked up one that gleamed red like his eyes. “Humans like jewelry as much as monsters.”
“We do.”
“Choose one as a thank you for helping when another man would have killed me, regardless of how I looked.”
“You can’t thank me for not killing you. That seems wrong.” Especially when Akai could’ve left him on the road to bleed out.
“Would you consider it payment for allowing me to stay in your cabin while I cannot fly?”
“That seems more reasonable.” He looked at the pendants and then at Akai. “Are you sure they aren’t cursed?”
“They are not cursed or charmed. If you would like that, I will need to speak to someone. It is not often we give humans items imbued with magic.”
“Oh, so now monsters and magic are real?”
Akai smiled, revealing his pointy teeth. “Is that hard to believe?”
If he could believe in monsters, believing in magic should be easy.
“It’s probably best that I don’t have anything magical.
That seems like it might lead to complications.
” At this point in time, the last thing he needed was more complications.
“Since you made these and are the expert, do you have a recommendation or a favorite?” He didn’t wear jewelry.
But looking at these pieces, maybe he should start.
“Blue tourmaline to match your eyes. I also particularly like the way the gold wraps around the stone. It kind of looks like claws.” He tilted the offering, letting it catch in the light.
The stone did look like it was being held by two claws. “You didn’t plan that?”
“No, I don’t plan any of them. I start working and see where the metal and stone take me.”
“So you work on vibes?”
“I prefer to think of it as the metal and stone talking to me. Why would I force them to be something they don’t want to be?”
“So when you pick up a stone, you know if you’re going to turn it into a pendant or a bracelet or something?”
“I knew when I placed that shiny rock on top of the pile that you would return and pick it up.”
“What makes you think it was me who picked it up?”
“I was up before you this morning, and I saw it on the bedsheets, which means you were holding it at some point last night.” His lips curved. “The stone wanted to be found.”
And now it lived in his pocket. Did he also want to be found? Was that what had drawn him to this piece of land?