Chapter Twenty-Five #2
I reached out for Sprigs and lifted him in my palm. “This is Sprigs. He’s a sentient plant, brought to life by the power of Earth and Spirit magic. He’s my pet.”
“A pet is kind of like a friend,” the girl remarked, her tone sounding a little brighter.
“It is,” I agreed as I stroked Sprig’s head. “He’s a very good companion.”
“I wish I had a friend like him,” the little girl said wistfully. “You seem like you have so many friends.”
“Yeah… I do.” And it was true, because I did. The best friends anyone could ever ask for. I’d been so alone early in life, but I wasn’t alone anymore, because I had my Institute family. They were all I needed.
Sprigs jumped out of my hand and leapt toward the girl. I could feel him with my Earth magic giving her leg a hug. The girl giggled, then Sprigs darted away to lead her to a merry-go-round. The metal creaked as she started spinning him around, and her laughter ignited the skies.
It hit me then. The answer of what I needed to do made me sick to my stomach… but I knew it was the right decision all the same. Sprigs was my very first pet, and had been with me for a while now. He’d survived our escape from the Institute and been a loyal companion during our time in Ilamanthe.
But if I was being honest, I hadn’t been giving Sprigs the attention he deserved since we’d gotten here. I had so many friends in my life, and though I loved Sprigs, I didn’t need him.
Yet this little girl did. She was all alone. And maybe Sprigs needed her, too.
It was hard to let him go, because I’d made him out of my own magic.
But maybe I wasn’t meant to keep everything I made.
I could hear the two of them having the time of their lives on that merry-go-round.
Spring spent most of his days in a pot inside my quarters waiting for me to return, and he didn’t deserve that.
If he was with this little girl, he could run around in nature carefree.
Nobody had bothered to give a friend to the sad little boy I was, and I’d really needed one. But I could fix what no one had done for me through this child. This was my second chance to make things right.
Tears welled in my eyes. “I have to do this,” I whispered, to talk myself through it and promise that I wouldn’t turn around and back down.
“Charlie. Are you sure this is what you want to do?” Kallie questioned.
“I’d do anything for her.”
I walked forward, and Kallie followed me to the merry-go-round. The little girl stopped running, though Sprigs kept spinning around, squealing in glee as the wind moved through his leaves.
I knelt in front of the girl. I cleared my throat so my voice didn’t crack, saying, “Sprigs needs a fresh bowl of water every day to soak in. He likes it warmed by the sun, so it’s best to leave it outside.
He wants the window cracked every morning to let in the fresh air, and he likes to be fed flower petals twice a day. Sunflowers are his favorite.”
“So… I can have him?” she asked hopefully.
“Yes. If you give me back the armband, he’s all yours.”
The girl threw her arms around my neck to hug me. “Oh, thank you, thank you! I’ll take really good care of him. I promise.”
“He needs a friend to play with, too. You can tell him all your secrets, and he’ll never say a word.
If you take care of him well and play with him outside, I promise you two will be the best of friends.
” I sniffed, doing my best to hold it in as I hugged her back. “He’s… he’s a good boy. You’ll see.”
“Trade ya!” She drew away and placed Ava’s armband in my palm. I was glad to have the armband back in my possession, but I was heartbroken to give up Sprigs.
The merry-go-round slowed. Sprigs jumped down, swaying one way and the other like he was dizzy. I plucked him up off the ground, and he steadied in my palm.
“You’re going to live with this child now, Sprigs,” I told him, shattered. “Thank you for being a good friend to me. Now you get to make another one.”
He clapped his leafy hands together in delight. I couldn’t be sure he understood that he wasn’t coming back, but he seemed really happy to have a child to play with. This was the right decision. For him and for her, even if it wasn’t for me.
I placed Sprigs into the little girl’s hand, whispering, “Goodbye, little buddy.”
The girl took off, laughing as Sprigs joined in with a little squeal.
Oberi nudged his nose into my leg. You did the right thing.
I placed Ava’s armband in my pocket to keep it secure. “I know.”
We walked away from the playground, and Kallie laid a hand on my shoulder. “That was the most selfless thing I’ve ever seen you do.”
“Yeah, well.” I wiped my face, not caring she’d seen me cry. “It was for the best. He doesn’t deserve to be locked up in my room all day. He should be free, even if it hurts me to let him go.”
“You’ve really changed, Charlie Wahkin,” Kallie said. “Are you going to be okay?”
I swallowed and cleared my throat. “Sprigs will have a good life with that kid, and I need to be okay with that.”
I forced myself to leave Sprigs behind, turning my attention to other matters.
“Anyway. Thinking about how much I miss him isn’t going to help me move forward.
I just want to focus on getting Ava’s things back.
She said she didn’t need all her old clothes, but I need to get her something, because she can’t keep wearing the same dress every day. ”
Kallie perked up. “Does that mean we’re going shopping?”
“Yes, we’re going shopping.”
Oberi started jumping up and down. Hooray! I can’t wait to help you find all of Ava’s new things!
We headed in the direction of the mall. I needed Kallie’s help to pick out the right clothes for Ava, because I didn’t want to buy anything she didn’t like.
I ran my fingers over the fabric of at least a hundred dresses, knowing the majority of them would bunch and feel uncomfortable in her chair, while Kallie gave commentary on how the color would complement Ava’s skin tone.
My wife needed something soft and unrestrictive.
None of this was working. We went to six different shops and hadn’t found anything suitable.
Unlike before, people were ignoring me in the mall— mostly, because of my bad reputation in throwing that coup, but we couldn’t stay here all day.
I wanted to be waiting for Ava whenever she got back, but at this rate, we hadn’t found a single dress.
“It was easy to shop for her the last time we came here. Why is it so hard now?” I asked, feeling frustrated. If I couldn’t do this for Ava, that threadbare dress would eventually fall off, and she’d be forced to go around naked.
Not a thought that I hated, but I didn’t want to make her feel cold or uncomfortable.
“Because she hadn’t been out of prison in two years and went crazy on a shopping spree, but honestly, most of those clothes she got didn’t fit her well,” Kallie said.
“She struggled to put so many of them on. Most of her choices were stuff she wore before she became paraplegic, so a lot of it didn’t work with her chair.
She hadn’t learned how to shop for her disability yet. ”
I’d noticed. I had helped her dress most days before we’d separated, but since I’d broken our bond, I hadn’t aided her in getting ready once.
Though she’d moved back in, she still wasn’t at a place where she was comfortable with me helping her dress again, and I didn’t want her to feel forced to ask for help, from me or the servants.
She didn’t like people touching her body, and was insanely independent, but at the same time, it was difficult for her to dress herself. We needed a solution to this problem.
“Is there an easier way that Ava can get dressed without having to deal with all these complicated outfits?” I asked Kallie as we waited in line at a local coffee bar. Ava could slip stuff over her head, but pulling on pants was all but impossible for her without help.
“There must be.” Kallie grabbed her drink. I went to leave, but she snagged me by the jacket and held me in place. “Wait.”
What exactly were we standing around for? I waited for something to happen, but wasn’t expecting it when she shoved a cold drink into my hands. “Here.”
I blinked. “You didn’t have to—”
“Shut up, because I did. Just drink it.”
I took a sip, and my eyes widened. “You remembered my coffee order.”
“Of course I do. Tall iced, half cut with milk, three pumps of vanilla syrup. I always picked up the same thing from Commissary before group therapy every week, and you never changed it, not even when we got to Ilamanthe.”
I was touched she'd remembered. Ava used to make my coffee every morning, but this was different. “I don’t like fancy shit.”
“I know you don’t.”
“Do you still get a latte, with brown sugar and salted caramel?” I knew her coffee order, too.
Kallie became hesitant. “I… I switched to matcha after the coup happened. I don’t know. It didn’t taste the same after we stopped talking. And coffee puts me off ever since the Dollmaker used it to poison me. I kind of avoid it now.”
My heart dropped. “Oh.”
“But I got it this time. Because I’m with you.” Kallie swished her coffee, shaking the ice. “Come on. Let’s try one more place.”
She took me to a boutique near the edge of the mall. It sounded pretty empty. “Where are we?” I asked Kallie.
“It’s an adaptive clothing store,” she explained. “We’re idiots. We should’ve come here first.”
“Is Ava going to like anything here?” Adaptive clothing was one thing, but if it was ugly, she’d refuse to put it on. I knew her.
“It’s all couture, custom-made. She’ll like it.”
That also meant it was ridiculously expensive, but I didn’t care. Anything for my pidge.
We started looking through items. Oberi stuck his head into a rack of clothing and refused to pull it out, his tail smacking against my leg.
“So what makes it adaptive?” I wondered.