Chapter Thirty
CHAPTER THIRTY
Iona hated being in the car.
She found she hated it even more as it traveled faster, the wide expanse of pavement before them filling up with other cars. The nausea had settled somewhat as she grew used to the sensation, but still she gripped the rubber handle on the door beside her. Though she trusted Liam’s driving, it was not her preferred method of travel.
The only thing that made the travel bearable was the sights along their journey. Iona had never been beyond the edges of the valley, and the excitement made her eyes wide as they passed by human towns and cities that grew larger as they went. She would ask questions, and Liam would answer them with a warm laugh that set her heart ablaze. She loved when he laughed, even if it was likely at her silly questions.
Tove, who sat quietly in the back seat, was less amazed. She’d seemed suspiciously comfortable, in the car, and Iona figured it was not her first time traveling through the towns and cities that bordered their forests. Or perhaps it was the nerves eating at her.
It had taken just over a week for Liam’s ailment to subside enough to drive. He’d settled matters with his family, stalling the sale of the house for another few months until he could figure out a plan to afford it. Iona did not think he’d figured out a solution, but he missed his dog terribly, and the clothes he’d brought for the short term would not do for the winter, which was fast approaching. Now, he was bringing Iona with him to visit his apartment, and show her the city.
But first, they had another stop to make.
They arrived at the apartment complex in the early afternoon. Liam had not told his parents that Tove was coming with him, only that he was stopping by on his way back to Seattle, and wanted to introduce Iona to them. He’d spoken of her as his girlfriend, which made both him and Iona blush deeply. The butterflies in her own stomach were likely eclipsed by Tove’s, who had not spoken a word since they left the borders of the valley behind. It was jarring to see her Elder in such a state, and the effect was unsettling. Liam, however, looked unbothered as they took the stairs up a few flights to the apartment his parents shared.
Tove hung back from the doorway. She’d hidden her impressive horns, though her hair was still its usual ruby red, and the tone of her skin had lost its green tint. The sight was so unusual Iona would have giggled if the stress weren’t radiating off of her. She nearly recoiled as Liam knocked on the door.
“Just a moment!” a woman’s voice sang from inside.
Then the door swung open, and Liam’s mother stood in the doorway. Iona’s heart pinched at Maggie’s features, so like the ones that Tove and Liam shared. But what truly captured her attention was the sweet and genuine smile that adorned the woman’s face. Her gaze swept over Liam to land on Iona, and her smile widened.
“You must be Iona,” she said warmly in her musical voice. “Come in!”
She ushered the two inside before stopping dead in her tracks, as she caught Tove standing behind them.
It was strange to see the two side by side. Tove had always appeared older to Iona, her face marked by time in some of the same ways the humans were. It was easier to tell, in her human guise, but she hardly looked older than Liam. Next to Maggie, Tove could have been her daughter, rather than the inverse.
“Oh,” Maggie breathed, and her words were stopped short. The expression she wore as she took in the sight of her long-lost mother was indecipherable. They stood frozen for a moment, before another male voice called from within the apartment.
“Who is it?” Liam’s father’s voice sounded, and he walked up towards the door. Iona noticed immediately the way his eyes focused vaguely, not quite looking in the right place. His face wrinkled with frustration at the silence, and Iona felt a pang of sympathy.
“It’s Tove,” Maggie said without turning from the Acernae who stood before her. “It’s my mother.”
“Maggie,” Tove started, shifting uncomfortably where she stood in the hall. “I—”
But her words were cut off, as Maggie rushed forward and threw her arms around Tove. Tove looked rather alarmed before sinking into the embrace. A startled sob escaped her, and the two were both immediately in tears.
“What’s going on?” Liam’s father asked impatiently, and Maggie only laughed.
“I guess we should all go inside, then.”
So they all followed Maggie into the apartment, which was filled with all the love and personality the cabin had before Liam cleaned it out. Plants spilled over every surface, their leaves thriving in the warm and tender care of Maggie, no doubt aided by her Acernae blood.
Once inside, Tove and Iona both shook away the prickly illusion, and revealed themselves in full. Maggie smiled then, and Iona worried the hair around her horns, making sure it fell flat.
Liam’s parents had been told, of course, about the confrontation between Liam and Andrew, and of the head injury that had rendered Liam bedridden a week. After fussing over him for the appropriate amount of time, they both listened with tense postures as the tale of the confrontation was recounted. Iona expected them to scold him for the rashness of his actions, but neither seemed upset. Concerned on his behalf, perhaps, but not bothered. In fact, both seemed proud of Liam for his attempt at fighting for his beliefs.
The conversation turned, at that point, to Liam’s admission that he’d left his Seattle job, and was unsure of his plans moving forward. Iona did not miss the embarrassment he seemed to feel at this, the belief that he was letting them down somehow.
Maggie didn’t miss it either .
“We meant it, when we said we don’t care what you do in life so long as your happy,” she told him. “And, truth be told… you’d never seemed all that happy, working in that place. We’ll support you no matter what you chose.”
“I’m working on a plan, to pay for everything, now that we aren’t selling the house,” Liam told them, the guilt still clearly weighing on him.
“Something will work itself out,” Maggie told him, unbothered by the truth of the situation.
From there, the conversation turned to Iona, a fact which made her rather embarrassed. She did not have the accomplishments that Liam did, having spent her life among the trees in the valley, but that did not discourage the interest Liam’s parents had in her. She spoke to them of her life, the books she had read and of her friends.
Then a strange quiet fell among them. Tove had said little throughout most of the conversation, and the weight of the unspoken history between her and Maggie snuffed out any further conversation.
Iona turned to Liam, who sat next to her on the sofa with his arm around her shoulder, and gave him a pointed look. He nodded slightly, then moved to stand.
“Well, Iona and I are taking the ferry over to Seattle, to pick up Maple and a few things from the apartment. I figured you all had a lot of catching up to do, so we’ll come by later?”
Maggie looked carefully between Tove and Liam, before smiling in a slow and tentative way. “Alright, that sounds lovely. Tell your friends I say hello.”
***
Iona and Liam extricated themselves with little fuss, and Iona was relieved to be gone before the conversation grew too serious. Then they took what Liam had described as a Ferry across the water, and Iona adored the experience.
The city rose up over the horizon as the sun was setting, and it was even more beautiful and imposing than she’d imagined. Like the trees in the forest, tall buildings of sleek glass and concrete towered over them. Iona looked up at them in awe. There were so many people moving about—more than Iona had seen in her entire life. Liam drove with confidence through the busy streets as cars moved chaotically around them. He must have sensed her unease, as he threaded his fingers through hers, squeezing her hand gently in reassurance.
He explained things as they drove, landmarks and the history of the city, and Iona was thrilled by all of it, even if she didn’t understand it all. Her world suddenly felt so much larger.
They traveled north, along busy roads and over a bridge that lifted upwards to allow boats to pass beneath it, before arriving at the apartment Liam shared with Annie and Zev.
Maple greeted them at the door, thrilled to see Liam again, unable to contain her excitement as she jumped up at him. He crouched low, speaking to her in a pitched up voice and receiving licks to the face in return. Maple was just as happy to see Iona, though their time together had been relatively short. Once she had finished with Liam, she came to inspect Iona.
“Glad to see you didn’t get yourself shot,” Zev’s cheerful voice called from down the hall. Then there was a whooshing sound of air and a whack. “Ow, what was that for?” Zev demanded, and Annie laughed.
Liam led them down the hall, which opened to a small but comfortable living room, where Zev and Annie both sat on the couch, a picture frozen on the TV in front of them.
“We didn’t think you would get yourself killed, just to be clear,” Annie assured. Zev snickered, discretely passing what looked like folded cash to Annie.
“Thanks for the vote of confidence,” Liam said, but he rolled his eyes and didn’t suppress the smirk.
He sat on an armchair, pulling Iona onto his lap and curling an arm around her out of habit. She’d grown accustomed to his small touches, the careful attention he kept on her while they were together, just as affectionate as he’d been that first time in the cabin. She stayed there, in his arms, while he recounted again the story of his confrontation with Andrew, and the punishment which Tove wrought upon him.
“Wait, so he’s like, tied to the tree now?” Zev asked, both intrigued and horrified.
“Yes,” Iona answered. “His life force is tied to that fir tree, as ours are to our maples. But it is more than that, really. He will feel, as we all do, the suffering of the forest. I imagine it would be rather unpleasant.”
“That’s wicked.”
“And a rather fitting punishment, really,” Annie said. “And the news story? Are you still going to publish it?”
“No,” Liam answered. “I think Andrew has suffered enough. Besides, if anyone can keep him in line it’ll be Eli and Tove. I wouldn’t want to cross her twice.”
Then Annie leaned forward with an intensity about her that wasn’t there a moment ago. “And what about you, Liam? What are you going to do now? I assume we’re going to be looking for a new roommate.”
Liam’s face reddened, and he nodded. “I’m going to take care of the house out there. It’s been in the family a long time, and it should stay that way.” He paused, clearing his throat and looked over at Iona. “I met a ranger, during this whole situation, with the National Park Service. I thought I might talk to her about a job in the park. Or maybe I’ll work at the fish hatchery, like my dad did. While I figure out this power I have, I might as well put it to some use, I guess.”
“Oh, Liam that’s a great idea,” Annie said, beaming at them.
“Not that it would pay anywhere near as much as the lab did, but things are cheaper out there, and I’d get to spend a lot of time out in the valley. I always liked the field work and it feels… right.” Liam’s eyes had gone a little distant, and Iona felt her affection for him surging. He hadn’t lied to her about building a life in the valley, and he’d followed through with that promise.
Zev cleared their throat, raising a pointed brow eyebrow at Annie. It was her turn to blush. “Just tell him,” Zev urged at her hesitation.
“I meant to tell you a little while ago, but then with the concussion and everything… well, I hope you don’t mind. I borrowed a few of your old sketchbooks and sent them off to a friend of mine at a non-fiction publishing house.” Annie wrung her hands together. “Well, she loved them, said they were incredible and very charming. She wants to release a field guide with your sketches and annotations. ”
Liam stared at her a moment, mouth hanging open. “They’re just some doodles, really. Nothing worth publishing. That’s ridiculous.”
“No, it’s true! They’re incredible drawings, Liam. The advance isn’t massive or anything, but it would help pay for the cabin, and your parent’s place and everything. She’s got some contacts too, if you ever wanted to do illustrations for children's books or things like that. You could do it from the valley, while working, if you wanted to.”
Liam seemed too stunned to speak, pausing long enough for Annie to worry.
“I mean, if you don’t want to share your work too, I’d understand…”
“No! Annie, I mean. It’s just surreal. I never thought there could be any money in art for me. It was a stupid little hobby.”
“I’ve been trying to tell you this for years, idiot. You could do so many things, other than slave away in the lab all the time,” Zev chimed in.
The conversation moved on from there, while the three of them discussed the logistics of Liam moving and the next few weeks to come. Iona sat contentedly in his arms, listening idly and studying the things scattered about the apartment. After a while, she stood, drifting around the place as she had the cabin, the first time she’d seen it—but the apartment was something else entirely. The TV was on, though it made no sound, and Iona was captured by the images that flashed across the screen. The three of them owned more books than Iona knew existed, and she ran a finger across their spines. Each discovery was a small treat, a glimpse into the life of the humans she had never known before.
Her name dragged her back into the present moment.
“Iona, you ready to go?” Liam asked.
“Where are we going?” she asked, already excited.
“Well I heard you liked beer, and Seattle has a lot of it. Zev’s going to take us on a little tour. We’ve got a few hours before we need to get going back. I thought you might want to see more of the city.”
Iona looked back at him, a beaming smile spread across her face. She nodded enthusiastically .
The smile faded a bit as he pulled a knit hat from a nearby shelf, laying it carefully over her horns and her pointed ears. It was more comfortable, for long periods of time than magic, and the warmth was nice, but she never liked hiding herself this way. She supposed, if it meant getting to explore the human city at Liam’s side, she found she would tolerate worse discomforts.
He squeezed her hand as they stepped out into the bustling streets of the city.