Hunted|Haunted - Chapter 28 - Home.

With a child in the car, the mistress turned into a model driver, turning and stopping so gently that it wouldn’t be that uncomfortable to have tea in the backseat.

 

— I’m not a child — Nex grumbled.

— If I look in your mouth, will I see wisdom teeth there?

…

— Neven, did you think he’s an adult because he’s tall?

— … I might-

— Neven, that’s not how it works in humans. Not at all.

 

Nex almost choked on his yawn, desperately trying not to fall asleep. Might as well add to the conversation.

 

— Ex-cuse me? I’m taller than some adult humans.

— So you, as a human, agree that for you, height has nothing to do with age?

— Please stop digging me deeper into the ditch, I know I messed up — Neven pleaded.

— I mean. — The second yawn was suppressed successfully, and Nex continued. — The fact that you know it now doesn’t make it less mind-boggling. I could understand that you thought I’m adult because how I act, not that I’m tall.

— It’s an easier mistake to make than you think. You can pretty accurately tell if a witch is an adult just from the height. We generally come with less size variation. — Imeje added.

 

Imeje beeped to a passing car, then waved.

 

— Do your parents know you’re having an adventure?

— They’re in Nunya somewhere, not that I care at all.

— Whatever other legal guardians?

— I’m my own “legal guardian”.

— Great. Then you’re not leaving until I say you can.

— Doesn’t that constitute a kidnapping?

— Well, I don’t know, but taking Toma to two different countries without my knowledge or permission is. But we aren’t snitches, are we? — Imeje said in a tone that implied Nex by far wouldn’t be the first corpse she made disappear.

— Didn’t I already say that it was I who was kidnapped?

— By a child with mostly milk teeth and a ghost of a man who doesn’t exist?

— Both have magic and can do some nasty shit pretty fast. I had a gun, caffeine with blood in it and no written will. — Nex snorted quietly. Then grumbled. — Kidding, but only partly.

— I assure you, I do exist. — Neven added.

— Oh, really? Show me your birth certificate. Or a medical card. A single photo where your face is recognisable. Show me a person not from the Order who can confirm they know you exist.

— Or give me more than one instance of there being a civil witness to you ever living, works as well. — Nexa noticed Imeje giving him a side-eye in the backview mirror and shrugged. — I mean, come on. If we’re talking documents, then I join the dog ghost.

— Which one? — With two ghosts that were both partially dogs, it was an important distinction.

— The bloody liar?

— Well… I wouldn’t call Neven a liar, per se.

— I’d rather you not call me that at all. — Neven said.

— It’s not really lying if you don’t know any better. But I will call you many other wonderful names.

— Not knowing doesn’t absolve shit, and all that. — Nexialist rolled his eyes behind his mask. Yeah, who’s here to talk, the one who knows, and still looks for adventures on his arse?

— I never said he wasn’t, just that I wouldn’t call him that. I also wouldn’t call him a soldier.

— … What?! — Behind Neven’s shock, you could hear Tove chuckling. Seems “what” really is his universal response.

— You never enlisted, how can you be a soldier then?

 

Nex let out a quiet snort. He kind of enjoyed Neven being berated.

 

— Still, I have a feeling this was planned at least partially. Neven, did you know Toma was planning to run away?

— I may or may not have been informed.

— And why didn’t you tell?

— Khastana’s promise.

— … Do the Lowac uhh… Think it’s like… a real thing? — Imeje was completely stumped.

 

The silence itself got uncomfortable, and left, being replaced by the noise of traffic.

 

— I may or may not have been misinformed.

— That’s a thing children do. It holds about as much power as any other conditional curse made by a child. I’d say that you’re silly, but now I remembered what set of people you grew up around, and honestly, their Khastana’s probably could rip your head off. Also, don’t tell me how long you knew. I’d rather not be shocked behind the wheel.

 

Toma finally gathered enough bravery to ask.

 

— Will you make me wear the cone?

— Rules are rules, kid. We agreed that if you do something you were supposed to ask permission for, you’d have to wear the cone. Cone for a week, math for a month. If you write me a letter about why running away was wrong, you’ll get a week less of math.

— Can I get a week less of the cone?

— No.

— Okay…

— Listen, I’m not angry at you. Rules are rules. I am, however, angry at your gang.

— Please don’t be mean to Nex, he’s trying his best.

— I will be mean, unfortunately. To him and Neven especially. Between the two of you, is there at least half of a good explanation why you didn’t take a runaway child to a police station?

— Nex is a wanted fugitive.

 

Nex frowned beneath the mask.

 

— I’d rather kill fifteen Jakes with a spoon again, thanks.

— Okay, no police then. Why didn’t you take Toma to the post office? A hospital? Fire station? Why didn’t you leave him with a guard at a supermarket, or with a lollipop lady? Or with any old lady? Or with a savvi commune, you had to have run in with at least one to have a savshque with you.

— Oi, we met at a gig in a sealed tunnel at a service station some hours off Woodmur.

— Oh, was your pack not there then?

— It was.

— Then what was the problem?

— Mainly, the gun in his pocket.

 

Imeje groaned. Nex just raised his hands.

 

— Also, in my defence, not only am I a wanted terrorist on both sides of the law, but I also have a lot of doubt in people around Nario in general. — Yeah. Child trafficking, human trafficking, drug dealers, organ harvesters… What type of criminals wouldn’t be interested in an impressionable and naive child whom Toma had been? — And a particular doubt that a runaway kid would be interesting to anyone besides all the wrong folks. Been there, done that. Like, don’t get me wrong, all those are valid options, in hindsight… But, our first meeting with Toma was me scaring off a group of four chavs that was mugging him. Add to that the fact that he can’t sit in one place for the love of any gods longer than a few minutes.

— Defence accepted. Why not walk in circles, why not stall for half an hour for me to catch up?... That goes to Harvey, mostly. I know you wouldn’t have gone that far without him telling you where to go.

— After hearing from your kid and Neven, some interesting facts about you, and receiving your message? I’m one stubborn rat that very much likes to live.

— … Did Neven tell you how I double slugged his arm off or…?

— He said enough without mentioning that.

— Did he mention that what I did to him was in the context of me trying to prevent him from murdering people? Because he obeyed anything the Order told him to do without question? Including murder, but mostly murder?

— …That was something he kinda omitted in his description.

— In my defence, you did hit me with a shovel on sight more times than you greeted me.

— How about you don’t remove the context from that either? — Classic. Well, if Neven really couldn’t distinguish when the context mattered, that would explain some things. — The thing on your arm, is it still there?

— …Let me check real quick.

 

Nex lifted the poncho to check his forearm and blinked, staring at the clear skin.

 

— Huh.

— It’s nothing serious, a minor kuzha bait, should’ve dissolved by now. You know what kuzhas are? Those small pink imps usually circle around drunk folks. They’re harmless, just make you have bad ideas. Figured that if you thought taking Toma further away was a good idea, a couple of kuzhas would convince you otherwise.

— …Yeah, there were a few moments. Guess my fear of you was stronger.

— Can’t say it wasn’t warranted, I am feared by many. Supposedly even by a Duke of Hell… And no, I do not know “your name”. It’s not needed for something like that, so I didn’t bother finding out.

— …You could?

— Would you like to check?

— I’m kinda curious, and too tired to be terrified.

— If I have time this week, then you’ll get the sign soon. I did that because I figured that if you were a kidnapper, that would be enough for you to ditch the kid for easier prey. But then you met Harvey. Dumbass… What was stopping him from making a call?

— No idea. The fact that you are a terrifying woman?

— Harvey is only afraid of the idea of Neven.

— I think he lost his numbers or something? — Tove intervened.

— Let me get this straight, you can remember everything but names? — Wrench added.

— Pretty much, brother gears.

— Cogs.

— Hey, that was closer than usual.

— Why did you name yourself that? — Imeje asked.

— Kind of a gang name, I guess. One – if our Carvington neighbours knew my real name, I’d be a goner. Two – I fix stuff and am good at handling machines, so it kinda stuck since.

 

Nex bristled.

 

— Honestly, not the kind of answer I expected, but by far not the oddest name I saw. Last month, I organised the burial of a man named Pubert. Anyway, you probably shouldn’t tell Nana that. She’s very opposed to people being named… anything that’s not a name somewhere in print.

— You hadn’t heard my brother’s then.

— Surprise me.

— This distinguished gentleman, sitting in your car and wanted for violation of at least twenty different laws, called himself Nexialist, as soon as he moved to Nario.

 

Imeje tried her best not to show what she thought about the name on her face. Her best wasn’t enough. Nex crossed his arms, clearly frowning under the dog mask that he still refused to take off.

 

— … Like the phone?

— Before the phone.

— Sweetheart. It’s been named that since the 30’s.

— It was supposed to be a joke. I’m an info-broker. I connect people. And you, — He pointed angrily at the radio, — are supposed to be on my side!

 

Cogs just laughed, causing the radio to go up in static.

 

— Yeah, you’re not an adult. You can’t argue that anymore.

— I’m an adult in all the ways that matter!

— I’d rather not ask what you even mean by this.

— And I’d rather not answer that question even at gunpoint. Wow. We’ve found some common ground.

— Don’t push it, Nex. Common ground is a very thin plot of land.

— Not pushing anything yet. — Nex grumbled under his breath and huddled slightly on himself, staring at the window as if it had offended him personally.

 

“I’m so not looking toward that stage”, – Imeje thought. The optimistic side of her hoped Toma would get obsessed with raising shrimp instead of trying to seem adult. It seemed it would go that way, as Toma grew bored of listening to adults bicker, and picked up one of his busy books stored in the car.

 

— Now that we’re done with you, next one in line…. Neven, what happened to you? You were doing fine for 4 years, what’s with the sudden need to go ordeneering? And what happened to you supposedly not being able to go too far away from Toma?

— I don't think that was a condition ever since I possessed the toy, and that was by far not the only thing I possessed since we last met.

— And you didn't think to update me on that?

— Also, his soul got crushed, kinda. — Tove added.

— WHAT?

— It’s fine, I put it back together, you felt better after, and you’re not crumbling anymore.

— … And how the actual hell did you do that? — Imeje asked.

— With some spit and a “razor tornado” patch.

— ..Huh

— That’s all your reaction?! — Neven sounded to be in desperate need of a cigarette.

— Oh, it makes sense. Savtktani souls are solid metal cores, no layers. Tove’s a savshque, so she went to that side and came back. So, she has one unsolidified layer on. Demons use stuff like that to glue souls back together. And, well, I only saw what that looks like when both the donor and the patient souls are dormant, but I guess if they weren’t, that’s how it would look. You really should ask Krsto to explain soul stuff. He understands more of it than I do. Anything else I should know about?

— I might’ve merged souls with my familiar.

— Is that why you turn into a coyote sometimes?

— I think so.

— If you’re sometimes a coyote but think like Neven, are you sometimes Neven who thinks like a coyote? — Toma said, not pulling much attention from a labyrinth he was solving.

— I… uh….

 

The proceeded astonishment made the radio briefly turn off.

 

— Answer the question, Neven. — Imeje had the expression of someone fighting their dog to give back their slipper.

 

The radio signal consisted of Tove laughing her ass off, and Cogs trying to make the radio’s machine spirit stop following her suit.

 

— Neven, answer the question. Did I become friends with you or with Snorks?

— I don’t know!

— Your coyote name is Snorks? — That information did little to calm Tove down.

— Well, she heard it more than her name, so she started responding to that…

— That doesn’t sound better than calling yourself “Coyote”. — Nex muttered, finally blinking off the confusion. — I don’t even know what to say. Was it you who “hired” me, or was it your dog?

— Probably me, I doubt she could make sense of money.

— How much? — Imeje asked Nex.

— What?

— How much did Neven promise you?

— A golden coin and “a lot more where that came from”. Also promised not to turn me into a holebowl.

— If I give you half a grand, will you keep quiet about… the family business, so to speak?

— Hm! — Nex coughed, clearly not expecting that question. That is to say, he thought fast, because he then answered. — Deal. If you have that much money to give out, I mean… sure.

— Don't count my money, kid.

— I didn’t, — Nex immediately raised his hand in a “calm down” gesture. — Just surprised that not only am I still alive, but also I’m getting hazard pay out of this mess. Don’t think I’m not grateful.

— It wouldn’t be right to leave you with no pay if you were hired. I've thought of something. Tove, do you perhaps have a mohawk and a scar across your face?

— Sure do.

— Are you perhaps a wooaqchi then?

— Sure am.

— Do you mind translating for those not in the know? — Nex asked.

— So, savtkani have roles in their packs. It's very important for them. A wooaqchi is like a bouncer in a club. Their role is to be intimidating and to pick out troublemakers that might bother the pack. The rest will usually act like they can’t do anything about it, but really, a wooaqchi isn’t that high in the ladder. So, knowing what aura Neven has about him, I figured Tove probably at least put him in a hold. Did I guess?

— Tove broke my ribs.

— You took off with my head, so I'd say we're even.

 

Imeje thought for a bit.

 

— Did you start to lose it afterwards?

 

The radio shut off again.

 

— Well, now you know that this kind of thing makes souls crack. Don't do that again.

 

What noise came out of the radio could only be described as a jaguar attempting to make a moose take particularly disgusting vitamins. Imeje lowered the volume.

Now, with the more important questions out of the way, and with them being quite stuck in the traffic, the conversation became more relaxed.

 

— Have you seen anything interesting?

 

After a brief, and rather frantic, retelling of events, Toma dozed off.

Good, he could use a nap after all this.

 

— Are you goth because you work graveyards, or do you work graveyards because you're goth? — Cogs finally managed to get it through the hellish noises of the radio.

— I'm goth because it's fun, and I already have things for it.

— You just casually have stuff like that?

— I just dyed a bunch of my mum's old dresses black. And, well, after this much time of having to perform a funeral every other week, most of your wardrobe is either black formal or shovel time overalls.

— So you are goth because you work graveyards.

— When I became goth, my job was mainly painting for advertisements.

 

Imeje took a couple of sharp turns.

 

— Why are you calling Tove a… sash-que? — Nexa asked another question.

— Wait, does savshque not mean “ghost”? — Tove continued the question. Whatever commotion was happening between ghosts more or less subsided.

— Not exactly, ghosts can't become physical out of sheer willpower. Only if they are angry enough to become a poltergeist, but somehow aren't angry enough from the get-go to be a wraith. People become ghosts because they have unfinished business or can't let something go. It's enough for them to be convinced they have to be here. Now, for savshi to be here, they have to first convince Hilthbenqe they have a good reason, and second, prove to Hilthbenqe they are strong enough to do whatever it is they find necessary. Oftentimes, it's the last capable adult around asking to come back to protect the rest.

— I guess that explains why y’all ghosts are weird, if y’all got it easy. Y’all don’t even fight a dude twice your size.

— I’d prefer that, can you imagine how hard the Constructor is to convince?

 

Neven found himself feeling better about having Tove rescue him from the temple. It seems, otherwise, Tove would’ve just found another reason to fight something multiple times her size.

 

— Are you really Iouwan? — Tove asked.

— I said that to throw him off his game, but I did take a class on it.

 

After multiple boring hours, they stopped at a petrol station.

 

— Are you awake there?

— …No. — Nex mumbled.

— Come on, let’s grab something to eat. It’ll be a while till we get home.

 

Nex went to get his usual – an energy drink of who knows which brand, but as soon as he did it, he heard Imeje say.

 

— If you pick an option that’s actual food, I’ll pay for it.

 

Nex stays still for a moment, then reluctantly puts the energy drink back and picks a sandwich and a juice box. Imeje also gave him a pack of crackers and a yoghurt.

Nokk got two sandwiches and a bottle of water. After quite a bit of shaking, Toma was also awoken for snack time. More or less, anyway.

 

— I’m going to use the payphone. Do you need to call anyone?

— …Oh. You betcha. I need to call Bond, at least to tell her not to go on a rampage looking for me. Somehow, I have zero doubt that otherwise she’ll do it.

 

Imeje handed him some change and went to call home. First, they were happy Toma was found. Then, confused Krsto was found. The fact that he was alive at all seemed to completely overshadow the fact that Imeje was bringing 2 strangers with her.

 

Nexa managed to get through to Bond shortly afterwards. The ex-merc was surprised and relieved at his call. Not that it saved Nex from the screaming, making his ears ring. Turned out that Bond had already gone through most of his contacts, asking where he went, and whether anyone saw him. And was already preparing to leave for Carvington, because she remembered that Nex mentioned he had a beef with someone influential there. But didn’t leave yet, thank the gods. And thanks to those same gods, Nexialist was able to convince her not to go there and not look for him. While at first Bond was suspicious of this request, Nex mentioned that his job brought him to Kirski, he was mugged on the way here, so he won’t be able to receive calls at all, and he’ll be staying here awhile – the first name of a faraway city he could think of, really, because he couldn’t for the love of anyone understand where the hell he was. Kirski, however, was enough to receive begrudging agreement from Bond.

 

Toma fell back asleep halfway through his yoghurt, so Imeje finished it.

Back to driving it is.

 

The road was slowly becoming more saturated with potholes until it wasn’t much more than a path of finely flattened dirt.

 

— There are some things you need to know about this house and how we live in it. There are a lot of creatures living there. We know they’re there. If you see someone trying to dig themselves out of a grave, tell an adult. It sometimes happens. It’s nothing serious.

— That’s nothing serious? I don’t want to imagine the serious stuff then.

— Well, that’s the whole reason the graveyard is so close to the house. It’s a graveyard for cursed, or probably cursed. It needs to be kept an eye on. Stay away from the horse. If you think the horse is looking at you, run inside the house.

— Why? Is it rabid or something?

— It’s evil. It will eat a small child given the chance. We let it roam at night. It does a good job of keeping unwanted entities out.

— Okay, okay… I gotchu, stay away from the horse.

— My brother Milo tends to scare the socks off humans. He’s a bit off ever since the doubles almost stole his shadow, but he’s harmless. He might try to balance something on your head, though. He does that sometimes.

— …That’s probably the weirdest thing that I heard about a person yet. — Nex squinted slightly, trying to make sense of someone just… stacking things onto your head and you letting them roll with it. — And I don’t mean the “doubles stealing shadow” thing.

 

Imeje turned onto a somehow even worse road. Nex resorted to holding onto his seat with all his might to prevent making a hole in the roof with his head. After a bit of consideration, he placed Nokk’s hand above his head so he also wouldn’t make a hole in the roof.

 

— Eh, that’s just how he is. If you think someone is in the room, but you can’t see them, it’s Krsto. His default is invisible, and he probably hasn’t noticed you’re in the room yet. Though you probably won’t have much trouble with that if you see ghosts.

— I didn’t start seeing ghosts until recently, so I don’t really know. — Nexa huffed. Then nodded slightly. — Okay, noted. Anything else?

— If you think something moved while you weren’t looking, it probably did. Some people in the family collect haunted things, and we also keep a lot of mimics.

— Why would you keep a lot of mimics?

— They can survive the kids. The mimics are fed, so don’t worry about furniture eating you.

— That’s reassuring. — Nexialist let out a nervous chuckle. — What you’re feeding them with?

— The ones in the kitchen get scraps, the rest usually get chicken feed. Or also scraps, if the kitchen ones can’t finish them. If you walk the house at night and there is seed thrown about — that’s why.

— Huh. Okay.

— Unless someone is offering you something, don’t touch it. If it happens to belong to one of the kids, there’s a high chance you’ll get bitten, and the ones that bite a lot aren’t old enough to understand that your skin can’t take it. Oh, and Aisha might bite your ankle. She’s in that stage now. She’s a baby. If you see her crawling towards you, she’s coming for your ankle.

— Don’t worry, I bite as well.

— No, no, sweetheart, avoid getting bitten. There isn’t anyone nearby to give you stitches.

 

Nex huffed, but didn’t argue. He didn’t want to get stitches either.

 

— Your guest's stay is three days. If you want to stay longer, help around the house. Get a kid to explain our chore token system.

— And why in nine bloody Hells would I even want that?

— Free food and lawlessness. The closest policeman is 4 hours away.

— …Point taken.

 

Imeje thought that if she could take a teen criminal off the streets with some pottage, she’d better do it.

 

— Do you have to wear a mask?

— If nobody here knows how I look like, nobody can tattle, accidentally or not. — Nexa grumbled, but explained. — I checked the wanted lists. Still on them. So, better safe than sorry.

— Okay. I have a couple of forgetting scarves, will that do instead?

— …I guess. Why?

— I’m 90% sure the mask you’re wearing is cursed in some way. The scarf will make it so no one remembers what your face looks like once they look away. That’s why you’re wearing a mask, right?

— …One quick question. Why do you even care?

— You don’t seem like a kind of criminal who does what he does for the heck of it. But you do seem like someone who would shank a man for a stale bagel. Giving you a bagel takes at least two corpses off my hands in the long run. And funerals for lonely people suck. The government only pays for a cardboard box and a hole. So, I’m also taking an unprofitable day off my schedule. Good enough of a reason? — Yep, definitely that, and not feeling sorry for an abandoned child.

— Hmph. As good as any, I guess.

 

It was getting dark when they finally arrived.

The house didn’t seem real. Nex couldn’t see where it ended.

 

As soon as they exited the car, a murder of crows descended on it, with a particularly fearless crow landing on Imeje’s head and cawing.

 

— There! There, see? — She grabbed the bird, pointing it at Toma. — He’s okay. Everyone is okay.

— Hi, Pavl. — Toma mumbled, rubbing his eyes.

— Go check out the new thing. — Imeje pointed the bird at strangers.

 

After these words, the crows became immensely interested in Nex and Nokk, picking at their clothes and hair.

 

— What is happening?

— You’re being welcomed. They’re familiars.

 

A short witch granny, who looked a lot like an armadillo with a cane, came out of the house and swiftly made her way to them. She exchanged a couple of words in Vex with Imeje, looked in the casket, then at strangers.

 

— Imeje, honey, why did you bring 3 of the same lad? — She chuckled.

— It was a promo offer.

 

The granny chuckled some more in response.

 

— The one in the mask is Nex

— Like the phone?

— Precisely. The other one is Nokk. Nokk is… marked.

— Oh, we’ll take care of that, don’t you worry.

— We also have more ghosts with us. Get acquainted, this is Nana.

 

Nana started talking to ghosts as Imeje pulled the rest into the house.

 

— You. — She pointed at Nex. — First in the shower. Toma and Nokk in whatever order, but also do that.

— No complaints to that. — He nodded, feeling lowkey excited to take a bath in regular clean water and wash off all the sweat and dust he had collected on his humble person.

— Use kids’ stuff, take a towel from the dresser next to the bathroom and throw your clothes in the chute. Toma, go to the basement, and grab him one of everything, okay?

— Okay! — Toma sped off.

— Why the kids’ stuff? — Nex squinted, not meaning to sound complaining, but completely not getting the point.

— Adult stuff is meant to scrub algae off of you. I’m afraid it might be a little harsh. Wouldn’t want you to break out in hives. — Imeje went through the drawer with scarves, pulled out a thin, ribbon-like brick-red scarf, and gave it to Nex. — It is like that for Lara, and we can only explain it by her not going to the swamps. And some of us are coasties, and half of their soap has salt in it, probably wouldn’t suit you either.

— …Okay, kids’ stuff it is.

 

Toma returned with a stack of clothes and toiletries and led Nex to the second-floor bathroom. While they were walking, Nexialist examined what he was given. The clothes were colourful. Like, it could easily outcolour half of Nexa’s usual wardrobe. Blue, yellow, green, purple – all of the rainbow was here. He’d already dreaded what it actually was, because so far it would be inconvenient to look through it. Combine that with the small bag of toiletries containing, among other things, a 3-in-1 kids shampoo bottle with a mystery name “fruit punch”, which most likely was made by mixing the remnants of all fruity fragrances left in the factory at the end of the year.

 

Well. There was little else to wear and use for a bath, however, so Nexa, although feeling every bit dead inside, finally went inside the bathroom, locking the door behind him.

 

The bathroom was… Nex has never seen bathrooms like this, where the bath is made of tiles and concrete, and is part of the room as much as the floor. He looked it over, blinking a couple of times, then sighed. It wasn’t that bad. It was fine. Everything will be fine.

 

Unpeeling the cultist garb from him was the hardest part. With all the dirt he’s been through, and probably some magic bullshit, it clung to him. He really wanted to burn it, all of it, but that would be something for later consideration. Never before had he thought how he missed the feeling of his own clothes, which he left near that unconscious dogmask – because obviously, he had no way to carry them. But now the memory stung.

 

After taking off the mask, Nex threw it away into the corner, like it could bite him if he held it for too long. After that he accidentally looked into the mirror and grimaced, quickly looking away. No. He wasn’t doing that any time soon.

 

Focus. Focus. Anything but that.

 

That was when a brilliant thought hit Nex, and he started opening drawers in the cabinet, looking through them and studying the contents. He didn’t hope to find any of his recreational medicine here… but with luck, someone of the residents would have something like that in here. Antidepressants, tranquillisers, sedatives, painkillers… anything. After a couple of minutes of rifling through the cabinets butt-naked, he found a jar of pills, marked “for the moods”. He managed even to open it and grabbed a couple… But getting them out of the jar was a whole other part of the story. It was as if someone glued them to it. No amount of struggle helped against it – and Nex knew the pills weren’t glued to the jar. It was that they simply refused to fall out of it – not even after Nex turned the jar upside down.

 

Frustrated beyond measure, Nex went into the bath. It took him a couple of tries to guess the correct position of the handles, but eventually he managed to turn it on and began scrubbing himself, trying to focus on it. For the most part, he was successful.

 

The next annoyance was the clothes. After he finally crawled out of the bath and decided to try on whatever that was that they gave him. Turned out, that Toma shouldn’t ever become a designer, which, at this point, Nexialist already knew.

At least he picked pants of the correct length. That was reassuring. But then came a black tank top, a probably witchen sealed pack of underwear with holes where there wasn’t supposed to be any, a light-blue sweater with the “Firewheels” logo on it, that was too tight in the shoulders and too short at the hem, probably shrunken in the washing machine, knitted yellow socks, and a red ribbon scarf.

 

Well, Nex had worn worse, but that didn’t mean he was going to be nice about it. He also didn’t know how exactly the scarf was supposed to keep his face hidden. It was like 3 centimetres wide.

 

Irritated to no end, Nex put all of it on and looked in the mirror – at least to look at how the clothes looked on him, because maybe it wasn’t that bad? Well. Turned out that it was less bad than he thought it would be, although it took some effort to tie the scarf on his head in at least somewhat less ridiculous fashion… And, of course, he saw his face again while doing that.

 

He turned away immediately, not caring about how he looked in this clothing anymore. Fuck it. He couldn’t bear looking at… looking at…

 

Wait a second, what was he so upset about?

 

So he, once again, looked in the mirror, then almost instinctively looked away. He did not remember what he saw.

 

Huh.

 

Meanwhile, Imeje got Nokk to help carry Krsto into the first-floor bathroom and put him in the tub. After that, Nokk was ordered to wait for his turn in the second-floor bathroom.

Imeje stayed with Krsto.

 

— How do you feel?

— Like sleep paralysis. — Krsto mumbled.

— Do you know where you are?

— In a tub?

— Good. Can you wash yourself?

— I don’t know. My arm doesn’t work well.

— Is it okay if I do it?

— Sure.

 

She decided to first just pour water on him, maybe that’ll wake him up more.

 

— Do you know where you were before?

— Leytra? I boarded a ship there. I think.

— How long ago do you think that was?

— I don’t know. I remember things and don’t know in what order they went.

— How long ago do you think you left?

— .. I lost count. There’s always the wrong number of marks on the wall. 30 years?

 

Krsto sat up to get the poncho off. Something about how he moved was unsettling.

 

— Do you remember how you ended up in the Holy Rain cult?

 

He froze mid-move, choking on words and struggling to breathe. He grabbed at his throat, as if trying to keep it intact.

 

— I- I didn’t mean… I didn’t mean to… to talk.

— Krsto-

— Will you tell them I talked?

 

Krsto was looking at her, terrified out of his mind and seemingly not recognising her at all. Not truly understanding where he was.

 

— No. Of course not.

 

That did little to calm him down, but he did turn away.

 

— I’ll go grab you new clothes. Will you be okay on your own?

 

He nodded.

When Imeje came back, he was invisible save for the tip of his tail.

It’s alright. He did that before, he was alright. Keep telling yourself that.

At least the dirt was still visible. Maybe it’s even better this way.

 

— Do you know that the Rain let you go, and we left?

— You said that before, but it’s never true.

— When “before”?

— Every time before I wake up. But I still wake up there.

— Krsto, it’s real this time. You’re awake.

— You also said that before.

 

It’s alright. He just must be tired. Being transformed into a basilisk and then back must make you very confused.

 

Imeje finished up, got the cuffs off him. Then helped him dry and dress, and led him to one of the guest rooms to lie down. There was only so much time he could spend in survival mode, and today was clearly pushing it. At least she hoped it was just because of today, and his trauma ended with badly healed fractures. Please just be fractures.

 

Once everyone was clean, dry, and dressed comfortably, it was time for dinner.

 

The rest gathered around the kitchen table. The dining room was overtaken by an extensive board game that the kids were playing. After taking a closer look, it became clear it was 6 intertwined board games, none of which were played by the original rules.

 

After a brief time waiting for the food to warm up, Nex got served mysterious, fried yellowish squares and a stick of sausage, supposedly to split with the table. Toma, across the table, instead got squares and mushrooms, as well as Imeje.

 

— Why don’t Nex and Nokk get mushrooms?

— Because mummy isn’t sure what mushrooms humans can eat. So, they have a sausage to share. — Imeje said, pouring cooked rice in way too much water into a bowl. — Dad doesn’t feel well, so I’m gonna go bring him his food. Don’t eat each other.

 

Nex decided not to grumble and eat what was given. Squares turned out to be made from potatoes, with a slight apple flavour. Tasty. He finished up his plate quite fast and leaned back on his chair, looking around, having nothing better to do.

 

The house didn’t make sense. Not in a magical bullshit way, surprisingly. Nex counted at least twenty rooms with someone being in them on their way to the kitchen, and the through-corridor didn’t end at that. Also, he could swear that there was a chicken in the potted plant on the windowsill. And this chicken was wearing a diaper. What the-

 

— It’s Bucky. She has a scratch on her back, so the other chickens try to eat her, so she lives here until it’s gone. — Toma noticed Nex staring.

— Chickens eat chickens?

— They know they’re tasty.

 

After dinner, Toma led him on a confusing path, which had to overlap at least once. Eventually, Nex ended up in front of the room he was assigned.

 

— This is your room now. — Toma took a chalkboard sign from the other side of the door and wrote “Necks” on it. Then put it on the front of the door. — Goodnight!

— …Yeah, night to you as well, kid.

 

Toma trotted off.

 

The room he was assigned was pretty bare-bones. Someone had moved out and only left furniture behind. The furniture seemed fancy, and the mattress wasn’t all that worn out, which was already better than what he was used to.

 

The most noticeable thing was the bed. It looked more like a shed, honestly, the box-bed was just that big. It had a lock on the inside, shelves on the inner wall, and the vents on the top were made to look like a forest. He fell asleep the moment his head touched the pillow. It felt so safe inside.

 

 

***

 

Imeje tried to concentrate on her nightly reading. She had no hand in what happened to Krsto, she didn’t make him leave. She did not hurt him.

The words melted into the page, stopping to resemble any letters at all. What if she had? What if it were precisely her curses that put him in this state?

Was it 4 or 5 times she re-read the same sentence? No, she wasn’t nearly as skilled. A kuzha bait was the height of her cursing abilities. She was too outward with her anger to concentrate it.

She turned the page, having retained no memory of what was on it. But what if that minor push towards a bad idea was all it took? No, he’s used to being cursed on the daily. Even had to get a demonic curse warding seal.

The next page was blank, or at least felt blank. What if, in the fight, he got scratched just right for the seal to stop working?

 

Her door creaked open.

Toma stood there, teary-eyed.

 

— May I sleep here tonight? — he sniffed.

 

She lifted her blanket invitingly, and he crawled right in, hugging her leg.

Imeje signed, putting the book back onto the nightstand. It can wait.

All of it could wait until morning.

 

After all, changing the past was outside of her control.