Alexi smells nice, and while being pressed against his body, I can tell he’s fit. He’s also kind, which I can appreciate—a true gentleman, which is refreshing.
He enters a room painted white, with wooden accents and wooden beams in the ceiling. A floor-to-ceiling bay window is ahead, and outside of it are other buildings of the town, houses peppered in the distance. Bushy green trees tower outside the window, the leaves gently brushing the grainy glass panes. Alexi carefully places me on the soft bed against the wall with pillows propped against the headboard.
“Can I get some water for you?” he asks, stepping back. I notice an entire wall of shelves filled to the brim with books behind him.
“I’d love that. Thank you.”
Alexi smiles and turns to leave, but he doesn’t make it out before accidentally bumping into Caz. Alexi stumbles back, alarmed at first.
“Oh. Pardon me, mate. Didn’t see you there.” He claps a hand on Caz’s shoulder.
Caz’s jaw ticks as he looks through the corner of his eye at Alexi’s hand. “Take your fucking hand off me.”
Alexi snatches his hand away as if it’s on fire, shakes his head at Caz, then looks at me. “I’ll be getting that water for you.”
I smile. “Thanks, Alexi.”
When he leaves the room, Caz fixes his hard blue gaze on mine. He narrows his eyes at me a moment before moving them across the room and standing in front of the arched window with his gloved fingers crossed in front of him.
I wait to see if any of his thoughts will trickle in with mine, but they don’t. His mind is like a vault right now. I feel myself knocking, demanding to be let in, and as if he senses my knocking, he cuts his eyes at me before putting his focus out the window again.
Dick.
Manx enters the room, and I rest my back on the pillows, looking the man over in his white robe. He has a pair of wiry, round glasses on the bridge of his nose that he didn’t have on before, and he approaches the bed, still wearing that kind smile.
“The man you’re traveling with is a rude one, isn’t he?” Manx asks. “He didn’t tell me your name, so forgive me for inquiring.”
I huff a laugh. “It’s Willow. And yes, he’s a very rude man.” I glance at Caz. He’s working that jaw again, like he always does when someone’s talking about him.
“Willow. That’s beautiful. Okay, well I’m just going to take a look here, see what I can do. Mind if I…?”
He points to the rip in my pants, and I nod. “Go ahead.”
Manx turns for a pair of scissors on the desk and cuts the fabric of my pants so he can see the injury better. As he examines it, Alexi walks into the room again with a glass of water. A piece of fruit is floating in it that reminds me of the shape of a blackberry, but it’s not black. It’s green.
“A verdeberry,” he says when he notices me staring at it. “It’ll do you wonders right now. Eases pain and has a very sweet taste. Try it.”
I sip the water, and the juices of the berry leak into that tiny sip. I take a big gulp the second time, then lower the cup, nodding. “Wow, yeah. That’s really good.”
You’ll drink his bloody berry water but won’t eat our blackfruit. Tasteless.
I glance at Caz. He isn’t looking at me. He’s still staring out the window, as if on guard.
If you have so much to say, why don’t you say it out loud?
Caz doesn’t move, but he does let out an agitated breath.
“Can I get you anything, mate?” Alexi asks Caz, and it’s clearly a reluctant ask. Alexi is only being polite.
Caz turns his head, his ice blue eyes locking on Alexi. If his eyes could shoot daggers, they’d be stabbing Alexi a dozen times right now.
Alexi sighs, then looks at me. “Some friend you have there.”
“Not my friend,” I say after another gulp of water.
I feel a cramp in my chest, tight and uncomfortable. And cold? How is it cold? It’s painfully cold—like something is trying to freeze my heart. It lasts only a few seconds before disappearing. Caz’s eyes are on mine when I look up, as if he felt it too.
“Ah, there we go.”
My eyes avert to Manx, who is now holding up a bloody piece of metal in his hand that’s about three inches long.
“Wait. Did you just—”
“Pull this out of your thigh while you weren’t looking? I did, yes.”
“But I—I didn’t even feel it.”
“I used an herb to numb it. Now I’ll clean it up, use my healing elixir, and within six to eight hours, your leg will be as good as new. Won’t even have a scar by the time you’re healed.”
Manx lifts a tiny amber vial up as well as two clusters of cotton. He pulls the dropper syringe out of the vial and drips a few honey-colored drops on the wound, then rubs it around with the cotton ball. I don’t feel a thing as he does it, and it’s incredible. What kind of sorcery is this? Sure, there are numbing and healing agents where I’m from, but none this powerful or fast-acting.
“Did you say six to eight hours?” Caz takes a step toward Manx.
“Yes,” Manx looks over his glasses as he tends to my wound. “She won’t be able to walk until then, I’m afraid. The numbing agent I used is very strong. It makes the whole limb numb. She’ll be dragging it like deadweight if she tries moving it too much before then.”
“Manx, are you serious? We don’t have that much time.”
Manx finishes up then tosses the damp cotton balls in the trash. I gulp down the rest of my sweet water as he stands and faces Caz. “Are you willing to carry her to your next destination?”
“Find me a car or something.”
“You know we don’t allow cars here.”
“Then send for someone to pick us up outside of Whisper Grove. It can’t be that difficult.”
“Caz, I’m not sure what your hurry is. No one can come into Whisper Grove with violent intentions, so you’ll be safe for now.”
“Yah, for now. They’ll be camped outside of this place waiting for me at every corner by the time we leave.”
“Who are you referring to?” Manx asks, his nose scrunching.
“The bloody Rippies. They just attacked us less than an hour ago. That’s why she had the metal in her leg.”
“Did you start it?”
“What?”
“Never mind. Look, whatever the issue may be with you and the Rippies, this young woman cannot leave until tomorrow.”
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.” Caz pinches the bridge of his nose.
“Alexi can send one of our troops out, make sure no one is lurking around the Grove, and if they are, we’ll send them away. In the meantime, I suggest you use a room in the inn and take the night to let her heal.”
Caz’s head shakes, clearly not in love with this idea, but he finally releases a deep breath and says, “Fine. Give us our rooms.”
“Alexi, which rooms do we have left for the night?”
“Well, there was the Yeung wedding last night and some of the guests are still here, so we only have one room vacant.” Alexi slides his gaze from me to Caz. “Comes with only one bed, but we do have extra cots available that we can send to the rooms.”
“Fuck that,” Caz rasps.
“I’ll take it,” I say, raising a hand. “And some more water with the verdeberries, please.”
Alexi smiles and walks up to me, taking my glass. “You’ve got it, love.”
Caz looks between us, his eyes wide and wild, before shaking his head and storming out of Manx’s office. We watch him go, and when he’s disappeared, Manx looks at me and says, “That boy is a hard one.”
“Don’t know why you tolerate him,” Alexi mutters, walking away with my glass. “I’ll bring a wheelchair and the keys to the room. I can help her to the room when I return.”
“Thank you, Alexi,” says Manx.
When he leaves, Manx makes his way to his desk, organizing some of the tools on top of it and then straightening the vials.
“How long have you been around Caz?” he asks.
“Um…just two days now. Maybe three.”
“You saw Beatrix,” he says, smiling over his shoulder.
“We did. We ran from her house after the attack from the Rippies. How did you know?”
“That woman’s energy lingers. It’s powerful. I could feel it before even touching you.”
“You can feel people’s touch?”
“Oh, I can feel lots of things. See lots of things.” He pauses. “Just like I can see that you and Caz share a bond, one he’s not ready to surrender to yet.”
“He doesn’t have to surrender to it. Trust me, I want nothing to do with him.” Just as I say that, I feel that cold cramp in my chest again, but it’s much tighter this time and nearly stops my breath.
Manx’s eyes broaden. “You felt that, yes?”
“Yeah,” I breathe.
“Denying your Tether.” He makes a sucking noise with his teeth. “It’ll pain you to deny it. Better to give in to it.”
“There’s no way anyone will ever give in to him. Have you met him?”
“I have. I’ve known him since he was a boy. He and his mother were patients of mine for a few years.”
“Oh.” No wonder he tolerates him.
“I always knew he was special, but this? A Tether? It’s astounding. Where did you come from?”
“Earth…I think.” I bite my bottom lip.
“Earth.” He laughs. “I’ve heard of that place in my studies, yes. Well, Willow, I encourage you to be patient with Caz. He’s in need of people like you. The kindhearted and selfless. He just has to accept that people like you are here to help him, not hurt him.”
Alexi returns to the room with a wheelchair and another glass of water in the cupholder of the chair. “Ready?” he asks.
I nod, and Alexi helps me off the bed and onto the seat. He swivels the chair around and guides me out of the room, but Manx calls my name.
“Yes?” I answer.
“When Caz finds his way to the room, tell him to come to me if he develops any black veins on his body.”
I frown, confused, but Manx turns away, going back to tidying up his tools and medicines, and Alexi rolls me out of the office, down the hallway, and through the lobby.
As he pushes me, I can’t help looking for Caz. The lobby is full of people in ivory and tan clothing. He’d stand out amongst them in all his black clothing, yet as I surf the crowd, I can’t find him anywhere.
