The Magic Scent
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When you’ve been around as long as I have, you tend to develop a few bad habits. One of mine is my tendency towards being overzealous in helping friends. When they’re having problems with magic, it’s my instinct to dive straight into the thick of things and save the day myself—even if I don’t actually know what I’m doing or could possibly be of any real help at all.
That was how we found ourselves in the middle of a small-town murder case when we’d had no intention whatsoever of going anywhere near such matters. But that was then; this is now:
“I’ve got some good news,” I told her, taking her hand in mine and smiling at her as sweetly as I could muster while she sat staring vacantly ahead at nothing. “And then some good news.”
Her eyes narrowed slightly in suspicion. She knew me better than I liked to admit for someone who’d been trying so hard not to get involved with me. And she also knew very well I wasn’t one for false cheerfulness. Not anymore.
We hadn’t come out of that mess nearly unscathed; it didn’t take a genius to realize neither of us would ever be quite the same again. It took more than a few bruises, sprains, and cuts to change someone’s personality.
The rest of the time I spent in bed after being kicked, beaten, and thrown against walls by people we’d tried to rescue only confirmed my worst suspicions about the world and its inhabitants.
But there was an opportunity here. An opportunity for something new. For me; for her; for everyone else on Earth.
“I know you were worried about the other guys—”
She nodded slightly, but she wasn’t looking at me. “Yeah…”
“Well, they’re okay too,” I continued. “They came home safe. No permanent injuries. They’ll both be back to normal soon enough, although they may need a little extra help from time to time.” I shrugged apologetically at her; she still wasn’t focused on anything except my words.
“We’ve decided to let them stay right here, in our house, until they recover. As far as we can tell, none of their powers are affected. But they won’t do much moving around for another month or two anyway.”
A small smile crept across her face. “That’s great news! You really think they’ll be okay?”
“As far as I know. If anyone has any better suggestions, feel free to tell me.”
“It’s not just that though.” She glanced over at me suddenly. I couldn’t help noticing that despite all the blood that must have soaked through her shirt, it barely seemed to have seeped through the white fabric at all. Her complexion looked pale as a ghost. She’d probably been sitting there for hours. “What did they do to you…? Did they hurt you too badly? Did they try to…?”
“No,” I assured her, shaking my head gently, “nothing like that. They didn’t even seem to recognize me. I don’t know what happened down there, but they never laid a finger on me.”
I reached over and touched her shoulder, trying to give her an encouraging squeeze without crushing any vital organs. My touch might have gone unnoticed if I hadn’t already done it several times since I woke up. She looked up at me and smiled, but something about her expression seemed off.
The lines on her forehead and mouth were too severe for someone whose age I estimated to be somewhere around twenty-five to thirty years old.
There was nothing wrong with her eyes. They were bright and alert. A little wide; maybe too large for someone with a rounder face. But she was clearly lucid. There was no sign of confusion or fear in those blue orbs.
She was just a plain, ordinary young woman who’d somehow developed a strange habit of staring into my soul for hours on end. But she’d had so many nightmares lately she might have been a little jumpy.
“Did you hear what I said?” I asked.
“Yes…” She sighed in exasperation. “I mean, yes, I heard you.”
“Good,” I replied, smiling gently at her. I’d learned a long time ago that it wasn’t necessary to say everything with my voice.
“Then why are you still asking me questions?”
I leaned close to her and spoke quietly in her ear. “Because it makes me nervous when you don’t respond to what I say.”
For a moment she didn’t react, then a shudder ran through her body. She turned away from me and buried her face in her hands, but her fingers tightened into fists and wouldn’t relax.
“Oh God!” she muttered, covering her eyes with her trembling hands and squeezing her temples.
I reached out toward her; a gentle caress against her cheek with the tips of my fingertips. “Are you okay? What’s going on?”
Her reaction frightened me. She was usually stronger than this. I’d always known she was fragile under the surface, but not this delicate. Maybe she was starting to crack. Or perhaps the stress had finally caught up to her.
I’d seen plenty of girls who couldn’t handle life at Harvard, let alone deal with supernatural monsters and the constant threat of death from a thousand different angles. The thought sent a chill down my spine, but I forced myself to remain calm. If I lost my cool now we’d both be in trouble.
She turned around slowly and stared up at me through watery eyes. The corners of her mouth twitched upwards; she knew exactly what I was thinking. It was almost cute how quickly she picked up on people’s moods. And it was clear I’d hit a sore spot with her.
“You’re worried about me,” she whispered, her voice cracking and breaking on the last syllable. She blinked rapidly several times. “You worry about me too much.”
“Don’t say that…” I tried to console her with a smile. “Look at you! Your skin is pale as death. Are you sure you’re feeling okay?”
“I’m fine. Just…” She hesitated, swallowing heavily. Then she closed her eyes tight and shook her head as if to rid herself of some kind of mental cobwebs. I waited patiently for her to collect herself. When she opened her eyes again, she was back to normal. “Sorry. I shouldn’t have reacted like that.” She took a deep breath and held it for a few moments, before releasing it in a sigh. “I know I’ve been acting weird lately.”
That was true enough. She’d been having nightmares for weeks. And she didn’t seem to want anything more than to hide in her room and stare blankly at a wall until morning came around again.
But it seemed to me that she could be suffering more than just emotional trauma after being kidnapped by supernatural freaks. She was too thin. Not malnourished; not starved. But slender rather than plump. And there was no trace whatsoever of that soft baby fat on her cheeks or chin.
Her hair was longer than when I first saw her, coming down past her shoulders instead of her jawline, but she kept it cut short and neat in a style that suited her well. It wasn’t just her physical appearance that was changing. She’d changed drastically mentally. As far as I could tell, the girl behind the pretty face and sparkling blue eyes was starting to fade.
The way she talked made it clear that whatever she had going on in her mind right now wasn’t pleasant.
“It’s been rough,” she told me, her eyes searching mine. “So very tough. I never even dreamed life would turn out this way. I guess you never do.” She paused and took another deep breath, trying to calm herself.
“This has all happened so fast and it keeps getting worse. So many things… so many horrible things.” She shook her head, tears welling up in her eyes and streaming down her cheeks. “And I don’t even know how to cope anymore.”
I sat beside her on the bed and pulled her close to me. I stroked her hair gently with the hand that rested on top of her head; felt the strands against my fingertips. They were soft as silk, silky smooth.
“Hey, hey,” I murmured. I wiped one tear from her cheek with a thumb, feeling it drip down my arm. “It’s going to be okay, okay? We can handle this. You and me together, we’ll figure out how to deal with it.” I smiled softly, hoping that seeing my expression would reassure her. But her lips trembled and I knew she was fighting to keep from breaking down once more.
“I’m scared, Ben,” she said quietly. “Scared for you, and for us. All we’ve ever wanted is to make our parents proud of us, to have someone care about us. To be loved…” She choked over the words, choking on them for a moment before pushing past and continuing, “But all we’ve done since they died has only caused them pain. Now it seems we might get what we deserve.”
My heart bled for her. For what she’d gone through at the hands of those monsters. I hated them even more than she did at that moment. The fact that they’d murdered her brother and father meant nothing to me compared to their cruel, evil treatment of my friend’s family.
I held her tightly, hugging her close so she could feel my reassuring presence. And she did; she leaned into me, letting me support her weight and wrapping her arms around me. After a while, she started sobbing, burying her face in my neck and squeezing tightly, trying to muffle her cries as if she didn’t want anyone else to hear her.
“I love you, Bella,” I whispered, holding her tight against my chest. “Nothing is ever going to change that. Nothing.”
The End