“No, it's my fault. I said some things I shouldn't have this morning,” Carl's voice seemed to come out of nowhere.
A weariness pressed down on Tatiana like a weighted blanket, so heavy she couldn't open her eyes.
“And Bill says nothing. Of course this can't be his fault. Nothing is ever his fault,” Amber’s tone was caustic.
Alister was retorting, his irritation obvious in the sounds he made.
“Ooo, burn. I don't know if I should translate that,” Carl laughed.
“Hellfire and damnation, but too chicken to say it to my face.”
“Yeah, I am.”
The room went quiet, the popping of the fire the only sound. Tatiana could feel her consciousness receding. The next thing she was aware of was music. “Tate,” she thought, “Tate’s here.”
“Mommy, is she going to die?” said a little voice.
“I hope not, Honey,” the voice was familiar, but Tatiana couldn't quite place it.
“Mommy. Mommy. They found her in the cemetery?”
“Yes Anabelle, now no more questions.”
“It’s okay,” Carl responded, “Anabelle, you know the story of Beauty and the Beast?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Once upon a time, a beautiful woman put a curse on a man to live as a beast. The Beast hid in the woods until he met a Witch and they fell in love.”
“That’s not how it goes,” Anabelle interrupted.
“Well, that's how this story goes. Do you want to hear it or not?”
“I guess so,” Anabelle conceded.
“One day Beast found Beauty sleeping in the woods. He took her home and played music to her until she awoke.”
“That's Sleeping Beauty,” complained Anabelle.
“She lived with him in the forest until a Dragon took the Witch captive and held her in a tower. When the Dragon saw Beauty, he was so smitten, that he agreed to trade the Witch for Beauty. But Beast had tricked the Dragon, and tried to take both women with him. While they were escaping, Beast fell from the tower and died. The Witch escaped from the tower, but the Dragon caught Beauty before she could make it to safety. Everyday Beauty would cry for Beast, and her tears watered the roses that climbed the sides of the castle.”
“Then what happened?”
“That’s it. That's the end.”
“She never escaped the dragon?” Anabelle sounded near tears.
“That’s enough, Carl,” said a woman’s voice.
The fiddle music stopped, “Oh, but he left out the best part.” It was Mike’s voice, “You see, Beauty’s tears were magic and after she cried a hundred tears, Beast came back to life. They kissed and he transformed into a human. And they lived happily ever after.”
Anabelle sniffed, “That's not what really happened though, is it Daddy?”
“Of course it is,” Mike bowed a few notes, “we dragons just have to help her get there.”
“Daddy! Daddy!” Anabelle’s voice went up in pitch with excitement, “Look! She’s crying!”
Tatiana could feel the hot tears flooding her eyes and spilling down her cheeks. She willed herself to move, focusing all of her energy on her left pinky finger. It was impossibly heavy, and she felt herself drifting away into a warm darkness.
“Bee,” Tate said her name clearly. She was laying on his grave, the grass prickling her back. Tate leaned over her, sniffing her neck.
“Why can't I wake up?” she asked him. He nuzzled her neck, his sniffs turning into bites. Tatiana gasped as his teeth tore at her throat, warm blood trickling down the sides of her neck.
She sat up, sucking air as she broke out of the waters of unconsciousness. The room around her swung into focus. Amber stood over her, her red hair in braids. Alister hovered at the foot of the bed, the fiddle in his hands. The cabin was strangely different, boughs of dogwood hanging over the door and a braid of herbs encircling the worn center post.
Her right hand itched and she scratched it with her left. Something was taped to her hand, and she tried to pull it off.
“No, no, no,” Amber grabbed her hand, “It’s intravenous antibiotics.”
“How long was I . . . What happened to me?”
Amber let out her breath in a puff, then pulled up a chair and sat in it. “Put simply, your soul got knocked loose from your body,” Amber looked at her lap, “I have to get back to my booth.” Standing, she faced Alister, “Bill, I swear, if you do anything stupid, I’m putting a hex on you.” Amber picked up a basket and hurried out the door.
Tatiana’s hand brushed a lump in her pillow, and as she turned it a charm made of bird feathers and wooden beads rolled from underneath. “How long was I out?” she ran the feathers over her cheek.
Alister reached across the bed and retrieved her notepad. “You were out for about ten hours,” he wrote, “Promise me you won't do that again.”
Tatiana took the notepad from him, “Amber asked me to bless my patron’s grave. He was her boyfriend. I’m a horrible person.”
“It wasn't your choice, dear one. You must always remember that. You didn't kill your patron. You didn't force him to choose you,” Alister’s fingers tightened around the pen. “You did NOTHING wrong,” he wrote in large letters.
Alister’s writing took up the rest of the page, so she flipped to the back and wrote, “I just feel so lost right now.”
Alister snatched the pen from her, “I have no problem guiding you. Here’s your orders: 1. You are going to help me get rid of that wall. 2. You are not allowed to leave me until the cursed and holy live side-by-side. 3. Act like a priest.”
Irritated, Tatiana snapped the notepad shut. Outside there was the whirring sound of a drone passing overhead. The noise increased until the cabin was vibrating with the hum of the rotors. The roof groaned then splintered, a metal talon ripping the beams away. Alister grabbed her and shoved her part way underneath the bed, covering her body with his. The thunder of the propellers increased, until it became a physical sensation. For a moment there was only darkness and thrumming. Then abruptly, Alister was ripped off of her, his body flopping like a lifeless doll in the clutches of the drone. Tatiana lunged for a broken board. Feeling the tug of the IV on her hand, she tore free of it and grabbed her weapon. She swung the board wildly, hitting Alister as often as she hit the drone.
“I forgot how stubborn you are,” a voice came from a speaker mounted on the front, “That’s not going to do anything, Princess.”
Tatiana stopped mid-swing, “Kadeem?!”
There was a grinding sound as a set of aluminum stairs unfolded. “You can climb in, or, I can come back and take you by force.”
Tatiana grabbed the bottom step with her good hand. Unable to pull herself up, she lost her grip and sat down in the rubble.
“Climb up the side of that thing over there, then you’ll be able to reach.”
“That thing over there used to be a wall,” she grumbled. Scaling the pile of debris was trickier than it looked. It shifted unpredictably under her weight, and she ended up on all threes, inching her way up towards the hovering drone. At the top of the pile, she stood warily and jumped towards the stairs. For one dizzying moment, she thought she would fall, then she felt the lowest tread under her feet. Jittering up to the top of stairs, she ducked in the drone and collapsed on the bench. The stairs retracted back into the drone and Kadeem tapped on the console.
“You’re gonna be in big trouble when we get back to Citadel,” Kadeem’s lips curled into a smug grin.
“Ooooo, I’m so scared,” Tatiana clicked her seat belt into place as the drone ascended, “What are a bunch of celibate vegans going to do to me?”
“Just because they’re vegans doesn’t mean they can’t kill you. It just means they won’t eat you afterwards.”
“Are we talking about cannibalism or vore?” Tatiana looked Kadeem up and down. His robes were dark under the arms, his blue hair oily. He must have reached Citadel only to turn around and come back for his master.
“You’re lucky Alister is below deck right now.”
“Yeah, yeah, ‘act like a priest,’” Tatiana clicked on the center display to see where they were headed. “That’s where Mina lives,” she commented tapping the screen.
“Who did you think loaned me the drone?” Kadeem batted her hand away from the screen. “Anyway, if anyone can set Alister straight, it’s her. She has a way about her.”
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