Chapter 6 - Undone Spells
I came back to the library after the 4th of July holiday time away to find Finn sitting on the stairs. Could he feel it like Rebecca when I arrived? I studied him while out of phase, but he didn’t seem to notice me or be on alert at all. The dull-o-cap still glowed beneath his hair resulting in a cool effect.
“Hold on, Jack!” Rebecca called from the bathroom upstairs. “I’ll be out in a few!” Finn lifted his eyes to look around, but found nobody.
“Jack?” He asked the room. I sighed and phased into physical form.
“Hey, Finnelgamin,” I said and waved. “What's up?” He met my eyes and looked up to the ceiling.
“Exorcism,” he said, as if he were pondering the meaning of life itself. “Of that ghost you left for Rebby in granny’s house. We’ve been reading up on how to do it best, but I’d rather be with Eva.” I smiled until he met my eyes again. “What?”
“Nothing,” I replied. “So you and Eva an item now? Since when?”
“What do you mean?” Finn asked. “Oh, that’s right. Rebecca said that you step away sometimes and don’t spectate. I don’t remember ever having that freedom.”
“Well, you and Rebby are pretty different beings,” I said. “When I found you, there were thoughts already in your head, while she came to me pure and free, like a child.” I paused and shook my dizziness off.
“Listen, I have to go,” I said. “Tell Rebecca that I’ll be back later today. I didn’t get much sleep and will be suffering that today. I’m sorry. Give her my best.”
“Your best what?” he asked. I shook my head and wrote a message in the air for her. The dull-o-cap was proving quite annoying. After the message was done, I heard the shower turn off and stepped out of phase to vanish from the room. Rebecca ran down the stairs to find the message, but I twisted away into nothing by then.
break
After a hard day’s work, plus overtime, I sat in a local establishment sipping on a twist of caffeine. It was late and dark outside, but I promised Rebecca that I’d be back. Rather than let her down, I faced the inability to go to sleep so that we could speak. It was a Friday, a day others devoted to celebrating the end of the work week with parties or dating. That was not meant for me.
I arrived at the library hoping she was still awake. Thanks to that tingle, I couldn’t even sneak around to learn more about the life I created for her. Rebecca lived it, what little I gave, and to know about it, I’d have to ask. There had to be a way to get rid of the tingle, but I had a feeling it was JJ’s creation, to make it fair for Rebecca, and to make her aware of our presence. He was such an honest kid, unaffected by betrayal. JJ could never lose trust in someone, and thus did not belong in control of me. He was much easier to deal with than beast, but that naivety was overbearing at times, especially when it came to matters of the heart or ideas for the future.
I sat on the stairs like before, but Finn wasn’t there this time. While waiting, I played with a memory of Tiarto’s graceful fall with Barnaby of the Dust Plains tome in his hands. I froze his figure in place as the book slipped his hands and picked the imaginary book to thumb through. Rather than put the book back, I let the scene roll without the book in it. Tiarto simply ran back and grabbed another from his room to use as a weapon. That guy had a problem, but at the end of those stairs slept his salvation, as well as his untimely end. The story was good, first that JJ really worked on, but it needed a solid rework.
“What are you doing here?” A familiar voice erased my imagination reel of a character on the stairs. “I was having a great time with Avery when I felt you. Naturally, I panicked, thinking you’d try to find me and stumble in on us dry-humping, as it is the only thing I can do now, just so you know. The damn clothes get in the way so much. About time you took off that curse.”
“It’s just a spell,” I said. “Where’s Finn?”
“Last time I saw him, he was with Eva,” Rebecca replied. “They’re getting lovey-dovey, but I don’t see him getting in her pants with the way you left him.”
“Maybe you’d benefit from a dull-o-cap, too,” I mused, half-jokingly. Before she could explode at me, I met her eyes and smiled. “That was a joke, Rebby. As for your spell, if you don’t go after the idea of freeing beast, I’ll cancel it. The main idea was that you don’t tempt me with your beauty.” I could tell she wanted to argue for her plan and how it would help me, but only grit her teeth and let the air out through them.
“Fine,” she said. “But this matter is still to be discussed. I promise, I will not use my nudity and sexuality to mess with your whacked out order of four parts. So, please, take the spell off, ok?” I looked at her, then off into the dark beyond the windows. With a flex of a fist, the spell released from her body.
“It’s done,” I said and thought she’d shed her clothes right then and there in front of me as an act of rebellion. Rather than do that, she turned around, unbuttoned her blouse, and inspected for new clothes. Right after, she buttoned it back up and turned to me again.
“I really did miss seeing the girls,” she said. “Now you best get going. I am getting buck naked and streaking to Jorge’s place. I need to celebrate with a fu-.”
“Careful,” I warned. Rebecca smiled.
“Fun outing,” she completed. “Got you, Jack. Sorry if it tickled you in all the wrong places, but that just means be-.” She put hands over her mouth as a frog leapt out and poofed out of existence. I met her eyes with a look of question.
“Frog in your throat?” I asked.
“Out.”
“Alright,” I said. “I’ll go check on Finnelgamin. He still has the spell on him too, so I doubt he got anywhere with Eva.”
“You’re. Still. Here.” I smiled. then turned away from her. She wasted no time to drop her clothes as I took off into the air and passed the attic to the night sky. The stars twinkled above, but there was no moon. Besides, the sky was just a screen, not the boundless infinity of stars I adored. I could watch these with equal wonder, but I floated back down into Eva’s house. I went out of phase before this felt too much like a home invasion.
There they were, asleep by the TV tuned to some old movie. Dax the dog slept on their legs. They looked so peaceful, if it wasn’t for the glow of the dull-o-cap just beneath Finn’s skull. I flew closer to him as his eyes opened slowly.
“Hey,” he whispered. I created a physical mouth.
“Hey, Finn,” I whispered back. “I see both Eva and Dax have taken a liking to you.”
“Yeah,” he replied. “I love spending time with them. I don’t understand how, but this glowing cage for my brain opened so much inside me. I seek her approval, and I care what she thinks of me, all thanks to you, JJ.”
“It’s Jack,” I whispered. “But I’m glad you’re enjoying yourself. If you didn’t have that thing on, you’d probably be trying to kill me for… erm… nothing. Don’t worry about it.”
“I do feel a sort of resentment at times,” Finn whispered. “But it has no target. It’s weird, but I’m glad I am who I am now, and I hope that doesn’t change in the future.”
“I hope so, too,” I whispered and put a hand on his shoulder. “Have you thought of Eva in a romantic way?”
“What do you mean?”
“As in, do you wish to lay by her side, feel her warmth and contact of her skin on yours?” He thought for a moment.
“Maybe,” He whispered. “It does sound nice and comfortable. I could give it a try one of those days.” I smiled. His beast felt distant, perhaps caged by the dull-o-cap, but the technology was of the Firsoni called Queen of White Thorn, a fantasy from long ago and on a different plane of reality. I released the spell from him, too, not that he’d lust like the freedom of Rebecca.
“Have a good night,” I whispered. Finnelgamin smiled so peacefully and rested his head in Eva’s neck.
“You, too,” He whispered back. I teared up at that, but he didn’t need to see that. I was gone.
break
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