Shasta hit the ground hard enough to knock the air out of his lungs, and immediately struggled free and got to his feet, spinning to face Aloria. She was already up, her eyes narrowed, but even as he braced himself for an attack, she disappeared. Thinking she had gone back, Shasta hurriedly opened a gate to the living room of the old farmhouse and went through. He found only Jones, sitting on the floor soaked in blood, with Andraeon cradled in his arms.
Shasta went to him, going down on his knees at Jones’s side. He could see at a glance that Andraeon was gone and a sort of numbness settled over him, disbelief that they’d really lost him. He reached out without thinking and brushed a lock of thick hair away from Andraeon’s pale face, gently touching his bloody cheek. His skin was still warm under Shasta’s fingertips but a coolness was creeping in and he was so limp in Jones’s arms. Shasta took his hand away and put an arm around Jones’s shoulders, trying to offer what comfort he could.
Jones said nothing but turned his face in against Shasta’s shoulder; hot tears quickly dampened Shasta’s shirt. Shasta kissed the top of his head and just held him, only looking up when he heard hesitant footsteps approaching them. The expression on Shiki’s blood-streaked face hurt almost as much as Jones’s tears. Without saying a word, Shiki just sat down on Jones’s other side and slid an arm around him as well, resting his other hand lightly on Andraeon’s hair.
Shasta noticed it first: the faint touch of blue that had started at the tips of Andraeon’s limp fingers and begun creeping up his arm. Even as Shasta watched the blue crept higher and darkened, and tiny pinpoints of light started to appear in it. Wide-eyed he watched until it had covered both of Andraeon’s arms up to the sleeves of his shirt, then reached across Jones’s back to tug at Shiki’s arm. Shiki glanced at him then looked down at Andraeon, his own eyes widening.
The blue soon covered every inch of Andraeon, hiding the blood staining his skin. Bright light suddenly flared around his body, making Shasta and Shiki both flinch back. Shasta heard Jones catch his breath as the light cleared and when he could look again, he saw Jones was holding little more than a body-shaped latticework of tiny sparkling lights like distant stars. An instant later the outline fell apart and the little stars drifted down, sinking into Jones’s jeans and the tiled floor.
Jones made a choked noise and put both hands over his face, breathing hard. Shasta exchanged a glance with Shiki, silently trying to ask what they should do, but before he could say anything, Jones dropped his hands again, taking a deep breath. His eyes were red and his cheeks still wet, but his expression had gone very calm, if bleak.
“We need to go.” He cleared his throat to get the teary thickness out of it. “I have... things to do.”
“Like what?” Shasta asked, trying to keep hold of him as he started to get up. “Jones, what are you planning?”
Jones just shook his head, pulling free of both Shiki and Shasta, and getting to his feet. “Take me back. I need to look after Emily and Andy.”
“Okay,” Shiki said soothingly. “I’ll take us.”
Jones glanced at him. “Your head.” He indicated on his own temple the spot where Shiki had a still-bloody gash. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine.” Shiki offered a hand, smiling a little when Jones took it. He waited until Shasta had taken Jones’s other hand, and took them all back to Kaede’s house.
Jones pulled away as soon as they appeared in the living room, heading up the stairs towards the bedroom where Emily and Andy had been sleeping. Shasta saw Shiki jerk his chin in the direction of Jones’s back and nodded in return, hurrying to catch up to Jones on the stairs. He trailed him into the kids’ bedroom and watched him carefully as he checked them over; they both still slept, though Emily stirred a little under Jones’s hand when he stroked her hair.
“You should sleep too,” Shasta said after a bit. “Jones?”
“Yeah.” Jones looked at him almost without recognition then left the room again, bumping Shasta with his shoulder as he did. Shasta caught him in the hallway and put an arm around his waist, suddenly afraid that he was going to collapse. Jones ignored it after a brief disinterested glance, allowing Shasta to walk him down the hall towards the bedrooms. At the last instant Shasta took him to his own bedroom instead of the one Jones had been sharing with Andraeon, trying to avoid triggering any damaging memories.
He got Jones into the shower first and threw both of their bloody clothes in the garbage, then fetched some clean clothes from Jones’s room and sat down on the lid of the toilet to wait for Jones to finish washing. Jones got out of the shower after only a few minutes and dried off without expression, changing into shorts and a tank top before he headed into the bedroom with Shasta following behind him.
“This is your bed.” Jones glanced at Shasta, though with nothing more than a mild interest.
“I’m not sharing it with you, don’t worry.” Shasta pushed him down on the bed. “Get some sleep, Jones. Yell if you need anything, okay?”
“Okay.” Jones stretched out and closed his eyes, and within only a few moments he was fast asleep, his breathing deep and even. Shasta sat down on the edge of the bed to watch him for a while, stroking his dark hair, then left him to sleep and went downstairs to find Shiki and Kaede.
Kaede got up to hug him when he came into the kitchen, kissing his cheek before she let him sit down at the table and handed over a mug of coffee. Shasta sipped at it, listening quietly as Shiki finished filling Kaede in on Andraeon’s death and the disappearance of his body. He could feel exhaustion beginning to crash down on him despite the coffee, and from the way Shiki began to stumble over his words and repeat himself, he wasn’t the only one.
“All right, I think that’s enough for tonight.” Kaede reached over to gently touch the butterfly stitches she’d put across the gash on Shiki’s forehead. “Both of you need to go to bed, though I’m afraid I’ll be waking you up to make sure you don’t have a concussion, Shiki.”
“I gave Jones my bed, so I’m going to crash on the couch.” Shasta finished the last of his coffee and got up to give them each a kiss on the cheek before going into the living room and sprawling full-length on the couch. He pulled the blanket down from the back of the couch and rolled himself up in it, and fell asleep almost as soon as he closed his eyes.
He woke again to a pitch-black darkness, feeling disoriented and confused. For a long moment he didn’t know where he was, then gradually the familiar furniture of Kaede’s living room came into focus and he remembered he was sleeping on the couch. He started to close his eyes again, then realized that what had woken him was the sound of someone else breathing. Looking around carefully, he pinpointed a shadow that didn’t belong, sitting on the edge of the armchair kitty-corner to the couch he was lying on.
As though she’d realized he was awake, Emily said, “Daddy’s sad, Shasta.”
“Yeah?” He reached up and fumbled on the lamp behind his head, squinting in its sudden glare. “Kiddo, it’s really creepy to sneak up on someone while they’re sleeping and just sit there in the dark watching them.”
“I didn’t want to wake you up but I couldn’t sleep.”
Shasta sighed. “Okay.”
“And Daddy doesn’t want to wake up because he’s sad because Drae went home.”
“Went home? Like your mommy went home?”
“No, stupid. Mommy died and went to the deadlands, you said so.” She rolled her eyes. “Drae wasn’t supposed to be here anyway so he went home.”
“Where’s home, Em?” Shasta asked, feeling wide awake now.
“I dunno.” She picked at a loose thread on the bottom of her pants. “But he died too. He just went home.”
“Oh.” Shasta sank back onto his pillow. “You want a drink or something, Em? Warm milk?”
“Yes,” she said and then after a slight pause, “Please.”
Shasta sighed again and heaved himself to his feet, a little surprised when Emily took his hand for the walk into the kitchen. She climbed into a chair as he quietly poured her a glass of milk and heated it up in the microwave, covering a yawn. Handing it over, he took one of the other chairs and leaned his head in his hands, half-closing his eyes.
“I can go back to bed now,” Emily announced when she’d finished the milk, startling Shasta out of a semi-doze. “Walk me upstairs, Shasta.”
“Your wish is my command,” Shasta muttered, but he got up and let Emily take his hand again, walking her upstairs and back to her bedroom. He helped her climb into bed with Andy, who still slept heavily, and tucked them both in. “No more sneaking downstairs while I’m sleeping, okay?”
“Okay. Good night, Shasta.” Emily snuggled in and closed her eyes.
“Night, kiddo.” Shasta ruffled her hair and left the room, closing the door halfway behind him. He started to go back downstairs, then detoured into his own room to check on Jones.
Jones lay curled up on his side, his face half-buried in the pillow. He’d bunched up the corner of the blanket and was hugging it like a stuffed toy, his fingers tangled in one of its folds so tightly his knuckles were white. Shasta reached out to gently untangle the blanket from his hand and smoothed it out over him, leaning down to kiss his forehead. Jones stirred, frowning, and startled Shasta by muttering his name. Thinking he was awake, Shasta moved back, but Jones only rolled over and hid his face in the pillow again.
“Sleep well,” Shasta said softly. “I hope at least your dreams are sweet.”
He watched Jones for a moment more then left the room and went back downstairs. Settling onto the couch, he pulled the blanket back over his legs and soon fell asleep again. In his dreams he met the Kingsblack and it spoke to him in Andraeon’s voice, warning him to stay away from Jones. When he refused it lunged at him and swallowed him whole, sending him spinning down into a blackness lit by pinpoints of starry light.
He woke with a start, his entire shoulder and side burning with pain. Hissing through his teeth, he gingerly peeled his shirt off and stared at the half-healed bite mark the Kingsblack had left him with. It glowed with a deep red light against his tanned skin, and only slowly faded away in the light of the new day.
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