“I swear I didn’t steal that horse,” Jessica said for the third time. She led their way out of the city and back into meadows.
“Bullshit,” Shawn muttered.
“It was standing in a field, all by itself.”
“And you didn’t check to see if its owner was nearby?” Oliver asked, his hand brushing against Shawn’s as they walked.
“I did.” But Jessica’s voice didn’t sound confident. She stared straight ahead as she continued the lead.
Shawn slipped his hand into Oliver’s for a few seconds, then pulled away. The pulling away wasn’t surprising. He himself didn’t want Jessica knowing what happened between them the previous night either. But Shawn had said he enjoyed that kiss. Oliver shot him a questioning look. Shawn slowed his pace. Oliver did the same, giving themselves a far enough distance from Jessica to have a whispered conversation.
“I know you want this,” Shawn said. “Part of me wants it too. But another part of me… It… I’m not saying it’s wrong. But it feels like it is.”
The dilemma reminded Oliver of what his first boyfriend had gone through. “It’ll be easier once you get used to doing these things. I once dated someone with the same problem. He eventually got over it.”
“You think there’s hope for me then?”
“Definitely.” Oliver took Shawn’s hand again. “I know I’m supposed to forget about that kiss, but…”
“You can’t stop thinking about it.” Shawn sighed. “Me too. But I’m not ready for this. I’m sorry.” He squeezed Oliver’s hand, then let go.
Right as Jessica turned around and saw just how far behind the two men had fallen. She stopped and waited for them to catch up.
Jessica crossed her arms. “I’d like to get far away from the vampire city before sunset.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Shawn muttered.
They no sooner began walking again, when a large, dark, creature charged straight towards them. The doghorse! Oliver jumped out of its path. Shawn tried to do the same. But the creature nudged its head between Shawn’s legs, forcing Shawn onto its back. Shawn wrapped his arms around the creatures neck as it spun around, and raced down the path.
“Shawn!” Oliver cried. He and Jessica chased after the creature, but it was too fast. Within a minute, it had disappeared from view.
Oliver wasn’t going to let something like that stop him. He continued running. Jessica called his name, but he ignored her. His foot got caught into something, and he fell to his stomach. There was a crack, followed by a sharp pain in his ankle. He swore, and got back to his feet. And nearly fell over again.
Jessica caught up to him. “Are you okay?”
Oliver tried putting weight on his bad foot. It hurt too much to even stand on it. He dropped to his knees. “I can’t walk.”
“I tried to warn you.” Jessica pointed towards the thick tree root growing across the path.
“I needed to get to Shawn.”
“Like there’s any chance of us catching up to him. That thing was fast.” Jessica knelt next to him. “Does it feel broken?”
“I don’t know.” Oliver had never broken a bone. He stretched his leg out, and tried moving his foot. Pain shot through his ankle. “Ow!”
Jessica dug through her purse, pulled out her phone, made a move to unlock it, then put it away with a groan. She resumed digging around, and pulled out a bottle of pills. “I’ve got Advil.”
Like a couple of pain pills could get him up and walking again. But it was better than nothing. He pulled a water bottle out of his pack, courtesy of his parallel self, and took four.
“I don’t think you’re supposed to take that many.” But Jessica made no move to stop him.
“I need to rescue Shawn.”
“I think you need to be rescued more than him.” Jessica glanced around the empty fields. “I should look for help. You stay here. Maybe Shawn found a way off that thing and is on his way back.” Jessica patted his shoulder, and hurried off down the path.
Leaving Oliver alone. It was a terrible idea, he knew, to split up like this. Though she hadn’t waited to hear his opinion. Hopefully Shawn was on his way back.
Shawn. Oliver’s heart ached for him. Almost as much as his ankle.
What felt like hours passed. Though it couldn’t have been hours, because surely someone would have walked past him by now? Oliver hadn’t seen anyone so far.
Off in the distance, he saw two figures approaching. Oliver recognized them as Jyri and Faye. He sat up. “What are you two doing here?”
“A question we should be asking you,” Faye said coldly. She looked at Oliver’s useless leg. “We ran into Jessica. She told us you broke your ankle, trying to run after Shawn?”
“Yeah. Do you know someone who can fix it?”
Jyri gave Faye a questioning look. Faye shrugged at him. “You know I don’t know healing magic.”
A long ago fact about Jyri occurred to Oliver just then. “Didn’t you once say you were a doctor?”
“It’s… complicated.” Jyri scratched his jawline, eyes averted. “It was for non-humans. I don’t know much about healing actual humans.”
“Are their broken bones that much different from ours?” Oliver asked. He looked at Faye, whom he was certain wasn’t an actual human. Her limbs looked the same as his.
“I suppose not,” Jyri said. “Let me see your foot.”
Wincing, Oliver pulled off his shoe, followed by his sock. His foot was already swollen, and had turned a reddish color.
“Can you move your toes?” Jyri asked.
Oliver did so successfully, but it hurt.
“It’s probably just sprained. We need to make a splint for it.”
“But I can’t walk at all. I can barely stand!”
“Not even if I help you?” Jyri asked. “I’d bring Holger over, but I left him with Shawn and Jessica.”
“Shawn?” Oliver’s heart skipped a beat. “He’s with you?”
“Yep. Hurt just as bad as you are,” Jyri said grimly. “The idiot thought it would be a good idea to jump off a running estin.”
“An estin? That’s what that monster is called?”
“He’s not a monster,” Faye said. “He’s useful.”
“Most of the time,” Jyri added. “Come on. Try to get up. Shawn keeps crying for you.”
The thought of Shawn waiting for him got Oliver onto his good foot. He leaned against Jyri, who helped guide him.
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Thankfully, they didn’t have to go very far. But moving was slow. Off to the side of the path, laid the doghorse. Or, estin. Jessica sat next to the creature, petting its head. Shawn laid on his back, appearing lifeless. Oliver’s chest swelled at the sight of him. He dropped to his knees, and crawled towards him. “Shawn!”
At the sight of Oliver, Shawn struggled to sit up. He held his arms open, and Oliver fell into his embrace.
“I thought I’d never see you again.” Oliver tightened his hug. Shawn groaned as though in pain.
Oliver released his hold. “What’s wrong?”
“My back. It’s sore. And I think I did something to my shoulder. I can barely move it.” He rubbed his left shoulder. “Jessica said something’s wrong with your foot?”
“Yeah. I… tripped. Trying to run after you.”
“And I thought I could jump off that thing, to get back to you.” Shawn laid back down, wincing. “I don’t know what I was thinking, trying that.”
“I don’t know why I thought I could catch up. We were both stupid.”
“You got that right.” Faye wandered over to them. “I don’t know how we’re going to get you two home.”
Shawn picked his head up. “You know how to get home?”
“Of course,” Jyri said. “How do you think we got to your world?”
“And why do you think we’re even here?” Faye crossed her arms. “We came to bring you home.”
Oliver stared, flabbergasted. He didn’t think Faye and Jyri cared all that much for him to go through the effort. “You came back just to help us?”
“It’s to pay you back for helping us in your world.” Jyri looked over at Jessica. “And I’ll always help a good friend. But I don’t understand why you went off with Shawn and Oliver.”
“I saw them go through the wall at Dunkin, and got curious,” Jessica said. “Normally I wouldn’t have done that. But I needed a distraction.”
“From what?” Shawn asked.
Jessica looked at the estin as she scratched behind its ears. “My boyfriend and I broke up.”
Oliver’s eyes widened. He wouldn’t have guessed at all. Jessica sure hadn’t been acting like they had.
“Oh.” Shawn chewed his lip, probably thinking about how he was going through the same thing. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s fine. I feel relieved about it, honestly. I’m only stressed because I’m trying to move out but I don’t know where to go.”
Oliver wondered if Jessica living with him would be better or worse than Jyri, Faye, and Ran living with him. Not that he was going to extend the invitation. He gazed at Shawn. Maybe he could move in with Shawn, and Jessica could live with those three. If they ever get back to their world, anyway. With Oliver’s injured foot, he didn’t see how he could walk.
“You’ll have plenty of time to think about that,” Faye said. “Right now, we need to think about how to get you all home.” She looked at Shawn. “Can you get up? Walk?”
“Maybe.” Shawn slowly got to his feet. Already, he was doing better than Oliver. He limped forward a few steps. “I can kind of walk. But my knee hurts.”
“Okay.” Jyri looked at Oliver and Shawn, then to the estin. “You can both ride Holger the whole way. Me, Faye, and Jessica can take turns as the third person. Get on.”
Shawn reluctantly limped over to Holger. The estin was still lying on his stomach. Slowly, Shawn sat on him, near his front legs. He took the reigns in his hands. Jyri helped Oliver up, and guided him over to Holger. Oliver sat behind Shawn. Holger slowly got to his feet.
Jessica climbed onto Holger, behind Oliver. “What are we supposed to hold onto?”
“Normally there’s a saddle for three,” Jyri said. “But unfortunately we don’t have one. You’ll have to hold onto each other.”
Finally, an excuse to have his arms around Shawn. Oliver wrapped his arms around Shawn’s waist.
Jyri noticed just how quick Oliver had been, and smirked. “You won’t need to hold on that much. We’ll be going at a walk.”
Face feeling flushed, Oliver put his hands on Shawn’s shoulder instead. Shawn winced. “That hurts!”
“Sorry.” Oliver moved his hands back down, onto Shawn’s hips. “That better?”
“Yeah.” Shawn flicked the reigns, and Holger started walking. At a pace too slow to need to hang onto anyone. Jessica kept her hands off of Oliver anyway. Jyri and Faye walked alongside them.
“When we get back to Corvin and the others, Corvin can heal you two,” Jyri said. “He’s a wizard.”
The old man certainly could have passed for one. It was nice knowing Oliver’s foot injury wouldn’t last too long. “Where’s he at?”
“We left him in the city you two are wanted in,” Faye said. “He was going to see if he could find Jessica, but he’s probably given up by now. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s back at his home.”
“Where’s he live?” Shawn asked.
“The top of Wizard’s Point,” Jyri answered.
“Sure didn’t see that one coming,” Jessica said, amusement in her voice.
But Oliver was still thinking about how Corvin had healing powers. Yet Jyri was a doctor. Why would there be doctors in this world, if wizards could heal people too? Oliver looked down at Jyri. “Why are there doctors in this world if wizards can just use magic?”
“There’s not a lot of wizards left,” Jyri said. “Corvin is actually the only one I’ve ever met.”
“What do you mean ’not a lot left?’” Shawn asked.
“Magic and nonhumans are banned where Jyri and I are from,” Faye said. “The country on the other side of Wizard’s Point. The King killed them all off.”
“Or experimented on them, before killing them off.” Jyri’s voice shook. “And I’d rather not talk about that.”
“Magic is okay on this side,” Faye said. “There’s still not very many wizards though. Or, I don’t think there are.”
“There’s not,” Jyri confirmed. “They’re dying out. Less and less are being born. Nobody knows why.”87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1TSmdOO34L
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