The Bridge (23 page)

Make him open the bridge. Take them through. Get Omar—if he was even in there. Do the mystery part of the plan that Everett hadn’t figured out. Get Omar and the others out. Possibly die from excessive energy depletion.

“This is connected to everything strange that has been going on. The paranormal residue in the dojang probably belonged to Bryce and the hybrids. Omar disappeared in a two-way bridge that was summoned in his house, with the hybrids as his witnesses. The woman who walked in on us doing the investigation was Lena.”

Buzz squirmed. “
You figured that out?”

“Her voice matched. Why didn’t you tell me? You saw her that day and you saw her in the street.”

“I just thought you’d do something stupid.”

“Like I’m doing now?”

“You’re going to get hurt.”
Buzz turned a sad eye on Everett.

Two knives of guilt stabbed Everett in the chest, one from Buzz and one from his grandfather. He was going to kill himself with guilt if the energy depletion didn’t.

Everett texted,
I’m not going to vomit though. I’m good with alcohol. I think.

Suuuuuuuuure. Do you want me to come over now?

I’m fine. I didn’t drink enough to pass out. Just to get a little fuzzy.

“Who’re you texting? Bryce?”
Buzz floated next to Everett’s phone. He sat down slowly, curling his tentacles in a pool of string and wincing in pain. “
Don’t laugh.”

Everett coughed. “I’m sneaking out with Bryce tonight. Can you keep an eye on my grandfather and make sure he doesn’t find out? Take care of him too?”

“Your judgment is totally impaired when you’re drunk. Are you sure you want to do this?”

Everett felt nauseated, and it wasn’t because of the beer. “I might die tomorrow, so I want to live a little before I go.”

“Don’t talk like that. Like you’re certain you’re going to die. I’m going to be with you the whole time, so you know I’ll protect you.”

“I’m sorry for being so pessimistic, but Buzz, I have a feeling something terrible is going to happen. Do you know what I mean? It’s right
there
, I’m walking into it, and I can’t avoid it. I can’t step around it. I have to walk right through it or I can’t succeed.”

“You don’t have to do this. Get the Order involved.”

“Mrs. Lars is involved. There might already be others in the Order involved.”

He received another text from Bryce and didn’t read it. He tossed his phone to the side and rested his head on his folded arms.

Buzz dragged his tentacles to the phone and pulled it to his body, swearing at the pain that made his cap turn deep pink. “
Bryce says he’s going to take a nap, and then he’ll pick you up at eleven. Where do you want to meet him?”

“Tell him the back lot of the Quick Spell Bookshop in Sundale. And say I have to go.”

“Got to go, but I’ll meet you at the back of the Quick Spell Bookshop in Sundale,”
Buzz read as his tentacle tapped out the message.

“Thanks. I’m going to sleep. Wake me up at ten fifty.”

“I’ll set an alarm.”

Buzz curled into a spiral against Everett’s torso. Everett fell asleep after a few blinks.

EVERETT’S HAND
shot to his phone when the alarm went off. He jabbed the screen until he hit the snooze button.

Buzz was a mess of stringy tentacles. He lay on the round part of his cap, squishing it under his weight.

“Go. I’ll catch up later. So tired.”

“Lazy.” Everett deleted his alarm and rolled off the bed, landing on feet that didn’t want to support his weight.

He put his phone and a few packets of salt in a small sack. He grabbed a sweater, socks, and running shoes. He kept Bryce’s sweatpants on because they were comfortable enough to make him fall asleep anywhere, and he wanted to see if Bryce would notice them.

He stuffed his bed with his pillow and a few clothes, gently rolled Buzz under the bedsheets, and grabbed his keys.

The floorboards were against him tonight. Some of them creaked as he tiptoed to the back door. Luckily, his grandfather didn’t come out. He locked the door behind him, then crept down the stairs.

Bryce’s car waited next to the stairs, its lights off.

“You look ready to sleep,” Bryce said.

“You’re dressed the same,” Everett said.

“We won’t be doing much walking, if at all, so you could’ve come down in pajamas and it wouldn’t have mattered.”

Bryce drove out of the lot and then turned his lights on, illuminating an empty road. On most weeknights, Everett’s street was dead. The nightlife was blocks away.

“Are you still tipsy?” Bryce asked.

“Not really, but don’t count on me taking the wheel if you need a break.” Everett didn’t like the streetlamps; they hurt his eyes.

“You’re so loose. How much did you drink?”

“A bottle. I’ve never had beer before. It was my first time.”

“What kind?”

Everett didn’t remember. He didn’t even know for sure if the bottle had been beer. It looked like beer, and he had desired a distraction from tomorrow, so he chugged it down.

“I didn’t check.”

Bryce whistled. “Everett Hallman. Living on the edge.” He took them down a scenic county road. He turned his brights on and illuminated the houses that slowly gave way to trees, trees, and more trees. “Have you been here before?”

“Haven’t had the chance. It reminds me of the woods, though. Fucking huge trees.”

Bryce laughed. “You’re different when you’re drunk.”

“Everyone is.” Everett thought he’d feel sick if he watched the trees zoom by, but the blurs of dark green were a sedative.

“I don’t think I like it,” Bryce said quietly.

Bryce pulled onto a worn road that branched off. After ten minutes of trees and no cars, Bryce pulled onto another road and parked in the dirt clearing it led to. There were picnic tables, but they were filthy and hadn’t been used in months. Thick spiderwebs linked the benches to the tables.

“There’s a bathroom if you need one.” Bryce pointed at a small wooden outhouse that looked home to dozens of spiders.

Bryce turned off the headlights and then the car engine. The entire car was cast in darkness.

“What are we doing here? Making out in the moonlight?” Everett unbuckled his seat belt.

Bryce unbuckled his seat belt and pushed his seat and backrest as far back as they could go. He took his shoes off. Everett did the same with his seat and shoes.

“No. Come here. Cuddle with me.” Bryce scooted to the left and patted the small space on his right. Everett would have to press against Bryce’s body to fit on the seat, but that was the point.

Everett found he couldn’t fit comfortably next to Bryce. He tried to lie partway on Bryce, but his groin pressed against Bryce’s hip, and it did amazing things that Everett would rather save for his alone time. Everett felt around the seat for a place to hold himself up while he moved. The dark blended with Bryce’s crotch, and Everett palmed it.

Bryce gasped and crawled backward. Everett lost his balance and fell on top of Bryce, his knee pressed between Bryce’s legs and his hands on either side of Bryce’s body.

They were both breathing hard, their faces flushed.

Everett touched Bryce’s cheek and found the skin warm and… not human. He brought his hands to Bryce’s face and felt the skin. It was rough with indentations like the gaps between scales on fish. He touched Bryce’s ears. The cartilage made the skin rougher and the pattern deeper.

He felt Bryce’s neck, and the skin there too had the same texture. It disappeared under human flesh as Bryce’s disguise slipped back on.

“You hid this in the dark,” Everett said.

“I can explain.”

“Put it back on. I want to feel.”

The skin was the same under Bryce’s shirt. Everett ran his fingers over Bryce’s collarbones. He loved the dip and rise of the scales. The skin got thicker under Bryce’s collarbones. He wanted to slide his hands down Bryce’s chest and feel as they got thicker and thicker. He wondered how thick the skin was around Bryce’s groin and if it would chafe against human skin.

Everett moved his hands against Bryce’s chest and felt Bryce’s humanlike heartbeat. He trailed his hands down, slower when he reached Bryce’s waistband. He held his hands at the elastic of the shorts.

“What are your knuckle scabs from?” Everett asked.

“Sometimes when I transform, my knuckles have difficulty shifting, so my skin tears.”

“You’re the hybrid child of two witches,” Everett said. He touched the scales under Bryce’s bunched shorts.

“How’d you know?”

“I’m a witch. The witch your father warned you about. Maybe worse than a witch. I’m a Bridge Master.”

Bryce felt Everett’s face. His fingers lingered on Everett’s cheekbones. “I thought you weren’t a real witch.”

“I’m definitely a real witch. I attempted to strip your aura away many times, and every time I was attacked by an automatic counterattack. I don’t think you noticed, except those times you felt sudden drafts. I was drawn to the dojang because of you.”

“That was you? Wait.” Bryce grabbed Everett’s wrists when they played with Bryce’s waistband. “Counterattacks? Is that why you fainted?”

“Don’t worry about it. They were automatic. Natural defenses you were born with.”

“I’m sorry. But if you’re a witch, why is my dad so serious about keeping me away? You’re not going to hunt me down and kill me, are you? Are witches hunters?”

Everett didn’t know his face was close to Bryce’s, so he ducked his face to laugh and felt Bryce’s warm breath. “I’m not going to hurt you, I swear. I know your father said you should avoid witches, but I’m harmless.”

Bryce cupped the back of Everett’s head and thumbed the skin under Everett’s hairline. “This isn’t my full form. My natural form is too dangerous to come out.”

“What is your natural form?”

“I don’t know. I think I’m still growing into it. Lately I’ve been losing control over it. Sometimes I shift without knowing it.”

“I don’t think you’ll lose control.” Everett ghosted his lips across Bryce’s.

Bryce turned his head, and Everett kissed his cheek. “I don’t think we should.”

Everett sat back. “Why?”

“You’re drunk.”

“I’m okay now.”

“No you’re not.” Bryce gently moved Everett off his lap.

They sat against each other, scrunched together on the driver’s seat, surrounded by the dark and silence. Everett shifted so he could comfortably drape an arm over Bryce’s waist in a loose hug. He rested his head on Bryce’s shoulder and breathed in the sharp mint of Bryce’s soap.

“HURRY UP.
Your grandpa is going to wake up sometime.”
Buzz tittered.

Everett grabbed Bryce by his shirt collar and yanked him into a bruising kiss. “Thank you for tonight.”

They had slept in Bryce’s car until Buzz woke Everett up with a shout at three in the morning. Bryce had driven back like a zombie, but after that hard kiss from Everett, he was as awake as anyone could be at three in the morning.

“I’ll see you soon,” Everett said.

“Yeah. We should have a lesson soon. Do some grappling. It’s a lot of fun.” Bryce cleared his throat.

Everett slung his bag over his shoulder. “We’ll see about that.”

Bryce sighed, and then turned the car off and rushed out. He slid over the car’s hood and enveloped Everett in a hot kiss, his hands running everywhere as if he couldn’t get enough.

Everett had low energy for spell casting, but it seemed he had high energy for fooling around.

“Everett, seriously. Hurry up.”

“Did you hear that?” Bryce breathed on Everett’s lips.

“My familiar.”

“Stop projecting your hormones and get inside.”

“One more minute,”
Everett said and boxed his arousal in his mind. He didn’t use salt, but he wanted to kiss Bryce instead of congratulating himself on his independence from Buzz’s snooping eyes.

He rucked up Bryce’s shirt and dug his nails into Bryce’s human skin. So this was what teenagers snuck out at night for: the tantalizing burn of lust and the sweet taste of romance and knowing they were wanted.

“You don’t have to be human now. We’re in a blind spot. Cameras can’t see us,” Everett said.

“I warned you. He’s awake now. Going to the bathroom. Stay until I tell you to come up,”
Buzz said, both to Bryce and Everett.

“The bathroom window overlooks the back lot,” Everett explained and kissed the corner of Bryce’s mouth.

They stayed flat against the wall until Buzz gave the okay. Bryce drifted out of the back lot, headlights off, and Everett snuck into the apartment, using a spell to dull his sounds.

“Look, pa! No salt!”
Everett mentally laughed.

“Maybe you should sneak out before tomorrow. You’ll have a lot more energy then,”
Buzz said.

EVERETT WENT
through his morning without thinking about the two-way bridge he was to summon at three in the afternoon. He had gotten the text from Jake shortly after he woke. It was a death beacon he followed without preamble. What happened today happened. He could only hope he was as prepared as he needed to be.

He sat against the tub’s wall and sobbed into his hands. He had no one to hide his tears from, but he felt ashamed all the same. He didn’t think about why he cried, only about the hurt in his chest that wouldn’t leave.

The shop was busy today. He didn’t get much time alone with his grandfather, so he soaked in his grandfather’s appearance and committed it to memory. If something happened to him across the bridge, he wanted to see his loved one’s face before he died.

As the clock neared two thirty, his anxiety became obvious. His skin was pale. He was covered in sweat. His heart pounded in his head. He got distracted easily. Customers asked if he was okay.

At two thirty he said, “Grandpa, I’m going out.”