Hollow Back Girl Read online

  “Robotics, eh?” I asked.

  “Yeah, she’s already taking apart anything we’ll let her get her hands on. Sometimes she puts it back together and sometimes it even works after. I’m hoping she’s going to be an engineer and create giant mechanical men who will take over the world.”

  “Not giant mechanical women to take over the world?”

  “I prefer my dreams for my children to be realistic, thank you very much.”

  I snorted. After a moment, I considered my other tiny relatives. “Has J.J. shown any sign of having any powers?”

  “No,” Jake shook his head. Running his hands through his hair, he met my gaze halfway, head still tilted down. “I’m not sure if I want Stella to be like me or like her mother. Like you guys.”

  “Understandable.” I nodded. “It’s not all fun and games being an X-Man.”

  Jake let out a laugh and sighed. He glanced up and I felt Robin enter the room, worry swamping her.

  “Don’t you start,” I said, looking up as she walked over to stand next to me. “I’m fine.”

  “Do I have to make you tell me the truth?” she asked. I glowered up at her, tugged my sleeves over my hands, shook my head.

  “No ma’am.”

  “Then how are you really?”

  “Sick of being asked how I am. But!” I yelped when she reached a hand toward my face. “I’m hurting! I’ll be okay!” She paused, a hair’s width from my skin and then looked over at her husband. He shook his head. Robin sighed, pulled back.

  “Fine. Then I’ll leave you alone. Come on, sweetie.” She stepped around me, reached a hand down to Jake. Before he touched her, he glanced at me.

  “I guess it’s bedtime.”

  “You guess right. Come on.” Robin wiggled her fingers, helped pull him to his feet when he put his hand in hers. I looked up at them, felt my eyes well up at the love in the room. Robin sighed and leaned down to kiss me on the forehead.

  “Get some rest. We’ll see you in the morning. We can start planning your birthday properly.”

  “Ooh,” I agreed. She laughed.

  “Once it’s about you, you’re all over it. Night, chipmunk.”

  Jake chuckled and they moved through the living room, disappearing into the dark kitchen. I turned back to the fire, let out a sigh. My phone buzzed. It was a text from Owen, letting me know he’d be back at the hotel in thirty and that he’d call me from there. I considered my options, deciding I had slept enough and wanted to talk to him in person.

  Chapter Fifteen

  I sat on a fat, squishy couch in the lobby of the hotel waiting for Owen to show up. The girl behind the counter wasn’t happy to have me invading her solitude, but I did my best to ignore her and let her know I expected nothing from her. It was mutually assured displeasure, though hers was tinged with curiosity, possibly about the wounds on my face and body. She’d seen me healthy and whole just a few days ago and now, here I was, scraped up and bruised.

  I was sure she suspected foul play, but I didn’t have the energy to worry about it too much.

  I felt him before I saw him, a sort of frustrated discomfort that he was trying to fight off. I looked over at the doors, saw them part as he walked through. I half-smiled as I considered that my brain went straight to sex while my body protested heavily. He looked damned good in his charcoal gray coat and black slacks. His hands were bare, his hair a little mussed like he’d run his fingers through it without realizing it was damp outside. His nose was tinged red and I wondered if it had gotten colder outside since I’d come in or if I was in too much pain from my injuries to take proper stock of the temperature.

  Confusion swept through him when he saw me, and his gaze fell to the scrapes on my cheek. His jaw tightened and he closed the distance between us, looking down at me. I smiled up at him, noted that, once again, he’d come to me with scraped knuckles.

  “I was going to call,” he said, his voice thick.

  “I know, but I wanted to see you.”

  “Come on,” he said, jerking his head toward the elevator. We passed the desk and I felt that curiosity from the agent wound and tighten. Perhaps she assumed his knuckles and my bruises were related.

  When we got into the room, he unbuttoned his coat, tossed it over the suitcase and turned to me. I took off my jacket, draped it over one of the chairs at the table. When I met his gaze, he jerked his chin toward me, his gaze on my wrists. I felt an irritation in him, bordering on anger.

  “Kincade paid me a little visit and I’ve maybe learned what your creature is. Which would you like to hear about first?”

  He sighed, brought a hand to his face to rub his forehead. It was an uncharacteristic gesture for him and I cocked my head, stepped close. I could feel discomfort in him still and his voice sounded funny.

  “What’s the matter?” I asked. He looked up at me, sniffled a bit.

  “I spoke with a lot of people today, a few of them sick. I think—”

  “Sick?” I interrupted. “Who did you speak to who was sick?”

  Owen squinted at me, lifted his hands to his hips. “Why?”

  “Shit.” I said, took a half-step back. “I went to see my brother today and Thom has a friend of his who’s sick. Carter caught it down the line from that amnesiac who was in the forest. Apparently he was patient zero, spreading it all over town. I knew things here felt different, but I’ll admit, I’ve been mostly focused on my own shit—and on you—so it was sort of a background worry. But if you’re getting sick like everyone el—shit! You didn’t see a Troy or an Owen Mathers, did you?”

  Owen sighed, gesturing loosely before speaking. “Go back to what led you to Kincade.”

  “Why?”

  The look he gave me was pointed and I relented, backing up to sit on the edge of the bed as I told him about my day, from running into Samuel and his fancy gold coin all the way up to talking to my dad about what had creamed me.

  “Surprisingly, he knew exactly what had attacked me.”

  “I know what it is, too, and you should probably go.”

  “Because you’re gonna head out now and slay it?” Owen laughed at the suggestion, the edge of it turning into a cough.

  “Everything going on stems from the Lofriska—perhaps the same one Kincade pissed off, for all we know—and whatever I’ve caught, you do not want to get. If we don’t figure out a way to make them happy again, things could go south fast.”

  “For you?”

  “For everyone.”

  I grimaced, getting to my feet again and closing in to cup his cheeks. He smiled, but wouldn’t meet my eyes, and I didn’t feel the usual lust or pleasure at my touch swirl up inside him. Telling myself it was just because he felt awful, I stayed put.

  “How?”

  “These creatures have been known to kill entire villages just because one or two people pissed them off, insulted them, or hurt them. They can cause disease when they’re mad and I’m pretty sure they’re pissed.” Owen leaned back, out of my grip, and took a seat at the little table where we’d eaten dinner. “I’d guess that’s why they let one person free. The rest are likely dead, but they let one come back to civilization to spread whatever this is.”

  “What pissed them off?”

  “Fuck if I know,” he said, shaking his head. “But I caught something from one of the people I spoke with today and it hit me hard and fast.”

  “Well, I’ve been around two sick people today and I feel—well, I don’t feel fine, but I don’t feel sick. I’m sure it’s safe for me to stay.” I closed in, running a hand through his hair.

  He looked up at me, very serious, and then looked down as he brought my hands up so he could look at my wrists. An echo of the malice I’d felt in him when we’d run into Kincade flashed but he was too weak or tired for it to be as damaging to my psyche as it would have been any other time. His thumb edged one of my scabs and I felt the pressure in his other hand increase slightly.

  “Did she say what she wanted at all?” />
  “Nope, just that she wanted me to tell her if I felt anything. Then, when the Lofriska popped up, she got giddy and produced some gold chain, like she might whip it or tie it up.”

  Owen shook his head, sniffled again. I rubbed his cheek as he pressed on.

  “She wouldn’t have gone in unprepared and just wandering. She knew exactly what was out there and she wanted it. You were bait, or a distraction, or an unwilling guide. I don’t know.” His eyes still on my wrists, he leaned back against the chair. “I don’t know what the chain she used was exactly, but I’m guessing it’s enchanted or forged by fae. It would have given her the edge she needed to do whatever it is she went in there to do.”

  “What do you think that would have been?”

  “I have no damn clue. Kincade is …” He looked up at me, but his eyes were unfocused. “She doesn’t play by the same rules as I do, doesn’t work for the same rewards. She’s a lot like—” He cut himself off and I felt a sudden shock and embarrassment rattle us both. I lifted a brow.

  “She’s like what?”

  “I …” He trailed off, shook his head. “I was going to mention someone, but you wouldn’t know what I was talking about.” It wasn’t exactly a lie, but I nodded and didn’t press the issue.

  “Ah.”

  “I’m off my game, need some rest.” His expression folded, disappointment evident across his features.

  “I’m not here for sex if that’s what you’re worried about.”

  He grinned. “Why would I worry about that?”

  “Because we both feel like shit?”

  “Ah,” he murmured. “That.”

  “Believe me, normally I would be all over you. Not a single bit of you would be safe from a single bit of me. But,” I dragged the word out, leaning down to eye level, cupping his face in my hands. “Raincheck?”

  “Raincheck,” Owen agreed.

  “At least let me help?” I suggested. I wasn’t entirely sure what I could do, but I’d spotted a room service menu set out on top of the dresser with a bunch of other hotel guides.

  “I could be persuaded,” he said, his voice sleepy. I pulled back, went to grab the menu. I flipped through it, held it up.

  “I’ll be company while you eat hot soup.”

  “That’s very noble of you, but you don’t have to stay. You’re here to be with family; you should go do that.” I laughed, shaking my head.

  “No thanks, I’d rather be here nursing you back to health, trust me. We can eat, talk this through some more, figure out what might make sexy tree ladies angry and brainstorm ways to make it better.”

  Owen considered me and I felt a spike of lust try to light him up; it was no match for the fatigue from whatever flu or cold he’d caught, however. After a moment, he gave a nod.

  “As long as you don’t try to pay for anything.”

  “Oh no.” I snorted, gave an exaggerated roll of my eyes. “You’re definitely paying and I am definitely ordering more of that cheesecake.”

  I woke propped up in bed a few hours later, head lolled back on a pile of pillows. Owen lay at my hip, one arm tucked under my knee and wrapped around it, hand resting on his chest. I didn’t remember either of us making a conscious effort to fall asleep, but there we were. I felt him wake up as I yawned, felt the tension in his body that followed the emotional shift. As he moved to stretch a bit and catch his bearings, I glanced at the clock. I felt touch of shock flow out of him.

  “Yowza,” I said. “It’s four in the morning. I hope no one at my house is up, or they’re probably worried sick.”

  “Can you blame them?” he asked through a yawn. “You’re appallingly bad at keeping yourself out of danger.” I rolled my eyes, tensed the fingers I’d brushed into his hair to shake his head slightly.

  “Quiet, you.”

  He laughed, pulled his hand out from under my leg, and pushed himself up to sit next to me. “What were we talking about?”

  “Movies, I think.”

  “Hmm,” he mumbled, shaking his head when he yawned again. His throat had gone raw and I could feel how warm he was next to me. I pressed a hand to his cheek. After a moment, I moved my hand to his, figured I’d ask what I’d been wondering since well before we’d fallen asleep.

  “You’re sure this thing won’t kill you?”

  “I’m never sure I won’t die, but I do the job anyway.”

  “But you made it sound like you knew how to be cured.”

  “Tuesday, Wednesday, stay in bed.”

  “Hunh?” I asked, lost, feeling a teeny prick of mischief in him but not sure what it could mean. He laughed and shook his head.

  “It’s a song, by The Cure.”

  I smacked him lightly, which seemed to make his laugh gurgle into a cough. He cleared his throat, got up to move into the bathroom. I heard the water running, the sound of gargling and spitting. When he came back out, I could see the way his body had hunched slightly with fever and fatigue. Normally he was long and lean, narrow at the waist with a slim face and a confidence you wanted to slurp away from his skin. In the light of the dim hotel room, though, he looked exhausted, beaten.

  He must’ve caught my assessment of him in my expression.

  “The Lofriska can cause as well as cure sickness. While I’m not sure that what they crafted is deadly, I’m guessing it could be if they wanted. Whatever they did to the fine people of Balanis, Montana should be curable, assuming we make amends for whatever they’ve found offensive. I’m choosing to believe I can make it all better.”

  “If it helps, I don’t think it’s deadly. My brother was talking about this thing hitting his friends a few weeks ago at least. Carter—his buddy—sounds awful and looks like he was hit by a train, but he isn’t dead.”

  “Well, if it’s only as bad as being hit by a train, why try to cure it at all?”

  I rolled my eyes and pressed on through a laugh. “Assuming I want you back in fighting shape, what sort of things would make it all better?”

  “We’re going to have to ask them,” he said simply, as if it were the most natural answer. My brows shot up.

  “You mean we should give them a phone call, or write them a happy letter on some cute, little stationary, right? You’re not suggesting we go back into the woods?” He nodded once and I went rigid, shaking my head, panicked at the idea. “I don’t think that’s a good idea. Last time I walked into those woods, they got pretty angry pretty fast. I think going back there might only make them reconsider their decision not to break my neck.”

  Wincing—or maybe frowning, it was hard to tell—Owen came forward to sit on the foot of the bed. Something was brewing in him, a frustrated curiosity. His eyes narrowed after a moment and he met my gaze.

  “We went into those woods before and nothing happened. Can you tell if whatever you sensed the first time was the same thing?”

  I thought about it, tried to bring back the sensations in my head of coming across the invisible creature and compare them to the anger I’d felt from the Lofriska.

  “Maybe? The first time was so faint that I didn’t really get a sense of anything specific. I think that—or something similar—is what I felt the second time, but I got my bell rung pretty hard so I could be mixing it up.”

  “I’m going to assume that it was the same thing, which leads me to assume that, since they didn’t attack us the first time we were in their territory, that you were not what they were angry at. I’m thinking it was Kincade.”

  “That makes sense, though not enough to make me think I want to go prancing into the forest all yippy-skippy. That second Lofriska couldn’t have given a fig about me, but it seemed to want her pretty bad. The first one—the one that dropped me like a sack of trash—was pissed, but I guess if it had really had a problem with me I wouldn’t be here now.”

  “Thus, I’m betting it’s Kincade they’re after; you were just in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

  “Dammit,” I swore. “Goddamned asshole bitch.”
<
br />   “Now you want to punch her in the face too, don’t you?”

  “Kind of,” I admitted. I felt a spurt of amusement from Owen and I narrowed my eyes. “What?”

  “Just thinking about the one time you tried to punch me. It was pretty pathetic.”

  “Hey,” I protested. “I’ve never had reason to punch anyone before, not for real. I don’t have the practice you do.”

  “Fair enough,” he agreed.

  “Although, considering how easy it’s been for me to get beaten up lately, maybe I should learn some self defense tactics.”

  “Once I’m feeling better, I’ll teach you a few moves.”

  “Can we roll around naked and sweaty like the Greeks of old?”

  “We can, but I don’t know if it’ll be much of a learning experience.”

  I grinned, wagged my brows. “Let’s just try it and see.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  I got home around five in the morning, pleased to find that no one was awake yet. I went straight upstairs, stretched out in bed with my clothes still on and fell back to sleep. Robin woke me up a couple hours later, dropping into bed and wiggling her finger along my ear like a roaming fly until I grunted, slapping at her.

  “Wake up, chipmunk.”

  “Hrrrmph,” I responded, grabbing for the blanket. I felt a mischievous tickle of friskiness dance over my empathy before her warm hand fell full on my cheek.

  “Wake up, Gwen.”

  My eyes snapped open, consciousness rushing in. I jerked up, tensed, and looked around. Robin smiled at me, pulling her hand away and tucked it under her cheek with her other.

  “Whoa,” I said. “Morning. Did you just whammy me?”

  Robin shrugged. “Only slightly.”

  “Well don’t. That’s … Wow. I feel … I don’t think I’ve ever woken up that fast before.”

  “It’s great when the kids won’t quite heed their alarms.”

  “God, how does Jake put up with you?” I asked, stretching my shoulders and cracking my neck. She laughed, shook her head.

  “I don’t only make him do unpleasant things.”