Hollow Back Girl Page 5

  “I love waffles,” he moaned, bouncing back to clutch his hands together in front of his chest. I glowered at him, feeling lost and out of place, as had become common since Izzy had shown up. Mel and Chloe often treated him like his strange outbursts and excessive energy were normal, leaving me to look like a mad woman when I questioned them. Mom seemed to be in their camp, unbothered by Izzy’s weird behavior, acting like he was just another one of the little ones.

  “Excellent. I’ll go start another batch. Get dressed, chipmunk,” she told me. Izzy snorted, pointed at my teeth as she continued. “We’ll start eating in about ten minutes. Everyone’s already up.”

  “Ah. Kay,” I grunted, still glowering at Izzy.

  “Waffles!” he announced, before padding after my mother toward the stairs.

  “Marvin, we need to make another batch!” mom yelled. Even from so far away, I felt the spike of annoyance from my father in the kitchen.

  “That’s what I told you,” he groused. As Izzy disappeared down the stairs, I glared after him.

  “This is ridiculous,” I said to no one, heaving to my feet, and yanking at the robe until I could figure out which part of it was a sleeve. “Crazy fairy … thing … guy, showing up in my room, eating my cookies. Stupid Chloe’s stupid boyfriend, stupid—”

  “Gwen?”

  “Ack!” I cried, the picture of grace and poise. Whipping around, I found Natalie peering into the bedroom, watching me have a breakdown. I hadn’t even noticed her approach, too caught up in my own rage and pain.

  “Are you okay?” she asked. I blinked at her, found that she was mildly concerned about my state of being, but didn’t have enough life experience to really recognize insanity well enough to be bothered by it.

  “Yeah, I’m okay. My … friend just showed up out of nowhere and I didn’t expect him to …” I realized she didn’t know what I was talking about. Tugging the robe closed, I smiled, sat on the edge of the bed. “Are you okay?”

  “No, what happened to your neck?” she slipped in through the doorway, shoved at her un-brushed blond hair, and came to stand in front of me. We were almost eye-level and I realized that I found her somewhat intimidating.

  “Nothing hap—” Cutting me off, she reached out, tucked her small hand under the fuzzy robe and into the neckline of my shirt, pressing warm fingers to my collarbone. I grunted as she did, gasped when I felt the sensation of healing seep into my bones. Her narrow nose wrinkled as she leaned into me, as I felt a determined sort of annoyance rattle around inside her. Shocked, I put my hand over hers, felt the heat coming off her knuckles.

  It took a few seconds but, when she pulled her hand away, the bruise along my neck had faded. I could barely see it anymore. My ribs and breasts were still tender, but Natalie had managed to take away the marks that would be visible to anyone who wasn’t trying to take off my clothes. It seemed that no one would have to know about my injuries except Owen and me. And Izzy, apparently

  “Wow,” I mumbled. Natalie swallowed thickly, her eyes unfocused for a moment. After a second, she looked into my face.

  “Were you hurt by a monkey?”

  “Was I?” I asked, my brows shooting up. Exactly what powers did she possess? Robin had never even mentioned to me that her children had inherited the super power gene.

  “There’s a furry hand when I touch you.”

  “There is?” I asked, staring incredulously. After a second, Natalie lowered her head and I felt nervous shame flood through her. I reached out, grabbing her shoulders and shaking my head. “No, you’re not in trouble. Thank you for helping me. I was … I got too close to an animal’s baby and the momma got mad at me. She was just trying to protect her baby, like your mom protects you.”

  “You’re okay, now?”

  “Yeah, I’m all better. That was pretty cool, kid.”

  Natalie’s narrow lips split in an adorable grin; I caught sight of a missing tooth off to the left side of her mouth and it made me smile back. All annoyance at Izzy and worry about hiding my injuries flooded away and I yanked Nat close into a hug. She giggled against my cheek and squeezed me back.

  “Can we keep this between us?” I asked. “I mean, if your mommy asks you, I don’t want you to lie, but I don’t want anyone to worry about me.”

  “Okay,” she agreed. I pulled back, looking into her eyes. She wasn’t lying, but there’s something inherent in the agreement of children that isn’t ever quite commitment. Continuing to smile at me, Natalie stood there in her tiny, fuzzy slippers and pink sleep pants.

  “I hear there’s waffles,” I said after a bit. “You in?”

  “Okay,” she said again, stepping back. Checking myself once more to make sure all signs of sasquatch attack were hidden, I took her hand and led her toward the stairs.

  “So, Izzy,” Jake said from across the table. “What do you do?”

  I could feel his discomfort as he watched Izzy shovel bites of soggy, syrup-soaked waffles and fruit into his mouth. For such a skinny person, he had a really big mouth. People had probably said the same of me, actually. Well, minus the skinny part.

  I glanced down at my own syrup-soaked waffles and, despite the weirdness of the situation, felt a little bit of kinship with the gooey-brained creature.

  “Dunno,” Izzy responded with a mouthful of food. After chewing once and swallowing, he waved his fork around in the air spastically. The only reason sugary, maple-flavored product didn’t go everywhere was that he’d slurped it all off the tines.

  “I walk. Sometimes I run. I like to play with dogs and meet pigs. Occasionally I’ll visit a pub or something.” He stabbed at the last giant bite of waffle and stuffed it into his mouth just as my mother approached with another tray, scooping his fourth helping onto his plate. He grinned up at her and I felt a little puff of affection cloud around her. Mom’s happiest when those around her are well-fed and joyful.

  “You don’t have a job?” Jake asked. I felt a rope of frustration whip out of my father and slap against my chest.

  “He’s obviously not human, Jake. He doesn’t have a job.”

  “He’s what?” Jake asked.

  “I have a job,” Izzy groused. I flinched at the shock crackling out of my brother-in-law, but I reached out to touch his arm, jolting when his anxiety seemed to leap from him to me. It wasn’t conscious, but that happened occasionally, emotions seeming to flee their owners as if I were shelter from a storm. Jake seemed to relax, but only minutely, and I jerked my hand back, unwilling to let any more of his panic take up residence in my gut.

  Izzy continued eating while those around us seemed to wait for him to elaborate. Only the sounds of munching filled the air for about a minute until I realized he wasn’t going to explain. Jake’s shock was burbling into worry, which made me feel bad, even though we weren’t touching anymore.

  “He’s harmless,” I offered, hoping to ease Jake’s mind. Izzy snorted at my words, but kept eating. I glared but continued. “He’s dating my—Chloe, you know Chloe! He and Chloe are going out.”

  “Then why is he here with you?”

  “Um,” was my only answer. For another minute, silence struggled against the crisp shrieks of utensils scraping against plates as Izzy, Natalie, and Jake Junior finished up. Finally, Stella burbled spit across her plate and Robin snorted out a nervous laugh.

  “Is he why you haven’t been calling much, lately?” she asked. I turned to her slowly, partly to keep an eye on my uninvited guest and partly because I didn’t know the answer to her question without lying.

  “Ah. Sort of?” I turned back halfway, tried to catch Izzy’s eye, in hopes he’d help me out with the familial interrogation. Mostly he’d proven useless, but there had been a few times when he’d effectively saved the day. As it was, I really only needed him help me save face.

  “Izzy helps me out with my clients,” I finally said. My father barked out a laugh, like he could tell I was lying, but I ignored him. “I’ve been taking on … more than just my usu
al type of clients. Izzy helps out with that.”

  Izzy finished eating, leaning back in his chair and catching my eye, before jerking a thumb toward my dad as if he had something to say. He didn’t speak, but Robin stood up to grab Stella and carry her toward the downstairs bathroom, and dad grunted unpleasantly.

  “What?” I demanded. He refused to meet my gaze and I struggled against the crackle of tension running between us. Jake spoke up, getting back to the main problem that we were all really having, whether we were aware of it or not.

  “He’s not human?” Jake repeated.

  “It’s okay, daddy,” Natalie announced, reaching to pat her father’s hand. Jake turned to look helplessly down at her and then up at me. I shrugged.

  “I don’t know—he’s—uh, harmless.”

  Rather than mock my assessment of him again, Izzy hopped to his feet, singing Chloe’s name eagerly. Mom skirted him calmly as he whooshed past, barely noticing. As he disappeared through the kitchen, she came to sit down at the table next to my father.

  “You should tell us when you’re inviting friends into our house,” my dad said, his unhappy gaze leveled at me.

  “I didn’t invite anyone!”

  “Marvin, listen to her,” my mother murmured, patting his hand. My father rolled his eyes, shaking his head rapidly as if he wanted to continue to argue, but went quiet.

  “Hi all,” Chloe said from behind me. I whipped around, smacking my leg into Robin’s empty chair, and bit my lip before I could cuss in front of the kids. I hadn’t even noticed she’d arrived. The crackle of antagonism between my father and me was only partly to blame. There were so many people in the house, I couldn’t barely pick anyone out—though I can always recognize my father as the most unpleasant man in the house—and Chloe’s low level of apprehension was unusual, at least for her.

  “What are you doing here?” I asked, getting to my feet as Chloe leaned in for a hug.

  “Later,” she whispered almost imperceptibly into my ear, before moving back and reaching a hand out to Jake. “You’re Jake, right? I think we met once, but it was—”

  “Online,” Jake said, controlling his distrust of Izzy in order to be polite. “And I think I was covered in baby vomit, so I’m sure the resemblance to my former self is hard to grasp.”

  “I’m Jake, too!” my nephew announced, before folding a piece of waffle the size of the Chrysler building into his mouth and chewing with his mouth open.

  “Nice to meet you, Jake-two,” Chloe shifted to hold out a hand to my father, who was watching her with a fair amount of suspicion. It annoyed me.

  “Dad, be nice.”

  “I’m being nice,” he argued, his annoyance arcing out to whip me across the cheek. “Considering there are a hundred people in my house and some of them weren’t invited.”

  “Hey,” Izzy said, sliding Natalie’s waffles off her plate and into his. “I invited Chloe.”

  “He did,” she said, her lip tugging up as she watched Natalie try to be secretive about sliding a bowl of fruit out from in front of her father and over toward Izzy. “But I should have called first, I’m sorry.”

  “I know you are,” dad said, sort of dismissively, before going back to the last few bites of his waffles. Chloe hooked an arm around my shoulders, tugging me subtly the way she’d come. “Come, G, let’s talk.”

  Chapter Six

  “Sonny’s fine,” Chloe said as she led me out through the front door. “And so is Rupert, though I know you’d never ask.”

  “Ugh,” was all I could manage. Without asking me, Chloe had adopted a giant, grumpy-faced, ginger cat to live at the office and terrorize me on a daily basis. Most of the clients were thrilled with her presence, despite her misgendered name, but I didn’t see the appeal. Cats and I generally don’t get along.

  “Betty and Mel are feeding her, though I’m assuming Betty’s doing most of the actual work. Sonny and Poopy are staying with a friend of mine—a bird expert,” Chloe said, anticipating my argument. “He’s likely better off with Lydia than with me, in fact.”

  “No, I get it. I trust you,” I admitted. Chloe’s been vegan since well before I’d met her and she puts little above animal welfare. “Did he miss me?”

  “You should ask Izzy, he’d know.”

  “I’ll pass,” I said, not thrilled with the prospect. “What’s he doing here, anyway? And you, what made you come? I begged you to join me for weeks and you kept refusing.”

  “I wasn’t going to set aside my whole life just to babysit you in front of your family, but Izzy asked me to come, said I should bring some things. He said some stuff’s going on and you’re gonna need my help.”

  “How does he know?”

  “What do you mean? You know what he can do.”

  I grunted at her; I did know. For the last year, Izzy had become somewhat integral to solving my problems, even though I hadn’t known it until a few months ago. He could see the future, despite the fact that he never quite seemed clear on it. Sometimes the things he’d told me were incredibly useful, like when he’d pointed out that my ex-husband’s stalker was the same killer Owen was hunting. Other times, his insights were fairly useless, like when he’d told me that one day I would have babies and that they would be adorable.

  Of course my babies would be adorable; look at the genetics I share.

  “That still doesn’t explain why you two are here. Though, I bet it explains why Owen’s here.”

  “Owen’s here?” she asked, alarm bells jangling through her. They weren’t the size of church bells or anything, but I could feel apprehension and nervous energy clattering and it made me tense. “Did he say why?”

  “He’s not really the sharing type, but we did go meet some,” I wiggled my fingers, “sources, which turned out to be sasquatches who hated my guts.”

  “You?” Chloe asked, making it clear her over the top disbelief was false. “But you’re such a delight!”

  Resisting the urge to sock her in the arm, I pressed on. “He talked—well, I guess they don’t talk, but they … uh, signed, a bunch of stuff and then they hit me.”

  “Just out of the blue?” Chloe cocked her head, clearly suspicious of my version of events. “You wouldn’t have been trying to steal their food, so I’m guessing you got too close to one of their kids?”

  “How could you know that? Any of it!”

  Chloe just shook her head, laughing quietly to herself before patting my shoulder and taking a deep breath. She paused for a bit, looking like she was thinking about something, before I felt that apprehension back.

  “Owen didn’t mention anything about why he’s here?”

  “Once I got punched in the boob by a fist the size of my head I lost interest, honestly. Why?”

  “You said he was a mercenary,” Chloe said, and I felt the barest sliver of dishonesty slicing at the end of the last word.

  “I did?”

  “Um,” she corrected, “well, you said he hunts things. He was there to kill Norma, right? He doesn’t work for the cops and kills things for money. Pretty sure that’s the textbook definition of mercenary.”

  “Yeah, okay,” I agreed, though it did make my stomach do a little jump to think I was dating a mercenary. It sounded so dangerous and like it could one day involve a lot of jungles and maybe the Italian government.

  “So, he’s here for something dangerous, Izzy’s here and wanted me here, so we have to figure something’s up. Has anything been going on?”

  “I just got here, I don’t know. Why would Izzy want you here, anyway? Just to protect me? Because I’ve got Owen if I need my body closely guarded.”

  “We can ask him,” Chloe suggested. I gasped, an idea suddenly coming to mind.

  “When I asked why Izzy was in my bed this morning, he said he was in the area. What if he’s what Owen’s after?”

  Chloe’s snort of derision burst out of her like an exploding watermelon, making me step back and try to rub away the heavy, thick feeling before
it could disappear from my chest. As I grunted against the false feeling of being pelted with wet fruit, she shook her head.

  “No, he’s not that stupid.”

  “Izzy? I beg to differ.”

  “Owen,” Chloe corrected, before hooking her arm around my shoulder and leading me back toward the house. “Come on, let’s get you dressed and ready for the day. You can come with me to check-in to my hotel, get you away from your dad for a bit.”

  I wanted to press harder on the Izzy thing, but the idea of getting out of the house for an hour or so was so appealing I let it go.

  “Hey, this is Owen’s hotel,” I said as we pulled up outside. Chloe nodded, as if that were obvious to everyone.

  “Well, it’s the only one in town.”

  “It’s not the only one,” I argued, though I hadn’t been around in awhile and I had no way of verifying the others I remembered from childhood still existed. Chloe gave me a look that took me a moment to decipher. “I mean, is it?”

  “It’s not the only one, but it’s the only one that wouldn’t make me bunk with roaches.”

  “But you love all creatures!” I teased.

  “Not believing we have a right to kill them and wanting to have them crawling all over me are two entirely different things.” Chloe paused and then chuckled to herself. “It’s like you and Mel.”

  I wrinkled my nose at the idea of him ever crawling all over me again.

  “I’ll be right back. You two make nice,” Chloe said as she opened the door. Then, quickly, as if tossing a live grenade, “There are chocolates in the console!”

  “Chocolates?” Izzy and I both asked at the same time as she slammed the door and scurried off. I didn’t even get a chance to search for them; Izzy snaked his hand over, yanked open the lid, and grabbed the bag before I’d even finished speaking. I glowered at him, but it was a bag of dark chocolate so I could probably survive if he refused to share.

  Around the fourth time he’d stuff a whole square into his mouth, I jerked my chin at him, my curiosity getting the best of me.