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The Woods
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Chapter 28:- The Woods
Jack, Lydia, Howard, and the rest of the group stayed the night in the palace, resting and recuperating. When Lydia had woken up late Sunday evening, she’d promptly inhaled some rather delicious stew, helped Jack move from the bedroom to the sitting room, and said a little prayer before calling her mother.
“Please don’t pick up, please don’t pick up, please…”
“Hello?”
And so Lydia launched into, what she hoped was a good excuse to suddenly go missing for the evening.
“Well, Jack’s boss just called at the very last minute, because his friend… Bill,” she said, glancing around the room. All of the centers had joined them for dinner and were now lounging in the sitting area. “Well he cancelled, very last-minute, you know. And Howard really needs somebody to watch his fish…” she said, looking at Atlantis.
“He needs a fish-watcher for one night?”
“And his dog,” Lydia added, patting Tiger on the head.
“So why are you staying in Augusta, too?” Nina asked shrewdly.
“To help Jack?” Lydia said, though it sounded like a question.
Nina didn’t say anything.
“For a vacation?” She tried again.
Her mother scoffed at this, wondering what in the world in Lydia’s school-less, jobless life, she could need a vacation from, but finally decided to let it go. She said she’d see her the next day. She didn’t say anything about Jack.
After she’d hung up with her mother, Jack politely declined to call his own parents. They were busy moving into their new home in Portland, and besides, they probably wouldn’t care whether Jack was in Augusta or Africa. This sparked Max’s attention, and he was just regaling them with a very colorful story about “one badass tribesman” in Africa, when the door opened from the hallway.
“Thank you,” Sibian said to the little servant behind him. The elf looked terrified as he pushed Sibian’s wheelchair further into the room.
“Thank you, small man,” Anubis said, baring his teeth.
The elf squeaked and ran from the room, nearly slamming into the doorframe. He bowed sloppily to the group, shut the door, and they heard his footsteps echoing down the hall.
“What?” Anubis said in response to Margarie’s quizzical look. “This is a time for new beginnings, and so I have decided to be more personable!” He continued to snarl.
“Sibian, how are you doing?” Jack interrupted. He got off the couch slowly, his chest still aching dully, and pushed Sibian’s chair next to the couch.
“Well, I’m alive, which is more than I can say for at least two of the palace workers. There was another body in my closet, where Glia had been.”
Howard shuddered at the name, but Sibian didn’t notice.
“I made an announcement during dinner, telling everybody that the Lady Gayle was being held as a prisoner, that she’d been charged with over one hundred counts of murder, and that it would be my rule from now on, not hers, that they would heed. I don’t think anybody was paying the slightest bit of attention. They were probably wondering who the strange man speaking from the balcony was, and what he’d done with the queen,” Sibian chuckled, shaking his head.
“It will just take some time, Sibian,” Lydia said from the couch next to him. “They’re used to being ruled by fear, but they’ll learn soon enough to listen to you, and they’ll respect you because you’re fair.”
Sibian considered this, but shook his head once again.
“I don’t even know what to do. The whole time I’ve been king, everything has been about fighting the Uprising. Now there is no Uprising…”
“Don’t worry, Sibian. I’m sure you can think of plenty of problems to combat,” Jack said helpfully, thinking of the chaos that would undoubtedly follow in the forest after the fall of the Uprising; or perhaps the whole problem of reconfiguring the Faean government all over the world. That might be a good place to start.
“Well, there is a very hungry population of gnomes living in the forest. The gnomes are quite underrepresented you know…”
And Sibian went on to tell them all about gnome eating habits, and how the forest could not sustain them over the winter. During his lecture, several of the centers had slunk away to their guestrooms, or fallen asleep right there in the sitting room. Jack and Lydia were curled up on the couch, only half-listening. Max was still sitting next to Sibian, nodding his head attentively, and asking simply illuminating questions about gnome homes. It seemed to have turned into a two-man conversation, so Jack didn’t feel obligated to feign interest anymore.
“Howard,” he whispered, stretching out his leg and poking the old man in the ribs. He sat up with a jerk; he’d fallen asleep.
“You awake?”
“No,” he grumbled, rubbing his eyes vigorously. He sleepily leaned toward the table and felt around.
“Keep forgetting I lost my glasses…” He rubbed his eyes again, as though this might clear them, and squinted at Jack.
“What are you going to do after this, Howard? I mean, you’re not going to go back up to Augusta and live alone again are you?”
Lydia sat up next to Jack, and before Howard could even answer, she burst out in tears.
“You can’t!” she whispered pointlessly; it was clear Sibian and Max had heard them. The room was quiet for a moment and then Sibian suggested that Max take him back to his room where he had a veritable library of books on gnomes. Max jumped up and pushed the king’s wheelchair out the door.
“See you all in the morning,” he called. As he closed the door, they heard a muffled clatter and Max shouted a few choice words.
The only people remaining in the room were Jack, Lydia, Howard, and a sleeping Bill, Martha, and Alice. Alice was curled up in a ball near the door to the hall. Tillibrun had tried to lie down in the queen’s sitting area, but kept snagging things with his branches, so he promised Alice he’d sleep right outside in the hall. Going by Max’s little mishap walking out the door, he’d kept his word.
“I’m sorry, it’s just been a long day,” Lydia said thickly, as she wiped her face on Jack’s sleeve. “But you’re not leaving, are you? Just because all of this is done?”
Howard shook his head sadly. He gave up squinting at them, and merely got up and sat closer, on the edge of the coffee table, so he could at least sort of see them.
“I’m not leaving because all of this is done… But I am leaving.”
Lydia recoiled like she’d been slapped.
“I’ve got to go back to Augusta, Lydia. I’m the magical center there. If I stop calling Augusta home, the magic will just fade.”
“But you’ve been here this long!” She whined.
“I know, and I’m not saying I can’t come visit. But if a center just up and falls off the map before its time, the whole Community shifts. No, I need to go home, at least for a while.” He said, nodding along as though trying to convince himself.
“What about Margerie?” Jack asked. Lydia looked at him in confusion. “I almost forgot,” he explained, “I woke up earlier and Anubis and Margerie were sitting in here. I think you must have been asleep still,” he added to Lydia, “but they were talking about how she was moving to Egypt to be with him.”
“Ha!” Lydia said triumphantly, though after a moment, she just looked confused again. “Wait, how does that work?”
“Well, I suspect she’s going to give up her powers as a center in Canada. Which is a little unusual… but Brise is there anyway. It should be fine,” Howard said dismissively. “But I’d be on the lookout for some interesting happenings in Egypt, with the two of them living together…” He let out a low whistle and shook his head. Jack couldn’t tell if he was worried or impressed.
“Anyway, I won’t be far. Maybe I’ll even get one of those ‘cell phone’ things so we can keep in touch. Though I doubt that would do much good,” he said smiling at Jack.
They sat in comfortable silence for a few minutes, all lost in their own thoughts. Bill stirred in his sleep, nestling his head more comfortably on Martha’s shoulder.
“I want to go back to school,” Lydia announced. She looked surprised after the words left her mouth, but then nodded once, as though hearing them made her sure.
“And I want you to come with me,” she said to Jack, thrusting out her lower lip. It would have been much more effective if her face weren’t still so splotchy from crying. There was a bit of snot above her mouth.
Jack explained that, as much as he would love to up and move to Boston and become a kept man while Lydia went off to school, he had to think about his own education. And then there was that whole problem of supporting himself. And also the minor detail of always having to call this grubby little town home. He’d never thought about that before.
Howard watched the two go back and forth, back and forth, with potential plans. The first option: Jack would find a job in town and earn some money; then he and Lydia would part ways and return to school in the fall; and Jack would just visit home regularly to make sure there was no shift in the magical community. But how could they part ways, after all of this?
“You said you’d never leave me alone again,” Lydia reminded him sulkily.
So they came up with option number two. In this scenario, Jack would find a job in town and earn some money, and then he and Lydia would both return to school in Boston, still coming back to town regularly for visits. But Jack was at NYU on scholarship; he simply couldn’t afford Boston.
So then there was the third option. Jack would find a job in town and earn some money, and then Lydia would transfer to New York…
“My God, you two are dense,” Howard finally interrupted. They stared at him blankly.
“Have you forgotten that you two are wizards?! It doesn’t matter if you’re here, in New York, Boston, or even Tanzania! You can travel at nearly the speed of light with your new friend, Brise; you can communicate with your minds; and there are even several rather simple dream visiting spells. How many other couples can say that?
“And at any rate, you have several months before the fall semester even starts. How much longer do you have left in school?”
“A semester,” Jack grumbled.
“A year and a half,” Lydia said.
Howard barked out a harsh laugh.
“This generation! You’re all about now, now, now. When I was your age, dating was a whole different thing. We wrote letters; we took our time. A semester would have been like a long weekend! A year and a half would have been a week! If you ask me, it has everything to do with these cell phones and E-mails…”
Howard grumbled on, but Jack hardly heard him. He held Lydia close at his side, as he let Howard’s words wash over him like a drug. Not his rant on technology, but what he’d said before then. They were a couple. They were dating. And Lydia hadn’t even stormed out of the room in protest. Jack leaned back on the couch, closed his eyes, and muttered a quiet thanks to Howard. With his words, he’d not only solved their dilemma on being apart; but he’d saved the trouble of ever having to have the dreaded “relationship talk.” He held his girlfriend in his arms as he drifted off to sleep once again.
The next day, the centers all met in the dining hall for a final meal together.
“The last supper,” Granja said sagely. Since Jack had met the mud-man, Granja, he had suspected that he spoke so rarely, only because his words were far too wise for normal conversation. Apparently he was wrong.
“Actually, it’s breakfast… Sort of,” Tillibrun said as he looked down at the tiny plate before him. It was covered in liquidy eggs and a dry piece of toast.
“I apologize,” Sibian said from his wheelchair at the head of the long table. They were all clustered at one end, and the other was completely deserted. In fact, most of the dining hall was empty. “It’s the servants… they aren’t responding well to my commands. Early this morning I told the guests that they could leave; that they were safe in their homes in the forest,” he gestured at the quiet dining hall. “Well, naturally they were eager to go home; but since they’ve left, the servants are being a little bit lax…”
“Hence the egg soup?” Lydia smiled. “Listen, they’ll warm up to you. I didn’t like you when I first met you,” she added bluntly as she tried to scoop a spoonful of egg into her mouth. It fell in her lap. “But then I realized what a good person you are! It hardly took any time at all.” She nodded reassuringly.
“But they’ve known him for years…” Granja pointed out. Jack’s initial impression of Granja was changing rapidly.
“Anyway, since this is going to be the last time we are all together for a while, why don’t we focus on a more fun topic?” Bill suggested cheerfully. He looked around the table expectantly, but nobody seemed to have any suggestions.
“Well, Martha and I are going to plant the spring garden when we get home. We’ve planned it all out: we’ll have a nice little row of petunias, perhaps a bit of foliage to buffer them, and then some daffodils. Maybe even some exotic herbs, but we don’t know about that one yet. We’ll really have to discuss it,” he said nodding his head seriously at Martha.
“I’m pregnant!” Margerie nearly shouted. She clapped her hand over her mouth, and looked at Anubis apologetically. Her voice was muffled as she explained that she hadn’t meant to blurt it out to everybody like that, but she suspected Bill might go on for a while.
“Somebody had to put a stop to me!” Bill said heartily as he reached out to shake Anubis’ hand. Anubis beamed around the table with his teeth bared ferociously and his arm around Margerie.
For the rest of the meal they discussed all things babies—baby names, baby clothes, cribs, schools… Jack was thoroughly uninterested, but noticed that Lydia was following along attentively. Before he could sufficiently worry about this, a little elf walked up to the table and cleared his throat.
“Your highness,” the servant said, bowing uncomfortably to Sibian. “The servants await your orders for lunch. Would you prefer chicken salad or poached herring?”
All eyes turned to Sibian, as he considered the matter seriously.
“I think a chicken salad sandwich will do just fine,” he said. The elf bowed in response and scampered off.
“See, things are changing around here already,” Lydia said. Soon after, they all left the dining hall and made their way out the palace’s front door. The change in the woods was apparent the moment they stepped outside. Birds were singing, the first blossoms of spring had budded, and the very air—though Jack would never say this out loud—felt different somehow. For the first time in years, the woods felt hopeful.
They said their goodbyes, promising frequent visits, and of course they’d all be in Egypt for the birth young Gertrude (Anubis’ choice, surprisingly); and then Brise kissed Jack and Lydia goodbye before she stretched out, one last time, and enveloped the rest of the group.
“I’ll see you both soon,” Howard’s voice echoed as he faded away with the others. “And be careful of…” but his voice trailed off and he was gone.
“What was he going to say, you think?” Jack asked Lydia, taking her hand. They walked through dappled sunlight and through the trees.
“Oh something about cell phone radiation, I’m sure.”
As they passed the clearing near the warlock’s, they saw a few of his shadows milling about, tentatively stepping into the sunlight. Lydia froze and watched the beasts in terror, but they didn’t even look their way. After a while, Jack and Lydia walked on quietly, and the trees swayed and danced, not a whisper among them.
They took the long way back to Lydia’s house, speaking occasionally, laughing frequently, and just marveling at the world around them. When they passed the spot where Jack’s house once stood, they saw that the freshly sprouted grass was lightly dusted with paint; the rough beginnings of a floor plan. In the corner of the lot, a crooked sign boasted the word “Sold.”
Things really are changing around here, he thought ruefully. But even as he looked at the barren lot, he felt home. With her hand in his, he was home.
And they moved on.
