Page 40 of Changeling
Jim was breathing very heavy and his eyes were as wide as Nathan had ever seen them. He stared right at Nathan, wild. “I…I don’t know. What happened? Ev—” He cringed as he tried to move. “Everything hurts.”
Nathan worried about internal injuries—Jim had just survived a house collapsing down around him—but then maybe being sucked into that room had somehow protected him. “Just…don’t try to move for a minute, okay? Let me look at you.” Nathan reached towards his brother’s face first, and was surprised when Jim flinched before he could touch him.
Those dark blue eyes were still wide, still staring at Nathan, but now they looked as if they were trying to place Nathan’s face, like they didn’t know if they recognized him.
“Dad…?” Jim said softly.
Nathan’s hand froze. “What? You…trying to be funny or something?” Nathan half grinned. The expression fell flat, though, because the look on Jim’s face was way too serious.
Jim started shaking his head and trying to scoot away from Nathan. “You…you’re not my dad,” he said, his voice sounding small and frightened like Nathan could barely remember hearing in the last who knows how many years.
“Jim…” Nathan called forlornly. “Hey…it’s me. Of course it’s not Dad. It’sNathan. You know it’s Nathan.” Even as Nathansaid that, he wasn’t sure if he believed it. Jim looked at him like looking at a stranger. “Jim…”
“Nathan,” Walter said, as he stood and stared at Jim amidst the wreckage, “something is very wrong…”
Jim scooted away again when Nathan tried to reach for him, shaking his head more fiercely. “You’re not Nathan. You…you can’t be. Nathan and me are just kids.”
Lightning struck Nathan’s heart and everything stopped, a startling suspicion suddenly clicking in his head. His heart filled with dread and he glanced to Walter, but found no sign of reassurance. He had to stay calm.
“Jim,” he said slowly, “how old do you think you are?”
“I…I’m four,” Jim said, looking around with terrified, childlike eyes. “Where’s Dad? Where’s my mom and dad?” He tried to scramble up onto his feet but couldn’t get any real footing with all the wreckage beneath him. He ended up on his knees and flinched when Nathan dropped in front of him and grabbed him by the shoulders.
“Jim, listen to me,” Nathan said, forcing himself to sound stern but also supportive.
He couldn’t panic. He needed to get things as under control as possible. The cops could be coming. Anyone could be coming. He had to get Jim and Sasha away from there until he could figure things out.
“Just believe me, Jim, please. You’re not four. You’retwenty-four, almost twenty-five.” Nathan thought of the piece of wood with the word ‘twenty’ on it as he said that. Twenty. Twenty years ago Jim was…four. “Look at yourself,” Nathan insisted when Jim tried to pull away.
Scared as he was, Jim listened, probably automatically since both of them could sound so much like Dad when they were being commanding. Those dark blue eyes went even wider ifpossible as they took in the sight of the large body that belonged to James Grier.
“I…I’m all big.”
A morbid part of Nathan might have laughed but none of this was funny. “You’re all grown up, Jim, and IamNathan. You just need to trust me right now, okay? There’s a friend of ours around here too and he might be hurt. I have to find him. Can you…can you just stay here and stay calm for me? Please, Jim.” Nathan knew this was asking a lot of a not-quite five-year-old.
Jim looked up at Nathan again and searched his face so hard that Nathan almost felt invaded. It was the kind of open look only kids could give because they didn’t understand tact or comfort zones. Jim still looked scared and unsure but Nathan saw the moment when Jim calmed.
“You…you look like Dad and Nathan. You’re Nathan all big like me?”
Nathan tried not to let the anguish he was feeling show in his expression. “Yeah, Jim. I’m Nathan all grown up. Just like you. Can you just…can you just sit here while I look for Sasha?”
“Nathan!” Walter called from beside them.
A plank of wood went flying into the air from a spot nearly right next to them, and both brothers flinched away to the side, falling onto their hips. A hand pushed out of the rubble, and Nathan recognized the dark brown of Sasha’s new leather jacket.
Trusting that Jim would at least stay put, Nathan dropped his grip on his brother and moved over to this new spot. Sasha had come out pretty much right next to Jim. Nathan called to his friend as he dug him out, so relieved again, because even if he found Sasha in the same state, at least both of them were alive.
Finally, there was that red hair Nathan loved so much and bright blue eyes staring up at him, looking just as wild and frightened as Jim had looked.Stilllooked. Sasha didn’t even try to speak or ask questions, though. He stared at Nathan andshrunk away, scrambling out of his hole in the rumble like a scared animal.
“No, no, no, wait!” Nathan called. He couldn’t risk Sasha running for it. “Wait,” he said calmly, catching Sasha’s gaze and holding it. “It’s okay. I’m a friend. We’refriends. You’re Sasha Kelly. You don’t have to be afraid of me. I’m just trying to help you. Can you…can you tell me how old you are?”
In a voice almost too soft and small for Nathan to hear, Sasha said, “F-Five,” and his eyes darted over to Jim and then back to Nathan, showing just how unsure he was that he could trust these strangers.
Four and five. They had both been underneath that ‘twenty years ago’ part of the spells. Nathan couldn’t help being thankful. If they hadn’t fallen through the building when it crumbled, they probably would have come out like the others—vegetables. And now Nathan understood why. Those squatters and the others had been robbed of their years, of their time, of theirmemories, back to age zero. At least Nathan could reason with Sasha and Jim at these ages. At least they could walk and talk.
But right now they had to get moving. Nathan wanted to stay, search the grounds for any sign of the dark fae behind all of this and maybe finish what they had started to get Jim and Sasha back to normal. But the last thing they needed was for the cops to show up halfway through and take Jim and Sasha into custody.
Nathan looked to Walter out of the corner of his eye. He didn’t want to have to explain about his Spirit Guide right now either, so he merely jerked his head over his shoulder, hoping Walter would understand that he wanted him to keep a lookout. Walter nodded and stood, beginning a slow walk around the debris.
