Page 20 of Concluded
Ashley patted Dee’s knee.“I kept my promise and told you a couple of things.Now just kick back, and when we arrive you’ll hear the rest.Meanwhile, I bet you’re hungry.I’ll stop for munchies as soon as we hit civilization.”
Dee opened his mouth to argue, then shut it and slumped back against the seat.Clearly she was going to divulge only what she wanted to, when she felt like it.There was no use wasting his energy pestering her.Besides, part of him was pretty sure he was better off not knowing.
He turned away from her and stared out the window, where there was nothing to see but darkness.After several miles of that, with the sound of the engine and tires murmuring in the back of his head, he fell into a trance that felt a bit like being stoned.Since he had nothing external to concentrate on, his focus turned inward in a way that was rare for him.
He thought about how passive he’d been since Ashley had walked into his apartment.Although he wanted to use her powers as an excuse, that would be lying to himself.The truth was that he’d spent his entire life being passive, as if he were a bit of wood floating down a river.The water carried him wherever it willed, sometimes bashing him against rocks and sometimes submerging him, and he never attempted to fight the current.He didn’t know why.Maybe if he’d gone to a shrink, he’d have an answer.
And now here he was, capable of doing these incredible, inexplicable things, and he’d neverdoneanything about it.Never explored to discover exactly what he could and couldn’t do.Never really questioned why he possessed these abilities.Never thought about the possibility of using his gift for more than earning a few bucks.
“What’s wrong with me?”he whispered.
“Nothing that we can’t fix, babe.”And Ashley gave a little laugh.
* * *
Dee awoke achy and hungry,eyes crusted and skin feeling grimy.“Where are we?”he asked, blinking as the sun shone through the windshield.
Ashley grinned.“Our new home.Come see.”
He moaned as he extricated himself from the car and stood upright in what felt like the first time in years.Then he moaned again as he stretched mightily, his joints creaking and popping in a noisy chorus.His vision finally cleared enough to see where they were parked.
More desert.But this was a different desert, rocky instead of sandy, with scrubby brush and scattered evergreens close by and jagged orange hills in the distance.The car was at the edge of a road that barely merited the term, the tarmac cracked and degraded into barely more than gravel.The air was cold despite the sun, and there were a few traces of old snow on the ground.Apart from the road, there were no signs of civilization.
“Let’s get cracking,” said Ashley, interrupting his surveillance.She handed him a pearl.“I want a house.”
Doing his thing to the pearl took only a moment.It was coming easier to him now, much easier than before Ashley entered his life, and the electric, almost erotic thrill was stronger.This morning, he felt as if he could move mountains.
And in fact, he sort of did.Because when she clutched the pearl, closed her eyes, and mumbled a wish, the earth in front of them rumbled and shifted, creating a slope where none had existed before.Then the air shimmered and seemed to pixelate.When it normalized, a flat-roofed multilevel concrete-and-glass mansion sprawled in front of them.The water in the vast swimming pool was an ethereal blue.
Ashley clapped her hands in delight.“That’s great!I’ll bet I’ll need to make some adjustments inside, though.C’mon.”
He followed her dutifully, just as his dog, Happy Meal, had followed him during childhood.The entryway had a high ceiling and an enormous glass chandelier; the floor and walls were white marble.The air smelled faintly of flowers.
Ashley seemed to know the floor plan.She took Dee’s hand and led him down a long, echoey corridor, through an outdoor breezeway that spanned an artificial stream, and into a vast great room with a kitchen and several sleek white couches.She pushed him onto one of the couches and demanded another wish, which she used to create a lavish brunch of fruit, french toast, bacon, and eggs.
“Eat up,” she commanded.
The food was… not quite right.Not awful, but off, with a slightly chemical taste that he couldn’t place.Even as he ate, Dee wondered where wish-food came from—hell, where anything Ashley wished into existence came from—and whether the food had accurate nutritional properties.Maybe it would slowly poison him.He ate a lot anyway.
So did she, much more than he would have thought possible.Sometimes her food dripped onto the couch or floor, gaudy blackberry purples and egg-yolk yellows against the white, but she didn’t seem to care.
When they finished eating, she wished away the leftovers and dishes but didn’t do anything about the spills and stains.She sat primly on the couch opposite his, legs crossed and hands folded in her lap.
“It’s like this,” she said.“I used to be nothing.I grew up without much of anything.Like, d’you know what car my daddy bought me when I turned sixteen?A used Toyota!Seriously.”
Dee, who had been on his own by sixteen and had rarely owned a vehicle of any type, held his tongue.
Ashley, who didn’t seem to notice his disdain, continued.“But I always knew I had it in me to be someone great.I didn’t have any magical powers or anything, not back then.It was just little ol’ me.I got married when I was eighteen, and Cody and I worked really hard at his daddy’s construction company.His daddy also introduced me to politics—he was a state senator—and I got super interested.Eventually I ran for US Congress and won.”She flipped her hair back and raised her chin.
“Congratulations.”Dee had never paid much attention to politics, even less so in recent years, when the shitshow had grown worse.The whole damn thing was too depressing to consider.“And I appreciate the bio, but this isn’t?—”
“Patience, baby.So Congress was great.I had a ball in DC, meeting with all these movers and shakers who had to bow to me because they needed my vote.I was moving up!But then….”Her expression darkened and she stared at the floor.“I wasn’t doing anything different than the rest of them.Hell, some of those good ol’ boys were doing way worse.But they resented me.They had it in for me!So I had to step down.It wasn’t fair.”
Looking at her now, Dee could almost envision her as a young child.Spoiled, perhaps, but also deprived of something fundamental—love or attention—and that absence had dug a hole in her psyche that could never be filled.He felt that himself on occasion.
After a pause, she returned her gaze to him.“Things were rough for a little while.There were some court cases.We owed a lot of money.Cody was talking about leaving me.Then a gentleman showed up at my door, told me that he knew I was special, and explained how things could be different.I could have the kind of power those assholes in Washington could only dream of.I jumped on board and haven’t regretted it even once.Not even at the beginning, when I had to….Well, let’s just say Cody met an untimely end.Oopsie.”She flashed an impish grin.
“You murdered your husband?”Dee wasn’t even surprised at this revelation.
