Page 5 of Wishing Upon a Monster
“Certainly,” he agreed, leaving my side. I whirled away, heading to where Plamer, Gatlin, and Nash were waiting.
The door to the conference room shut with a soft click as I made it to their end of the table.
“Are you okay, Aurora?” Palmer asked, squeezing my shoulder. “This must be quite a shock.”
“It’s true, I didn’t think when I woke up this morning that I’d be married before the end of my shift.” I chuckled uncomfortably, “Olan doesn’t make me feel unsafe, and I feel, thanks to his vow, that I can trust his word. He said, ‘partner in any way I wish,’ which makes me think if I said I needed someone to contribute to my 401k, he would do it.”
Gatlin chuckled, gathering up the old book and other documents they had brought to the meeting, “Trust me, I know thisis a lot, but from my experience, I can say that magic favors humans. He made a pretty specific vow. It’s not a marriage contract, but it affords you plenty of protection while we figure this wish-binding thing out.”
“Is there really anything to figure out?” Nash rested against the back of his chair, steepling his fingers. “That bracelet isn’t just a fashion statement.”
Palmer raised a silver brow at Nash, “As a being from a race of enchanted item makers, do you have any insight on Aurora’s new piece?”
Nash reached across the table, taking a breath before touching the bracelet. His fingers barely brushed the surface of the band before he jumped back, shaking his hand and wincing, “As I thought, magically protected. I doubt anyone, including Aurora, can remove it.”
I didn’t think too hard about why I hadn’t even thought to remove the wristlet in the first place; instead, I took the opportunity to try now. It was like one of those beautiful jade bracelets from overseas. It was too small to work over my hand, and the more I tried, the redder my skin became.
“I see,” Palmer reached out, stopping my machoistic movements with a touch of her hand on mine. “The closest thing I can equate this to is a life debt. You can’t really pay those off, and I don’t––I don’t know if we will be able to break this bond even with the help of the Nyxian Council.”
“We could kill him,” Nash muttered, tapping his chin.
“No.” A feeling of wrongness flooded through my body.
Nash continued as if I hadn’t spoken. “We don't really know how much of a god he is, anyway. Rocio is technically a goddess, and I’ve seen her bleed plenty of times. With the right research––”
“We aren’t killing beings,” Gatlin interrupted, shaking his head at Nash. “I get it, it’s in your blood to face a problem withforce and demolish it through sheer magical might, but I think there is more to Aurora’s connection to this being than an irremovable friendship bracelet.”
“The fact of the matter is,” I said, raising my voice over the well-meaning men, “he savedmylife, so I get to decide what happens to him, and killing him isn’t the answer. He made a vow. If he wants to eternally help me take care of Sashimi and her great-grand kittens, then he can.”
Palmer snorted, “While as a woman, I can––appreciate that you want to protect Aurora from this obstacle in her life, she has a point. He pledged to be her partner. He gave her a way they can coexist that gives her a lot of freedom. Surely, a god as old as he did this on purpose––which begs the question, why? Why say someone is your wife but then give them such broad verbiage? What does he know about this situation that we do not?”
What indeed––“Then I guess I’d better figure that out while you all look,” I said, mulling over Palmer’s words. “I doubt he would tell just anyone that asked his reasons. I need to work on becoming someone that he would tell.”
“That may take years,” Nash warned.
“There are worse ways to pass the time,” I quipped. “Besides, while I’m discovering, you all will be looking into this as well, right? I’m not asking for your complete devotion to the situation, but if you’d ask around?”
“Of course,” Palmer agreed.
“Keep in mind that––” Gatlin began.
“I know,” I sighed, “I got myself into this, and I may need to accept there isn’t a way out.”
But first, I need to know how badly I need it and how long I have to find one––
3
Aurora
Iwas kind of grungy, what with the almost dying thing in, you know, the battle, the unplanned dip in the pond, and all that. I dashed off to the locker room to change and zipped into one of the showers. I felt a thousand times better after the wash and quickly donned my dark wash flare-leg jeans and a cropped short-sleeved sweater with tiny mushrooms knit across the top. I brushed out my newly shorn blonde hair, applying some oil to the strands before putting my mushroom cap beret on my head. When I dressed earlier this morning, I enjoyed how on theme I was for today's tasks. Now, my mind wandered to the short wedding veil I had admired but left behind last week at the consignment shop, figuring I’d never wear it.
If only I had known what this week had in store for me.
“I’m losing it,” I muttered, placing my toiletries back in my little blue bag. I futzed around, pulling everything else out of my locker and wiping it out. I sat, waiting for my locker to air dry, on the pine benches that were placed in between the rows of lockers. My mind drifted, avoiding thoughts of Olan like akelpie avoids lettuce. It wasn’t that I found him unappetizing––but jarring, certainly.
I don’t have the scope right now.
I numbly settled everything back inside my locker, then grabbed my uniform and tossed it into the laundry basket on my way out of the room.
