Rose and Deshica

  Chapter Four

  Rick and Vanessa had dropped the cocoon off to Chris before he got off work so it was a straight trip home afterward. Rick wouldn't admit it, but he was slightly afraid of Eve and he worried that if Eve thought Chris was cheating because he didn't make it home immediately after closing the deli that when she found out he was the actual reason behind Chris's tardiness that her wrath would be taken out on him. Truth be told, Eve wasn't paying attention to the time because she was occupied with her mother.

  Chris took his time getting home because he wasn't used to driving in the snow, especially at night. There wasn't much snow to worry about in Tucson, Arizona and barely any to worry about in Kirbyville but this winter was proving to be the exception. Chris was already worried about possibly losing control of his car while going around a turn because of the slippery conditions but the cocoon and its fragile nature had left him absolutely paranoid about jostling the car too hard by hitting a curb or an unseen sewer cover. After taking the better part of an hour to drive what was normally a fifteen minute trip Chris made it home intact.

  As soon as Chris pulled into the driveway he was greeted by Kefmak, the Troll that was living in the Draiman's back yard. Kefmak hadn't always lived there, and had in fact lived under the Hampton Bay Bridge until the previous year. Kefmak had caused some problems for vehicular traffic as well as a few boats that were traveling into the bay so Chris had gone to the area as Anteus to see what he could do to solve the problem. Kefmak's defeat settled his wild streak and a few months later he was enslaved by an underground fighting circuit and Anteus ran into him again there, unwittingly liberating the Troll because it refused to leave his side once it saw him. Since that day, Kefmak had taken up residence wherever Chris was living and was better than any security system that could be installed.

  Eve stepped outside to greet Chris and nodded toward Kefmak to acknowledge him as well. Eve positioned herself so that Chris had his back to Kefmak so she had his undivided attention. Eve audibly sighed, “Care to guess what your guard dog did today?”

  Chris's mind ran through all of the possibilities and none of them were good. Giving up, Chris had to ask, “What did he do?”

  Eve checked to make sure that Kefmak wasn't eavesdropping and upon seeing that he was preoccupied with the falling snowflakes she answered, “Not only did he get out of the yard today but he demolished Joanna Ward's satellite dish.”

  Chris started to turn to survey the damage behind him but Eve grabbed his face to pull his attention back to her, “I'm not done yet. Kefmak decided to use it like a Frisbee. I'm not talking about the mini-dish that she has attached to the side of her house. I'm talking about the monstrosity that sits in her back yard that she converted to a bird bath big enough for an ostrich. All the water in it was frozen solid so it had some heft to it when it took out Roger Ford's garage.”

  Chris lowered his head, “Oh man. I talked to him about this. He has to stay in our yard and he can't play with anything we don't give him to play with. I know he gets bored sitting around all day long but I can't play with him all the time. I have to work at the deli when you're here watching Mama Draiman unless we hired someone to take my place. I don't think Dawn will do the work all by herself.”

  Eve burst out laughing, confusing Chris. Eve calmed herself down and managed to explain, “I'm kidding. Kefmak has been good. He's even been keeping away the stray cats that stalk the bird houses. I'm surprised the birds still come around with him there because I know they see him and smell him. They trust him. As much as I can't believe I'm about to say it, I'm going to: I trust him too.”

  Chris let out a sigh of relief, “Don't do that to me. It was hard enough convincing you to let me keep Kefmak here. I've gotten attached to the big guy and he even keeps me in fighting form by wrestling with me. I know you don't need the help but I'm sure he's willing to wrestle with you too if you wanted. It would help keep his skills sharp too in case he needs them again.”

  Eve nodded, “Yes, having a Troll in the backyard has its advantages. He did stop that one ex-boyfriend of Dawn's from breaking into the house.”

  Chris hiked a thumb over his shoulder to gesture to Kefmak, “See, I knew he'd be useful. He was already doing this for me at Dice's and I knew he'd do it here too. But, there's something I have to tell you about.”

  Eve looked Chris over, turning him around to inspect him completely, “You didn't get hurt at work did you?”

  Chris laughed, “No, nothing bad. It's just that we're getting baby-sitting duty. Nothing too hard, and Dice even told me that all we have to do is check up on this thing once every so many hours. Maybe four times a day tops.”

  Eve glowered at Chris, “Thing? We're baby-sitting a thing?”

  Chris produced the cocoon, “This is what it is. It's just a cocoon for a Fairy that will hatch like an egg on its own when it's ready. We don't have to do anything for it other than make sure that it doesn't break. It will be inside and I was thinking just put it on a bookshelf on a little decorative pillow or something like that.”

  Eve looked back at the house, “Great, something else that we're hiding from Mom. Me being a Guardian, you being a Guardian, having Kefmak in the backyard and the stunt we pulled with Dawn's ex-boyfriend. I know that taking care of this Fairy is actually part of being a Guardian but I would also like to have a little more control over my own life sometimes. It's been a crazy couple of years and it would be nice if things smooth out sometime soon. Yeah, I know that it won't go back to 'normal' or whatever passes for that now that we're Guardians but if the craziness would just kind of die down a little bit I would definitely appreciate it.”

  Chris pulled Eve in and wrapped his arms around her, careful not to crush the cocoon, “Dice did warn us that we would have to expect unwelcome guests from the Nations since we became Guardians. I guess we can do something about this and reach out to the Fairy Nation to see if they have someone who can come along and take this off of our hands.”

  “That would be great if you could do that. I have no problem keeping the cocoon in the house a few days if we need to but I don't want to make this a habit if we can avoid it.”