My eyes drifted to my hand and I caught sight of a black smudge on my wrist. Was it dirt? Tristan noticed the dark spot too and reached out, touching it softly with his thumb. I brought my wrist up to have a closer look. There was a small black drawing under my skin, like a tattoo of my arteries and veins on that small patch on my wrist. Tristan stroked the black lines carefully, but it didn’t disappear like last night.
“What is that?” he asked, worried.
“I don’t know,” I mumbled, rubbing the spot and flexing my wrist again. “Do you think it’s going to stay like this for long?” I asked, staring at the black mark.
“I don’t know,” Tristan said. “If it does, at least you’ll have a cool tattoo now without needles,” he pointed out weakly, trying to cheer me up.
“Yeah. I’m in a rock band. A tattoo would be cool,” I said, still staring at it. “My mom’s going to freak out when she sees it, though. It’ll be worse than the sex talk.”
Tristan laughed at my frightened face. “It sounds as if nothing is worse than the sex talk, Joe.”
I sat on the couch and touched my newly acquired wrist tattoo. “Those dark lines appeared after I punched Vigil last night,” I muttered. Then I looked out of the window. “Do you think Vigil is gone for good?”
“I really don’t know, Joey. It was a pretty mean punch. What do you think?”
I bit my lips, not really liking my answer. “He said nothing could ever stop him, not even Death. He’s still out there, somewhere. He’ll be back at New Year,” I said.
“I think you’re right.” Tristan agreed quietly by my side.
“And all this was for nothing,” I mumbled disconsolately, rubbing my wrist.
“It wasn’t,” Tristan said quietly, sitting down next to me. “I learned a lot of things from my talk with Vigil. Things I’ll try to use at New Year.”
“He does seem to be developing emotions he doesn’t understand,” I said, thinking of all my encounters with Vigil since I’d named him. “And what did you mean by ‘It’s never going to happen’? He was truly angry when you said that.”
Tristan shifted uncomfortably and stared at his feet.
“Tristan?” I pressed.
He looked me in the eyes. “He likes you,” he stated.
“Stop being silly, Tris.”
“I’m not being silly. He fancies you. I could see it. How could you not? It was right there, every time he looked at you.”
“Tris … are you serious?”
“Yes! I was pretty pissed off too when I realized it. He went mental when I told him you and he were never going to happen. That was what set him off and made him cross over the line,” he said, aggravated.
“I … don’t really know what to say to that.” I was shocked by that little revelation. After all, I was a girl and Vigil was a supernatural being. Could he even like someone in that way?
“What I don’t get is why you haven’t noticed this before. It should be a piece of cake for you to read it in his eyes. Why didn’t you?”
Yes. Why didn’t I? Vigil had always been really hard to interpret. Especially at the beginning: I couldn’t get anything from him at our first encounters. But then … he’d started changing. Every time we’ve met he looked a little different. He started trying to help me then, getting worried about my safety. Were those all signs he had been giving me? How could I have missed this?
“He … is hard to read. When he’s not a total blank, it’s like he’s in fast forward mode with his emotions. Just when I think I’ve spotted one, he’s already passed on to four new ones. I really never suspected,” I muttered, astonished.
“Well, it’s another thing we can use against him now, another weak spot. We’ll try to work all his angles and make him crack! If all fails, I was thinking about something Seth said once …” Tris turned to look at me expectantly. “It was fairly nerdy but it may well be our best shot.”
“A new plan?”
“Yes. This whole thing is about the New Year because that is when our spell ends and your protection ends with it, right? What if we renew our spell again? Exactly like we did last year? Then I would be guarded again. Like renewing a subscription that has expired. Seth got the idea from one of his comic books – he said that if the spell is what gives you the ability to protect me, even from a being as powerful as Vigil, then we need to make that ‘superpower’ yours again. What do you think?”
“I think … it’s a fantastic idea!” I said, amazed by Seth’s ingenuity. Clever geek boy!
“I thought so too!” Tristan said with a huge grin. “I think it might actually work!” He smiled, hope fully back in his eyes and in his heart.
Seth and Harry decided to come downstairs then, still looking half-asleep and with messy hair.
“Seth! You’re up!” I shouted happily and ran over to him, giving him a loud smacky kiss on the lips. His sleepy eyes shot wide open in complete surprise.
“Uh … yeah, I’m up. I’ve never had that kind of reaction from anyone for just being awake, but I suppose it’s an accomplishment of sorts,” he mumbled.
Harry crossed his arms, pouting at me. “Hey, I’m awake too! Although that’s not a hard feat, with Seth’s loud snoring pounding in my ears all night long!” he grumbled.
I side-stepped over to Harry and gave him a light peck on the lips too, though not as smacky and excited as I had done with Seth.
“And shut up, I do not snore!” Seth complained to Harry, affronted.
“Yeah, you do a little,” I said, giving Seth a hug now. “But I don’t care! I even miss it, sometimes. It was always like a tiny chainsaw lulling me to sleep! Seth, Tristan told me your plan for New Year … It’s brilliant! I don’t know what we would do without you,” I said happily. Having a new plan improved my mood a whole lot.
“My plan? What plan?” he asked, baffled until Tristan explained how he had come up with his idea after hearing Seth’s ramblings about comic book heroes and their superpowers. “Ah, I see it now! I do have the most brilliant plans, don’t I?” Seth beamed, proud of himself “So … do you really like it?”
“Yeah!” Tristan and I said at the same time.
“Like, a lot? As in, ‘I would do anything to repay Seth for this idea’?”
I raised a suspicious eyebrow at him. “Okay. What do you want, Seth?”
“If I were to ask for some Christmas spirit here, would you be inclined to say yes?” he asked, all hopeful with shining hazel eyes.
“What?” I didn’t get where he was going with this nonsense.
Harry started grinning madly now, understanding dawning on his handsome face.
Josh came into the living room then, and looked curiously at our huddled assembly.
“Hey, guys! What’s going on?” he asked, looking at Harry.
“Seth’s asking Joey for a full blast of Christmas spirit here!” Harry exclaimed, excited at the news.
“Oh, dear God! Did she say yes?” Josh asked in a strangled voice.
Sam came downstairs at that moment. He saw Josh’s face, Harry squirming and Seth jumping up and down and stopped in mid-step, looking worried. “What’s up?” he asked, rubbing his eyes.
“Seth’s gonna go all Xmas-maniac on us again,” Josh mumbled warily.
“Oh, boy. Well, it should be fun seeing Joey dealing with Seth in Christmas mode. We all know what’s that’s like. I guess she needs to experience it too.” Sam chuckled.
“Okay, I’m kind of getting a little scared now,” I said, looking from one boy to another. “What is this all about? Be serious, now.”
“Well … it’s like this. We’ve all spent a little of December with Seth in the past, so we’ve got used to it,” Josh started explaining.
“Not like we had any option,” Sam mumbled.
“But … the thing about Seth preparing for Christmas that you don’t know about yet, Joe, is that he goes completely bonkers during this month,” Josh continued.
“Totally mental,” Sam added.
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“He goes total coo-coo fuckin’ bananas,” Harry added thoughtfully.
“Hey!” Seth shouted, not amused at all by all the adjectives coming up.
“Come on, it can’t be that bad!” Tristan chuckled, watching Seth rubbing his hands in excitement.
“Oh. It’s bad,” Josh mused.
“Dude, you’re in for it,” Sam stated plainly.
“I don’t care how bad it gets, he deserves it!” I said, closing the deal and hugging Seth one more time. He’s given us the best plan ever for New Year! Full Christmas spirit it is!”
“Yay!” Seth shouted and whooped.
Sam and Josh slapped their faces with agonized expressions, and Harry jumped up and down, shouting “Hurraaay!” in a cartoony voice.
Seth didn’t care about anybody mocking his jolly spirit, though. He was in his own private festive world now, far away at the distant snowy Christmas Land of his dreams.
At first, I thought the boys had exaggerated Seth’s Christmas spirit. I mean, how festive can a boy get? But Seth truly was a Christmas maniac! He had our house filled with green and red stuff and sparkling glass balls and stars and everything related to Christmas he could get his jolly hands on. He was also making us wear Santa hats inside the house during the whole week, and he even had a little blackboard nailed on the kitchen door with a countdown in chalk until Christmas Eve. It was so much fun just watching him having fun!
He was surely in full-blast Christmas mode!
The week before Christmas, Tiffany came back from visiting her parents. Her folks had wanted her to stay with them for the holidays, for a big party they were throwing, but she’d told them she wasn’t going to be there. She was pretty mad at them because every year they left her alone at Christmas, travelling for business or a vacation somewhere, and she was always left behind with a last-minute “Sorry, hun, we can’t be there with you” telephone call. So now she’d just left them without much explanation, and had returned to spend Christmas with her real family, as she now called us.
Seth was really happy when she arrived, and I’d missed her too. So much had happened while she’d been away! Tiff could hardly believe her ears when I filled her in on our encounter with Vigil, and she was even happier to be back with us. Seth had cleared it with his own family to spend Christmas with Tristan and me this year. He wanted to share this special holiday with his best friend and brother-in-arms this year – in case it was Tristan’s last …
Harry, Sam and Josh were over at my house a lot during the week as well, having fun and enjoying the festive frenzy that Seth was whipping us all into! And Mom was on cloud nine. It was like all her wishes for a big family Christmas had come true.
Christmas Day arrived and Josh, Harry and Sam went to spend the day with their families, but they were going to come back again after supper, to exchange gifts and celebrate with us. I put on my red dress for the evening; the dress Mom had given me for my birthday. She was so happy when she saw me wearing it that her beaming face alone was worth the effort.
The boys arrived a little after nine and we all spread out across the living room for the gift-exchanging part of the evening. When everything was done, there was so much giftwrap, bows and ribbons all over the room, it looked like a wrapping monster had swallowed us all!
We kept celebrating until early in the morning, and as the sun rose, the first snow of the year began to fall outside the window, ending a perfect Christmas day.
And that night, it seemed all my troubles had been forgotten, while Christmas lights kept shining on.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
A Matter of Time
After Christmas was over, Seth returned to his normal self, and the house went back to a quiet daily routine. The anticipation of New Year was making everybody a little more tense and edgy, especially me.
I checked and double-checked the spell with Miss Violet, making sure we hadn’t forgotten anything in our plan to renew it, and that we were all going to be really prepared for New Year.
Just like the first time, when the spell was originally cast, we needed seven people on the grassed circle, so Sam, Harry, Josh and Seth were going to be standing on the borders in a cross formation. Tristan and I would be in the middle, and Sky would count as the last person to attend. Five elements would be included: a glass of water, a candle for fire, air by the breeze, earth under the grass, and the last element, the one that would make the spell work and close the bond again … my blood. I was bringing a pocket-knife to provide the fifth element.
All we needed to do was wait for New Year’s Eve night. During the days leading up to it, I couldn’t shake the uneasy feeling that these were my last with Tristan. Somehow everything we did or said felt like we were doing it for the last time. On the second night before the turn of the New Year, Tristan snuck in to my room to spend the night with me. We lay in my bed and talked quietly most of that night, and again I got that sad feeling that this could be the last time I would rest my face on Tristan’s broad chest.
“You remember the first time I saw you? Back then at the cemetery?” I asked him quietly.
“Yeah. Of course,” he said. “I couldn’t believe it when you started talking to me. You thought I was crazy, because I just stared at you, but I was so shocked that you could see me!” He chuckled at the memory.
“Yeah, I almost ran away from you. You know why I didn’t?”
“Why is that?” he asked softly.
“Because you smiled at me, after you jumped down off your tomb. It was the most beautiful smile I have ever seen. I couldn’t leave after you smiled at me like that. I love your smile so much,” I said. “I love it so much when you call me Buttons,” I continued. “And I love to see you blushing when you curse by accident. I love the sound of your voice; it’s quiet and low and sexy. And I love hearing you singing! I love how your body fits perfectly to mine, and the way we click in all the right places when we go to sleep together. I love sleeping with you. I love making love to you.”
The words kept tumbling out of me like a confession. “I love your smell! I wish I could bottle it up and carry it around with me all the time. You don’t know how special you are. You gave me the best first kiss I have ever had. The best first date I have ever had. And I don’t take any minute with you for granted. I save them all in my heart and treasure every one of them,” I finished at last.
I just wanted Tristan to know how I felt about him. I couldn’t tell his reaction to my speech, though, because my head was resting on his chest. He lay there in silence for a while, taking in all I’d said. Then he spoke very quietly.
“You never cease to amaze me,” he whispered, cupping my face with his hands, making me look at him. “Extraordinary,” he said passionately, his eyes shining. He didn’t say another word for a long time. He didn’t need to. I could see it all flashing in his eyes. The intensity of his love was mind-blowing; the look in his eyes was worth a thousand words. A tear broke through and ran down my face. He smiled tenderly, the corners of his eyes crinkling, while he wiped the tear from my face with his soft fingers.
“Thank you for telling me.” He spoke in a low, shaky voice, leaning in and kissing me deeply.
He embraced me and sighed, tracing his fingers slowly over my, connecting invisible dots on my skin. Whenever his fingers touched me, he left a tingling sensation in their wake.
“Joey, sweetheart … this isn’t goodbye,” he whispered softly.
“I know,” I whispered back. “But I wanted to tell you how I feel about you,” I explained.
“We’ll be fine, love. I’ll always be with you. No matter what,” he murmured, stroking my hair before falling into silence. We held on to each other during the entire night, afraid to let go, afraid of the future and what the New Year could bring us.
On New Year’s Eve, everybody gathered at my home, waiting anxiously for the night to come. Today there were no jokes, no laughter, only nervous glances and tense shoulders. Nobody was talking much; everybody wa
s immersed in their own private thoughts. When night finally came, we all headed to the cemetery. Miss Violet, my mom and Tiffany were going to stay by the gates, waiting for us there. If anything bad happened, they would be close enough to come to our aid. We didn’t want to mess up the number of people needed for the spell to work.
The cemetery was once again decorated for Esperanza’s New Year’s party; yellow lanterns were spread all through the gloomy lanes and people were beginning to arrive to celebrate, mostly lingering by the area near the front gates. The place looked pretty much the same as last year, the only difference being that this year was a little colder, and snow piled up in little mounds over some headstones.
My mom hugged Tristan when we passed by the cemetery iron gates. “I’ll see you soon, son,” she said, ruffling his hair. He nodded, smiling, and went to hug Tiffany.
“Be careful and stay safe!” Tiffany ordered him. She couldn’t let go of her bossy ways, even now.
He nodded again. “I will. Thanks, Tiffany,” he said before walking away.
The boys and I followed him through the lanes in silence. The lights began to dim and everything turned darker with each step we took deeper into the graveyard. I could hear our footsteps echoing on the ground and sometimes the sound of people talking and laughing drifted in the background.
As soon we arrived at the small grass circle, everybody took their place without a word. Tristan and I walked to the middle of the circle. Seth had a small glass of water in his hands, and Harry had a candle. Sam had grabbed some grass and earth, and Josh stood calmly, with empty open hands. I had my pocket-knife clutched tightly. We all stood still and counted the minutes passing eerily by, each of us glancing at our watches in turns.
I had been waiting for this moment for so long that now that it was so close at hand, I didn’t know what to feel.
Tristan held my hand and squeezed, trying to reassure me. It was close to midnight now. I let go of his hands to hold my pocket-knife more firmly, to make sure the fifth element would be present when the clock struck twelve. A single firework exploded a few seconds too early. I watched as it ascended into the dark winter sky and exploded into hundreds of tiny bright sparks, but the explosion seemed to happen in slow motion.