When I peeked my head into the game room, Jember was sitting in the chair facing the door, one leg propped up on the coffee table, the other lying underneath on the cold rug.
He glanced up from the amulet he was constructing. “Is the host awake?”
“He’s getting dressed.” I leaned my shoulder against the doorway. “Saba gave you silver?”
“Not even the fireplace is penetrating this cold,” he said, tucking his blanket closer. “I need to construct a heater if I’m going to sleep in here.”
“There are plenty of bedrooms.”
“Not near the exit.”
“We’re not on the street anymore, Jember.” We were quiet for a moment. But I guess I had no right to say such a thing. When I first arrived here I was wary of everything, too. “Did you and Saba speak when she gave you the silver?”
“She literally can’t speak.”
I raised my eyebrows at him, expecting more. “Did you at least apologize?”
“For what?”
I scoffed. “And to think, I actually wanted you two to be together. But you don’t deserve her. You don’t deserve anyone.”
“I know I don’t.” Jember’s voice chased me as I stepped out in the hall.
I paused and slid halfway back into the room, hugging the doorway. “Self-pity doesn’t really suit you.”
He planted his foot on the floor, leaning forward. “What more can I say to make you stop trying to force us together?” he said, placing the amulet on the table. “She’s dead, Andi. And my skin can’t bear to be touched. So what do you suppose we’d do with each other, hm? Gaze at each other lovingly until the Evil Eye is defeated and she’s gone forever? Indulge in feelings that’ll only be wasted?” He went back to working on his amulet. “I don’t think so.”
“So, you admit it. You love her.”
“I admit nothing.”
I sighed and sat on the edge of the billiards table. “I realize this is my first hyena and I don’t know what I’m doing, but Magnus is still my client. I don’t mind if you take the reins on certain things—that’s why I asked you to stay. But I do expect you to be nice to him.”
“I’m in too much pain today to take demands from a child.”
“I’m not a child anymore.”
“Every time you say that you sound more and more like one.”
I scowled. “You have to be nice. This is his house. And he already thinks you didn’t accept the job to begin with in order to get back at Saba.”
Jember halted in his work. “If she had told him the whole truth he wouldn’t be so angry. She isn’t as perfect as she appears.”
“She’s his mother, of course he’s going to take her side. Besides, you could stand to behave a little less like a villain.”
He rolled his eyes, focusing back on his work, though a bit absently. “I’ll be nice as long as he doesn’t try my patience.”
“What patience?” I grumbled, and pushed some of the billiard balls around the soft surface.
What did you expect, Andi? You’re lucky he’s even here.
I bowed my head, pressing back my excitement as Magnus walked in, Kelela on his arm. She was probably worn out from last night, not to mention her injury. I’m sure he was simply assisting her. But … they just looked so good together. So right. They were of the same social standing, and she was so beautiful. She was showing her prowess, again, by stealing a room just by entering.
I wasn’t jealous, was I? There was no point, not after Magnus had already declared his love for me. But part of me couldn’t help it. I would never look perfect with him. We would never be anyone’s ideal.
Magnus’s brown jacket looked like—what was it called?—a tuxedo, shorter in the front with two long tails in the back, but the fabric was more textured. His white Nehru-collared shirt went almost to his knees. I liked that he mixed his two cultures in his decorating and his clothes.
Kelela gaped as soon as they walked in the room, her eyes shining in the firelight. “Oh my God, it’s Jember! This is such an honor.”
Jember paused in his work to look at her, squinting slightly. “Have we met?”
She looked starstruck. “I’m Kelela. I go to your church. I love when you sing the chants, can you sing something now?”
“Are you kidding?” I grumbled, raising my eyebrows at her reaction. Cleansing a hyena had made Jember a living legend, but that didn’t make him worth fawning over by any means.
Jember looked as unimpressed as I expected. “Why are you here?”
“Oh,” Kelela said, smoothing her hair. “I volunteered to make eye contact with Magnus.”
He kissed his teeth and put his focus back on the amulet. “What is with you girls risking your lives for this awkward little dope?”
“That does it,” Magnus said, helping Kelela sit on the couch across from Jember before leveling a glare at him. “I wore my corduroy jacket for such a time as this.”
Oh God. “Magnus—” I tried.
“I contacted you three years ago, Jember, and you wanted nothing to do with this house. What’s different now?”
“What’s different?” Jember said, as if Magnus should’ve known, and continued his amulet without actually answering.
“You are a coward and a fiend.”
“Let’s not hurl names,” I said, stepping between them.
“Now that you’ve slept for a year,” Jember said, without looking up, “perhaps we can finally talk about what comes next. Now, where’s your guardian, little boy?”
Magnus crinkled his nose like a snarling puppy. “I’m not a little boy, old man.”
“Why does everyone your age think thirty-eight is old?”
“I don’t,” said Kelela, batting her eyelashes.
I rolled my eyes.
“Let’s take a step back,” I said, holding my hands up between everyone. “Magnus, Jember is here to help me cleanse you. Jember, please don’t rile Magnus up, he’s stressed enough as it is.”
“Stressed?” Jember scoffed. “We’re the ones doing all the work.”
I clamped my hand over Magnus’s mouth, muting his biting remark. “We have to work quickly, don’t we? So, what’s the first step?”
“Depends. Was there a victim last night?”
“No,” I said. It was probably stupid to lie to Jember about something so important, but I just couldn’t bear to say it in front of Magnus and have him ask questions later. Besides, I had already made myself a target, so details were unnecessary at this point.
“It will need a night to recuperate, which means we only have until tomorrow. That doesn’t give us much time, so first thing we need to do is gather anything that can be used as a weapon. Long, with a sharp end, are best.”
“No, first we need to eat,” Magnus said, stretching. “I’m starving.”
Jember raised an eyebrow. “Starving is a little melodramatic, don’t you think? When’s the last time you ate, boy, yesterday?”
“Eating’s a good idea, Jember,” I cut in before Magnus’s scowl turned into mouthy defiance. “There’s plenty of daylight left to work afterward. Besides, we don’t want Saba’s food to get cold.”
I looped Kelela’s arm around Magnus’s to keep him occupied, steering them toward the door.
“I thought you said you’d be nice,” I whisper-yelled at Jember.
“There was a stipulation to that,” he said, removing his blanket now that the amulet was finished. It was so cozy my wool sweater was starting to make me itch.
I huffed and followed Magnus and Kelela to the dining room.
“I have so many questions,” Kelela said, “but my head hurts.”
“Is your arm okay?” I asked.
“It’s completely numb.” Magnus helped her sit in a chair and pushed it in for her as she asked, “Where’s Peggy? Did you leave her locked in the closet?”
I choked on my spit as I tried to swallow. Oh God. Peggy. The one thing I never wanted to have to explain. I sat across from Kelela, quickly.
Magnus gaped, then laughed, blissfully ignorant. “You locked Peggy in the closet?”
“Magnus … Peggy, she…” I couldn’t say it. That woman had raised him. And as horrid as she was—forgive me, God, for saying anything cruel about the dead—Magnus would be heartbroken if he knew.
Kelela didn’t know what had happened. Magnus couldn’t remember. Saba couldn’t tell.
So, “She left” came out of my mouth before I could think too hard about it and make it sound like a lie.
Even so, the amusement in Magnus’s face was gone. “Left?”
“She couldn’t take it anymore, she said,” I said, distracting myself with the washing bowl so I wouldn’t have to look at him. “She left last night. Didn’t say where she was going.”
“Well, when is she coming back?”
“Never,” Kelela said, rather harshly. She looked ready to kill the ghost of the woman herself. “I guess she didn’t want to have to be the next volunteer. What a coward.”
“Don’t say that,” I said quickly. “She reacted how anyone would. You’re just braver than most.”
“Of course I am.” She gaped at me slightly, but I noticed a pleased blush on her cheeks. “Thank you.”
“So, she’s not coming back?” Magnus butted in.
“No, Magnus.” I touched his hand, and he weaved his fingers through mine, making my heart pound. “She’s not coming back.”
He was quiet for a moment, his body sinking into his chair. And then he stood and left the room, his bells jingling joylessly down the hall.
“I suppose I’ll have to tell my brother what happened seeing as this arm won’t allow me to travel right now,” Kelela grumbled, digging into the food with her one good hand without bothering to wash it, either. She shouldn’t have been eating with her left, but it’s all she had available—and, anyway, etiquette was never the strong suit of this household. “God, he’s going to kill me.”
I tore some bite-sized pieces of injera for her so she wouldn’t have to struggle. “Do you want a ride to town?”
“No, I’m too achy for that bumpy ride. He’ll be here tomorrow morning. I’ll wait.”
“Won’t he be mad that you put yourself in danger like this? And that you waited so long to tell him about it?”
“He’ll forgive me. He always does.”
Somehow I didn’t believe it would work out how she wanted. Looking at her arm, splinted and in a sling, I was developing an understanding of Jember’s reluctance to let me do this. It didn’t matter how brave or determined I was if I wasn’t qualified.
But, with Jember’s help, I would be.
I had to be.
Speaking of … “I forgot something,” I said, stuffing one more fingerful of spicy food in my mouth before rushing out to get Jember. There was no way he could put that leg on himself in the condition he was in.
I tripped to a stop before the doorway on hearing a whispered voice, and peeked inside to see Saba standing a short distance from Jember’s chair. He had his arms crossed and Saba was gripping a small wooden box … but they were clearly talking, which was progress. Saba approached and sat on the coffee table, opening the box beside her. A first-aid kit. I prayed Jember would let her touch him, if only to help.
And then I backed up slowly out of the doorway to go finish my lunch.