Chapter 21 – Fate
Ariel
Mark and I step quietly through the door of the medical suite and he immediately drops my arm. “June!” he calls, swiftly moving across the room towards her.
Juniper, standing with Tony at the foot of the bed, instantly snaps her head to us. And to my surprise, her face softens when she sees Mark on his way to her side.
“Mark!” she whispers, reaching for him. I follow slowly, my eyes big as I step to stand next to Tony, both of us watching Mark and June hug each other, quietly checking in, asking if the other is okay.
“I thought they…didn’t like each other?” Tony whispers, glancing down at me.
“Yeah, me too,” I say, brows raised.
“I take credit for this,” he murmurs, nodding, crossing his ghostly arms. “I taught her shriveled heart the ways of love.”
I burst out laughing, shaking my head and tucking my hands behind my back to avoid shoving him over. “Oh, shut up, Tony,” I say, grinning at him. “Being a demigod has made you all smug.”
“Yes,” he murmurs, glancing back at his body. “And it looks good on me, doesn’t it?”
I laugh, but it fades when I see how hard Tony has to work to keep the smile on his face as he again looks over his corpse, watching Cora move around it. I sigh, realizing that he’s just being playful for my sake.
“Hey, where’s Laila?” I ask, looking around for her.
Tony points to the hall door in the far corner of the room. “Cora sent her to get an extra delivery of saline IVs,” he murmurs. “Apparently, I’m all dehydrated. Like beef jerky.”
I grimace, looking at his corpse, thinking that he indeed does not look…fresh.
Juniper sighs and steps back from our brother, looking him up and down. “Seriously, you’re good, Mark? You’ve stayed out of trouble?”
“I’m fine,” he murmurs, grinning and stepping back. I smirk when he doesn’t mention Pippa at all. “You should get kidnapped more often, June. Does wonders for your personality.”
Juniper’s eyes snap to thin lines and she bares her teeth. “You’re such a brat, Mark –“
He grins and I sigh happily, pleased to see order restored.
Tony clears his throat and raises his hand. “Hi.”
Mark finally turns to Tony, abashed not to have greeted our guest, but his eyes go wide when they finally take Tony in. I laugh again, realizing that Mark’s just now putting together the fact that the man standing at Juniper’s side is blue. And transparent. And sparkly.
“Whoa,” Mark says, his eyes move back and forth between the corpse and the ghost, going wider as the moments pass.
Tony and Juniper’s face break out into twin grins.
“I’m going to miss this part of you being a ghost,” Juniper says, sighing happily and leaning as close to Tony as she can. “I like it when you scare the hell out of my loved ones.”
Mark just continues to stare, stunned and probably forgetting to breathe.
“Okay,” Cora says, continuing to bustle around even as she glances over at us. “We’re getting close here. Can someone go get Ella and Roger, please? And Tony, can you come stand here?” She reaches for and holds up some kind of sensor that honestly looks like the metal-detecting wand they use at airports. “I want to see if you have any electricity in your form that might disrupt the defibrillator.”
Tony’s expression tenses but he moves to Cora’s side. As my aunt begins to sweep the electric sensor over him I start to move to the door, but Junie grabs my hand.
“Mark?” she says, tense. “Can you…go get mom?”
He frowns at her for a second but then shrugs and goes – not asking any questions. I smile after my sweet brother, but once he’s fully turned away Juniper tugs me over to the wall, as far from Tony as we can get.
“Are you okay?” I whisper, sensing that something’s off.
“Ari!” she hisses, glancing between me and Tony, whose back is to us. “What – why hasn’t it happened yet!?”
“Why hasn’t what happened?”
“I mean, did it take long with you!?”
I just stare at her like she’s stupid. Because honestly, she’s acting a little stupid. “What are you talking about, June?”
She growls, flashing her teeth at me. “The bond! The stupid…mating bond!”
My heart sinks when I realize what she means. And then I feel like a jerk and stop looking at her like she’s stupid.
“How long were Jackson and Luca in the room before you realized they were your mates? And the Atalaxian prince too, or whatever –“
“Well, I wasn’t in a room when I met Gabriel –“
“Ari!” She huffs and stomps her foot. My guilt deepens.
“Okay, sorry – look, June, I don’t know,” I say, shaking my head, speaking the honest truth. “Luca and Jackson? I smelled them both almost at the same time but I don’t know if it’s because they walked into the room at that instant? Or if they had been there before and I just caught a whiff of them? I honestly, genuinely don’t know.”
I bite my lip as my sister huffs, looking again over at Tony, whom Cora is still inspecting. Mom and Roger appear at the door as well, Mark leading them. They move to Cora while Mark comes over to us.
“So, it was the smell?” Juniper whispers, speaking fast, clearly wanting to get this information while she has me all to herself.
I nod. “For me, it was the smell. But I don’t know if it’s the same for everyone. I think with dad’s first mate he like…saw her? Across the room? But maybe he smelled her too?” I shrug, wishing I had the details for my little sis.
June turns towards Tony’s body, sniffing the air as Mark comes to stand with us. Then she groans, smacking a hand over the lower half of her face. “Oh my god,” she mumbles. “Ari, he smells horrible.”
“Juniper,” Mark whispers, frowning at her. “Of course he does. He’s a corpse.”
I sniff the air. “I don’t think it’s so bad…”
June groans, devastated. “Oh no. OH no.”
Mark’s frown deepens. “June, why are you smelling the corpse – obviously, that’s a bad plan –“
“Ari,” she groans, ignoring Mark and turning to me with big green eyes, her lower lip starting to tremble. “What if I –“
“June, don’t,” I say, shaking my head, even as I start to get scared for her too. “It’s not even worth speculating until his soul is back in his body –“
“But what if he always smells like that!? Ariel, he smells terrible!”
“June, go easy on him,” Mark says, reaching out to put a hand on Juniper’s shoulder. “He’s been underground for months – you wouldn’t smell fresh either. Besides, why do you even care what he –“
But then he gasps, loud and rich, his own pretty green eyes flying wide.
I scowl inwardly, jealous again of all of my siblings and their pretty Sinclair eyes, wondering if maybe one of my daughters will inherit them –
But I tuck that away because…it is neither the time nor the place for that.
“Oh my god,” Mark whispers, bending nearly double to stare into June’s face. “You – you want to if you like what he smells like because you think that he’s your –“
“Mark!” Junie snarls, smacking him hard once and then winding back her arm to go again. “Could you try to be subtle for like eight seconds!?”
Mark stands up sharply and dodges her next blow while doing what she says and trying to play it cool. But I have to bite my lip to keep from laughing because Mark trying to be subtle just means standing perfectly still and not knowing what to do with his hands, looking completely awkward staring at Tony with a rapt expression on his face.
Luckily, Tony doesn’t notice. He’s too busy watching Mom and Cora as they quickly consult with Roger, who double-checks the wealth of machinery that Cora had put into the room.
“So,” Mark whispers out of the corner of his mouth, trying hard to keep that veneer of subtly up and utterly failing. “Are you guys like…”
“Yes, they’re dating!” I whisper-squeak, totally thrilled.
“Wow,” Mark says, turning back to June. “You know, he kind of looks like Elias –“
“Who’s Elias?” June asks, crossing her arms.
“I thought that too!” I gasp, stepping forward and smacking Mark on the arm, delighted. Then I gasp, my eyes going wide. “Juniper,” I whisper. “Wait, didn’t you say…didn’t you say that Life said that Tony’s biological father is Atalaxian!?”
She crosses her arms and frowns at me. “Yeah? So?”
I grin wildly, waiting for her to put it all together and gesturing magnificently towards the door through which Elias is sitting, waiting – I think! – to meet his half-brother. And neither of them have any idea!
But Juniper likewise hasn’t put it together yet. “So?” she asks, shaking her head at me, glancing quickly towards the door. “What does any of that have to do with Laila?”
“Huh?”
I turn towards the door, not getting it – but then my brows raise when I see the pretty Selkie Princess coming through the door, her arms absolutely filled with bag after bag of saline IV.
“Hi!” Laila calls, all lovely cheer as she always is, beaming her smile around at all of us. “I got them, Cora! Gosh, but there’s a lot. Do you –“
But suddenly her steps falter and she comes to a complete stop.
Mark sucks in a deep breath, going stock-still beside me.
I stare at Laila, suddenly afraid – looking around behind me for whatever has frightened her – but there’s only a wall –
“Oh, holy shit,” Juniper whispers.
I spin back, totally not getting it – looking between Laila and the direction of her gaze – but there’s nothing here in this corner of the room except me and Juniper and…
…and Mark.
All of the IV bags drop from Laila’s arms, smacking to the floor as she loses all control, just…staring at my brother.
“Careful!” Cora calls. “We need…”
But then Cora, too, goes silent.
Everyone in the room turns to look between Laila and Mark, who just…can’t stop looking at her.
A rush of joy sweeps through me chased quickly by worry, because what – what about Pippa –
But the way these two are looking at each other…
I can’t help it. I bite my lip, and curl my fists beneath my chin, watching in delighted silence as Mark clears his throat, shakes out his shoulders, and slowly crosses the room.