What He Heard

Chapter 5

            Willow put the two glasses down onto the plastic table that lay between the two lounge chairs that sat on her deck, rubbing her hands together to dispel the cold. Rune chuckled, placing the bowl of chips she’d made him carry between the drinks before dropping himself into one of the chairs. “I told you you should have let me carry my own drink.”

            She stuck her tongue out at him as she took her own seat. “Yes, yes. You’re so much smarter than me. I got it.”

            He grinned. “I can’t help how naturally awesome I am,” he said, grabbing his drink. “You know, I think this is the first time I’ve been to your house after school.”

            “This is only the second time you’ve been to my house,” Willow replied, rolling her eyes. “But you’re free to come and go as you like, now that you know. I only kept you away before because of the curse. Bringing someone over requires telling the whole family in advance, just to try and minimize accidents. And honestly, I didn’t want the whole family any more involved in my business than they already are.”

            “I can understand that. You guys are cursed.”

            Willow did her best to ignore Rune’s overdone hand waggling and attempts at giving her the evil eye, but her twitching lips betrayed her. “Keep acting like that and I’ll sic my younger cousins on you. They’re practically feral.”

            “Well, given your whole family’s half-bear, that makes sense. Wait, how do you even hide that when you’re kids? Like, I can’t imagine your younger cousins can really understand why it’s important they hide what they are. I mean, maybe one or two of them would get it, but most wouldn’t.”

            “It’s why we’re all home-schooled until we’re at least finished grade two. Most of us start public school between grades three and five. Once in a while someone will start later, or not ever go to public school. My cousin Fitch is like that. But that’s more because he doesn’t really like hanging around anyone. He pretty much lives in the woods.”

            Rune grinned.  “I seriously thought you were kidding when you said you had a cousin called Fitch. Is it a sasquatch thing to name your children horrible things?”

            “We spend more time in the woods than most people and because of that, tend to attract spouses who are the same. Which basically means the whole family’s at least half hippy. And that’s why you get stuff like Fitch, Clover, and Slate. I’m lucky. Mom’s a hunter rather than a hippy, so I got a reasonably normal name.”

            “I’ll never complain about my name again,” he said solemnly.

            Willow smirked. “Oh don’t worry, your name’s awful enough that you’re allowed.”

            “As always, thank you for feeling the need to deflate my ego. No, it’s okay, I enjoy it.”

            She laughed at his dry tone. “Given what you’ve put me through, you deserve it.”

            “Hey! What have I-” Rune broke off, his head swivelling towards the left, frowning. He turned back to Willow, whispering “I hear something. I think someone’s coming this way.”

            Willow frowned herself, closing her eyes and straining her ears but she didn’t hear anything. She opened her mouth to ask what it was, when she heard rustling coming from the bushes beside her house. Her head snapped up and she stared straight at the plant. She tensed, slowly positioning her body to be able to move in an instant.

            She was glad she had, when a moment later, the bush exploded. She leapt to her feet, sweeping one foot backwards and bringing her arms up. When the first hurtling body reached her, she shoved it in the hairy chest with flat palms, sending her cousin flying backwards.

            Willow didn’t watch Eloise slam into Parker, instead turning with one leg sweeping out to catch Everett’s feet. The force of her pull had his, admittedly large, feet coming out from under him so that his backslide slammed into the unyielding wood of the deck. He cried out for a second.

            She didn’t let that or the yelps and yips of Eloise and Parker getting their hairy limbs untangled distract her. Hands on her hips, Willow glared at the three of them. “Seriously? Again? Are you three ever going to stop attacking me?”

            “Not until we beat you!” Eloise cried, still fighting to stand.

            “You’re lucky you were squatching,” Willow said. “You could have gotten hurt otherwise. You know my defenses are almost automatic at this point. Also, did you not notice that I have company over?”

          Parker, who had finally gotten to his feet, made a face. “Dad said that he knows about the curse so it’s okay.”

            “I wasn’t talking about that. I was talking about you not interrupting me, to attack me, when I have people over. It’s rude.”

            Rune, who’d been watching the whole exchange with a wide grin, finally laughed. “I’m sorry,” he said as four sets of eyes turned to stare at him. “It’s the image of you, Willow lecturing three mini-Big Foots about etiquette that is just hilarious. I wish I had a camera.”

            Everett rubbed his back and frowned at Rune. Then he looked at Willow. “Are you marrying him?”

            “What?” they both squawked.

            “Well, he knows about the curse right? And the only time we tell people is when we’re going to marry them. So you’re marrying him, aren’t you?”

            Willow rolled her eyes. “No, I’m not marrying Rune. He found out accidentally. He’s my friend. We’re not even dating or anything like that.”

            “There goes that plan,” Parker muttered.

            Eloise glared at him for a moment, before looking back at Rune. “That’s weird. I didn’t think we were even allowed to do that. Can you turn into something too?”

            Rune blinked for a moment, then chuckled. “No, I don’t turn into anything. I just saw Willow take her silver off, that’s it. Sorry it’s not more exciting than that.”

            Parker shifted closer to him, poking him in the arm. “He doesn’t seem like he’s super strong. Are you as good as Willow?”

            She swept her three cousins with another glare. “Alright, that’s enough. You three, get out of here. If you attack me again when I have people over, I will make the three of you suffer in ways you can’t even imagine. Now scat!”

            Eloise opened her mouth until she saw Willow’s expression. She huffed, but turned around and waved at the boys to follow her. “C’mon,” she said. “Let’s go to the hideout. Being here is boring.”

            Rune watched them slink away, shaking his head and grinning. “There’s never a dull moment around your family, is there?”

            Willow made a face as she sat back down. “You have no idea.”