Return of the Trickster by Eden Robinson (ebook voice reader TXT) 📗

even get up. It’s…alarming.”

“That’s Jared.”

“So he’s not mine.”

“Nope.”

“Wee’git, huh?”

“He pretended to be you to get in my pants.”

“I’m sorry, Maggie. You didn’t deserve that.”

His mom got up and he heard her open another beer.

“I wish he was mine,” Phil said.

“He dragged you from the beyond, Phil, and he’s using a lot of power he can’t afford to hold you here. He’s yours in all the ways that count.”

—

“Hey, buddy, hey, kiddo,” Phil singsonged. “Time to get up, time to get up.”

“Let’s cut the lazy glue,” Jared said, not opening his eyes. ’Cause it might just be a dream. Might be a memory, and not his dad brushing his hair off his forehead.

Blood on the coverlet. Blood on the headboard. There was blood on his mom too. Little blobs of organs lying around the room, looking like deflated balloons. His mom carefully picked them up. His chest was cold and he couldn’t stop shaking.

“Hey,” Phil said, smiling. “You remembered.”

“He’s going to join you in a few minutes if we don’t get him to let go of you,” his mom said.

“Hear that? I gotta skedoodle. Shirl’s always saying I put you above her. This ain’t helping.”

“Sorry,” Jared said.

“We’re going to meet again,” Phil said. “We’re going to go fishing on the lake. And you’re going to show me pictures of all my grandkids.”

“I didn’t mean to get you killed.”

“Well, Jared, there’s an upside. My back doesn’t hurt anymore. I forgot what it’s like to not grit your teeth to get off the damn couch. It was just my time, kiddo. My number was up.”

“Love you.”

“Put yourself back together now. That’s a good boy. That’s the way.”

His mom touched his arm.

Stay with me, Jared.

Her power like a warm bonfire merrily blazing. Everything flowing back.

“You are my sunshine,” his dad sang.

All warm and cozy.

Phil’s voice fading as light broke into the room, turning his dad into a shadow as it grew brighter and brighter, then vanished as if it had never been. Everything once again dingy and cheap and smelly. The sounds of traffic and some woman in the parking lot yelling into her phone, “Oh, right! Uh-huh. Yeah? Is that what you think?”

“Did that just happen? Was Dad here?” Jared said. “Or did I dream it?”

His mom side-eyed him. “God, you’re exhausting.”

“Ha ha,” Jared said. “You’re stuck with me.”

—

They ran out of beer and his organs didn’t want any vodka; his torso bulged and rippled with their complaints. He lay back down, shaking, violent shakes bordering on seizures. He couldn’t stop them, so he tried to concentrate on breathing.

His mom touched his arm and as soon as he felt her power, he ripped his arm away.

“I’m not watching you die,” she said.

“N-n-not sp-sp-supposed-d-d to b—”

Mind to mind, Sylvester.

Borrowing power is bad, Jared thought.

You are on the thin edge of life and death, bucko.

Borrowing power changes you.

Duh. You’re full Trickster now. No going back.

It makes you mutate.

Who told you this little gem?

Chuck.

Some random Chuck. There’s a reliable-sounding source of information.

He’s a Wild Man of the Woods.

You’re taking advice from a sasquatch? You know they eat people, right?

Chuck’s a hugan.

A what?

Vegan, but with people.

For fuck’s sake, Jared. There’s a difference between giving your power willingly and having power ripped from you. Did Chuck the fucking sasquatch tell you that?

They don’t like being called sasquatches.

You would drive a saint to murder.

—

Sarah and Richie stopped by to pick up their things. They were going to spend the night in a room two doors down. Sarah was alarmed by how corpse-like Jared looked. Jared saw himself, pale and still, limp as fresh roadkill. She wanted to lie down beside him and hold him close.

“No, Twitch,” his mom said. “Your magic is nitro and his is a downed power line right now. He needs to stabilize or terrible things will come down on us all. Just go watch your Netflix and ignore Richie’s snoring.”

“Brought you a bacon burger,” Richie said.

“Oh, I love you to the moon and back,” his mom said, grabbing the takeout bag from him.

“I know you love your meat,” Richie said, grinning.

“Ew,” Jared said.

In the corner of the room, the ghostly bear that followed Richie came through the wall. It moaned. His mom ignored it. Richie still didn’t seem to be able to see it. The bear limped after Richie as he exited.

“Are you hungry?” his mom said.

“No. We should get Sarah home,” he said.

“That’s Twitch’s choice, not yours.” His mom pursed her lips. “You and Twitch aren’t Romeo and Juliet. You can get together when you’re less raw.”

Jared considered it. “I think we crossed a line. I don’t think we’d be good for each other.”

His mom snorted, swigging from the vodka bottle. “It’s cute what you think is unforgivable.”

“She almost died because we were messing around with magic. Then I dumped her. I’m amazed she’s still talking to me.”

“Did she ever do spells on you? Did she ever trick you into doing something you didn’t want to do?”

“No.”

“Did you ever take magic from her without asking?”

“Ew, no.”

“There’s lines and then there’s lines,” his mom said. “You get that, but Wee’git doesn’t. He gets mad when I say he raped me, but it’s true. I was sixteen. He was five hundred and thirty. He didn’t kick me around and tie me up. He was just a lying weasel about it, but that doesn’t make it any less rape.”

All the air left the room. But the world still spun on its tilted axis. Time continued to tick. He let the truth hang between them until he couldn’t stand it anymore.

“Why did you even have me?” he said.

“You have the worst taste in music,” she said. “The first time I felt you move, you were probably the size of a shrimp, and you were pulsing away to ‘Barbie Girl.’ ”

Jared laughed. “You’re shitting me.”

“I was living with Mave. She’d claimed you, said she was going to raise you, and she was just showering me with appreciation. It was the first time anyone had taken care of