The mayor chuckled, “Since you slapped so many of those rutting patches on you, we will never be certain. I suggest you wait before you try to do anyactivities.” His smile and mouth disappeared.
The kettle's shrill whistle pierced the air. The mayor glided to the stove, lifting it with those unnaturally long fingers before drifting to my kitchen island. A single mug waited there, already filled with a mountain of cocoa powder. My antennae drooped as he poured steaming water into it, and a defeated chitter escaped my throat despite my best efforts to contain it.
“What are your plans? I’m assuming since you like her, you will see her again?” he asked.
One antenna lifted upward. “Tonight, I am going to her house for dinner and to watch her play a game. I am her good-luck charm.” I puffed out my chest.
The mayor tapped his long, clawed finger on the table. “Did you not forget what happens once the sun goes down and the night appears, Atlas?”
I tapped my finger on my chin. “It gets dark?”
The mayor turned his back on me and headed toward the door.
“No, wait!” I yelled. “Wait, I know! Oh, fuck this isn’t good!”
He turned around and bobbed his head back and forth. “Do you think so? Could you not come up with a better idea to get together with her?”
I pulled on my antennae. “I-I couldn’t think that fast! Then things were getting hot and heavy. She put her hand… on my thigh!” I pointed to the culprit, aka, my thigh. “It was like I could feel the heat of her hand right there. Then she rubbed it, and she smelled good. Then I started letting off pheromones. I couldn’t think because the entire room was filled with pleasant smells!”
The toilet flushed, and we both turned our heads to the bathroom. Lucien walked out, his antennae swaying back and forth. “What did I miss?”
The mayor groaned, the tentacle that sometimes protruded from his back massaging his shoulders. “Help him!” He waved his hand at me for Lucien to see. “Help Atlas get ready for his date while I go collude with the witches, to see if there is a way to get his disguise to last past sunset and stay in town.”
My antennae perked up. “You would do that for me?”
The mayor huffed. “Certainly. As I said, you cannot claim her unless you are certain. The consequences would be disastrous. Especially when I don’t know why she is here.”
“She’s Harlow’s best friend.”
“I’ve seen that now, without either of your help. Harlow can talk after a few margaritas,” Hollow snapped. “I’d still like more information, if you can manage to get a few words out of Kassie.”
My wings dropped and dragged on the floor away from both of them. I stirred my hot chocolate and brought it to my mouth.
I couldn’t do anything right. I couldn’t help that I got so nervous around her. She was so pretty and confident, and I was the giant who knocked over things and didn’t have the words.
All I could do was chop or stroke wood.
Lucien laughed and patted the mayor on the back, swatting away one tentacle. “You do that, I will get Atlas all ready for tonight. He will be ready for this date and spend time with her. We will get his confidence boosted, so he feels more comfortable in his human and moth skin, so he has the courage to reveal himself to Kassie.”
The mayor walked out the door, but his head did a one-eighty to look back. “Just remember, if she finds out who you are and doesn’t take it well, you must bring her to the forest. No one can find out about our kind unless she is someone’s match…”
Ha. Ha. Yeah, no pressure.
The door hadn't even clicked shut behind the mayor when I grabbed my axe from its hook. A conversation with Lucien was the last thing I needed. The forest called to me—the deeper parts where the trees grew thick, and my wings could stretch without catching on cottage walls. Where I could lose myself in what I knew best: the rhythm of steel biting into wood.
I felt Lucien trail behind me, his red eyes glowing at me like twin lanterns in the darkness. This deep in the forest, nosunlight penetrated the canopy. Gnarled branches clawed at the sky, while deep gouges from unknown creatures scarred the blackened trunks. What might have once been undergrowth had withered to skeletal remains, crackling beneath my feet with each step.
Instead of flying, I dragged my body through the dead leaves, no path to follow until I came upon a tree that needed to be taken down. It was near death, I could feel it, and it would be good to work with.
From the corner of my eye, I caught Lucien lounging against a nearby trunk. Before swinging, I hefted the axe behind me and checked that my wings were folded tightly against my back, safely out of the blade's path.
I surrendered to the rhythm of the axe…swing, bite, crack. Wood chips scattered like confetti with each impact. Every blow drove me deeper into exhaustion, exactly what I needed. If my muscles screamed loud enough, maybe they'd drown out the anxious whispers about tonight's inevitable disaster.
I wanted to forget it all.
I didn’t want to think about how Kassie might not be mine. I could be so pessimistic, but I literally saw her as my light, the light I wanted to flutter around because I was drawn to her.
How could something so pretty be my match?
