us. Cross your fingers.”
Dee-dee’s limp stood out more than usual when she hurried back to the horse and Linea.
Again, we watched, and the women commented with admiration in their voices as the horse lifted his head and ate first the carrot and then the apple.
“Oh, wow. That’s the first I’ve seen him eat in two days.”
I smiled and rubbed behind Huginn’s ear muttering low, “Did you see that?”
Linea returned ten minutes later without Dee-dee, who stayed with the horse.
“What happened?” Olivia asked with eagerness. “Is he cured now?”
Linea looked back in the direction from where she had just come. “Time will tell, but Dee-Dee and I worked on his blocks of fear and we got him to drink and eat a little. I’m sensing a new hope in him. He’s a sensitive and timid soul.”
“Yes, we sensed that much.”
“If you want to, I’d suggest that you join Dee-dee and shower him with love and assurances that he will never be fed any rotten or spoiled food here.”
The three helpers hurried toward Dee-dee and the horse while Linea turned to me.
“What?” I asked her with irritation. “Stop looking at me like you’re taking an x-ray.”
“Only machines can do x-rays.”
“Are you sure they didn’t implant something in your brain? Some of the things you do seem unnatural.”
Linea laughed. “On the contrary. I’m the one in touch with my natural abilities. You’ve closed it down without knowing how powerful you are.”
“I’m powerful?”
“All humans are… when they are tuned in.”
“Define powerful.”
Linea kept smiling. “It has nothing to do with crushing your enemies if that’s what you’re hoping.”
“Why are you here?” The question burst out of me from a place of hope that made no sense to me. Linea was quirky and we had never been close friends so why was I hoping that she was here because she cared about me?
Her tone and expression turned serious as she hesitated a little before she spoke. “The first time I came to find you it was to assure your parents and family that you were safe and well. This time, I’m bringing you a message from your parents.”
The instant she mentioned my parents, I felt my hackles rise and my guard come up. “What’s the message?”
Linea lowered her brow. “Whoa. There’s no reason to take that tone with me. I’m just the messenger. Retract your claws, please.”
I scoffed at her comparing me to an animal. “Just fucking tell me or get the hell out.”
When she didn’t reply right away, I walked off. My room was fifty feet to the left and felt like a safe place where she wouldn’t enter with messages from my father about how disappointed he was with me.
Huginn and Muninn didn’t want to go inside the tiny room, and I didn’t force them. My head was exploding with what ifs, and the dogs were better off taking a nap in the shade of a tree than being close to my brewing anger.
Linea, however, wasn’t as smart as them and came to confront me.
“Honestly, Thor, why do you have to be so rude all the time?”
With a ceiling height just a few inches above my head, and almost no space around the bed, this room already felt cramped. Now that Linea was standing between me and the door, which closed by itself, I felt cornered. Squaring my shoulders, I moved closer to her, hardening my tone. “You shouldn’t have come in here. I warned you not to come back. I’m not a nice Motlander, Linea. A magical fairy like yourself shouldn’t get too close to me.”
“A fairy. Where did that come from?” she asked with her eyes widened.
I pointed through the small window in the direction of Dee-dee and the other workers. “That’s how they see you. As some magical creature who can spread your fairy dust and make everything better. But I’m not some scared horse, so just give me my message and fuck off.”
It shocked me when she responded with a hard shove to my chest. I’d never seen a violent Motlander, and the force behind it didn’t match the size of her small frame.
“What the hell?” I sputtered when she shoved me again, her face twisted with fury.
“Don’t talk to me that way! You are no better than that horse. You’re as stubborn and scared as he is.”
“Ha!” I gave a grimace and looked to the closed door. My instinct was to get out, but Linea’s pushing had backed me up against the bed and I would have to physically