Page 24 of Changeling (The Incubus Saga #2)

Nathan's chest burned from his still tender wounds, and a pain in his shoulder screamed as he came to. He had almost forgotten that it was still sore and bruised from being dislocated the previous night, considering everything that had been happening in the Animus House.

The house.

Nathan’s eyes sprung open and he immediately sat up, pain be damned.

He was sore in a lot more places than just his chest and shoulder, and it was no wonder.

Nathan was lying on the lawn of the Animus House in the early morning sun, not too far from the sidewalk.

This was good considering if he had been any closer, he might have gotten caught in the debris that was left of the building.

“Nathan! Are you all right?” Walter called, there beside Nathan and crouching down as though he might help Nathan stand. “I wasn’t able to accompany you to the third floor. The power was too concentrated. What happened?”

Nathan didn’t yet answer Walter as he looked toward the house.

The whole place had collapsed and was still smoking from the fire.

Thankfully, the walls coming down must have smothered the flames before they could spread too far.

That would have been a comfort if Nathan didn’t know that Jim and Sasha were buried somewhere amongst the rubble.

He thought for a brief moment that maybe they had been expelled like he had, but there was no sign of them.

They had to be in the debris. Nathan didn’t even think, he just ran, straight for where he thought it made most sense for them to be after being sucked into the future room.

As Nathan scrambled forward, he couldn’t help noticing how there didn’t seem to be enough debris to make up that whole house, like maybe half of it had been sucked away into nothing.

Oh, god. Nathan didn’t want to think that that’s what had happened to the others. He would rather find them broken and bloody than just find nothing.

“Jim! Sasha!” he screamed as he climbed over on top of everything in search of some sign as to where they might be. At least it was still early so that no one seemed to be around. That didn’t mean a house collapsing wouldn’t bring company quick. He had to find them. “Jim! Sasha!” he called again.

“Nathan, over here!” Walter waved to him from a short distance away.

Nathan spotted movement beside Walter beneath the rubble, and started scrambling that direction.

His shoulder burned with the effort as he started tossing pieces of debris aside.

He had to lift what was left of a door and, since none of the normal rooms had doors attached, he guessed it was from the Future room.

Underneath that was a piece of broken wood from the 1st floor.

He could still see the Gaelic writing of the number ‘twenty’ that had been above the last first floor room.

“Jim!” Nathan continued to call as he dug. He was so relieved when he finally spotted a hand and the cuff of Jim’s jacket that he broke into a grin.

As he was pushing and tossing more rubble away, he noticed that the rubble was pushing up towards him too. That meant Jim was conscious. Jim was okay.

“Jim!” Nathan cried in relief as he finally reached his brother. It shouldn’t have been possible but Jim only looked dirty and out of breath. He didn’t even have any cuts on him. “Jesus, are you okay? How are you okay?”

Jim was breathing very heavy and his eyes were as wide as Nathan had ever seen them. He stared right at Nathan, wild. “I…I don’t know. What happened? Ev—” He cringed as he tried to move. “Everything hurts.”

Nathan worried about internal injuries—Jim had just survived a house collapsing down around him—but then maybe being sucked into that room had somehow protected him.

“Just…don’t try to move for a minute, okay?

Let me look at you.” Nathan reached towards his brother’s face first, and was surprised when Jim flinched before he could touch him.

Those dark blue eyes were still wide, still staring at Nathan, but now they looked as if they were trying to place Nathan’s face, like they didn’t know if they recognized him.

“Dad…?” Jim said softly.

Nathan’s hand froze. “What? You…trying to be funny or something?” Nathan half grinned. The expression fell flat, though, because the look on Jim’s face was way too serious.

Jim started shaking his head and trying to scoot away from Nathan. “You…you’re not my dad,” he said, his voice sounding small and frightened like Nathan could barely remember hearing in the last who knows how many years.

“Jim…” Nathan called forlornly. “Hey…it’s me. Of course it’s not Dad. It’s Nathan . You know it’s Nathan.” Even as Nathan said that, he wasn’t sure if he believed it. Jim looked at him like looking at a stranger. “Jim…”

“Nathan,” Walter said, as he stood and stared at Jim amidst the wreckage, “something is very wrong…”

Jim scooted away again when Nathan tried to reach for him, shaking his head more fiercely. “You’re not Nathan. You…you can’t be. Nathan and me are just kids.”

Lightning struck Nathan’s heart and everything stopped, a startling suspicion suddenly clicking in his head. His heart filled with dread and he glanced to Walter, but found no sign of reassurance. He had to stay calm.

“Jim,” he said slowly, “how old do you think you are?”

“I…I’m four,” Jim said, looking around with terrified, childlike eyes.

“Where’s Dad? Where’s my mom and dad?” He tried to scramble up onto his feet but couldn’t get any real footing with all the wreckage beneath him.

He ended up on his knees and flinched when Nathan dropped in front of him and grabbed him by the shoulders.

“Jim, listen to me,” Nathan said, forcing himself to sound stern but also supportive.

He couldn’t panic. He needed to get things as under control as possible. The cops could be coming. Anyone could be coming. He had to get Jim and Sasha away from there until he could figure things out.

“Just believe me, Jim, please. You’re not four. You’re twenty -four, almost twenty-five.” Nathan thought of the piece of wood with the word ‘twenty’ on it as he said that. Twenty. Twenty years ago Jim was…four. “Look at yourself,” Nathan insisted when Jim tried to pull away.

Scared as he was, Jim listened, probably automatically since both of them could sound so much like Dad when they were being commanding. Those dark blue eyes went even wider if possible as they took in the sight of the large body that belonged to James Grier.

“I…I’m all big.”

A morbid part of Nathan might have laughed but none of this was funny.

“You’re all grown up, Jim, and I am Nathan.

You just need to trust me right now, okay?

There’s a friend of ours around here too and he might be hurt.

I have to find him. Can you…can you just stay here and stay calm for me?

Please, Jim.” Nathan knew this was asking a lot of a not-quite five-year-old.

Jim looked up at Nathan again and searched his face so hard that Nathan almost felt invaded. It was the kind of open look only kids could give because they didn’t understand tact or comfort zones. Jim still looked scared and unsure but Nathan saw the moment when Jim calmed.

“You…you look like Dad and Nathan. You’re Nathan all big like me?”

Nathan tried not to let the anguish he was feeling show in his expression. “Yeah, Jim. I’m Nathan all grown up. Just like you. Can you just…can you just sit here while I look for Sasha?”

“Nathan!” Walter called from beside them.

A plank of wood went flying into the air from a spot nearly right next to them, and both brothers flinched away to the side, falling onto their hips. A hand pushed out of the rubble, and Nathan recognized the dark brown of Sasha’s new leather jacket.

Trusting that Jim would at least stay put, Nathan dropped his grip on his brother and moved over to this new spot.

Sasha had come out pretty much right next to Jim.

Nathan called to his friend as he dug him out, so relieved again, because even if he found Sasha in the same state, at least both of them were alive.

Finally, there was that red hair Nathan loved so much and bright blue eyes staring up at him, looking just as wild and frightened as Jim had looked.

Still looked. Sasha didn’t even try to speak or ask questions, though.

He stared at Nathan and shrunk away, scrambling out of his hole in the rumble like a scared animal.

“No, no, no, wait!” Nathan called. He couldn’t risk Sasha running for it.

“Wait,” he said calmly, catching Sasha’s gaze and holding it.

“It’s okay. I’m a friend. We’re friends .

You’re Sasha Kelly. You don’t have to be afraid of me.

I’m just trying to help you. Can you…can you tell me how old you are? ”

In a voice almost too soft and small for Nathan to hear, Sasha said, “F-Five,” and his eyes darted over to Jim and then back to Nathan, showing just how unsure he was that he could trust these strangers.

Four and five. They had both been underneath that ‘twenty years ago’ part of the spells.

Nathan couldn’t help being thankful. If they hadn’t fallen through the building when it crumbled, they probably would have come out like the others—vegetables.

And now Nathan understood why. Those squatters and the others had been robbed of their years, of their time, of their memories , back to age zero.

At least Nathan could reason with Sasha and Jim at these ages. At least they could walk and talk.

But right now they had to get moving. Nathan wanted to stay, search the grounds for any sign of the dark fae behind all of this and maybe finish what they had started to get Jim and Sasha back to normal.

But the last thing they needed was for the cops to show up halfway through and take Jim and Sasha into custody.

Nathan looked to Walter out of the corner of his eye.

He didn’t want to have to explain about his Spirit Guide right now either, so he merely jerked his head over his shoulder, hoping Walter would understand that he wanted him to keep a lookout.

Walter nodded and stood, beginning a slow walk around the debris.

“There’s no time to explain, but you have to trust me,” Nathan said to Sasha, who thankfully looked just as uninjured as Jim. “You’re not five. You’re an adult, but something happened to you. I’m your friend and I’m gonna help you figure it out, okay?”

Sasha was still looking wildly between Jim and Nathan, and Nathan knew that if he made the wrong move, he might lose Sasha.

If the incubus got up and ran, or heaven forbid flew , Nathan might never catch him.

But as Sasha looked down at himself to find an adult body, he looked much as Jim had—scared but more inclined to believe that things were messed up.

“Yeah, I know this is weird. Right now my brother Jim is in the same boat as you.” Nathan gestured over to Jim.

“See, he looks all grown up too, right? But he thinks he’s just a little younger than you.

The same thing happened to both of you and you’re gonna need my help to get better. Please. We have to get out of here.”

Nathan looked from Sasha to Jim and back again.

They were just scared little kids but something in their faces told Nathan that they trusted him.

They were smart enough to realize something was wrong and that Nathan was the only one who could help.

If that’s the only grace Nathan was going to be offered right now, he’d take it.

“Okay, our car is parked down the street. We have to get to it and get out of here before any…any bad guys show up. See…they’ll try and take you away and…and you won’t know anybody. I know I seem like a stranger, but I’m not. You gotta come with me.”

There were so many questions both of them wanted to ask, Nathan could tell. Therefore, he could have kissed them both when they got to their feet on wobbly legs, unused to maneuvering such large bodies, and gave him little nods of approval.

“Good,” Nathan smiled, standing as well and reaching out for Sasha to take his hand. “You know you can trust me.”

The incubus hesitated, his head lowered like he was the shyest thing in the world, but he took a step toward Nathan and grabbed his hand anyway. Nathan led Sasha back closer to Jim and reached out with his other hand to his brother.

They probably painted the strangest picture—three young men walking down the street holding hands .

If the others had the bodies of five-year-olds, it would have been sweet.

But even if they did look strange, Nathan knew it would make Jim and Sasha feel safer to have the physical contact, and frankly, it made him feel safer too.

He felt as if letting them go would mean losing them forever, and no matter how bleak things looked right now, Nathan could not let that happen.

The strange thing was how both of them went for their usual doors when they reached the car—Jim in the front seat, and Sasha behind Nathan in the back.

Maybe there was still some sense memory left.

That didn’t actually make Nathan feel any better about this.

A five-year-old Jim wouldn’t really have powers and a five-year-old Sasha would have few.

But if their bodies remembered otherwise, things could get complicated real fast.