Page 8

Jack had woken feeling better than he had in months. The last thing he remembered was being in Chris’s room, but he’d opened his eyes to a sensation of pure comfort back in his bed at Crofton Hall. He’d been so used to waking to a myriad of aches and pains he’d almost forgotten what it was like not to. A maid had brought him a light breakfast and he was halfway through his boiled eggs and soldiers when Alex, Karl and Ashley appeared in his room.

“Don’t take this the wrong way but having all three of you turn up doesn’t fill me with positive energy.”

Ashley rolled his eyes. “You’ve always been a pessimistic arse.”

“Some might say that’s what’s kept me alive.”

Alex cleared his throat. “We think we’ve found a treatment, we’re just not sure if you’re going to like it.”

At this point, Jack thought he might be willing to try anything to aid his recovery unless there was something particularly disgusting or at high risk of causing more damage than the cure would fix. Jack couldn’t imagine not giving the idea a shot. He trusted the three individuals who stood before him and didn’t think they’d put him in further danger. “Just tell me.”

“Last night you were found asleep on the floor of Chris’s room,” Karl explained. “I put you to bed, but Chris followed me back here and stroked your head. As he did so, I noticed a patch of your recently formed scales receded.”

His scales had a mind of their own at times, but they were always an indication of the state of his health. “So, you think Chris’s touch caused my scales to fade, and so he might be able to help me?”

Karl looked uncomfortable. “I need to admit that we conducted a brief experiment to see if that hypothesis was correct. Given his nature, it was easier to let him than not. But I did not leave him unsupervised.”

Karl’s manner was unnerving. “What did he do? He didn’t jizz all over me?”

“Oh, no. Nothing like that,” Karl rushed to assure him. “He curled around you as you slept. Only for half an hour but there was no mistaking the improvement.”

After their conversation, he shouldn’t have jumped to the worst conclusion about Chris, he was a strange creature, didn’t know what he was, just that he came into being and Jack had come to like him in the short time they’d spoken. “He laid next to me? That’s all?”

“He held you, so you were in contact, not skin-to-skin,” Karl hastened to add. “I think we should try it again. I’m not sure what it is he is doing but if we can observe and check there’s no negative impact, we could work out a treatment schedule.”

Ashley sat on the edge of his bed. “I spoke to Ben about Chris, and he doesn’t think him malevolent. Alex and Karl are a bit sceptical, as am I, but that’s because we don’t know him as the Redbourns do, and we’d be happier if we knew what he was. But having said that, I think it’s too good an opportunity to pass up.”

“Okay, I’m willing to give it a go. I take it Chris is fine with the idea?”

“He seemed so yesterday, and now we’ve had our discussion I can fetch him, and we can have an informed conversation,” Karl said.

“We need to set up some monitoring,” Alex said, and Jack thought he was more reluctant than the others.

“What are you worried about?”

“I just don’t like surprises. Chris is one surprise after another, we know very little about him and it means I can’t prepare in case of emergencies.” Jack liked Alex, but he could do with taking the stick out of his arse from time to time.

“Life is full of the unknown, and I reckon Chris isn’t someone to be worried about. He’s a ghost in a jar, needs energy of a sexual nature to survive but can’t bring himself to touch people… I’m not in any danger.”

“I seem to recall you not being too keen on his presence previously,” Alex pressed.

“Yeah, well, he’d apologised for that, and I accepted, so time to move on. He’s offered to help, so I should be thankful. Although I would like to know if he’s affected by helping me.”

“He did say he was tired afterwards,” Karl said. “I suppose if he is expending energy, it will leave him depleted in some way and we’ll have to factor that into any schedule.”

He didn’t want Chris to suffer for him, as long as it wasn’t anything more than being a bit tired, he could live with it. “He needs to be on board and not in danger, apart from that I’ve no preconditions. If you reset your monitoring charm that’s fine.”

He hoped that if Chris could improve his health, then his magic would settle and kick in to do the rest. As it stood, one of the biggest issues was his magic wasn’t aligned, he’d even say frantic at times, so he couldn’t rely on his own skills.

“I’ll go get him.” Karl disappeared.

“If at any point you think it’s weird or not working, you’re to stop,” Ashley said, peering over his glasses. “I mean it.”

“I’m not an idiot, Ashley.”

“I’ve evidence to the contrary from several sources.”

Jack laughed as Karl reappeared, and Chris flew in through the wall. He was smiling, his long hair flowing behind him and Jack thought he must have been an amazing specimen when, or if, he’d been corporeal.

“Hey, Chris,” Jack said. “I hear I’ve you to thank for making sure I didn’t spend the night on the floor, and you give out great hugs.”

Chris floated closer. “I am more than happy to help.”

“Thank you. But I need to know you didn’t suffer because of it.”

“I was a little tired, but I feel fine now.” He twirled on the spot. “Half an hour of cuddling isn’t going to harm me.”

He would keep an eye on Chris, living in a jar might make him lonely and he was masking his troubles in case he was stopped, and he lost a new friend.

Ashley stood. “Do you know what it was you were doing when you held Jack?”

“Who are you?” Chris asked.

Jack snorted at Ashley’s indignance. “This is Ashley,” Jack said.

“Oh, Ben’s favourite. Okay, I don’t mind answering you as both Ben and Jack like you.”

“Jack is my best friend. I’m not about to let you loose on him without understanding any potential risks.”

“I understand. But I don’t know how I’m healing him if that’s what you mean.” Chris smiled. “I’d be happy to do it again in front of you if you thought you could figure it out.”

Jack knew that was what Ashley would want but he hadn’t expected Chris to realise it too, and he may have underestimated his astuteness. He was an old creature, so he must have seen all sorts of things between naps in his jar.

“I thought I’d cast a general medical scan, and see what happens,” Ashley said.

Chris didn’t answer, instead, he floated down to sit on the other side of Jack, then curled up against his side, his hand on his belly. He felt a slight pressure as if the air was heavy and a bit warmer, which made him wonder again what Chris was, because no ghost nor spectre he’d encountered ran warm to the touch.

Jack wasn’t one for public displays of affection, and neither was he the type to have multiple people in his bedroom. Group sex had never been a fascination, and after experiencing an orgy once, he’d vowed not to do so again so being watched intently by three others as Chris curled around him, made him a bit out of sorts.

Ashley’s nose wrinkled and Jack wondered what he’d seen through the spell, the expression wasn’t one of his super concerned ones but there was something bothering him.

“Are you blocking me?” Ashley asked.

Chris looked at him, his eyes wide. “Not to my knowledge.”

“I couldn’t sense anything yesterday either,” Karl said. “It was only when I made direct contact with Jack, not during the… therapeutic cuddle… did I see the improvement.”

“That’s a new dose format to me,” Jack said with a snort. “I’ve heard of kissing to break a curse, and someone once tried to convince me sex would solve his enchantment, but cuddles for a cure is new.”

“His magic is masked,” Alex said. “I don’t know how or what the basis of it is.”

“I don’t know either,” Chris said, snuggling closer. “I know I can do my echoes to track people, usually if I’m hungry, and a few other bits and bobs but nothing special. And I can shrug off most other people’s magic.”

“So, you are masking!” Alex cried.

Chris rolled his eyes. “I’m pretty sure that would mean I was doing so deliberately, and I’m not. So there.”

The more he learnt about Chris, the more of an enigma he was. “How does it feel? Can you sense you’re doing something?” Jack asked.

“It’s like a nice cuddle. I’m relaxed and happy, but not anything else.”

For the next twenty minutes Ashley, Alex and Karl hovered around his bed trying every spell they knew but nothing seemed to work to understand what Chris was doing or how he was doing it. Jack couldn’t say he was any the wiser either. He was calm, almost on par with a long bath with his special recipe sea salts, and he could sense his magic was happy, the spikey edges smoother and more at peace.

Chris let out a huge yawn. “I’m getting sleepy.”

“Then it’s time to stop,” Jack said. “We don’t want to drain you.”

Chris rolled away and sat at the end of his bed, looking dopey but serene. Ashley took hold of Jack’s wrist. “Your magic is a lot less sluggish. Maybe it just likes Chris.”

“Stranger things have happened, I suppose. But Chris must be doing something otherwise why would he be tired?”

“Fucked if I know.” Ashley shrugged. “As far I can see there’s nothing negative happening, Chris is a bit tired but that’s about it. I wouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth.”

Jack thought Ashley was right, he was sure he could monitor his own progress and would be able to tell if something was off. He glanced over to where Chris was already dozing and thought there was something different about him, but he couldn’t pinpoint what exactly.

“I’m not sure how long Chris would take to recharge, but I think thirty-minute sessions would be the limit, at least to begin with,” Karl said.

“Might take several weeks,” Ashley warned.

Jack didn’t mind, he wasn’t about to let Chris be pressured into doing more. “I’ve already been here that long, a few more won’t hurt. He does conk out quite quickly, perhaps his jar should be in here for after a session.”

Alex hummed. “I think you need some boundaries, Jack. Do you really want a roommate you know nothing about?”

“One of us could move the jar back afterwards,” Ashley said. “I think we’re going to want to key an eye on things, so a check-in post-treatment would make sense, and then remove the jar once Chris was settled.”

For some reason that made Chris sound like an inanimate medical device, and he didn’t like it. “He’ll be doing me a massive service. I’ll talk to him about his preferences and if he’d rather be in here, he can stay. I’ll work my schedule out with him and let you know.”

Ashley raised an eyebrow. “Jack?—”

“No.” He wouldn’t let Ashley railroad him over this. He loved the fucker, he was his dearest friend and might have his best interests in mind, but someone had to stand up for Chris. “He’s not to be treated as a second-class citizen. He might not know what he is, but he is helping me, and the rest is irrelevant.”

Chris jolted awake, making a snorting noise. “Sorry, I must have dozed off. Did everything work okay?”

“So far so good. I don’t know what it is you’re doing but it’s working a treat.” Jack smiled as Chris beamed at his praise. “Are you happy to continue?”

“Yes, I might need a little more sleep before we go again.”

Ashley snorted and Jack sent him a withering stare as the innuendo went over Chris’s head. “I wouldn’t ask you now. How about half an hour daily?”

Chris nodded, he seemed so eager to help. “Absolutely. Whatever you want.”

Karl checked his watch. “I need to go.”

“Me too,” Alex said.

“I’ve got a WRC meeting,” Ashley said. “Are you all right on your own? I’ll be back in a couple of hours.”

Jack didn’t miss Warlock Ruling Committee meetings or the number of actions that ended up on his plate. “I’ll be fine.”

Alex and Karl disapparated and Ashley opened a portal and stepped through, leaving Jack with Chris.”

“Do you want me to go too?” Chris asked.

He found himself wanting more of Chris’s company. “You can stay a little while if you want and hang out or something. Or come back later after you’ve had a nap.”

“The second might be better. I might fall asleep again, and I have better sleep in my jar.”

“I’ll be here.”

Chris stretched and Jack had to will his erection away. Chris was stunning, and in his bed. He was going to have to be careful and not fall for a pretty face just because he hadn’t treated Jack like shit for being who he was and agreeing to help. He watched as Chris left, weaving slowly like a drunk teen, and promising to be back soon. Once alone, Jack was struck by a wave of emptiness, and he would have to face the fact it wasn’t just his magic Chris was healing.