Blade Beneath Skin
1412 Words
✦Dolly✦
The box of valves felt heavier the farther I carried it. Not because it was actually heavy. It wasn’t. Not really. It was just a box filled with small metal pieces Gavin had probably ordered in case the world ended, and irrigation connectors became currency.
No.
It felt heavy because I couldn’t stop thinking about the blade tucked into Riven’s side. A blade. Not a pocketknife. Not a farm tool. Not something someone carried because he had to cut rope or open sacks of fertilizer. A blade. Small. Hidden. Sharp. And Riven had thought no one would see it. Unfortunately for him, I was excellent at noticing things that made my life worse. I found Mila near the storage shed, arguing with Gavin about whether a box labeled ‘fragile’ should be stacked under a box labeled ‘definitely not fragile’.
“Mila,” I hissed. She looked over and saw me.
“What?”
“I need to talk to you,”
“Is it about the suspicious human?” she asked. My grandfather, Gavin, looked up.
“What suspicious human?” he asked.
“No one,” I answered quickly as I shot Mila a look. She narrowed her eyes.
“Oh, this is definitely about the suspicious human,” I set the box down and grabbed her arm. I pulled her behind the shed before Gavin could ask any more questions. Mila came willingly, but her expression was guarded. “What’s going on? What happened? Did he hurt you?”
“No,” I answered as I glanced around to make sure no one was around. “Riven has a blade,” Mila blinked in confusion.
“He has a what?”
“A blade,” I repeated.
“A blade. As in a weapon?”
“No, Mila, as in a decorative spoon,” I snapped.
“Do not sarcasm me right now,” she said, and I could see the seriousness in her eyes. I felt it too. Which is why I had just told her. I couldn’t keep this to myself.
“I saw it tucked into his side,” I whispered. Mila’s expression went from serious to furious in less than a second.
“That’s it. I’m telling my dads,” she stated, and I tightened my grip on her arm. “Dolly, you are hurting me,”
“You can’t tell them,”
“Of course, I can,”
“No,”
“Yes,”
“Mila, no,”
“Listen to me, Dolly. He came to Skaydal armed. He is weird. Things are weird right now, and he has this creepy vibe. Now you tell me he has a blade. No, I’m sorry. Riven is trouble, and I need to tell Zack,”
“Please don’t,” I pleaded. Maybe it was something in my voice. Maybe it was the look on my face. Or maybe it was my grip on her arm, but Mila paused as she stared at me.
“Why not? Give me one good reason, Dolly,”
“I want to talk to him first. What if I’m mistaken? What if it isn’t a blade?” Mila shook her head as she pulled out of my grasp. She stepped back, and I struggled to understand the look on her face.
“You just told me he has a blade. Now you are questioning it? Questioning yourself? I don’t…Dolly, you want to confront an armed man about his weapon? Are you insane?”
“No, I just…he might have a reason for having it,” I argued softly. Mila scoffed.
“Yeah, that reason is called stabbing,”
“Mila,” I pleaded.
“What? That is the purpose of a blade,”
“I know. But having a blade doesn’t automatically mean he is a threat,”
“In what world?” Mila remarked, and I sighed softly.
“In this one. People here carry weapons all the time,”
“No, Dolly. People here don’t have hidden weapons. But he has a hidden weapon while he is pretending to be a harmless human working for Amani, your mother,” Mila said, and I hated that she made a good point.
“Ok, yeah…I hear you. But let me just…let me just ask him about it before you tell anyone. Please,”
“Dolly—”
“Mila, please. I need to know why he is here,”
“You are not responsible for solving every creepy mystery in Skaydal,” Mila snapped, and I sighed softly.
“No, but this feels personal,” Mila’s anger softened, but not by much.
“Dolly, I don’t know…”
“I’m not asking you to trust him. I’m asking you to trust me,” she looked away and muttered something under her breath that sounded a lot like emotional manipulation. “Mila,”
“Fine,” she snapped. “I won’t tell anyone yet,”
“Thank you,”
“But you better talk to him quickly. Today. If you don’t, I’m telling my fathers, your parents, and Alpha Grayson and Luna Sierna. I might even tell Carmen just because she has a creative way of scaring people,”
“That is a long list,” I muttered under my breath.
“And I can make it longer,”
“Relax. I will talk to him right now,” I said. Mila nodded once, and I walked away to find Riven. I found him near the western shed a few minutes later. He was stacking compost bags like he hadn’t turned my entire life inside out by carrying a hidden weapon. His sleeves were pushed up, and his dark hair fell across his forehead as he lifted another bag onto the pallet. I stood there too long. He noticed, of course.
“You are staring,” he said without looking at me.
“That’s ironic,” I shot back. He placed the bag down and turned to face me.
“What’s going on?” I hated that he saw it so easily. My weirdness. My hesitation. The nerves I was trying very hard to bury.
“You have a blade,” I didn’t question him. It was a statement. His expression didn’t change.
“Yes, and?”
“The obvious question is why?” instead of answering the question, Riven reached under his jacket and withdrew the blade. I stiffened, and he noticed.
“Easy,” he said.
“Do not tell me easy while taking out a weapon,”
“Fair enough,” he murmured as he moved closer. He pulled the blade from the sheath and held it out flat against the palm of his hand. It was smaller than I expected. Not that it made it any less deadly. The handle was black, worn, and smooth from use. The blade itself was narrow and sharp, with strange markings etched along the metal. My eyes dropped to his right hand to the ring on his finger. The markings were similar. Not the same, exactly, but close enough that my skin prickled.
“What are those symbols?” I asked.
“Old ones,”
“That is not an answer,”
“It’s the only one I’m giving,” he said. I stared at him curiously.
“Why do you have it?” I asked. He slipped the blade back into the sheath, and once again it was hidden.
“A man passing through unfamiliar places should know how to protect himself,” he answered. I hated that it sounded reasonable. Logically, it made sense. He was alone. He was human. He was passing through a supernatural town filled with wolves, witches, warlocks, hybrids, and, of course, me. Anyone might want protection. But Riven didn’t feel like someone who would be afraid of Skaydal or the residents. He felt like someone who had come prepared for it.
“You are not here in passing,” I said quietly. His gaze held mine, and for a moment, neither of us spoke. The silence between us felt like the soil under the dead plants. “You should get back to work,” I broke the silence. I turned away before he could see how badly he unsettled me. As I walked away, two things hit me at once.
Riven Crowe wasn’t here by accident.
And one way or another, I was going to find out why.
✦✦✦
- Writer
