Nothing But Bones

48: The Cost

Melvin's eyes flutter open. Daylight streams into the room, all too present and all too piercing. He winces as the knowledge of a pounding headache sets in; he closes his eyes again.

Groaning, Melvin sits up and opens his eyes slowly. Tiff is still asleep next to him, curled into a ball. At some point, her rat must have burrowed under her arm to smush against her. To his relief, she looks full of color again and resembles someone living. He turns to look around the room with every hope of finding his husband.

Oh. There he is. Melvin spots him on the floor. He rolls off the bed; he moves down to his elven husband and looks him over.

Ellis is breathing. Thank god; some of the tension in his chest alleviates, but only momentarily. Eyes roving over his husband drill worry back into his ribcage; Ellis doesn't look conscious or particularly well. "What happened to you, you dumb idiot?"

Ellis has always been thin, but he looks more so now, like he lost weight during the intense ritual. Clearly, he kept something from him. Melvin can guess what.

Sighing, he strokes Ellis's hair. The curls are dry, brittle. "Oh, Ellis. You are not going to like that."

Ellis, obviously, does not respond.

Melvin cranes his neck over the side of the bed, shifting his attention to Tiff. "Now all we need is for you to wake up, my dear."

It takes a moment. She groans and rubs her eyes before she opens them. There's a heartbeat, though; and there's the lights through her eyelids. "Good morning."

Melvin watches her wake up. "Ah, good morning. Sleep well?"

"Like the dead." She cracks a lazy grin and lets the feeling of rest linger before she stretches out and forces herself to sit up.

She takes a moment, just to ensure it worked. She pulls out the collar of the shirt she borrowed from Elton. Sure enough, the hole in her chest is gone.

But so is the rest of it.

She turns over her arms to make sure. She's not imagining it. They're gone. Every scar, every record of everything she's done. The incisions from her navel to her collarbones, the burns from her first time fighting Oneiron, the spiraling scars up her wrist from when she and Darius fought the record player, the one by her elbow from where she tripped while holding an Erlenmeyer— it's all gone. It's a blank slate of freckles and skin.

She leans over the side of the bed to look at Ellis on the floor, intent on thanking him. Then she sees him, takes in the frailness that has set in, feels that familiar cold set in at the bottom of her stomach. "Ellis. Ellis, what did you do?" Obviously, there's no answer; she looks to Melvin instead. "What did he do?"

He shakes his head. "I can't say for sure, but I think he was dishonest about this spell's... price. I'm not nearly as well-versed in magic as he is, despite my gift. Whatever this spell did for you, it looks like it took something from him."

"He should have—" The rush of emotions coming back to her is not helping her point, she knows. "He should have told me. I could have found another way!"

A quiet voice next to Melvin says, "I should have told you. Probably. I'm going to be alright, relatively."

"Relatively? That's synonymous with 'objectively not.'" She slides down from the bed and kneels next to him. "Why didn't you— Why would— Why didn't you tell me?"

"I wanted to do it," he groans, sitting up. "I wanted to see if I could. I knew I could, but I still needed to know. Still, spells rooted in necromancy always have their price."

The elve's husband crosses his arms and puts on a stern face. "Necromancy? Really, Ellis?"

"I wouldn't have asked you to pay—" Tiff swallows. "I wouldn't have asked you to pay the price, had I known."

He smiles and takes her hand in his. "I know that. It was harder than I had anticipated, but I'm an elf. I live a very long time. I will outlive Melvin and... now I won't outlive him as much. I don't know how much, but I doubt it'll be something I think about very often."

"That's not— that's not fair. I could have found a different way. I wouldn't have—" She looks away. "I could have done something else. Blood transfusion, fixing my own ribs. I could have done it. I wouldn't have... Ellis. Ellis, I'm so sorry."

The wizard shakes his head and gives her hand a squeeze. "No. You would have patched yourself up and carried on. Then you would have done it again. And again. Never quite... feeling as you should. I could see that. Now you're completely whole and free of all of it. A clean slate, Tiff."

"But it would have been fine. It would have been survivable, just like everything. It—"

"It was my gift to give to you and I'd do it again. I will do it again if it's necessary. Understand me? I made my choice. I am sorry I was dishonest, but I needed to do it. You are important."

"Not important enough for that. I'm just going to do it again."

Shakily, Ellis stands up and looks down at her, where she still kneels on the thin carpet. "You will, I imagine. But I think you'll appreciate the fresh start. Regardless, Tiffany May, what's done is done. I'm famished. I need to eat. What do you say we go to that diner?"

She stalls on the first word for a second. "I don't have a reason to say no." Other than the guilt creeping back in. She isn't going to mention that. "So I guess the answer has to be yes."

Nodding. "Wonderful, Tiff. I'd advise you to call Elton, as I am sure he's been worried to death."

"Aw, shit. For real? People shouldn't worry about me. That's crazy." She crosses the room to pick up her phone from the bathroom counter, where it has been charging for the past three days. Since she's been put on a task that takes her away from the task at hand (fretting about the choice Ellis made), she just makes the call and waits for him to pick up.

Elton picks up very quickly, his words coming out too quickly. "Tiff? Are you okay?"

"Yeah," she sighs, looking over her shoulder into the room behind her. "Not for lack of trying. But yes."

The Canadian teen sighs. "Oh, thank fuck. I suppose it's been just about the three days, but fuck. Waiting here sucked so bad. I had to work to keep myself busy. I did 12 hours yesterday! Couldn't even talk to Ben yesterday. Anyway, I'm so glad you're awake. Are you hungry?"

"That's insane. You shouldn't worry about me."

He ignores her self-deprecation.

Tiff looks over her shoulder again. "I guess none of us have eaten in three days, except probably Kepler, so the answer is probably yes."

"Cool, cool. Come down to the Big Beaver. I'll get you settled. I gotta get back to work, though. See you soon!"

"Yeah." She bites back the malaise. "See you soon."