The Christmas Curse (The Christmas Curse #1)

Chapter 3

Chapter Three

C alyx was moping. How had things gone so wrong so quickly? For a year, he’d thought that the spell he’d cast would make his brothers come home for Christmas and realize how wrong they’d been to leave. He’d thought they’d go back to being a happy family. He’d been daydreaming about it, thinking about what he and his brothers would do once they were reunited, and convincing himself that he just had to wait a year and he’d be happy again.

Now, everything was burning down. Griffith was at the house, but Yancey had refused to see Calyx again, even when Calyx had reached out to him. He was holed up in a hotel in town, and Calyx didn’t want to risk pushing him just yet. He was sure that if Yancey gave him a chance, he could explain what had happened last year, but Yancey wouldn’t allow Calyx anywhere near him.

Then, there were Shelby and Justin. Calyx hadn’t heard from either of them, and he was getting worried. Maybe he shouldn’t be because he already knew that neither of them would care about turning into Christmas decorations. Shelby would think it was cute and would probably be excited about it, while Justin would find it mildly interesting and go on with his life.

All in all, Calyx had made a mess, and he didn’t know how to fix it or even if he could.

Maybe his dream of having all his brothers reunited under the same roof was bound to stay a dream. It didn’t look like it could be anything else, anyway. Griffith might stick around, but the others clearly didn’t want anything to do with Calyx.

He sighed and bumped his forehead against the top of his desk. He needed to start focusing on work because if he didn’t, not only would he lose his family, but he’d lose his home and his customers, too. He’d gained a nice reputation in town for creating spells and potions, but he wouldn’t keep that reputation for long if he didn’t deliver.

The problem was that he couldn’t stop thinking about his brothers. He felt guilty but, at the same time, justified. Christmas was coming, and even though he should have, he hadn’t yet given up on the idea of having all of his brothers at home that day. He didn’t feel it was too much to ask, but maybe he’d been wrong.

He rubbed his face. Clearly, he’d made a mistake. The problem was that there was no way for him to fix it. He couldn’t get rid of the curse because it was a curse. There was nothing he could do about his brothers turning red, white, and green. The only way for them to get rid of the colors would be to wait.

Reminder to self—don’t cast spells when grieving and emotionally unbalanced.

A light knock on the door made Calyx tense. There was only one person who could be knocking on his office door, and he wasn’t sure he wanted to see him. He’d desperately wished Griffith would come home for Christmas, but now that he was here, Calyx didn’t know what to do with him.

He thought that of all his brothers, Griffith would be the one who stuck around. They’d been a team, and even though Calyx loved all of his brothers—even Yancey—there had always been a special place for Griffith in his heart. Griffith had left with the others, but Calyx had been convinced that he just needed some time to think and that he’d come back after a few days, maybe a week. When that hadn’t happened, he’d waited for Griffith to call and explain what was going on.

He never had.

Calyx wanted to know why Griffith had stayed away, but at the same time, he didn’t think it mattered. Griffith had abandoned him, just like the others.

“Calyx?” Griffith called out.

Calyx sighed. “You can come in.”

The door opened, and Griffith peeked in. They’d spent countless hours in this office, talking and laughing. Griffith had always been more than a brother to Calyx. He’d been his confidant, the one person in the world who knew all of Calyx’s secrets.

Well, not all of them. Calyx had never told him about the huge crush he had on him, and he wasn’t planning on changing that. Griffith didn’t need to know how much Calyx loved him. He especially didn’t need to know if he was planning on leaving again after Christmas. Like the others, he was here because of the curse, not because he’d wanted to see Calyx for Christmas or because he’d missed him.

Using the spell had forced Calyx’s brothers to come home, but it couldn’t change their feelings, and it couldn’t force them to stay.

“Hey,” Griffith said as he walked in. He was carrying two mugs, and he placed one of them on the desk in front of Calyx. “I made too much hot chocolate.”

Calyx arched a brow. As far as he could remember, Griffith didn’t drink hot chocolate. He was obsessed with coffee and sometimes had tea, but never hot chocolate. Calyx, on the other hand, loved it so much that sometimes, he made it in the middle of the summer.

Griffith grinned and shrugged. Calyx couldn’t help but smile at him. His heart raced, but he told himself not to look too hard into Griffith’s reason to be here. He probably just wanted to touch base, maybe ask if Calyx had heard from Shelby and Justin. Why else would he be here?

Calyx took the cup with a smile and wrapped his hands around it. Warmth radiated from the ceramic, infusing his fingers. He’d always suffered the cold, and his fingers and toes turned to ice when September started.

If only he had someone to warm him up.

“Have you heard from Shelby and Justin?” he asked to distract himself before he could think about how exactly Griffith could warm him up.

“Shelby answered one of my texts, but he was vague, so I don’t know what he’s up to,” Griffith said as he slid into the chair in front of Calyx’s desk. “I’ve heard nothing from Justin, though. His phone goes to voicemail, and I don’t know how else to contact him.” Griffith hesitated. “Have you heard from either of them in the past year?”

Calyx focused on his hot chocolate. “I haven’t heard from any of you in the past year. No one answered my texts, not even when I told you that I was worried that something had happened to you.”

Griffith grimaced. “I’m really sorry.”

Calyx wanted to know why Griffith had left and why he’d stayed away for so long, but he wasn’t sure his heart would survive that conversation. Did he really want Griffith to tell him that even though they’d grown up together, their relationship didn’t really matter? Did he really need him to say that he’d built a life away from Calyx and was planning on returning to it as soon as he could?

When he’d thought about this reunion, Calyx had always believed that his brothers would decide to stay even after Christmas. He’d thought they could go back to the relationship they’d had before and be happy. What he hadn’t thought was that his brothers would be eager to return to their new lives and abandon him again once the curse had run its course.

Maybe Calyx was destined to be alone. Maybe he wasn’t supposed to have siblings or a mother. Maybe his life was supposed to revolve around his magic and what he could do with it instead of relationships.

A door slammed in the distance, making Calyx jump and almost spill his hot chocolate. He really needed to do something about people letting themselves in and out of the house, especially if his brothers didn’t feel like this was their home anymore. Would they walk into a stranger’s home like this? No, they wouldn’t, and if they didn’t want to call this place home, they needed to stop this.

“Bitches, I’m home!” a voice yelled.

“Bitches? Really?” Griffith asked.

Calyx grinned at him as he abandoned his chocolate and got to his feet. “You have to admit that you can be a bit bitchy when you don’t have enough coffee.”

“I’m not bitchy,” Griffith grumbled as he followed Calyx out of the office.

Like always, Calyx wasn’t wearing slippers or shoes, and his sock-clad feet slid on the hardwood floors. He turned so sharply toward the stairs that he almost fell down them headfirst, saving himself only because Griffith grabbed him and kept him upright.

“You’re going to hurt yourself,” he cautioned.

Calyx didn’t seem to hear him. He jogged down the stairs, and Griffith went after him, although at a more sedate pace.

Shelby’s short frame stood in the foyer, overshadowed by the piles of bags and luggage surrounding him. His once short blond hair had grown long, the curls all over the place and tousled around his face. They cascaded in front of his bright, sparkling blue eyes, but they couldn’t cover his wide smile that stretched from ear to ear, especially when he beamed and opened his arms. “Aren’t you happy to see me?” he asked.

Calyx didn’t even slow down. His foot caught on one of the bags on the floor, and he stumbled straight into Shelby’s arms. Shelby squeaked and had to take a step back. His wings erupted from his back, probably to help him keep his balance. They wrapped around Calyx, shielding him from sight for a moment.

To Griffith’s amusement, the feathers weren’t the pure white he was used to. Instead, they’d started changing colors, turning red and green from the base on Shelby’s back outward.

Griffith watched the two reunite with a fond smile. He didn’t know why Shelby had decided to leave with the rest of them, but he’d known there was no resentment or anger in him. He didn’t care about the house. He didn’t care that Caitlin had left it to Calyx. He just cared about his brothers, and it was obvious he’d missed Calyx.

The wings furled and vanished, and Shelby looked up. He beamed at Griffith and gestured for him to come forward. Griffith obeyed. Now that Shelby’s massive wings weren’t in the way, he could hug both him and Calyx together.

A faint scent of cologne wafted off of Shelby, reminding Griffith of spring and fresh laundry, but it couldn’t overpower the smell of home that came from Calyx. Griffith would never forget that smell, even if he didn’t see Calyx for years.

Shelby’s curls were soft against Griffith’s cheek, but even though he’d missed his brother, he was more focused on Calyx and how he felt in his arms—strong, lithe, and like he should never leave their embrace.

Griffith held on tightly for a moment, closing his eyes and basking in the sensation that he was with his family. Calyx desperately wanted the bunch of them to be reunited, but he wasn’t the only one. Griffith wouldn’t have done anything about it because that wasn’t him, but he did want this Christmas to be a happy one.

That was proving easier said than done.

When Calyx and Griffith stepped away, Shelby pointed his finger at Calyx’s face. “Yancey called me and told me you were responsible for turning us into Christmas ornaments,” he said as he pulled up his sweater to expose his chest and stomach.

He was pretty much in the same state as Griffith, although the colors on Griffith’s chest had stopped expanding since he’d arrived at the house. He’d be curious to find out if Yancey’s colors had stopped spreading, too, or if staying at the house was the reason Griffith’s had. He was staying in his old bedroom, and it felt like the past year had never happened.

Calyx looked away. “I am, and I’m sorry.”

Shelby snorted. “You’re not. You wanted us to come home.”

“I shouldn’t have forced your hand. Not all of you wanted to come home, and that’s fine.” Calyx sighed. “I was lonely.”

Shelby’s expression did something complicated that Griffith couldn’t read. Out of all of them, Shelby was the one Griffith had always had the hardest time understanding. He was a half-angel, and Griffith wasn’t quite sure that he was like the rest of them. He might be part human, but the other part of him didn’t belong in this world.

The same could be said for Justin. Maybe that was why no one had heard from him in a while and why Griffith couldn’t reach him. Maybe Justin had decided to visit his mother.

Griffith was not trekking to the underworld to get him back, dammit.

“You should have picked something else,” Shelby complained as he poked at his stomach. “Green is not my color. On the other hand, the red would be pretty if it didn’t look like I had a rash. Do you know how complicated this was to explain to the guys I slept with?”

“I’m sure they thought it was tattoos,” Griffith reassured him.

“Most of them did, but one noticed it had spread between the evening and the morning before he left. He was kind of freaked out at the thought that I’d snuck out of bed to get tattooed while he was sleeping.”

“I’m sorry. I’m sure you were devastated,” Griffith said dryly.

Shelby laughed. “Not really. I don’t even remember his name.” He looked at Calyx. “Are you going to tell me what happened, or do I have to believe what Yancey told me? Because you know he’s not objective.”

Calyx sighed. He wrung his fingers together, and even though Griffith wanted to reach for his hands to stop him, he couldn’t. Shelby had always been way too observant, and he’d already suspected that Griffith had feelings for Calyx before. If Griffith touched Calyx, Shelby would know for sure, and he’d start badgering both of them. He couldn’t stay out of people’s lives even if he were paid to do it.

“When you guys left, I was angry and sad and hurt, and I did something stupid,” Calyx said. “My emotions were running high, which is why I made a massive mistake. The spell I was trying to cast turned into a curse.”

Shelby whistled. “Damn. You don’t do things by half.”

“I didn’t want you guys to get hurt, so I managed to modify the curse, but there’s nothing else I can do. The only thing you can do is to wait it out.”

“What does the curse do exactly?”

Calyx flushed. He was so fucking endearing as he stared down at his feet and wiggled his socked toes that it was almost impossible for Griffith to resist the urge to reach for him. He did and gave himself a mental pat on the back.

“The original curse was supposed to kill you if you didn’t return home for Christmas, but I fixed it. Instead of killing you, it’s going to continue turning you red, green, and white. It’ll vanish after Christmas, and it’ll stop spreading if you stay at the house until then, but that’s pretty much it.”

Shelby guffawed. “I need to see Yancey. How far have the colors spread on him? Is he looking like a Christmas tree?”

“I’d stay away from him if I were you,” Calyx warned. “He’s pretty angry.”

“When is Yancey not angry? It’ll be fine. What can he do, anyway? Use me as a chew toy?”

That was a distinct possibility. Yancey had never hurt any of them, but after what had happened when he’d first come back, Griffith had decided to be careful around him. He wanted to keep an eye on his older brother, which wasn’t easy since Yancey seemed to be in hiding. It wasn’t a surprise that he was avoiding Calyx, but Griffith had thought he’d see him.

Shelby clapped his hands. “Now, is my room still available, or did you turn it into a gym?”

“I didn’t touch it. It’s the same as it was when you left it.”

For a second, Shelby appeared flustered. It wasn’t something that happened often, and it was enough to tell Griffith that he was touched.

Griffith had been. It would have been in Calyx’s right to change things in the house, including their bedrooms. After all, not only had he inherited the house from Caitlin, but everyone had left without telling him if they’d ever be back and without saying goodbye. Griffith wouldn’t have blamed Calyx if he had turned his old bedroom into a gym, but he hadn’t. When he’d first stepped inside, it had felt like going back in time. Everything was where he’d left it, including a dirty sock under the bed. The room had been clean and dust-free, though, so he knew that Calyx had been taking care of it.

Knowing him, he’d wanted his brothers to return to a place they would still see as home . It made Griffith want to cry. Calyx had been so careful, so loving, and they’d all abandoned him.

Including Griffith.

“That’s good,” Shelby said as he leaned down to pick up a backpack. “I need a show—what the fuck?”

Shelby shrieked and stumbled back. Griffith glanced at the bottom of the stairs and did the same.

When Calyx had told him that Caitlin was still around, he hadn’t known what to think. He believed Calyx, but he wasn’t sure he wanted to talk to her.

It looked like he might not have a choice because she stood at the bottom of the stairs, wearing her bright yellow flowery dress. Her light brown hair tumbled down her shoulders, framing her face in a soft halo that made her seem ethereal, which Griffith supposed she was. She didn’t look like she had when Griffith had last seen her after she died. She looked the way she had when she’d adopted him and had brought him into her family. She looked alive .

Griffith’s heart broke.

Calyx knew how Shelby and Griffith felt. He’d felt the same way when Caitlin had first appeared to him. At least Griffith had been warned that she was still around, but Calyx hadn’t had the opportunity to tell Shelby, and now, he worried for his brother.

Shelby was clearly in shock. He was staring at Caitlin, his eyes wide, his mouth slightly open. Calyx wanted to ask him if he was okay, but he already knew the answer to that question—how could anyone be okay when the ghost of their dead mother stood in front of them?

Caitlin’s smile was soft as she opened her arms. “My boys.”

Griffith took another step back as if he didn’t want to be anywhere near her, but not Shelby. No, Shelby rushed forward, throwing himself at Caitlin before Calyx could tell him that he shouldn’t. He slammed against the stair railing hard enough to make Calyx wince.

Caitlin chuckled. “I’m a ghost, remember? You and your brothers buried me.”

Shelby turned to face her and pressed his back against the railing. “You don’t look dead to me.”

“I am. You can’t touch me. Calyx and I have tried everything we could think of, but I don’t have a physical body anymore.”

Shelby wrinkled his nose. “Why aren’t you disappearing inside the earth? Do you think you could reach the earth’s core if you tried hard enough?”

Caitlin blinked. “I’m sorry?”

Shelby gestured at her. “You don’t have a body, so how come you’re walking around normally? Shouldn’t you be sinking down?”

Caitlin’s laughter was exactly how Calyx remembered it—light and warm. It was one of the sounds that made him feel like he was home, but this time, it hurt. Yes, he was home, but at what price? Would Yancey ever forgive him for what he’d done? For the fact that he’d inherited the house?

Calyx had ranted and yelled at Caitlin many times over the past year. He understood why she’d left him the house, but he wished she’d also left a note or talked to the others. Maybe if she had, Yancey wouldn’t hate Calyx as much as he did.

“You were always sweet,” she told Shelby. She turned to look at Griffith. “And you. I thought you’d seek me out after you arrived, but you stayed away. Actually, I’m pretty sure I saw you running the other way when I tried talking to you the other day.”

Griffith shrugged. “I’m not ready for this.”

Caitlin’s expression softened. “And that’s okay. I won’t force you to have a conversation with me. I know this is a complicated situation.”

Calyx snorted, but when Caitlin turned to look at him, he ignored her. She knew how angry he was. She knew how he felt about what she’d done. They’d lived together for the past year, and while Calyx was glad that he hadn’t been completely alone, sometimes, he wished he could tell Caitlin to leave and never come back. He’d been tempted, but he was terrified he’d never see her again if he did, and he wasn’t ready for that.

“Well, I’m ready,” Shelby declared, once again reaching for Caitlin but stopping before he could touch her. “Can we talk?”

Caitlin’s smile was soft and patient. “Of course. Let’s go to the living room.”

Shelby abandoned all of his bags right there in the middle of the room and rushed to the living room. Caitlin moved more slowly, glancing at Calyx every chance she got. He resolutely ignored her, breathing easier when she disappeared into the living room, too.

“You haven’t talked to her yet,” he told Griffith.

“It looks like you haven’t, either.”

“We had a year to talk things out.”

“Why didn’t you?”

Calyx sighed. “I was angry at her, and I still am. I might have been an idiot with the spell and the curse and all of that, but I would never hurt any of you intentionally. I was worried and sad and confused. She tried to caution me not to cast the spell, but I was pissed at her, and I ignored her. She didn’t mean to create this rift between all of us, but she did, and I don’t know if I can forgive her for that, especially when Yancey still isn’t talking to me and when we don’t know where Justin is.”

Griffith nodded, but that didn’t tell Calyx what he thought of all of this. It would be in his right to never want to see Calyx again considering Calyx had almost killed him and everyone else in their family.

“We need to talk, Calyx,” Griffith said gently. “About what happened last year.”

Calyx shook his head. “I’m sorry, but not now. I just remembered that I have something to do.”

“Like what?”

Like being anywhere but here. “I have to wash my hair.”

Griffith looked at Calyx like he was nuts, and he probably wasn’t wrong. They did need to talk, but Calyx wasn’t ready for it. He didn’t want to hear Griffith’s explanation for staying away for so long. He didn’t want Griffith to tell him that he wasn’t coming back. He was here now, but how long would he stay?

Calyx had wanted a family Christmas, and he might get it, but he might also only get that. It didn’t look like his brothers were planning on moving back permanently, which was what Calyx ultimately wanted. He would have to make his peace with that, especially when it came to Griffith, but not now. Not before Christmas.

Calyx decided to allow himself to hope and be happy for a little while longer, so he ran back upstairs, ignoring Griffith calling him. He wanted to throw himself into Griffith’s arms, but he couldn’t because he’d break if he did.

He wanted to dream for a little longer. Surely, that wasn’t asking for too much?