The Christmas Curse (The Christmas Curse #1)

Chapter 4

Chapter Four

S helby had settled in as if he’d never left, and Griffith wasn’t too far behind. It pleased Calyx to see it, but since Griffith was still trying to corner him so they could talk, he was avoiding him. He wouldn’t be able to do so forever, and he was pretty sure that Griffith was reaching the end of his patience, but for now, he was fine not being in the same room as his brother.

Calyx wrinkled his nose. He really should stop thinking about Griffith as his brother because he wasn’t. They weren’t related by blood, and while they’d grown up together, their relationship had always been slightly different from the relationship between Calyx and the others. Calyx had never cuddled with Shelby. He’d never shared a bed with Yancey. He certainly had never thought about kissing Justin.

He should spend more time with Griffith before he lost him again. He wanted to, but he didn’t want to hear Griffith’s excuses about leaving and staying away. He didn’t want to know what Griffith had built away from him. He didn’t want to find out when Griffith would leave to return to his new life and when Calyx would once again be all alone in the big house he’d shared with his family for so many years.

So maybe Calyx had abandonment issues. Sue him.

His parents had abandoned him when he was too young to fend for himself. He’d been lucky that Caitlin had found him and taken him in, but then she’d died, abandoning him, too. His brothers had left—even Griffith—and Calyx had spent the past year completely alone.

No, he didn’t count Caitlin as company, even though she kept trying to talk to him. It was weird to talk with her now that she was a ghost. Besides, he was still angry at her, and he wasn’t sure how to get over it.

He could hear Shelby and Griffith talking in the kitchen, so he was careful as he opened the front door. Sometimes, it creaked a bit, but he’d learned how to get around that over the years, and it didn’t make a sound as he slipped outside. He carefully closed the door again, then ran to his car.

He didn’t want to talk to Griffith, and Shelby had settled back in the house as if he’d never left, so there wasn’t really a reason for Calyx to talk to him beyond asking him what he’d been up to for the past year, and Calyx wasn’t sure he wanted to know. He did want to spend more time with his brothers, but he would have plenty of opportunities while they waited for Christmas.

They still hadn’t heard from Justin, so there was nothing Calyx could do about him, either, but through the town gossip, Calyx had found out where Yancey was staying.

It paid to be a respected member of a small-town community. Mrs. Wilson had told him that her cousin’s husband’s sister, who worked at the boutique hotel that had recently opened near the lake, had told her cousin that a grumpy man had gotten a room and was planning on staying until after Christmas. Apparently, Yancey had decided that he’d leave town the day after Christmas, which wasn’t a surprise. He wanted to get out of here as soon as possible, and Calyx was a bit surprised to know he’d wait so long. He’d expected Yancey to run away at one AM on December twenty-six.

Anyway, Calyx knew where Yancey was staying and that the people who worked at the hotel thought he was weird. They weren’t wrong. Maybe it was the age difference, but Calyx had never really understood Yancey. He couldn’t help but wonder if Griffith was right. Could Yancey actually be jealous of Calyx? Calyx didn’t understand why he would be, but as Griffith had pointed out, he wasn’t in Yancey’s head.

Yancey was a lion shifter. He’d been the first boy Caitlin had taken in, and he probably viewed her as his mother more than Calyx ever could. Calyx remembered his biological mother, even though he tried not to think about her. Caitlin had been nothing like her, which was a good thing.

He was nervous as he parked the car in front of the hotel and made his way inside. There was no one behind the desk, and since he already knew the room number, thanks to Mrs. Wilson, he didn’t stop to ask. He quickly climbed the stairs, not wanting to wait for the elevator, and got to Yancey’s floor.

When he found Yancey’s room, he hesitated. Yancey wouldn’t be happy to see him, but Calyx felt that this meeting was necessary. Even if Yancey didn’t want to talk about the house or the curse, he’d be willing to talk about Justin.

Calyx knocked. He half expected Yancey to tell him to fuck off without even opening the door, but it opened just a crack, and Yancey peeked out.

Calyx knew what Yancey would do before Yancey moved, so he shouldered the door open. Yancey yelped and stumbled back, and Calyx stepped into the room and slammed the door shut before Yancey could push him out.

He winced when he turned to face his brother. Yancey was wearing a t-shirt and a pair of sweatpants, and now that he wasn’t covered by his jacket and a scarf, Calyx could see the damage the spell had done. Colors crawled down Yancey’s arms and up his neck.

“You know that if you’d stayed in the house with us, it wouldn’t have expanded so much,” he said, staring at the red, white, and green swirls. They covered his neck and had started in on the ears and chin.

Yancey glared at him. “What do you want?”

“To talk to you.”

“Well, I don’t want to talk to you, so you can go. You know where the door is since you just pushed past it.”

Calyx sucked in a breath. He always tried not to fight with his brothers, especially with Yancey because of his personality, but he was done with this. Yancey might hate Calyx, but he didn’t hate Justin, and Calyx counted on that. “Have you heard from Justin?”

Yancey frowned. “Why would I have heard from Justin?”

“We don’t know where he is, and his phone goes to voicemail. Have you talked to him recently?”

“I hadn’t talked to any of you until I came back, so no.” He hesitated. “Shelby has no idea where he is?”

“No. He did the same as you and ignored all of us for the past year.”

And there was Yancey’s scowl again. “There’s a reason I ignored you for a year, and it’s the same reason I plan on ignoring you again once I’m out of here.”

Calyx put his hands on his hips and glared at the ceiling so he wouldn’t scream. “How many times do I have to tell you that I didn’t want the house? I never asked Caitlin to leave it to me, and if you want it, I’ll pass it over to you.”

Yancey shook his head. “You don’t understand.”

“You’re right. I don’t understand because you won’t talk to me.” Calyx took a step forward but stopped because he didn’t know how Yancey would react if he touched him. “I never wanted the house. All I’ve ever wanted was a family, and that family includes you. Whatever I have to do for you to talk to me again and to continue loving me, I’ll do it. Just say the words.”

“Calyx—”

“I’m serious. I know you were angry last year after Caitlin died, and I understand why, but I want to fix it.”

“And you thought that casting a curse that would turn me into a Christmas decoration was the right way to do that?”

“It was a mistake, all right? I’d just lost the person I considered my mother, and my brothers all walked out on me. I thought you hated me, and I was desperate to change that. I didn’t know Caitlin would leave me the house, and even though I understand why she did now, I disagree with her decision. You’d know that if you’d talked to me.” Calyx sucked in a breath. “Just, please . Give me a chance, all right? I’m still the same Calyx I was before. I get why you’re angry, and I’ll do anything to fix a relationship.” Yancey looked more confused than angry, so Calyx decided to push his luck. “I’ve put together a list of fun Christmas activities we can do over the holidays.”

Yancey stumbled back. “I’m not leaving this room until I’m not a Christmas decoration anymore. You can’t expect me to go around like this.”

Calyx shrugged. “It looks like a tattoo, and as long as you wear a scarf, I don’t think anyone will notice. It would stop spreading if you came to the house, you know.”

Yancey sucked in a breath as if steadying himself. “Just go, Calyx. I’m not ready to forgive you, and I don’t know if I’ll ever be. I realize it wasn’t your fault and that you didn’t have a hand in Caitlin’s will, but it still hurts, and I can’t do this right now.”

Calyx had reached the end of Yancey’s patience. He knew from experience that pushing wouldn’t help. If anything, it would make Yancey angrier, which wasn’t what Calyx wanted.

He put a hand on the door handle. “Fine, I’ll go. But this isn’t over. We’ll talk again before you leave, and this time, I want both of us to say whatever is on our minds. I won’t allow Caitlin or you to destroy our relationship. It’s too important to me. And we need to talk about Justin. I’m getting worried, and if he still doesn’t call in a few days, I think it’ll be proof that something is wrong. Ignoring us isn’t like him.”

Calyx turned to leave without waiting for Yancey’s answer. He didn’t think he would like it, anyway.

Griffith lowered his phone when the call went to voicemail. For a moment, he stared at the screen and at the picture of Justin.

He was getting worried. It wasn’t unusual for Justin not to answer his phone, but not for so long. He had to know something was up since Griffith, Shelby, and Calyx had all tried calling him, so if he could, he would at least text to tell them he was okay and that they needed to relax. It wouldn’t work because they always worried about each other, even when they weren’t in contact. At least they’d know that Justin was okay.

Right now, they didn’t know anything. Justin had always been a bit scattered, and he didn’t think that keeping in touch with his family was important the way Calyx did, but he’d never vanished like this, especially not for an entire year. What if he was in trouble? Not coming home after all of them had tried contacting him wasn’t like Justin.

“You’re sure you haven’t heard anything from him?” he asked Shelby, who was sprawled out on the floor, his small body occupying the entirety of the plush carpet.

It was new. The carpet hadn’t been there when Caitlin had been alive, which meant it was a new Calyx addition. Griffith liked it, and it fit nicely by the fireplace. It was slightly too close to it for Griffith to be comfortable with, but Shelby seemed to enjoy roasting himself.

There had been several new additions all over the house except for the bedrooms. Calyx might not have wanted to inherit the house, but he’d been living here on his own for a year, and he’d started to make the place his.

It was a good thing, even though it gave Griffith a pang of pain. He felt he was supposed to be here, too, and to make the house his as much as it was Calyx’s. Maybe he could finally renovate the downstairs bathroom. It needed it.

But it wasn’t his place, and it never would be. The house belonged to Calyx, and Griffith was nothing more than Calyx’s brother.

Shelby shook his head and rolled onto his stomach. “I’ve tried calling him, but nothing.”

Griffith tapped his fingertips on his thigh as he put down his phone. “What do you think happened?”

For once, Shelby’s expression was serious. “You think something happened to him?”

“What are the odds that he’s the only one who didn’t come home? Even Yancey is here. We need to do something.” Griffith hated feeling useless.

“There’s not much we can do to help until we find him.”

Shelby was right, of course. “How do we do that?”

“Use your mage,” a woman’s voice said.

Griffith tensed. He couldn’t see Caitlin, but her voice came from the direction of the window seat.

Shelby appeared delighted as he scrambled into a sitting position. “I wasn’t sure I’d see you again,” he told Caitlin.

Griffith still couldn’t look at her. It wasn’t that he was scared because she was a ghost, although he did feel uneasy at the thought that she was dead yet seemed very much alive and was meddling in her sons’ lives as if she were. He was still angry at her, and he was afraid he’d start screaming if he looked her in the eyes.

She’d ruined their family. She’d had a lot of help—Griffith doubted they would have scattered the way they had if Yancey hadn’t freaked out about the house—but at the root of it, her mistake had pushed Yancey and Calyx apart, and Shelby, Justin, and Griffith had crumbled right along with them. It was partially everyone’s fault, but Griffith would never forget what Caitlin had done.

“I’m always around,” Caitlin told Shelby. “But I know some of you are uncomfortable with my presence.”

Griffith snorted. “That’s an understatement.”

“So you are willing to talk to me.”

He steeled himself and turned toward her. She was still wearing her yellow dress, and the sight made Griffith’s heart hurt. She might not be Griffith’s biological mother, but she’d been there for him when no one else had been. She’d given him a home and a family when he’d thought he’d always be alone after losing his parents.

That didn’t mean he could forgive her for what she’d done to Calyx.

“I’m going to see if Calyx is around,” Shelby said as he quickly left the room, no doubt to give Caitlin and Griffith space to talk.

Griffith wouldn’t be able to avoid her forever. He didn’t know what would happen after Christmas, but there was a chance that he would decide to stick around, which would be awkward if he and Caitlin hated each other.

Not that they could ever hate each other. Griffith was pissed, but he loved Caitlin. She’d been a good person, but even good people make mistakes.

“You’re angry,” she said.

Griffith nodded curtly. “I am.”

“Because I left the house to Calyx?”

“I couldn’t care less about the house. I’m angry because of the way you did it. You didn’t give any of us an explanation, even though you had plenty of time to do it. You left Calyx to fend for himself, and it was a disaster. It tore us apart, and I’m not sure it can ever be fixed.”

Caitlin looked sad. “I should have talked to Yancey. I should have realized that he wouldn’t be happy and that he’d hold Calyx responsible. Things were always complicated between them.”

“I don’t know if anyone could have predicted what happened.” Yancey has always been too closed off for any of them to be able to read him. He’d been with Caitlin the longest, but even she couldn’t always figure him out. “You could have left an explanation in the will, though. That way, no one would have thought that Calyx somehow manipulated you into leaving him the house.”

Caitlin glared. “Who thought that? Calyx couldn’t manipulate a potato even if he tried.”

“Who do you think?”

Her shoulders slumped. “Yancey.”

“Yeah. I don’t know if you were around the other day, but I thought for sure he was going to hit Calyx. I know it’s not like him, but I suspect that something happened to him during the past year, and he’s even grumpier than before.” And, as a shifter, more dangerous. If he lost control, he could shift and seriously hurt someone, including people he cared about and wouldn’t normally hurt.

“Then maybe it’s a good thing that he had to come home.”

“I don’t know that he has. He’s in town, but he won’t come to the house. There’s also Justin to worry about. I know Calyx wasn’t in his right mind when he cast the spell, but he created a fucking mess.”

“Calyx could cast a seeking spell to find Justin,” Caitlin offered. “As for Yancey, I don’t know. He’s going to have to understand that this is his home, no matter who it belongs to. I have faith in Calyx. I know he can reunite the family.”

Griffith had faith in Calyx, too, but convincing Yancey to give their family a chance after what had happened felt like an impossible task. Griffith wasn’t sure that even Calyx would be up to it, no matter how much he wanted it.

Calyx trudged into the house, feeling down. He hadn’t actually thought he’d be able to convince Yancey to come home, but he’d hoped anyway, and now, that hope had been dashed. Yancey was still locked in his hotel room, refusing to come out until after Christmas. There would be no celebrating together. Even if they managed to find Justin, Yancey wouldn’t be there, so what kind of family Christmas would it be?

“There you are,” Griffith said as he strode out of the living room. “Shelby and I have been looking for you. Where were you?”

Calyx arched a brow. “What do you care?”

Griffith frowned, and for a moment, Calyx thought—he didn’t know what he thought. Maybe he hoped that Griffith would tell him that he cared and that he loved him and only ever wanted him to be safe and happy.

But Griffith shook his head. “Shelby and I talked to Caitlin, and she suggested using a seeking spell to find Justin. Do you think you can do that?”

Of course. Griffith wanted Calyx for his magic, not for his heart. Calyx knew Griffith didn’t love him back, but he always hoped anyway, and he was always disappointed.

“Yeah, I can do it,” he said as he unwound his scarf from around his neck.

“Now?”

Calyx faltered. “Yeah, but is it urgent?”

“Aren’t you worried about Justin?”

Calyx’s jacket went next. He hung it on its hook, and for once, it wasn’t the only one there. Shelby’s and Griffith’s jackets hung from the other hooks like they used to. It reminded Calyx of when they all lived here. He’d hoped to get that back, but he should have known better. “I’m worried,” he admitted. “But you know Justin. He probably left his phone somewhere. He’ll find it eventually.” Hopefully, it would be before Christmas, but there was no way to be sure.

Calyx wanted to do the seeking spell to find Justin, but he was scared. What if Justin didn’t want to come home? What if even if they found him, he decided to stay away?

“Even so, I think he would have noticed that he’s turning red, white, and green.”

“He probably found it mildly interesting and promptly forgot about it.”

Griffith’s lips curled into a smile. “Maybe. Don’t you want to know for sure, though?”

Calyx sighed. He should have thought about this himself, but he’d been focused on Griffith returning and on Yancey staying away. Nothing was going the way it should. “Yeah, I want to know for sure.” No matter how scared he was. If Justin was in trouble, Calyx would help him.

He took off his boots. “Grab Shelby so we can go to my office.”

Griffith nodded and disappeared back into the living room. Calyx quickly made his way upstairs, stopping in Justin’s bedroom to grab something of his. He could work seeking spells without any personal item from the person he was looking for, but it would be easier and faster if he had something that belonged to Justin.

Calyx took a hairbrush back to his office and started gathering the ingredients, dumping them on his desk as he did so. When he heard voices outside his office, he took a deep breath and looked up. He’d left the door open so that Shelby and Griffith could come in, but they were hovering by the door as if they weren’t quite sure they’d be welcome.

Calyx gestured at the only chair in front of his desk. “One of you can sit there and the other in my chair.”

“I’m pretty sure you should be the one sitting there,” Shelby said as he sauntered inside. Instead of going for the chair, he moved a stack of books and hopped onto the desk. He was small, so he fit.

Griffith was more careful as he settled into the chair on the other side of Calyx’s desk. For a moment, Calyx stared at them, his heart racing. It had been so long since any of his brothers had been in his office, waiting for him to cast a spell. They hadn’t needed him to do magic over the past year.

Maybe they never had.

He cleared his throat and sat in his chair. He dumped the ingredients for the spell into a bowl and mixed them together into a sticky ball, then carefully extracted a few black hairs from the hairbrush he’d taken from Justin’s room.

Calyx mixed everything up again. Once he was satisfied with the aspect of his ingredients, he dug out a map from the drawer of his desk. He spread it out on the desk and gently picked up the ball, ignoring the stickiness coating his fingers. This was his least favorite part of seeking spells, but if he did it to find lost pets, he could do it to find his brother.

He deposited the ball on the map, pulled at his magic, and pushed it into the ball. For a moment, nothing happened, then the ball started glowing.

Both Griffith and Shelby looked away, but Calyx didn’t. He watched as the ball rolled around the map before stopping. He frowned and leaned closer, gently poking at it with a finger.

“That’s it?” Shelby asked. “Where is he, then?”

“That’s not what was supposed to happen,” Calyx said. “The ball is supposed to catch fire when it lands on the spot where the person or the pet I’m looking for is.”

Shelby wrinkled his nose. “That doesn’t sound safe.”

“It’s perfectly safe.”

“Why didn’t it catch fire?” Griffith asked.

Calyx peered at the map again. There were only a few explanations for the seeking spell not working. “It doesn’t work if the person I’m looking for is dead,” he slowly said.

“That’s not it,” Shelby snapped.

Calyx wasn’t offended by his brusque tone. He didn’t want to consider the possibility that Justin was dead, either. “I agree. The only other reasons we wouldn’t be able to find him with a seeking spell would be that someone cast a shielding spell on him or that he’s not in our world.”

Calyx looked up. Griffith was staring at him, and their gazes caught. Griffith’s expression was grim and mirrored Calyx’s. They all knew what that meant.

“He’s in the underworld,” Griffith said.

This wasn’t great. Justin was half-demon, but he didn’t spend time in the underworld. He’d never wanted anything to do with his demon mother, and Griffith couldn’t imagine that had changed over the past year. Whatever was happening, it was cause for concern.

Griffith looked around the room. The Christmas decorations were at odds with the dire situation they were in. He wanted to fix this for Calyx and Justin, but he had no idea where to start. For Calyx to have his perfect Christmas with all his brothers here, they would have to get Justin out of the underworld and back with them.

Griffith felt lost, but he wasn’t the only one working on this. Shelby and Calyx were talking, probably bouncing ideas off each other. Since they had another brother who might have more ideas, Griffith left the room, taking his phone out as soon as he was in the hallway and dialing Yancey’s number.

He almost expected Yancey not to answer. He wouldn’t have been surprised because his brother had been all over the place lately. Whatever was going on in his life, it couldn’t be good, and Griffith promised himself that once they were done helping Justin, he’d try helping Yancey.

If Yancey let him.

“What?” Yancey snapped when he answered. “When I told Calyx not to bother me, that included you.”

“I’m not Calyx.”

“You might as well be,” Yancey grumbled. “So tell him that I’m not coming home and that I’ll wait it out here. I don’t care why he did it or what he’s trying to do to fix it. I don’t want to celebrate Christmas, especially not with you guys.”

“Justin is in the underworld,” Griffith blurted out because he was pretty sure that Yancey had been about to hang up on him, and he didn’t want that to happen. Yancey wouldn’t answer a second time, and Griffith didn’t want to drive all the way to his hotel to bang on his door.

There was a pause. Griffith could almost see Yancey frowning as he thought.

“How do you know?” Yancey eventually asked.

“We tried to locate him since he still hasn’t arrived, and we couldn’t. There are a few explanations, but Calyx is positive that Justin is in the underworld.”

“He’d never go there willingly.”

“We know, which is why we’re even more worried.”

“Why did you call me? There’s nothing I can do for him. I’m just a shifter.”

It was true that out of all of them, Yancey and Griffith had no way to help. They were shifters, and they didn’t have magic like Calyx. They weren’t half-angels like Shelby. They definitely weren’t half-demons like Justin.

Justin had never had a problem with his parentage, but Griffith wasn’t sure how he would feel if he were half-demon. He knew what everyone thought of hell and demons and that it was somewhat different in reality, but how different? What was hell actually like? What was the underworld hiding beyond demons?

And why was Justin there?

“Look, I know you’re still angry at Calyx, and that’s fine,” he told Yancey. “You don’t have to make peace with him. You don’t even have to look at him if you don’t want to. You can continue hurting him, even though he did what he did because he loves us. You can’t abandon Justin, though. He needs our help.”

“But there’s nothing I can do to help him,” Yancey repeated.

“I don’t care,” Griffith snapped. “You’re going to come here, and you’re going to help us, even if it’s only by supporting us or going to the grocery store or whatever. Don’t push me because if you do, I’ll force you to smile at Calyx and talk to him, and I know you don’t want that.”

“You don’t know what I want,” Yancey grumbled.

“I think I do. You want to go home to whatever sorry place you’ve called that over the past year. You want to admit that you understand why Calyx did what he did, but you can’t push yourself to because you think that if you do, we’ll see you differently. You’ve always tried to uphold that strong-man-with-no-feelings image forward, but the four of us know that’s bullshit. You can hide your true self from most people but not from us, and we can tell there’s something going on with you. Deep inside, I know you want to come home, but you feel like you can’t because of the fight you had with Calyx. It’s ridiculous, but I’m not going to tell you how to live your life.”

“Feels to me like you’re doing exactly that,” Yancey pointed out.

“Fuck off. Just do it in this direction, okay? I’ll tell Calyx to stay away from you if you’re more comfortable with that, but we need more hands on deck. We have to find Justin.”

Because they had no idea why he was in the underworld, but whatever the reason, it couldn’t be good. Justin didn’t hate what he was, but he did hate his mother for abandoning him. She was a demon, which was why he’d always seen the underworld as a bad place.

And now, he was there, doing who knew what. From the little Griffith knew about the underworld, it wasn’t a nice place, and while he didn’t want to think about Justin being hurt, he felt it was a distinct possibility.

He might not know how to help Justin, but he’d find a way. He didn’t care if he had to force Yancey to hug it out with Calyx or if they all had to traipse down to the underworld. One way or another, Justin was coming home.