Chapter Twenty-Nine

Ivan

Viktor was exhausted last night when he finally went to his room, so it didn’t surprise me that he didn’t get up at his normal time this morning. It was strange to be at the house without Boss here. It was nice though. The house had become our sanctuary. The place we could go where we didn’t need to constantly be on guard. The place where we could just relax for a few days. We were always happy when Sephie wanted to come here. It gave us more of a break than it did her, I think.

I think she knew that. I think most of the time when she asked to come here, she was asking more for us than she was herself.

This situation with Viktor really bothered her. She knew he’d been avoiding her for weeks. It was hard for her to not take that personally. I still wasn’t completely convinced that Viktor was as happy about finding out he had a gift as everyone else was. Even with the way Stephen’s gift happened and the back story that went along with it, he was much happier about it than Viktor.

It felt like Viktor was an outlier now. We all had very close connections with Sephie. I had an even closer connection with Boss now too. I can’t be sure, but I think somehow Misha and Andrei are becoming even more connected with each other as things progress. But Viktor. He’s wanted no part of it. It has me worried.

He finally woke up after I was done with my workout and on my way back to shower. He looked like he hadn’t slept well, even though he was pushing ten hours by the time he decided to get up. If he drank, I’d say he was hungover.

“You don’t look like you slept very well, man,” I said, when he stopped in the hallway.

“I didn’t,” he grumbled. He just turned and walked toward the kitchen.

After my shower, I decided to force him to go to the lake, after a short conversation with Sephie.

“I’m not sure what to do with him, princess. He’s hella grumpy this morning. He said he didn’t sleep last night, even though he didn’t wake up until late this morning.”

She was silent for a few moments. Almost long enough that I was worried she hadn’t heard me. I could feel her emotions all over the place, at least, so I knew she was trying to come up with a solution.

“Take him to the lake. It’s not the best time of year for it, but at least it’s sunny today. I don’t know why he needs to go there, but he needs to go there. That spot is magic.”

“No arguments from me there. I’m honestly not sure if he’s even been there. Stephen either.”

“I don’t think they’ve been there. They rarely stay at the house with me when we’re there. But I feel like it will help. No idea how, so don’t ask me details.”

I chuckled. “If I haven’t learned to trust you yet, then there’s something seriously wrong with me, princess.” I could hear her laughing, as well as feel her happiness. Since I had paid attention to the connection last night when we were experimenting, it now felt stronger.

Clearly, it was that way for her as well. I was quiet for a moment, still worrying over Viktor, when she said, “There’s something else, isn’t there? You’re worried about him?”

I laughed. “Of course, you’d notice. Side note, the connection feels stronger since our experiment last night.”

“It does for me too. We should check Adrik later. I can feel you the same way I do when you’re in the room with me this morning.”

“Same, princess.”

“Now tell me why you’re still worried about him. Did something happen? I’ve never fished in anyone’s head from this distance, but I’ll give it a try if you make me.”

“No need. Nothing happened. I just caught myself thinking about him this morning when I was working out. He’s like the outlier of the group now. It used to be Stephen, but he seems like his connection has gotten much stronger with you. I think the Wonder Twins are building their own connection between the two of them, as well as having stronger connections with you. Viktor seems like he hasn’t wanted any of that. Like, he almost feels like Stephen, before Stephen told us all he was gay. Like Viktor is hiding something he doesn’t want the rest of us to know.”

“I think you’re right, Squish. He definitely hasn’t wanted to be a part of it. I don’t know about him hiding something though. He might just be spooked when he learned what Stephen had to go through for his gift. He probably suspected he would have a similar experience and was trying to avoid it. If Misha was right, though, Viktor will at least use it on his little brother, so maybe we have to wait until he comes before Viktor finally wraps his head around everything.”

“Great. He said he’s not coming for a few weeks. I don’t know if I can deal with grumpy Viktor for that long. He’s an ass when he’s grumpy.”

She laughed, her joy once again coming through the connection strongly. “I might pay to see that. I’m not convinced it’s possible.”

“Oh, it’s possible. You’ll be glad he’s avoiding you once you see it.” I was hit with her sadness once I mentioned him avoiding her, but she tried to quickly hide it with laughter. “ Don’t be sad about it, princess. He still loves you. What’s happening with him is all him. It has nothing to do with you.”

She was quiet for a moment, then she sighed. “I know. Thanks for the reminder. You’re my favorite.”

Viktor protested going to the lake, so I told him I’d kick his ass if he didn’t. “You don’t have to talk, man. Just trust me. You need to go there. Get your damn coat already.”

He grumbled as he walked back to his room to get his coat, but he came out with it a few minutes later.

We walked in silence all the way to the lake. While I didn’t mind the silence, I did find myself wishing that Sephie was here. She always knew just what to say. I didn’t have the first clue on what to say to Viktor. This was going to be the quietest trip to the lake I’d ever had.

We sat by the lake for longer than I was expecting. Viktor was very much lost in his thoughts. He didn’t make a move to go back to the house for almost two hours. It was me who finally broke the silence. “When does your brother come? Which one is it? Aleksander or Ilya?”

“Ilya. Sasha is still in Germany. Ilya is done with his service. He wants to come here, at least until he figures out what to do next. He didn’t sound so good when I talked to him last. I’m the one who talked him into coming here. He was going to go back home when he got out, but there’s nothing for him there. So I talked him into coming here,” he said.

“Give him a job. We could use the extra help,” I said.

“That’s what I was thinking. I’ll see what he’s like when he gets here. He’s still getting over some girl. I think she did a number on him. Young love, I think,” he said, shaking his head.

“When does he get here?”

“Next week. He said he had something to take care of before coming here, but he actually texted last night and said he’s coming here earlier. Whatever it was he was taking care of isn’t important anymore. I have a feeling he was trying to save whatever was left with the girl, but that must be off the table now.”

“It’ll be good to get him to a new place then. It’s been a long time since I saw him. He was just a little shit the last time I saw him.”

“He’s not anymore. He’s as tall as me now. He’s still a skinny shit, but he’s strong. Like Misha, it gives him a speed advantage. The last time I saw both of them, him and Sasha got into it. Aleksander did not fare well.”

I laughed. Viktor’s middle brother, Aleksander, was shorter than him but just as wide as he was tall. Nobody ever messed with Aleksander. “Sometimes it’s good to be humbled,” I said, still laughing at the thought of his brothers fighting.

“He might not agree with you, but Ilya definitely does,” he said. He finally laughed. I could see some of the tension he’d been carrying around since yesterday morning melt off him. Sephie was right. This place is magic.

I didn’t ask about anything serious while we were at the lake. I figured if he wanted to talk about it, he would talk about it. It took until we got back to the house for him to bring it up.

“Sephie’s mad at me for avoiding her, isn’t she?” he asked.

“Not mad. She’s hurt. Maybe worried you’re scared of her. But she also knows that you’ve been avoiding whatever it is you’re dealing with more than you’ve been avoiding her.”

He nodded, sighing. “It’s not her. I need to make sure she knows that. I’ve been suspecting whatever weird thing was going to happen to me would either involve my wife or child for a while now. I’ve been having dreams about them both very often lately.” He looked at me, his eyes were clearly troubled.

“What kind of dreams?”

“Some are good, some aren’t so good. Since they were killed, I’ve regularly had dreams where it’s like my life if they hadn’t died. Like they’re both still alive. Those are almost harder to take than the ones where I relive her death. Seeing the kid grow up is sometimes too much,” he said. He was struggling to keep the tears in his eyes from falling.

“It’s his kid trying to give Viktor back what he lost,” I heard Adrik say in my head. “ Sorry, man. I was about to check on him and heard Viktor in your head.”

“I appreciate the assist,” I said, trying not to outwardly laugh.

“Viktor, your kid is forever linked to you now. Whatever Karma that little soul cleared by dying the way it did, it must’ve been a lot, because that soul is forever grateful to you now. It’s trying to thank you. The dreams are a way of trying to give you back what you lost,” I said.

“His kid has also agreed to not come back so it can stay and help Viktor. Can’t remember if we told him that already or not,” Adrik said.

“Now that all this has happened with all of us, your kid has made the decision to not come back, specifically so it can always be there to help you.”

Viktor inhaled deeply. “I know. He told me last night.” He looked at me, almost like he wasn’t sure if I’d believe him. “We were going to name him Konstantin if he was a boy. We were both hoping for a boy. We never found out if he was a boy or girl before they died, but he’s always a boy in my dreams. I can still hear my wife calling him Kostya as she would rub her belly. I guess he decided to keep the name.”

As Viktor was talking, I felt Sephie’s sadness coming on strongly. I couldn’t feel her in my head, so I wasn’t sure she was listening in with Boss, but I could feel her sadness.

Viktor continued, “He came to me last night in a dream. He told me everything. It was like you and I talking right now. Everything was so clear. He also told me Ilya needed my help, just like Misha showed me. He said it was him showing me, not Misha. He knew I’d been avoiding Sephie too, so he used Andrei, Misha, and Sephie to force me to realize my gift.”

“He’s still focusing on the tragedy more than the good that’s going to come out of it,” Adrik said. “I don’t know if you can feel the sadness, but it’s not Sephie. It’s him. Her eyes are amber, but this is not her sadness.”

“Viktor, I think you’re still focusing on the tragedy more than you’re thinking about all the good that’s going to come from this. Your gift is what you do anyway. It’s just to a new level. You always make sure everyone has everything they need, that we’re all taken care of, and you do it without most of us realizing it most of the time. Your gift really isn’t that different. You’re just making sure their souls are taken care of, instead of just their bodies. I can see if Sephie and Misha can show you what I see when I see demons trying to get in and what it looks like once they’ve gained access. It’s not pretty. It’s not something that anyone should have to endure. You’re making sure that doesn’t happen.”

He was quiet for a few minutes, before finally saying, “I’ve been focusing on the tragedy for so long that I don’t know how to stop.” He got up, without another word, and walked to his room.

“When is his brother coming? Sephie showed me what Misha showed Viktor. It’s going to take that happening before he comes to terms with everything,” Adrik said.

“We just talked about it earlier. He’s coming next week. He seemed like he was better when we were at the lake. We talked about his brothers and he seemed like he was slightly better.”

“It’s going to take time, Ivan. I was going to ask if we should come to the house too, but I think it’s better that he’s there with you.”

“Yeah, I agree, even though I feel like I have no idea how to help him.”

“I think he just needs time and reassurance. It appears you have help from multiple angles, so hopefully between all of us, we can get him through this.”

“I think he needs a few more days. You’re still okay without us?”

“Yeah, you guys can stay through the weekend. We’ll manage.”

“He did say he needs to make sure that Sephie knows it’s not her he’s been avoiding. He asked if she was mad at him earlier.”

“She’s not mad. She’s more hurt than anything. She’s also worried he’s scared of her.”

“That’s what I told him too. At some point, he’ll make that right again.”

“It’ll all work out. This is all a bit much for all of us to deal with. It’s understandable.”

“If you guys come up with any insight on what to say to him again, let me know. I can use all the help I can get right now.”

Viktor stayed in his room most of the day. This was going to be a long few days …