Jerrick

“Wanna play?” he asked, holding out his basketball toward me.

I nodded. “But I don’t know how.”

His grin grew broad, and my heart felt like it would jump out of my chest.

“That’s okay, I can show you. I’m nine. Which makes me your hyung.” He tapped his chest.

“My what?”

He cocked his head. “It means big brother where I’m from.”

“Oh, you’re not from New York?”

He shook his head. “Not originally. I’m from South Korea.”

“Oh,” I said lamely, not sure where to take the conversation from there. I didn’t know where South Korea was. But I was afraid to ask for fear I might look stupid.

Big brother, huh? I wasn’t sure how he’d made such an illogical leap, but then again, I strangely didn’t mind the idea of having a big brother. So long as it was him.

He took my hand, and I didn’t argue. His skin was firm. Soft. Nice.

No kid on Kingdom ever touched my hand. They always laughed and said that they’d catch my pus if they did. I didn’t even ooze pus!I might be a goblin, but that didn’t make me putrid.

We played, or at least I tried. I was terrible at it, but he was patient, showing me how to throw a basketball over and over until, after about fifty tries, I finally sank one.

“Yes!” I cried. “I did it! I made a basketball throw.”

He wrinkled his nose, but his big smile stayed in place. “It’s just called a basket, but that’s okay. You did good today.” He held out his hand to me for a high five.

My pulse pounded hard as I reached out to slap it. But I never got to make contact because suddenly there was an adult there, dressed in a suit and tie with dark, serious eyes staring down at us.

He had a perfectly combed mustache. “Little master, it’s time to go to the airport now.”

The boy sighed. His smile slowly slipped.

“You’re leaving?” I asked, feeling suddenly strange and bereft. I clutched at my shirt. It wasn’t like I wouldn’t be leaving soon too. But him leaving me first felt… bad. Really bad.

He nodded before tossing an arm over my shoulder. Very casually. Almost affectionately. I wasn’t sure why, but it felt as natural as breathing to lean into his side and accept his gesture of kindness.

“Mom’s a Korean diplomat. We don’t stay anywhere too long. But I like New York. I really like it.” He said with a heavy sigh. But then he was releasing me and stepping back, and like a magnet drawn to iron shavings, I took a step nearer to him. Not ready to let him leave just yet.

“Master,” the churlish-looking man said.

I bit my bottom lip. Master smiled, waved cheerily at me, and said, “I’ll probably never see you again. So, you take care, okay? And keep practicing shooting hoops.”

Never. Again?

Those words felt like a sudden body blow.

I watched with my heart in my throat as he walked away. The man in the suit placed a guiding hand on his shoulder. Theywalked toward a nondescript black car., andthe man opened the back door for him.

The boy turned. A gentle breeze ruffled the tips of his hair. His smile was blazing as he turned it on me. “Bye. Kapusta.”

I gasped. He’d heard Mother call me that. His eyes twinkled with laughter. Maybe he even knew what it meant.

I finger waved.

He got in the car. And then he was gone. I stayed there, staring at the empty place where he’d been that had been so full of warmth and sunshine, feeling an aching hollow in my chest I’d never felt before.

“Pretty,” I whispered after several moments.

“Who, the boy?”

I gasped, twirling on my heel at hearing my mother’s voice so close behind me.

I looked up at her, heart in my throat, feeling a strange slinking fear slither through my body that she’d heard. That she might know.

Mama kneeled and placed her hands on my shoulders. “Phlegm, did you like that boy?” Her eyes were so serious, her voice was soft, and her entire focus was on me.

Every cell in my body suddenly felt overwhelmed with fear and anxiety. My mouth ran dry. My hands balled into fists. I couldn’t understand this reaction. All I knew was I felt like running away.

“Ah.” She sighed deeply. “So it’s like that, eh?” Mother said, her eyes taking on a knowing gleam. “I see. I see. Love is love, after all.” She grinned a secretive sort of grin. “Well, he was very kind to you. Perhaps we should give him a blessing. What do you think, my little prince?”

She wasn’t…mad at me? She wanted to give him a blessing. I didn’t know why, but suddenly I felt like I might burst like a firecracker from joy.

“Yes.” I clutched at her hands. “Yes, a good one.”

“Yes. Let’s.” She took a deep breath, and then suddenly, her eyes went pure white, the white of the witch. No one around us noticed. Mother had a way of never being seen if she didn’t wish to be. I wanted to be more like that.

Her gaze shifted rapidly back and forth, and I knew she was divining secrets I might never know. When she blinked again, it was her warm green eyes that stared back at me.

“I’ve blessed him. But, Phe, you need to forget him.”

My joy suddenly turned to dismay. What? I leaned back on my heels, shaking my head. “No, I won’t. You can’t make me.”

She cocked her head. “You know I can. And for your sake, I will.”

I didn’t get a chance to run away, to beg her to please let me keep my memories. Her hand was on my head, and I felt the memories being sucked out like a vacuum. I clung to the last image of his face that I had and that smile that seemed to light up the whole world around me, but then it, too, was gone, fading away like mist over rolling water.

“You ready to go home, Phe? Maybe we still have time for ice cream before we go back. There’s a really good gelato place not too far from here.”

I blinked, wondering what it was I’d just been doing. There seemed to be a hiccup in my memory. For the life of me, I couldn’t remember what I’d just been doing. How weird.

“Phe?” she said again, softly. “You all right, son?”

Better not to make Mother worry. I nodded, happy at the thought of ice cream. But…my mouth thinned. What was wrong with me? Why did I feel so sad?

She ruffled my hair affectionately. I soon had my cup of gelato. Mint chip had always been my favorite. But for the first time, I realized I wasn’t really in the mood for ice cream.

As though she knew, she gave me a sweet smile. “Come, little prince. Daddy eagerly awaits our return now.” I nodded, smiling back at her. Mother was my favorite person in all the worlds.

She held my hand, and I held hers. We started to walk away, but for some reason, I looked back at the basketball court, and a longing burned deep inside me that I couldn’t quite understand.

~*~

Baba Yaga

The memory of that boy would have haunted my son. The apathy of the children on Kingdom would have made that boy’s warmth almost too much for my Phlegm to bear. I’d seen his sorrow. His daily sadness growing and growing until, finally, he’d snapped.

Phlegm was always just one spark away from returning back to that monster he’d once been before I’d killed and subsequently revived him, reverting him to a child version of himself. My goal had been to see whether nature versus nurture could change the creature who’d once been a menace to all. This version of Phlegm had no idea of the nightmare he’d once been. The Goblin King who’d harassed and tortured others for centuries was still a living spirit within him. It was a fine line I walked to ensure the best version of my boy was realized in this life.

I’d fought too hard to save Phlegm, and I would be damned if I let that ever happen to him again.

No, better that he forget the boy.

For now, anyway.

I smiled as we headed back toward home.

Those two weren’t done yet. In fact, their path would intersect once again, and when it did…oh boy. Fireworks.

I couldn’t wait to welcome my new son-in-law into our crazy fold. But for now, I just had to make sure I nurtured the best side of Phlegm.

“You have such an amazing life ahead of you, my little prince,” I said happily as we sailed through time and space back to home. I couldn’t wait to tell Freyr about this latest development. He’d recently been dreaming of Phlegm’s future wife and kids. Now I had to tell him we had a future hubby and kids, and even a doggy or two.

Laughing, I picked up Phlegm and twirled him around, dancing with him through the stars. “Oh, my boy, you’ve made me so, so happy.”

“Moth…errrr, what?!” He laughed, and so did I.

Our adventure was only just beginning…