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“Athair ionúin…” Nox’s wavering whisper swirled around them, blowing through the room and causing the sheers to sway. The flames in the candles danced on the hypnotic breeze as they spluttered in shallow, waxy pools. “Athair ionúin…”
“What?” Nelson heaved himself over onto his chest and widened his eyes as he blinked through the soft hazy glow surrounding the bed.
“Athair ionúin,” Nox said and his mouth stretched, releasing a glorious peel of music as he floated above the covers.
“Nox!” Nelson cried as he pushed off the bed, lurching at Nox. He bit into his cheek as hard as he could to wake himself, tasting blood as some of the blur cleared. He pulled himself closer and was able to get his knees under him. “No, no, no!” Nelson carefully gathered Nox in his clumsy arms. Nox was so hot and his body was too light. “Nox, please!” Nelson’s hands were shaking as he brushed the hair away from Nox’s face and patted his cheek. “Nox! Please!” he shouted, holding him close and rocking him. “You have to wake up now. Come back, Nox.”
“Athair—”
Nelson shushed and kissed his hair. “Shhh! Come back to me!”
Nothing was working and Nox continued to babble as his body remained limp and nearly weightless. Nelson eased out from under him and searched for a phone. He spotted Nox’s jeans and slid off the bed and staggered toward the bathroom, collapsing onto the rug. Nelson wrestled the phone free and batted and swiped at the screen, entering Nox’s passcode and dialing Merlin’s number.
He answered before the first ring ended. “Yes, my lad?”
“Come now. Nox needs help,” Nelson said, then hung up and found Clancy’s number.
Clancy answered after several rings. “Nox? Everything alright?”
“Come now. Nox needs help,” Nelson said and turned toward the hall when he heard the doorbell. “Merlin?”
“I’m on my way,” Clancy said before he hung up.
“I’m here!” Merlin announced as he swept into the room, then let out a sharp gasp as he shed his cape and rushed to the bed with his giant carpet bag. “How long has he been like this?”
Nelson shook his head hard and held the phone up so he could see the time. “I don’t know. We were… I…” It was a little after midnight, but he couldn’t recall anything but Nox’s body and his mouth as Nelson struggled to find any of the pieces of the prior day. “I don’t know.” He fell forward onto his hands and knees and crawled to the bed.
“I left around 8:30 so…two, three hours at the most,” Merlin murmured, consulting his pocket watch. He slipped it back into his vest and opened the bag on the bed, reaching in up to his armpit and retrieving a small cauldron. Like a moment from a kids’ movie or a cartoon, Merlin continued to pull copper bowls and other items from the far too-deep bag until the room was scattered with crystals, smoking piles of herbs and incense, candles of various sizes and colors, mounds and trails of powders, and assorted amulets.
“What happened?” Clancy demanded when he hurried in, then tripped to a halt when he saw Nox. “You did it,” he said weakly, but Nelson didn’t know who Clancy was talking to as he slowly circled around the bed.
“Help him!” Nelson pleaded, looking at Clancy and then at Merlin.
Merlin was too intent on his work, chanting in Gaelic as he poured oil over Nox’s naked body. A low, deep vibration rumbled from Clancy, another Gaelic chorus as the air became dense with smoke.
“Athair ionúin…” Nox’s breathy song wafted around them and he hummed happily as he glowed brighter.
“It’s not working,” Nelson shouted, panic rising with every moment Nox was in his hot, floating trance. He jumped when Nox’s robe was draped over his shoulders and he was lifted.
“Here,” Clancy said as he helped Nelson onto the bed and around, by Nox’s head. “Hold him,” Clancy told Nelson, then swung around to Merlin. “Sandalwood oil.”
“Of course,” Merlin said, spinning and snatching a small bottle from the dresser. “Do you think he can do it?” he asked Clancy, but Merlin’s eyes tightened on Nelson.
“He has to,” Clancy said, dropping the crystal stopper as he went around to the other side of the bed and spilled the contents onto Nox’s forehead and into his hair. “Nelson, I want you to take his hand and hold his palm with yours,” he murmured steadily. “Do it now,” he snapped when Nelson took too long to comply.
“Sorry.” Nelson slid his hand around Nox’s. His limbs were still slow, like he was pulling them through water.
“What’s wrong with you?” Clancy asked as he bent close and searched Nelson’s face.
Nelson shook his head slightly, not wanting to make his vision blurrier or cause his ears to ring louder. “I don’t know. We were…” Nelson pushed his brain to find any moment before he woke up next to Nox. All there was was sex and Nelson began to cry again as he realized what he had done. “I did this! I should have stopped but I kept going! I lost control!”
“Look at me, Nelson!” Clancy barked, shocking Nelson. He caught Nelson’s chin, warm, spicy sandalwood fumes filling his nose and rousing him. Clancy grunted something in Gaelic. “His pupils are as big as saucers. No wonder he can barely walk.”
“What’s done is done,” Merlin said with an impatient roll of a hand.
Clancy tossed a snarl over his shoulder at Merlin. “Go dtachta an diabhal thú,”1 he muttered under his breath and spit at him. “Stay over there while we do this,” he ordered Merlin with a toss of his chin at the door before taking Nelson and Nox’s hands in his. “I want you to listen to what I say and then I want you to repeat after me. Can you do that?” he asked Nelson.
“I can do that,” he said, earning a small smile from Clancy.
