(POV Jason)
Jasmine had called in her debt, Sam needed a babysitter. It wasnt like Jason minded that, he had bascially forced her into that compromise, or at least into suggesting it. Unfortunately, his sister couldn't cook to save her life, and with their parents and grandpa gone, it wasn't gonna end well. They might not even have a house if she was left alone in the kitchen. So he asked if she could join too. That had been fine for his now fiancée. Holy shit, she's my fiancée. Still, that word felt stronger than what might actually be there. Usually when people were engaged, they had met the other person's parents; heck, they had at least told their own parents. At least it seemed his mother would get her wish that there would be no bastards in her house.
His mother might accept the situation though, as long as she didn't learn that her future daughter-in-law drank human blood. She would either freak out or learn some very odd recipes for blood sausage, and he had no idea which it was gonna be.
Jason added a small dash of soap to the pan in front of him and started scrubbing vigorously. Sam had wanted spaghetti with the white sauce. Which he eventually figured out, after nearly half an hour of trying to get Sam to explain, meant a Béchamel sauce with ham, apparently. It wasn't the first time he had made something like that,though cooking with the help of a four-year-old had been interesting. That was certainly the only proper word for it. Still, he didn't want him helping with the clean up. Knives in dirty water and all that. So now his sister was watching him, or at least making sure he didn't wander off while she did homework. It all felt normal, rather than the overly complicated mess of emotions he had been stuck in for the past few days. It was nice, and he figured he might need to hold on to it for dear life if he could.
Jason grabbed the kitchen towel and dried the pan before walking carefully to the cupboard it was supposed to be in. “Mister Jason?” He heard a small voice coming from the entrance to the kitchen. Turning, he saw Sam standing there holding a book Jason didn't quite recognize. He was also holding it so tightly to his chest that Jason couldn't really recognize the cover either.
“Hey Sam, what's you got there?”
Sam moved his arms, displaying the book. The cover read Animals of the world. Animals from all over the world were shown on the cover.
“Mmh,” Sam hesitated slightly, rocking on his feet. “Can we read?” he couldn't meet Jason's gaze as he asked, his eyes locked on the floor in front of him.
Jason couldn't stop the smile that spread across his face. Sam was great, a little too easy to deal with, but overall a great kid. If the boy wanted him to read the animal book, he would, with all the gusto it deserved.
“Of course we can. Do you want me to read that book?” He pointed at the book. Sam had to have brought it for a reason, right?
The boy shook his head. “This is mine.” He hugged the book back into his chest.
“O… Ok.” Jason blinked. “Do you want me to find a book?”
He nodded vigorously.
Did Sam like animals? He couldn't remember Julie mentioning anything about it, but it seemed a logical conclusion from the book he seemed to be possessively guarding. He had to, right?
“Do you want me to find another book about animals, one with pictures?”
Sam shuffled from side to side before murmuring. “Yes, please.”
Jason nodded. “I will see what I can find upstairs. I just need to finish up here first, so why don't you go and watch some more TV. I will join you as soon as I can. Sound good?”
Sam nodded and turned around to walk back to the living room. Though he could see the grin that had spread across the boy's face as he walked away. Jason could stop himself from chuckling as he turned back to the dishes that still needed washing.
Jasmine's prediction had been entirely right; he could walk again today. It wasn't comfortable, but it was doable. A massive improvement. It didn't take more than ten minutes before he had managed to walk, albeit painfully slowly, to the door to the room in the house that had the most books. He had checked Sam's room, and he didn't have any more books on animals. So that left him with Jasmine's study.
Jasmine had A LOT of books; most, however, were packed away. She had mentioned wanting a library in the house, at some distant point in the future. The door to the study was locked. Jasmine had said he could enter it if he needed to, and that she mostly didn't want Sam wandering in there. She had given him a key, and said that he could use it if he wanted to.
She had also hinted that if he and his sister needed to, then she had prepped the guest room. And then not so subtly hinted that she would only be pleasantly surprised if she came back to find him sleeping in her bed.
Jason felt heat spread across his cheeks. Why was he like this? Why did just the smallest amount of attention cause him to be like… well, this? It shouldn't have this much of an effect.
He drew a deep breath and let it out slowly. Turning the key, he opened the door and stepped into the study. His hand fumbled for the light switch for a second before he finally found it. The study was nice, but the three tapestries hanging on one wall gave it a sense of age. Like he was entering some medieval manor. They told a story, a tragic one and a hopeful one, judging by the armored figure standing atop a dead dragon, lifting a spear surrounded by a halo of gold emanating from the head of the figure. Though the tragedy was apparent in the strange monsters standing on top of bones, and what looked like armored vehicles of some kind, facing down walls of pikes.
The room felt slightly ominous. The shadows stretched longer than might feel comfortable. The lighting was arranged in such a way that it was never too bright, even with the large window behind her desk. Though given what she had said about her magic, the excess of shadows might be purely functional. Still, it did change how the room felt.
Walking over to the bookshelves, he saw rows upon rows of books. Some were modern in appearance; others were leather-bound tomes that might have better fit into a fantasy wizard's library. How old is she? She had said she aged slower after all. Think about it; he hadn't asked after she revealed that. I don't know how old the woman I am engaged to, or courting, I guess, actually is.
Jason bit the inside of his cheek. He did need to know that; after all, her being twenty-five was one thing, her being sixty was another. Similarly, he didn't feel engaged, not that he had any idea what that felt like to begin with. Though it certainly felt more serious than simply dating. Maybe courtship is the right term?
As he read along the spines of the books, he noticed that some were not in English. Most at least used the same alphabet; others were written in something that looked more like what you'd see in a movie about Vikings. He decided to avoid those; he couldn't well read for Jason if he couldn't read the book to himself. Though he guessed he could make it up as he went, which might actually be entertaining.
No, Sam wanted to be read to, so that's what he was gonna do. He might even try to teach him a few words as they went. Jason felt a small smile play at his lips.
As his eyes scanned over the wall of books, some stood out more than others. Spirits, rituals, and witchcraft: a basic manual for the theurgic craft doesn't really sound right. He walked a little further down before his eyes locked onto another book. Perfect.
Sam's eyes had lit up like he was looking under the tree on Christmas morning; he had become obsessed with the drawing in the book, the pictures too. They were fantastical and colorful. Clearly Vinter’s Illustrated Bestiary had been a hit.
The boy ran his hands carefully across the image of the bird they were currently reading about. The thing was massive, at least judging by the scale provided, with a wingspan of at least 30 feet. Its feathers were all the colors of the rainbow; some seemed to be made of copper. Arcs of lighting ran across its body and into the air around it.
“Woha, It's so cool!”
Jason put on the best narrator voice he could. “The anzu, this marvel of arcane biology, perches high in the food webs of the northern peninsula. Its vast capacity for the manipulation of electricity and lightning renders it one of the largest regulators of the lives of people. While it is far less combative than the proud fenrir, or the dread merrowsnatcher,” What the heck is that, “ Its impact is by no means subtle. For it is the Anzu that produces the Pulses of electromagnetism that rendered the wonders of electricity or digital computation on to naught in this brave new world.” It was fairly obvious that Sam wasn't really paying attention to the things being said, as much as the way it was being said, and even more so to the pictures in front of him.
Jason turned the page.
Sam shifted slightly beside him. “Mister Jason, what's that?” He pointed at the massive scaled beast on the page, with wings the size of small boats. The thing had four legs, not two, an important distinction at least in most fantasy. Jason was almost a little concerned the boy didn't recognize a dragon when he saw one.
Jason pointed to the word in large golden letters on the top of the page. “It says it right here. It's a little hard to read though. Do you think you can help me?”
Sam nodded eagerly. “So what's the first letter here?” Jason pointed at the D.
Sam looked at it for a bit. “An O?”
Jason kept his tone careful. “Are you sure? Maybe it's a” he started making the sound of a D.
“D!! It's a D?”
“Nice! Great Job, Sam. Will have you reading in no time.”
It took them ten minutes to read out the word dragon, but Sam was ecstatic about having done it.
The sun had long set when Jason felt someone shake his shoulder, rousing him from his sleep. Blinking open his eyes, he saw the book open on the table in front of him, and he could feel the sleeping form of Sam curled up next to him on the couch. Looking up through one half-open eye, he saw Jasmine smirking down at him.
“You know I did prepare the guest room if you needed a place to sleep.” She was whispering, keeping her voice low.
Jason rubbed his face with his free hand. “Sorry, we were reading and must have fallen asleep at some point; I really can't remember.” Looking around, Jason couldn't see Sophia anywhere. “Where's my sister?”
Jasmine nodded towards the kitchen. “She's in the kitchen studying. Seems she didn't want to disturb you guys.”
Julie had walked to the front of the couch and was lifting Sam up into his arms. “Thanks, Jason. But please do try having him in bed on time next time?” There was no heat in her comment; in fact, she sounded a little amused.
“Sorry, yeah, I'll remember."
Jasmine had walked around the couch and had picked up the book. “Vinters was a good choice. Amazing ecologist, a little too excited about going into areas that are functionally death traps. At least according to my mom. He has an odd writing style though.”
Jason blinked a few times. “Are you saying that's real?”
Jasmine just looked at him, her eyebrows slightly furrowed. “Yes, of course it is. Don't they teach you guys this in school?” She bit her lower lip before muttering mostly to herself. “No, why would they? The chains mostly kept it contained to the old country for the last sixty years.”
Jason stared at her. “So every fantasy creature is suddenly real now?” He deadpaned, doing his best to disguise the tension of disbelief in his voice. “Am I going to see camera footage of an Anzu outside New York next week?”
Jasmine giggled; she actually giggled a sound he couldn't remember having heard from her. “You probably won't see video of an Anzu; the cameras probably don't work if they're close enough to see it. And it's not all of them, and it's not sudden. Most of it showed up in the 40s/50s-ish.” She then continued. “Anyway, we can talk about that some other time; I should get you home. Unless you wanna sleep here?”
Jason's mind flashed back to the image of the Anzu and the dragon. Creatures that large shouldn't be able to fly, and yet according to text they could, and if they were real then… Jason decided not to think about it too much, at least for the moment. He was too tired, and had too little information to really understand it. Yet even as he tried to move on, one problem had lodged itself in his mind. All the dozens of creatures he and Sam had read about were named either after fantasy tropes or what might have been mythology. Yet the marrowsnatcher at least didn't seem to be. He had a sinking feeling that it was a good thing they had never reached that particular entry, or Sam might not have fallen asleep.
Jason shook his head. “No, I gotta help my dad with some stuff before school tomorrow anyways. Thank you though.”
Jasmine nodded. “Anytime you need it, Jason.” She held her hand out towards him. Because of course she did; the woman just could not stop herself whenever she got the chance. Taking the offered hand, Jason felt himself be lifted to his feet.
“I will go tell Julie we are gonna leave. Just give me a minute, and then we'll meet you by the car?” Jason had already started walking towards the kitchen as he heard Jasmine's acknowledgment. Yet as he entered the kitchen, he couldn't stop himself from casting one last glance at the copy of Vinter’s Illustrated Bestiary lying on the coffee table. His mind flashed back to the tapestry hanging in Jasmine's study, though he had a feeling his memory was playing tricks on him with how deep the shadows around it now seemed. The pikes had implied either desperation or that it was the only thing that worked. The armored vehicles had lost after all. What was gonna happen if those things spread?