Page 84 of Earth-Bound

Randall replied, “I don’t think so.”

“Could be dangerous.”

“Then why are you going?”

“Want to check our house.”

“Then I want to check our house, too.”

I saw Broadmire walking up the stairs and I only just managed to sit up and prop myself against the wall again before he reached me. I got the impression he’d just have stepped over me.

Randall, though, gave a little gasp and sank to his knees beside me. “Joe! You lookawful.”

“Thanks.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Some kind of spell.”

Broadmire moved along the landing, leaving me behind. He stood in the doorway of the master bedroom and asked, “What you doing to my floor?”

Randall shouted, “Broadmire! There are more important things to ask right now.”

Broadmire ignored his boyfriend. “Our floor’s important. What you doing to it?”

I heard Terrund, but couldn’t see him. I didn’t like that, so I asked Randall in a low voice, “Can you help me up?”

Randall was smaller than me and he didn’t look strong but he was a cook and he made a lot of bread and cakes, and he had surprisingly strong arms from kneading and beating and so on. Between us, we managed to get me to my feet and, with Randall propping up my shoulder and me leaning against the wall, I managed to walk to the doorway and look in.

There was a hole in the floor, about half a yard wide and yard long. Broadmire was standing one side of it and Terrund the other. They were both looking down into it.

“What is it?” I asked.

“An apple,” said Broadmire.

Terrund looked shocked and had his eyes rivetted to the hole. “It’s- it’smyapple.”

“You got specific apples?” Broadmire grunted.

“It’s the one Mulgrave plucked from my tree when I burrowed inside it. The last apple to be picked before he bound me and the tree together in tight spells.”

Terrund looked so confused and worried that all I wanted to do was hold out my arms and have him walk into them, but the pulsing malevolence of the spell was making my head pound. I could feel the waves of nausea rising up inside me like a slowly incoming tide, but I tried to swallow it down. I needed to be here for Terrund. I wanted to be beside him.

Broadmire said, “That apple’s fresh.”

I frowned. “It can’t be, not if it’s been here for ten years.”

Sure enough, as I got near enough to peer down between the floorboards, I saw that nestled below was a single apple. It was dark down there, and filthy with dust and grime and cobwebs, but the apple was still ripe, even though it had a layer of dust on it.

Terrund leaned forward, his hand outstretched.

Beside me, where he was still propping me up, Randall shouted, “No! Don’t touch it.”

We all paused.

Terrund asked, “Is it the source of the spell?”

Broadmire asked, “You getting your magic back?”

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