by Liahona West
Realizing his blunder, Graham put his hands up. “Hold on. Let me explain. He wanted to come, and I tried to stop him.”
“He’s in a damn wheelchair,” Bannack said. “You don’t have to do much to make him stay where he is.”
“Believe me,” Graham gave a nervous chuckle, “if Seth doesn’t want to stay put, he won’t. So, he threatened to reveal my secret identity to his mom unless I helped him sneak out, said he was tired of being trapped and wanted to stand up to his mom. I took him with me.” Graham shrugged.
“Ugh.” Bannack rubbed his forehead with two fingers. “Okay. Seth found an entrance?”
“It was a gate, vines in front of it, that opened up to a cave. When we walked past, trying to find a place to hide, he could feel the cold draft coming from it. We followed the path, and it led us through the cave system. On the other side was a small valley and a farmhouse. We didn’t know anyone lived there at first, but we later met the family that occupied it. We chatted, and in our conversation about finding a solution to our Joy problem, he mentioned that he knows of something that will flip the tables in our favor.” Graham paused, blinked, and looked at Soora. “Where is Eloise, by the way?”
“She’s sick,” Bannack said.
Graham rubbed his face and looked at the ground. “I wish I had gotten here sooner. Henry’s a good guy. He worked with Eloise’s parents back in the day and knows about the nanites and how they work. He mentioned Eloise is the key, but he wouldn’t expand on it. I do know that he asked for Eloise specifically, so if you want to learn more about how to defeat Joy, she has to go.”
Bannack grumbled. Moving her might make things worse, but then a thought occurred to him and he looked at Graham. “You talk of Seth as if he’s still alive.”
“Yeah. He is. The kid’s strong.”
“I don’t understand.”
Graham smiled. “I do love a good surprise. You’ll see when you get there.”
Bannack looked at Soora. “What do you think?”
“You have to take this chance. I trust Graham’s information and if he says it’s good, then it’s good. I’ll pack some extra supplies for Eloise, but I’d listen to Graham. You have to go if you want her to get better.”
Nodding, Bannack eyed Graham. Instinct told him to distrust the man in front of him, but he seemed genuine, so Bannack extended his hand.
Graham shook it, and Bannack said, “Thank you for your efforts. I need a map.” He turned to Soora. “Tell Sibyl and Luke to be ready for traveling. We leave in a few hours.”
***
The map Graham had drawn led them straight to the secret entrance. It took longer than expected to get there because they had to navigate the forest while pulling Eloise on a small cart. By the time they reached the cave, all of them were sweaty and tired.
After taking a brief break to make sure Eloise was comfortable, Bannack lifted her into his arms because the cart didn’t do well on the rocky floor of the cave.
She laid her head on his chest. “How much further?”
“We’re almost there. It’s just on the other side of this passage.”
Since Eloise had gotten sick, she alternated between sleeping for days and having energy to do basic tasks. Her body had grown small, different from the power she used to have, and it made Bannack’s heart sick.
Henry better have something good.
Sunlight blinded Bannack as they walked out of the darkness. Graham had been correct in classifying where Henry lived as a valley. Tall cliffs surrounded them, littered with sparse trees or dense forest.
“Henry’s house should be just beyond this hill,” Bannack said.
Bushes rustled behind Bannack. The hair lifted on his arm, sensitive to the light breeze rolling through the gnarled trees and he reached for his sword, shoulders tight.
A little girl with braided pigtails, welding goggles strapped to her forehead, and a double-barrel shotgun pointed straight at them stepped from the bushes. The girl couldn’t have been more than nine. Her wide eyes darted through the group, chest heaving and hands trembling.
Eloise whimpered beside Bannack and crushed his fingers in her grip. Her strength surprised him. For a moment, Bannack considered pulling away to ease the pain, but then he saw her face. Her typically fair skin had turned ashen, as if her body was preparing to faint, and she stared forward, eyes glossy. She didn’t move; short, gasping breaths made her chest heave in jerking movements.
Bannack glanced at the little girl again, trying to figure out what had Eloise so terrified. The entire group stood together in a tense moment, but Eloise’s rigid body and Bannack’s numb hand hinted at something far more serious.
“Hey,” Bannack whispered to Eloise, nudging her with his elbow. “What’s going on?”
“Th-the…it-it’s her…that thi-thing.”
“What thing?” Bannack, his eyebrows knitted together, blinked at the little girl. A tremor passed through Eloise and the ripples of the movement crossed into Bannack’s arm. She shuddered twice more and tried to shrink into Bannack’s body. He asked, “The gun?”
Eloise nodded. Her hands, knuckles white, clutched at her chest. “I-I can’t breathe.”
“What are you doing here?” The girl asked, her face scrunched in anger and a hint of fear. She pointed the gun at each person. When it scanned past Eloise, she stiffened against Bannack again. He wrapped his arm around her and applied pressure, hoping he could alleviate some of Eloise’s fear.
“We’re here to see Henry,” Bannack said, holding out his free arm in the hope the girl would lower her gun. He had no way of knowing if her weapon was loaded. Guns were so rare because finding or making bullets proved to be difficult and she most likely had it for shock factor. If fired, the gun would launch her backward and he didn’t want to take the chance.
“Do you know who he is?” Sibyl said. She had crouched low in the tall grass just as the little girl appeared, but now stood. “We won’t hurt you.”
The girl squinted at Sibyl. “Those weapons make me think you’re lying.”
“We’ll put…put them away,” Luke said and sat down.
Both Bannack and Sibyl set their weapons in the grass, and the little girl relaxed.
But Eloise didn’t. She shrunk. The scent of pine, of her, wafted from the top of her hair as the wind moved through it and Bannack’s mind drifted. He wished he could take her somewhere away from her triggers and the danger that shadowed them. He lowered his head to the top of hers, pine scent becoming more pungent, and inhaled.
The girl stepped forward, lowering the gun. Her pigtails swung just above her shoulders as she pointed at Sibyl. “You’re her!”
“Excuse me?” Sibyl asked.
“The one in all of the drawings!” No one moved, and the girl grumbled impatiently. “Come on. I’ll show you…My name’s Alice, by the way.”
Eloise wouldn’t move. Even while the rest of the group disappeared from sight, Eloise remained frozen.
Bannack called out to Sibyl and Luke following Alice. “We’ll catch up with you guys.”
Luke waved his hand in the air without turning around.
Bannack turned to Eloise. “Alright. What’s going on?”
“The gun.” Eloise croaked and her grip around Bannack’s waist tightened.
He knew. The day Ada died. For her to react so adversely to the gun in Alice’s hand, the day had to have traumatized her so severely; she froze like a deer in the headlights at the mere sight of one.
“Because you saw it?”
Eloise’s face rubbed against his neck, buried against his skin, when she shook her head. Her hair cascaded down her back in a deep red waterfall. “Because she pointed it at me.” Eloise looked up at him. “At all of us. I thought-thought she would use it.”
“We must follow them.”
Eloise sniffed, then nodded.
She pushed away from him, moving her hair from her eyes, and tripped over a
rock. Bannack watched her fall on her knees, unable to catch her in time, and the sob she let out tightened his chest.
Bannack didn’t think. Only acted. He stepped behind her and picked her up from the grass, hearing her gasp under her breath.
“Breathe deep, Elle.”
Eloise pushed gently on Bannack’s chest and he released her.
“I’m fine.” She walked away.
“You are not,” Bannack called after a beat. “You can see the demons. Your chest hurts. Like an anvil is sitting on top of it. Your mouth is dry.”
“Go away.”
He knew she didn’t mean her words. They were from a place of pain, the gun triggering more than just memories, and she became hostile. It was the nature of what she struggled with. “Please, Elle,” He held out his hand. “Let me help.”
Eloise stepped away. She shook her head. A combination of fear and anger spread across her face.
Bannack jogged to stand in front of Eloise. “They cannot hurt you anymore. The men who…” He wanted to finish his sentence, but he saw the cringe of Eloise’s shoulders and dared not finish. “Do you understand?”
She turned her tear-stained face toward Bannack. “Yes, they can! Every time I close my eyes, every night, I see them. They are everywhere. Haunting me!” Eloise stepped back. “The nightmares…you can’t make them go away!”
He hurt for her. All the pain she carried on her shoulders. It had to ache.
He took a step forward, his arm reaching. “But I can help. Please, Elle, I want to understand.”
Eloise’s body tensed. “You can’t fix me, Bannack. I’m broken. I’ve always been broken—and don’t look at me like that!” Eloise cried, tears falling onto her chest.
“Listen to me,” Bannack said. He relaxed his face, reached for her hand but paused, closing it into a fist, and dropped it back at his side. “How long are you gonna let it eat at you until you pull out those knives and fight back?”
“I—you—” Eloise fumbled through her words, eyes glistening with tears, and huffed at him.
Bannack covered her trembling body with his arms. She cried into him. Shaking and weeping, tears soaking through to his skin, warm and full of long-hidden emotion.
“Oh, Eloise,” Bannack whispered and kissed the top of her head. “What I would not give to take this all upon myself. We are going to fight this. I promise, no matter what happens or what you do, you will never loose me.”
Chirping of birds in the spring weather came from all around them, and they both stood underneath the old, gnarled boughs of the apple trees that creaked in the wind. The sweet yet crisp scent of tree-ripened apples hung in the air. The sun drifted across their bodies.
Eloise’s cries grew quieter. Then she sighed.
As he held her, Bannack felt the release spread through her entire body like a gentle wave. It began at her shoulders. Her arms around his midsection relaxed. Yet, he held on to her.
“Thank you, Bo,” Eloise said against his chest.
“Akoma.” Bannack clasped her cheeks in his hands. Eloise’s lips parted ever so slightly, igniting a fire inside his core. “I love you.” He brushed her face, cradling it in his hands. “Every single imperfect blemish, demons and scars be damned. I cannot promise if there will be a tomorrow or five minutes from now, but I vow to you. All of who I am belongs to you, my akoma mu tɔfe. My sweetheart.”
He surveyed her eyes, searching for an answer. Eternities passed in her calm expression until she attempted to speak with her mouth. But no words came. The pounding of his heart was too loud.
Her lips found his, so fierce and smooth. Then her arms were around his neck.
He knew, at that moment, he would never leave her or give her reason to doubt. He would hold onto her for eternity.
His woman.
His goddamn dangerous woman.
CHAPTER THIRTY
Eloise
The house Eloise and Bannack walked into was well-maintained and decorated. Vibrant house plants were nestled in a few corners of the home and set upon several surfaces, the décor was mostly handmade, dishware was stacked in a metal dish drainer next to a sink of water, and the furniture, despite having a few nicks, tears, and stains, were all in decent condition.
In the center of the living room, looking as if he had become one with the creaking rocking chair, sat a tall, tan, middle-aged man with a shawl draped around his shoulders and streaks of grey in his long braid. Tribal tattoos peaked out from his rolled-up sleeve on his right arm. Sibyl knelt in front of him, her upper body in his lap, weeping.
As Eloise walked further into the room, hesitant and confused, she saw a woman, raven haired and stocky, standing at the stairs with both hands over her mouth. Tears poured down her cheeks.
“My girl,” the man said, and his voice wavered. “My darling little girl. You’ve finally come back to us.”
“Daddy.” Sibyl nuzzled her face into his chest then peered over his shoulder and stood, holding her hands out to the woman at the back of the room. “Mom.”
Sibyl’s mom made a shaking noise of relief and rushed to her daughter. They sunk to the floor, Sibyl’s mom brushing the hair from her face. “Is…is it really you?”
“Yeah,” Sibyl said and laughed.
Eloise couldn’t help but smile. Her body coiled tight from excitement and joy. For as long as she knew Sibyl, she had mourned the loss of her parents and now that she had them back unexpectedly, Eloise struggled to keep her own eyes dry watching the reunion.
Bannack cleared his throat and Sibyl’s dad turned. His eyes were colorless and clouded.
Blind? Sibyl never told me.
Alice didn’t skip a beat in offering introductions. “Daddy. These are the other two people I was telling you about. One is a tall man named Bannack, and the other is a short, skinny woman named Eloise. He has ice blue eyes, like how yours used to be, and likes to carry a sword at his right hip. She has red hair—but not red like a carrot. Red like…”
“Copper,” Eloise helped.
“Welcome to our home. My name is Henry Marchant. Charlotte is with Sibyl, and you’ve already met my daughter, Alice. Please, sit down.” When the man spoke, his voice was calm, intelligent, as if he had seen a thousand lifetimes, and youthful.
“You’re Sibyl’s family?” Eloise asked.
Henry became emotional again. “Yes.”
Until then, Eloise’s gaze had been transfixed upon Henry’s face, but she broke from him and glanced to Sibyl. Tears lined her brown eyes. She held a leather-covered wooden box her mom must have given her.
“How? I mean, she thought you guys were dead.”
Charlotte sniffed. “We looked for years, even after Alice’s birth. It broke our hearts to stop looking for you, but Henry’s eyesight loss forced us to slow down. We settled here, at this little farmhouse, hoping we were close enough for you to find your way home.”
“I can’t believe it,” Eloise said, sitting on the love seat next to Bannack.
“Neither can I.” Sibyl hugged her sister. “It’s like this is all a dream.”
“What is in the box?” Bannack asked.
“Me,” Sibyl smiled.
Intrigued, Eloise leaned forward. Sibyl knelt at the coffee table and the box made a gentle, wooden clunk as she set it down. She lifted the lid. Paper upon paper of different sizes, textures, and colors expanded higher than the rim of the box like a child’s pop-up book. “These are my mom’s drawings of me.”
Charlotte grabbed the top paper, a charcoal drawing of a little girl in a sundress dancing in a field, her black, double braided hair bouncing around her shoulders. “We used a lot of these to post on trees, hoping people would see them, but once we had no word, I collected as many as I could and put them in this box. Others I drew so I wouldn’t forget you.”
Sibyl stood and hugged each of her family members. “I accepted you were dead a long time ago, but I never dreamed you would be here, wai
ting for me.” She looked at Eloise. “I even have a kid sister!”
Eloise chuckled. “I’m so happy for you!” She turned to the blind man. “Henry, I don’t mean to sound intrusive, but how—”
“How did I become blind?” Henry offered.
“Yes.”
“It happened when I got sick. We have no ability to visit a doctor nowadays, but I’m fairly certain I contracted glaucoma. There’s a history of it in my family.” Henry tilted his head as if he were listening for something far off. “Don’t be afraid to ask questions, Eloise. I don’t mind.”
“Well, then,” Luke rubbed his neck, “we have many.”
Eloise chimed in. “Starting with how do you know my parents? Why do you know so much about the nanites? What information do you have that’s so important? And where’s Seth?”
“I was a scientist on Joy’s team. They—she, your parents, and the other scientists—worked for years on the Nemosyne project. It was in its tenth year by the time I joined them. We were so young and bright eyed. I believe your parents were dating then.”
Eloise smiled at the idea of her mom and dad living a normal life.
“We worked side by side for years, trying to perfect Nemosyne. Once we felt it was ready, we applied for FDA approval through drug trials. But it never got that far. Nemosyne always had something wrong with it. Seth got sick shortly after the third denied application. At that point, Joy went off the deep end.”
Henry shifted in his chair and cleared his throat, eyes glistening. Talking about the past seemed to affect him more than Eloise realized. “Your parents were extremely intelligent, and they suspected something would go wrong. In secret, they created another Nemosyne and used their DNA to craft it. I wouldn’t fully understand how that decision would change everything until years later.
“When you were in the accident and your condition worsened, your parents first went to Joy, but she refused to help. Desperate, they came to me. I helped them steal a vial of serum to inject you with it, which was their idea—”
“Wait, wait,” Eloise held out her hand. “You were the one who gave me the serum?” At Henry’s nod, her hands lifted to her scalp and she ran her fingers slowly through her hair as she exhaled. Anger built in her stomach, making it queasy. “That lying—Joy told me she did it.”
