“Wait!” Beau yelled, stopping the doors from closing as the rest of my friends pushed past the shocked doorman.
“Call the police!” I screamed again as the doors closed.
Inside the elevator, we were quiet, but it was far from silent. If anything, it felt like I was standing in a room filled with screams. When the car finally stopped, I nearly forced the doors open, racing into the hall.
Bodyguards stood on post. All of them knew me. All of them stiffened when I rushed close.
“Open the door!” I roared.
“We can’t—”
My fist stopped the rest of the words, and the man slumped to the ground.
Swinging around to the other guard, I was about to demand the same, but the door opened from the inside and every single man crowding the hall turned.
A woman wearing a midnight-colored cloak came out, the fabric billowing around her like there was some kind of force moving around.
The lights in the hall flickered, making an eerie buzzing sound.
Though her footsteps paused, the cloak still wafted around her. Gazing into the shadows of the fabric, I prayed I’d see familiar red lips and pale skin.
I didn’t.
I saw a woman who might have been beautiful if it weren’t for the pure evil in her stare.
Shock rounded her eyes before they glinted. “Intruders!” she declared, a bony finger appearing from beneath the length of the cloak to point with a coffin-shaped nail. “Get them!”
Chaos erupted, but I left it all behind, pushing into the familiar home.
“Ivory!” I screamed. “Ivory White, answer me!”
Silence echoed back, making my knees weak.
Racing around the corner, my foot collided with something small and firm. It skittered across the floor from the force of my kick.
An apple.
It wasn’t the only piece of fruit on the floor, though. There was more. A few oranges lay haphazardly around, a few stray grapes. Just as I stepped farther, my feet halted.
Strawberries.
Big, fat, brilliantly red strawberries were scattered everywhere.
In the center of it all was Ivory, sprawled lifelessly on the hard floor, lips no longer rose red but blue like death.
Falling to my knees, I bumped into another piece of fruit, a piece that was close to Ivory’s limp, open hand.
A polished apple missing a single bite.
She bit into that apple, not suspecting it had been poisoned. Poisoned by berries she likely hadn’t seen until it was too late.
Knocking away the offending fruit, I took her face in my palms. Images of my parents dead on the street tried to pull me under, tried to steal what little sanity I had left.
Fuck those taunts and fuck that panic. If I let them pull me under, then Ivory would be lost too.
“Ivory!” I shook her, watching her head loll to the side.
Not only were her lips blue and puffy, but hives marred her limbs.
Leaning down, I tried to listen or feel for breath. Brushing her hair away, I searched for a pulse.
It was so faint, so barely there that I would have missed it if I hadn’t felt a tiny beat of hope before the others rushed in.
“What happened?” Beau worried, dropping on her other side.
“Call 9-1-1! Now!” I roared, tilting her head back and using my finger to sweep her airway. “Find me an EpiPen. There has to be one somewhere!”
Security rushed in, but I paid them no mind, already administering CPR.
Please don’t die. Please don’t go.
Noise and people moved around us, but I remained focused on Ivory, on bringing her back.
“Here.”
An EpiPen was thrust under my nose just as I was going back in to give her more breaths. I glanced up, meeting Earth’s serious, stony eyes.
Knowledge passed between us.
There was so much I had to say to him… So much anger…
You don’t have time right now. Snatching the pen, I pulled it open, yanked up her shirt, and jammed it into her stomach.
I told myself to be gentle, but the fear was all too real. She’d likely have a bruise from how hard I pushed it in, but honestly, a bruise was better than a funeral.
Nothing happened, and a sound of immense frustration echoed around us. The pen slapped against a nearby wall, clattering to the floor, and I went back to CPR.
I was still working, sweat dripping off my forehead and slipping between my shoulder blades when someone pulled me away from her.
Glancing over my shoulder, I saw Earth, and I started to fight.
I fought like hell, trying to get free, trying to get back to her side. The sounds of my wheezing filled the room as I struggled. My lungs lacked air because I’d given most of it to her.
“Neo, the EMTs will help her now!” Fletcher said. His frightened honey-colored stare swam in front of me, brown hair falling over his forehead.
I blinked.
“Look,” Earth, said, swinging around to show me that the emergency responders were indeed surrounding Ivory.
I slumped, the fight leaving me instantly. I might have fallen if Earth hadn’t still been holding me up. But then the brevity of the situation slammed into me hard, and I yanked free, standing on my own two feet.
Beau was still on the other side, staring down at Ivory as the men worked.
“Is she…?” My voice shook.
“She has a pulse but is unresponsive. The sooner we get her to the hospital, the better,” someone answered.
Ivory was lifted off the ground via a stretcher, oxygen already strapped over her nose and lips. She was so small and fragile-looking but still so beautiful it broke my heart.
What have you done, Neo?
I should have been here. I shouldn’t have been such a coward.
“I’m coming with you,” I called, following behind them as we left the penthouse. One of the bodyguards opened his mouth, and I shot him a look that shut him up.
Out in the hall, a few of her guards were on the floor, nursing obvious hits they’d taken. Fletcher shifted from foot to foot at the elevator, holding it open for us.
I didn’t notice the woman until I had to step over her body sprawled in the middle of the hall, the cloak spread out around her like black blood seeping out of her. The hood fell back to reveal white-blond hair wildly framing a face that suddenly seemed older than before. The lines creasing her mouth and eyes aged her. Her lips were crinkled as if they’d spent much of their life being pursed in judgment. One hand had fallen palm up near her face, the fingers bony and wrinkled.
This woman thought she was a queen, but in reality, she was nothing but a wicked witch.
Over my shoulder, I sought Earth, knowing why seeing that woman made me also think of him but still unable to fully admit it to myself. “You did that?”
“She deserved it.”
I wouldn’t disagree.
“I’ll stay until the police haul her away.”
A fleeting thought of whether he should be here when the cops arrived filtered through my mind, but I pushed it down and followed Ivory into the elevator.
That wasn’t my problem right now.
Before the doors were even closed, I turned my back, reaching between the EMTs for Ivory’s cool hand.
All that mattered right now was her.
59
Ivory
* * *
Gray clouds filled the sky like thick smoke, an ominous warning something was brewing. Something sinister and inescapable.
Even as an innocent child, I felt the eeriness awash in the air. I felt it reach for my bones. But as any innocent child, I felt safe with my hand in my mother’s. With the smiles donning both our faces.
“That was the best show yet!” I declared. The fancy dress we’d bought just for this night out flounced around my knees.
“I have to agree,” Mommy said, blue eyes shining like jewels no jeweler would ever be able to find. At least that’s what
Daddy always said, that Mommy had the most beautiful sapphires in her eyes.
Her black hair was pulled loosely at the nape of her neck, a curtain of shining bangs making her eyes shine even brighter. Her dress was royal blue, the shawl around her shoulders custom created.
“I wish Daddy could have come with us,” I said as everyone made their way toward the front of the theater.
“Me too, sweetheart, but he had an important meeting. Next time.”
My daddy was always busy with work, but it was okay because it gave me and Mommy extra time together.
Stopping in the middle of the aisle, she leaned down so we were at eye level. “How about we get some ice cream?”
“Frozen hot chocolate!” I declared.
“Hmm, you drive a hard bargain.” Mommy laughed and then agreed.
On the way home, pride swelled in my tummy because I hadn’t spilled any of the frozen treat on my new dress, and we got to sit at the best table in the house.
“What show will we see next?” I called up from the back seat.
But mom didn’t answer. Instead, she was whispering with our driver.
“Mom!” I called out. “Mommy!”
Sudden bright lights shone into the back of the car, making me squint and turn. A car was so close to us it made me scream.
Bang!
My small body flung forward. If not for the seatbelt, I would have hit my head. Groaning, screeching metal and squealing tires filled the night, drowning out all the happy feelings and thoughts I’d been filled with.
“Mommy!” I cried, tears streaking my face.
“Get down!” Mom said urgently, her reassuring hand trembling as it pushed me down toward the floor. “Get down there and don’t get up.”
“But Mom—”
“Go on strongly despite the fear,” she whispered, lowering her face to mine. “It’s okay, peanut. You can do it. Everything will be okay.”
Nodding, I did as Mommy said, making myself small on the floorboard of the car as another crash made me cry.
“They’re trying to run us off the road!” The driver grunted, and the sudden jerking of the car made all the frozen hot chocolate I’d just drunk threaten to come right back up.
“Whatever happens, please save Ivory!” Mommy begged.
Thunder exploded overhead, drowning out everything else and making me shake. Lightning so violent and bright cracked down and lit the interior of the car.
It didn’t matter how loud I sobbed. The terrible raging storm drowned it out, and then the car was fishtailing, swerving all over the road, and a weightless feeling lifted me as though I were being sucked into a tornado and tossed around by the angry gale.
Pain radiated in my side when I hit the seat, and then I was tossed up, my head smacking against the glass…
Darkness.
Sheets of rain pelted the car, loud metallic booms waking me from my unconscious state. With the sky rumbling overhead, my body quaked as I pushed up, feeling sick to my tummy.
“Mommy?” I called out.
She was reaching out for me, her long, slender fingers extended between the seats. I grabbed onto them, not liking how unusually cold and stiff they felt.
Why didn’t they wrap around mine?
“Mommy,” I said, giving them a tug.
She didn’t respond. I sat up, and the tinkling of something falling drew my eyes. Diamonds littered the floor and my dress… everywhere I looked.
“Pretty,” I whispered, reaching for one of the jewels. “Ouch!” I cried the moment it pierced me, blood welling across my finger.
Not diamonds. Glass. Broken glass.
Calling for my mother again, I crawled between the seats, trying to see why she wasn’t answering.
She was hunched over the middle of the car, arm still reaching for me, dark hair covering her face. All her pretty skin was stained red. Drops of the deep color were splattered everywhere.
Screaming, I grabbed her arm and shook, ignoring that now my hand was smeared with red too.
“Mommy! Wake up! Wake up, Mommy!” I pushed her, and she rolled slightly, her body slumping into a new position.
My scream raged war with the pounding storm as her empty eyes stared straight ahead. Red streaks marbled her face, making her look like she was wearing some sort of scary Halloween mask.
“Mr. Tom!” I cried, looking to our driver, hoping he could wake Mommy.
A huge gash ran across his head, his face completely unrecognizable and more blood on his outsides than in.
Heaving, I fell into the back seat, vomiting everything in my tummy everywhere.
Crying, sniffling, and gagging, I pushed up, terrified by the storm, even more so by the death inside the car.
Across the road, light shone, streaking through the unrelenting rain like beacons of hope in the night.
“Help!” I screamed, beating on the window, feeling like I might throw up again.
The window slid down, and the storm seemed to clear just enough for me to see a woman staring back. A woman I kind of recognized but didn’t know from where. I yelled for help again, crying harder than before.
The window rolled back up, and they started to drive away.
A sick feeling I didn’t understand clawed at my already sore throat, but then the car turned back and I thought everything would be okay.
Instead of slowing, the car seemed to speed up, the headlights shining so bright I had to lower my face and hide my eyes.
Crash!
The car groaned and moved again, slamming into something hard and unforgiving. Suddenly, water started seeping in through every crack and crevice. Icy-cold drops forced their way in like an army, swallowing up everything inch by inch.
I screamed and panicked, all the private swimming lessons I’d had forgotten in a second. As I flailed about, water gobbled up the car, my limbs stiffening as cold wrapped around tendon and bone.
Breathing was nearly impossible, and my throbbing head made it hard to see.
“Mommy!” I gasped, the water weighing down the dress I’d loved so dearly. “Mommy, please wake up.”
Cough. Cough. Choke.
Water tugged at my mommy’s hair, swallowing it and pulling it under.
Her lips were blue, her eyes vacant.
But then her voice, a voice I would know anywhere, filled my head.
Go on strongly despite the fear, Ivory. Go out the broken window. Go!
I sobbed and cried, clinging to her prone fingers, not wanting to let her go, but wanting to do as told.
The car groaned, sinking a little deeper into the murky water that promised to have me for dinner if I didn’t escape.
With one last look at my mother’s face, I swam toward the window, holding on to her fingers until I couldn’t anymore.
Water swallowing me, I held my breath and pushed through the broken window, somehow forcing my way through the water. Pushing, swimming… leaving my mother behind in the grim abyss.
The rush of air and violent coughing ripped apart my throat. Mud clung to my exhausted arms and legs, anchoring me to shore.
Vaguely, I stared back, teeth chattering, mind foggy, seeing the car I’d just abandoned gobbled up and swept out of sight.
There was no strength left for me to scream or cry. But inside, I shrieked and wailed until everything was gone. My anguish, my trauma, the blood… all of it drained away, perhaps swallowed like my mother, sinking to the bottom of the gloomy river where it would lay forgotten…
Until now.
60
Neo
* * *
Ivory White lay still and motionless, inky hair fanning out across a snowy pillow, slender fingers linked, palms resting against her belly. Midnight lashes fanned across her cheeks. Red hives blotched what skin we could see, and a blanket hid the rest.
Even in sleep and trauma, she was more beautiful than anyone else, her pure and generous heart unmatched.
Four men stood soberly around a hospital bed, heads bowed a
s the sound of beeping monitors filled the silence. A normally snorting dog was also quiet, his head resting on the leg of the princess he’d grown to love.
Four misfits who trusted no one but each other, living in the middle of the Grimms behind a bunch of locks and defined by their crimes.
A goofy pickpocket who couldn’t keep a job, a grouchy bartender who didn’t like anyone, a recluse techy who barely looked up from his monitor, and a closed-off creative who wanted to love but was afraid.
She changed us all with just her presence. With her ridiculous words, screeching voice, and surprisingly kind acceptance.
We all loved her… But me?
I loved her most of all.
“What if she dies?” Fletcher suddenly wailed, sniffling, head hanging low.
“Don’t say that!” I snapped, the very thought causing too much pain.
The door to the private room pulled open, and a nurse dressed completely in white strolled in. “My goodness! What are you all doing in here?” She gasped. “Dogs aren’t allowed in the hospital!”
“It’s fine, Ellen.” A familiar voice made my face contort. “Just put an extra cleaning charge on the bill, and I’ll be sure to pay,” Ethan said smoothly, coming into the VIP suite right behind the nurse.
“But, I—” she argued, staring. No doubt, she noticed that we weren’t the normal type to be visiting someone in a VIP suite.
“These are her friends. They found her and brought her in time. If not for them, Ivory might be dead.”
The nurse’s eyes went wide, and she nodded. “Well, I guess if Ethan says you’re all welcome…”
Yes, because Ethan is her betrothed. Oh, the sour, unpleasant taste those thoughts released. Curling my lips, I couldn’t even hide my displeasure.
“It’s what Ivory would want.” Ethan’s voice was suave. In a surprising move, he gestured to me. “And this man is the one that Ivory loves.”
The woman gasped. “But I thought—”
Ethan chuckled. “Yes, everyone thought that because we allowed them to.” He agreed, winking at the nurse.
She turned to me. I felt my cheeks flush, but I didn’t deny it. I would never deny the way I felt ever again.
Ivory White : A House of Misfits Standalone Page 30
