Aileen paused with her hand on the door. “Can you tell me one thing?”
“What?”
“What makes you think Sean is in the wall in the library? Are you guessing or do you know it is so?”
“I just know it.”
“Okay. I trust you. And just so you know, you can turn it off, the aura reading.”
“How?”
“You can call it at will and sort of push it away until you need it again. Like putting on a pair of glasses. Try to shift the focus of your eyes and then bring them back to the spot to sort of readjust. We can practice in the waiting room if you want. Let’s go at least rest a bit.”
Aileen opened the door and came face to face with Eric.
Eric pointed toward the waiting area. “Riley, your Mother’s arrived finally. She’s here with Fergus and Jay.”
Riley dashed toward the waiting room and paused when she saw her mother’s strained face and the light blue shimmer of her aura. Her mom opened her arms wide, and Riley fell into them and sighed against the feeling of safety that enveloped her.
“I’m glad you made it.”
“It was a long flight. Missed the last bit, but Peters will have to lump it.” Her mom was red-eyed and weary but still alert. She shot an encompassing glance around the room at Aileen and her family and back to Fergus and Jay who were chatting merrily with the nurse. “What happened exactly?”
“It’s all my fault. I think I made him have a heart attack.”
“Oh, love, no. Don’t talk like that.”
“Really, Mom, I upset him.”
“Oh, baby, it’s okay. Don’t be blaming yourself. Besides, he’s going to be fine. I’ve spoken to the doctor just before you got here.” She nodded at William. “The doctor just came out and told us Dad’s had a mild heart attack, not much damage, but he’ll be here for a few days. They want to make sure a worse one isn’t on its way.”
Aileen slumped down onto the chair beside William who smiled at everyone. Fergus and Jay stood behind Eric and started miming to one another. Eric tried unsuccessfully to prop himself onto the coffee table and knocked off a stack of books. He bent to pick them up and smacked his head loudly against the metal bar below the flat surface.
“Oh, Eric, are you okay?” Riley bent down to help him. He nodded and held his head.
“Clumsy.”
Behind Eric, Jay was jittery. He danced around a bit. “Pardons all around, but we’ll take our leave now that the good man is out of danger,” Jay said, bowing to the room in general, and turned back to the nurse as Fergus disappeared around a corner. “Sorry, he’s not much on hospitals.”
Jay waved a goodbye and headed off the way Fergus had left.
Riley introduced her mother to everyone and glanced nervously at Aileen and tried to raise her eyebrows high enough to keep her from talking about anything magic. Aileen winked at Riley and patted the seat beside her for her mom to sit.
“So, do you have any abilities?”
* * *
The colorless people, the ones without much to their auras as it were, could pass by without noticing Riley standing there against the wall beside the trashcan. Every now and again, a doctor would have faintly blue hands and a small smile. One nurse was almost as brightly blue as William. She pushed a cart with a tiny baby in it and winked at Riley as she passed. Everyone else ignored her or else didn’t register her existence.
From the corner where she had fled, Riley could see Aileen gesturing as she talked to her mom, who was bent forward. Her mom looked dazed. They had been talking for half an hour, crowding her and Eric out without acknowledging them much at all. Eric had gone outside and not come back in since the talks began.
Riley exited out the same doors Eric had used and pulled her hood up. The rain coming down was cold, but not freezing. She walked toward the parking lot and found him sitting in Aileen’s purple car.
She knocked on the back window where he sat leaning back with his eyes closed. He opened the door without looking and scooted over. Riley pushed back her hood and finger-combed her hair.
“Hey.”
He nodded, not opening his eyes. His greenness had dimmed slightly.
“So, how do you stop seeing colors?” Riley shrugged out of her coat and hung it over the front seat. “Your mom tried to explain.”
“You have to get your mind on something else, clear it so you can concentrate elsewhere.” Eric sat up and brushed his hair from his eyes. “We could practice some if you want.”
“Sure, yeah.”
Eric held out his hands palms up. “Put your hands here on mine.”
Riley warmed her hands first and slid them over his. His gaze drooped, and then his eyes popped wide open.
“Good. Now, close your eyes and see me like you did before, without the colors.”
She pictured him in the field when she had come back from projecting. “Okay.”
“Keep thinking of me.” His voice drew near, and Riley could feel his warm breath on her cheek. “Don’t open your eyes.”
His hands twisted, locking himself to her as he moved closer, threading his fingers with hers. His hair brushed against her forehead. She opened her mouth to speak, but his lips silenced her. Her eyes flew open and then closed as his mouth massaged hers. He pulled back, panting slightly, and she struggled to think.
“Do you still see colors?”
Riley nodded, disoriented. “Lots of them.”
“Let me try again, Miss.”
His lips moved over hers, softly skimming the sides of her mouth, and found her cheekbone, her eyelids, her ear. Riley couldn’t protest. Instead, she pulled him closer, freeing one of her hands and burying it in his hair. A guttural sound escaped his mouth and vibrated against her neck. “Miss,” he whispered close to her ear.
Riley could feel his heart pounding against her own chest.
“You’re ruining my constitution.”
Riley struggled to think clearly, feeling the silk of his hair corded through her fingers. She laughed. “Maybe it needs amending.”
“Motion carried,” he said and captured her mouth again.
17
Her mom was twisting her wedding band, winding it in a perpetual loop around the base of her finger. Her elbows were propped on the table, and she had shivered several times in the dim, cold kitchen.
Riley sympathized with her mother. She didn’t know what to do with her own nervous energy. She didn’t want to practice calling and suppressing her ability to see color and light around people. She was thankful that she had learned to control seeing it, though she hadn’t continued to practice drawing it out as much as she could have when she was in the car with Eric.
She put her hands on her cheeks as the blood that the memories called to her face warmed her from neck to forehead. She hoped her mother wouldn’t guess she what she had done. Her heart sped up, and she could almost feel the impression of his lips on hers. She felt ashamed of herself. She shouldn’t have let it happen, especially with her grandfather in the hospital. What was wrong with her?
Riley cleared her throat and heard a meow at her feet.
“You must be hungry, Belle. I’m sorry.” She broke off several pieces of cheese that had been left out and tossed them down to Belle.
She rested her head on her arms and looked at the loaf of bread sliced on the table in front of her where her grandpa had left it earlier. He must have come to ask her about lunch. Riley wanted to spill everything to her mother, but words failed her, balking on her tongue, refusing to form. If her mom was under whatever spell her dad had put on her, what was the use?
Riley got up and went over to the refrigerator to find something for Belle. There was a small tin of sardines on the top shelf. Riley couldn’t stop the tears falling as she carried the tin to the table. Belle jumped onto the bench beside her and lifted a paw.
“Here you go, girl.” Riley set the open container down in front of the cat. Belle sniffed the food before eating it. Riley realiz
ed she hadn’t eaten since yesterday, but she felt no hunger.
Her mom glanced at her phone. “We’ll go back in the morning. He should be up by nine.”
“Okay.”
“Did you want something to eat?”
“Not really.”
Her mom broke off a chunk of bread and played with it. She rolled it between her fingers and crumbled it onto the cutting board. “Me neither.”
Riley sighed. They had been sitting like this for an hour in their night clothes, neither able to sleep. She wavered between telling her mother everything or telling her nothing. She began to understand why her dad looked so haunted. She didn’t know if it was safer to involve her mom or not.
“You need me to show you around?”
“Maybe later. It’s late.”
“I know. It feels very spooky here tonight. Not a soul but us.”
“Oh, that reminds me. Someone must have been by earlier for you. They left a note,” her mom said, reaching behind her to the coat hanging on the back of the chair. She sifted through the stuff in her coat pockets.
“Oh.” Riley smacked her hand to her head. “I forgot all about that. Grandpa was having some people over for dinner. They must wonder what happened.”
“Here, this was on the floor by the door over there. Fergus and Jay? The two who drove me to the hospital?” She inclined her head and passed the card to Riley. “It says, ‘We’ll return’ on the back.”
Riley took the card. “Yeah, they were supposed to come help us move the books in the library. I forgot about that, too. I guess it was lucky they were here when you arrived.”
“Lucky.” She twisted her band. “Well, let’s hope they don’t come back until Dad’s home.”
She tried to smile.
Riley couldn’t think of anything to say.
“It’s almost Christmas,” her mom said, pulling another morsel of bread from the loaf. She popped that one in her mouth and chewed slowly. “I didn’t think we might be spending it here. I haven’t gotten another charm this year. Your father--”
“It’s okay.” Riley looked down at her necklace and back to her mother. Her mom was crying silently, her eyes closed, her lips pressed tightly together.
“It’s not important, Mom.”
“It is important. You don’t understand.”
“Really, it’s okay.” Riley reached across the table and took her hand.
“No, I have to tell you something.” She breathed deeply. “Your father sends the charms.”
Her mom flinched at her own words and pulled her hand away.
“I know.” Riley took her a deep breath. “He told me.”
“What? What do you mean he told you?”
“He’s here.” That wasn’t exactly true.
Her mom sprang up from her chair. “You’ve seen him? I thought he might be ... in trouble,” she finished, continuing to twist her band and stare at Riley. “When did you see him? He was here at the castle?”
“No, I went to him.” Riley pulled off her necklace and took off the key. “At the apartment.”
Her mom looked blankly at her. “You went to New York?”
“No.” Riley held out the key in her hand. “There’s something you should see.”
She concentrated. “Watch,” Riley said, and she was back in the apartment.
There was no light, except the glow from the microwave clock above the stove. Riley stumbled over something and flailed, almost falling until her shoulder hit the refrigerator, before she righted herself. She opened the refrigerator door and let the light cast its pall on the floor.
At her feet a man with hollow eyes lay motionless. Riley screamed. The body moved and bloody teeth come together to speak. Her mind flinched. Go.
“Riley!”
Her mom’s voice penetrated her scream. Riley dropped the key onto the table. It landed perfectly on its side, teeth facing down. She stopped screaming.
“What just happened?” Her mom was wide-eyed. She picked up the key like it was a serpent and flung it to the floor.
“I projected to the apartment, or a parallel one, rather. Dad made it for me, a place I could go to be protected. But that man was there. The one I stabbed.” Riley paced back and forth in front of the fireplace.
“Not possible.”Her mom grabbed Riley’s necklace off the table. She shook her head as if to clear it. Then she put a shaking hand to her temple.
“Mom, what are you doing?”
“I … I don’t know.”
“Mom, say something.”
Her mom shook her head again before meeting Riley’s gaze. “My father, your grandfather, lies in a hospital bed after having a heart attack. He may have another one, I don’t know. I couldn’t stop him from playing at this nonsense, but you are my daughter.” Her mom’s voice became shrill. “And I don’t want you to be part of it.”
She shook the necklace in her fist and pointed upstairs.
“We are going to bed, and then first thing, we’re going home.”
Riley watched her mother stalk out of the room. She leaned into the corridor and heard her mother’s heels on the stairs. Had her father’s spell kicked in?
The tears she thought would come did not. She realized she wasn’t even mad, just saddened. She was glad she had not told her mother everything, and she was thankful that Aileen had not mentioned how her grandpa had found her or what Riley had learned to do. She could only imagine how worked up her mom would be if she knew everything, if she could know it.
Riley glanced at the mantle. She concentrated as hard as she could and saw nothing. No grid, no red lines. If only she could find Sean, her grandpa would get better she was sure. Could she bring Sean back with her from a projection?
Riley took the stairs two at a time and reached the top panting. In her room, she grabbed Sean’s journal and placed it on her pillow.
There was a scratching at the door. Riley got up and let Belle in. The cat gave her an injured look and sprang to the dresser.
“If I don’t come back, tell Emma.” She watched the cat’s face for a sign of recognition. Belle blinked and yawned then jumped onto the bed beside her. “Okay, then.”
Riley freed Belle’s claws from her shirt and ran her fingers over the gold initials on Sean’s journal. She thought of the library as it had been in her projection, of Sean standing with his hand stretched out to her. She stood and lifted her hand as she had done to touch him before.
The air changed. Her breath curled out into wisps of smoke. The library seemed empty. She wriggled her toes, feeling something wet and thick, and looked down at her bare feet on the cold floor. A trail of mud led to the spiral staircase. Riley followed it out onto the balcony where a dusting of snow had covered everything in sight.
Sean stood, bare to the waist, his arms wide to welcome the flakes of snow landing on his body. His back was to her, his face to the muted sky. He turned as she stepped closer and smiled.
“My maiden,” he said and lunged unsteadily toward her. He put a hand on the griffin to his right and patted it. “Thanks, Smaed.”
“Sean.” Riley reached for him. “I need you to come back with me.”
“I knew you would come. Yes, I will come with you, far as the sky stretches, beyond the moon and stars. But speak it, and it is as you wish, my maiden of mist.” He bowed slightly and took her hand. He held it reverently, his thumb rubbing gently across her knuckles.
“For you, I would die.” His words slurred and ended with him leaning toward her.
“Are you drunk?” She summoned her seeing power to her and concentrated on his body. A prism of color reflected off of him. She held his gaze for a moment, entranced at the pure light shining there and around his head. He smiled at her and pulled her hand to his chest.
“It beats only for you, maiden.” He kissed the back of her hand and then briefly touched his lips to her wrist as he turned her hand over. “Give me your name. I would know you, my savior.”
“Riley.” She heard her
voice come out breathy and thick.
“Riley,” he repeated and pressed his cold lips to her palm.
She shivered at the contact, her skin reacting to his mouth and the gentle drawing sensation his lips created. He pulled her to him, holding her against his cold chest. He stroked her hair and sighed. When his breath stole over her ear, she shivered again.
“I’ve longed for you, Riley, dreamed of this embrace since first I saw you. I knew you would come back to me. I saw it happening, a vision of this moment.”
“Sean.” Riley tried to break away. “We need to go.”
He kissed her hand again, hard, lingering to plant soft kisses in slow motion, until his breath came in shallow gasps. Riley struggled to take control of her senses. Sean pulled her hand up to his cheek. It was wet, whether from snow or tears, Riley couldn’t tell. His eyes begged as he said, “Take me with you now. I have no more ties to this world.”
The snow began to fall faster.
“It’s beautiful, these crystals, a rare and beautiful thing for this moment.” He gestured to the same fields she had seen in her time. His gaze locked on hers. Riley nodded.
The window behind them slammed against the stone. They turned together, Sean pushing her behind him. He faced the man. Riley gasped. Him.
“I know him. Sean, we need to go.” Her nightmare was in front of her. He looked different, but it was him.
Sean’s words were sharp as he faced Brown. “What do you want?”
Brown stood in a dull relief from the light within the library. The protective gesture caused Riley to think guiltily of Eric and what they had shared. She shook it off. She had to help Sean and herself.
“What’s this tryst, Donahue?” Brown strutted toward the griffin, pushing a billowing cloak out behind him and laughing. “I didn’t know you had a whore here in your father’s keep.”
Riley held on to Sean and tried to imagine her room in the castle, but something was blocking her. Panic was making it hard to think.
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