“Nay. Ever she speaketh truth.”
I wasn’t sure what to think about that, because the Witch lived inside his head, and he was the only one who could hear her. She was part of Gentry, but not Gentry.
“I’m pretty sure you’re worthy of a dog,” I said.
“Mayhap someday, but not this day, when it is still my labor to be worthy of thee.”
CHAPTER 33
Zee
I wondered if the push-ups Gentry did while I was sleeping were part of becoming worthy of me.
“Are you seriously doing calisthenics?” I said, when I woke up around midnight.
“’Tis not my custom to sleep at night.”
I couldn’t complain about it, because he was being quiet. Pant. Push. Pant. Push. Then he switched to sit-ups, and I fell back to sleep. I woke up later to this feeling that people were fighting. The sound of people arguing traveled the way no other noise did, but even when you couldn’t hear it, you could feel it, like static electricity from a thunderstorm.
“Gentry?” I said, but he wasn’t there.
I got out of bed and went to the door, not thinking about shoes or pants. With the door open, I could hear the sound of men raising their voices. Gentry was standing at the end of the hallway, to the side of the window that looked out over the front yard. When I went to him, I was groggy, and my arm bumped against his chest. He stepped back and let the curtain flutter closed.
“Sorry.” I backed up to give him more space, but he stepped forward, so that my arm touched his chest again. Then he put his left hand on my waist, in this very particular way that would have made me laugh in a different situation. Like I was a piece of equipment with a handle there.
He lifted the edge of the curtain, so we could look out. In the front yard, there was an old Lincoln Continental parked behind Gentry’s truck. A guy I didn’t know was leaning against the driver’s door, looking at his phone. Another guy with a beard was standing next to Gentry’s truck, arguing with Dane. The dog paced back and forth at the end of his chain.
I couldn’t make out what they were arguing about, but the guy raised his hand, gesturing to Gentry’s truck. Then he pointed his finger at Dane, almost in his face. Dane shook his head. They went through that a few times, the way meth heads do. Repeating the same gestures and accusations.
Finally the bearded guy smacked his hand on the hood of Gentry’s truck. The dog let out a low woof. Dane went on shaking his head. A minute later, the two strangers got into the Lincoln and backed down the driveway toward the road. Dane walked across the yard toward the trailer parked in the woods. Then it was just the dog standing by himself under the light of the single bulb that hung off the side of the barn.
I didn’t hear Uncle Alva stirring downstairs, so I guessed that was a regular enough occurrence that it didn’t disturb him. Gentry and I went back to the bedroom, but I was too awake to go back to bed. That was the effect arguments had on me. I went to the window and looked out at the side yard. From there I could see a light on in the trailer, but nothing else. I walked back to the middle of the room, where Gentry was standing with his arms crossed.
“Will you kiss me?” I said, thinking at least sex would be a distraction.
He uncrossed his arms and kissed me, but carefully, like he was thinking about something else. I paced around the room in the dark trying to work out the stiffness in my hip. Then I picked up my phone and went through the gestures. Checked messages. Looked at Facebook. Read some news websites. Watched a video of a baby pangolin to cheer myself up.
By the time I’d done all of that, my heart had slowed down, so I laid on the bed and closed my eyes, trying to think relaxing thoughts. There was something I’d meant to ask Gentry, but I couldn’t remember what it was. Then I saw it. Him on the porch, tilting his head like he was listening to a voice, but on the right. I opened my eyes, and looked at Gentry in the middle of the room, head down, scratching his shoulders with both hands.
“Who are you listening to on your right side?” I said.
“’Tis the black knight.” The way he said it gave me a chill. “He is ever at my ear when I joust. He helpeth me fight.”
“He told you to knock Dirk on his ass, didn’t he?”
“Yea. Art’ou wroth with me?”
“No. He deserved it,” I said. “I’m glad you did it.”
I closed my eyes again, wondering exactly how many voices were talking to Gentry. Sometimes he didn’t pay attention when people talked to him, but who could blame him with all that going on inside his head?
“The black knight told me I must trust thee,” he said.
“Trust me?” I’d never thought about whether anyone trusted me or not. I didn’t have any power over anyone, so what did it matter if I was trustworthy? Except for Marcus. I had to be trustworthy for him, but maybe I’d failed at that.
“Yea. The black knight said . . .”
Gentry walked over to the bed and rested the knuckles of his right hand against my thigh for a minute. Without even asking.
“He said what?”
“He said if we two would be bound together, I must trust thee.” He slid his knuckles up my leg until he got to the hem of my nightgown. I thought he might pull it down to cover me up. “That if my oath to thee was not idle words, I should lie with thee, and we would be bound together.”
“The black knight told you to have sex with me? As part of your oath?”
“Yea, my lady.”
I’d never thought of sex that way. Sometimes it was a chore, and a lot of times it was something to barter, like having a little money, even when I was broke. I relaxed my legs and Gentry pressed his hand between them, with just my panties separating us. I wondered, if we hadn’t had sex, would I have said yes to him coming to Missouri with me? Probably not, and I was glad not to be there alone.
“You want to come to bed and bond some more?” I said.
“Weren we elsewhere, somewhere safe, I would grind thee as a millstone grindeth grain to flour, but not here.”
I laughed, because he had the best dirty talk. Weird but filthy.
“No, probably not a good idea,” I said.
“Tho they be thy kin, my lady, I trust them not.”
Gentry was right. I trusted Dane about as far as I could throw him.
CHAPTER 34
Zee
In the morning, Gentry cooked breakfast. Omelets, hash browns, and biscuits that he made from scratch. I’d hoped it would only be Gentry, Uncle Alva, and me, but Dirk came up to the house as we were sitting down. He seemed excited at the idea of getting breakfast, and since Dane wasn’t there, he didn’t act stupid about Gentry cooking it. Uncle Alva had told me to wait til the morning to talk, so I hoped that was coming, but after he mopped his plate clean with half a biscuit and finished his coffee, he pushed back from the table.
“I gotta go into town for an appointment,” he said.
“How long will you be gone?” I said.
“I expect for a couple hours. Ain’t nothing changed since you was last here, so you make yourself at home.”
After they left, Gentry went upstairs to sleep and I wandered around the house. In the front room, Uncle Alva had the same record player that had belonged to my grandmother: an old console about the size of the couch. When I was a kid, there’d been a picture of my grandfather in his Klan robes hanging in that corner, but now there was just a square of wallpaper that wasn’t as sun-faded as the rest.
I looked around for some books, but all he had were old Reader’s Digest Condensed Novels. Since I’d already started it, I went out to the truck to get Yvain. The dog was sleeping, sprawled out like he was dead, but when I came down the steps, he jumped up and trotted toward me, dragging his chain.
“You mind your business, buddy, and I’ll mind mine,” I told him.
Out of curiosity, I took a peek behind
the truck seat at what Gentry had stored back there. The usual stuff, like a roadside kit and the jack, but also a chain mail shirt, an axe, and a sword. I unsnapped the strap that kept the sword in its sheath and slid it out halfway. Unlike the “real swords” he and Rhys and Edrard fought with, this was a real sword. Like the one that hung over his bed, but a lot smaller. Shiny and sharp and dangerous looking.
“What do you want anyway, coming around here?” Dane said behind me.
I slid the sword into the sheath and slammed the seat back into place. With one hand I grabbed my book and with the other, I pushed the lock button down on the door. When I turned around, Dane was right there, so that I had to sidestep to close the door. I didn’t often have to look up at people, but Dane was at least half a foot taller than me.
“Like I said, I needed to get away and see family.”
“You ain’t seen my dad for almost twenty years, but now he’s family? You know he had to find out from the prison chaplain that Leroy died. Y’all didn’t even invite him to his brother’s funeral.”
“That was my mom’s business. Not mine,” I said, which wasn’t totally true. I hadn’t tried to get in touch with Uncle Alva when Dad died.
“But here you are, coming around like you’re looking for something. What are you up to? You know he ain’t got no money. You can’t get nothing off him.”
“I didn’t come looking for money.”
“Right. You just need your family at a time like this.”
I took a step sideways, planning to walk around Dane, but he cut me off.
“Why don’t you get the hell out of here and leave us be?” he said.
“Because Uncle Alva asked me to stay.”
“Because he can’t see what you’re up to.”
“What am I up to?” I said. To show him I wasn’t afraid, I took a step closer to him. Sure, he was taller, but he wasn’t that much bigger than me. His hygiene wasn’t great, either. Between his BO and his breath, I wished I’d kept my distance. His eyes were red and raw looking.
“You’re stirring up trouble. Go on home and wait for the cops to find them two jailbirds and LaReigne.”
“Oh, you didn’t forget that my sister’s been kidnapped?”
“That’s your problem,” he said. “Ain’t nothing Dad can do about that. So you need to mind your own business, and stay outta ours.”
“Do you remember what my dad used to say? I was born on a Thursday, but it wasn’t last Thursday. Do I look stupid? People coming around at night. You up all night. The stink. The fact that you have fewer teeth than your father. Meth much? I don’t give a shit what you’re up to. Doesn’t interest me at all. I’m just here to talk to Uncle Alva.”
“You ain’t fucking talking to him! You need to go in the house, get that weird-ass boyfriend of yours, and get the fuck out of here.”
“Or what?” I said. “Are you threatening me, you peckerwood?”
“You goddamn right I’m threatening you!”
He was shouting by then. We were both shouting. He reached out and put his hand on my chest, pushed me until my back was pressed against the side of the truck. I lost my grip on Yvain, and the book landed in the gravel.
“You don’t get the hell off my property, I swear to god, you’ll wish you had.”
“It’s not your property,” I said.
“It will be. Old man ain’t gonna live forever.”
The things I wanted to say. I had a whole mouthful of them, but looking past Dane, I saw Gentry, more wild-haired than usual, coming across the yard, not even pussyfooting on the gravel in his bare feet. We’d woken him up. He was scratching his neck with his left hand, and his right hand was in a fist.
“Tell you what,” I said to Dane, wanting to end the argument before it got worse. “When your dad comes back, I’ll ask him what I want to ask him and then I’ll go.”
“Master Dane,” Gentry said, about fifteen feet away and still coming. Dane let go of me and turned around. “I will not allow thee to outrage thy cousin.”
“Fucker, don’t come at me. You gonna find out I ain’t a pussy like my little brother.”
“Come. Let we two fighten. I am ready to meet thee.”
“I ain’t gonna fight you, faggot.” Dane backed up to put more distance between Gentry and him, but Gentry closed the gap, so they were only a few feet apart. It worried me how Gentry kept his head tilted to the right as he looked Dane over, like he and the black knight were doing the math on how to fight Dane.
“Put thine hand upon the lady again, and I shall fight thee whether thou wilt or not.”
Dane took another step back, and Gentry took two steps forward. I put my arm out, not close enough to touch Gentry, but to signal him to back off. From what I could see, Dane didn’t have a gun on him, but I didn’t want to find out.
“I’m serious,” I said. “When Uncle Alva comes back, we’ll talk, and then I’ll go. You’re the only one trying to make trouble, Dane.”
He took a few more steps back, shaking his head. He pointed at me and then at Gentry.
“You—you better not fuck with me. You have your little chat with Dad, and then get the hell outta here.”
Dane kept backing up, like he was worried Gentry would jump him from behind. Then he finally turned around and headed toward his trailer.
“You okay?” I said, but Gentry didn’t answer. He walked around his truck, running his hand along it. I figured he was having a conversation with one of his voices, so I left him alone. He went around the truck a second time, and stopped at the rear quarter panel, a few feet away from me.
“Thou art well?” he said.
“Yeah. I’m fine. I’m sorry we woke you up.”
He squatted and picked up Yvain. After wiping the dust off on his T-shirt, he held the book out to me in both hands, like an offering.
CHAPTER 35
Alva
That damn girl looked just like my daddy, with that same wide mouth and wild copper hair. Built like she could hunt bear with a stick, she was like the ghost of my daddy in more ways than one. Come to call me to answer for my misdeeds, remind me of the obligations I needed to put to paid before I died.
With the land paid off and the boys grown, I wasn’t particular broke up at the idea of dying. I was ready to meet my maker and, knowing what Tess had went through, I wasn’t of a mind to put myself through that, no matter how bad the coughing got. All the same, I figured it was best to know how much time I had left to put things in order, so I gone to see my doctor.
After my appointment was done, I had Dirk drive me to the convenience store up the other side of the valley.
“Why you wanna go there?” he said.
“Because they don’t know me.”
“Why you need to go somewhere they don’t know you?”
“Just drive, boy.”
I swear, he was dumb as a box of hammers. I made him wait while I went into the store and bought a prepaid phone. Clerk was one of them Paki fellas. Wasn’t even sure if he spoke English, seeing as how he didn’t say a word to me. Took my money, gave me my change. When I come out, Dirk looked over at the phone package like he figured to ask me another stupid question, but he musta thought better of it.
The first call was the easiest. To a man I did six years with. Like me, he’d moved on after he served his time, but he hadn’t got himself as far away from Van Eck as I had. We spent a few minutes shooting the breeze til I worked my way around to telling him why I’d called.
“Maybe you heard what happened to my niece, who was took hostage over at El Dorado while she was volunteering,” I said. “I’m real worried about that, you can imagine.”
“I can. I can. Tell you what, I’m a mite busy right this minute, but I’ll call you back,” was his answer.
“I’ll count on that.” There wasn’t no good to come of talking o
n a landline, so I give him the prepaid number and we said our goodbyes. An hour later, the prepaid rang, and, like I figured, he had some idea of who I ought to call next.
Wasn’t a fella we served with, but one whose son I looked out for. Lost four teeth and took seventeen stitches from a guard to protect that boy, because Van Eck told me he was like a nephew to him. The boy’s father was somebody important in one of the big Arkansas conclaves. Nobody to mess with, but my lungs right on schedule fired up to remind me that being alive was mayhap a temporary condition. If somebody wanted to come around some night and shut me up from asking the wrong questions, they might be doing me a favor.
This fella, Janzen, he acted like he didn’t have no truck with me, til I was forced to remind him how I helped his son.
“I appreciate that but,” he said.
“But what? This my family I’m talking about. Just like your boy. I’m trying to make sure my niece is all right. See if I can’t negotiate to get her back without involving no police.”
“Negotiate?” Janzen said, and he seemed a mite more interested in talking to me.
“I don’t aim to get something for nothing, and neither do I aim to cause no trouble. I just wanna find my niece. That’s my late brother’s daughter.”
It gone on that way into the afternoon, til I was down to the last prepaid card I had.
“I’m gonna have to call you back,” said a man who wouldn’t tell me his name. He’d called me, got my number from someone else. Somewhere in there I’d spoke to someone who’d told me this man with no name was a Fury with a secret grudge against his Titan, who was married to the no-name man’s sister.
“Whatever help you can give it’d go a long way toward easing my mind,” I said. After I hung up from the Fury, I laid down to rest, but Dane come stomping through the house and pounding on my door.
“What the fuck are you up to?” he said, and walked into my room without an invitation. I knew he’d been cooking that crap and likely smoking it, as he had the stink of it on him. “Dirk said when he took you into town you bought a burner phone, and all afternoon you been shut up in here making phone calls. Who are you calling?”
The Reckless Oath We Made Page 22
