“Is everything all right?” she asks, and sips a cup of coffee while sitting on the couch.
“Yeah, I, uh, couldn’t find anything.”
She pauses, mid sip. “It’s a video store, Austen. Were they out of movies?”
I flush. “No, just ones we haven’t seen before.”
She sighs. “Then you get to explain to grandma and grandpa while your brother and sister are bouncing off the walls with nothing to do.”
Chapter 13
The next morning, I ambush Mom in the bathroom after her shower. “Can I come with you to see Dad?”
She pauses, her brush still tangled in her hair. “They’re moving him downstate this morning, remember? I think you should stay home.”
With a huff, I plop down on her bed. “Come on. I can handle it.”
She pinches the bridge of her nose. The shadows under her eyes are deeper than before. “You shouldn’t have to. You’re still a kid.”
“I’m seventeen, that’s almost an adult.”
“I need you to stay with your brother and sister.”
I trace the abstract red-and-blue design on her bedspread. “But I want to see Dad. Please?”
She sighs at my whiny tone. “Fine, but you have to call Grandma and Grandpa and make sure they can watch them.”
Without another word, I race out of the bedroom before she can change her mind.
***
“Are you sure you want to do this?” Mom asks when we pull into the hospital’s parking lot.
My head bobs up and down. “Definitely.” I can’t explain the pull I feel to talk to Dad. I miss him of course, but there’s something else, too. It’s like he and I share this big secret, one that no else, except Ian Phoebe, and Danny, know about, and I can’t wait to ask him about it. “I miss him so much.”
“I know you do, honey.” She ruffles my hair. “Let’s hope he’s feeling better this time.”
A different doctor, this one an older woman in her fifties named Dr. Henigan, greets us outside his room.
“Mrs. Gillet, I’m so glad you’re here. He’s awake and I’m sure he’d like to see you.” She gestures to his room.
My dad lies on his hospital bed, lightly covered by a thin, white blanket. He’s not restrained any longer, and his face is relaxed, almost peaceful. The bruises are still there, but many of them have already started to transform into an ugly brownish green.
Mom perches on the chair next to his bed and strokes his cheek. “Can you hear me?”
He blinks and then focuses on our faces. “Who are you?”
A chill runs through me. He looks so confused, so lost. What happened to him?
Some of the fogginess clears from his eyes. “I thought I told you to leave.”
“We came to see you,” Mom answers. “We miss you and want you to get better.”
His hands clench into fists and my mom flinches. “I can’t. Not after what I’ve done. I killed her.”
My mom gasps, her hand flying to her lips. “Are you talking about Hilary? That’s impossible!”
He scowls. “If she hadn’t been so damned persistent, she’d be alive. I should have told her no.”
Dr. Henigan knocks on the door. “Mrs. Gillet?”
Mom stands up and gives Dad one more glance before turning away from him. “Is there something wrong?”
“I’m sorry to bother you, but I have the transfer papers ready for you to sign. Do you have a minute?”
Mom’s eyes search mine. “Sure. Do you want to come with me?”
I shake my head. “No, I’m fine. I’ll stay here with Dad.”
For a few seconds, she looks like she’s going to force me to come with her, but in the end she sighs and follows the doctor out into the hall.
After she disappears from sight, I take her spot in the uncomfortable chair next to Dad’s bed. “You didn’t kill Hilary, did you?”
His eyes clear and pain washes over his face. “No, but it was still my fault. If it weren’t for me, she’d still be alive.”
Relief floods through me. Even though I knew Dad couldn’t have been responsible for Hilary Crum’s death, at least now he’d said it himself. “What were you doing with her? The police asked if you . . .” I hesitate to voice their accusation, as if that would make it more real. “Were having an affair.”
He shakes his head vehemently. “They’re insane. I love your mother. Hilary was a reporter. A damn good one, too. She knew something strange was going on here and started poking around. I told her to stop, but she wouldn’t listen. That night, she met me at the office and demanded to know what’s going on.” He stares at his bruised and scratched knuckles. “I gave in. I said I’d tell her everything, but we had to leave Misery Bay first. It’s too dangerous there. I told her I’d take her to someplace safer, and I’d tell her the truth.” He lets out a hollow, anguished laugh. “And it got her killed.”
His fierce gaze fixes on mine. “It’ll get you killed, too, if you don’t let it go. My parents taught me well, I knew someone would come eventually.”
“What are you talking about?”
His hands clench into fists so tightly his knuckles turn white. He gulps. “The monsters. They always come back. Listen to me. No matter how far you think you can run, it’s never far enough. They will always find you.”
I hesitate, chewing on my lip. “I know about the portal.”
He grabs my hand and squeezes it so tightly I have to fight to keep from wincing. “Who told you?” His strength surprises me because of his injuries.
“I found it by myself.”
He shakes his head. “That’s impossible. You couldn’t have.”
“But I did.” I glance at the doorway again, waiting for my mom to materialize, but she doesn’t. “You came through the portal, too, didn’t you?” What did Ian call himself? “You’re a traveler.”
My father’s hands tremble. The monitor by his side starts beeping erratically. “No. No. No. No. No. That’s impossible.”
I gently pat his shoulder. “Please calm down. It’s okay. I want to help you.”
He slowly relaxes into the bed again. “You can’t help me, no one can. I have to pay the price.”
“What price?”
One of the nurses pokes her head in. I smile encouragingly at her and she glances at Dad before withdrawing.
He shakes his head. “We shouldn’t have come here. We never should have come here.”
“Who’s we?”
Dad’s eyes beseech mine. “Promise me something.”
“Dad, you’re scaring me.”
“Promise me you’ll protect your mom and brother and sister.”
“From what?” Fear rises inside me, like the sour taste of bile before I’m about to throw up.
“Not all monsters have fangs, or teeth, or claws. Some walk on two legs, and they all come out when darkness falls.”
Is he talking about Ian? He can’t be. Ian would never hurt me. Maybe he means Phoebe’s brother. Danny has often seemed on edge and angry, but that could be this place.
“Misery Bay tends to have this polarizing effect on people. They either love living here, or they hate it.”
That must be it.
“Stay away from the lighthouse, too,” Dad begs. “There are dangers there, and I don’t want you to get hurt.”
“Are you talking about Ian? He’d never hurt me.” My face burns at the memory of his kiss.
My dad doesn’t hear me, though. His eyes roll back in his head and he starts convulsing. This time, there’s nothing I can do but step aside when the doctor and nurses rush in.
***
After we leave the hospital, Mom drops me off in the diner’s parking lot.
“I need to pick up a few things from the store, and then I’ll be right in,” she says.
I say okay, but I don’t think she really hears me. Her eyes have this faraway look, and her fingers drum on the steering wheel, almost as if she’s anxious for me to leave. After she pulls aw
ay, I wave good-bye. She doesn’t respond.
I sigh and turn back to the diner just as a small brown figure darts through the empty lot across the street. I pause and scan the tall brown weeds waving lazily in the sun but don’t see anything. I must be hallucinating. Too much stress will get the best of anyone. I give up and decide to go inside when the tiny shadow pokes his head out from behind one of the bushes. “Nico?”
I hurry across the street, barely glancing to make sure I don’t get creamed by a car. On the other side, the boy shuffles forward into the dappled sunlight, and I get a good look at him. He’s wearing the same canvas pants and brown tunic belted at his waist, but they’re much more ragged now, dirtier, and ripped in a couple of places. He’s skinnier, too. His face gaunt and haggard, and his eyes have a hungry, haunted look.
“What are you doing here?” I ask, forgetting for a second that he can’t understand me.
He tries, though, saying something in what I now know is ancient Greek. I shake my head, frustrated, wishing I had some sort of translator. I scan the empty lot but don’t see anyone. Good. This one would be impossible to explain without getting committed to an asylum.
“It’s okay.” I put my arm around his shoulders and lead him to a spindly lilac bush. “We’ll figure something out.” I find a grassy spot at its base and gently push Nico to the ground. “Stay here. I’ll be back in a minute.”
After he does what I ask, I hurry to the diner. Four cars sit in the parking lot: two Fords, a Nissan, and a Jeep. Phoebe’s Jeep.
Inside the diner, my mom’s friend leans against the front counter, sipping from a cup of coffee. “Good morning.”
“Hey, um, I was wondering if I could ask you a favor.”
She snaps the top on her coffee. “What do you need?”
“Your car. I, um, forgot something at home and was wondering if I could borrow your car and go get it.”
“Do you want me to drop you off at home?”
I chew on my lip. “No, I have to come back here and work.”
“Where’s your mom?”
“She’s following the ambulance downstate. I’d go, too, except she needs me here.”
“Fine. Just hurry back. I don’t want to stay here all day.”
I mumble thanks as she lobs me the keys to her Jeep. “I will.”
She scoops up her cup and saunters to a booth in the corner.
Once outside, relief fills me when I spot Nico still crouched alongside the building. “Come on,” I say, and gesture for him to follow me. It takes a bit of coaxing, but eventually I lure him into the backseat of Phoebe’s car. He curls up on the floor and makes a small squeak of surprise when I start the car.
“It’ll be all right.” I pat him on the head, but he’s shaking so much I don’t think it helps.
As we get closer to the lighthouse, my worry for Nico grows. What will Ian do with him? I hope he doesn’t want to send him home. From what I saw, Nico had a pretty miserable life in his own era. Here he could get an education, an actual home, and everything else that he wouldn’t have access to otherwise.
I pull down the driveway to the lighthouse and push the button on the remote Phoebe used the night we came to confront Ian. The gate opens, and I drive through. I slow the car and park between two large maple trees at the edge of the clearing.
I open the back door, and Nico uncurls himself from the floorboards. A tremulous, exhausted smile breaks across his face, and I hold out my arms. Reminding me of my younger brother, Nico crawls into my embrace, and I lift him from the car and carry him just past the tree line. “Wait here,” I say, and pat a spot on the ground. “I’ll be right back.”
He nods, even though I know he doesn’t understand me. Something must have clicked, however, because he stays put and doesn’t follow me into the field.
The clearing is empty except for Ian’s truck. The pile of bodies is also gone. All that’s left is a sea of trampled grass and dark, inky stains.
As soon as I’m certain we’re alone, I gesture for Nico to come out of the forest. “I know you can’t understand me, but Ian can help you.”
The door opens before I finish knocking. “Well, at least you found the front door this time.” Ian’s easy smile freezes the second he sees the little boy peeking out behind me. His gaze flashes to mine. “Who is that?”
“His name is Nico. I . . . I met him when I went through the portal.”
Without another glance, Ian steps around me and crouches down. He speaks to the boy in a raspy, halting language I can only assume is Greek. Warily, Nico approaches him. Ian’s eyes rake over the boy’s appearance. “When did you find him?”
“About half an hour ago. My mom dropped me off by the diner, and I found him sneaking around across the street.”
“Did anyone else see him?”
I look down at Nico and resist the urge to ruffle his hair like I do my brother’s. “No. I don’t think so. I made sure he stayed hidden and came straight here.”
Ian nods. “Good. I don’t know how you would have been able to explain finding him to anyone else.”
He crouches down and talks to Nico again.
“Damnit,” he says. “I fixed the hole your friend, Ezra, cut, but Nico said there’s another one. How in the hell did I miss that one?” He scowls. “Ezra must have been planning this for a while.”
“Did Nico say why he came here?”
“To get away from the other pirates, especially Theron.”
“Is he the captain?”
Ian nods. He says a few more things to Nico, who responds with more enthusiasm this time, pointing at me and gesturing with both hands. Ian chuckles, and my cheeks burn. They must be laughing at my expense.
“After you escaped, Nico said he waited until low tide and then waded through the shallow water to the cave. At first, he thought you might have drowned, but then he found the portal and decided the hole, as he called it, is where you must have gone.”
“So he did come through because of me.”
Ian stands up, wincing in pain. “Don’t worry about it. You had no idea he’d try to follow you.”
Ian leads all three of us into the kitchen. He rummages through the fridge until he finds some bread and makes the boy a couple of sandwiches. We watch Nico devour the food, the concern creasing Ian’s face.
“He can’t stay here, Austen.” Ian gestures to the boy. “Look at him. He’s completely ill equipped for this world. Yes, he could learn the language, and we could find somewhere for him to stay, but this isn’t his world.”
“We can’t let him go back. They abused him.” I plop down on the couch with a huff while Nico gulps down a tall glass of milk. “Look how hungry he is. They weren’t feeding him right, and they were awful to him. You don’t know how bad it was; you weren’t there.”
“Actually, I was there.” One side of his mouth twitches, and I mentally slap myself. “It’s been a while, but I do remember the culture of my homeland.”
Ian perches next to me and takes my hands in his. “This isn’t Nico’s home. What if he’s meant to become some great leader? Or what if his descendants find a cure for cancer? That wouldn’t happen if he stays here. One pebble can create a huge ripple effect and the repercussions could be endless. If we let him stay, it could spell the end of the world.”
“But you stayed.”
He winces. “Which goes to show you how important my existence is in the future of our world. However, I’d prefer to think it’s because I’m meant to go back, which would smooth over the disruption caused by my absence.”
I blow a lock of hair out of my face, angry that I know he’s right and I’m wrong, and now this boy has to go back to a place where he’s unwanted and unloved. Nico’s image shifts to that of my brother and suddenly tears spring to my eyes. “But they were so mean to him.” My voice comes out low, almost a whisper. “They hurt him.”
Ian takes my hands in his. “I know. I’m sorry. If I can get home, I promise you I won’t let the pir
ates have him. I’ll find him a nice, safe home with people who will care for him and treat him well.”
I arch my eyebrows. “Won’t that be different than what was supposed to happen?”
His forehead creases in worry. “Maybe, but at least he’ll still be in that world. By taking him back to his own time period, we’ll create less of a disturbance.”
I try the last trick up my sleeve. “How do you know the portal will lead you to Greece? You’ve been trying to go home for a long time. It could take you someplace with even more bizarre creatures than the ones you and Phoebe killed last night.” I shudder, unable to forget the pile of dead, twisted limbs and sharp beaks.
Ian’s gaze grows distant, and I wonder if he’s thinking the same thing. “I don’t. All I know is that I have to try.” He jerks his head to the closet where he keeps his bag of tools and weapons. “I’ll secure the portal so if it takes us somewhere else, I’ll bring Nico back. Okay?”
I chew on my lip. “I guess. I still don’t like it. What are the odds of the portal going back to your time?”
He shrugs and watches Nico polish off his glass of milk. “About as good as it going anywhere else, I suppose. It’s already strange that both you and he made it through on separate occasions, but I did not. When I first arrived, I must have traveled through that damn thing a dozen times a month, and it never took me home. Yet for some reason, it always brought me back here.”
His gaze meets mine, boring into my soul in that strangely peculiar manner that is his alone. “I’m not proud of it, but I gave up. I never thought I’d see home again, until this sassy, angry girl snuck into a cave and did the one thing I’ve wanted to do for over a century. You went home. My home.” He cracks a smile. “Granted, you promptly got captured by pirates and would probably have been sold into slavery, but you escaped. You came back and gave me a reason to keep trying.”
I nod at his injured side. “What about that?”
“That’s nothing. Just the price you pay for something you want. I’ll survive, add another scar to my story, and try again.”
I raise an eyebrow at him. “That was your motivational speech?”
When Darkness Falls Page 17
