The Evensong

by Lindsay Payton

  “Are you okay?” he asked as he sat on the corner of my desk.

  “I swear, I’m fine,” I sighed, leaning back. “It was just a bad headache.”

  “Bad enough to make you pass out?”

  I glanced at him sharply, surprised at his hard tone. He looked angry, his jaw clenched and his hands tight on the desk.

  “I guess so,” I shrugged.

  “Did that guy do something to you?”

  I didn’t really mean to, but I laughed, going quiet when he stood up. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry. It just sounds like you’re part of the big gossip team now.”

  He didn’t find this funny, and I apologized again. “He didn’t do anything, don’t worry. I was just with him when the storm hit. I must have been right where the storm started or something, that’s why the headache was so bad.”

  He nodded faintly, relaxing a little. I held back a smile as he visible calmed down, forgetting his own suspicions. He finally sat next to me on the bed, folding his hands over his stomach.

  “So, is he as great as he’s cracked out to be?” he asked. I laughed and just shook my head, insisting he’d find out eventually.

  “And how’s Beau been doing? Is she still crying?” I went on, hoping he’d just forget about Linden.

  “She’s calmed down a little more, but she doesn’t talk much,” he replied, shrugging. “Rene just said to leave her alone for a while.”

  “Maybe she’s got one of those awful histories like Hunter did. He didn’t tell anyone his story for a long time,” I suggested.

  “True. And she’s probably a little traumatized by being nabbed, you know?”

  I nodded vaguely. Sure, it was exciting when we got a new family member, but I found myself hardly caring at the moment. It felt a little pathetic, but my mind was suddenly stuck on the time I’d spent with Linden. Sitting on that roof for so long felt really natural, and after my initial shyness disappeared, I’d liked being with him. His whole persona was still unclear to me, but that made him all the more enticing.

  “Are you sure you’re okay?” Omar asked, jostling my shoulder a little.

  “Yeah—yeah, I’m fine,” I said, looking straight at him to emphasize my point. He smiled faintly as he stood up, muttering something about talking to strangers …

  I followed him downstairs, still a little woozy as I trailed my hand against the wall for balance. It was unusually quiet, though I could hear a few voices coming from the kitchen. Omar trailed off towards the living room while I went on to the dining room. Rene and the younger residents were gathered there, all crowded around a few books and mugs of tea. Beau was among them, though she kept her head down.

  Rene looked up when she heard me, and she smiled widely as she dropped her pen on the table. She stood and hugged me tight, holding my shoulders when she pulled away.

  “It’s good to see you up again. I was really getting worried,” she said.

  “I heard. I swear, it was just a bad case of the storm.”

  She looked troubled, but nodded anyway. “I know, that’s what I think—well, hope. Not to worry you,” she added quickly. “I just wonder if this really does have something to do with your coming of age.”

  “Maybe,” I replied, “but don’t worry about it, okay? I’m not.”

  She smiled and tucked my hair behind my ears. “If you say so.”

  She offered me tea, but I declined, instead asking if Alysana was in the greenhouse. Rene answered she was as she sat with the kids again, and I went to the back door, slipping on one of the many pairs of shoes left there. Glancing outside, I noticed the ground was sopping wet from the storm, though the sky was clear. As I stepped onto the back porch, I reveled in the damp air. It felt so good after being inside so long, and it even cleared my head a little.

  I walked over the spongy grass towards the greenhouse where I could see the blurry shape of Alysana moving around inside. The glass was completely foggy, and as I opened the door I was greeted by a warm gust of greenery air.

  Alysana was bent over a new long box of bare soil. She smiled up at me from her hunched position, and I quickly shut the door behind me.

  “New ones?” I asked, pulling my hair up off my neck. The air was stuffy in here; Alysana loved it, but I couldn’t handle it very long.

  “Yeah, I couldn’t wait any longer,” she said. “I’ve got enough to look after, but I love the babies.”

  I smiled as I stood next to her, examining the tall orchid on the table next to me. She had only bought it a week ago from the grocery store, but it had grown five times taller and was in full bloom.

  “So what are the new ones?” I asked, looking at the bed of soil.

  “Just some random packets I picked up at the store,” she replied, pulling a hair tie off her wrist. She held it out to me, and I graciously took it, putting my hair up in a messy bun. I watched as she let her hands drift over the soil, her eyes scanning the surface. Placing her fingers over a spot on the soil, she waited only a second, then lifted her fingers away. I watched as a new sprout uncurled from the earth, growing about an inch before it stopped.

  “They’re so cute,” Alysana squeaked.

  I laughed as she touched the small stem and the sprout continued to grow. I sort of envied her for the simple joy she got from her skill. When we were younger, she used to try to teach me how to do it, but it wouldn’t work for me, of course. It just wasn’t my forte.

  “So, this Lennon—”

  “Linden,” I automatically corrected.

  “Sorry—Linden. What’s he like?”

  I thought about it for a second. The first image that came into my mind was the time I’d stood so close to him on the roof. The way his cat eyes looked, the laughter shaking his body.

  “He’s—interesting,” I replied weakly. I wasn’t sure what else to say.

  “Just interesting? Come on, details,” Alysana said, snapping her fingers. “I mean, is he nice, weird, creepy, what?”

  “No, he’s really nice,” I insisted. “He has a weird past though. He’s been driving around for a long time because he claims he’s restless.”

  “Hm, a drifter.”

  “And he has this awesome little garden on his roof. His uncle kept it pretty nice.”

  Of course, at the mention of a garden, Alysana was immediately interested. She made me describe the whole thing in intense detail, which eventually led to a description of the rest of the house and what I had gauged of Linden in general.

  “He still has that certain mystique though, doesn’t he?” she commented when I had finished. All of the sprouts were now at least a few inches tall, but she’d left them alone for the moment.

  “Yeah … he purposefully does it, I think,” I said, stroking the thick petals of the orchid next to me. “He seems really cautious when talking about himself.”

  “Gives you more reasons to see him then,” Alysana laughed, nudging me. I couldn’t help smiling.

  She suddenly gasped dramatically, grasping my arm. “You could just go peek in on him—just for a second.” Her suggestive smile immediately made me think twice.

  “No!” I said when I realized what she was saying. “No. That violates my own boundaries.”

  She laughed as she stood, picking up a watering pail from under the table. “I’d kill to have your skill, Riley. I’d be projecting everywhere, all the time.”

  “You don’t know the half of it, Aly,” I insisted, sitting on the table while she made her rounds with the pail.

  “True, I don’t. But I still want it.”

  Of course. That’s what everyone said. Everyone except Rene, who understood my skill best of all, and probably better than me. I was still trying to grasp a lot of what she taught me. My projecting in the swamps was easy enough, but part of my unease for my ceremony came from the projection I would have to do there. It was all part of the ritual, projecting into another realm for guidance, blah blah blah … it was still a bit of a scary ordeal.

  Even though I knew
how to project long distances, I wasn’t about to go soaring ten minutes over the swamps just to ‘peek in’ on Linden. I respected people’s privacy, and I’d created my own rules to follow with my ability.

  When Alysana finally finished watering, we stepped out of the greenhouse feeling nearly cold in the outdoor air. Rushing up the porch steps, we could hear Hank clamoring around the kitchen helping with lunch. The younger ones had left the kitchen table, and Rene was just piling up some of the books to put away. I noticed Beau still sat in her chair, looking exactly the same when I had last passed her.

  “What’s it gonna be today?” Alysana asked Hank as she passed him on her way to the fridge.

  “I’m making avocado and cheese sandwiches,” he replied, standing on his tiptoes to get to the cutting board from the cabinets beside the sink.

  “Amazing,” I piped up, making my way towards the table. “You should make lunch more often.”

  “So you want a whole one then?” he asked.

  I nodded, looking down at Beau as I stood at the chair beside her. “Do you want a whole or a half, Beau?”

  She looked up at me with wide eyes, mouth shut tight. I smiled slightly and sat next to her. “I’m Riley, um—remember?”

  I wasn’t sure how to talk to her, but apparently what I did was wrong. She carefully stood up and walked out of the kitchen, making her way up the stairs.

  “Okay—guess that wasn’t the right thing to do,” I said after a few minutes.

  “Don’t worry, she’s like that with everyone except Rene,” Hank replied, sounding somewhat annoyed. “That’s why I don’t like sharing a room with her. She’s weird.”

  “Oh come on, give her a break,” Alysana said, ruffling his hair as she walked by. “She’s probably been through a lot.”

  “Since when is that an excuse to be mean?”

  Alysana told him to hush up while she stopped to look at the dry-erase board hanging on the closet door. “Great—we’re up for lessons on Friday, Riley.”

  “Lessons?” I repeated, looking at the board. Sure enough, our names along with Omar and Hunter were written under Friday. That was nothing to look forward to. I hated having any sort of lessons with a group; going over my skill seemed embarrassing with other people around.

  “No single lessons?” I asked, already knowing the answer was no. Rene would have already told me.

  “Mm, no, not that I know of,” Alysana replied.

  I sighed as Hank set a plate in front of me. Day by day, no matter what I did, I kept on getting further and further into the future, and the unknown that I hated.

  WAVES

  The store hit a slow spot during the week, and I was constantly stuck behind the register, bored. Meryl seemed equally bored, walking around the store in her flowing skirt, wondering aloud what was wrong with the world.

  “Maybe it’s because spring’s ending,” I answered one early evening. “People get lazy in the heat.”

  “It’s not ever that hot yet” Meryl replied as she stood at the window of the front of the store. “And the rain’s have slowed down, too. Something’s up.”

  I shrugged, flicking a crumpled receipt into the trashcan under the counter. There were more littering the floor, and I stared at them for a second. Next thing I knew, my mind was wandering and the receipts spun along the floor, slowly rising into the air.

  I wondered what Linden was doing. I hadn’t seen him around since I’d been to his house. What did a guy like him do on his own time? Did he sit on his roof for hours, just thinking? Or did he walk through the swamps like I do? I wondered if he went to my spot to sit and think aloud, tossing a few pebbles into the still water, thinking maybe—

  “Riley!”

  Meryl’s sharp tone jolted me out of my reverie. I looked at her, surprised to see her hard expression. She fiercely pointed at my waist where five receipts hung motionless in the air.

  “Sorry,” I said quickly as the receipts abruptly fell to the floor. “I wasn’t thinking.”

  “I would disagree,” Meryl said darkly as she came around the counter. “Looks like you were thinking plenty.”

  Stupidly daydreaming was more like it.

  I helped her pick up the small mess as I tried to clear my head.

  “You need to be more careful, hon,” she advised. “Lisa could have come out the back, and what would she think of a bunch of trash floating around in front of you?”

  “I don’t know, she’d probably think it suited me.”

  Meryl gave me a half serious look and shook her head, smiling. “Go on, go home. Nothing’s going on here.”

  Glancing at the clock, I knew I still have three hours before I was off. “Really?”

  “On one condition: you vent your skills alone at home. All right?”

  I smiled as I pulled off the green apron tied around my waist. “I promise.”

  I tucked the apron in the space under the counter before I made an exit, being quiet as Meryl suggested.

  “Don’t want Lisa in a worse mood than normal,” she mumbled before I left.

  Outside it was almost just as quiet as the store. A slight breeze blew as I crossed the lot to my car. I glanced across the street at the movie rental place, noticing the blinking lights around some old posters in the window. There was movement inside, and I watched in a kind of paranoid frenzy as Linden walked out.

  My first instinct was to duck and run for my car, but instead I averted my eyes to my hands as I fiddled with my keys. He was wearing big round sunglasses, so it was impossible to tell where he was looking. I hoped my bangs would be enough to hide my nervous gaze. I wasn’t sure what to do—say hi or keep going to my car?

  Linden solved the problem for me when he called out my name. I looked up as my heart gave an obnoxious little jolt. He walked across the street while I waited by my car, wondering why I’d been so nervous before. I thought I was over that.

  “Hey,” Linden said when he stood a few feet away. “Just get off work?”

  “Yeah, Meryl let me out early. It’s been pretty slow,” I replied as the wind picked up, almost drowning out my voice.

  “Yeah, warm weather slows people down,” he said, brushing his hair out of his face. I got a brief look at the tattoos on his arms, but I concentrated on his face again. I didn’t want to stare, but this was the first time I’d seen him in a short sleeve shirt.

  “So, what have you been up to?” I asked, wanting to launch into conversation. In the wind, silence made me nervous, and I could feel the intense gazes from someone in the store behind me.

  “Not much, just fixing up the house. I’ve made some pretty good progress,” he said, looking very pleased with himself. “You should see it. You busy now?”

  He leaned forward and nudged my arm, grinning. How could I not give in?

  I agreed to follow him back to his place. Of course I saw Meryl and Lisa’s faces in the store window, both failing to look casual when I glanced their way. Anyone who had seen us talking would gossip, but for now I didn’t mind.

  I followed Linden’s rusting little car down the listless streets, pulling off onto the hard-packed unpaved road at the end of town. There were new potholes and ruts from all the rain, and my car bounced around even as I tried to avoid the worst spots. Glancing up at the sky, I noted it was clear, though some gray clouds hovered in the distance where the sun was setting. They glowed pink and orange under the darkening sky, and I wondered if the stars were more visible out here.

  I parked beside Linden’s car when we reached the house, and I sighed as I killed the engine. The whole house was tinted orange in the light, and the windows seemed to pick up the slight pink hues. As I stepped out of my car, I noticed a wooden wind chime hung on the porch that hadn’t been there before. It must have been one of his new additions.

  “Come on, come on,” Linden said rapidly, jogging towards me from the other side of his car. “If we hurry, we can see the sun set.”

  He grabbed my wrist and pulled me with him to
wards the porch. I ran after him, trying to keep up as he dashed up the stairs. He pulled me through the house, up the stairs and down the hall to the window with the stairs, which were already pulled down. Flinging the window open, he squeezed through, still holding onto my wrist. I managed to get through fast enough, and we stood side by side on the narrow clearing between the plants.

  The sun was just above the distant horizon and visibly sinking. I watched it go until the last of it sank below the hills, leaving a bright stain of color where it had been before.

  “Awesome. I love that moment, when you can actually see it disappear with a blink,” Linden said.

  I laughed, looking up at him as he stared off. “Do you watch that every day?”

  “Not every day,” he admitted. “That just makes it better every time you do get to watch it.”

  He had a point, and I wondered if this horizon was visible from my house.

  Now that the sun was gone and the wind was still blowing, I shivered suddenly. Linden suggested going inside again, and I led the way back into the hallway. He locked the window after him and kicked the stairs back into the wall, quietly cursing when he remembered he’d forgotten his movies in the car.

  “Do you have anything to do tonight?” he asked as we walked down the darkened hall.

  “Not really,” I replied, “I was just going to hang out at home.”

  “Good, good. You’d do me the pleasure of watching movies with me then?” He looked over his shoulder as he went down the stairs, giving a dramatically pathetic look.

  “Depends on which movies,” I replied. I was joking, and I stopped at the bottom of the stairs as he pulled his keys out of his pocket. He caught on and smirked, saying he’d be back in a second.

  I drifted into the living room while he was gone, looking for anything I hadn’t seen before. He hadn’t changed much. There was a stack of Mexican blankets on the armchair and a large fish tank now glowed from the top of a table by the window. Walking closer, I stood in front of it, peering in at the many goldfish inside. There were three of the classic orange ones, and two that were black; Moor fish. At the bottom of the tank, a little treasure chest opened and closed to let out bubbles.