Ignis (Book 2, Pure Series)

by Mesick, Catherine

  "Do you remember William Sursur?" I asked. "He got us out of the house that night when we were forced to flee to the airport. And he got me out of the Mstislav crypt in Krov. He also came to see us at the house in Krov right before we left."

  GM's expression grew carefully blank. I knew that look—it was one she wore whenever I brought up a topic she didn't want to discuss. It was as I had feared—GM did not approve of William.

  "I remember that he was very handsome," GM said.

  "He meant a lot to me, GM."

  "I also remember that he said the two of you could not be together. After all, he lives in Russia, and you live here."

  "That's just it," I said. "William doesn't live in Russia anymore. He lives here."

  GM was clearly startled. "He lives here in the United States?"

  "He lives here in Elspeth's Grove."

  GM's eyebrows rose. "What is this that you are telling me?"

  "GM, are you angry?"

  "That boy lives here now? He has followed you?"

  "Why don't you like him?" I asked.

  GM's voice rose. "You cannot see him. I don't want him in this house!"

  "GM, please!" I cried. "He saved both our lives!"

  GM fell silent.

  "Why don't you like him?" I asked again. "What has he done?"

  GM looked away. "I don't know anything about him. And he appears to be mixed up in some pretty dangerous things."

  "Things he was trying to stop," I said.

  GM looked at me. "What exactly is it that you want me to say?"

  "Please don't be like that, GM. William is here in Elspeth's Grove. I like him. And he's really helped me. I want to see him. And if it's okay with you, I would like William to come over here, so you can talk to him and see that he's a good person."

  GM looked down at her teacup, and she didn't say anything for a long time. I began to hope that she was wavering.

  "There is something in what you say," she said at last. "You are a good girl. I suppose I can trust your judgment."

  She looked up at me again. "I confess that I don't entirely know my own mind in this case. Perhaps the problem is that I just don't want you getting any older."

  As I looked at GM, I felt tears stinging my eyes. "GM, you don't have to worry that you're going to lose me. You have to know that I will always love you. Nothing will ever change that."

  GM stood and walked around the table to me.

  "I know, Solnyshko. I will always love you, too. I have been both your grandmother and your mother. And it is sometimes hard for a mother to see her child grow up."

  I hugged her back tightly.

  GM straightened up and brushed a hand over my hair.

  "When would you like your William to come over?"

  I didn't want to rush things, but I knew the appearance of Innokenti and Anton had made it necessary for me to get William on good terms with GM as soon as possible.

  "Is tomorrow okay?"

  GM blinked. "Tomorrow?"

  "I know it's sudden—"

  GM waved a hand. "It is all right, Solnyshko. Invite him over for dinner. I will make pasta. Everyone likes pasta."

  "Thank you, GM. Thanks for William and thanks about Russia."

  GM pressed a kiss to my forehead. "Anything for you, Solnyshko."

  GM cleared away her cup and left the room.

  I was left with my full cup of tea and a sense of relief. I was very happy that William would be able to come over tomorrow—though I realized that I didn't know if he actually ever ate anything or not. I supposed we would think of something if he didn't. And now that GM would allow William to be in the house, it made me feel a bit better about the fact that Innokenti and Anton were lurking out there somewhere. I wished William had told me how he knew Anton. Anton seemed much more dangerous than Innokenti—and Innokenti didn't seem safe.

  I stood up and poured my tea into the sink. I had homework to do, but I wandered into the living room where I knew I would find a picture of GM and my grandfather.

  The picture I was looking for stood on a table with other pictures of family and friends—a number of them featuring me. Some of the people were unknown to me, but the pictures of my parents and my grandparents sat side by side next to one another right in the center. The picture of my parents was from their wedding—my mother, pale and blond like me, my father just a little darker with light brown curly hair. Both of them were beaming, and my mother was holding a single flower. It was curious that no one else seemed to be in attendance.

  And then there was the picture of my grandparents.

  I picked their photo up. My grandmother had been blond when she was younger, as had my grandfather. They looked like a perfectly normal couple—it was hard to believe that my grandfather had truly been one of the Sìdh.

  As I looked at my grandfather, I wondered what he was like. GM believed that he had died, but Galina told me that he still lived and that he had gone back to his people. I wondered if he knew that GM lived in another country now, and if he ever saw her—even if she didn't see him. GM didn't speak about him very much, but I knew that she had loved him. And she'd told me that I would have loved him too.

  I set the picture down and walked up the stairs to my room.

  I did have homework to do—if I could keep my mind on it. I told myself to firmly to forget about GM's letters. And I told myself not to think too much about Anton and Innokenti. They hadn't actually threatened me directly, and I knew William would watch over the house. Maybe he was right—maybe the presence of the two vampires in town was just a scare tactic.

  I was still just a little too wound up to get to work, so I wandered around the room, straightening things up. As I walked past my dresser and the large mirror over it, I thought I saw something moving in the mirror—something that wasn't my own image.

  I stopped, startled, and peered into the mirror. I saw only my own face and the room behind me.

  I told myself I hadn't actually seen anything out of the ordinary.

  I shrugged off my nerves and went to my desk, determined to finally get to work.

  As I opened my books, however, I couldn't help thinking of the mirror, and an image flashed in my mind of what I had seen.

  There had been a second image in the mirror.

  I had seen a shadow walking behind me.

  Chapter 3.

  I had seen shadows in the mirror before.

  As I got ready for school the next morning, I stood looking into the mirror, thinking back to what I had glimpsed last night.

  The shadows I had seen before had turned out to be miniature visions of William—I'd seen his face in the mirror before I'd met him. After I'd met him, the visions in the mirror had stopped. They had been replaced by full-fledged visions—images that appeared before my eyes with the sharpness and clarity of reality, blotting out what was actually in front of me while they lasted. But those visions had stopped now too—and I had no idea why.

  As I thought back to it, the shadow from last night was not like any of the visions I had had before.

  Of course, it was possible that my eyes had just been playing tricks on me. I had been a little wound up at the time, so I could have just imagined the shadow.

  I resolved not to worry about it.

  I looked down at the charm William had given me—I very seldom took it off. It was an iron cross, roughly hewn, but strangely pleasing to the eye and cool to the touch. William had given it to me for protection—but despite the shape of the charm, it wasn't any defense against vampires. The charm was actually a defense against the kost—it scrambled the creature's senses and made the person who wore it difficult to track.

  I didn't actually fear being attacked by a kost on my way to school—I just liked wearing the charm. Something about it always gave me a sense of peace and calm. And it also reminded me of William.

  I went down to the kitchen where I ate a quick breakfast with GM. Then I went out to begin my walk to school.

  The
morning was chilly and windy, and there was a light dusting of snow on the ground. I walked down the driveway past GM's red sports car, which nestled comfortably under a black cover and a thin layer of snow. I had to smile—GM was a speed demon, and I had a feeling that she was the only grandmother in town with such a high performance vehicle.

  I made my way to school, and as I reached the schoolyard, I could see that it was all but deserted. On days when the weather was more warmer, the schoolyard was packed with students, many of whom had favorite spots that they had staked out—my friends Charisse Graebel and Branden McKenna had a picnic table that they had been able to claim. But today only the hardiest students were out braving the wind and the cold.

  As I entered the yard, I spotted a familiar blond head—two of them, in fact. Simon Krstic and his brother, James, stood with their shoulders hunched against the wind.

  James turned and saw me first. He nudged Simon with his elbow, and then nodded in my direction. Simon turned expectantly.

  They had clearly been waiting for me.

  James was the taller and older of the two, and his typically sullen expression had grown softer lately. James had been something of a troublemaker once, but this year he had begun to turn things around. And then he had been kidnapped by Timofei and Gleb Mstislav and dragged to Russia where they had intended him to be a sacrifice to Gleb. James only seemed to have the vaguest memory of what had happened. Luckily, what he had been through didn't seem to have been knocked him off the good path he had been on. The ordeal with Gleb actually seemed to have mellowed James even further.

  Simon, by contrast, had always been good-natured and responsible. The two of us had been friends ever since I had moved to Elspeth's Grove when I was five years old. Except for Charisse, Simon was probably the best friend I had ever had. But back in October, just before the trouble with Gleb had begun, Simon had revealed to me that his feelings for me had deepened into something more serious. Despite my affection for him, I had found myself unable to return those feelings.

  But my feelings of friendship for him still remained and were strong.

  Simon saw me and waved, and James turned and walked off toward the school.

  It was clear that Simon wanted to talk to me alone.

  As I reached him, Simon gave me a smile and a tolerant look. I began to feel a sinking sensation. Something about his expression made me feel defensive.

  "Hey Simon," I said.

  "Hey, Katie," he replied. He almost looked like a parent preparing to have a conversation with an unruly child. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"

  "Sure," I replied. "Do you mind if we go inside? It's a little cold out here."

  "Yeah, yeah. Of course," Simon said. "Let's go in."

  We went into the school, and I started toward the cafeteria, where most people went to hang out when it was cold outside.

  "Uh, Katie?"

  I stopped and looked back. Simon was not following me.

  "Katie, let's not go to the cafeteria. I want to talk to you alone."

  "Okay," I said. The feeling was growing on me steadily that the conversation we were about to have was going to be a chore.

  "Let's go to the hallway by the library." Simon indicated the direction with a nod of his head. "It's usually pretty empty there."

  Simon led the way, and we were soon standing in the library hallway. The library took up one full side of the hall, and its outer wall was glass, giving the two librarians an unobstructed view of everything that happened outside it. That last fact was why the hallway was usually deserted in the morning.

  The other side of the hallway was taken up by display cases full of trophies and photographs. Simon drew me over to the display cases.

  He stood for a moment, looking at me, and I could see uncertainty creep into his eyes—I could tell he was nervous now. His nervousness reminded me of my own anxiety when I had had something to tell him back in October. Back then, I had told Simon that a dead man named Gleb was after me, and that I needed his help to investigate what was going on.

  I'd also told him about William for the first time then—William was part of the evidence of my claim. Of course, I hadn't told Simon anything about William's true nature. I'd just told Simon the information I had learned from William.

  And Simon knew now that I was in love with William. That hadn't sat too well with him.

  Simon had been extremely skeptical of my story, but to his credit, he had agreed to help me. But shortly after that, GM and I had been forced to flee to Russia. Despite what had happened to his brother, Simon knew very little about what had taken place in Russia, and the two of us had never spoken about Gleb again. I wondered if he'd believed anything I'd said then—or if he'd thought I'd gone temporarily insane.

  Simon continued to look at me nervously. Eventually, he looked down and scuffed a shoe on the linoleum floor, producing a sharp sound that echoed noisily in the empty hall.

  He took a deep breath and gave me a resolute look.

  "People are saying that you were out with that guy again this weekend."

  "That guy?" I didn't want to be offended—Simon was my friend—but I couldn't help resenting the tone of his voice.

  "You know—the one you were dancing with at Irina's Halloween party."

  "His name is William—I told you that."

  "Yeah—William. You were seen with him at the skating rink yesterday."

  "I was 'seen'?" I said. "You make it sound like some kind of horrible secret."

  I winced a little on the inside as I said the words. My meetings with William had been a secret from GM. I hadn't kept them a secret from anyone else, though.

  Simon ran a hand over his hair. "Katie, please just listen. I didn't come here to offend you. I'm talking to you about this because I'm worried about you—I care about you. It's just that this guy William has been seen all over town, and nobody knows much about him. He's even been seen here at school a couple of times, and I'm pretty sure he isn't actually a student."

  Simon stopped and gave me a level stare. "How much do you actually know about this guy?"

  "I know enough," I said.

  I couldn't admit to Simon that I knew very little about William. William's stolen memories were partially to blame for my lack of knowledge, of course. But there was no reason why William couldn't tell me about his life since he'd moved to Elspeth's Grove. There was no reason, for example, why he couldn't tell me where he lived. But as he had done yesterday, William always claimed that he was keeping me in the dark for my own protection. I found his silence very frustrating.

  "You know enough?" Simon was incredulous. "Katie, this guy—"

  "William," I said firmly.

  Simon sighed.

  "William," he said, speaking the name very deliberately, "sounds like trouble."

  I bristled. "William is not trouble. He's the best thing that ever happened to me."

  A look of pain came into Simon's eyes, and I regretted having spoken so quickly. I didn't regret the words themselves—I meant them very sincerely. But I could have spoken to Simon more carefully—it hadn't been that long since he had had his crush on me.

  I looked at Simon closely then. He had seemed to accept that the two of us were better off as friends, but was it possible that he still saw me in a romantic light?

  "I don't think that he's good for you, Katie," Simon said. "He's been filling your head with crazy stories—telling you that there's a dead guy after you. It's like he's got some kind of hold on you."

  I sighed inwardly. So Simon did remember what I'd told him back in October. There was a lot more I could tell him now. But I knew he wouldn't believe me, and none of it would make him like William any better.

  Simon continued. "That—William has also been seen wandering around in the Old Grove. And you do know a girl was attacked there last night, don't you?"

  "No," I said, startled. "What happened?"

  The Old Grove was south and east of my house—in the opposite direction of Hyw
el's Plaza. It was the place where our town's founder, Elspeth Quick, had supposedly hidden from pursuers who had wanted to burn her for witchcraft. It was a place that was reputed to be the site of hauntings and other supernatural activity.

  "Some weird guy grabbed her, tore her neck up," Simon said. "Travis Ballenski told me. His dad's a cop. The police haven't released the girl's name yet, but Travis did tell me that she's going to be okay. She's still in the hospital right now. You know, you have to be really sick in the head to do something like that. They don't know who it was who attacked her, but, Katie, I wouldn't be surprised to find out it was this William guy."

  I suddenly felt chilled. I knew that William wasn't guilty. But what Simon described did sound like a vampire attack, and I had a pretty good idea who was behind it—either Anton or Innokenti—or possibly even both of them. I was glad the girl was okay, but I was alarmed by the attack—very alarmed. It meant that the vampires had not left—they were still hanging around town.

  Simon continued. "Katie, you should take a warning from this. Like I said, how much do you actually know about this William guy? He kind of seems like a drifter. And drifters aren't usually good news."

  "William is not a drifter," I said angrily.

  Simon ran a hand through his hair in frustration. "I don't seem to be getting through to you. I don't know what I have to say to you to get you to be concerned about your own safety."

  "I'm perfectly safe with William," I said.

  Simon hung his head for a moment, and then looked up at me. "What does your grandmother think of him?"

  Simon knew GM well, and I knew he liked and respected her.

  "GM has invited William over to dinner tonight," I said.

  Simon threw up his hands. "Then I give up. Just promise me that you'll be very, very careful."

  "I will," I said.

  The warning bell rang, and Simon looked around.

  "I guess we'd better get going," he said.

  Simon really didn't look too pleased about the idea—he looked as if he would prefer to stay with me and argue about William.

  People began to file into the hallway, and we joined the crowd.