by Ioana Visan
Chapter Thirty-Three
“It’s not so bad,” Cassie said when they entered the apartment. The monster goo had dried and turned into dirty white dust gathered in small piles on the floor, migrating towards the corners of the room as if it was trying to escape, the same way it had in Mark’s kitchen.
Alise was glad the girl couldn’t see the residue left on the walls and any other object touched by the monster blood. No wonder the Guardians hated the place. It reeked of burned magic. She wiped her forehead with the back of her hand and looked at her surroundings. She should have felt some repulsion at the gruesome sight, but she couldn’t be bothered. Maybe her mind was already affected by the poison. Otherwise, why would she have decided to clean up the mess instead of simply moving on and finding a more convenient place to live?
She plunged the sponge into the lukewarm, soapy water and returned to scrubbing the wall. She might not want to admit it, refusing to think about it, but moving out was too much hassle and, subconsciously or not, she was preparing Cassie for what was about to come. Her time was limited.
At the opposite side of the bedroom, Cassie was cleaning the window. “Alise…?”
“Mmm?” Alise muttered, prepared for a new round of questions. From the corner of her eye, she saw the girl turn to look at her. Here we go.
“Why did you put that spell on me? I mean, you don’t have to answer if you don’t want to,” she added quickly, “but I would really like to know.”
“Don’t worry. It doesn’t work on me.”
Cassie smiled slightly. “Okay … So?”
Alise smiled sadly at the empty wall in front of her. Such fond and distant memories. “You were the first human child I had met, and you were so beautiful and full of life…” She winced and stretched her back then squeezed in the narrow space between the bed and the dresser. “Actually, you were the first child I had ever seen,” she muttered and returned to scrubbing.
“There are no kids where you come from?” Cassie sounded more than a little surprised.
“Not anymore. There hasn’t been a birth in over two thousand years.”
“Wow.”
“Yeah… Nature has a way of balancing things, I guess.”
“You mean because you don’t die?”
“Something like that.” She didn’t tell her about the slowly decreasing population. Cassie had a big heart, and there were plenty other issues for her to worry about. She didn’t need to care about a whole other world, too.
Keeping this in mind, Alise pushed the nightstand out of the way and dragged the water basin over. The bed sheets and cover lay in the middle of the floor, infused with monster dust and beyond saving, along with several other small items in the same condition. At least this was her room, not Cassie’s, so only her things had to be thrown away. The room was a mess, but the damage to the corridor was minimum. The repair costs were not going to affect Cassie’s bank account much, and they shouldn’t. She hadn’t brought this on herself. Her only fault had been that she had a Fairy for a roommate.
“What were you doing here … if you don’t mind me asking?”
“I … umm…” Alise smiled again, although it was more nostalgic and less relaxed this time. “I was here with someone. We weren’t supposed to be together, so we crossed over to enjoy our time alone for a little while.” She shrugged. “It seemed important at the time.”
“What happened?”
“He died.” Alise pressed her lips together. “It happens.”
“Did you love him?”
“I thought I did. I don’t know. It’s been a long time.”
The rag Cassie had been using to wipe the window missed Alise’s back by a millimeter, hitting the wall instead.
“Hey. What was that for?” Alise turned, startled.
Cassie stood with her hands on her hips, glaring at her. “I might not be able to make you tell the truth, but you could at least have the courtesy not to lie to me.” The girl scowled at her. “You came into my life, pretended to be my friend, and caused all this mess.” She gestured around her. “You owe me the truth.”
“What do you want me to say?” Alise threw her hands up in the air. “That I loved him? I did! And he was killed, and it hurt a hell of a lot … almost as much as having your wings ripped off.” Of course, Cassie would have no idea how that felt. “But life goes on, even for us magic people. Pain fades, becoming bearable, and you get used to it. It’s the only way you manage to survive.” She took in a deep breath. It hurt, which was unusual.
“Is that what you’ve been doing for the past four years? It looks more like hiding to me,” Cassie said.
Alise threw the sponge into the basin, making the water splash over the plastic edges. She leaned against the frame of the bed. “Losing my wings was not only traumatizing emotionally but physically, too. A long recovery was necessary, but once it became clear I was going to survive, I knew I couldn’t live there anymore. The wings make us what we are. We’re nothing without them … so I went to the Council and asked for permission to cross over. Not everyone can do it, and even less people are allowed to come here. Mingling with humans is not encouraged, unless there’s a good reason for it.”
“But they let you come…”
“Yeah. They probably thought that without my powers, it would be easier to fit in,” Alise said, but it didn’t sound right to her own ears. Her self-imposed exile had been too convenient, like a problem they couldn’t solve; therefore, they had passed it on to someone else.
“They sent you to a slow but imminent death,” Cassie said, her small fists clenching tightly. “You said you’d die without magic, right?”
“Die … like in sixty years or so.” It was a small exaggeration as there was no way of telling how long it would take. “I would become human, get old, and eventually die like everyone else does.”
“So you chose the only way death was available to you,” Cassie said.
Alise stared at her then blinked. Was that what she had done? “I chose peace and quiet, and the absence of pain. Over there, I hurt continuously. When I’m here, I’m numb. What would you have chosen?”
Cassie lowered her eyes. A moment later, they shot back up. “Why did you come to me?”
“I had nothing better to do, and it seemed like a good idea to check on you. It turned out you needed someone to help you with the rent so…” Alise sighed, shrugging. She was trying to be patient and answer Cassie’s questions, but she was getting tired of it. Cassie would never understand. How could she? They were too different, more than she could ever imagine.
But, somehow, the girl did. She stopped glaring and relaxed her stance. “Okay. One more thing before we finish here,” she said, smiling less vengefully. “You’re helping me with this because…?”
“Monster residue is bad for you … and for me.”
“You’re planning on staying then?”
Alise nodded. “For as long as I can, but you must understand, Cassie. They will come back for me. If they capture Gorem alive, they’ll need me to testify against him.”
“Well, I hope they kill him.”
This was not the kind of statement Alise would have expected to hear coming from her friend. “Cassie, I might be a Fairy, but this is not a fairytale. When people die, they stay dead. They don’t come back to life.”
Cassie briefly considered it. “Well, that’s too bad. For what he did to you, he deserves to die … twice.”
Chapter Thirty-Four
The rooms had an eerie feel in the settling dusk. Shadows followed their footsteps as they moved through the house. It was empty. Vale stopped at the bottom of the large staircase with a rail made of old, sculpted wood, and looked up. No sign of activity came from upstairs, either.
“We should have returned sooner,” Rafe said. “We might have found a lead.”
“Uh-huh,” was all Vale said. He was not about to remind him whose idea it had been to look for the Mermaid. They both knew why he had done it.
> “At least the wolves are gone.” Rafe stepped over a pool of dried blood—the battle had taken place in the main hall—and he started up the stairs.
Behind him, Vale arched an eyebrow. He would have expected Rafe to welcome a fight, especially after recent events. Some slashing was exactly what they needed to reinforce their morale and prove they couldn’t easily be defeated.
Rafe looked back over his shoulder and grinned. “I bet you’re glad the stench is gone.”
Vale couldn’t argue with that. Werewolves’ animalistic scent had always offended his sensitive nose. They smelled like wet dogs most of the time. He could think of worse—vampires smelled like death, like the walking corpses they were—but why subject themselves to such unpleasantries when it could be avoided? He appreciated that Gorem had bothered to somewhat clean up after himself. The bodies were gone, but the blood remained.
On the upper floor, the corridor had a circular shape with windows on one side, all of them opening to an interior yard. Unfortunately, all the shutters were closed. Rafe opened one of them and looked outside. Flowerpots, a table and chairs, and some toys lay on the ground. Nothing out of ordinary.
“Hmm. Nice house,” Rafe said. “I wonder where the initial owners are.”
His sarcastic tone implied he already knew the answer. They were either out of town or buried somewhere on the grounds. Neither of them offered to start digging. There was nothing left to do for the owners if they were dead. Let the humans handle the problem.
Just like downstairs, they found the rooms empty with no recent sign of habitation. They were alone in a sad, deserted place. There were no answers here.
The small carpet in the middle of the main bedroom swirled when Rafe turned swiftly on it. Other than that, he hid his frustration well.
“You weren’t expecting to find him here, were you?” Vale calmly asked. Rafe might say a lot of things, but they had known each other their whole lives, and he could tell the difference between what was important and what wasn’t.
“No.”
Gorem had fled the scene the moment they had appeared, leaving the Werewolves to fight in his place. They hadn’t even seen him. Such lack of courage was a disgrace.
“I want to know why he did it,” Rafe said. “We were told some of what he did, but we were never told why. Don’t you find that intriguing?”
That was one way to put it. It was a damn conspiracy, but Vale didn’t want to dwell on that thought. It wasn’t their job to solve the Council’s problems. They were sent to protect or, in this case, bring people to justice. “Do you think Alise knows?” He’d wondered about this lately.
Rafe looked away, avoiding Vale’s piercing gaze. “I don’t know. She clearly hasn’t told us everything.”
“You think?”
The hint of irony in Vale’s voice had Rafe rolling his eyes. “I’m not that naïve.”
“You healed her.” The words didn’t come out as an accusation, but more like a statement.
Rafe shook his head. “Not fully. It’s just a temporary fix.”
“And it will get worse.” Vale nodded slowly. The pause felt like drawing out the pain, but it was nothing compared to what the Fairy had to be feeling, and what she would soon endure. Vale wasn’t heartless. He was actually kind. He wanted to spare her the pain. “You’ve seen it happen before. I still think you should have killed her.” Confronted with Rafe’s cold glare, he held up his hands. “Hey, I’m not judging! At least yours is from the same world…”
“When she’s not self-exiling herself…” A ghost of a smile flew over Rafe’s face. “But that’s no good. She must hate me now. I could have saved her and … I didn’t.” He let his shoulders drop. When he looked up, he had a lost look in his eyes. “At least the agony will be short. A couple of weeks and it will all be over, right?”
He waited for Vale’s confirmation, although neither of them believed that. It might be over for Alise, but not for Rafe. He would go on living with the pain, another layer added to the ones he already carried, and the burden would sometimes be too much. He let out a breath.
It happened to all of them eventually, so Vale didn’t bother to reply. His silence alone showed his support, which Rafe had anyway.
“Okay. Let’s go,” Rafe said, running a hand through his hair. “We’re done here.”
Vale agreed with a nod.
Chapter Thirty-Five
The cleaning had gone well. Alise was pleased with the result. Her room looked much larger in the absence of all the stuff she had thrown out. Amazing how many useless things one could collect in a few short years. She wasn’t going to miss any of them.
A few burned herbs had refreshed the air, removing the scent of bleach. The apartment was as clean as it could be without having major amounts of magic involved. There wasn’t much to do about the rest of the building, other than burning more herbs for the atmosphere. Cassie claimed the administrator threatened to have the corridors repainted in the fall, so maybe that wasn’t such a bad idea. Of course, the summer heat would amplify the faint scent left by the monster’s passing, which could make painting top-priority.
Alise didn’t care much. She had a feeling she wasn’t going to be around that long, and the monster residue was not a threat to Cassie or the other humans. She laid her head back on the lounge chair and gazed at the stars. They were different here from the ones she was used to seeing on the other side, and it made her miss them. It had to be because of the booze. Or the poison. Who cared? She was going crazy anyway.
“Are you in pain?” Cassie asked from the lounge chair next to hers. An empty box of pizza lay on the small table between them.
“What?” Alise turned her head towards her friend. “No. No pain…”
“It’s just that… You keep touching your side.”
“Oh, that…” Alise’s hand automatically went to her right side. She shrugged. “It doesn’t hurt.” If she really cared to elaborate, which she didn’t, she would say it was just cold.
Cassie watched her pensively, obviously trying to figure out whether Alise was lying. Deciding she wasn’t, she reached for her drink–one more than usual, but she didn’t have anywhere to go in the morning. It was officially vacation. No exams or classes until fall. “Will they be able to cure it?” she asked quietly.
The lounge chair screeched when Alise rolled on her side to face her. “There’s balance in the universe. There has to be a cure … somewhere…” Her voice trailed off. Somewhere. She’d never heard of a cure, but she didn’t usually socialize with Mermaids. Mermaids meant large amounts of water most of the time, and she didn’t like water.
“Well, that’s good then. I’m sure Rafe and Vale will help you find it.” Cassie nodded, satisfied.
“That’s not their job,” Alise said. “Their orders are to bring me back. That’s all.”
Cassie chuckled and pulled her legs up. “Excuse me, but I don’t see Rafe taking orders from anyone.”
“They’re Guardians. They’re supposed to follow orders.” It was ingrained into them.
“And they also have to protect the innocent,” Cassie said. “Which means they have to help you!”
Alise wasn’t sure how she felt about that. She wanted this whole thing to be over. At the same time, she wasn’t indifferent to the outcome. It was her life at stake, and despite all the running and hiding, she wasn’t ready to throw in the towel yet. Too bad she had figured that out when she couldn’t do much about it.
Leaning over the armrest of her chair, Cassie watched her intently.
“What?” Alise murmured.
Chapter Thirty-Six
“Did you hear that?” Rafe froze at the top of the landing and cocked his head.
Two steps down, Vale turned to look at him. “I don’t hear anything.”
Rafe swayed in place. Their senses were sharp so why couldn’t Vale hear it? Rafe took a step to the left, one to the right, and bent his knees a little. He put on a satisfied grin. “That’s becau
se you’re lower than me. I can hear it here…” He leaned to the left. “But not here…” He leaned to the right. He pointed at the inside wall. “It must be coming from there. The yard?” He arched an eyebrow.
They had found nothing in the yard that could have made that noise. Hairs prickled on the back of Rafe’s neck while he trailed back to the window. He recognized the source of the distant hum accompanied by static. He unlocked the shutters, hoping he was wrong. The abrasive scent of the red geraniums that decorated the windowsill outside stung his nose.
With Vale breathing down his neck, they both stared at the wide vortex of purple light that floated about three meters above the ground.
“Wonderful. A vortex undetectable in daylight,” Rafe said. “I wonder where it leads.”
He made no move to climb on the windowsill, but Vale’s hand still rested on his shoulder. “I wouldn’t recommend that.”
While tempting, Rafe wouldn’t risk going in there. A certain dark-haired Fairy with an existential crisis kept him on this side. He shook his head. Besides, how did people manage to get there? By jumping? Easy to do for Guardians, but not for anyone else. “Would it even let us pass?” He eyed the vortex.
Vale picked a small rock from a flowerpot and tossed it into the void. It flew straight into it where it exploded under the attack of several lightning strikes from the sides. The vortex twisted and turned like an animal inside a cage, quietly roaring.
“You think that’s what would happen to our weapons and clothes, too?” Rafe deadpanned.
* * *
“What?” Alise repeated.
Cassie’s intense look faltered, and she sighed. “Do you think they’re all right? They’ve been gone ever since returning to town and that was several hours ago.”
