by Jes Young
I called Allison three times and left three increasingly desperate messages. Then I took more aspirin than my liver would’ve recommended and went looking for some place safe to hide. Obviously the solarium was out.
After dragging my tired, abused body up the stairs, I discovered that being on the second floor didn’t make me feel any safer. All the unused rooms were dark. And the hallway seemed very long, not The Shining long or anything but long enough that I knew I wouldn’t make it to the stairs if someone was chasing me.
All I wanted to do was lay down and go to sleep. I thought of the cottage, all small and snug, and wished I was there. No one could sneak up on you there; you’d see them coming. And it was so small there was nowhere for someone to hide. Witchwood Manor was so big someone else could’ve been in the house and I wouldn’t have know. It was possible that a whole group of someones were already on their way up the back stairs.
I stood in the hall, which as I mentioned was long and dark and scary, and stomped my foot. That’s how mad I was – I was reduced to ridiculous foot stomping. It wasn’t fair. I was in my own home; I had a right to feel safe there. But that had been stolen from me. Nicholas came in and took the last of my illusions about Witchwood Manor’s ability to protect me.
I opened the attic door, remembering the weapons that were still hanging on the wall. I was on my way up the steep and narrow stairs when my cell phone rang.
“Tab?” I was so relieved to hear a friendly voice I almost cried.
“Nina! Hi.”
There was a pause before she said, “Let me just say this, ok? Before I chicken out and just make some bullshit small talk with you for an hour and don’t say this.”
I couldn’t imagine my brash, sassy friend chickening out or what could be bad enough that she’d be afraid to say it. Nina always said what was on her mind. It was my favorite – and also least favorite – thing about her. “What do you want to say?”
Momentarily distracted by curiosity, I sat down on the attic stairs.
“Ok,” she said. “Here goes. I don’t want to intrude or tell you how to live your life, but sweetie, you’ve got to stop wallowing. It’s been too long. You’ve got to stop living like you’re the one who died. Rivers wouldn’t want you to do this to yourself.”
“Oh Nina,” I said, the regret thick in my throat. As far as she knew I was having a grief-induced nervous breakdown.
“When was the last time you even left the house? It’s been weeks, right?”
“It’s not….” I paused. I was going to say, ‘It’s not what you think,’ banking on the fact that she probably didn’t think I was hiding from a group of subterranean Elves who wanted to kill me. But then, knowing Nina, she would demand to know what was wrong if it wasn’t grief and I would end up telling her and I didn’t think she should have to hear about it over the phone. It just seemed like a conversation best had face-to-face. “There’s a lot going on right now…that you don’t know about.”
“With Robbin and that blonde guy, what’s his name?”
“Alex. They’re both involved but my man problems are the least of it.”
“That’s the least of it?” She sounded doubtful. “You are in some trouble, aren’t you?”
“Can you come over? I’ll tell you all about it.”
“Sure,” she said quickly. “I’m on my way.”
As we said goodbye, I began to feel better. She would come and I would tell her everything, lay all my secrets bare. I was pretty sure I could convince her that I was telling her the truth; that I wasn’t crazy in spite of how crazy I would sound. She would wait with me until Alex and Robbin came home. She would keep me from worrying about them until I knew they were safe by telling me hilarious stories about her life. I couldn’t wait for her to get there. I went to the sitting room and opened the curtain so I could watch the driveway and run down stairs to let her in as soon as she rang the bell.
******
The sound of Nina’s worried voice ringing through the hall startled me. “Tabitha?” she called. “Where are you Tab?”
“Nina?” I couldn’t believe I’d missed her pulling up. I looked back out the window at the empty driveway. I clicked the TV off. “Where’s your car?”
She laughed.
I went out into the hall. “Nina? Where’s your car? How did you get in here? Wasn’t the door locked?”
One second I heard the sound of her footsteps on the stairs and the next she was standing in front of me.
“Matt gave me a key.” Her smile didn’t look right and her hair was wind blown. There was a small rip in her shirt. She followed me into the sitting room. I sat on the couch and she went to the window, looking out across the dark yard.
“He’s been away so much lately.”
“Yeah…” I wasn’t ready to give up the details just yet. “He’ll be home soon.”
She nodded without looking at me.
“Is everything ok?”
She turned from the window and smiled that weird smile again. “I’m sorry,” she said, shaking her head. “There’s not a lot of time. She’ll be here soon.”
“Is Trudy coming?”
“Allison.”
I was surprised that Nina had invited her. It kind of killed my plan to come clean about my secret identity. “I called her earlier, when I couldn’t get you on the phone.”
“Then that’s probably why she was here.” Nina nodded again. “I wondered when I found her at the gate.”
As the pieces of the puzzle clicked together for her I became even more confused.
“She was at the gate? Is she coming in?”
Nina closed the curtains and turned to face me. “She’ll wake up and then she’ll come.”
Everything about Nina was wrong. The closer I looked at her the more there was to see. There was a little blood running down the side of her face. She saw me staring and wiped it away with the back of her hand. She shrugged at the bright red smear when she saw it.
It’s funny, in the way that funny sometimes means terrifying, that you can know someone your whole life and never really actually know them at all. Nina rode the same bus to kindergarten with me. She taught me to roller skate. She froze my bra at a junior high sleepover and sat beside me at high school graduation. I would have said I knew everything about her. I would have said I knew her face better than I knew my own. But standing there, I watched it change into something alien and very cold. Her cheekbones sharpened, her chin pointed, she looked at me through narrow red eyes and hated me.
“Where’s Allison?” I asked this stranger Nina had become.
“She’s probably still out by the gate. I hit her pretty hard,” she said, her voice barely more than a whisper. “But, you know I was thinking about it on my way up here, and it wasn’t hard enough to kill her. I really don’t know why I did that. I should have done it, gotten this over with so I could go home. Maybe it was some ridiculous feeling of loyalty to you? Do you think that could be? I’ve been a part of your stupid life so long, pretending to like you, pretending to care about you, pretending to worry about you. Maybe I’ve been human so long I’ve forgotten how to be Dark?” The thought clearly troubled her, the confusion was written all over her face.
While she worried about the motivation for the small amount of mercy she’d shown Allison and me, I found myself calculating the distance to the door for the second time that day, wondering how far I’d get. Banged up as I was, I knew the answer: not far. Even with a generous head start I wouldn’t make it to the attic door before she caught up. Nina would end up hauling me down the stairs by my ankles
I knew the minute she noticed I wasn’t paying attention to her. She looked at me with her new eyes and pouted. “Oh, sorry,” she said with exaggerated sweetness. “Am I boring you? I mean come on Tab, are you in such a hurry to die that you can’t bear to listen to me do a little soul searching before I snap your neck.”
Generally I don’t recommend poking at a wasp’s nest with a stick, but
I could resist taunting Nina a little bit. I knew her so well and it was easy to push her buttons. Fun too.
“Your friend Nicholas tried and he couldn’t kill me. He’s your king’s right hand man, isn’t he? So that makes you…what? Second best? If the king’s favorite couldn’t do it, what makes you think you can?”
“Shut up,” she said, her lips pulling into a harsh line. Nina did not care for being called second best anymore than she liked acknowledging that someone else was the favorite.
“I’m just saying, you dark ones are quick with the threats but here I am, still breathing after all these years.”
Lucky I can sometimes read minds and mine chose that second to tune into Nina’s. I was shocked for a split second but it didn’t slow my reaction. I caught her wrist right before her open palm would have connected with my unsuspecting face and stared back at her defiantly. “Like I said, what makes you think you can do it?” My voice was cold and calm. My palms were tingling, just the tiniest bit.
She jerked her hand away and smoothed her hair but I could tell I’d rattled her by catching her hand like that. Hell, I’d shocked myself too.
“Anyway,” she said once she’d composed herself. “I’m sure Allison will be here as soon as she wakes up. She’s a Guardian so she’ll come. That’s what they do. If you knew how many times I’ve tried to kill her.” Nina laughed, shaking her head with obvious admiration. “Allison’s not so bad really. You hated her so much at first, remember?” she clapped her hands together like a delighted child, imitating my voice as she said, and “She’s up to something. She’s not who she says she is. Rivers likes her better than me. Wah wah wah.’ You can’t believe how many times I wanted to tell you who she was just so you’d shut up.”
She blathered on about how stupid I was, how obvious it was that Allison was a Guardian, how I’d always talked too much anyway. And while she talked and talked, like some stupid James Bond villain who couldn’t resist revealing every detail of her evil plan, time passed. I couldn’t outrun her and, given the beating I’d received courtesy of Nicholas earlier that day, I couldn’t overpower her either. There was only one thing left to do, one do or die option and either she’d fall for it or I’d end up breathing dirt.
Dark Elf or human woman, Nina’s favorite topic had always been Nina. I’ve never known anyone more in love with the sound of her own voice. If I had to, I could keep her going for hours with just a few questions.
“Why did They send you here? How did you get picked for this?”
She snickered. “King Daniel picked me himself. He wanted someone to come to the World and become your friend, get inside your circle. Someone who could get close to you when the right time came. You can’t even imagine all the chances I’ve had over the years to kill you. The frustration,” she tugged at her hair, yanking her head from side to side. “But They wanted me to wait, to stay hidden here as long as possible. So I waited. And now this is my reward. I get to be the one who brings you to him.”
We both heard the noise, faint and distant as it was; someone had opened the back door.
“Nina? Let’s stop this now before someone gets hurt. I don’t want to hurt you.” Allison called. Nina chuckled: she glared at me when I didn’t join in.
“Princess? Are you okay?” We froze, listening to the sound of her soft footsteps getting closer. “I’m here to help you. It’s okay to tell me where you are. I know you don’t trust me but I’m going to help you. Nina is a liar. She is not your friend.”
I laughed that time. I was about to answer with a “no duh” when Nina’s hand clamped over my mouth.
“Shh…” she breathed in my ear. Her fingers dug into my cheek; they smelled like dirt, like moss and mushrooms.
Allison kept talking in her quiet, calm voice. “She is of the Dark. You know about them, right? Her people want you dead. Her king wants you alive and under his control. Neither one is a good option for you. Just make a noise, even a small one and I’ll hear you.”
Our heads turned toward the door in unison as we waited for Allison to come. I was in Nina’s head, watching as she scrambled for a plan. All her bravado was gone; she was afraid of Allison. Images of Nicholas and King Daniel flashed through her mind. I saw the fight at the gate of Witchwood Manor. Allison was fierce, terrifying. It really seemed there was no way Nina could win. Nina didn’t think she could. But just when she was almost finished, about ready to drop, she lashed out blindly and struck Allison, who stumbled and fell. I felt Nina’s surprise as her opponent toppled to the ground. A lucky swing was the only reason Nina had beaten Allison to my door.
“She is the one who killed your sisters,” Allison said calmly from right outside the sitting room door.
Her timing was impeccable, I’ll give her that. Hearing those words gave me the strength I needed. I thrashed and pulled away from Nina, crashing us both to the floor in the process.
Exactly what happened after that isn’t clear to me even now. There was a struggle. Allison yelled for me to run to the attic and I obeyed, racing down the hall as fast as I could with the sound of the fight following behind me.
“Go,” Allison yelled just as I stopped at the attic door and looked behind me. She stumbled from the sitting room, a dagger sticking out of the right side of her chest.
“Oh please. Just die already,” Nina yelled as she shoved her out of the way. Allison fell.
Before I knew what was happening, I was on the stairs again, running for the front door. I could almost hear George’s voice telling me to turn around. I hesitated for maybe half a second, less probably. But it was enough; Nina’s hand clamped onto my arm.
What happened next was a reflex; not a plan, believe me. I yanked my arm away from Nina as hard as I could, gripping the railing with my still-free hand for all I was worth. I saw her face as she lost her footing; fear followed by the dawning realization that she was going to fall. She let go of my arm, grabbing for the railing instead. But it was too late for last minute saves; she toppled down the stairs, her head hitting the floor at the bottom with a sickening, wet thunk.
Alex was right; in the end it all came down to balance.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Allison pulled the knife out of her chest herself, which I thought was extremely bad ass. She stitched the wound closed and took a shower. I bandaged her up.
I put her in George’s room to rest. She blushed like a schoolgirl when I mentioned that it was his room.
“Are you sure he won’t mind?” she giggled as I pulled back the covers for her. Bad ass points were quickly subtracted. She’d been stabbed and I’d been beaten to a pulp, not once but twice that day; we had moved well beyond girlish modesty.
“He won’t mind. He’d be happy to share his bed with you.” I sighed. “Well, you know what I mean. Just get in.”
She hesitated a second before she slipped between the covers. She settled in slowly, adjusting the pillow behind her head twice. I looked away when she sniffed the sheets.
“Are you sure you don’t want any painkillers?” I asked again.
I kept asking and she kept saying no; she was worried They would come back and she would be helpless.
“I’d better stay alert,” Allison mumbled through a yawn. I could have pointed out that her eyes were already closing but I didn’t. It seemed rude to contradict a person who’d been stabbed in the chest while attempting to help me.
“Thanks for saving me,” I said.
“You saved yourself. All I did was create a little diversion.”
“I think it was a little more than that.”
“You underestimate yourself. You were doing fine before I got here.”
I shrugged.
“Take my word for it,” she said gently. “I’ve gotten a lot of the Hidden People out of very bad situations; I know what ‘in need of rescue’ looks like.”
The adrenaline that had kept me going was almost gone; it took real effort just to stand. I leaned against the dresser for support. “That
’s why you knew Rivers?”
She was exhausted but patient; I knew she would answer my questions. “Guardians protect those who are of the Light when they come and stay in the World, after their magic has gone. That’s how I met Rivers; she was one of mine.” Allison yawned again, bigger this time, “I kept her safe.”
We were both exhausted; it would have been inhumane to expect either of us to stay awake any longer.
“My room is right through there.” I said pointing towards the bathroom that connected my room with that one. “You can call me if you need anything and I’ll call you if someone else tries to kill me.”
