by A. L. Tyler
She grabbed a washcloth out of the bathroom and used it to pick up one of the shards, and went back to the mirror by the sink. The rope appeared to be polyester, and while she was making some progress sawing at it with her mirror shard, she had to push hard to get it to cut. The harder she pushed the more the shard cut through the washcloth and into her hand. After the first coil of rope bond was cut through, she had enough room to struggle out of the rest of the mess without too much trouble, but her hands were lacerated and stinging with pain.
She walked back over to the door and looked through the peephole. The station wagon was still there. She settled onto the edge of the bed to watch the television, and went to the peephole at five till eight, but there was no change. Devin must have meant either eight or three a.m.—it was going to be a long night.
She stayed up watching late night television until it got close to three, and she went back over to the peephole. The light in the station wagon was on, and two men were sitting there. The one behind the driver’s seat was gazing directly at the door while his companion appeared to be reading a newspaper. They were both completely still; Lena wasn’t sure what Devin had anticipated, but it didn’t look like it was going to happen.
She kept her eye pressed to the door for almost ten minutes before there was any change at all; one of the guards took a sip from a mug. Five minutes later one of them scratched his head. Lena was starting to get desperate; she wasn’t going to be able to stay up until eight in the morning. She was exhausted and her hands hurt, and if someone found her sans hood or tied hands the next morning there would be hell to pay, tighter bindings, no more mirrors, and probably a guard stationed in the room. It was her only chance.
A car pulled into the lot and parked next to the station wagon. Lena’s heart skipped a beat and without even thinking her hand flew to the door handle, ready to make her escape. Two figures got out of the van, and in the dim illumination cast by the light poles Lena immediately recognized who they were—Devin, carrying what appeared to be a couple of steaming hot coffees, and Pepper, a blond woman in her twenties that she had only met once the night she had snuck out to go swimming in the reservoir. The two men got out of the station wagon and seemed to greet the newcomers with zeal.
They stood outside the station wagon for a long time, just talking. At one point it appeared that Devin had launched into one of his elaborate and hilarious stories about kitchen living, but there was always someone watching the door. Lena hoped this wasn’t his idea of a distraction; she was going to need something much bigger if she wanted to get out of the room.
And then it happened. Pepper had hoisted herself onto the hood of the station wagon to sit, and Devin went to hand her a coffee. He dropped it in her lap just before her hand closed on it, and everyone turned to look as Pepper screeched in shock. Heart hammering, Lena had opened the door, flown out of the room, closed the door, and dashed for the shadowy stairwell twenty feet away. From her hiding spot in the darkness, she watched as the two men and Devin tried to help Pepper clean up. One of them had gone to the back of the station wagon and was coming back with a towel and a box of tissues—none of them had noticed her sudden flight.
Adrenaline pulsing in her veins, Lena tried to figure out what her next move would be. She looked around; the stairwell cut all the way through to the other side of the building. She walked to the railing on the other side, looked to her left, and saw another set of stairs that ran down to a pool area. She ran as fast as she dared without risking drawing attention to herself, walked around the pool and let herself out through a gate. She could see a shopping center several hundred feet up the road on the other side, but doubted any of the stores would be open in the middle of the night.
Still, she couldn’t stay here, so she started walking. When she got to the shopping center, and everything was closed, she realized where she was—she was just in town. It was the closest shopping center to Waldgrave, and before the Council had put her in lockdown, Howard and Mrs. Ralston had brought her there frequently to buy clothes and other necessities. From memory she knew that there was a twenty-four hour grocery just up the street a ways.
She ran as fast as she could until her legs and lungs protested, and then walked the rest of the way. The world was scarier at night, but she was feeling much better now that she was away from the motel. She stayed close to the road and the lampposts so that she could see where she was going, but her instincts kept nagging at her to stay away from lit areas—someone who knew who she was might see her. She arrived at the large, empty parking lot and once again broke into a run until she reached the entryway and was accosted by the smells of baking bread, deli fresh sandwiches, and misted produce.
She looked around at the bright and happy sale signs and uniformed graveyard shift workers; it was all so bizarre. Even when the Silenti world was in turmoil, even when she herself had just escaped a life-threatening situation, the world still went on as it always had. Grocery stores still smelled like grocery stores, God bless them. She walked over to the clerk at the tobacco counter, a middle-aged woman with flaming red hair and wearing the characteristic blue apron uniform who looked to be doing some manner of bookkeeping. Her nametag read “Jenny.”
“Hey, I’m sorry about this, but my car broke down about a mile down the street and I don’t have any change for the pay phones. Is there any way I could use the store phone for a quick call?” Lying was really becoming too easy. She hadn’t even felt herself blush, and even though she had been in mortal danger a mere half an hour earlier, her voice was completely level and normal. She didn’t like that she was getting used to these situations—it wasn’t healthy.
“Of course, honey! Come on back.” The woman flipped up a section of the countertop to let Lena through, and led her to an office behind the counter that connected the tobacco counter with the small video rental area. “You just dial nine to get out. You have someone around to pick you up, or are you going to have to wait for the tow? It takes them a while to get all the way out here…”
“I have family. I was just driving out to my uncle’s, so he can get me.”
“Do you want something for that?” Jenny pointed at Lena’s face, and for a moment she wasn’t sure what Jenny was indicating.
“Oh.” Lena reached up and touched the welt that had formed after Rollin had punched her. She had lost her bandages somewhere in the last hour. “I actually drove my car off the road and into a ditch, and I guess I must have smacked into the steering wheel. I guess I should get something after I call.”
“What happened to your hands?” The woman’s eyes went wide.
Lena stared down at the crisscrossing wounds on her palms. She looked back up at Jenny. “I have a pet cat. It was bath day today.”
The woman smiled, confused, and left. Lena made a quick mental check, and the number that Warren Astley had told her not too long ago was still there. She picked up the receiver, dialed nine followed by the ground line for Waldgrave, and listened to the phone ring five times before an unfamiliar male voice picked up.
“Hello?”
Lena paused. “I’m sorry, have I reached Daray-Collins residence?”
“Yes…who is this?”
Lena thought. She didn’t want to talk to whoever this was; she wanted to talk to Howard. She wouldn’t put it past Rollin to have spies in Waldgrave, and she knew someone was funding his efforts. She didn’t trust anyone anymore. “This is…a distant relation of Howard Collins. I need to speak to him immediately.”
“Oh? And what was your name?”
“My name?” Lena cast her eyes around the small office for inspiration. Why was this guy asking so many questions? “My name is Jenny. Jennifer Blue.”
The guy put her on hold for a moment, and then came back. “I’m sorry, Master Collins has no relation by the name of Jennifer Blue. Who is this really?”
Lena rolled her eyes. Jenny was looking through the window in the office door at her questioningly. Lena tried to smile like she wa
sn’t annoyed. “Look, did you actually wake him up to ask?”
Silence, except for a cough in the background.
“How many people are in the room there with you? I have information of a sensitive nature, and I’m only going to trust Howard Collins with it.”
The voice became irritated, and Lena detected a slight tone of hostility. “Howard Collins is temporarily relieved of his position with the Council pending the resolution of the situation with his niece, so if you’ve called to try to make a deal with him, I suggest you hang up now. Howard Collins is no longer in charge of this negotiation, you human-born filth!”
Jenny’s eyes still on her, and Lena realized that her phone call would be over very quickly if she didn’t say something. “I am his niece! Okay?! I’m Lena Collins, and I need to speak to Howard immediately!”
Lena heard murmurs in the background. “I’m not going to let you speak to Master Collins, but can you prove what you just said?”
Even though she could feel the anger rising in the back of her throat, she tried to keep her expression neutral so that Jenny wouldn’t suspect anything. “Absolutely. And how would you like me to do that?”
“Tell me something Rollin Miller wouldn’t know. Something that only Lena Collins would know.”
Lena tried to think. Was there any shred of her life that private? “I told Hesper Mason that we were going to the Corbett’s summer house in Phoenix to throw you off track.”
“Everyone knows that now. I’m going to need something better.”
“I was pissed when I didn’t get to go on the rafting trip with Ryan Ashmore last summer.”
“That’s a matter of public record…we had to have an emergency vote. Everyone knows.”
Damn. Lena stretched her mind to the breaking point. “Okay…okay. I know none of you know this one. Pyrallis Daray told me that most of the information in Silas Cassius’s journals was made up.”
There was a brief silence, and then the voice returned. “That would be a good one, but unfortunately for you, Pyrallis Daray isn’t lucid enough to confirm what you’re saying.”
Lena wanted to scream into the phone. Jenny poked her head in the door, and she covered the receiver. “Honey, is everything okay? You’re looking a little upset.”
“Fine. It’s just bad news from home. My uncle’s home, I mean.”
“Oh, okay, I’ll leave you to it.” And she went back to the counter.
Lena returned to the phone. “What about Griffin Corbett? Is he there? And conscious?”
There were murmurs in the background again. “He is.”
For a moment, her relief outweighed her anger. Griffin had pulled through, though it didn’t sound like he was in charge of the negotiation, either. “Okay. He can confirm this. He kissed Bianca Channing at the Colburn-Perry ceremony, and we got into a fight about it afterwards.”
Silence. It hadn’t really been a fight; it had been Griffin shoving her to the ground and then randomly expecting her forgiveness. She had gone out that night to spend time with friends swimming in a reservoir, and looking back she had to wonder if she had done it just to get back at him; the real fight had been the next morning. Lena suddenly realized that she may have shared something that she oughtn’t to have shared, given that she didn’t know who she was talking to. She might have given some people the wrong idea about their relationship, and they were probably going to have something to say about it.
“Hello?” Lena asked.
The man cleared his throat. “Yes, someone’s gone to ask him.”
Lena could only imagine how that conversation was going to go. But a few moments later, the voice was back.
“What’s your message?” The voice asked.
Lena felt her brow furrow in confusion, until she realized that the people on the other end of the phone thought that she was still operating as a hostage. “My message? No message! I’m not with Rollin, I’m not with anyone! I’m here alone!”
There was a pause. “You’re alone? How did--?”
“Just come and get me!” Lena tried not to yell. “Look, I don’t think they’re going to notice that I’m gone until tomorrow, but I really don’t want to risk it. I’m at the grocery store in town, and I swear I’m not going anywhere this time until someone comes to get me.” Lena sighed, getting up to pace to the window and look out. “And…one more thing?”
“Yes?”
Lena’s skin was crawling; she wasn’t sure how much time had passed since she had escaped, or if anyone had noticed yet. “Bring a lot of people. And guns. Just in case.”
Lena hung up and went back out to the front. Jenny had produced a cold pack from somewhere, which Lena promptly slapped onto the bruised side of her face.
*****
CHAPTER 18
The pickup went on without a hitch; despite the fact that it was a forty-five minute drive, several cars pulled into the otherwise empty lot within twenty minutes. Howard had jumped out of a car to greet her; he was thinner than she had ever seen him, and shaking. She ran out from behind the counter when she saw him and he pulled her into a hug. Looking over his shoulder, she could see several other Council Representatives standing beside a car just in front of the entrance.
Are you okay?
“Yes. I’ll be fine. We really should get out of here.” She whispered.
They got into the car, and no one spoke on the ride home. Howard told her that no one was allowed to speak or communicate concerning her ordeal until they could set up to officially document it, and she was relieved. The opportunity presented more time to decide what she was going to do about Daray, and possibly the opportunity to speak with him first.
“They were at the motel.” Lena peered out the car window anxiously, but the world was silent with night shadows. “The one on the far side of town, where we went to get suits.”
Howard looked pained. “We know, Lena. We’ve known they were there for days. A gathering of human-borns that large is hard to miss.”
Lena’s attention snapped to Howard. “Rollin didn’t seem to think you knew—“
Howard made a gesture to cut her off. No more until we officially have it on record. Human-borns are highly empathetic beings, and they have a lower threshold for the moods they project. I suspect Rollin has underestimated exactly how loud they are to the rest of us.
Her heart pounded the whole way back to Waldgrave, but nothing happened. They pulled into the unpaved drive and right on up to the house like it was any other night; for the first time in a long time, Lena felt like she was going to cry. Like she needed to cry, but she couldn’t. She just got out of the car and walked into the house with everyone else.
Mrs. Ralston was sitting at the table in the kitchen, wearing a floor-length floral pattern nightgown and curlers, a cup of coffee in her hands, when Lena walked in. She put a hand to her mouth and half-ran over when she saw her, and pulled her into a frantic hug. She kept patting her back.
“What happened to your face? Now, now come with me, and we’ll get that fixed up…”
Mrs. Ralston took her hand and started to lead her away, but Master Perry stopped them. “I’m not sure if that’s a good idea…”
Howard turned on him. “Why not?”
“Because—“
“Because she’s human-born? I assure you that Rosaleen has only the best intentions toward her. She’s family, Ansel.” Howard’s expression was tired but determined. An uncomfortable silence filled the room, and it became evident that Master Perry wasn’t the only one hesitant to leave Lena alone with Mrs. Ralston, who had removed her hands from Lena’s shoulders and taken a step back. Lena thought she could actually feel a pang of sadness radiating off of Rosaleen, and though she thought she saw her lower lip quiver slightly, her eyes remained impassive.
Lena was disgusted as she looked at the rest of the suspicious faces around her. “I think I’m old enough to make these decisions for myself.”
She grabbed Mrs. Ralston’s hand and they walked toge
ther back up to Lena’s old room, the last door on the left down the hall on the second floor. Still painted green, the shades drawn over the windows, the bed had been made. Exactly as she had left it, like nothing had ever changed; across the hall, Ava’s room was probably in a similar state, but she was never coming home.
Mrs. Ralston took Lena into the bathroom, where she used a washcloth to sponge off the small abrasions; most of the damage was from bruising. Looking in the mirror, Lena saw that the blood pooling under her skin was spreading, and she was starting to develop a little bit of a black eye.
“This just looks terrible…what happened?” Mrs. Ralston was still fretting about, running the cloth under cold water and then holding it on the injury until it got warm again. She forced Lena down to sit on the edge of the tub.
“I don’t think I’m supposed to be talking about it.” Lena looked up at her apologetically.
Mrs. Ralston crouched down in front of her, the curlers in her hair bobbing uncertainly. Her eyes were a little watery, and the bags under them were evident. “You’ve been through a lot. You don’t have to act tough for me. They might frown on your human side, because you were raised in a place much safer than this one, but you can’t just ignore the fact that all of this bothers you. You’re not Griffin.”
But it didn’t bother her anymore. She had been choked, shot at, kidnapped, orphaned, punched, and interrogated. She had nearly drowned, she had witnessed several murders, and here she sat with slashed palms from her earlier escape attempt. And none of it bothered her anymore; she had only felt that way once before, and it had been at her first arrival at Waldgrave after the domino deaths of her father and her grandmother. There wasn’t any way for her to feel, and there were no words. Maybe she would feel something about it someday, but for the time being, everything from her hands to her emotions was just numb.
“Can I get you anything? Food? Aspirin?” Mrs. Ralston’s mood brightened to become a shade more hopeful; it was time to look forward. Lena only shook her head. “Well, you’d better get some sleep, and we’ll deal with it all when you’re ready.”
