The Sapphire Talisman

by Brenda Pandos

  The bell rang for fifth period and my brain went into problem solving mode. Not math problems, but how to systematically find where Alora hid during the day.

  Under my desk, I scrolled for an iPhone app with a mapping function. I wanted to track the ground covered as I drove around the city later. I’d have an hour after school today and possibly tomorrow which wasn’t much considering the zig-zagging pattern I’d need to perform. If I could find her before we left Friday night, arranging a sunset drive-by where Nicholas might be able to feel her presence (safely within the sanctum of his vehicle of course) would be ideal.

  - How’s it going?

  The text startled me, interrupting my search. I was mad until I saw it was from Nicholas.

  - Good. And you?

  - Hoping you’d be free after school for a quick bite.

  I smiled at Nicholas’ humor. To some, if they’d known he was half-vampire, the word “bite” might have left them wondering—or horrified. Even still, the idea, no matter how awesome, interrupted my search plans.

  My fingertips hovered over the touch-screen.

  What to say? What to say?

  - Sure.

  Even though I knew figuring out Alora’s hiding place was more important, being with Nicholas sounded better. The day had already seemed too long, and watching Dena and Morgan together made me want to see him sooner.

  Chapter Four

  Friday evening finally arrived and the little time I’d spent searching for Alora was a complete bust. I’d have to resume the search after our weekend, once I was able to invite myself along of course.

  I rushed to put together what I needed—my jeans, underwear, pink T-shirt, black hoodie, toothbrush, deodorant, hairbrush—only the basics I could fit in my backpack. Any second he’d be here to say good-bye and I had to be ready to go.

  My heart skipped a beat when I felt his sweet aura, nervous but refreshing, like an evening breeze. I acted busy when he rapped on the pane.

  “Hey,” I said after opening the window. “Fancy meeting you here.”

  Unable to cross my threshold, per his request, Nicholas, being part vampire, was unable to touch me until I came outside.

  I could only wait a fraction of a second before the glint in his smiling, sea-green eyes made my knees turn to Jell-O and I couldn’t clamber out of the window fast enough. But before I’d even got one foot on the awning, he’d lifted me by my waist and brought our faces level with each other. The sudden tense pause made me hold my breath before our lips touched. We brushed our mouths in sync while his sweet breath tickled my nose.

  Several moments later, I was able to tear my lips from his. I melted into his embrace and enjoyed the euphoria, not wanting to breach the forbidden subject of me tagging along.

  “I should leave more often,” he said after a few more kisses.

  “Well, I wanted to talk to you about that.”

  “Am I forbidden to go?”

  I giggled. “Yes and no.”

  He gave me a puzzled look.

  “Yes, you’re allowed to go,” I said with confidence. “But not without me.”

  Nicholas closed his eyes slowly, keeping control of his frustration, and released my waist.

  “Julia, you know I’d love you to go with me—I can never get enough time with you, but I don’t think your dad would approve.” He paused to give me his most endearing smile—the one he knew I couldn’t resist.

  “Well, that’s why I’m not telling him. He’s out of town this weekend so he’ll never even know. I won’t even be lying. I’ll just be withholding the complete truth. Come on, please?”

  “What if something happens while we are gone? How would you explain that to your father? He’d forbid you from seeing me ever again. I can’t risk that. I need you more than you’ll ever know.” The pained look on his face was enough to nearly stop my argument, but I was determined to carry on.

  “Well, if something did happen, we could always tell him a little more about you. If he knew what transpired with my mother—his wife—he’d trust you without a doubt and let us date. Heck, he’d probably give us his blessing,” I said in my defense.

  I could see him waver, considering my argument, but he didn’t look convinced. It was time to put on the pressure.

  “And . . . I want to see my grandmother.”

  Nicholas’ eyebrows pressed together. “Your grandmother?”

  “Yes, she’s in a rest home in L.A. and I haven’t seen her since my mother’s disappearance.”

  “Julia . . .” Nicholas said with a sigh, his face still like stone.

  My request put a chink in his armor, but I wasn’t done with my bag of tricks yet.

  “And . . .” I said slowly, “I want to visit my mother’s grave.”

  Internally, the wall of bricks fell in to expose his wounded heart. How could he deny me this request when he still blamed himself for how it happened?

  “Not fair,” he said, face crestfallen.

  “How is this not fair?” I said quickly and looked up at him with puppy-dog eyes. “Like I said, this is the perfect weekend. My dad is away and everyone thinks I’m going to be at Sam’s. She even has my phone. We can drive stealth there and back.”

  “You have this all planned out, don’t you?”

  I wrapped my arms around his torso and waited. The battle within him ensued. Fear verses guilt, but the guilt was winning.

  I felt bad for twisting his arm, but I knew things he didn’t and the thought of being that far apart from each other when I knew nothing of his L.A. life scared the tar out of me. Come what may, I needed to be in the wings just in case, and use my unknown talent to save him before the prophecy could come true.

  “Okay,” he said in a final huff. “But— you will do as I request once we get to L.A., promise?”

  “Scouts honor,” I said. “I’m already packed.”

  “Fine, let’s go.”

  His peaceful presence relaxed me the instant we hit the highway. All his angst against me coming along had melted. He must have felt better because he could still keep an eye on me, conveniently placing the blame on my persistence when it came to the sticky details with my dad. But I felt okay about it because the whole trip was purely business. We’d be home before anyone could miss us.

  His stealth driving, as he called it,—speeding as fast as the car would go with the headlights off—shot us like a slingshot towards Los Angeles. I sank into the soft leather seat and let the serenity of the jazz music that floated from his speakers pull my eyelids shut. Suddenly the fog cleared and I found myself walking down a dark corridor, looking for Aladdin. She’d jumped from my arms and scurried into a crack in the wall of the abandoned structures towering around us. Rickety, rusted-out siding shot up from the ground into the sky so far up I couldn’t see the top, or the sky. I only heard her anxious meows echo off the walls, unsure where the cry came from. I turned the corner of the growing metal labyrinth, losing my sense of direction, frantically calling her name. My spidery senses were tingling and all I wanted to do was leave. But the bloodlust found me, coming from behind and I already knew I was trapped.

  “Welcome home, darling,” Alora said as I spun around. Her mellifluous voice turned my stomach. I prepared to run in the other direction, but my feet stayed rooted in their spot. “I’ve been waiting.”

  I startled awake.

  “Bad dream?” Nicholas said while rubbing the back of my neck, still stealthing past tall, blurry buildings unfamiliar to me.

  “Um,” I said and blinked my eyes to clear the fog. “Yeah, something like that. Where are we?”

  “We’ll be there in about ten minutes.”

  The general unhappiness hit hard. Even in the car, I realized Los Angeles was a gigantic city filled with lots of confused and hurting people. My mind whirled as I watched the traffic, the lights, the architecture, and signs to the endless interlocking maze of freeways, wondering what made this place so miserable. I’d forgotten the oppression such a huge pop
ulace could bring—only hanging out in my small beach town.

  “Are you tired? I got you a room,” Nicholas said in concern.

  “You’re not—” I gulped “—you know, staying with me?” I asked sheepishly, unsure of his intended plans.

  “Well, I figured while you slept I’d run my errands and then tomorrow we could go see your grandma, if that’s okay with you.”

  The thought of being in a weird hotel, with unknown strangers in rooms all around me, doing God knows what, and Nicholas far away, freaked me out.

  “You’re going to leave me there?”

  The panicked look in my eyes must have been pretty evident as Nicholas’ sudden concern sent out shock waves.

  “I was, but not if you don’t want me to.”

  I shook my head. I’d already planned to stay glued to his side, or wait in the car—whatever, just as long as we were together. And, I didn’t have my phone, so Nicholas would always need to be within screaming distance.

  Nicholas’ shoulders slumped as he grew quiet while deeply concentrating on something. It was apparent he didn’t want me coming along wherever he had to go.

  “I’m sorry,” I said quickly. “I just get freaked out at the thought of being alone in a strange place. I don’t mind waiting in the car. I won’t be any trouble. I promise.” I sat up straighter to check my reflection in the visor mirror, and wiped away smudged mascara. “I’m ready to do whatever . . . I’m not tired.”

  I tried to give a convincing smile when I didn’t feel like my speech helped.

  “I’m not sure that’ll work.”

  “Why?”

  “Because where I have to go . . . you’ll wish you waited back at the hotel.”

  “Oh.” I bit my lip. “Some scary vampire-ville?”

  Nicholas chuckled. “No, though every town usually has a few. Actually, Harry doesn’t live in the best part of town.”

  “Harry?”

  “He makes my weapons.”

  “Isn’t that your nickname?” I asked with a smirk. “Or should I call you Dirty and him Harry.”

  Nicholas let out a snort. “More like call him Dirty Harry. And please don’t tell him my newspaper nickname. He’d never let me live it down.”

  I giggled. Harry sounded like my kind of dude.

  “A couple of things. Harry’s blind but don’t let that fool you. He’s very intuitive and uses all of his other senses well. Also, he’s a big fan of Clint Eastwood—you’ll see what I mean when you meet him.”

  “Does he look like Clint Eastwood?”

  Nicholas’ enjoyment of my statement felt refreshing, otherwise toning down his overall tension.

  “Not exactly. Let’s just say he’s watched a lot of Dirty Harry movies and picked up some bad habits. I’ll ask him to curtail the colorful adjectives in your presence.”

  We pulled off the highway and Nicholas flipped on his headlights which sent the underground life skittering. The general heightened oppression and fear on the street made my heart hammer faster. I grabbed Nicholas’ hand in response, instantly infused with his confidence, creating a bubble against the bombardment.

  “Don’t worry,” Nicholas said and squeezed my hand back. “I grew up on these streets. No one’s going to bother us.”

  Still keeping an even pressure on my hand, I felt the sweat pool under my palm. I believed him, but would feel better once we were driving away from this place. This wasn’t what I’d call “home.”

  The signs on the dilapidated buildings were in a language I didn’t recognize. The people on the street appeared hard, ready to do real damage if you looked at them wrong. Nicholas maneuvered through the streets with ease, feeling a sense of fondness. Like this part of the city really was his home.

  “Is Harry an uncle or something?” I finally asked.

  “Not . . . really,” he said. “More like a guardian. Someone had to keep an eye on me during the day.”

  “But he’s blind?”

  “With ears like a hawk.”

  Nicholas turned into a dark alley and the walls swallowed us whole. He pulled into a shadow of the building and parked.

  “I’ll be out in a minute.”

  My eyes grew big in response, until I caught the smile.

  “Kidding. Harry would kill me anyway if I left you out here.”

  I fell back into the seat, filled with relief. His talent for hiding his emotions happened at the weirdest times.

  We exited the vehicle and approached a worn iron door. Nicholas rapped on the metal while I stood glued behind him. There was a flicker in the peephole and then happiness burst forth as the door opened.

  All I could understand was “Nicholas” before a string of what I believed to be Vietnamese.

  A small-framed woman, a little over five feet tall, dark hair, heart shaped face, attacked his neck in a hug. I marveled at how love in any language all felt the same.

  Nicholas spoke back with the same sentiment. Her curiosity piqued once she noticed me.

  “Girlfriend?” she asked in broken English.

  Nicholas’ smile reflected the effervescence of his eyes as he nodded. I’d never been introduced as The Girlfriend before. The title made me feel special, giddy.

  “Hung,” he said while motioning to me. “I’d like you to meet Julia.”

  “Namaste,” Hung said sweetly with a bow, her hands pushed together in a prayer pose. “Happy to meet you.”

  “Likewise,” I said, but before I could bow in return, she grabbed our arms and pulled us across the threshold.

  “Don’t like evil spirits,” she said while waving her hand in the air. She gave the alley one last look before slamming the door shut.

  Once the iron collided against the frame, she proceeded to flip three locks followed by some ritual with a circular jade amulet that hung off the wall.

  Nicholas touched her shoulder and spoke gently—conveying something so she’d stop worrying. She responded back in Vietnamese, still spooked. Her chocolaty brown eyes caught my concern and she shot me a warm smile.

  “You eat? Hungry?” Hung asked while she rubbed her stomach. “Come.” She padded down the hall in her beaded slippers and motioned for us to follow.

  The kitchen smelled amazing and was covered with little vials of herbs. A large pot bubbled with an exotic soup along with a pan simmering with stir-fried meat. Fresh vegetables covered her work area and dough lay thinly rolled out for some sort of pastry.

  She forced us to sit and began to pile plates with sticky rice, dried fish, and fresh spinach. I was glad she forced us to eat because I was actually very hungry. After she’d been satisfied we’d eaten enough, we were finally allowed to see Harry.

  Hung escorted us to the back of the house, bowed, and left us in front of the closed door.

  Nicholas knocked.

  Muffled cursing could be heard from within, full of irritation. Nicholas coughed loudly to cover it up right before the door flew open to reveal a small Vietnamese man. I almost gasped, not expecting his appearance. Harry’s ivory skin tone matched his opalescent eyes, bushy white eyebrows, alabaster beard, and the ring of straw-like milky colored hair that circled his head which left the top bald. His anger quickly faded to surprise, then elation.

  “Nicky, my boy, good to see you, you fine—”

  “Harry,” Nicholas said quickly. “Sorry to interrupt you, but I have company—female company.”

  “I thought I smelled something better than your ugly mug,” Harry said with a deep, scratchy voice and emerged from the dark room with his hand forward. “Freesia and wild apples. Where are you, Nicholas’ lady-friend?” Harry’s raspy voice seemed completely opposite of his actual appearance. I suppressed a giggle and reached out to meet his hand.

  “Hi, Harry,” I said meekly. “I’m Julia.”

  “Hello,” he said and patted the top of my hand before he turned to Nicholas. “She’s a pretty thing, I can tell.” I blushed before he turned back to me. “Don’t listen to anything he says. He�
��s full of b—”

  “Harry,” Nicholas interrupted with a warning in his tone.

  “Unbunch your panties, Son; I was going to say baloney.”

  “Yeah, sure you were.”

  Nicholas entered the office while Harry held my hand, leading me inside to a chair, removing a few things off of it first.

  “Grab the light Nicholas, you know where it is,” Harry said. “And don’t touch anything. I finally know exactly where everything is.”

  “Harry, I’m not ten anymore.”

  “You still do it though—you little scroungy pain in the— It took me months to find my things after you left the last time. Just don’t move anything and I won’t have to yell at you!”

  Nicholas huffed and flipped the light.

  The illumination revealed the vast immenseness of his Organization System which astounded me. Harry left my side and followed along the path of boxes that led from the chair to a large oak desk covered in stacks of books and sat down. Behind him, lining the wall from floor to ceiling, were more books along with glass canisters filled with weird things—hair, bugs, herbs, gold-colored liquid with floating oddities, rocks, and bones. I gasped when I saw the pickled snake.

  “A delicacy,” Nicholas said quietly.

  My body went into full tremors. I hated snakes. No matter where I stood, dead things watched helplessly back; the unrecognizable stuff freaked me out even more.

  “So, Sonny, got something for me?” Harry asked while holding out his hand, then after taking a sniff in Nicholas’ direction, wrinkled his face. “Ever heard of soap?”

  “I ran out of venom. I need another shirt,” Nicholas said in a low tone and dropped a small satchel into Harry’s hand.

  “I’d say you do.” Harry opened the bag and poured out the shiny white stones into his other hand. “What’s this? Skimping out on me? Or have you been busy playing Romeo with Julia?”

  “The vamps are staying away for some reason. I was hoping you’d know why.”

  “How the he—heck would I know? Maybe the beacons are working,” he said while scratching his beard with one hand and fondling the rocks with the other. “Or maybe it’s your reeking shirt.”

  Nicholas pursed his lips. “Well, they’ve been up a year, and the hiatus started only four months ago.”