by Amy Reece
I drove into the pickup lane after school on Tuesday to find her, as usual, talking and laughing with Kai. She said something to him and then ran over to the car.
“Ally, can Kai come over today? Please?” she asked.
“Um, I don’t know, sweetie. I think we should plan for that.” Her little face fell. Crap. I hated disappointing her, and she truly asked for so little. “I mean, he needs to get permission from his parents—”
“What if he calls his dad? You could talk to him, Ally. Please? We want to work on a project together.”
Great. Throw that in. What kind of future teacher refuses to let kids work on a project? “Well, if I can talk to his dad, I guess it might be okay.”
“Yay! Thanks, Ally.” She turned and motioned for the little boy to approach. “Call your dad. If he says it’s okay, you can come over. But my sister wants to talk to him.”
She closed the deal when she called me her sister. I smiled encouragingly at Kai. “Hi. I’m Ally. If you can get permission from your dad, it’s okay if you come home with us.”
“I’ll call my nanny. My father doesn’t like me to disturb him at work,” the boy said quietly.
He didn’t have a speech impediment at all; he had an accent. He was clearly English, but not with the sort of accent I had heard on the Harry Potter movies. His sounded less cultured, somehow, like maybe he was from an uneducated background. I felt horrible for thinking it, but at the same time I had a feeling there was something about it I was supposed to remember, but couldn’t call to the front of my mind. He spoke on his cell phone—who gives a 5th grader a cell phone?—for a moment before handing it to me.
The woman on the other end introduced herself as Kai’s nanny and said he had her permission to go home with us. When I asked if she would like our address so she could pick him up later, she said he was fine walking home. Before I had a chance to object, she had hung up. I handed the phone back to the boy, who took it stoically before climbing into the backseat with Megan. She chattered all the way home about how she would show him her dog and her cat—she had claimed Wicky as her own from the moment she moved in—and her bedroom. I wondered what the protocol was for letting her have a boy in her bedroom; Jack and I had never discussed it, assuming it wouldn’t come up at her age. I felt completely out of my depth.
Once back at the house, the two children disappeared into the backyard so Kai could be introduced to Sodapop while I headed to the kitchen to see what I could find in the way of a snack for them. After eating apple slices with peanut butter and glasses of milk, they were planning to look on the Internet for ideas for their science project. I set up my laptop for them in the den and checked on them from time to time. Megan was in charge of the computer and Kai sat beside her with seeming endless patience as they searched for an idea they could both get interested in. He hadn’t said anything to me since handing me his phone earlier except ‘thank you’ when I placed his snack in front of him. He had startling green eyes that looked sad and serious, like he had seen too much in his short life, but as he watched Megan search on the computer, I saw him smile slightly, as if he had found a great treasure. My heart went out to the small, lonely boy and I determined that I would welcome him into my home whenever possible.
Jack got home and was duly introduced to Kai before they disappeared into Megan’s bedroom. I caught her before she ran off and leaned down to whisper in her ear to leave the door open. She looked at me questioningly, but nodded before skipping off.
“What’s that all about?” Jack asked as he pulled me into his arms for a hello kiss.
“Megan has a new friend,” I said before leaning into him for another kiss. As I pulled away, I saw Kai watching us from the hallway. Our eyes met, then he turned and followed Megan. Okay, that was a little creepy. When I peeked into her bedroom a little while later, they were sitting on the floor with a collection of small toys in between them. “What are you guys doing?”
“Just playing,” Megan said. Kai didn’t speak.
“Oh, okay. Kai, would you like to stay for dinner?”
“No, ma’am. Thank you. I better get home. See you tomorrow, Megan,” he said quietly and stood to leave.
“I can drive you home, Kai. I don’t want you to have to walk.”
“No, thank you. I’m fine. It’s not far.” He gathered his backpack and left quietly, waving to Megan as he walked down the path to the sidewalk.
Chapter Eight
“Then reflect, my son: you are poised, once more, on the razor-edge of fate.”
—Sophocles, Antigone
I ran. Tripped and fell, cutting my hands and knees on broken glass. Cried out. I picked myself up and ran again. Searching, crying out. “Megan? Where are you? Megan, please!” I searched frantically, my heart breaking as I couldn’t find her. Someone was up ahead, crouched on the ground, amidst broken bottles and litter. It was a teenage boy, maybe 14 or 15 years old. His back was to me, shoulders hunched as he wept, his dark blonde curls shaggy and overly long. I wasn’t afraid to approach him; I somehow knew he would have the answers I sought. I crept toward him, looking wildly around. I placed my hand on his thin shoulder and he turned his ravaged face toward me, tears streaming out of his piercing green eyes. “I’m sorry, Ally. I didn’t want this. She isn’t part of this. I tried to save her, but he made me! I’m so sorry!” I backed away, shaking my head, starting to sob. Megan! Oh, my God, where was she? What had happened to her?
“Ally, hon, wake up.”
I woke to Jack gently shaking me and rubbing my back. “What?” I reached up to find my face wet with tears. My pillow was a soggy mess.
“Bad dream?” he asked. “You were crying in your sleep.”
“Oh, God, Jack,” I curled into his embrace and told him about the new additions to my dream/vision. “It’s Megan! She’s what I was looking for! She’s in danger, Jack! She’s in danger because of me!”
“Hey, hey,” he soothed. “You don’t know that. These visions of yours are always vague. We’ll protect her, Ally. I won’t let anything happen to her. I won’t let anything happen to you, either.”
I wanted to believe him, but I couldn’t help remembering Michael. He had been killed because of me. Maybe it wasn’t safe to be around me. I knew I wasn’t thinking clearly right now in the middle of the night, but it was difficult to think about anything else. I curled deeper into Jack’s chest, breathing in his comforting smell as he stroked my hair.
“We’re going to figure this out, babe. I swear. I will not let anything threaten my family,” he promised.
“But, Jack, what if—”
“Shh. It’s no good trying to figure it out tonight.”
“It’s me, Jack.” I sobbed into his chest. “I’m not safe. Everyone around me is in danger. I should—”
“Don’t even go there!” He forced me to look into his eyes. “We tried that and it just about killed me. We belong together and we’re a family now. Please, Ally. Please don’t even think about leaving. We can figure out anything else. You are my life. You and Meg. I don’t even want to think about life without you.”
“I’m so sorry, Jack,” I whispered. “I’m sorry about everything. You should have someone who’s normal.”
He laughed and pulled me to lie on top of him. “Oh, Ally! What’s normal?” I knew he was trying to lighten the mood and I appreciated his effort.
“I don’t know, but probably not a wife who has terrifying visions and has a murderer trying to control her.” I smiled crookedly as I looked into his face. He was my life too, and I couldn’t imagine being happy without him.
“Hey, your visions are what brought us together, so they don’t bother me in the least. As far as Luc goes—well, we’re going to find him and take care of him.” The look on his face was so fierce; I was reminded that although he was studying to be an engineer, he was also a trained warrior, capable of killing with his bare hands, not to mention highly trained in all sorts of weapons I didn’t even want to think ab
out.
I lowered my lips to his, intent on taking our minds off the nightmare for now. “I love you so much, Jack. You and Megan are my life too. I’m not going anywhere.” I kissed him again, then squirmed off of him and out of bed. “Except over here to lock the door. I wouldn’t want Megan to interrupt what we’re about to do.”
“Oh, yeah? And what are we about to do, Mrs. Ruiz? I have no idea what you’re talking about,” he teased, the earlier fear and tension forgotten for the night.
I shut and locked our bedroom door, quietly, hoping that Megan was still fast asleep. I turned and stood for a moment, watching my husband as he sat up in bed. “I love being married to you, Jack.”
He smiled and held out his hand to me. “Why don’t you come over here so I can show you how much I love being married to you too?”
I happily complied.
***
I smelled coffee when I woke the next morning and was confused, since Jack was still asleep beside me. I threw on a robe and padded out to the kitchen. “Megan, did you make coffee, sweetie?”
Megan wasn’t in the kitchen. Instead, Rémy looked up from his iPad and gestured to the cup of coffee he had poured for me.
I picked it up, took a sip, and grumpily muttered something about needing to change the locks as soon as possible.
“Always so cranky in the morning, eh, cherié? Maybe Jack isn’t doing a good job of making your nights enjoyable,” he said and smirked into his coffee cup.
“You’re a pig, Rémy,” I said it more out of habit than anything else; this back-and-forth banter was our way of communicating. “Thanks for the coffee. What’s up? Why are you here so early? ” It wasn’t even 6:00 a.m. yet.
“I wanted to hear about the vision. Mina wouldn’t let me call last night. She said you wouldn’t want to be disturbed.”
I felt my cheeks heat up as I remembered the night before, after the dream. It was tough having Mina and Rémy in my head sometimes.
“Maybe there’s hope for Jack after all,” he said.
“Shut up! Do you want to hear about the vision or not?”
“That’s why I’m here, cherié.”
Jack came in while I was telling Rémy about the vision. He didn’t say anything, but began preparing scrambled eggs for breakfast. He placed a plate in front of me and offered one to Rémy, who waved it away.
“No, thank you. Mina has breakfast waiting for me at home. I just wanted to hear about the dream before Ally left for work. Do you have any idea who the boy was? One of your students, perhaps?”
“No, but I feel like I should know.” I shook my head, frustrated. “It’s just out of reach.”
“Rémy!” Megan squealed as she entered the kitchen and saw one of her favorite people. He bent down and kissed both her cheeks, which she loved. “Where’s Mina? Did you come for breakfast? ”
“No, love. I just stopped by to make some coffee for your brother. I figured he had to be sick of Ally’s by now. Mina is still at home.”
She giggled and hugged him before plopping down at the table to eat the plate of eggs and toast Jack had prepared for her.
***
I wasn’t surprised to find Kai walking to the car with Megan later that afternoon; I had a feeling this would become a pattern and I was glad Megan had found a friend, even though I found the boy disturbing somehow.
“Kai’s nanny said it was okay if he came home with us. Is it okay, Ally?” Megan asked as they climbed in the car.
Short of booting him out of my car, the decision seemed to have already been made. “Sure. No problem.” It occurred to me that Kai’s nanny didn’t do much nanny-ing. “Are you guys going to work on your science project?”
“Yeah. Jack said that he’d help us tonight. We’re going to do a project on how to reduce fiction,” she stated.
“Friction,” Kai whispered to her.
“Well, if Jack’s helping you it had better be ‘friction.’ If it’s ‘fiction,’ I can help you, but we certainly don’t want to reduce fiction.” Megan and I both laughed, but Kai merely smiled. What a serious, sober little guy!
We got home and they disappeared while I fixed them a snack—mini pizza bagels—that Megan wolfed down, but Kai stared at suspiciously before finally tasting. He must have found it agreeable because it quickly disappeared.
“Thanks for putting pepperoni on them, Ally,” she said, then addressed Kai. “Ally’s a vegetarian, but Jack and me love meat.”
“Jack and I,” I corrected.
“She’s also an English teacher,” Megan rolled her eyes.
“Kai, would you like another bagel?” I asked. He was too thin and small for his age and I found I had a previously unknown maternal streak that wanted to fatten him up a bit.
“Thank you, ma’am,” he said quietly and looked up to meet my questioning gaze.
I nearly dropped the plate of pizza bagels. I recognized those green eyes! They were the same eyes that had stared at me in my nightmare/vision last night! But they had stared at me from an older version of the young boy now sitting at my kitchen table.
“Ally, are you okay? You look funny. Why are you staring at Kai?” Megan looked between the two of us like she was watching a ping-pong match.
Kai broke the staring contest and reached for another bagel. I set the plate down on the table and turned back toward the refrigerator, ostensibly to get the milk. Rémy! Rémy! Are you home? Can you hear me? There was no response and I knew I wasn’t getting through. It felt like I was hitting a brick wall, like my thoughts were being hemmed in somehow. I tried again, but it was the same thing. I looked at the two children to see Megan chewing and chattering to Kai while he stared at his plate. As if he felt me looking at him, he raised his eyes to mine slowly. There was a strange, knowing expression in his eyes. Weird. I poured them each another glass of milk and excused myself. I grabbed my purse and retreated to my bedroom to call Rémy on my cellphone.
“Cherié, you pick the worst times to call, do you know that?” I could hear Mina giggling in the background.
“It’s three o’clock in the afternoon, Rémy! Jeez!”
“So? There is a proper time?”
“Whatever. Listen, if you could tear yourself away from your amorous pursuits for a few minutes, I would like you to come over here. Megan’s new friend just so happens to be the boy I saw in my vision last night, except he was a lot older in the dream. Plus, I just tried to communicate with you mentally and couldn’t get through at all. It didn’t feel like you were blocking me, either. It was different.”
He sighed. “All right. Give me few minutes to get dressed and I’ll be over.”
“Wow. Way too much information.” I could hear him laughing as he hung up.
He let himself in five minutes later, carrying a plate covered with aluminum foil. “Mina made cookies this morning and wanted me to bring you some.”
“Rémy!” Megan dropped her bagel remnant and jumped up from her seat to give him a hug, probably depositing pizza sauce on his expensive shirt. He hugged her back with one arm while handing me the plate of cookies with the other. “This is Kai.” She presented her friend as if he were an unusual specimen she had found. “Kai, this is Rémy. He and Mina live across the street. He’s from France.” She said it as if it were a magical realm.
“Bonjour, Kai.” Rémy held out his hand to the boy. “It is a pleasure to meet you.”
Kai stared at Rémy’s outstretched hand and took a small step backward. “Hello,” was all he said as he put his own hands in his pockets.
Rémy dropped his hand and raised his eyebrows at me. He addressed me in French. “Interesting child. Are you sure about him being in your vision?”
I answered back in French, not wanting Kai and Megan to understand us. “Positive. This is really weird. And do you see what I mean about us being blocked? I can’t get through to you at all.”
“No, nor I. What do you make of it?”
“I don’t know. Do you think it has anything
to do with the boy?” I asked.
“He’s only a child. I don’t see how it could.”
“Why are you guys talking in French?” Megan asked, hands on her little hips.
“Oh, were we?” Rémy smiled at her. “Pardon, mon petit chou. I didn’t even realize.”
She glared at him suspiciously. “What does that mean? What did you just call me?”
“It means ‘my little cabbage,’ but the French say it all the time,” I explained. “Why don’t you and Kai go play in your room for a while?”
“Come on, Kai. They want to get rid of us so they can talk.” She took him by the hand and led him away.
“What do you know about this boy?” Rémy continued in French.
“Nothing at all. He’s new this year, obviously English. Megan says the other kids were making fun of him because of his accent. He has a nanny who doesn’t seem to do much. She never picks him up from school and makes him walk home from our house.”
“She may not have an American driver’s license,” he pointed out. “What’s his last name? I could do a little checking.”
“I don’t know. I’ll find out from Meg and get back to you. Do you and Mina want to come over for dinner?”
“That sounds nice. Thanks. We’ll bring dessert,” he offered.
“You already did.” I gestured to the plate of cookies.
Jack arrived home and helped the two children with their science project while I put the finishing touches on dinner. Kai again refused my offer to stay and eat with us, shouldered his backpack, and left quietly.
I had called Tara and Mat to come over as well, and we made it an impromptu barbecue party. I added some ice cream to go along with Mina’s wonderful chocolate macadamia nut cookies and threw together some macaroni and cheese to go with the steaks Jack grilled. Tara brought a vegetarian potato salad, which was a thoughtful addition for her vegetarian best friend. I was anxious to see their honeymoon pictures as this was the first time we’d had a chance to get together since the wedding. Looking at the gorgeous pictures of them on the beach made me even more resolute to look into that resort for next summer. Maybe we could take Megan for a family vacation at the start of the summer.
