“Uh huh. She wants a normal life.”
“You don’t know what she wants,” Noah said softly, almost to himself.
“That so?”
I glared at both of them. “Stop it.”
Noah nodded at me. “Gotta go. Don’t take too much time thinking about it.” He zipped up his jacket and left.
Lucas turned to me. There was a fire in his eyes. “Do these plans involve you leaving again?”
I crossed my arms. “Maybe.”
“What about Lyla? You just going to keep leaving her?”
His words stung. “I don’t have time for this. I need to go see Maw Maw.”
He left without another word, but the last words he said stayed with me all the way to the hospital.
***
When I finally got to Abbeville General, I went up to the front desk and asked for Clothilde Deville’s room number. The receptionist, a heavy-set blonde with a strong Southern drawl, tapped away at her computer for a moment and then shook her head.
“How do you spell that, sweetie?”
“C-L-O-T-H-I-L-D-E.”
Darlene, according to her name tag, had a perplexed look on her face. “Cloth-ild?”
“Clo-teel,” I corrected.
She tapped the keyboard again. “I see she was admitted early this morning in the Emergency Room, but now she’s in a regular room. Dr. Kelly Lane is with her now in Room one-twenty-three. You can go right in.”
“Thanks.”
When I opened the door, the first thing I saw was Lyla asleep on the bed near the window. Then I saw the doctor at Clothilde’s bed. She looked okay, but tired. But you kind of always look like that when you’re in your eighties, I guess.
The doctor had a bright smile, and I thought it’s a good thing when a doctor is smiling.
When Clothilde saw me, she looked away, like she was ready for me to start an argument. That hurt. All I cared about was if she was going to be okay.
“Hi, I’m Doctor Kelly Lane,” she said, extending her hand. “Are you a relative?”
I shook her hand. “I’m Leigh, her granddaughter. Is she all right?”
“Miss Clothilde here was admitted this morning for chest pain and severe leg pain.”
“Her knees? She’s been having problems with them for years. I’ve been telling her to get them checked out.”
“Not exactly her knees. She has PAD. That’s—”
“Peripheral Artery Disease,” I finished. Clothilde, her lips pursed and eyes hard, stared out the window.
“That’s right,” said Dr. Kelly. “She has considerable blockage in both legs. We did an Angiogram, and I’m afraid the flow in her arteries is not good in two of them. One has eighty percent blockage, and the other has ninety-nine percent. We’re scheduling her for double by-pass surgery for tomorrow at Lafayette General. There’s nothing to worry about. I’ve done this procedure a couple hundred times.” She smiled reassuringly.
“Thank you,” I said.
When Dr. Kelly left, I sat on the bed next to Lyla, who was still asleep, putting myself in Clothilde’s view. Her eyes caught mine, but I waited for her to speak first. It was a longer wait than I thought, but at last she said, “You not gonna fuss at me?”
I shrugged. “I kind of want to because you haven’t been very honest with me. I’m actually just relieved that you’re okay.”
“Okay? You call having to have major surgery okay?”
“Why did you lie all this time about your pain? Why did you say it was your knees when it wasn’t joint pain?”
“I didn’t feel like foolin’ with it, and I didn’t want you to worry.”
“So you wait until you have to be rushed to the hospital, and you didn’t think that would worry me?”
She eyed me. “See that? You’re angry.”
“Seriously? I’m not angry, just worried. But at least we caught this now, so you can have the surgery and get better. No more pain.”
She looked away and said nothing.
“What’s wrong?” I said, but got no response. “It’s okay to be afraid. I’ll be at the hospital with you, so you won’t be alone or anything. And you’ll be up and about in no –”
“I’m not going to have that surgery.”
Now it was my turn to not say anything. She looked back at me, her eyes daring me to say something contrary.
“Why not?” I said at last.
She heaved a great sigh. “I’m too old. I’m too old and too tired.”
“It sounds to me like you’re giving up.”
She stared out the window.
“Don’t you dare,” I said. “You’re not ready to leave yet. If you want to take it easy, I’ll take Lyla to live with me.”
“It’s not that. I feel like I’m being called home.”
“Don’t talk like that! And besides, you’re not. I don’t see the Guardians waiting for you.”
She winced. “Don’t talk about things like that.”
I threw my hands up in exasperation. “I can’t help what I am now!” I said a little too loudly, and Lyla stirred beside me but didn’t wake. Dropping my voice to a whisper I added, “I’m sorry that I became a dark paladin, but I did it for a good reason. I don’t regret for one second saving Lucas, because Jonathan still has a father. I’ll never regret that.”
She gave up, hopefully understanding that what I did was a blessing and not a curse. She let go of that debate, but brought back the latest argument. “I’m still not having the surgery.”
I wanted to scream, but I gritted my teeth and insisted, “Yes you are. It’s either that, or let me try to heal you.”
“Lyla already tried. That’s why she’s so tired.”
“She did? Did she do anything?”
Clothilde shook her head. “She was panicked and couldn’t concentrate very well. I felt a little something, but not much.”
“Well, people are harder than animals. And quit changing the subject. I’m begging you to have that surgery. Please.” The waver in my voice and the stinging of my eyes took me by surprise. I really did feel like I wanted to cry, thinking about never seeing her again. She seemed to notice.
“I’ll do it,” she said, her voice quiet and defeated. “But only on one condition.” Her eyes found mine. “You go with Miles to Paris.”
“I can’t believe this,” I said under my breath.
“You need to go,” she urged.
“Has he been here to see you?”
“He came by here a couple of hours ago.”
“And he couldn’t bother to come get me and tell me that you were in here?”
“I told him not to. I didn’t want Lucas to get you, either. I needed time to myself to think things through.” Her eyes turned toward me again. “I don’t want you to go, but …” She sighed, sounding more tired than ever. “I’ve done my best to protect you and your brother since your mama died. I didn’t do such a good job with your brother, and maybe I’m not doing such a good job with you.”
“What happened to him wasn’t your fault. None of this is.”
She nodded toward Lyla, who was still sleeping. “That little girl needs to be allowed to grow up. She needs to … have her first dance with a boy, drive her first car, get married and have babies if she wants to. I’m too old to look after her. And I hate that I’m asking you to do it, but I believe Miles when he says you need to go with him. There are dark times in front of us. Older I get, harder it is to see the good anymore.”
I reached over for her and gently took her hand in mine. “I want that for Lyla, too.”
She gave me a tired smile. “Then go.”
4
The Night Guard
I slept at Clothilde’s house that night so that I could watch over Lyla. Being back home was comfortable and familiar and had that safe feeling, like you’ll always be protected. It smelled like lavender most of the time because of the potpourri next to the Tootsie Rolls on the coffee table, but her bedroom smelled faintly of cedar from
the big cedar chest where she stored her quilts. Today the house smelled like mustard greens. Lyla said they had some last night with dinner. I was happy to know there were leftovers.
I ordered a pizza, and we finished off the mustard greens. Cee Cee called to tell me she’d be arriving day after tomorrow, but to make sure that I called her as soon as the surgery was over. Lyla and I attempted to play Scrabble, but our hearts weren’t in it. Even small, three-letter words seemed too much of a chore. We gave up and watched a little TV before an early bed time. Clothilde’s surgery was scheduled for 7:00, so I figured we needed to be up by 5:30 or 6:00 at the latest.
“Maw Maw Clo’s going to make it, won’t she?”
I pulled the covers up to Lyla’s chest and smiled at her. “That’s a tough old lady. She’ll make it.”
It seemed to comfort her, but she didn’t smile. Smittens jumped up on the bed and curled up next to her head.
“Smittens looks a little rough around the edges. I think he needs a bath,” I said.
“She,” she corrected. “You don’t bathe cats. They bathe themselves.”
“Well, she’s not doing such a good job. Maybe I’ll look into that dry cat shampoo or something. Night, Lyla.”
I patted her on the head and petted Smittens once, and then put out the light and went to the guest room. I stayed up for another hour, trying to read but barely getting past two pages. I kept reading the same paragraphs over and over, not retaining anything. I finally gave up and turned out the light.
My phone rang at 3:00 AM. The light from the small screen filled my room. I groggily reached for it.
“Hello?”
The voice again. So far away, so small. “Help her now!”
“What? Who?”
“Lyla!”
My eyes fluttered open. I clumsily turned on the lamp and looked down at the phone in my hand. It was off.
“Hello?”
No answer. I left it on the bed and stumbled into Lyla’s room. She wasn’t there. I checked the bathroom. No one there.
“Lyla!”
I ran downstairs, nearly tripping on my feet.
“Lyla!”
She wasn’t in the kitchen or the living room. On the way to check Clothilde’s room, I felt a breeze coming from the utility room. The back door was open.
I ran to the threshold and was overcome by a thick fog that covered the back yard.
“Lyla!”
It was as quiet as a tomb. The fog hung there like a blanket, no breeze to move it along. It smelled like damp earth. I turned on the outside light, but it hardly helped.
I cautiously made my way down the steps. My feet weren’t visible, but I felt the wet grass under them. The air was a little chilly, or maybe I was shaking for another reason.
“Lyla!”
I stubbed my toe on one of the garden fence posts and cursed. I closed my eyes and listened, hearing only my breath. My heart thumped in my chest. I forced myself to slow it down. The more I tried to calm myself, the faster it thumped, blood rushing against my ear drums. After a minute, I heard branches cracking in the distance, somewhere beyond the tree line beyond the chicken coup.
One weekend last spring, Lucas and I put a chicken wire fence around the garden to keep the rabbits out. The wooden posts were spaced five feet apart, and I knew the southwest corner was near the coup by the outdoor kitchen. I reached out for the top edge of the fence and let it guide me. The wire was slick with dew.
“Lyla!”
My voice didn’t even echo. But I did hear more leaves rustling farther away, near the corner of the sugar cane field behind Clothilde’s property line marked by the trees. If that sound was Lyla, why wasn’t she answering me? Probably an animal.
I reached the post on the southwest corner and heard the chickens softly cooing nearby. I stepped forward and was met with acute pain as my left foot found a cockaburr. I yelled and bit my lip, steadying myself as I brought my left foot down gently on my right to sooth it. Tears stung my eyes.
The noise again, to my right, past the chicken coop, just beyond the tree line. Moving cautiously, I shuffled, trying to avoid anymore cockaburrs and cursing myself for not putting on my shoes.
Behind the coup was the tree line of the property that loomed before me, though I could only see a few feet above my head. I knew there was a sparse patch in the corner from where we’d enter the sugar cane field next door and then loop around to the little bayou to go fishing sometimes. I found the passage, getting scraped by jutting branches, and found myself in the southeast corner of the neighboring field. The fog was gone. Looking back through the passage, I saw the wall of fog on the other side. Here, it was a clear night, the half moon revealing the tall sugar cane that would be ready for harvest in a few weeks.
Something screamed. It sounded like a woman, but not quite; there was something inhuman about it. This was followed by a man screaming in pain. About a hundred yards from me, the stalks of sugar cane thrashed wildly back and forth.
To my left, a louder sound of branches cracking. A glimpse of light fabric passing through the trees farther down. Lyla’s nightgown.
“Lyla!”
It was gone. More branches cracking, and now a splash in the distance. Lyla wasn’t a sleep walker, but if for some reason she was doing just that, she could have fallen in the bayou. I ran toward sound, hardly noticing the twigs and cockaburrs I trampled on the way. My mind was in panic mode.
Breathless, I made it to the northern bank of the small bayou. Scanning it for a moment, I saw nothing.
“LYLA!”
I looked for rippling water, anything that would show me where she was. And then I spotted something to my right. I thought it was a shadow at first. It looked like a writhing silhouette of a woman, slithering across tree trunks, going under the shallow water and re-emerging to crawl backwards up a tree. She was advancing on Lyla, who stood, dazed and soaking wet, on a small island in the middle of the bayou.
“Lyla! Wake up!”
I heard something charging fast, coming from behind. I turned in time to see a cougar leap at the woman and tear at her, biting and clawing. She fought back with her own monstrous claws, hacking into the cat. And out of nowhere, Noah showed up. He was bloody, torn up on half his body. He hurled the woman against a tree and then he collapsed.
Her body arched and a spasm rippled through. Her jaw unhinged, and eight long arachnid legs stuck out on either side of her mouth, the muscles violently contracting, and a huge spider, half the size of her body, emerging. It reared on its hind legs before scurrying away beyond the bayou.
Lyla passed out. I sloshed through the water and scooped her up in my arms and brought her back to the bank, placing her next to Noah.
He was pale, and his eyes were closed. I healed him, my hands against his wounds. He came around after a few moments. I looked over at the cougar lying helplessly on the bank of the water. Its breath was shallow, and it was in a pool of blood. I cautiously went to it and placed my hand on the large gash in its side. In a few moments, it was able to move, and its breathing had returned to normal. I backed away and huddled next to Noah and Lyla as the big cat bounded after the spider.
I whirled around to Noah. “What the hell just happened?”
“Miles had me on guard duty. He said not to tell you, that you probably wouldn’t like it. Anyway, I noticed this fog came out of nowhere, and I smelled some Dark Ones. I got out my car and scoped out the house. I found Lyla sleep walking or something in the back yard. I tried to wake her, but she just kept walking, heading this way. I picked her up to carry her back, but I was attacked from behind. I chased after this … thing! I don’t know. Some woman, but it was a shadow and then a snake. It bit the hell out of me. I gave it a good pummeling before it got away. I was about to go after it when I heard you yelling.”
“Where’d that cougar come from? We don’t have those here.”
“I’ve only seen one before. A long time ago.”
***
&nbs
p; He carried Lyla back to bed for me. I dried her off and changed her clothes before tucking her in. She woke up only for a moment. I asked her if she was okay, and she nodded, asking me why I was in her room. I put out the light and went to my bedroom to pull out the biggest T-shirt I had and then joined Noah downstairs.
He was on the couch, checking out where his wounds were just a few minutes ago, his tattered shirt on the coffee table. He looked up at me. “You’re a way better healer than you were a few months ago. I don’t even have any scars.” He smirked.
I smirked back, wadded up the T-shirt and threw it at him. He held it up and said, “Wonder Woman. Um … thanks?”
“Sorry, no boy clothes here. Unless Jonathan left something behind one night, but I don’t think Sponge Bob undies suit you. Or maybe they do?”
He chuckled and put on the T-shirt, which was still too small for him; Wonder Woman’s face stretched across his pecs, and the sleeves were possibly cutting off the circulation in his biceps. The long pink scar stood out on his arm.
I nodded toward the scar. “I can probably take care of that for you.”
“Nah, I think I’ll hang on to it.” He nodded toward his shirt on the table. “Ya think you can heal that for me?”
I rolled my eyes and smiled. “I’ll put it in the trash before I go back to sleep. If I can go back to sleep.”
He looked concerned. “You okay?”
I thought about it for a second and then shook my head, biting my lip. I hated crying in front of people. I bit my lip so hard I tasted a little blood, but my eyes stung with tears anyway. I wiped them away before they fell.
Noah came over to me and hugged me, smoothing my hair. “I know,” he whispered. He smelled like blood and sugar.
It was almost 4:00, and the world was still black outside. I felt I wouldn’t be able to sleep. I offered Clothilde’s room to Noah, but he said he’d stay up with me. I took a shower and then made some coffee for us while he took a shower. Then we just talked, not about what happened that night or about going to Paris or missions and the Dark Side. We talked about growing up and places we had been and movies and music we liked. He and I were pretty opposite, as it turned out.
Nancy K. Duplechain - Dark Trilogy 03 - Dark Legacy Page 13
