The Glass Man

by Jocelyn Adams

  I sat across from Liam at a wooden table, devouring leftover meatloaf and canned peas. After the forest crawlers I’d been eating for weeks, it might as well have been prime rib and caviar.

  Power had become scarce after some paranoid zealots blew up one of the remaining power stations in the northeast, so Liam left the lights off. A halo of amber encircled us from a hurricane lantern flickering in the center of the table. He won another point in my book.

  “Where did you get the peas?” I asked. Shadows played along the landscape of his face, darkening his eyes and highlighting his full lips. “Most of the grocery stores have been picked clean, and they only get new stuff in once a month if they’re lucky.”

  He’d put on a blue plaid shirt and shaved off his scruff. All cleaned up, he didn’t look much older than me. Maybe twenty-three or so. A fresh cologne or aftershave wafted to me. Nice.

  “I filled up the cellar when I saw where things were headed.” Liam’s fork hovered over his plate. “Got enough down there for a few more years if I eat light.”

  A stash of that size would bring out the local goons. Every town had its little gang of thugs who plundered and burned whatever house they happened across, especially if they found the cache. Maybe that’s why Liam had his gun out?

  He looked up from his plate. “Momma said it wasn’t polite to hug your knees at the table.”

  My feet slipped off the chair and settled on the hardwood floor. “Sorry. Bad habit, I guess.”

  “So …” He slid his large hands along the table and stared at me. “Who you runnin’ from?”

  I had a moment of brain freeze but continued to chew my mouthful of peas without spitting them over the table. I met his suspicious stare without flinching. “What makes you think I’m running from anything?”

  Liam wiped the back of his hand across his mouth as he shoved his empty plate aside. The purposeful look on his handsome face made me want to squirm, but I resisted the urge.

  “You snuck across my yard like a trained mercenary. Dressed in a black getup without so much as a pebble misplaced under your shoe or a crinkled leaf to make a sound. Had the lay of the land within seconds too, I bet. Took down a man who outweighs you by fifty pounds as if you done it before. You hardly flinched when I set my gun on you. Now, you’re sittin’ there all hunched around yourself like a rabbit in the grass. Definitely runnin’. I just hope it’s not from the law.”

  “No trouble with the law.” It wasn’t a lie as long as the one who hunted me wasn’t a cop in whatever hell he’d crawled out of. I held up my hand. “I swear on my mother’s spirit.”

  “Folks are dead, then?”

  I looked away while I wiped my mouth with a paper towel. A familiar pain gripped my heart. “I appreciate the meal. If you can show me where your hires stay, I’ll get out of your way.” I found it best to avoid the question when I couldn’t think of a good lie.

  The sound of my mother’s last cries echoed in my head, ‘Run, Lilabear, run!’ The memories hit me hard and fast, her warm blood dripping through the floor onto my face, the agony as I scraped my fingers raw to escape the hole she’d hidden me in so I could save her from him. My legs tensed, eager to launch me away from the table, but I forced my body still. I dug my fingernails into my palms.

  “Don’t mean to pry. Just curious, is all.”

  Curious didn’t cover it. Who is this guy? A cop? A private investigator, maybe? No career farmer, that’s for sure. I shoved my wavy hair behind my ears and took a moment to calm myself before I spoke. My energy boiled and surged beneath the surface. Tiny sparks flickered to life in my head. Not now. Please, not now. Concentrate! I didn’t need my power to spike in the middle of the guy’s kitchen.

  “Don’t ask me about them again.”

  “All right. Don’t get your knickers in a twist.” With a crooked grin, he looked down at my plate. “How long’s it been since you had a hot meal?”

  I glanced at the bit of meatloaf left on my plate. Had I scarfed it down like a starving fool? “A few days, maybe. Why do you ask?” I wiped at my mouth in case I had a grease moustache. My stomach groaned, so full I thought it might split down the middle. I guess it had shrunk on all that bird food I’d been eating.

  He gave a disbelieving snicker and gazed at me for a long time without saying anything. The way his eyes settled on my face drew heat to my cheeks. Mother loving hell. I looked away. Nobody but my hunter had ever made me blush.

  “You have some of the prettiest eyes I ever seen.” His voice warmed me down to my toes. I held my breath. “Blue as a couple o’ sapphires.”

  Before I realized I’d moved, I had my pack in one hand and the door knob in the other. Could he see the other colors in my eyes? I inspected the skin on my arms. It stayed a pale peach like normal skin instead of its natural golden cream. My illusion hadn’t failed, yet.

  Liam’s chair screeched across the floor. “Wait! That wasn’t meant to be a line or nothin’. You’re eyes are just—well—I never seen any like ’em. Look, I’m an old fashioned guy, not one of them country hicks that goes around touchin’ ladies I don’t know. At least not the way you’re thinkin’.”

  Hand frozen on the door and my heart hammering against my ribs, I peered over my shoulder. “Fine, but we need to be clear. I’m only here for a bit of travelling money, and then I’m moving on. If you try anything funny—”

  “You’ll roast my nuts on a spit. I get it.” He chuckled.

  I cracked a tiny grin but erased it before I turned around and gave him the hard stare I’d perfected years before. “So we’re clear?”

  “As Goddamn crystal. And you’re crazy if you think I’m lettin’ you stay anywhere near Rourke, or any of my men for that matter. Just cuz I’m old fashioned, don’t mean they are.” He nodded to a door in the back. “There’s a room off the kitchen with a cot and a lamp for readin’ if you’re that sort. Should do you fine.”

  “No!” I huffed out a breath and reeled in my tone. I mean, thank you, but that’s not necessary. I can take care of myself.” If I could handle a lunatic hunting me across the country and every backwoods creep who wanted a piece of me, I could handle a bunch of farmhands.

  “Yeah, I get that about you. But if you’re workin’ for me, then you stay where I say. I wouldn’t trust Rourke with my old boot, let alone a … a woman.” A mild pink blush washed over Liam’s skin.

  “What were you going to say instead of ‘woman’?” I took a step toward him, tried to catch his gaze, but he scrubbed a hand over the back of his neck and stared at his feet.

  “Oh, hell. Doesn’t matter. Stupid shit tends to come out of my mouth around—” He groaned and walked to the door he’d pointed to. “The room’s all made up. I got one of them slide locks I can put on the door if that’s what’s eatin’ you.”

  “I’d rather stay with the others.”

  He paused, his hand on the door knob. “Tell me why?”

  I didn’t want to outright say I wanted to check on the kid or that he reminded me of my brother—bless his soul. Liam might have taken it as a jab at him—that he wasn’t looking out for his guys. I shrugged. “Because you shouldn’t have strangers in your house, that’s why.”

  He strode over to me with his arms crossed. “You don’t trust me, do you?”

  “Don’t take it personally, but I don’t trust anyone.” I leaned back against the front door, the handle pinched between my fingers. The urge to reach out and touch him grabbed hold of me again, but I forced it away. What’s happening to me?

  A smile quirked his lips. “You wanna check up on Garret, don’t you?”

  My lip curled up in a snarl. “Someone needs to.” I turned, yanked the front door open and went onto the porch. The damp air soothed my warm face. Twilight had come and gone, and the first of the stars leapt out against the velvet sky. A silence stretched over me like a comforting blanket. My unease clicked up a notch—more because I found nothing alarming than anything I could sense.

  Liam ca
me out behind me. “What the hell’d I say to make you devil-eye me like that? Garret’s a big boy; he can look out for himself. It’s not worth putting yourself near Rourke.” He came around to face me, but I jumped down the porch steps before he could block my escape route.

  “I saw the way you looked at that creep.” I strode down the path through the roses. “I think he scares the hell out of you as much as he scares that boy. If you’re too big of a coward to take care of your people, then I’ll do it for you.”

  So much for diplomacy. Involving myself in his mess could have been disastrous, but I couldn’t walk away, not then.

  Heavy footsteps pounded the ground behind me. Liam jerked me around by the arm.

  “Get your hands off me!” The air trembled around me. The well deep in my head overflowed, and the sparks grew to flames. If I didn’t control it, my skin would turn into a bright beacon—complete contrast to the night. Come on, dammit. You can do better than this.

  Liam threw his hands up.

  It would be a rush to let the power go—better than anything. No! Don’t think about that. As long as I held the energy inside and didn’t form any specific intentions, I wouldn’t level his house or do something equally unproductive.

  “Did you just call me a coward?”

  I groaned and shook my head. “I didn’t mean that, but how can you sit here all calm after you saw the look in that kid’s eyes? If you want me to go, fine, but not before I see that he’s all right. I’m not looking for someone to take care of me, so stop with the macho routine.”

  Laughter burst out of him, startling me. I stepped back.

  “How long you been on the road, Laura?”

  I glared at him. “Why?”

  “You look a little worn round the edges. The way your eyes lit up when I mentioned food and the way you hovered around your plate reminded me of a half-starved dog I found once. And the way you talk … seems to me you don’t keep company with people much.”

  “I remind you of a dog. Nice.” I uttered a bitter laugh. “You’re a real charmer, Liam.” I shoved the bent gate open with my foot.

  “Now why’d you go and take it like that?”

  I thought I heard him kick something, so I stopped and spied on him through a curtain of my hair. He stood beyond the gate with his hands on his hips, glaring at the ground as if it had beaten him in a fight.

  After a long pause and a few audible breaths, he said, “Fine and dandy, Laura whatever your name is. You want to sleep with the pigs, then have at it.” He pointed a finger at me. “But don’t go blamin’ me if you wake up with one of ’em naked on top of you. Crew quarters are a ways from the main house, so I won’t hear no screamin’.”

  I concentrated on a white static nothing in my head. “I never scream.” Under my breath, I added, “not anymore.” I’d heal. They wouldn’t.

  “Yeah, I just bet you don’t. That pride of yours is gonna do you in one of these days.” Liam marched past me. “Well, come on then, I best introduce you to the rest of ’em. This ought to be good for a laugh or two.”

  3

  “How’d you sneak up on me so quietly before?” I followed Liam along the front of the barn. No wind. No peeping frogs, or chirping crickets, or yipping coyotes, not even the creaking wooden song of the trees came out of the darkness.

  He marched on without turning. “Am I the first to catch you off guard?”

  “Why are you avoiding my question?”

  He whirled around, the bright light of the full moon spilling over his face. A frown pulled at the corners of his mouth. When I didn’t let up on my stare, he took a deep breath. “I was sittin’ on the rail fence on the far side of the house when you came down the hill. When you were distracted, I crept up. Happy now?”

  I narrowed my eyes. “Why?”

  “Why what?”

  “Why were you sitting on your fence half naked holding a gun?”

  “Hey, I wasn’t—” He twisted his head away. The muscles in his arms corded beneath his skin as he flexed and relaxed his fingers. After a brief silence, he rolled his shoulders and ran fingers through his hair. “Fine. I been muckin’ around in the storage bins all day. Didn’t bother with a shirt ’cause it’s nasty work. And someone’s been stealin’ my tools, so I thought I’d catch ’em in the act.”

  Sounded reasonable. “If you were so close by, how come you didn’t hear Mr. Psycho going at that boy?”

  Chuckling, Liam rubbed his fingers along his temples as if he had a headache. People did that a lot around me. “They’re always messin’ around, the bunch of ’em. If I came runnin’ every time I heard ’em carryin’ on, I’d be out here all damn night.”

  Lazy, or a wuss? I had no use for either. “You don’t sound like you’re from Pennsylvania.”

  Liam smiled, reminding me of a wildcat baring his teeth. He resumed his course along the barn. “You know, I don’t like bein’ interrogated by a stranger on my own land. Don’t know why I don’t throw you out on your ass. Got enough problems. I don’t need this shit.”

  I jogged to match his long stride. “Look, I’m sorry. I’m just—”

  “Paranoid? Suspicious?” He threw up a hand. “Stubborn as a Goddamn mule?”

  I wanted to say, ‘if you had a diamond-eyed freak hunting you across two countries, you’d be that way too,’ but I didn’t. “I’m curious by nature, that’s all.”

  We came to a faded grey shed with a crooked door. A motion light came on as we neared it. Liam faced me and crossed his arms over his chest. “Curious, huh?”

  The toe of my boot dug into the grass. “Yeah, just like you.”

  He nodded, grinned. “Okay, you got me there. Uncle died a few years back and left me the place. When things went to hell overseas and the riots and shootin’s picked up here, I moved up from Arkansas and took it over. It was real run down when I got here, and thieves had picked it clean.”

  “What did you do in Arkansas?”

  “I was a cop.”

  I knew it—cop eyes. “That’s what I took you for, either a cop or a P.I. Nobody else picks up details like you do.”

  Liam leaned closer, squinting as if trying to see past my skin. “Is that what’s huntin’ you—a P.I.?”

  I snorted and cast my face up to the moon. For reasons I couldn’t imagine, I considered telling him everything, but I couldn’t. He wouldn’t believe me anyway, and the fewer people I allowed near me, the fewer I’d hurt by accident or get into the sights of my hunter.

  “So I spill my guts, but you tell me nothin’? Hardly seems fair.”

  I stared until he squirmed and dropped his gaze low. “Do you miss it?”

  His eyes rolled up to look at me. “What? Bein’ a cop?”

  “No, home—Arkansas.”

  He rubbed a hand along the sharp edge of his jaw. “Some parts, I suppose. Friends, some family, but here I don’t have to fish babies out of the bathtub after their momma drowned them thinkin’ the end of the world was comin’, or draw chalk lines on the floors of folks shootin’ neighbors over idiotic stuff like stolen weed whackers. I don’t have to deal with the constant paranoia that the government’s gonna drop the big one and send us to kingdom come.”

  “You don’t know that’s what happened.” I tossed my hands up. “Why would the leaders bomb their own countries all on the same day?”

  His eyes turned cold and hard—not easy for brown eyes. “Maybe they figure out the human race is what’s wrong with things and decide to take that war of theirs to the extreme.” He gave a frustrated grunt. “Frankly, that sounds like a damn good idea to me.”

  “Am I hearing you right?” I crossed my arms to mirror his. “So all of the countries whose economy folded after the bombs fell, all of their people starving to death day after day—are you telling me you don’t feel anything for them? People are dying by the thousands, shot in their own front yards for a few bottles of water, raped and beaten to death by some sick fuck for the sheer entertainment of it—” I closed my ey
es, concentrated on blocking memories that threatened to drown me, before opening them again.

  “Oh hell, I don’t like to hear about people sufferin’.” He sighed and looked everywhere but at me. “I’m not heartless, Laura, but I’ve seen enough horrible shit to stain the soul of a weaker man. It toughens the skin. Maybe when most of us are gone, we’ll live off the land again like we’re supposed to. The whole world’s gone to hell in a hand grenade, but I figure I can survive out here even when the American cities start to burn.”

  “When they start to burn? You don’t get out much, do you?” A growl burned in my throat. “So you’ll shove the whole mess under the carpet. You could have helped people if you were still a cop. Did you run up here because you’re afraid?” My internal pot simmered again. Hot tendrils of power surged down my arms. Simmer down or you’ll blow it.

  His eyes narrowed. He thrust a finger at me and shifted his feet. “No, I’m not afraid. What I am is a survivor, like you. If the rest of the folks want to shoot each other full of holes and sack their towns ’cause they’ve turned into savages, who am I to stand in their way. Good riddance.”

  “That’s a piss-poor attitude to have.”

  “This from the one runnin’ with her tail between her legs. You don’t strike me as the kind to help anyone but yourself. What the hell could you do anyway? You’re just a girl.”

  My mouth dropped open. “Just a—you don’t know shit about me! I’m not running because I’m scared, I’m running because I made a promise to my mother.” My heart fell into my shoes. Fuck. I straightened and rolled my head until my neck cracked. “At least I try to help instead of turning a blind eye to the problem.” I gestured to the shed where Garret went with Mr. Psycho.

  Liam squinted at me. “What promise did you make to your mother?”

  Moisture evaporated from my mouth. I launched myself past him, walked up to the grey shed and threw the slat door open. “Is this where I’ll be staying?”

  Inside, I found Rourke, Garret and two other men sitting on upturned logs around an overturned basket. They stopped and stared at me, their cards in mid-play, frozen in the air.