by J M Thomas
Boons, council, detain, watchlings? There were so many pieces to this puzzle I was missing. I promised myself a long conversation with Aeron about this later.
Chapter 11 – And Lurk
As soon as we got into the car, I opened my mouth to ask Aeron what the heck had gone on in there.
He preemptively held up a finger, dialing in the number he’d just received via his little daggers-for-eyes pissing contest with Hugo. Since I didn’t know where we were headed to next, there was nothing to be done but sit there and fiddle with my new paperweight while Aeron gave curt responses. The seal was truly beautiful, with little geometric patterns carved into the bottom of it. The cool stone and jeweled eyes, fiery color, and those perfect imperfections…
“All right, much obliged, mate.” Aeron ended his call, then turned his attention to me. “‘Ere we are, Lessie. I’ve got you this next one squared up.” He cued in the location on his GPS app, then set it in the cupholder, angled so I could see it. “This one, you’re gonna need to not record anyfink. You’ll get good impressions, but ‘e’s a funny bloke, big into security and shit, ain’t ‘e?”
I pulled out, headed in the direction indicated. As good a time as any to start something. “You know, Aeron… I was born at night, but not last night.” I kept my eyes on the road, only watching him in my periphery.
He got mighty still all of a sudden.
“You’re taking me around, talking to these people, but… you’re doing something, too. You have business with them, business you’re conducting. For not being a necromancer, you have an awful, awful lot of dealings with them.” I summoned my mom’s most infuriating “gotcha” phrase as I cast a quick glance at him. “Care to share?”
His voice was so low and quiet, I could barely hear him above the road noise. “I don’t see ‘ow ‘at’s any of your bleedin’ business.” He stared out the passenger side window and rested his elbow heavily on the door again.
I bristled at his coarseness. “If I’m going to be some kind of… I dunno, meat shield or excuse to request an audience with these people, I want to have some idea…”
His voice sharpened. “See, but I fink you don’t.” He turned and leaned toward me. “I fink you feel all your curiosity, but you’d regret the second you got involved wiv us.”
“Us, aha!” I waved my index finger without taking my hand off the wheel. “So you are a necromancer!”
He fell silent again, jaw clenched. His boot tapped a steady rhythm on the floor as he stared hard at the dashboard.
“Come on, Aeron. This whole time, what I don’t know has gotten me glared at and laughed at. People give me a wide berth at work like you two gave this seal a wide berth. Like I’m…”
“Contaminated? Yeah, welcome to the ‘community’ you wanted to ‘elp.” The mass of threat was back, and this time I felt like he was aiming it at me as well as the outside world.
My hands tightened on the wheel. “I’m just saying, I might as well know what I’m walking into, because I’m liking less and less what I’m stepping out of.”
“What you’re walking into, Lessie, is a ‘ornet’s nest, it is! Believe me when I say, you don’t want to know!”
“Don’t tell me what I don’t want, Aeron Lyons!” With a start, I realized I had nearly missed my turn. I veered a hard right, nearly bringing the little car up on two wheels. Embarrassment inflamed my cheeks as I carefully, silently navigated the rest of the way while he sat wide-eyed in frustrated anger with his arms folded across his chest.
When we got there, I had to work hard to keep from slamming my door behind me. Feeling naked without my pen and notebook, I marched ahead of Aeron.
There was a smirk in his tone. “I’ll jus’ leave you to it, then.”
Oh, I could slap that hint of triumph in his voice. I realized I had no idea where in this public park we were going, who our contact was, or what he looked like. I could’ve shouted “necro” and hoped somebody waved, but without Aeron, I would only be making a horrible fool of myself.
Like everything else the past couple days.
Still fuming, I slowed so he could catch up with me. He took my elbow in his hand, and I pulled away. Then both of his hands were on my shoulders, and he spun me to face him, bringing us both to a halt.
“Tonight. I swear, I’ll level wiv you. After ‘ese last few, I’ll tell you, and we’re done. Alright?”
I nodded, jaw set. “Get your hands off me, please.” I wished I hadn’t softened it with the please, but I was eminently aware that I couldn’t make him take his hands off me if my life depended on it.
He raised them, holding them in the air, reluctantly backing away. “One more fing, alright? Don’t ask this bloke what ‘is job is, or what ‘e does.”
I found I missed the warmth and strength of Aeron’s hands the second he removed them. As he lowered them to his sides, giving me a couple extra feet of space, I wanted to close the distance again. At the same time, my mind was whirling as to what I could ask this next necro, if what he did or how he did it was off the table.
It wasn’t what I felt like doing, but I desperately needed to get to mending things before they got any worse. “Hey, Aeron? I have a little bit of a temper today, and I’m sorry. I don’t like feeling like I can’t handle reality, like I have to be coddled. But you…”
“Nah, I deserved it,” he interrupted sharply, then pointed ahead at a man doing sprints in the grassy field. A red-orange brindle pit bull slobbered and barked happily at the man’s heels as he ran. At the end of one dash, he spun on his heel and ran pell-mell for the last repetition.
As we approached, Aeron grabbed up the man’s water bottle and handed it to him as he doubled over, panting. “Been a minute, Don. Not a bad run.”
“Thanks,” Don managed, then forced himself up straight again to squirt some bright blue sports drink down his throat.
“‘Let’s walk it off, shall we?” Aeron started off at a slow pace.
Don and I followed as soon as he hooked a leash to his dog’s collar. “Always a pleasure, Lyons.” He gave me a wave, smiling appreciatively. “Ma’am.”
“This ‘ere’s Celeste.” Aeron flicked his chin in my direction. “She’s doin’ summin' I fought you might be interested in. A dating service for necros.”
“Ha!” Don beamed. “What, do I look like I need help in the lady department, Lyons? Is this what you’re saying to me?” He paused, gaze flitting from Aeron to me, then back again. “Well, you’re absolutely right!”
He turned his wide, playful grin to me, his voice lowering to a conspiratorial whisper. “It’s the dog. Don’t tell him, but he’s uglier than sin. Worst wingman of all time.” He raised his voice back to conversational levels. “So, a dating service just for us, huh? What is it this time, mail-order brides from Russia?”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “More like a leveled site where you guys can pick whether you’re looking for someone to talk to, a hookup, or something serious. I’m trying to get an idea for if there’s something unique about the necromancer…”
I stumbled to not use community, since that hadn’t gone over well with Hugo and Aeron earlier. “Uh, condition, that I need to take into account.”
“Only that we’re pretty cynical. I don’t even generally count myself as a necromancer because I don’t really do magic. But apparently, I have just enough filament connection to operate a powerful cursed item, so I got labeled.” He fixed Aeron with a look. “And harassed.”
Aeron snorted. “‘Ow about I get you lunch for your trouble?” He felt around his pockets. “Anybody got a pen?”
“I have one in the car,” I volunteered, a split second before I realized what the paper was he’d drawn from his pocket to take the order on. It was the one that’d disappeared from Marla’s hand, about the time Aeron had said something about lines we didn’t cross… I had the feeling he was about to cross one and didn’t want me witnessing it. Again.
“Would you? Fanks!” Aeron caught my g
lare, but inclined his head in the direction of my car.
My anger rose again, sending shards of frost into the single word. “Sure.” I wasn’t about to give him any extra time to conduct business alone. I knew exactly where my pen was, and I wanted to stab him with it when I got back.
Sure enough, they were conferring with their backs to me when I returned. The paper was gone, and Aeron wrote Don’s order on his own palm.
“Footlong veggie sub with oil, spices, and all the veggies. Got it, mate.”
“I’ll take it to go, if you don’t mind. Hate to dodge out, but I’ve got a full schedule today.” Don stretched his arms as we looped back around to where we’d started. He collected his little pile of things in a single diving swoop, then walked with us to the car. “See you at the sub shop.”
“Take care, mate.” Aeron nodded to me as Don walked off. “Fanks.”
“I’m still mad at you,” I said to Aeron around a thin smile.
He sighed. “I know it, Lessie. But, if you can tolerate me for two more stops, I’ll ‘ave done what Darrel asked me to do, and you can be rid of me.”
In that moment, I didn’t want to be rid of him. I wanted to square with him, to share life stories over a shot of whiskey on his creaky, crumby futon. At the first thought of no more Aeron, I realized I didn’t want to let this one go. If there was one person I’d met in the past few days I didn’t want to lose touch with, it was definitely Aeron Lyons.
As he’d promised, we stopped by the sub shop, grabbed our lunches, then headed back to the car to wait for Don to come get his sandwich. I was deep into my third bite when Don’s callused knuckle rapped on the passenger-side window. He motioned with a finger to Aeron, who got out of the car and closed the door behind him.
This really needs to stop. I chewed faster, trying not to think about why it annoyed me so much that I wasn’t privy to every little thing Aeron was doing or saying. Bits of conversation made their way through rubber door seals and glass windows to me, words of “just letting you know” and “courtesy.” They weren’t enough to satisfy my curiosity or my jealousy.
“Thanks for the ‘eads up, mate.” Aeron opened the door and hopped back into the car, pulling up our next stop on his phone exactly like he’d done every other time. Except this time, his hand was shaking.
Chapter 12 – The Dark Awaits
“Aeron?”
He stared straight ahead, jaw clenched. His hand dropped to his lap as he stared out the windshield. Man, I’d give anything to be able to read him right now.
I swallowed down the panic rising in my throat. “Aeron, what’s wrong?” I asked quietly.
His voice came out calm, quiet, and a hint too low. “If I ask you to do somefin’ for me, Lessie, would you do it?”
“What do you need?” I gripped the steering wheel for some form of stability.
He shook his head slowly. “No questions, no explanations, just do it, orright?”
“Anything.” I wished his troubled eyes would look my way so I could let him know how much I meant it. Woah, girl, keep it together.
Aeron’s words hissed through his teeth. “I need to get back to my bike.” He’d grown so still, I could barely see his chest rise and fall with his breaths. “Then I need you to drop me off, wivout following me, take the route I ‘ave plugged in ‘ere, and I’ll catch you up.”
“Sure, easy.” I doubted my casual nod was convincing. “No problem.” What’s gotten into him all of a sudden? I started the car, buckling my seatbelt around the sandwich paper still in my lap and backed out of the parking spot.
“Shit.” I didn’t like the edge lacing his voice one little bit.
When I glanced over, Aeron was reading something on his phone. “Is this part of me not asking you questions?”
He checked my rearview as I finished backing up and leaned his full body almost into the dashboard, looking for something.
“Alright, don’t do nuffin’ different, but…” Aeron let out his breath in a whoosh. “We’re bein’ followed.”
“You mean, somebody’s tailing us? No way!” I let out a nervous laugh of disbelief. My grin disappeared the instant I saw how serious he was. “Why?”
“I could venture a guess… but it’d just be a guess at this point.” Aeron squinted at each of the mirrors in turn as if they were crystal balls seeing into the future where the darkness awaits. “I’ll test my feory, though.”
Nervous energy spiking my heart rate, I took an extra glance out my rearview. I couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary, but then again, it was Wachenta city traffic. There were cars, lots of them. I had no idea what I was looking for. I jerked the wheel to navigate us around a tractor trailer, causing Aeron to grip the overhead handle.
I couldn’t help but let out a nervous laugh. “Women drivers, huh?”
He shook his head, a hint of a smile drawing his lips up and under his moustache. “Nah, just you.”
“Hey!” I smacked at him playfully, and he tried to dodge me.
I hoped the gesture would lighten the tension, but it didn’t seem to help the knot in my stomach. It only brightened Aeron’s expression for a moment, his hint of a smirk disappearing as quickly as it’d come on.
“Lessie, if I don’t meet up wiv you at the next stop, don’t go in wivout me, orright? ‘Ead back to Betwixt, ask ‘Ugo for sanctuary. I don’t fink it’ll come to it, but you’ll be safer there.”
I’d be safer there, the place I trust the least? Alone again with a man who’d taken advantage of me? The gravity of the situation gripped me by the chest, squeezing my throat shut. I shook my head. “No. I’ll go home. Not there. Not by myself.”
“‘C’mon, Lessie.” Aeron flicked my elbow with his middle finger. “Stay in the moment, love.”
He was too late. My mind went blank. My back straightened as fear gripped me with its icy needles through my body. I gripped back, squeezing the steering wheel tighter, my whole being tense as Aeron flicked his way up my elbow.
Wait, is that a waltz beat he’s flicking? Three quick taps? “What song is that?” His rhythm interrupted my fear, and in the hole it made in the wall off terror, a thought slipped through: Eyes on the road. Keep us between the lines.
“You’re a brave one.” Ignoring my question, he kept up the thumping, dancing the taps up my arm and shoulder. “Fear’s natural an’ all. It’s what you do after what counts.” He sent a bastardly provocative smile in my direction as he kept up the irritating flicks. “Don’t mind me.”
“Like I can just ignore this irritating little prick who won’t stop… ow…” I swatted at him again, and he laughed. I had to hand it to him, his little trick had worked. We’d gotten off the freeway, and I hadn’t crashed the car. He’d sidelined my fear by tricking my senses into kicking back in.
“Looks like ‘at bucketing did some damage.” Aeron let out a low whistle as we passed a thick tree that’d been toppled over, roots and all. The road crews had hewn it back as far as the edge of the road. Bits of leaves, acorns, and sticks littered the pavement. He tsked his tongue and whistled low at the debris. “‘Ow d’you like that?”
“There’s a lot of standing water on my side, too.” I shrugged, trying to relax my shoulders. “The storm drains have nowhere to drain it to if the river’s high.”
“Bit damp, innit?” He pulled an interested frown as I made the final turn.
“Good job, by the way.” I cast a thin smile in his direction, hoping the conversation would help me stop shaking. “Keeping my head in the game with the flicks.”
I took a deep breath and exhaled as I realised what he was still doing. “Giving yourself an excuse to keep looking out the window without making me more nervous, talking about the tree and stuff. I see what you did there.” I looked out my window, this time to focus on the scenery. “Are we still being followed?”
“We’re in the clear. Funny fing about erratic drivin’ is it’s ‘ard to predict what you’ll do next. Easier to lose the tail wiv someo
ne inexperienced at the wheel, cause they’ll be unconventional.”
Tears threatened to roll hot relief right down my cheeks. These last few days had been too much. Far too much. I needed a warm couch, a blanket, and a cup of hazelnut hot chocolate. I let out a tired sigh.
Aeron clicked his tongue, still following the same waltz timing. “‘Don’t matter if you see frough it or not, Lessie. All what matters is that we didn’t make a mountain of bovver out of a little trouble.” He reached over and unbuckled his seatbelt, to the irritation of my car’s built-in nanny.
The garage where his motorcycle was parked lay at the top of the next hill. “You wanna pull up the destination on my phone?”
“No time. We’re in the clear, best not to shilly-shally, hmm?” His shoulders tightened again as he hopped out of my slow-moving car and made for his bike at a full sprint.
Best not to shilly-shally, then.
As soon as he was clear, I picked up speed. I had to hold steady, had to make it to that next stop. As soon as I pulled up at the red light, I turned up the volume on his phone. Aeron’s GPS had a feminine voice with an almost-regal British tone. “At the light, use the right two lanes to turn right.”
My whole brain was a puddle of goo, but somehow I managed to make my right-hand turn.
“We can do this, Queen Victoria,” I nodded to the GPS. “You and me. We’ll get there. Another left, then right again. Got it.”
Slowly, the static in my head dissipated. My thumb was tapping out the rhythm to a song I hadn’t heard in forever on my steering wheel—a song I’d danced to eons ago. My feet longed to dance off into the woods. My arms ached to put up my tent. My ears craved birdsong and crickets. I’d curl up in my tent for a week to sit in the blessed peace and quiet and sort through my feelings… about everything.
“Turn left at the light.” Never have I appreciated a GPS so much. Someone else doing the thinking was exactly what I needed. “Thank you, Queen Vic.” Now, if I could get my heart to stop pounding in my ears, that’d be royal for sure.