We worked like that for a while, me becoming part of the group, slinging smelly wet fish into the bins where they could be sold.
A huge tank of bright-red lobsters was brought in, and I ran over to stare at them, noting the giant claws. More types of fish were brought in, and the tables began filling up with so much seafood I was amazed.
Noting everyone seemed out of breath and tired after their hard work, I wandered around until I found a huge cooler filled with what I thought was water.
It wasn’t water.
It was beer.
Drinking on the job was really not professional.
But they worked hard and they only made fun of me a little, so I filled my arms with the cans and began passing them out.
After a few trips back and forth from the cooler, Neo appeared. “Why are you giving everyone beer?”
“These men looked thirsty.”
Those within earshot all cheered and held up their beer. “Bring her along anytime, Neo!”
He rolled his eyes. “Water is over there.” He pointed across the open bay.
“Oh.”
“Let her alone, boy,” Kraken said, bringing a hand down on his shoulder. “A little beer never hurt no one.”
“Now what does everyone do?” I wondered.
All the trucks had been unloaded, and those thingies that they used to move heavy loads (they told me it was called a forklift) had stopped running back and forth.
“Prep the fish,” Neo said.
Behind him, Kraken made a slicing motion across his throat and then rolled his eyes back in his head.
“I’ll leave that to the experts,” I said, shuddering at the memory of the fish staring at me accusingly.
I so loved sushi, but now I wondered if I would ever be able to look at it the same way again.
Kraken laughed and moved off, leaving me with Neo, his eyes sweeping over me from head to toe.
Glancing down, I tried and failed not to be horrified by the front of the slicker and how, umm, nasty it was.
“Thank heavens I didn’t wear the Aurora,” I said to myself.
“You surprised me tonight.”
I looked up. “I did?”
Keeping his eyes focused on me, he nodded.
“Why?”
“For a little while, it was like you were a part of my world.” He spoke so low I had to strain to hear him, but hear him I did.
“Maybe it isn’t my world versus your world. Maybe it’s just one world and we both live in it.”
“Innocent,” he murmured.
I scowled. “I’m not innocent. Both my parents are dead, and now someone is trying to kill me. I know I was raised with every advantage, but I work hard for my company and now my father’s.”
He cocked his head to the side, studying me. “Fair enough. Then…”
“Then?” I pressed, leaning forward.
“Then somehow you’ve maintained your hopefulness where mine vanished long ago.”
I thought back to the painting on the apartment wall, how color leached from his world, suddenly becoming black and white. I saw the fire and the feathers… I felt the death.
“Whoa.” Neo gasped, reaching out to steady my swaying form.
I glanced up, searching for his face in a sudden veil of haze.
“Princess.” He worried, concern creating lines at the sides of his mouth. “What’s wrong? What’s happening?”
“I-I’m fine.” I assured him, trying to clear my mind. “Just got a little dizzy for a minute.”
Wrapping an arm around my waist, he practically hauled me across the wide space, guiding me down to sit on an unsteady crate. Seconds later, he appeared with a bottle of water, twisting off the cap and pushing it against my lips. “Drink.”
The water was cool and soothing to my parched throat, making me realize just how thirsty I’d been.
After a few strong sips, I sighed, pulling away, and Neo pushed the bottle into my palm. With him kneeling in front of me, for once, I was higher than him, making his chin tilt up so our eyes could meet.
He hadn’t shaved before we came here, and there was a distinct shadow on the lower half of his face.
“Hey.” His voice was as soft as his fingers as they caressed my cheek. “You okay?”
I nodded and smiled. “Fine. Guess all the fish throwing made me a little shaky.”
His chuckle quieted some of whatever was still clinging to me, acting like a warm towel fresh out of the dryer. “Sit here and drink all that, okay? Get some rest.”
“What about you?” I worried, suddenly feeling like he was planning to escape.
“I’m not going anywhere, princess.” He soothed me, somehow reading my emotions.
“You painted me,” I blurted out.
Both of us jolted in shock.
“Why are you surprised? You’re the one who spoke,” Neo teased.
“I’m usually very good at thinking before I speak,” I replied coolly.
Both of us fell silent, and when I couldn’t take it anymore, I said it again. This time more deliberate. “You painted me.”
He nodded.
“Why?”
His eyes lifted to mine, somehow seeing directly into the shadow the hat I wore created. “Because you were on my mind.”
“Neo!” Kraken yelled.
Hearing his name, he jolted up, spinning around as though he’d been caught doing something illegal. “Yeah?”
“Last shipment’s here. Bring it in.”
Nodding, Neo stared off toward the water where a boat was docked. A moment later, he was before me, his large palm fitting over my knee. “I’ll be right back. Just sit here and wait for me.”
“Okay.” I agreed, unable to keep my eyes from straying toward the unfriendly river.
33
Neo
* * *
A breather was good. A chance to walk it off.
Because, you know, walking off your feelings was totally possible.
I’m starting to sound like Ivory. That abrupt thought propelled my feet a little faster.
The boat ahead was equipped with a rotating light at the top, and as I walked, it arched around, shining its beam right at me. I recoiled a bit because it was very bright considering all the darkness around me. Shielding my eyes with my forearm, I waited as it moved along, sweeping across the empty lot.
Onboard, men were moving around, preparing the fish for transfer. Seeing the large containers already waiting, I stopped walking once more and decided to go grab a forklift to make it easier. Usually, I wasn’t in a hurry, but tonight was different. Desire to be alone with Ivory, desire to know her more, to see how else she would surprise me, made me anxious to finish up.
I knew there would be screams and gasps when I brought her here. What I didn’t realize was that she would win over all the old codgers who usually hated everyone and then actually stand in a line, slinging fish with the rest of us.
She was a surprise in every way. Usually, I hated surprises, but not this one. Not her.
After I parked the forklift near the dock, resisting the urge to look back at where I’d left her, my boots moved across the dock toward the boat.
The waves seemed restless, the water level higher than usual as it splashed against the wooden planks. One particular upsurge swelled, splattering across the toe of my boot. Almost as fast as it reached me, it retreated, the dark wave threatening to pull me into the murky depths along with it.
I wasn’t intimidated. It would take more than that to ruffle me. Instead, I found myself pondering Ivory and her fear of water. I wondered what caused the trepidation. It almost seemed as if she didn’t know either.
Fear lives deep within me. It wears a cloak so I can’t ever see its face.
Her words came back at that moment, halting me where I stood. Those words hadn’t seemed ominous in the moment, but now they were nothing but.
Unable to deny the urge, my body swung around, eyes searching through the dark, retreating
the way I’d come.
The spot I’d left her sitting in was empty, no sign of her tiny frame covered in the oversized slicker in sight.
Stark worry quickened my breath, and I forgot about the fish, the boat, and the fact I was supposed to be working. Instead, I started back, needing to have eyes on my princess, to make sure she was safe.
Kraken’s unmistakable booming laugh carried all the way out here, and I followed it across the market to where he stood with several other men. And standing among them was a princess in a yellow slicker.
My little duck.
A strangled noise broke from my throat, carried out to sea with the wind. Warring emotion swelled inside me—ridiculousness because I’d had such a thought and tenderness because that was exactly what she looked like—and it made my heart expand.
I allowed myself a moment to stand there and watch how she commanded the attention of men who normally scowled at everyone, awed a little at her natural charm.
Someone on deck called out to me, and I was forced to pull away, hitting pause on the storybook to get back to real life.
34
Ivory
* * *
He’s so different from any man I’ve ever met before. The thought echoed around inside me, touching all my hollow places and even finding room where I was already full.
It hardly seemed possible that just two days ago, I’d fled from my world, stumbling into his. How shocking the difference was here, how unfamiliar.
At first, I’d been so afraid, shocked even. Embarrassment pecked at me because I’d never thought to look beyond the place I lived. I never realized how different people could be.
My whole life, I’d lived with blinders on. My whole life, it was as if I only saw what I wanted to see.
Until Neo came into my world, splashing paint and color everywhere, making me reevaluate everything I knew. He was honest, blunt, and sometimes crude.
He didn’t always shave, his teeth weren’t perfect, and I didn’t think he owned a comb. The plaid shirts he wore were practically abominations to fashion everywhere, yet if given the chance, I’d wrap myself up in one.
He lived with a band of misfits, people who, before all of this, I would have thought didn’t fit in. Practically criminals, messy and startlingly ill-mannered.
Misfits who took me in when I had nowhere else to go. Offered me a hand before they knew my name and my connections like it didn’t matter who I was because I was someone in need.
Maybe I didn’t fit in with them, but astoundingly, I badly wanted to. I liked them. Even Earth, who seriously needed anger management.
Most of all, I liked Neo.
Maybe I liked him a little more than like.
I knew I would have to go home. I’d already made that decision. But it wouldn’t hurt to wait just a little bit more, right? To be a little selfish and stay at Neo’s side.
I came from a world of extraordinary comfort, so imagine my astonishment when I discovered the most comfortable place I’d ever known was where Neo’s eyes consumed mine. When we held hands and he pulled me down to sit in his lap.
Yes, I would go back to my world, but truly, I didn’t think I would ever look at it the same.
I wanted to bring him with me, all of them. To somehow meld both worlds together. I mean, after all, we did reside under the same blue sky.
Neo thought it was impossible, and it hurt because it seemed he was willing to just let me go.
“Princess!” one of the fishmen hollered, making me pop up from my seat.
“Yes?” I called back.
“Come look at this beaut!”
Nodding enthusiastically, I hoped this beauty they referred to would not make me queasy. With these men, one could never be too certain.
Joining the men, I looked at their catch, which just looked like another giant fish to me, and exclaimed over its “beauty.”
Just because I didn’t see it didn’t mean it wasn’t there. Truthfully, I felt a little sorry for all these fish whose destiny was to become a meal.
My eyes kept straying out toward the boat and the dock where Neo was. The forklift he’d parked sat waiting for him to load it up and drive back.
It hadn’t been that long since he’d left me here to wait, but I was already anxious for him to return.
All the men moved off to clean fish and do other gross things I didn’t want to see, and I used it as a chance to escape the crowd, moving toward the large open doors to wait for Neo. Even in the dark, I was able to pick out his form.
There was an energy about him, charisma that spoke on its own. He worked with a few men, carrying large totes toward the end of the dock, then going back to the boat for more.
All the men I knew would never do this kind of job. They would look down on anyone who did. These men might all be rough around the edges, but they weren’t any less than anyone else.
Without realizing it, I moved just beyond the doorway, closer to Neo, not even heeding the warning of the lapping river against the shore.
When I realized where I was, enveloped by total darkness, out of reach of the yellow lights, a prickle of warning shot up my spine, tingling across my scalp.
The bawdy voices of the men seemed muffled, taken over by the sloshing water. A shiver wracked my body as I looked toward the opaque brown current, which seemed to whisper in forewarning.
A familiar yet starkly unknown feeling rose inside me, making my feet feel heavy and my mind weak. I’d carried this feeling with me for as long as I could remember. It usually only reared its sinister head when it rained or I was near water, but lately, it lurked just below the surface, threatening to swallow me whole at any given chance.
My feet, though delicate, felt like anvils anchoring me to the uneven pavement. The urge to run from my feelings, from whatever was trying to push through, screamed at me so loudly my fingers and hands shook.
I tried to go, but I was trapped in the darkness of the night and the shadows of my deepest mind. Unable to run, I frantically sought sanity, going immediately toward the boat. Toward Neo.
I saw him up on deck, the wind ripping at his slicker and tugging his hair. I thought I would feel better seeing him.
I thought wrong.
Flashes of a car wreck, of color leaching from the world… of plucked feathers stolen from an angel raining down from a black, empty sky…
The imagery was vivid, as was the overwhelming emotion slamming into my small body, rocking me on my feet.
Finally, I was unglued from my position, and I began to tumble. Everything around me shifted, the sky overhead becoming my only view.
And then I hit something hard, the jolt giving me a bit of clarity. Clarity that arrived too late.
I’d fallen into the arms of the huntsman, his face still hidden but his aura and intentions abundantly clear.
The starless abyss I stared up at was not the sky after all, but the huntsman who wore a cloak the color of midnight and a dark mask of the exact same shade.
This was perhaps the clearest view I’d ever had of this man who’d tried to slay me twice, but even as my lashes fluttered up at him, I saw nothing that could offer a clue to his identity.
Run! Fight! Scream! the voices in my head implored. I wanted to listen. Oh, I so badly wanted to flee.
His grip was like a vise, my body still captive of whatever knocked me off my feet.
How ironic this monster would be here waiting in obscurity for an opportune moment to strike.
He started to move, half carrying, half dragging me away.
My lips fell open, and a weak scream burst out. A gloved hand slapped over my mouth, cutting off the scrawny sound.
Scrappppeeeee.
The distinct sound of my shoe scraping over the pavement as I was hauled away seemed to break me from whatever spell I’d been under.
Life surged into my limp limbs, stiffening my spine and shoulders. A burst of adrenaline offered me a chance to leap out of his arms.
I made it
only a few inches, the man having caught the back of my giant slicker to tug me back.
“Neo!” I screamed wild. “Hel—”
The cry for help was silenced by a hand slapping violently over my nose and mouth. Eyes popping wide, I fought and struggled, panic rising because, with his hand this way, I couldn’t get any air.
Lungs burning, eyes frantic, I was hauled farther into the darkness toward the murky river. Dread curled up from my toes, trying to strangle me just like the huntsman’s hand.
He wouldn’t just toss me in the water… would he?
As if he heard my unspoken question, he leaned in, voice low and gravelly, ominously evil. “Should have learned to swim.”
Fighting anew, I kicked and screamed against his hand, trying to bite him, trying to break free. My attempts only served to tire me out, the lack of oxygen beginning to mess with my brain.
Sluggishness tugged at me. The pain in my chest made me want to curl into a ball.
I tried to look for Neo one last time.
Just let me say good-bye.
It seemed Neo and I would continually be robbed of farewell because moments after that silent plea, my entire world went black.
35
Neo
* * *
“Neo!” The scream found my ears even though it probably shouldn’t have made it this far. “Hel—”
The last part was cut off, and every single hair on the back of my neck stood at attention.
The tote I carried fell to the ground, the lid popping off and dead fish pouring everywhere, some even sliding back into the river.
Someone shouted in displeasure, but there was only one voice I was listening for now.
Not even knowing where I was going, I sprinted off the deck, desperately searching for the location from where I’d heard her scream.
I started to yell her name but clamped my lips closed at the last second, the unreleased yell burning my throat and making it impossible to swallow.
If someone was with her, I didn’t want them to know I’d heard. I wanted them to think they would get away with whatever they were planning.
Ivory White : A House of Misfits Standalone Page 18