by Marie Cole
"What the hell do you mean 'Where the hell is Claire?'" I felt my nostrils flare and my insides squeeze as all the possibilities ran through my mind. I noticed how pale she was as she shook her head and stepped into the room, closing the door behind her.
"She was supposed to meet me at the Union and she never showed. I texted and texted and called and her phone was turned off. I went by the dorm and saw fresh blood on the pavement and rushed here, hoping she fell and was here but...she's not..."
"I saw her heading for the boys' dorm before they closed the doors on the ambulance." Merit turned for the door and was a few steps away from leaving me alone in the room. "Merit! Please! If something did happen to her and Will was responsible you're not going to be able to fix it by yourself."
"Well I can't just sit here and do nothing!" She was panicked, she needed to calm down.
I leveled my voice, pretending I was the eye of the storm, quietly calm. "You can't run in there guns blazing either. Take some breaths and think. What is your plan?"
She threw her hands up, exasperated. "To make sure Claire is okay!"
I smiled a little, I couldn't help it. Women were adorable when they were all worked up, it was one of the many things I admired about them. "And if she isn't? What then?"
"I'll cross that damn bridge when I get to it!" The nurse walked in just then, froze and then started to step back out.
I yelled to stop her, "Can I go?!"
She stepped back in and nodded. "The doctor signed the discharge paperwork so you're free to go, Mr. Begley. But you need to rest and come back if you experience any worrisome symptoms. Like a headache that won't go away, dizziness, mental confusion..." I nodded and unstrapped myself, sitting up. I didn't have time for her babbling.
I grabbed my clothes and quickly put them back on. I grabbed Merit by her arm and pulled her out of the room, taking the papers the nurse was shoving at me as I headed for the exit.
"Neil, you can't come with me either. The nurse just said you need rest!"
I let go of her arm and looked over her wardrobe. She had a belt. I could use that. I looked her in the eye, "I can handle it. Let's go find our girl."
**************************
Merit knocked on Will's door. I sighed and put my hand on the doorframe as I waited, pretending that I was impatient to cover the fact that it hurt overtime I took in a breath. She knocked again and there was still no answer. I balled my fist and felt the wood rattle under my force as it met the door. I clenched my jaw in frustration and walked to the other side of the hallway, pulling out my phone. I texted Tse.
Neil: Hey man. Urgent. Can u come 2 ur room?
Tse: What's up? I'm in the middle of something.
Neil: If u don't come back right now I'm going 2 kick in ur door and all ur stuff will b exposed 2 whoever walks by. GET HERE NOW
I shoved my phone into my back pocket and looked up and down the hall. I'd give him five minutes and then the damn door was going down. Merit was looking at me expectantly and I raised my eyebrows.
"What's the plan now?"
I shrugged my shoulders as casually as I could muster. My bloody ribs were screaming. "I warned Tse that I was going to bust in his door if he didn't come open it, like ten seconds ago." I pushed off the wall, ignoring the pain, time was up, I didn't have the patience right now. I pulled my foot back and kicked at the door just under the door handle where I figured it would be the weakest. I got in one good kick and then Tse was yelling as he ran towards us.
"I'm here, dammit!!" He pushed me out of the way and unlocked the door, letting us in.
I rushed in with Merit in tow and looked around. There was no evidence that either of them were in there. They must've gone out. There were wet footprints, giant ones so they must've belonged to the ogre, that went from the bathroom to the door. A damp towel was discarded carelessly on his bed. I went back to the desk and shuffled through the few papers that were there. I slammed my fist on his desk and let out a string of Irish curses.
Tse looked between us, still trying to catch his breath. "What's going on?" His brow furrowed in concern.
"Claire is missing." Merit said softly, calmly, she'd gotten her shit together as I was losing mine.
"Shit..." Tse muttered. "Is there anything I can do to help? She was here when I left like two hours ago. She looked like she was ready to murder Will... maybe she's hiding his body?" He was trying to lighten the mood but it certainly wasn't making me feel like laughing. It made me feel like punching him in the face.
"If only there was a way we could trace his phone. Then maybe, if it was on, we could figure out where they were."
Tse sat down at his desk and started typing on his computer. "It's going to take me a minute but I can do that."
"Music -and- computers? Really?" I made my way over to his desk and stood behind him as I watched him navigate through shit I couldn't even begin to comprehend.
"They go pretty well together, actually. And you can only create for so long and then you need a break." I watched in awe as the screen blinked and flickered, lines and lines of gibberish appeared and he typed back more gibberish and then some numbers appeared. He pointed to the screen. "These are the GPS coordinates on his phone."
I pulled out my phone and typed it into my mapping app and let the machine do the work for me. They were outside of campus boundaries. Claire was at risk. More curses left my throat. "Fuck!" I ran my hand violently through my hair and bent over as the burning moved between my ribs. I stood back up and looked at Merit. "They're off campus." I shook my head trying to concentrate. Why would they go there? Maybe it was a date. Maybe I was over reacting. Maybe it wasn't. I couldn't take that chance.
"Where?" Merit tried to get a view of the screen.
"Fucked if I know! Two hours north of here. Tse I'll text you, we'll need coordinates again to see where he's going."
Merit gasped behind me. "How are we going to get her? We don't have a car." I grabbed her wrist and pulled her with me.
"Then we better get a fucking move on and figure it out!"
Lucky for me I had lots of friends. It wasn't hard to find a car to borrow. Once I was behind the wheel I peeled off campus like a bat out of hell. I had to go get the girl and ignore the searing pain in my body.
Chapter 23
Claire
I inhaled deeply as I suddenly regained consciousness. I opened my eyes and a scream ripped from my throat as I stared into the face of the immortal who had made me hide my entire nineteen years. Psyche's marbled eyes stared into mine and I tried to pull away but my hands were tied behind the statue's back. I pulled at my feet but they were tied together and to the statue's feet. From a distance it probably looked like I was embracing it.
I looked around, trying to see anything aside from the cold stone in front of me. I heard a soft murmuring of voices behind me. I felt myself rocking and turned my head to the side, hiding my lips against my arm to keep the vomit in. The fear in my body was trying to come out. I was in a small boat with a large statue and I heard a laugh behind me. Goosebumps broke out on my arms as I realized it was Justice. What the hell was she doing here? I pulled at the ropes, testing their strength. They were not the largest of ropes but from my position I was not going to be unable to untie them.
The sun was setting in the distance and very soon it would be dark. I felt the boat wobble and then move backwards.
"Sorry, Claire." Will's voice sliced through my fear.
"I'm not." Justice laughed again from behind me. I couldn't see them but they were close.
"You don't have to do this. Either of you. I won't bother you, Justice. If this is about Neil..." Her snort cut through my response.
"This is not about Neil. This is about your Daddy and his wife's vengeance. I only toyed around with Neil to torture you."
Will sighed, "Yeah, that wasn't the nicest thing to do."
She laughed as she spoke, "I know, but it was so fun. And if I'm going to have to kill her anyway I m
ay as well have some fun before it goes all dark and lethal."
I felt my body shivering, there was nothing I could do to control it. "I don't understand why you would do her bidding."
"She has people we love, Claire. This is the only way she'll give them back. We have no choice." Will didn't seem as happy as Justice did about the situation, but he was still going along with it.
"You do have a choice. Are you sure she'll give them back to you? Are you even sure she has them at all?? She's manipulative."
"Just like you, Claire. Manipulating people into falling in love." Justice's voice was spitting daggers. "If she's lying to us she'll get her dues."
I was grasping at straws but it was all I had, I started moving my wrists and ankles, trying to loosen the knots, fray the ropes, anything I could as I tried to distract them further. "She's immortal! What chance do you have against her?"
Justice sighed softly, "I'm bored, Will. Any last words for your almost lover?" There was the sound, it was so loud to my ears, of a match striking against the box. And then the whoosh as the lighter fluid inside my small boat caught fire. I screamed and was jolted backwards as the boat sailed across the water. I started to pull harder, my wrists and ankles red and raw where the rope was scraping my skin off. I could not hear anything aside from the crackling fire that was getting closer and closer to my body. I could not see anything aside from the flames against the black sky and the statue's blank eyes.
The boat cracked beneath me and just as the flames were licking at my clothes I sank, the cold water a temporary relief.
Chapter 24
Neil
When the match hit the boat, I leapt into action, Merit's belt in hand, ignoring for the moment the angry orange flames floating away. I jumped on Will's back and pulled the belt tight around his thick neck. He reached up and behind him trying to pull me off of him. I pulled tighter on the belt. I felt nails cutting the flesh in my back but ignored it it was nothing compared to the other pain I was suffering from the damage he'd done earlier. I had to take down the beast. The beast who let the whore burn Claire into flames.
After a long minute he fell to his knees and then collapsed all the way. I held the grip a little longer than necessary to make sure he wouldn't get up again and then I got up and turned around. Merit was standing over Justice's limp body, a large jutted bloodied rock in her hands. She dropped it to the ground as she stared at Justice. I didn't have time to watch, I needed to get to Claire.
I jumped into the water and then swam quickly to the boat. I wasn't sure what I was going to find but I hoped like hell that Claire wasn't dead. She couldn't be dead. I wasn't ready to let her go.
I dove down into the dark, freezing water and looked for her. I dove three times until I finally spotted something silvery. I clung to the hope that it was her and not just a fish. I reached out and it was her. My heart was aching with relief. My hands traced over her arms until I found the knots holding her to the god awful statue. I undid the knot and her hands fell free. I tried to pull her off but her feet were still stuck. I was running out of air. My lungs felt on fire. I pulled at the other knots until she was free. I grabbed her under her arms and brought her to the surface. I breathed in the sweet crisp air and swam to shore. Merit met us halfway and helped pull Claire to shore. She listened for her breath, felt for a pulse and then started CPR.
My body was involuntarily convulsing, trying to warm itself up. I stared at Claire's pale face, her blue lips. I willed her to wake up. And then it struck me that she had woken me up. She had helped me out of the void, maybe I could do the same for her. I came close and held her head still between my legs. I couldn't even feel her skin beneath mine because I was so numb from the cold.
"Claire...Claire-bear, come back to us...come back to me..." I stroked her hair as I stared down at her lifeless face. Suddenly her eyes opened and she coughed and then turned her face to the side and sputtered, water spilling onto the ground. I'd never felt such relief. This feeling was miles above what I felt after winning a football game, a tennis match, a bar brawl.
I wanted so badly to grab her and hold her body against mine. I wanted to feel every part of her pressing against every part of me. But I couldn't. I moved back from her and stood up slowly. "Merit, we need to get someplace warm..." Hypothermia was a definite risk given how damn cold that water had been.
Merit hugged Claire as she sat up and then pulled her arm. She grabbed Claire's arm and wrapped it over her shoulder so she could support her as we walked back to the car. Once inside I popped the trunk to search for anything that might help us until we got where we were going.
I snatched up two emergency blankets and stripped down. Merit's cheeks colored and if I'd had the energy I would've teased her but I didn't. "Strip down, Claire. You need to get out of those wet clothes." I saw her shiver and she turned her beautiful blue eyes to me.
I pulled one of the blankets tightly around me. I got into the backseat and closed my eyes so I wouldn't be caught staring as Claire stripped her clothes off.
She sat in the back next to me, a blanket around her too. I opened my eyes when I felt the car hum under my body and glanced over to look at Claire. She was still blue in her lips. I moved closer, closing the distance between us and put my arm around her, pulling her into me. She tried to resist but I whispered softly against her hair. "We need to keep each other warm until we get to the hospital, Claire."
She was still tense in my arms and I couldn't blame her. Her boyfriend and my chronic lover tried to kill her. I couldn't blame her for not wanting to be close to me, the guy who she said should've protected her. And she was right. I didn't protect her. I got to her too late. I failed her. I hated failing, losing. It harrowed me like almost nothing else.
When we were back to normal again I would make sure I protected her from harm. Her father's wife was obviously not going to play fair. She wanted Claire dead.
Chapter 25
Neil
We both went to the infirmary and were both discharged by the next afternoon. I insisted that she be treated first and she was gone before I had a chance to see her again.
I had English with her today and I was hoping that I'd get the chance to talk to her. I grabbed up my books and opened the door. I almost stepped on an envelope that was propped against the doorframe. I bent down to retrieve it and turned it over in my hand before opening it. There was a thick bronze chain with a dull Irish penny on it dated 1976, my mother's birth year. I felt a sting at my eyes and blinked several times while I clutched the necklace in one hand and pulled out the note with the other.
Neil,
I will forever be indebted to you for what you did. I know this doesn't even begin to compare to what you did for me but it was the best thing I could think of.
-Claire
I closed my eyes and thought about the first time I'd met Claire. We'd been thirteen, hormones had just been awakening. I thought she was pretty when she went walking beside me and this guy Trevor. He had asked me about where I came from and I pulled out the lucky Irish penny my mother had given me on her death bed. It was the only thing I'd had of her. The penny fell to the ground. Before I had a chance to chase after it she'd grabbed it and held it out to me on her open palm. She'd smiled at me, her hair was stringy but her smile was inviting and warm. My mother used to smile at me like that, like she was always genuinely happy to see me.
"I think you dropped this?" Her eyes fell to the penny and then raised to mine. "The bird is very pretty."
"Thanks," I'd said, "My mom gave it to me." I snatched the coin from her fingers and shoved it deep into my pants pocket. She tilted her head at me as she took in my accent.
"You're Scottish?"
I scoffed at her, Americans had no sense of geography. "Irish." I was drawn into her eyes and my body was starting to respond to her. I nodded to some girl who was staring at her back. "Its not nice to gawk, you should probably get a move on." Trevor chuckled and Claire's cheeks went flush with color.
I'd felt like an ass for embarrassing her but I wasn't going to let that show.