by A. L. Tyler
“Hesper had to…she’s in the…she had to pee. Hesper’s peeing.” Wow. Maybe she really was bad at keeping secrets. “I mean, diarrhea. She ate something, and she’ll probably be in the bathroom for a while.”
Serena smiled and closed the door behind her. She sat down on the bed where Hesper was supposed to be sleeping. “It’s okay. I know she’s out. Reading up on your Latito?”
Lena stared. Serena pushed a mug of hot tea into her hand. She had to be the coolest adult she had ever met. “Latito?”
“It’s Silenti. The way our language is written. No one knows it anymore, in favor of whatever one’s first spoken language is, but it’s still used on occasion to document the formal Councils. It’s good that you’re learning it. Might impress the current representatives.” Serena yawned and looked down into her mug.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you up.” Lena said.
“Oh, I was up anyway. I’m up a lot, lately.” Serena traced the rim of her cup with her index finger. Her hair was done up in a bun that bore a striking resemblance to a pastry. “Just worried. Politics and whatnot. That must sound really stupid to you.” She looked up and smiled.
“No. I worry sometimes, too.” Lena sipped her tea. “I thought it was Latin.”
“It’s not Latin. It was Latin at some point, I guess, but someone way back when took it and made it ours. Now it’s ours. Only the Silenti can see it, and only the learned Silenti can read it.” Serena said.
“Could you teach me?” Lena asked.
“Oh, no. My Latito is terrible.” Serena frowned. “You’d need to ask a specialist, or get your hands on one of the older grammars.”
“But you just translated that passage for me…”
“That’s different—it’s from the oldest known Silenti text. The opening inscription: iter itineris susipio hik , kod hik is vadum terminus, per nuskam varius tamen ki reverto. ‘The journey begins here, and here it shall end, with nothing changed save those who return.’ The book was supposedly written by one of the First Ones, and it’s been copied down through the generations. Who knows how close it is to the original now, but it’s still held as our greatest story of all time.” Serena yawned again.
“Do you have a copy? I mean, one I could borrow?” Lena asked.
“Sure,” Serena stood and walked to the door. “But tomorrow, okay? You really should get some sleep. We need to get in some more time on your exposition before you leave, and the girls want to go out to lunch with you tomorrow. And shopping. And to the beach. And to the zoo. And to dinner.”
Lena smiled nervously. “I don’t know how I’m ever going to pull that exposition off…”
Serena gave her a reassuring smile. “Look on the bright side. You’ve already got two votes…Howard and Greg. Greg is actually very proud of you—more so than he’s allowed to say. Confidentially, of course.”
“Of course.” Lena repeated.
Serena winked. They said their goodnights just in time for Lena’s cell phone to go off. As Serena closed the door, Lena answered Hesper’s call. There was loud music playing in the background.
“Hey yo, I’m not dead yet.” Hesper yelled over the background noise.
“That makes me very happy.” Lena replied.
“It should.” Hesper yelled.
Lena’s phone beeped. “I’ve got another call.”
“Okay, talk to you at three-thirty, mother.”
Lena hit the answer button. “Hello?”
“Hello, princess.”
“Isn’t it early morning yesterday where you are?” Perhaps it was the lack of sleep, or the fact that she had just figured out the riddle of the inscription, but talking to Griffin didn’t faze her the way it usually did.
His tone, however, sounded different—stretched thin. “It’s not that early here, but why are you up? I was going to leave a message. Is Hesper sneaking out again?”
Lena felt her heart rate surge. This was what Hesper hadn’t wanted.
“It’s nothing new. Why so worried?” Griffin said lightly.
He was always inside of her head, and it annoyed her. “Why do you even have to ask?”
Silence. “I can’t help it, Lena. You get to know people and it just sort of happens. I wouldn’t expect you to understand, of course.”
Lena sighed. He was always so…frustrating. “It’s the exposition, that’s all.”
“I doubt that, but don’t worry about it. Your…Well, Master Daray has decided to support your decision, so I don’t think it really matters.” Griffin said.
“What?” Lena couldn’t believe that she’d heard him correctly. In fact, she had partially made the decision to become and heir to irritate Daray and her mother. “Why the hell would he do that?”
“Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth, as they say. I don’t know. Everything here has been so…” There was silence on the other end of the line as Griffin’s voice trailed off.
“Griffin? Is everything okay?”
When he spoke again, his words were strained. “He’s dying, Lena…”
She looked away out the window, and then rolled her eyes. “He’s had that look about him since I’ve known him. Doesn’t really surprise me.”
“He’s getting worse.” Griffin insisted. “He’s not able to walk right anymore. He gets too tired too quickly. He’s not…well.”
“You sound worried.” Lena said. “I think that’s a first, for you.”
Silence. “I think you should get back here soon. That’s all.”
Lena rolled over on her stomach, picked a magazine out of the stash next to Hesper’s bed, and started flipping through it. “I realize you care, Griffin, and I’m sorry. Really. I really doubt he’ll die because he’s just not done making my life a living hell. I mean, we’re not married yet, right?”
Silence.
“Griffin?”
Silence. Lena closed the magazine and threw it back in the pile. His silence wasn’t what she wanted to hear.
“Griffin?! Please tell me this weird little culture didn’t pronounce us man and wife when I shook your hand or called you a jerk or something?!”
“No!” Griffin replied, clearly irritated that she was making light of the situation. “We’re not married. Yet, as you so aptly put it.”
“I have no intention of marrying you.” Lena said. “Ever. And I sure as hell have no desire to ever be a parent. And that’s why that cantankerous old butt wart won’t die. Because he’s not done screwing up my life. Trust me, he’s dying, but I doubt he’ll go any time soon. I’m just not that lucky.”
More silence. “Thanks Lena. That actually…helps.”
“Oh, I wasn’t trying to help. And you’re really twisted if my suffering makes you feel better.” Lena said.
“I never said I felt…anything. Because I don’t. I’m not worried.”
“Whatever. Is that all?”
Griffin snorted. “You’re all business, aren’t you?”
“I’m tired. I need sleep.”
“You need to stay awake until Hesper gets home and grill her. She’s doing something she shouldn’t be doing.”
“Whatever.” She snapped the phone shut. She picked up another magazine to keep herself awake until three-forty, when Hesper hauled herself back through the window. Her hair had moved from pigtails to a simple ponytail, her makeup was faded, and while she was exhausted, she seemed to be in good health. She changed haphazardly into some nightclothes, mumbled a goodnight, and crawled into bed. As Lena closed the window behind her, the ladder was already gone.
Eric was practically smothering the last week of the trip, and even though she wasn’t feeling too great about her friendship with Hesper, Lena made the extra effort to always be at her side. She didn’t like that Hesper was keeping secrets, but she wasn’t about to let something horrible happen to her. Hesper, however, was really starting to get annoyed.
“What the hell, Lena? I promise, nothing is going to happen to me inside this house! You can s
top following me to the bathroom! You can stop following me to the kitchen! Just stop following me around!” She finally snapped.
But every time she stopped, Eric was there, following her around instead. He would pop up at the most unexpected times—one time Lena saw him leave for the market, so she went upstairs to read. Fifteen minutes later, when she came down to grab a sandwich, she had found Eric and Hesper standing on different sides of the kitchen island, staring at each other.
“What’s up?” Lena tried to act unsurprised and unworried.
“Nothing. Just fixing lunch.” Hesper looked over at Lena and faked a smile. She clearly thought that her friend had been following her again.
“Weren’t you going to the market?” Lena opened the refrigerator and grabbed a can of soda. She opened it as nonchalantly as possible.
“I was…I forgot which kind of bread Hesper said she wanted.” He glanced over at Lena, and then went back to Hesper. “You’re so picky about what you eat. We don’t have the same things here as you do in California. So I thought I’d come back and take you to the market with me. That way you can pick your own food.”
For the first time, Hesper looked nervous. She looked over at Lena, and then gathered herself. The arrogant, fiery, immortal look came back into her eyes, and she looked confidently at Eric. “Sure. I’d love to go to the market.”
Lena set down her soda down on the counter. “I’ll go too.”
Hesper rolled her eyes. Lena crossed her arms.
Nothing’s going to happen! It’s a public place! Just stop being so paranoid and let me live my damn life as recklessly as I want to! Hesper stomped out of the room. Without looking at Eric, Lena followed her back up to their bedroom. Hesper had put on her mp3 player and had the music on so loud that Lena could hear the lyrics from across the room. When she saw Lena standing in the doorway, she picked a magazine and started to fiercely flip through it.
It’s not safe, Hesper!
Hesper continued to almost rip the pages out of the magazine.
You know, you haven’t been the best friend lately. Lena went on. In fact, you’ve been a pretty bad one. But I’m not going to let you get hurt. I’m sorry.
Lena grabbed her book, Serena’s borrowed copy of Viator kod Venefikus, and walked back down to the living room. She looked out at the driveway; Eric’s car was gone again. Throwing herself down on the couch, she cracked open her book and started to read it.
“Are you girls fighting?” Ava was sitting in a chair watching television. Lena was surprised she had missed her.
“Yes.” She said dully.
“It’s not good to fight.” Ava remarked. “You’ll be sisters someday.”
“Thanks Mom. You always know what to say.” Lena tried to focus on the text in front of her, which was thankfully a translation into English.
“You love each other.” Ava said. “Maybe you’ve just been spending too much time together.”
“No, it’s because Hesper’s being a total brat lately. And a really bad friend.”
“How so?”
“Well, she’s been…” Lena stopped. She peeped over the corner of the book at Ava, who looked oblivious enough, but couldn’t bring herself to talk about what had transpired over the course of the trip. If Hesper wanted to keep it a secret, there was probably a good reason. Or a good enough one, anyway. “Nothing.”
Ava went back to watching television. Lena went back to her book.
Why do you have to be such a damn good friend?
Lena looked over at the staircase. Hesper was sitting on the top step, looking miserable. She went back to her book; the two of them didn’t speak much over the remaining three days of the trip.
*****
CHAPTER 13
Standing at the gate again, Lena couldn’t believe the trip was already over. Greg shook her hand and pulled her into a hug the way he usually did with other male members of the Council. Serena gave her a long hug; they had put the finishing touches on her exposition the day before. Lena hadn’t told her about Master Daray’s decision to support her, because votes were supposed to be confidential, but the exposition was still very good. Serena probably would have made a fair Councilmember herself, and seemed to be living the dream vicariously. She was crying as adamantly as little Rose and Daisy as they stood at the gate, much to Ava’s chagrin. Hesper was standing off to the side; her plane didn’t leave until the next day. She still hadn’t told Lena what was going on, and had never apologized. Eric was standing just behind her.
“And remember…whatever you say, say it with confidence, even if you think they don’t want to hear it. And look them in the eye. Oh! And practice your volume and tone,” Serena smiled maternally at Lena, and then pulled her into a suffocating hug, “And I’m already planning the party for when you get in.”
“Well, I guess that’s it then.” Lena sighed and picked up her carry-on. “Thanks so much for letting me stay.”
“Any time. Any time you want to visit you’re welcome…you’re family.” Greg smiled.
Lena turned and handed her boarding pass to the attendant.
Wait!
Lena turned around. Hesper was holding an envelope out towards her.
Don’t open it until you land. She whispered.
And you be careful until tomorrow… Lena whispered back.
She took the envelope and gave a small smile. It wasn’t an apology, but it was a start.
Lena had always found flying over the Pacific to be more tiring than most flights. Perhaps it was in her head, but crossing the time barrier between days somehow seemed to be more work. She spent most of her time reading Viator kod Venefikus, which turned out to be a fairly good fantasy story—except that most Silenti probably didn’t classify it as fantasy. It was the story of the opening of the portal and the arrival of the Silenti, except that they were referred to as Venefikus—“Magicians”—in the story. It also told about the apocalyptic amounts of human and Silenti death immediately after the portal was opened.
It wasn’t until the layover in Los Angeles that Lena realized she hadn’t turned her cell phone back on since turning it off during taxi and takeoff. When she did, she saw that she had close to forty messages, all of them in the last hour. Most of them from Griffin and Howard.
“Mom, have you talked to Griffin or Howard lately?” She asked.
“Nope. Mine’s been off. I’m trying to get a jump start on resetting my sleep schedule. You should too.” Ava wandered off to find a place for them to eat. Mrs. Ralston had fallen asleep sitting up on a bench.
The cell phone went off again. It was Griffin.
Well. This can’t be good. She opened the phone and put it to her ear. “Your Majesty?”
“Where’s Hesper?” He sounded aggravated.
“What?”
“She missed her flight!” He yelled.
“Griffin! Calm down! Have you tried calling the Masons?”
“When they went to get her this morning, she was gone. Eric Mason is missing too. So help me Lena, if you know anything about this, you’d better start talking now!”
Lena’s blood ran cold. Hesper was missing? And so was Eric…
“I don’t…no, I don’t know anything.”
“She didn’t say anything? Dammit, you’re supposed to be looking out for each other, Lena!”
“I don’t…” The note! “Griffin, I’ve got to go. I’ll call you.”
Lena picked up her carry-on, unzipped it, and dumped the entire contents onto the floor. She rummaged through the mess as strangers gave her funny looks until she finally produced the envelope and ripped it open.
Lena,
By now you’ve probably heard that I’m MIA. Griffin is freaking out, and so are my parents, and I’m laughing my ass off at an unknown location. PS—I’m married!
I’m so sorry about all of this. I wish I could have told you. I wish I could have had you here with me. We couldn’t risk Griffin or my parents finding out. Eric and I are going to be in
so much trouble! I really wish you could have come. Just so you know, I wanted you to be my maid of honor. Oh well, maybe at the vow renewal. Or, if I don’t get kicked out of the community, maybe at the formal ceremony this September during yearly Council.
Eric’s sorry for all the grief he caused you. He really likes you. I’ll be in touch, so tell me how this goes over, and if I’ll ever be welcome back.
Lylas,
Hesper
Lena carefully closed the letter, put it in the bottom of her bag, and piled the rest of her stuff on top of it. Her cell phone was going off again. This isn’t going to go over well…
She stared at her cell phone. It stopped ringing. A moment later, it started ringing again. It cycled through three times before Ava found her way back to where she was sitting on the floor.
“I found a food court. Most of it looks gross but…What’s wrong?”
Lena continued to stare at her ringing cell phone. How could Hesper have done this to her? The sister of the Daray’s prodigy heir had run off with someone of opposite political and religious standing. Not that she personally found the situation a taboo, but how in God’s name was she supposed to tell Griffin?
“Lena? Honey?” Ava prompted.
Ava picked up the phone and answered it. “Hello? Yes, she’s here…” Ava held the phone out to Lena. When Lena continued to stare at the place on the floor where the cell phone had been, Ava put it back to her ear. “She’s…predisposed at the moment.”
Ava went quiet as she listened. Her eyes went wide; then they started darting back and forth like a synchronized Ping-Pong battle. Her jaw even dropped momentarily. With the cell phone still held stiffly to her ear, Ava looked down at Lena. “Lena, do you know where Hesper is?”
Lena shifted her gaze up to her mother’s face. “Who’s asking?”
“Why would that matter!? You little—Why do you have to cause so much trouble? You’re always getting me into trouble!” Mrs. Ralston woke with a start, looked confused for a moment, and then fixed her gaze on Ava. Ava’s eyes lifted from Lena and focused on something down the terminal. “Well, she is! She’s the worst…Don’t tell me how to parent! You’ve never even been a parent!”