Defiance

by R. S. Broadhead

  Ryker and I caught up with Izzy as she rounded the first corner, leaving the church—another unwanted memory in this whole excursion. “Can I at least go grab some personal things before you take me wherever?” she asked, her voice cracking. She stopped, causing Ryker to run into me when I did the same. Her eyes squeezed shut as her hand hastily covered them. “Sorry. I just don’t know if I can deal with all this. It’s a lot to take in.” Her shoulders shook as sobs broke out.

  I didn’t know what to say. I knew nothing about how to make a human feel better in this type of situation. “It will be okay,” I said, looking to Ryker for help. He shrugged, staring at her with a lost expression. I patted her shoulder, trying my best to comfort her. “How far away do you live?”

  “A few blocks up.” I pulled her to the side to avoid being trampled by the hoards of people pushing their way in the opposite direction. Izzy seemed unfazed as she looked down at the ground with a vacant stare.

  “Well, let’s go.” The last thing I needed was her going into shock. I needed her to be strong.

  We came to an intersection, which was nothing more than a human barricade. My eyes flitted across the crowns of those around me, looking for anyone or anything that could be a threat. Perturbation set in. It would be so easy for us to be attacked in a crowd like this.

  Someone grabbed my forearm, tugging at it from the side. I flexed, spinning with an innate sense to protect myself. Izzy held up her hands in surrender and retreated with a terrified look. “My bad. We have to go this way.”

  “Sorry.” I wasn’t sure if she heard me since she put some distance between us. We turned the corner, leaving most of the crowd behind.

  “That’s it up there,” she said, pointing to a brick building. It was an average apartment building in a low-scale neighborhood.

  “This is almost as bad as my building,” Ryker said, low enough for only me to hear as he surveyed the building’s bad conditions. “Doesn’t make me feel as bad now.”

  Once we entered the lobby, we made an immediate left, and climbed a set of stairs to level ten. “Make yourself at home, I guess,” she said, placing a hand on the back of the couch for support as she swayed slightly. “I’ll get my stuff and we can go.” Her face was pale as she turned to leave the room. She stumbled, dropping to the ground.

  Ryker and I rushed to her side. She opened her mouth, screaming to the top of her lungs as tears fell. I wrapped my arms around her, pulling her closer to me. She shook as the sobs wracked her body in violent tremors. She jerked, tossed her arms, and scratched me. I gripped her tighter, making her immobile.

  “Get off me!” she screamed.

  I didn’t let go. Even when she bucked against me, I tightened my hold.

  “This can’t be real…I’m losing my mind …”

  “This is real. And it’s scary. But no matter what you might think about me or Ryker, we’re here to protect you.”

  She whimpered, finally going limp, and curled into my neck to cry silently.

  “It’ll be okay. You’ll see. We’ll get all of this handled, and everything will go back to normal for you.” I wanted to believe my own words. Really, I did. But I wasn’t sure if things would ever be normal for her. Not after everything she had seen.

  After a few hours she stood. Her face was swollen and blotchy from the tears. “Thank you for trying to help me.”

  “Wait,” I said, before she could disappear into the hallway. She stopped, turning to stare at me. “I was thinking maybe we should stay the night here. We’ve kind of been through some rough shit and could probably use the rest before we move out. I know I could use some cleaning.” I glanced down at my sweaty outfit. Not to mention the burning on my abdomen from the cut I received.

  The corners of her lips turned up, crinkling the corners of her exhausted eyes. “There are towels in the closet in the bathroom. I think I might have some clothes you guys can change into.”

  A few moments later she reappeared carrying a pair of white running shorts and a pair of plaid pajama bottoms. She tossed them onto the old couch before turning to walk away.

  Ryker picked up the articles, examining the sizes. “This should work for you.” He handed me the pair of shorts as I stood up from the floor. “Why do you think she has dude’s clothes?” he asked in a low voice.

  I shrugged, slumping down into a tan recliner, sinking into the worn cushions, my body practically screaming its thanks. “I don’t really care.”

  He let out an overdramatic sigh before turning in the direction of the kitchen. “She probably had these dudes up here, sexing them up all over the place. There’s probably human juices on that chair your in.” He returned with a pack of meat and bag full of crunchy things.

  I closed my eyes, wishing there was another room I could stay in to get away from him and his outlandish comments. He crunched down on the food, chewing obnoxiously loud. I shifted, desperate to figure out how to stop the unwanted images he put in my head. I focused my attention on something more useful. How was I going to find out what this key went to? That was our next step. We needed to get back to Nekroun Earth before we were hunted and found.

  Fifteen

  "Well, I see you’ve found the food,” Izzy said as she exited the bathroom. The shower seemed to have brightened her mood. She even smiled a little. Steam followed her out like a thick, misty fog. She was wrapped in a bright pink towel, her hair still dripping wet on the tips, and mascara stained her plump cheeks. She crossed the room, her fuzzy house shoes squeaking against the wooden floor, and snatched the empty bag the crunchy things were in. Crumbs lay, scattered over the glass coffee table. Ryker sucked his fingertips, not bothering to look at her as she stormed off to throw his trash away. “Look, just because the outside of the place looks like crap doesn’t mean I want my place to be like that.”

  “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Ryker said, rolling off the couch and landing on all four. He jumped up and shuffled to the bathroom. A second later the shower cut on and his moans filled the apartment.

  “Did you at least get anything to eat?” she asked, sitting down on the couch. Her elbows rested on her knees and she ran a hand through her saturated hair.

  “Nah. I’m fine.”

  “There’s some leftovers from the diner in the white boxes in the fridge if you change your mind. I’d eat before your friend the human vacuum decides to start plundering again.” She stood, tossing hair over her shoulder, and left me alone in the living room.

  Using the opportunity, I got up and strolled over to the window overlooking the street. There was nothing out of the ordinary, only people walking by, a few passing cars. The bright moon spilled over the top of the building across from us, bathing the streets in what looked like a transparent layer of milk. I studied the sky, looking for anything we needed to worry about. I was sure whoever was hunting Izzy would send more Guardians. Stars burned back at me, a few blinking lights moving slowly. My fingers slid down the hem of the curtain until it reached the end. I went to the front door and opened it, glancing in each direction. I listened intently, picking up on a few people talking a few doors down and a dog barking. I closed it, making sure the locks were secured as Ryker emerged from the bathroom, wearing the plaid pants.

  “What’s wrong?” he asked, staring at the front door like he was expecting it to burst open.

  “Just checking.”

  He nodded and continued to rub the towel over his disheveled hair. “I’m about to get some shut eye. You need to too. Not gonna be very useful if you don’t sleep.” He tossed the towel to the ground and curled into the couch, cupping his arm around a flower- patterned throw pillow. He started snoring a moment later.

  Picking the shorts up, I walked to the bathroom and undressed. The cut on my stomach was minimum. I opened the mirror above the sink and started reading the labels of what I found. There wasn’t much there, so soap would have to suffice.

  After I cleaned my body, I stood with my hands on each side of
the showerhead. A few days ago I didn’t know she was still alive, and now here I was in her apartment, using her shower. It seemed impossible, like I should wake up any moment and find myself back in the cage.

  I turned the water off as it started to turn icy and stepped out to grab a towel. The shorts felt warm and inviting. No matter how bad I didn’t want to admit it. I tried to picture the man they might belong to. I really knew nothing about Izzy’s taste, so he could look like anyone. Long, frizzy hair with an obsessive collection of bandanas that matched every T-shirt he owned. Skinny, with a pointed chin, black-rimmed glasses, and a weekend fetish of video games. Or maybe he was tall, powerfully built, with eyes she melted into every night, and the charm that could always make her feel beautiful. I shook my head, instantly hating all the guys and despising the pants. Dicks. Apparently none of them were good enough to make it far in her life.

  I placed the towel in a basket and turned out the light. Ryker’s snores practically blasted me when I opened the door. I stood, unmoving for a moment, trying not to laugh. Then something else caught my attention. Whimpers. I stared at Izzy’s door, tiptoeing over to it for a better vantage point. Her cries made my heart break. Earlier was bad enough. I placed my hand on the door, trying to talk myself out of what I was about to do and just leave. Maybe she didn’t want to be bothered.

  Despite the screaming voice begging me not to, I tapped the door. Her steps on the other side made me second-guess myself, and I momentarily considered running to the chair and pretending to be asleep. Before I could bolt, the door opened. Her eyes were red and swollen indicating she had been at it for a while.

  “I…I just wanted to check on you. I heard…” I trailed off. I felt stupid.

  She leaned her head against the door, swiping a tear from her bruised cheek. “I’m okay.” Not sure what else to do, I turned to walk away. “Hey,” she called, her voice cracking. “Do you want to come in for a minute and talk?”

  A fit of nervous spasms attacked my insides like a swarm of ants on something sweet. “Ummm, sure.” I walked across the room, my cheeks growing hotter with each step. She sat on the bed, moving back until she rested against the headboard and patted the comforter. I sat, tucked my hands in between my legs, and stared at the floor. “What did you want to talk about?” I asked without turning in her direction.

  She was silent causing beads of sweat to form at my temples. Why didn’t I just keep walking? She sniffled and finally answered. “I’m not really sure.” She paused. “It’s just that, well, I haven’t told anyone about my family. Every time I move somewhere and people ask, I just say they live far away. I don’t want to tell anyone I’m alone. I can’t take sympathetic stares casting their pity down on me when they know nothing about me. You were with me the last day I saw my family. Can you tell me anything? It’s so hard to remember what their faces looked like or anything about them.”

  I relived every memory I had of the two little girls, and I couldn’t help but smile as if I were still there. Izzy’s eager eyes watched me, waiting. “You two loved your mom. You were so feisty. Always trying to take on the world for her if someone hurt her. Sophia was your voice of reason. Without her, I don’t think anyone could make you calm down. You were good together. A team.”

  She covered her mouth, muffling a laugh. I don’t think it was because what I said was funny, but happiness. Years she had gone without anyone to tell her about a family she lost and now that was different.

  “Your mom tucked you in every night, never forgetting to tell you she loved you.” Over the next hour I told her everything I could remember about them, the smile only growing across her face. It was odd, sitting here with her as an adult and not the little girl I was remembering.

  “You have no idea how much this means to me. To go all these years alone has been hard. When you showed up today…I just wasn’t expecting it. I thought I was crazy, like I made you up, and then to see you face to face.” Her head dropped, staring at her hand that rubbed the cover. “I’m really ashamed of how I acted. If Sophia trusts you, then I think I should too.”

  I reached out, stopping her hand from its repetitive sweep. “It’s understandable. I’m just glad we’re okay.”

  “How did you know where to find me? I move around so much. I just always had this crazy feeling someone was going to end up catching up to me if I stayed somewhere too long.”

  “I had a dream about you. Well, kind of about you. More like this city.” Her face softened as she sheepishly smiled. “At first I didn’t know what the dream meant until I met this really weird guy at a bar.”

  “A bar? And how long have you been out of the pen?”

  I tossed a small pillow in her direction, which she playfully dodged. “It wasn’t like that. We went there because we needed to fix something.” I glanced down at the tattoo, remembering what it was like when they drained it.

  “Fix that?” she asked, following my gaze and pointing to the symbol. She crawled over to me, took my arm, and traced the mark with the tip of her finger. Strands of hair fell across her face, sending the sweet scent of coconut in my direction. “What does this mean?” She looked up to me, her hands still on my arm. I swallowed hard, trying to remember what the hell the tattoo meant. She was making it hard to even remember my name. Think, Cade. I pulled my arm out of her grasp, and inched away. Her face fell as she retreated back to rest against the headboard.

  “It’s called a Demoral tattoo. That’s what Grim’s law enforcers are called,” I finally managed to answer once I waded through the fog that inhabited my thoughts.

  “So all Demorals have it?”

  “Yeah. Well Ryker was called something else, but I gave him the tattoo to save his life.”

  “So when you said you had to go there to fix it, what did you mean?” I told her about our bar experience and why it needed to be fixed. Reliving memories I never wanted to think about was hard. I had put them in the darkest part of my mind all these years, only to be dredged up when my subconscious wanted to be cruel to me in my cell. Mostly through nightmares. I could still feel the needles and the empty feeling when the blood left my body.

  “That really sucks you had to go through that. At least you got to talk to my sister.” Her tan legs curled around her as she lay over on a pillow.

  If only Sophia’s visits had been pleasant that would have been the case, but her visits weren’t even close to pleasant. There was no way I could tell her that though.

  “I just wish I could see her. All I have are these pictures I took from my grandmother’s house.” She reached across the bed and pulled a drawer open from the little nightstand. She handed me a handful of photos and watched as I flipped through them.

  She and Sophia were at a house I had never seen before. Much smaller than the age I’d first seen them. Their mother looked younger, less stressed than I remember, even more breathtaking. “You look a lot like your mom,” I said. The last picture was taken from a rowboat in the middle of a lake. Izzy sat in the bottom of the boat, a toothy grin lighting her face. Sophia sat on one side of the boat with an older man on the opposite side. “Your grandfather?” I asked, holding up the photo so she could see.

  “Yeah. He died a little after I moved in with them.”

  Before I placed the photo with the others, something caught my eye. I held it closer and looked beyond the happy family to a tree barely noticeable. It was in an odd place, sitting on an island in the middle of this body of water. Any onlooker could tell this wasn’t a normal tree. The color, shape, and overall demeanor sat it apart from other trees.

  “What about this?” I asked, closing the gap between us. She leaned forward; so close I could feel the warmth of her skin on mine.

  “Oh that, it was some old tree. My grandparents wouldn’t ever let us go on that island and play. Said they got a bad feeling about something out there.” All the time at her grandparents’ home and she never knew she was sitting so close to something that linked her to another world beyond this
one. “They were right, weren’t they?” she finally asked after my silence and continued interest in the picture.

  “I’m pretty sure this is a gateway to something. Do you think you could take me there?” The key could work there. Where it led, I had no idea. But Grim left it for a reason. Wherever it went was where we needed to go next.

  “You want to drive all the way to Kentucky?”

  “If that’s where it’s at, then yes.” I finally looked up at her, suddenly more aware of how close she really was.

  She shrugged, pulling the pillow in tighter. “If that’s where you think we need to go, then Kentucky it is.” She yawned, covering her mouth.

  I put the pictures back in the drawer and closed it. “You need some sleep.” I started to get up, but her hand shot out, stopping me. I turned back to her, surprised by her sudden touch.

  “Don’t go.” She buried her face under some covers, obviously embarrassed by her request. “Can you sleep in here with me?”

  I opened my mouth, but no words came out. They were a jumble of nonsense that made no sense, and my brain couldn’t come up with a way to logically form a sentence.

  “Just to sleep. After what happened today with those things in the church, I don’t want to be alone right now,” she continued.

  “Okay.” I looked around, not really sure what to do. “Do you want me on top of the covers?”

  “Seriously, Cade? We just met again. Can you sleep on the floor?”

  I eyed the floor, wishing I could go back to the recliner in the living room. With an exasperated sigh I did as I was instructed after turning the lamp off, leaving us in the dark. I lay stiffly, not wanting to move much to disturb her. Her deep breaths were like music to my ears.