Burned to a Crisp

by K A Miltimore

  “Bren, we need to talk.” Ana said firmly.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  “What’s on your mind, Anahita?” He sounded polite but not overly friendly. They hadn’t exactly hit it off in their short time in Hedy’s house.

  “I know about Seattle.” Anahita tried to meet his gaze without wavering. She didn’t like confrontation.

  “What about Seattle?” Bren looked genuinely confused.

  “You said you sailed in to Seattle, and you came in on a cargo boat from China, yes? Your boat landed early last week, but you’ve only been here since Monday.” Ana’s voice had the slightest accusatory edge to it.

  “How do you know that? Seattle has boats coming in and out of the port all the time?” Bren’s irritation was beginning to show.

  “Not the Liu Lin, the ship you came in on. I found the paperwork in your room.”

  “You went through my things? What gave you the right?” Bren’s face darkened and his voice was low and angry.

  “When fires mysteriously strike a town where a salamander has just appeared, etiquette goes out the window. My apologies but I had to know who I was dealing with here.” Ana’s gaze and voice were neutral, without a hint of escalation.

  “The day after the Liu Lin arrives, there is a fire in Seattle. Unexplained, it destroyed a house on Queen Anne hill that happened to be a waystation. You were there, weren’t you?”

  “No. I wasn’t there, Anahita. There are two waystations in Seattle - one on Queen Anne hill, the other over in West Seattle. I stayed there because there wasn’t any room in the one on Queen Anne.”

  Anahita said nothing. It was a minute or two before either of them spoke. The fact that the Concierge would have Bren’s itinerary at their fingertips wasn’t spoken by either of them.

  “Look, I know how it looks and I understand why you are concerned about me. If, suddenly, people were drowning, pulled under the water, I might think you were involved somehow. But just because I am a salamander, that doesn’t mean I am involved in these fires, or the one in Seattle.”

  Anahita paused again before she spoke. She was clearly parsing her words in her head.

  “Perhaps that is true, Bren. But you were involved in the fire in Los Angeles, the one that killed your wife.”

  All the air left the room it seemed as Bren looked at Anahita with astonishment. He opened his mouth several times before speaking.

  “How do you know about that?” His voice was low and stained with pain.

  “You don’t use the computer that much, I know, but there isn’t much that goes on that isn’t captured somewhere on the Internet. I found the newspaper story about the fire in Laurel Canyon. Luckily, it was quickly put out by the firefighters, but not before it had destroyed the homes of three families, including the Aldebrands. Lily Aldebrand was the only casualty.”

  “Yes, my home burned down, and yes, my wife died. It was an accident.” Bren’s words cut through the silence.

  “Bren, the newspaper said it was an unexplained fire, no accelerant found, no cause known. They didn’t rule out arson. What caused the fire?”

  Bren said nothing, he stood up and walked toward the doorway as if to leave Anahita and the whole conversation behind him. He turned and looked back over his shoulder.

  “I was younger, unable to control my fire as I can now. Lily and I had only been married a short while, and I was madly in love with her. So madly in love that I didn’t see the signs that she was cheating on me. I came home one night and found the letters, the letters from her lover and her plans to run away with him. I was furious, angrier than I have ever been in my life. Lily laughed when I confronted her. She laughed at being caught… at me.” Bren swallowed and looked ashen, the memory of that night clear on his face.

  “I don’t remember what happened after that. Only the heat, the anger, the fire around me. I know I walked out of the house but I don’t know anything more than that. I found myself in my car down the road and the flames were lighting up the sky.”

  Ana tried to speak but he held up his hand to silence her.

  “I have to live with the things I have done, Anahita. I have to live with the knowledge that a human being that I loved died because of me. It’s what sent me on my mission to find a cure for what I am. I live with this pain, but I swear to you I had nothing to do with these fires. You can believe me or not, you can tell Hedy if you want to, but my past is not going to chase me from my future.” Bren walked out of the doorway, leaving Anahita alone with her accusations.

  Ana went to her room, exhausted both in body and mind. It had been an awful day, and in truth, an awful week. She ran the bath water and added a few drops from the vial around her neck. The water was cool, far cooler than most people would find comfortable, but to an undine like Ana, it was perfect.

  She slipped into the water and let herself sink to the bottom of the tub, submerging her head and feeling her hair float around her. She opened her eyes and felt the cool water against her lashes. Every pore on her body opened up and breathed in the water. It was if she had been wearing a tight corset and now, she could finally take a deep breath.

  Ana stayed submerged for several minutes, floating and letting the water wash away the strain and fear from the day. It seemed like she had left Iran and been finding herself in trouble ever since. Her mother had warned her not to leave, to stay and live her life there among her people, but Ana knew her life was not there. Not in modern Iran, and not with her family. She loved them, beyond words, but she couldn’t be herself with them. Even in a family of undines, there could be things that wouldn’t be accepted.

  And so, she had left Iran. She knew the United States was where she wanted to travel first, though ever since she had landed in Miami and made her way west, she had questioned that decision. Perhaps Scotland would have been a better choice, a place with many lakes and rivers and wild spaces. But America had called to her and she was making her way to Alaska.

  Ana finally came up from the water and took a long quiet breath. Her skin felt alive and her mind quiet, for the first time in several days. She soaked in the tepid water and let her fingers trail through the water, back and forth as she traced the birthmark just below her navel. The small inverted triangular shape with a small wavy line crossing at the point. The mark of the undine, showing both her true nature and her longevity. Undines could live for centuries, but only if they never fell in love. Those who met their mate found their souls and their mortality. As was the case so often with love, such stories held danger and sacrifice for both.

  “Mel…” Ana said her name and thought about the girl who had come to mean so much to her in such a short time. By now, she should be moving along to her next waystation in Canada but she couldn’t leave yet. She wanted to stay to make sure Mel was safe and because she couldn’t quite bring herself to go just yet.

  Mel’s name was on her lips as she drifted off to sleep in the tub, unafraid of slipping beneath the water as she slept. Tomorrow would bring more trouble no doubt, but it would also bring Mel, and that was enough to make it worthwhile.

  ✽✽✽

  The dawn came behind dark gray clouds, barely bringing the morning light into the house of Griffin Avenue. Hedy normally woke when the light pierced her window but today, she overslept and woke to the gray. The house seemed colder, with drafts coming in from the corners and the edges that naturally had buckled a bit over a hundred years. She wrapped herself in a thick robe and went downstairs to stoke up the potbelly stove and light the fireplaces in the living room and parlor.

  Out the front window, almost part of the gray landscape, she saw a figure moving in her garden and for a moment, she forgot about Darro, the gardener. She squinted against the glass and could make out his squat frame as he wrestled with an unruly juniper bush. She’d make him a pot of hot chocolate and bring it out to the front porch, once she has the fires stoked.

  “It is freezing this morning, Hedy.” Alice was trilling from her perch in the kitchen and He
dy detected a slight chatter in her voice.

  “Yes, it certainly is. It seems to have taken a chill overnight. Yesterday was so lovely and I hardly needed a sweater. Today feels chilly to the bone. I’m stoking up the stove right now.” The magpie clucked in appreciation and hopped from her perch to the edge of the counter closest to the stove.

  “The cold has just seemed to settle over the house like some kind of blanket. I flew out this morning for a quick jaunt, and I swear, once I left the neighborhood, it was warmer and less gray.” Alice raised and lowered her wings, fanning the warmth closer to her body.

  “Well, that doesn’t surprise me. Weather around here is so changeable. We might be getting a bit of wind from the north, bringing in some cold air. It’s a good day for hot soup and pots of tea.”

  “Someone better chip the ice off Maurice, he fell asleep near the window in the parlor and I’ll just bet he’s near frozen.” Zelda said as she came in from whatever corner she had spent the night. Hedy chuckled and walked back into the shop to find that Maurice had indeed fallen asleep on the windowsill. No ice to be seen but as Hedy picked him up, his fur was decidedly chilly.

  “What’s this? What’s happening?” Maurice started as she picked him up and carried him back to the warmth of the kitchen.

  “It’s chilly this morning, Maurice. I thought you might appreciate the warmth of the stove. Sorry to disturb you.” She placed him gently on the chair near the stove and he settled into the cushion.

  “Thank you, Hedy. Not sure what came over me, I just was so sleepy last night I couldn’t make it up the stairs.”

  “Old age will do that to you, Maurice.” Zelda licked her paws gently.

  “I think everyone was tired last night, Zelda. I barely made it to my own bed before collapsing. Give Maurice a break today, eh?” Hedy took a copper saucepan from the cupboard and filled it with milk to simmer on the stove. In a small bowl, she mixed the dark cocoa powder, sugar, and a pinch of salt and cardamom.

  “Cocoa? Oh yes please.” Maurice perked up at the thought of a saucer of cocoa.

  “Certainly. It is a cocoa kind of morning. I do have a favor to ask of you all though.” The menagerie perked up as Hedy hardly ever asked them for anything. “Today, will you keep a watchful eye on the house? After the break in last night, I am worried that the intruder might try to come back. The more eyes we have on the house, the better. In fact, if that fox is still around, maybe he would be willing to be on watch as well. It doesn’t hurt to ask.”

  “As if you could trust a fox. Everyone knows they are liars and thieves.” Maurice spat his disgust at the thought. Chinchillas and foxes had a long history of hatred.

  “Allegiance can be bought, Maurice, especially with foxes. I suspect a meat pie would keep the rascal allied with us.” Zelda had her own suspicions of foxes, though not to the degree of Maurice. Maurice’s own brother had been eaten by one.

  “It was just a thought. But in any event, if you all can be vigilant and help me keep an eye on things today, I would appreciate it.” The milk began to bubble and Hedy whisked in the cocoa mixture, careful to keep the milk from scorching.

  “Of course, Hedy. We’ll be on guard for you. I’ll spread the word to my circle, nothing like a few eyes in the sky keeping watch. Well, everyone but those crows. I don’t trust them.” Alice chirped, hopping a bit now that she was warm and had a job to do.

  “Yes, nothing like those keen intellects, the birds, to be able to spot trouble from the sky.” Zelda said softly, almost under her breath, though Hedy heard her and gave her a disapproving look. Alice didn’t seem to catch the sarcasm.

  “Indeed, the more the merrier, eh Zelda?” The magpie hopped back to her perch.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  “Good day, Miss Hedy. I’m fair puckled from wrestling with that juniper! I’m not the youngin’ I once was.” Darro came up the stairs, slipping off the leather gloves he had on so he could accept the mug of cocoa. It felt raw and bleak out to Hedy, but Darro seemed oblivious in his short sleeve shirt.

  “Wouldn’t you rather come in to drink your cocoa? It will freeze up on you out here.”

  “Oh no, I’m fine here. I wouldna want to track up your carpet and I’ll finish this off in a flash.”

  “What’s your plan for the day, Darro?” Hedy hugged her robe a bit more around her to keep out the chill.

  “Now that the juniper is out, dastardly thing, I am going to move on to that dead tree we talked about. It’s near your neighbor’s fence so I will need to talk with him about it. After that, I’ll be pulling some blighted rosebushes and taking the clippers to your hedges to give ‘em a good whackin’. I’ll be at it all morning.” Darro took another big drink from the mug, finishing the cocoa in record time. He smacked his lips in satisfaction and handed the mug back to Hedy.

  “Thank ye kindly. I’ll be back at it now, before me knees have a chance to complain.” With that, he was back down the stairs, dragging the offending juniper bush toward his pickup truck. Hedy gratefully took the mug back into the warmth of the house.

  “It’s a cold day, isn’t it?” Ana had come downstairs, her dark hair braided and coiled on top of her head, for the first time not flowing freely around her.

  “It certainly is. I have hot cocoa in the kitchen on the stove if you’d like some. I am going to pop upstairs to get dressed so I can get the store ready to open. Feel free to help yourself to whatever you’d like to eat.”

  Hedy shuffled back up the stairway and into the chill of the third floor. She found a long argyle sweater dress in the back of her wardrobe and she hurriedly slipped it on, finding a pair of long socks and boots to shield her feet. It was too chilly at her dressing table to fuss with her normal hairstyle, so she tied it all back in high ponytail and finished if off with a mustard yellow bow. She gave herself a quick look in the mirror and then hurriedly made the bed so she could get back to the warmth downstairs. She was so distracted by the cold that she almost forgot to grab the box she had stashed under the dust ruffle. She didn’t relish the thought of heading into the dank and dark fruit cellar, but it probably was the best place to hide the box.

  Hedy rejoined Ana in the kitchen, where the girl was sipping on cocoa and eating a bit of leftover salmon from the refrigerator. Hedy couldn’t think of a less appetizing combination but she said nothing to Ana. The menagerie had left the warmth of the kitchen, taking their duties to patrol the house seriously. Hedy began mashing up bananas for some bread she was going to make for the day.

  “I would have thought Mel would have been here by now,” Hedy said as she looked over toward Ana as she mashed the bananas.

  “She has a test this morning, so we won’t see her until later this afternoon.” Ana said with resignation. Her disappointment was palpable.

  “You two have really hit it off, haven’t you?” Hedy remarked.

  “Mel is a special person.” Ana’s voice was soft and neutral.

  “Does she know?” Hedy didn’t quite know how to ask such a question, and truthfully it really wasn’t her place to ask, but she felt protective toward Mel for some reason.

  Ana paused for a bit too long before she spoke quietly, “No”.

  “Do you plan to tell her?”

  Again, there was a long pause before Ana spoke. “About me being an undine? Honestly, I don’t know. It feels dishonest not to say something but if I am leaving town in a few days, why burden her with the knowledge?”

  “That’s not what I meant. I meant, do you plan to tell her that you like her.” Hedy carefully kept her eyes on the bowl of banana mash in front of her, trying not to make Ana more uncomfortable than she likely already was.

  “I guess that depends. It depends on whether I plan to stay around or not. Right now, I’m scheduled to be in Vancouver, BC in a few days. Again, why burden her with my feelings if I am just leaving town?”

  “I don’t think telling someone how you feel is a burden. Even if you are leaving, it seems right to let her know that yo
u care about her. Goodness knows there isn’t enough care in this world, we have to grab on to every little scrap that comes our way. This is just my unsolicited opinion, and you can tell me I am all wet if you want, but if it were me, I would tell her - tell her everything. She’s young, but then so are you, and nothing seems insurmountable when you are young.” Hedy finished her advice and started adding allspice and nutmeg to the bowl.

  “I’ll think about it. I have a lot of thinking to do actually. Telling Mel isn’t as simple as you might think. There is a risk for us both.”

  “The risk that she might like you as well? That’s hardly a large risk. I think that is fairly obvious, at least to me.”

  Ana had wondered if she was crazy to think that maybe Mel liked her too, but now Hedy had confirmed it. That just made her decision all the more difficult.

  “No, it is more than that. There is danger, real danger for one who loves an undine.” Hedy stopped mixing and turned to face Ana. She looked concerned for the first time.

  “I don’t know how much you know about us, but we aren’t like other elementals, like Bren for example. Bren has his gifts but in other ways, he is much like a human. He lives and dies as humans do. Undines are different. We are born without souls and because we don’t have souls, we live a very long time - hundreds of years.

  “But if a human and an undine fall in love, that love changes us. We become more human, we lose our longevity and we in essence gain a soul from that love. We would live and grow old and die, just like everyone else.”

  “That doesn’t sound very dangerous, as long as you wish to live a mortal life as a human.” Hedy couldn’t understand the concern.

  “The danger is that if the human is unfaithful to the undine, that connection, that soul that unites them, it severs and the human will die. How can I ask anyone to risk that?” Ana couldn’t imagine asking anyone to face such a fate just to love her.

  “But you assume that the human would be unfaithful. Yes, love doesn’t always last, but there is a difference between falling out of love and being unfaithful. If you find the one that truly loves you, what risk is there to either of you? Being unfaithful means they never really loved that person, that there was only lust, or need, or some other emotion behind it all. True love, the kind that can give an undine a soul, how could such a thing ever be mistaken for some other emotion?