“Sit down then. No reason to help now. We ain’t got much to do.” Abby sets a place at the counter for me to sit.
“Okay.” No customers are in the diner. “Has it been slow?”
“Yeah, some festival going on by the beach. Most folks take off to go.” Roger places water down for me. “Want some ice tea or soda?”
“Unsweetened tea, please.”
“You’re not from the South, that’s for sure.” Abby pours the tea. “If you were, you’d be having the sweet stuff.”
“I drink it both ways, but I prefer unsweetened.”
“I think that’s illegal in most states.” She laughs and Roger joins in. Abby seems to be warming up to me in her own twisted way.
“What’ll you have?” Roger asks.
“One of Sam’s burgers.” I lick my lips.
Kyle sticks his head through the window. “Aren’t my burgers good enough?”
Roger slaps his knees, chuckling loudly.
“Okay Roger, it wasn’t that funny. Calm down before you give yourself a heart attack.” Abby warns. “Let’s go early since they are both here. No customers are here and Kyle can fix Alice a burger.”
“All right Abby. You win.” He grabs her purse and gives it to her. “See you kids later.”
“Good night.” Abby waves.
I move my setting behind the counter in case customers come in.
“Have you even tried my burger?” Kyle asks. “I don’t think you have.”
“I haven’t. Should I be scared?” I grin. “I hear it’s not as good as Sam’s.”
“You should be very scared.” The burger sizzles when he squashes it down.
“What are you doing here this early?” I ask.
“Sam needed the day off. He’s going to the festival. I should have asked you to go, but I promised I’d cover for Sam.”
“That was nice of you.”
He serves the burger through the window with fries on the plate. “I can be nice sometimes.”
The door bell chimes. Aunt Mirela and Nadya walk in.
“Why are you doing this to me?” Aunt Mirela cries out.
“I’m not doing anything to you.” I rush around the counter to stop them from coming in further. “I’m not going.”
“You and Fonso and, now, Emilian. You come into town and turn my boys against me?”
Nadya grabs her mom’s shaking shoulders. “Ma, it’s not Alice’s fault.”
“Elysia. Her name’s Elysia.” Aunt Mirela nods, her voice rising. “That’s right. We know you lied about your name. Simza knows your name. Maybe that’s why she doesn’t trust you. You’re a liar. What else did you lie about?”
Kyle walks from the kitchen. I hold my hand up and wave him to leave. He stops but doesn’t leave the seating area. Heat rises inside me. “Did she tell you why I’m here?” I whisper. “Did she tell you they took my father?”
“If they took Harman, that’s his fault.” Aunt Mirela spits. “He hid you away from all of us. Maybe he deserved to be taken.”
Nadya moves her hands from her Aunt Mirela’s shoulders and backs up. She’s visibly shaken.
“How dare you!” The thunder roars outside. “How dare you! My father is a good man and did what he thought was right to protect us. No one deserves to be hunted down like a dog. No one.”
“This is all your fault. I see why Simza wants nothing to do with you.” Aunt Mirela turns, grabs Nadya’s hand and pulls her out of the diner.
“What’s going on?” Kyle asks as he comes up behind me.
A tear falls down my cheek and I choke back a sob. He turns me in his arms and embraces me.
“Family problems, is all.”
His arms feel warm. He kisses the top of my head. “I guess we have that in common, too.”
I smile into his shoulder.
The diner remains empty all night.
“Are you still up for stargazing tonight?” Kyle stands with a dish towel over his shoulder, watching the rain fall in the darkness outside. “Maybe the rain will stop and it’ll clear up. Either way, the weatherman should be shot.”
“It would be nice to be under the stars again.”
“I’ll empty the trash for Roger, since it’s slow. Get me if someone comes in.” He walks toward the back door.
While he’s gone, I think of the last time we went stargazing. Seeing the clusters through the telescope was magical. The rain slows into a drizzle and stops.
A clang echoes through the back door. I run across the kitchen. Stepping out the back door, the first thing I see is Colin swinging at Kyle.
Chapter 18
Thunder booms overhead. A grayish whirl forms in the sky. I’m the only one who sees it.
Colin hits Kyle. Kyle retaliates, punching Colin in the face.
“Stop!” I yell. They ignore my plea.
They circle each other, kicking and punching. Then, Colin grabs Kyle by the neck.
I scream. The whirl in the sky rotates faster.
Roger runs through the back door and grabs Kyle, pushing Colin off him. He twists him around, hurrying him and me back into the diner.
He faces Colin. “I paid you this week. Leave us alone.” He slams the door.
Roger grabs his chest. “Are you kids all right? Kyle, are you hurt?”
“I’m fine, Roger.” He dabs a dishcloth against his busted lip. “This wasn’t your fault.” He throws the rag into the sink. “It was my fault.” He stares at me.
“He’s not supposed to be anywhere around here.” Roger locks the back door. “We have an agreement.”
“You pay him.” My emotions waiver. My thoughts and feelings are almost impossible to control. “You pay him every week, don’t you Roger?”
He nods.
“Why?”
“I don’t want to talk about it.” Roger rushes past. “You and Kyle can go.” He looks at Kyle. “Make sure she gets home safe.”
Kyle nods.
Kyle presses me to leave. I grab my bag and walk out the front door with him on my heels.
“What’s going on?” I ask. “What happened?”
“Ask Colin. He seems to know you much better than I do.” Kyle opens the door, a frown on his reddened face.
“I’m asking you.”
The rain starts before he gets into the driver’s seat. “He was waiting for me in the alley.”
“Why?”
“He warned me to stay away from you.” Kyle starts the Jeep, gunning it out of the parking lot. “He made it clear you two were intimate and you want nothing to do with me.”
“He what?” Anger boils within me. Does Colin think he owns me?
He pulls off to the side of the road. “I didn’t realize he was taking money from Roger.” He bangs his steering wheel. “Of all the people...why him? He doesn’t deserve this.”
“He doesn’t.” Tears fall. I can’t stop them. The rain descends steadily. Everything in the last week has gotten so out of control: my emotions, family, impulses.
He turns his attention to me. “I’m sorry.” He grabs my hand. “Don’t cry. It’s not your fault. He’s a thief and a liar.”
“Take me home, please.” I sniffle, embarrassed to have broken down in front of him.
“Okay.” He pulls the Jeep onto the road. His hand holds mine the entire way home.
When we arrive, I notice Fonso’s car is missing.
“Let me come in with you.”
I nod.
My hand trembles as I turn the key. I glance at the couch and see Fonso’s bag still there. Relief floods me. He would have taken his stuff had he left...wouldn’t he?
“Do you have tequila?” Kyle asks.
“Yes, in the cupboard by the fridge.” I throw my bag on the counter. “I’m going to the bathroom.”
When I return, he has a shot ready for me. We sit on the couch. He holds me while we listen to the rain.
“It wouldn’t have been great weather for stargazing anyway.” He pulls me close.
“I’m sorry about everything that happened tonight. It wasn’t a good day for me.” I lean into him and allow myself to be comforted.
“There’ll be better days.” He kisses the top of my head. “Elysia.”
“You caught that?” I shy away.
“It was hard not to with her rant.” He pulls me back. “Why did you lie about your name?”
“Maybe I’d rather be an Alice.”
“Elysia is a beautiful name.” Hearing my real name come from his lips is surreal.
“Thank you.”
“But you were also so comfortable with Alice.”
“I’m used to changing my name.” The truth feels good.
“You’re so mysterious.” He gets up and refills our shot glasses. “Why do you do that? Are you in the witness relocation program?”
I smile. “Not likely. We moved around a lot; my father and I. Didn’t you ever want to pretend to be someone else?”
“I never thought about it. I guess there were times I wished I had a different life or a career path. Yes, I’ve often wanted to be someone else.”
“Changing my name helped me pretend to be someone else. A clean slate. Only now, I don’t want to do it any more. Hearing you call me Elysia is nice.”
“Did you turn her sons against her?”
“She’s delusional and blaming me for her shortcomings. Maybe my independence ignited an already strong desire in my cousins to seek theirs.”
“I think you bring out the best in people.” He interweaves his fingers in with mine.
“I doubt that. I tend to bring only storms and heartache.”
“That’s not true.”
“Thank you for the shot.” I gulp it down; the tension in my body subsides. “And thank you for staying to comfort me.”
“Thank you for letting me.” He leans and kisses me. It’s soft and sweet.
He stays until I can no longer keep my eyes open. He tucks me into bed and kisses me on the forehead. I hear the front door open and close as he leaves. I’m not sure I wanted him to until my thoughts drift to Colin and a calm settles over me. I fall asleep, listening to the rain patter against the cabin roof.
Clattering from the kitchen wakes me.
I walk into the living room. “What is going on in here?”
Fonso stops messing with a pot on the stove. Nadya is sitting on the couch next to a bag of clothes.
“Oh no.” I shake my head.
Nadya frowns. A tear falls down her cheek. “I think I’m the reason your father’s missing.”
Chapter 19
A static ringing in my ears blocks out my cousin’s words as she opens her mouth. The room spins. A dark blanket covers my eyes.
“Elysia. Elysia.” Fonso holds a cold cloth on my forehead.
“What...” An eerie dimness covers the room. Rain beats against the cabin and thunder booms.
“The lights went out. I think a bolt hit the transformer.” Fonso dabs my flushed cheeks. “You fainted.”
Nadya hugs her knees in the corner chair. Dark streaks of mascara run down her face. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t know.”
I sit up. The back of my head throbs. “That hurts.” I feel the back of my head and a bump is starting to form.
“You hit your head when you fell. I couldn’t catch you in time.” Fonso helps me up. “It’s not Nadya’s fault, Elysia. She didn’t know what she was doing.”
An explosion rumbles above.
Nadya opens her mouth. I hold up a finger to stop her words from forming.
I breathe deeply and concentrate on my emotions, imagining the clouds rolling away and the clear sky blossoming in its wake. The rain and thunder begin to subside. I breathe in and out a few more times. “You said you’re the reason my father’s missing. What did you mean?”
Fonso sits next to me and hands me the cold cloth. I place it on the forming bump.
“Yesterday, when Ma and I went to the diner—”
“Yes. She was angry with me. No fault of my own, by the way.”
“She mentioned your dad’s name was Harman.” Nadya pauses.
“Yes, that’s his name.” I widen my eyes.
“His last name is Lovell?” The side of her mouth curves up.
“Yes. My dad’s name is Harman Lovell. Go on.”
“For as long as I can remember, Ma asked me at least once a year to locate a man named Harman Lovell. She said it was for a client and would help us. I didn’t question her for a long time. She had asked me to locate people before, but that name came up more often than any other.” She clears her scratchy throat. “I was beginning to think he was a ghost because he’s the only one she would ask me about continuously. I kept wondering why they hadn’t found him yet. Last year I asked her why. She insisted he was a druggie and often ran away.”
“My aunt?” Betrayal is a new feeling; one I don’t like.
Clunks of ice hitting the wooden boards cause a moment of silence.
“It’s hailing. Have you ever seen weather this strange in your life? Can it even hail in Florida?” Fonso shakes his head.
“She never asked about you,” Nadya ignores her brother and continues, “She was as surprised as we were when you showed up. I honestly think she didn’t know you existed.”
“Every year?” I ask. “She made you try to find him every year?”
Nadya nods.
“We had to move often because the Hunters always seemed to find us.” I lean back, placing my head on the cloth and the back of the couch. “Dad always knew they were coming. That was his gift. He knew trouble was coming.”
“Why didn’t he leave this time, then? Why did he get caught?” Fonso asks.
“The morning he came to get me, he seemed different. He was tense and frantic. I didn’t understand, I thought we were happy in Baton Rouge. But, he waited too long.” My thoughts jumble together. “I know he was tired of running, but he wouldn’t risk me being caught, so he made me flee alone.”
“Baton Rouge,” she says in a hushed voice. “That’s where I told Ma to look.” Her eyes meet mine for the first time. “I led them right to him.” Nadya’s voice rises. “The year before that, I led them to South Carolina. The year before Buffalo, New York.”
“Those were all places we lived.” I rise. The hail subsides. I stand at the window and look out at the seemingly desolate campground. “Why would Aunt Mirela betray us? Why would she work with the Hunters?”
“Money?” Fonso asks. “Money is the root of all evil. We’ve always been in a weak position. There’ve been times Ma didn’t have any work, even at the carnival. Not everyone is interested in knowing their past.”
“I guess so.” Nadya curls back up in a ball.
“Did you tell Aunt Mirela you were leaving?” I ask. “She must be even more pissed at me.”
“I went to get her last night. Ma threw a fit. I’ve never heard so much screaming in my life,” Fonso says.
“I was worried when I didn’t see your car when I got home.” I sigh. “She knew what she did to Dad from the moment she met me and said nothing. She didn’t bat an eyelash as she invited me into her home and introduced me to her family. All that time, she knew they had Dad.”
“Maybe she didn’t know.” Nadya looks at me. “You didn’t say anything to her about him missing until yesterday and she must have known about his gift.”
“I’m so mad.” The thunder rolls outside.
Fonso turns on the TV. The weatherman talks about a low chance of rain and nice sunny weather. “The science of meteorology sucks. They have no freaking idea what they’re talking about.” He glances out the window. “They’d be better off just looking up instead of depending on all that scientific crap.”
I smile. I breathe and think about the beach: the waves crashing against the shore, hoping to calm the churning and relentless storms outside.
I see Deena run from her camper to the campground office. I’ve forgotten to pay her and she’s too nice to come and get it. “I�
��ll be back.”
The clouds evaporate above me. I feel pride at learning to control my ever changing emotions. These last couple of weeks have tested me.
“Hi Alice.” Deena smiles when I enter. “How are you?”
I place two week’s rent on the counter. “I’m fine. I’m sorry I didn’t come yesterday.”
“I know where you live, so that’s not a problem.” She winks. “How’s your cousin? Did he find another job?”
“He did.” I turn to walk out and without thinking I ask, “Deena, have you ever felt lost?”
“Somehow I knew you’d ask me that.” She comes out from behind the counter and stands in front of me. “Once, when I was a little girl, my uncle wanted to take my two brothers and me on a hike. We were camping at a state park filled with tall pines by a canal. Gators were everywhere back then. We went on this hike with him. He was part Native American, and maybe he had a point to prove, I don’t know, but he took us off the known trail. We hiked for hours in deep brush. Our ankles were all cut up from the rough palmettos, and the insects were something horrible. It was late. My younger brothers and I were hungry, thirsty, and tired...too stubborn to admit it though, as my uncle was too stubborn to declare he was lost.”
“What did you do?”
“He finally acknowledged he got us lost. My brother suggested he climb a tree to see where we were. Such a simple thought and it came from the youngest in the group. Had my uncle not admitted he was lost, my brother might not have suggested it. My uncle climbed the nearest pine tree and saw where we were and where we needed to go.”
“That’s a neat story, but not what I meant by lost.” I smile.
“I know. It wasn’t so much about the story as it was about the message. Whenever you are lost, sometimes you need others to show you the way.” She rubs my back. “We all get lost from time to time. We stray from a path; have to overcome obstacles. It’s tougher when you do it alone. Trust me, I know. Well, at least I like to think I do.” She baulks out a laugh. “Hell, child, I thrive on a challenge, hence why I’m alone.”
An idea forms as I thank Deena.
I run back to the cabin and throw the door open.
“What?” Nadya jumps. “You scared the crap out of me.”
Magic After Dark: A Collection of Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance Novels Page 48