Silence - eARC

by Mercedes Lackey

  “You’d be surprised at the stamina it takes to kick that much butt.” Riley stretched, cracking her back. “Luckily, I have practice.”

  “Hey, we held our own!”

  “Well, you did okay, Seth. I was barely keeping along, though. Riley knows all of my moves,” said Jake, grinning. “Hey, where’s Wanda? It’s about time we got back.”

  “Your queen is here. No need to panic.” Wanda strolled up, yawning. “I am going to sleep like a rock. It’s exhausting to be this awesome.”

  Seth stared at her with his mouth dropping open. “All you did was talk all night about clothes and music!”

  “Like I said. Awesome.”

  Sean bathed them all in a gracious smile. “I take it we passed your tests, then?” he said teasingly.

  It was Riley who said the right thing. “We’re awfully glad we came, and it was wonderful of you to invite us, Sean,” she replied.

  “Then you will have to consider yourselves invited whenever Staci is—” Sean began.

  It was Jake who held up a hand. “Not that we don’t appreciate it, because we do, but…our parents are a lot stricter than Staci’s mother is. There’s no way we can do entire weekends.”

  Sean looked disappointed, and sighed a little as if with resignation. “I can certainly understand that, but it is a shame. I was looking forward to a real all-night gaming session, but I will just have to content myself with watching you wax my cousins over the course of a couple of hours. Some other time, maybe. Perhaps with enough urging on my part, your parents will relent. I’ll call up a car to take you all home. Until next time!”

  The mood in the limo on the way back down was generally contented and happy. Riley actually fell asleep with her head on Jake’s shoulder. Jake and Seth were drinking the designer water as if they were dehydrated, and talking over particular moments of triumph in the games they’d played. Wanda kept to herself, but did have a slight smile on her face as she listened to the guys.

  Staci was—just happy. It seemed that her friends had scored well with Sean, which meant she was no longer going to have to choose between time with him and time with them.

  And Sean was going to help her with Mom…or at least, make sure that Mom didn’t screw up everything like she always did. Hopefully that would give her one less thing to worry about at home. Things finally seemed like they were looking up.

  This had to be one of the best evenings she had ever had in her entire life.

  Chapter Twelve

  As always, when the weekend magic at the Blackthorne Estate was over, Staci felt…depressed was the only word for it. The contrast between up there and down here was just so enormous, and it was in a way that wasn’t entirely to do with money. Down here was always dull, the days always seemed to drag, there never seemed to be any sunshine. Everything was bland and uninteresting, except, of course, for her characters’ lives in the gang’s games. And…that wasn’t real life. It was so bland you couldn’t even say “Real life is horrible” because, except for when Mom’s boyfriend came after her…it wasn’t. It was just blah.

  Mom’s boyfriend hadn’t reappeared…so Mom was out the two hundred bucks she had loaned him. She used that as an excuse for why the tip jar was now empty when Staci went to get groceries. At least I have my credit card. Mom could just starve, as far as Staci was concerned. She was buying salad stuff, whole wheat bread and things that required actual cooking, or things she knew Mom hated, like tuna fish. Unfortunately, the grocery store was pretty…well…stuck in the Fifties, like all of Silence, and it didn’t have things like hummus and pita, which Mom would never touch but Staci found very comforting. And when she wanted comfort food or was too lazy to cook, she went to the Burger Shack, the diner, or the pizza place and never ordered more than she could eat by herself.

  This morning…with Mom sleeping off the weekend, the memories of the party where everyone had had fun, and the emptiness of the fridge staring at her, felt like a morning she was going to need comfort food. A great big plate of hash brown potatoes, scrambled eggs, and bacon was called for. After getting showered and dressed, she gathered up her shoulder bag and bicycle, pedaling for town and the diner.

  Since she was “late” by the standards of the fishermen and dockworkers who usually ate here, the diner was empty, and Beth Phillips was doing busywork behind the counter. Rather than take a booth, Staci hopped up on a stool as Beth greeted her with a big grin.

  “Hey, stranger! How have you been? Silence treating you okay?”

  “Silence? Not so much.” Staci made a face, and ordered quickly. “But there are some bright spots.”

  “One second while I finish this stuff up. Then dish. I never seem to have free time to do much around town, so I want details.” The other girl finished her prep work before plopping down on a stool next to Staci, pushing a large glass of orange juice in front of her. “On the house, but keep it between us.”

  “Naw, my dad is paying for this. He can damn well afford it after dumping me here.” Staci smiled a little. “And a twenty percent tip, too. So…like I said, Silence sucks, but it turns out some of the people don’t. You—” she tipped the glass at Beth. “Some kids I met at the bookstore. Seth, Jake, Wanda and Riley.” She figured she would start with the “small stuff” first.

  “I think I know them. They seem like a good bunch, if a bit on the nerdy side. It’s good that you found a group to hang out with, though! Everyone needs someone to hang with in this town, since there’s nothing else to really do, aside from watching paint dry. What else have you been up to?”

  “Well…Sean Blackthorne’s been inviting me up there for parties,” Staci said coyly.

  Beth’s eyes grew wide. “No joke? The Sean Blackthorne? Of the Blackthornes?”

  Staci had to grin at that. “Yeah…I’m…kinda shocked. He turned up at the church hot dog thing, and next thing I know, he’s invited me up there. I’m still not sure why.”

  She described everything that had happened—without the Leannan Sidhe or the Red Cap, of course, because the last thing she needed Beth to think was that she was crazy—as Beth hung on her every word. “And this weekend he invited the rest of the gang up there.”

  “That’s insane! None of the upper crust ever takes an interest in anyone besides some of the jocks or the other popular kids.” Beth looked at her sidelong. “Sooo…have you made out with him yet?”

  Staci wasn’t even going to pretend to be shocked. Seriously? She wasn’t ten. It wasn’t as if she hadn’t made out with guys before this. “No, and actually, I’m not sure why he hasn’t put any moves on me. I don’t think he’s gay. Maybe it’s ’cause he doesn’t want to take the risk with a lawyer’s daughter?”

  “He obviously likes you, though. I mean, the limo rides, the parties…I’ve never heard of anything like that happening, not with him. Sean Blackthorne is the one and only, the unattainable. I’m not going to lie, I envy you, girl. Me and every other female with a pulse in Silence.”

  She blushed. “Oh stop it. It’s not like there’s anything going on. I keep telling myself as soon as the novelty wears off he’ll drop me like a dead Tweet.” She looked earnestly at Beth. “I mean, that has to be all it is, right? The novelty?”

  “I couldn’t say. He’s being awfully nice to you if it’s just because you’re new and shiny.” Beth frowned for a moment. “What’s the rest of his family like?”

  Staci had to roll her eyes a little at that. “Weird. Well, okay only a couple of them are weird. There’s this Morrigan chick who is seriously Goth, and she and Wanda were like besties after ten seconds. And there’s some gamer guys, so, you know.” She shrugged. “The difference between Blackthorne gamer guys and regular gamer guys is the price of the toys. Otherwise, it’s eight straight hours of thumb exercise and then a break for food. Okay, the difference is the Blackthornes have twenty-six flavors of artisan popcorn and lobster rolls, and regular gamer guys have Cheezy Puffs and pizza that hasn’t quite turned into a board yet.”
r />   “So…who’s creeping you out?” Beth prodded. “Because something—or maybe someone—is.”

  How much can I tell her without giving too much away? There was Finn. He was clearly trying to hurt people, and was just awful in person besides. But…then there were a few times when she had seen Sean angry. There was something there that she couldn’t put her finger on, and the fact that she didn’t know what it was bothered her.

  “Well, there’s a couple of cousins. Finn and Meaghan. They’re…I dunno. It’s really hard to put a finger on it.” She thought a moment longer; what could she say? “Okay. Finn. He’s got this whole Cain-and-Abel thing going with Sean, and you know what? I think that could be literally. Meaghan. I get this Game of Thrones vibe from her, like she’s maybe one red dress away from being Cersei. And yeah, maybe literally.”

  She saw the incomprehension on Beth’s face at the second. “Right. No HBO in Silence. Ah, how about…Lady Macbeth? And she’s trying to get Finn to do the stabby part for her. Anyway, I thought my family was dysfunctional, I think at least part of the Blackthornes take that to a whole new level.”

  “So…there’s some kind of power struggle? What does that concern you, other than making boy-toy Sean unhappy?” Beth wriggled her eyebrows for that last part.

  “Because where there is a power struggle, people are always looking for pawns or weapons. I don’t want to be either one.” That felt right.

  “That actually brings up my next question. What do you want?”

  “You would ask that.” She sighed. “I haven’t figured that part out yet. It’s complicated. I really like Sean, but he hasn’t put any moves on me, and I still haven’t figured out where that’s going, or if it’s going at all. And there’s another guy. Who also hasn’t put any moves on me.”

  “The plot thickens! Who is this other guy, then? Someone from the bookstore…Seth?”

  “No…it’s a guy I don’t think lives here.” I don’t think camping counts as living here. “I don’t even know if you’ve seen him around. His name’s Dylan, and he rides this amazing motorcycle.…”

  “Oh…that guy. I’ve seen him around town. He’s been hassled by the cops a couple of times, looks kind of dangerous, right? Also…like you could iron your laundry on his abs. What about him? Do you know him or something?” Beth propped her chin on her hands and waited, avidly.

  “I met him my first morning here. He’s the one that showed me how to get to the diner. I’d have starved otherwise.” Had that been an accidental meeting? With everything that had happened since, with the Red Cap, with Sean and Finn…now she wasn’t so sure. Would Dylan have seen that “elf ancestor” stuff on her and made a point of meeting her? “And I keep running into him. When Mom’s boyfriend came after me the other night, he even came riding to my rescue.” That was safe enough.

  “Okay…so, what’s the deal? Do you like him, too? You said he came to your rescue—I won’t pry, I can tell that’s something kind of serious—but how do you feel about him?” Beth had lost that okay, time to dish look and had gotten more earnest. Staci liked her more and more each time she saw her.

  She’s one of the good ones. “That’s just it. I don’t know. It’s like with Sean, I can’t tell what either of them think, and I’m not going to, you know, get my hopes up until I’ve got some clues about it. If one or the other would actually do something, I’d have a better idea. I’m not exactly a mind reader. For all I know, they both think of me as a little sister or something equally lame.” But maybe the reason Sean hasn’t done anything is to protect me. If Finn thought he was really interested in me…that might be bad. And I still don’t know what Dylan thinks. But maybe he’s trying to keep his distance for some other reason? Or maybe he’s one of those guys that doesn’t even want a hint of commitment? “I guess I’ll have to be patient and wait and see what happens.”

  “Hey, in the meantime…you’re going to Blackthorne parties! Which is about a million times better and more exciting than anything going on around here!” Beth sighed with envy.

  “You certainly have a point there,” Staci agreed. She was about to say more when Ray called from the back. “Beth! Order up! And I need the salad cut up for lunch!”

  “Back to the salt mines. If you ever have an extra invite for one of those parties, let me know. Anyways, I’ll be right back with your order.” She turned to the kitchen. “Coming, Ray!”

  Beth returned with Staci’s heaping plate of food; it was more than Staci remembered getting the last time. “Ray thinks you’re too thin, and he knows about your mom,” Beth whispered. “I think he figures you never eat because she never cooks—according to him, moms are supposed to be the ones doing the cooking. Ray can be an asshole, most of the time, but he’s got a soft spot other than the one on his head.”

  “Hey, come by the bookstore tonight and we’ll hang,” Staci replied. “The Nerd Squad are pretty cool and it’ll give me someone to talk to if they start in on gaming stats.”

  They probably wouldn’t, though. They’d probably talk about the party, and that would give someone else for Beth to ask questions of. Someone who didn’t know about the other side of the Blackthornes…and Dylan.

  * * *

  Staci was mulling over whether she should try to talk to Tim again as she pedaled down the street on her bicycle. He definitely knew more than he had let on to her, even if he didn’t want to talk about it. She was pretty sure that she could trust him…at least with some of the details about what she had been through. And it might help her to get some better perspective on Sean and Dylan, hell, about elves in general, maybe.

  She was so lost in thought that she almost didn’t notice until it was too late that there were three people just ahead of her, standing in the middle of the narrow street. She clutched the handbrake, bringing the bike to a screeching halt barely ten feet away from the people. They were young, around her age or a little older. All of them were boys, and dressed similarly; a sort of small-town version of “gangsta,” with sports jerseys under jackets, baggy pants with wallet chains, and tan work boots. Warning bells immediately went off in Staci’s head. She started to turn her bike around, when she heard more boots-on-asphalt behind her; two more boys had come from a side alley and positioned themselves behind her, blocking off the way she had come.

  “Nice bike you’ve got there.”

  Do they just want the bike? They can have the bike! She couldn’t remember; were you supposed to talk to thugs who looked like they were going to come at you, or just run?

  “I said, ‘nice bike.’ What, your momma didn’t teach you any manners, girl?”

  She couldn’t see any weapons on the ones in front of her, but that didn’t mean anything. In New York, she’d know they had guns. Every street punk in New York had a gun. But here? I haven’t seen a gun store. And I wouldn’t think the cops would have just talked to Dylan if they’d thought he was packing. But these guys could have knives, easy.

  The one in the middle was the one doing the talking. He looked like the oldest of the bunch; probably out of high school, but not by much. He glanced nervously from side to side, and she could tell he was building up courage to do something, pumping himself up to keep his image up in front of his gang. Finally, it happened. The leader took a step towards her, his hand reaching for the handlebars. She knew that if they took hold of her, she was screwed, totally at their mercy. Instead, she did the first thing she could think of.

  Staci ditched the bike, running to her left. She almost got tangled up on the bike as it crashed to the ground, but she was able to right herself and keep running. She could hear shouting behind her; it had taken a second for the thugs to process what had happened and start pursuing her. Her only chance now was to get away from them, get indoors somehow, get around people. Everything was a blur to her as she ran, clutching her shoulder bag close so that it wouldn’t get caught on anything or move around, slowing her down. The alley she was running in was narrow, with parts of it cluttered with shipping p
allets, barrels, or bits of trash. The buildings on either side were really run-down; on the left, corrugated metal, weathered to a dusty silver, with streaks of rust down some of the corrugations. To her right, wood, once painted white, now flaking, the wood underneath sunbeaten to a dull gray. It was incredibly noisy; from inside both buildings it sounded as if poorly maintained machinery was running dangerously fast, clattering, and rattling. There was a smell of diesel exhaust, oil, the ocean, and over everything, fish. There wasn’t a single sign of another human being, even though someone had to be working in those buildings. Any of the doors she tried were locked, some of them chained shut. She could have screamed, shouted for someone, but she doubted that anyone would be able to hear her over the din. She couldn’t afford to stay still, either; the thugs were still behind her…and catching up.

  She couldn’t tell where she was, as she darted into a space between two buildings, a space with a wood floor. She had to be close to the docks, but where?

  She stopped herself just in time, teetering on the edge brink of the walkway. Below her—at least a story below her!—was the water. There were a couple of boats tied up to her right, about fifty feet away, but they were empty. There was no way to get to them, anyway, and no way to get to the docks on the other side.

  The thugs came to a skidding halt behind her, just as out of breath as she was. They immediately spread out in a semicircle around her, cutting her off from running down either side of the walkway.

  The leader was in the middle, hands on his knees, panting as he looked at her. “You, you really need to be taught a lesson,” he said, still catching his breath. With a flick of his chin towards Staci, the two thugs on the end of the semicircle to either side of her closed in. For a split second, Staci’s mind shut down. She thought she was going to die, or get raped, and there was nothing that she could do to stop it. It was going to be like with the Red Cap, or if she hadn’t taken hold of the bottle that she had used to bash her mother’s for-now boyfriend with when he tried for her.