by Tenaya Jayne
“Dad?”
“Erin…” his voice was weak.
She ran to his room. He’d fallen to the floor. She grabbed him and tried to lift him up, but he was dead weight. His skin was spongy and pale. What did she do? He was going to die right there in her arms.
“Dad, please,” she pleaded, sobbing. “Don’t leave me alone.”
His eyes rolled back in his head as he dropped unconscious.
“Dad!” she cried.
“Erin?” She jumped and turned around as a portal tore open behind her and Maddox came through. “What’s wrong? I felt…”
“Maddox! Help me! It’s my dad! He’s dying.”
He rushed to her dad, lifted him up, and laid him back on the bed. He spoke urgently into his watch. “I need you right now!” he spat out her address like he knew it as well as his own.
Before Erin could ask anything, another portal opened, and Tesla came through. She gulped and stepped back from the legendary savior of Regia. Tesla looked at her dad and sat down beside him, placing her hand on his chest.
Erin was beside herself. Maddox reached for her and held her. “It’s okay. Tesla will know what to do.” He smoothed her hair and rubbed her back. His touch was so comforting, but still, she cried. Maybe it was too late.
Erin blinked as red light slid from Tesla’s hands into her dad. Even through his skin, she could see the light moving through his body, along his veins. The next moment, he gasped and opened his eyes.
“Oh my goodness!” Nathan exclaimed. “I thought I’d bought it.”
Everyone laughed at the breaking tension.
“Hold still a moment,” Tesla instructed him. “I’m not finished with you.”
He gazed at her with wide eyes and nodded his head.
A ribbon of red light slithered from her palm and dove into his chest again. His eyes bugged, but he held still.
“Breathe,” Tesla instructed him.
He inhaled. As he exhaled, the light retracted. A small bulb like a water drop hung off the end of the light strand. Tesla rolled the bulb in between her thumb and forefinger then it disappeared in the air.
“Your full health will return in a few days. You had a parasite in your heart.”
“The heck you say,” he said.
Tesla gave him a direct look. “Probably contracted it the last time you drank human blood. It was contaminated.”
“Dad!” Erin chided.
“I would never!”
“Sir, there is no doubt,” Tesla said.
Her father’s cheeks colored. “All right, you got me.” He sat up and looked closely at Tesla. “I can’t believe it. I can’t believe you’re here in my house, saving my life. How?”
“Oh, well, your daughter and my brother are—“
“Dating!” Erin almost shouted. “We’re just dating. Casually.” She pushed out of Maddox’s arms and came to her dad, taking his hand. “You’re going to be okay now, Dad. I can’t believe you drank human blood. You’re such a hypocrite.”
“I know, sorry sweetie. It was a long time ago. I was just so lonely for your mom. I’m sorry.”
She looked over her shoulder. Tesla and Maddox had left the room, giving them privacy.
“Why did you keep him a secret the way you did?” her father asked. “That’s quite a thing. Dating in the first family.”
“I don’t want to talk about it, Dad…How do you feel?”
“Not bad. A little weak, but fine other than that. I’m hungry. Would you bring me something to eat?”
“Sure. I’m glad you’re hungry. Just give me a few minutes.”
She came out of her dad’s room. The house was empty. Through the front window, she saw Maddox waiting on the porch. She came outside. He reached for her, and she didn’t back away. She rested her head against his shoulder and sighed.
“Are you all right?” he asked.
“Fine. Coming down off the adrenaline.” She thought she was okay, but the next second, she was sobbing hard. “Oh, gosh, I thought I was going to lose him. He was gone. I didn’t know what to do. I could do nothing.”
“It’s okay now. It’s okay.” His voice was as soothing as his hands on her back.
“Where’s Tesla?”
“I asked her to leave.”
“I didn’t get to thank her.”
“You can whenever you like.”
For a while they just stood there like that, holding on and quiet. When she felt steady, she pulled away.
“Thank you.”
He shrugged. “You scared me…the panic I felt from you.”
“Huh…our connection saved my dad’s life.”
He raised an eyebrow, his face hardening from the openness that had been there a moment ago. “So it’s not totally worthless then?”
“Not today,” her voice turned waspish in response to him.
“Is it just the stress of almost losing your dad that’s making you act like a bitch?”
“I don’t know! Maybe!” she half shouted.
After a moment, both of their angry expressions faltered, then they both laughed. He grabbed her around the waist and kissed her mouth.
“You’re a pain in the ass, Erin,” he smiled down at her.
“I’m sorry.”
“No, you’re not.”
“No, I’m not,” she smirked. “Now back off. I didn’t say you could kiss me.”
He narrowed his eyes and grinned at her. “I thought we were dating. I should be able to kiss you if we’re dating.”
“Oh, please,” she rolled her eyes. “Don’t even think about using that against me.”
“I wasn’t until you just told me not to. Now I’m plotting.”
She frowned and pulled back from him. This was too close. Too open. And they were outside. Someone might see her with him. She reminded herself of reality and shook her head. “Thank you for coming. My dad would have died. I cannot repay you.”
He searched her eyes and blinked a few times. “You’re ashamed to be with me.”
“You only just realized that?”
“I don’t get you.”
“What? What don’t you get?”
“You act like Jaris is so great but…” he grabbed her arm and held it up, his fingers framing the bruises Jaris put on her.
She jerked her arm away from him. “That was an accident.”
“Fine. I’m leaving.” He backed up, rubbing the heel of his hand over his heart. “Hatred is…you know, I get it…Shame, that hurts more for some reason.”
He turned and walked away. She frowned after him, feeling like she should say something, call him back, but she didn’t. It was the truth. Harsh and cold.
She went back inside and made a meal for her dad. He ate a ton and then wanted more. His humor returned along with his color. Even the gray in his hair had faded back some to its original red. He pushed her for details about her and Maddox. She refused to talk about it. It was so good to be with her dad, and he was like himself again.
She wanted to cry again. Inside she was. If Maddox hadn’t come, she’d be planning a funeral. She tried to shrug it off, but she couldn’t. He’d only done what anyone would do. It was Tesla who saved his life anyway. All he’d done was call her. But he responded…Her heart cried out, and he came. If the situation was reversed would she do the same? If she felt something strong from him, would she go to help? Probably not. And she had the nerve to say she was ashamed to be seen with him?
She pulled her watch up, thinking she should message him, but she didn’t know what to say. She left it.
At midday, a thump against the house startled her. She came outside, went around the side of the house, and almost collided into a ladder. “What are you doing?” she yelled at the two guys on the roof.
They looked down at her. “Fixing the roof, miss.”
“Fixing…what? I didn’t order this. I can’t pay for it.”
“It’s paid for already. It will be a little loud, but we won’t take long.”
Shocked
she went back to the front porch and messaged Maddox.
Seriously? The roof?
I noticed the water damage on the ceiling in the living room. He wrote back.
So you just thought you’d have it fixed?
Is there a problem?
Are you trying to buy me?
With a roof? That’s funny.
That’s really expensive.
No, it’s not.
Money doesn’t fix everything, rich boy.
It fixes roofs.
She sighed and shook her head, feeling idiotic and annoyed and somewhat charmed.
Forgive me for earlier. I acted wrong.
She waited, he didn’t respond. She deserved that. She went back inside. Her father was up, looking confused.
“What is all that blasted noise?” he asked.
“It’s okay, Dad. Just some guys fixing the roof.”
“Oh. Well, that’s grand. I know the house has started falling down around us. I’ll start to fix it once I’m all better. I promise.”
She hugged him. “You were sick. Don’t feel guilty.”
“I do though. Especially now that I know I did it to myself. How are we paying for this?”
“Er…we’re not. Maddox took care of it. I didn’t ask him to,” she added quickly.
“Well, it’s not a typical trinket or flowers, but I guess if there’s water leaking on your girl, and you have the means to fix it, you do. I can see that.”
“It’s embarrassing.”
“Don’t make more of it than needs be. It’s probably nothing for him. Pocket change.”
“He gave me this, too.” She showed him her watch.
“Flashy. So are you going to tell me about how you two met?”
Her cheeks heated immediately. Oh sure, she thought. I went to kill him and we ended up naked in the rain instead. “Yeah, no. Not telling you.”
He chuckled. “I’ll get it out of you eventually.”
“No, you won’t.”
He took a deep breath and spread his arms wide. “I feel so much better. Not one hundred percent, but alive, you know.”
“I’m so relieved.”
Her watch pinged.
Her dad leaned over to see. “Who is it? Which one?” he teased.
She gave him a light shove away. He chortled and shuffled over to his recliner.
It was Jaris.
I’m almost finished with work for the day. Will you meet me for dinner?
All her conflict and confusion came back. What did she do? She held off answering and messaged Maddox instead.
Are you going out again tonight with Melina?
Yes. Are you planning on crashing in on me again?
No.
Good. I think I’ve reached my limit for now.
I’m going out with Jaris.
She frowned. He seemed angry. She tried to listen to his heart, and she had to acknowledge she wasn’t good at it. Maybe it wasn’t exactly anger. Frustration and sorrow.
Jaris messaged her again. Erin? You there?
“So? Making your plans for the evening?” her dad teased.
“Yeah. Unless you want me to stay here…you know what…I’m not going anywhere tonight. I’m going to stay right here with you. I’ll make your favorite for dinner, and we can play poker after.”
His smile warmed her heart. “Now you’re talking.”
She messaged Jaris and told him she needed to stay in.
She fussed in the kitchen over the meal, talking easily with her dad while she made it. He hadn’t been very talkative in a long time, and she’d missed him. He kept badgering her about Maddox. She told him about Jaris instead. They played three hands of poker. He won two, and she obliterated him in the last round with a royal flush. Then he started yawning.
“I’m going to bed, sweetheart. Thanks for staying with me. You know the night is still young enough. You could go out.”
“I don’t think so. I need a break. I feel like I’m the rope in a tug of war.”
“So choose a side.”
He kissed her on the head and shut his bedroom door behind him. She locked the house and turned the lights off. She wasn’t really tired, but sleeping seemed like a better idea than scrolling through the media to see what Maddox was doing. She stopped, her mouth falling open. Holy cow! That was totally what she was going to do, unconsciously even.
She shut herself in her room and tried to read a book. Her eyes darted to her watch from time to time. Finally, she caved and searched his name. Pictures of him and Melina rose to the top. Jealousy poked at her as she looked at Melina. What was going on with them? Was it just part of the act he said he had to go through right now? He hadn’t touched Melina in a way that burned Erin at all since that first day when he told her he was testing it. Hmm…
She closed her eyes and dropped into an uneasy sleep.
Erin woke with a jolt. She could feel Maddox near her. She slid out of bed and walked silently through the shadows into the living room. A figure walked past the window. She went invisible and approached the window to see out fully. He moved quickly, setting a single flower on the porch, a rock on the stem, then he left.
No way. Her mind tripped. She pinched her forearm hard so she knew she wasn’t dreaming. She watched him move through the darkened street and around a corner before she ventured outside. She didn’t want him to know she was there. This just couldn’t be the truth. Staying invisible, she followed him at distance. Maddox was the gift giver?
He walked slowly into the memorial gardens and sat down next to Selena’s stone. What was he doing? Erin didn’t dare get any closer, or he really would know she was there, invisible or not. He cut his hand with a small knife and bled onto the roots of the tree. Its leaves shivered, and gold moved along the cracks in the trunk and up through the branches. His shoulders slumped as he laid his uncut hand against the stone. In a second, he retracted his hand as quickly as if it burned him. She heard his heavy sigh then he touched the stone again and held it still.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered.
She moved away silently as he got up and walked out of the gardens. He headed toward the low end of town. She watched him stop at a shabby place and leave something. He turned quickly, his eyes scanning the darkness. She held still, invisible and behind the side of a building. He frowned and then moved away, on to somewhere else.
Erin swallowed, her throat constricting around a sob as she processed the truth. All this time…all these years, it had been him. The phantom she held onto for comfort. The shadow she loved…it was him all along. Her heart began to riot as tears ran down her cheeks. So much misunderstanding on her part. So much of himself he hid from everyone. She wanted to tear his mask off and burn it. She wanted to look at him and truly know who she was looking at.
Erin pushed off from her hiding place and ran home, the wind kissing her tears. She almost laughed aloud as she came back into her house and closed the door. She ran to her room and closed the door unable to contain herself. She did laugh then, covering her mouth with her hands. She cried and laughed and then cried again. Her heart jumped around. Surely she would burst open any second. Her watch pinged.
Erin? Are you awake?
Smiling, she decided not to answer. She took a deep breath and wiped her eyes. She changed out of her pajamas and fixed her hair before opening the box with the portal inside it. She hadn’t looked at it before. It shimmered black and purple as she picked it up. It felt funny, like holding onto a ghost, then it opened. It didn’t rush and pull like other portals. It was silent and it stood open, fixed on her wall next to her closet door. There was a section, like a shadow curtain. She pulled on it, and the portal closed. She touched it again, and it opened.
She checked herself in the mirror again, grabbed the rock off her dresser, and took it with her through the portal. She landed in his room. How long would it take him to come home? Her pulse jumped so fast. Her watch pinged again. He must be getting her excited, freaked out feelings.
>
Erin?
She still didn’t respond. A portal opened next to the one she’d just used. She set her rock down and turned invisible a second before he came through. He took off his hoodie, threw it on the bed, and ran his hands through hair. He looked at his watch and then turned around, his eyebrows raised.