Eerie put her hands on Gabriela’s shoulders for balance, peering over the girl and into the dark below.
“You could stay in Central with your boyfriend,” Gabriela suggested. “That’s what you want, isn’t it?”
“It is,” Eerie agreed solemnly. “That’s super important to me.”
“Isn’t it worth trying, then?”
“I’ll do anything to stay,” Eerie said. “Really. Anything.”
She pushed Gabriela through the open trap door.
Gabriela did not have time for a scream, just a shocked inhale followed by a loud splash. Eerie shut the door behind her before she returned to the surface to sputter and protest.
“Eerie, don’t do this!” Gabriela shouted. “I’m trying to help!”
The Changeling locked the door, scooped up the lamp, and made for the stairs.
Twenty-Eight
Day Six
“Tomorrow, then, huh?”
She settled her head in the crook of his arm, cerulean hair spreading across the pillow.
“Yes,” she said, touching him. “Tomorrow.”
“Emily said Marcus will come get us in the morning.”
“Mhm.”
“I don’t really understand why that guy is helping us,” Alex chattered nervously. “What does he have to do with anything?”
“People just really like Emily.”
“I guess.”
“Are you worried?”
“Yeah. Of course. Who wouldn’t be?”
“I don’t know.”
“You got hurt today,” Alex said, his expression tightening. “I’m trying not to be upset about that, but…”
“It’s fine,” Eerie said. “I’m fine.”
“It made it real for me, you know? That I could lose you,” Alex said, putting his hand on her stomach, careful to avoid her bruises. “That scares me.”
“You could,” Eerie agreed. “I could lose you.”
“Do you know if we…will we be okay?”
“It isn’t like that,” Eerie said, sighing. “I can’t explain. I’m there, and I’m here, too. It’s…it’s always, and there’s no before or after or…I don’t know how to say it.”
“I just wondered if there was anything you could tell me.”
“What do you mean?”
“Anything important. Anything you know that might help.”
Eerie thought it over while he stroked her hair.
“I love you,” she said. “Please be very careful.”
“I get that,” Alex said impatiently. “I meant anything important.”
“That is the most important thing.”
He kissed her forehead.
“Right,” he said. “Sorry.”
“Is that all you are worried about?”
“What do you mean?”
“Do you have any questions for me? About what happened to Hope, maybe?”
Alex took her hand, lightly brushing her splinted little finger.
“Not unless you want to tell me,” he said. “I would have killed every single person in that room myself.”
She gripped his hand with her good fingers.
“I don’t like that,” she said. “I don’t like it when you talk about killing people.”
“Sorry. It’s true, though.”
“Maybe, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it.”
“Yeah.”
The silence that followed was so protracted that Alex started to suspect she had fallen asleep.
“Hey, Eerie? You still awake?”
“Yes. I’m always awake when you are. I wouldn’t miss it.”
“Huh. Really?”
“Yes. What did you want?”
“Well, it’s just…ah, you know. It’s our last night, before…I mean, I’m not going to lose you or anything, for sure, that’s not going to happen, but tomorrow is going to be crazy, and I was just wondering if you wanted—”
“Yes,” Eerie said, pulling him close. “Of course I do.”
***
Vivik snuck a glance at Leigh out of the corner of his eye. She was sitting on the other side of his bed, naked aside from a pair of socks, fiddling with her phone.
“I thought you said you needed a minute,” Leigh said.
“I do,” Vivik said. “It’s just…”
Leigh gave him a quick look, then returned to her phone.
“Yes?”
“You are going back in the field tomorrow, aren’t you?”
“You know I am,” Leigh said. “You’re still doing remote viewing on the Op, aren’t you?”
“Yes, I mean…of course. I…I saw the notes Chandi produced for Emily.”
“Sure. You’re the intel guy, so that makes sense. Oh, yeah, I meant to ask. You know Hope Loring? The empath? Thule recruit?”
Vivik nodded.
“Did you see her die?”
The casual question took his breath away, but Leigh did not seem to notice, occupied with whatever she was doing on her phone.
“Yes.”
“I heard Alistair did it.”
“Did you?”
“I knew it,” Leigh said, putting her phone aside. “The whole thing was just so weird. What really happened?”
“I’m not supposed to say,” Vivik said. “Emily made me promise.”
“I’m naked in your bed,” Leigh countered. “Does what she wants still come first?”
Vivik realized he was staring at her, and then looked away.
“You’re not entirely naked,” he joked nervously. “Why are you still wearing socks?”
“My feet are cold. Why the hell did you put your boxers back on?” Leigh rolled her eyes. “Are you going to tell me, or what?”
“Eerie did it,” Vivik blurted out, his lips suddenly numb. “The guards hurt her, and then she just…killed everyone. Poisoned them with toxic pheromones, I think.”
“I did wonder when I saw how beat up she was,” Leigh said. “I didn’t know she could do stuff like that. Good to know, just in case.”
Vivik decided not to follow up on that.
“About tomorrow,” Vivik said. “I’m worried about you.”
“I thought we agreed we weren’t going to do that sort of thing,” Leigh said, picking her phone back up. “It’s dull.”
“Sorry.”
“Besides, if you are going to worry about anyone, worry about your friend Alex.”
“Alex? Why?”
“He’s sleeping with the Changeling, isn’t he? The same girl who murders people just by being in the same room.”
Vivik nodded, his mouth dry and his tongue sticking to the roof of his mouth.
“He’s fucking a monster,” Leigh said coolly. “She may as well be an alien. You can’t have a relationship with something like that and not expect consequences. She’s going to poison him, or drive him crazy, or kill him, or something. Mark my words. Sleep with something like that, you can expect your life to be ruined.”
Vivik licked his tingling lips.
“Is that…uh…are you trying to tell me something with this?”
“Not at all,” the vampire said, giving him a blank look. “What do you mean?”
***
His knock was a formality, as he let himself in before the maid could even reach for the door.
Anastasia glanced at him briefly, and nodded to the scandalized maid, who hurriedly left the room. The maid would head directly for Mai’s room, Anastasia had no doubt.
As she did not doubt that he had timed his arrival to coincide with Mai’s absence.
“I’ve told you a hundred times,” Anastasia said. “You are not welcome in my bedroom, Renton, and certainly not without an invitation.”
“Sorry, Ana,” he said, with a smile that made it clear he was not. “I had to talk with you.”
Was he tipsy, she wondered?
She was never sure, with him, when he was flushed with drink, or with simple cruelty.
“Did you? It had better be truly nec
essary.”
“It is,” he said, taking a step toward her. She sat beside the mirror, wearing her nightdress with her hair down, but she kept a stern expression. “If I don’t get to see you in your pajamas occasionally, I might wither away and die.”
“Then I suggest that you do so immediately,” Anastasia said acidly. “Preferably somewhere else.”
“You see? That’s the trouble. You’re even cuter when you angry, Ana.”
“Do you have anything pertinent to say, Renton? If not, I’ll ask you to excuse yourself.”
“I do, I do,” Renton said, lowering his voice and stepping even closer, his bright eyes daring her to complain. “I know you’re hurting, Ana…”
“Don’t patronize me!”
“I’m not. I just know this isn’t you. What happened to all your plans? We’ve been working on this for years. What are you doing?”
“My duty,” Anastasia said. “Nothing more, and nothing…”
“This isn’t it,” Renton said. “You’re making a mistake. Gaul Thule is baiting you. We’ve been taking over Central slow and steady, and we’ve made good progress. If you attack Thule directly, that all goes out the window.”
“Do you really think so?”
“I worry about it, I can tell you that much,” Renton said. “This isn’t like you, all this anger and passion. You aren’t thinking clearly.”
“That is an amusing observation, coming from you.”
“I’m not supposed to think, Ana. You’re supposed to be the smart one.”
“A fascinating observation. Do you have any more?”
“I do,” Renton said. “You can’t use that vampire as your bodyguard.”
“And why is that?”
“It isn’t safe,” Renton insisted. “Bad enough that you chose his daughter for your head maid, but now her brother is running around, playing suitor…”
“Do you have an issue with my father’s service to our Mistress, Mr. Hall?” Mai marched stiffly into the bedroom, glaring furiously at Renton and ignoring Anastasia’s look of disapproval. “With my brother’s, perhaps? Or is it my own duties that you object to?”
A current ran between them briefly, as the two telepaths tested each other.
“If you have an issue to resolve, then do so elsewhere,” Anastasia said. “I have had quite enough of both of you for the evening. Mai, please have Thiri sent in to finish my hair, would you? And you, Renton – find something useful to do, won’t you?”
“Of course, Mistress,” Mai said, grabbing Renton by the arm and pulling him to the door. “Right away.”
“Oh, come on!” Renton protested. “Ana, please! I have important things to tell you! Tell her to let me stay.”
“The head of Lord Thule is the price for consideration for entry to my bedroom,” Anastasia said, glaring at him in the mirror as he was dragged from the room. “If you have too much time on your hands, Renton, then why don’t you do something about that?”
***
Katya spent hours staring at the end of her wrist, flexing muscles in her forearm and feeling the absence of response beyond. Her severed hand never stopped complaining. Her fingers curled painfully inward, until the nails dug into the soft skin, cutting half-moons into an invisible palm that her mind insisted was still there, to itch and throb and ache.
It was maddening, and while her training helped her bear it with a degree of stoicism, the litany of phantom sensation was still only just bearable.
She almost had it under control when she shifted in bed, and something strange in the way the sheets moved reminded her of her leg. The diminished limb started to complain as soon as she remembered it.
The internal world of her suffering was so consuming that Katya did not notice the man sitting patiently in one of the chairs at the end of the room for quite some time.
It took a moment longer for her to recognize him.
“You’re Emily’s friend,” Katya said slowly. “Marcus. Right?”
“Yes,” he said, grinning. “That’s me.”
“What are you doing here?”
“I’ve come to see you,” he said, running a hand through his grey hair. “As a favor to our mutual friend, Emily Muir.”
“Even you, huh? I’m impressed. Everyone owes Emily something, don’t they?”
“She’s a good friend to have,” Marcus said. “It’s only natural to want to help a friend.”
“I think I might be done doing favors,” Katya said, holding up her abbreviated arm. “In fact, I think I’m retired.”
“If that’s the way you feel, I’ll respect it,” Marcus said. “This isn’t a personal errand. Emily told me that you would say that, though, and she told me to tell you something, when you did.”
“Sure,” Katya said. “What is it?”
“She told me that Alex would need you.”
“I’m not sure I needed to be told that.”
Katya pulled aside the bedsheet, exposing the bandaged terminus of her maimed leg.
“I can’t do it,” she said. “I can’t even fucking walk.”
“You’ve had it rough,” Marcus said. “I’ve heard about your brother. I’m sorry.”
“Yeah,” Katya said, looking away. “Yeah.”
“I don’t know if you want my advice, miss, but here it is all the same. Don’t do it.” Marcus gave her a grave look. “I’ve met Alex, and I’m confident he ain’t worth a damn.”
Katya laughed.
“You’ve got that right.”
“As for your brother, well, the dead don’t need to be avenged,” he said. “The dead don’t need anything from us. We need things from the dead, and they can’t provide them, and that’s why it hurts so much. But it’s a one-way street. There’s nothing you can do for him.”
Katya nodded, biting her lip.
“You seem like a smart guy.”
“I like to think so, but I’d imagine most people do.”
“How old are you, Marcus? Forgive me for saying it, but you seem like you are a million years old.”
“I’m not entirely sure. I could tell you that I remember the last time the Church of Sleep paid a visit. Or, you could say that I don’t remember.”
“If you’ve been alive that long, you must have had to reinvent yourself, right?”
“Times change,” Marcus said. “You have to change with them to survive. That’s universal.”
“It’s not, though,” Katya said. “You can always die.”
“Yes.”
“That’s always on the table,” Katya said. “I’ve seen it a lot. Almost everyone I’ve ever known…yeah. I want Timor back, Marcus. I want him back more than anything.”
He nodded sympathetically, and she started to cry, pitiful and broken down.
“I have no idea why I’m saying any of this,” Katya said. “I feel weird. You aren’t an empath, are you, old man?”
“I’m neither telepath nor empath,” Marcus said. “I’m nothing, by choice. I go where I like, but that’s just a trick that anyone could do. I garden, mostly, and that’s about all there is to say about me.”
“You grow roses,” Katya remembered. “A garden in the Outer Dark.”
“It’s a protest,” Marcus said. “My gardening is strictly political.”
“What sort of politics?”
“Beauty versus atrocity. I’m contaminating the pure, undiluted horror of the Outer Dark with blossoms and perfume.”
“Roses, huh?” Katya grinned through her tears. “Kinda bougie.”
“I can’t help but love the way roses need me. It’s intoxicating, to have something require you to the extent that it literally could not live without your constant attention. You have value as a gardener to roses. They know their survival is not incidental, and they do their best to show off for you.”
“I’ll have to take your word for it. I’ve never been a necessary girl.”
“I’m not sure that I agree,” Marcus said. “Emily wants you for something, right?”
“A real smart guy,” Katya said. “It occurs to me that Emily probably sent you because you would say what I needed hear.”
“I’m just talking. I’ve spent a lot of time alone with a bunch of roses, so I might run on a little. Take from it what you want to take.”
Katya looked around the hospital room and sighed deeply.
“You want me to come with you?”
“Emily has a plan for me, and a plan for you. I don’t recommend it, like I said, but I’m willing to take you where she wants you to go, assuming that’s what you want to do. If not, I’ve got nothing till the morning, so I might go get a cup of coffee. There’s a place I like in L.A., never closes. The coffee is terrible, but it’s been in a hundred movies. We could get a cup of coffee. You can always just stay here, too, if you aren’t feeling up for it.”
“If you don’t like it, then why are you helping Emily?”
“I’m fond of Emily. She’s a bit of a project of mine, and I admire her ambition and ability. I take pride in her successes, because I flatter myself into thinking that I might be a little of the foundation she built on, you see. So, I’m happy to help out here and there.”
“What about your garden?”
“My garden doesn’t need me anymore,” Marcus said. “Every garden has a beginning and an end, and mine is fast approaching. That was the design of the whole thing, you see. That’s the coda of the protest.”
“What’s that? The ‘Triumph of the Outer Dark’, or something?”
“Maybe. Who knows? I can only do my part and then wait around and see how it all comes out.” Marcus extended his hand to her. “What about you, Miss? What do you want to do?”
***
Rebecca stood with her arms folded and her brows furrowed, the corners of her mouth tugged firmly downward. Emily smiled at her from behind her desk.
“This office situation is fucked up,” Rebecca complained. “I can’t deal with you having an office when I don’t.”
“In two or three days at the most I will be in a position to help you retake the Academy. Or our little endeavor will fail, and we will all die, which will resolve the office issue just as satisfactorily from your vantage. Either way, I require just a small amount of patience from you.”
The Church of Sleep (Central Series Book 5) Page 73