The Evensong

by Lindsay Payton

  Great, that’s not any better. “Awesome.”

  I couldn’t look at him, and he didn’t say anything for a while before he started laughing. “Don’t be embarrassed, it’s flattering.”

  I just groaned, wishing I had never done it.

  “Riley,” he said in his coaxing voice as he turned me onto my back. “Hey, I never said I was guilt-free.”

  I peered at him through my fingers, finally lowering my hands. “You can project?”

  “You could call it that,” he shrugged.

  I just stared at him for a second before I grinned. “Creep.”

  He laughed hard and pulled my hands away from my face, about to kiss me when there was a loud thump on the roof.

  I froze, and Linden remained tense, staring hard at the ceiling. Nothing else happened as I waited for another sound.

  “What was that?” I barely whispered.

  “Shh.”

  I hoped beyond all reason that it was some rogue cat—a huge one to have made that much noise, and not something in the attic.

  Again there was another thump, louder this time and on the side of the house. Linden stood slowly as I reached out and grabbed his arm.

  “What are you doing?” I hissed.

  “Stay there,” he said, creeping up to the window. It was pitch black outside, so I didn’t know how he expected to see anything. Maybe he had some kind of heightened vision I didn’t know about. He seemed to be looking at something, and I lay absolutely still, listening for any noises in the house.

  After ten minutes of silence except for the crickets, Linden left the window. “He’s gone.”

  “He?” Damn.

  “Who else would it be?” he asked.

  Omar. “What was he doing?”

  Linden shook his head. “I don’t know, throwing things, nothing bad yet. But he walked away.”

  That brought back the deal we had made on the roof. But if anything ever happens, we’ll have to do something about it. Deal?

  Did this constitute as ‘something’?

  I didn’t ask now. It could wait until morning. Even Linden admitted he was too tired to think about it, but he would still be on alert. That meant another sleepless night, and just the thought of him lying there thinking kept me awake well into the early hours of the morning.

  The night’s events put a strain on Linden that I’d never seen before. I woke up much earlier than him, and just watched TV downstairs until I heard him in the hall. He showered, but he seemed somewhat wilted when he walked down the stairs. I leaned over the back of the couch as he mechanically walked into the kitchen for a glass of water.

  “Have you gone outside?” he called. His voice sounded flat.

  “No, why?” I replied. I only heard him mumble something in reply as he appeared in the portal.

  “I have to go get some things in town,” he said, “and I want you to stay here.”

  “Okay …” I said slowly, waiting for some kind of explanation.

  “I don’t think you should go out; it’s safer here, even when I’m gone. Sound good?”

  I nodded, watching him put on his shoes and grab a black hoodie from the hook beside the door. Before he left he hugged my shoulders and kissed the top of my head. “I’ll be back soon, twenty minutes tops.”

  I took his word for it, holding down the panic that was threatening to send me into a freak-out. He wasn’t leaving for good, not after last night. And he said twenty minutes.

  I checked the clock as soon as his car pulled away. Taking note of the time, I wouldn’t be watching it every minute but I would still be secretly timing.

  Ten minutes went by. I had kept the TV on but I was hardly listening or watching. My leg shook impatiently, and I was frustrated with myself after a few seconds.

  “Just trust him,” I muttered to myself as I stood, making for the kitchen. I would make cereal—or anything—to distract me from the soft but ominous ticking of the clock.

  I was just standing on tiptoes to reach the top shelf when there was a loud knocking on the door. I dropped down immediately and looked towards the window. Linden would obviously not bother to knock on his own door. Remembering the noises from the previous night, my heart sped up a little. Linden said I would be safe even when he wasn’t home, but did that include any kind of spell Omar could come up with? And what if it wasn’t him but a neighbor or something?

  The knocking continued as I crept towards the front door. There was a peephole looking to the porch, and I silently went towards it and peered out. I couldn’t really even see the strangers face, only knowing it was a man because I was staring at the design on the front of his shirt. He was so tall, I could just see his chin. He knocked again, harder this time, and I hesitantly turned the lock.

  I was right, he was tall—intimidatingly so. He looked all the way down at me and frowned, taking a large step back. Holding the door, I frowned at his reaction. “Hi.”

  “Um—I think I got the wrong house,” he said, his voice so deep I thought I could feel it in my chest.

  “Who’re you looking for?” I asked, now curious. I’d never seen him before, but there was definitely something familiar about him. Anyone would have noticed him for his height, or how obviously fit he was, so he wasn’t from town. I could compare his arms to my waist if I chose to exaggerate a little, and he didn’t seem that old. I guessed somewhere in his twenties.

  As I took this all in, he seemed to be taking me in as well, his frown deepening. He was tense like he was about to walk away any second, and I couldn’t help but think there was definite distaste in his expression.

  “I’m looking for Linden,” he said, glancing past me into the house.

  I was shocked, and held my breath for a minute. “Yeah, he lives here.”

  He didn’t seem to believe me, narrowing his eyes a little. “Really.” It was like he thought I might be lying. “Is he here?”

  “No, he just left a little while ago, but he should be back soon,” I said, giving him my own look of displeasure. “Did you need something?”

  His eyebrow raised a fraction at my tone. “Yeah, but you can just give him a message for me.”

  “Okay.”

  “Just tell him Nerio stopped by. I was just passing through, so don’t forget to say it, got it?”

  I wanted to scoff, but I just shrugged. “Okay. And who are you, Nerio?”

  His shoulders bunched a little when I said his name. “Who are you?”

  “A friend,” I said, then waited for him to answer me.

  Again with that disgust. “I’m his brother, so don’t let it slip your mind.”

  He turned and walked off the porch, leaving me stunned. My brain was still repeating the word: brother? Brother?

  Nerio had disappeared down the road when I finally stepped back inside and closed the door. So that’s why he seemed familiar … his eyes were very similar to Linden’s, though they were green in his olive toned skin. But Linden had never mentioned he had a brother, not to my knowledge. So was Nerio lying, or …

  I was completely confused the rest of the time I was alone. When there were footsteps on the porch, I half expected another knock, but the door opened and Linden let himself in.

  “Hey,” he smiled at me. He was in a much better mood, and he held a bag from the Swamp Market in his hand. He put it on the table before coming to the couch where I still sat. “All quiet on the front?”

  “Yeah,” I said vaguely. He went back to the kitchen to unload his bag, and I followed slowly. I sat down at the table while he put things in the fridge. “Do some shopping?”

  “Just for the necessities,” he replied.

  “Ah. No sign of Omar?”

  He stiffened a little, but quickly shook it off. “No, no sign of him. Which is good and bad.”

  I nodded, looking at him from across the room for more similarities between him and Nerio. He was definitely much fairer than him, and shorter. Nerio had to be a good foot taller than him, if not more, and Lin
den was a head taller than me. I was dwarfed compared to both of them.

  “Do you have a brother?” I asked, deciding to be blunt like him.

  He didn’t seem to think this question was strange and went on with his groceries. “Nope, I’ve always been a lonely kid.”

  “Oh.” I hated to ruin his mood. “Well, apparently your brother was here a while ago. Nerio?”

  A glass jar of pickles dropped from his hand and shattered across the floor. He looked at me sharply, and I shrunk down into the chair at the intense anger in his eyes.

  “Nerio?” he repeated. I nodded mutely. He started cursing, staring at the ceiling as he put his hands behind his head. His shoes crunched over the broken glass, and I stood to clean it up. The second I was there to help, the jar was suddenly intact again and there was no mess on the floor.

  “What did he want?” Linden asked, rounding on me.

  “He—he just said he was passing through,” I stuttered. “He didn’t say what he wanted though. He was looking for you.”

  “Great,” Linden mumbled, going towards the window. He stooped to look out at the trees, scanning the landscape. I tried to tell him Nerio had gone down the road, but he interrupted when he said he was going outside.

  “I’ll be right back, don’t move,” he said, pinning me with his gaze before he went out the door. I watched him from the kitchen as he jogged towards the trees and disappeared within a few strides.

  I sighed angrily. What was going on?

  INSTINCT

  “I have no idea what’s happening … I wish I could tell you. One second he’s an only child, the next some guy shows up saying he’s his brother.” I glanced towards the bedroom door as I paused. Linden was in the shower, so I hoped he couldn’t hear me whispering into the phone.

  “That is a little weird,” Alysana replied. “Did you ask him about the whole brother thing?”

  “Yeah. He said they’re not really brothers, but it was an Elemental thing.”

  “Huh. I’d be demanding more answers if I were you.”

  I sighed as I lay back on the bed. “I know, but I just don’t want to bombard him. He doesn’t drill me when he can tell I don’t want to talk, so I try to return the favor.”

  “You’re more noble than me,” she laughed. “I wouldn’t stop talking till he answered everything I wanted to know.”

  “Yeah well … give it time. Now tell me something that’s not so confusing. How’re you and Aidan?”

  “Ha, not confusing. If I forget about my paranoia for a second, I think it’s going well. He’s already been talking about plans for school and stuff.” Her tone was already lifting, like she couldn’t wait to talk about this.

  “So does that mean you’ll be officially moving in with him or something?” I asked.

  “Don’t jinx it! I have no idea,” she laughed.

  I would have gone on to ask her more, but I heard the bathroom door open at the end of the hall. “I have to go. Linden’s out of the shower and he said he wanted to talk about some stuff.”

  Alysana paused, and when she spoke again her voice took on a worried tone. “Okay—um, call me afterwards, okay?”

  “If it’s not too late I will. Bye,” I said hurriedly, and dropped the phone back to the floor. I rolled over onto my stomach and propped myself up on my elbows as Linden sauntered in. He looked tired again, like he’d been thinking too much.

  “Feel any better?” I asked.

  “A little. Not much is going to do for a headache though,” he replied, sitting next to me.

  “Advil?”

  “Doesn’t really work for me.”

  “Kisses?”

  He smiled, but I caught the sadness behind it. “Yeah, maybe a little.”

  I sat up then, sitting right against him. “Okay, so you said you wanted to talk. You’re making me feel like it could be bad.”

  “It’s not really bad,” he replied. “But I know you’re not going to like it.”

  “You’re being ominous,” I pointed out, watching him from behind his wet hair.

  “Sorry,” he said, looking at me apologetically. “I’ll just get to it then. I did talk to Nerio earlier.

  “As you said.” He had briefly explained that he smoothed things over with Nerio before. According to him, Nerio was pushy and phone calls weren’t enough. He was on his way up the coast anyway, so he wanted to see Linden in person to get him to go to this reunion.

  “Right,” he said. He was quiet for a long time, and for the first time since I’d known him, I thought he was actually stalling. “He relayed to me what Rhys and some of the others have been saying and I—I really need to go back to that reunion. Turns out I really can’t skip it.”

  I knew what this meant. It made perfect sense in my head, but I didn’t want to come to terms with it yet. “Where is it?”

  “They’re going to one of Rhys’ homes in Rhode Island. It’ll only be for a few days, so I think you’ll be okay. And Alysana promised she and Aidan would keep an eye out for anything weird.”

  I frowned at him. “Alysana?”

  He nodded. “Yeah. I know you don’t want to go with Aidan, so back at the house seems like the best bet.”

  My stomach instantly tightened into knots as I shot to my feet. “You want me to go back to the house?”

  “It’s the safest place for you while I’m gone. And if you need to leave there’s always—”

  “Why can’t I just go with you?” I asked, my voice breaking. Damn it, hold it together.

  “Riley, I can’t … I want to but it’s like your coming of age thing. I couldn’t go to that, and this is generally the same,” he explained softly.

  “Okay, but—” Examples of places to stay were going through my head, but I couldn’t voice them. Hotels, whatever house they were staying in, his car; I could just walk around all day while they did their thing, anything to just stay with him.

  This weak attempt at convincing him wasn’t going well at all. I was looking at my hands for some kind of inspiration, as well as trying to hide my absolute misery.

  “I guess you couldn’t ignore your instincts for long, right?” I managed to choke out. I whirled around towards the door, hurrying out into the dark hall. It wasn’t that I was mad at him; a little, but I was mostly just sad at the idea of him leaving. He hadn’t said how long he would be gone.

  I found myself in the living room where it was darkest. Sitting on the couch, I leaned my head back and sniffled, my fingernails digging into my palms. I wanted to pin some blame on someone. Nerio. Would Linden have decided to go if Nerio hadn’t personally come by? Maybe, maybe not, but either way I hated him for it.

  Going ‘home’ meant having to be around Rene and everyone else in that house. What happened if Omar decided to come back? He wasn’t a stranger in that house, they wouldn’t lock him out. I trusted that Alysana would do her best to keep a watchful eye, but she could only do so much.

  His footsteps were on the stairs within a few minutes. I stayed put, still on the couch and watching the distant lightning bugs in the trees.

  “So you heard that conversation,” he said quietly, standing behind the couch. I didn’t reply as I pulled my feet onto the couch, holding my knees. “It is instinct. To keep moving. Settling in one place for a long time isn’t an undine’s usual behavior.” He carefully lowered himself next to me. “But who said I was a normal undine?”

  I didn’t say anything, and kept my eyes off him. I was being stubborn, but he could have sprung this on me differently. I don’t know how different, but less painful?

  “I don’t want to leave,” he whispered close to me. “I don’t want to leave you here.”

  The note of regret in his voice made my throat hitch, but I still didn’t look at him. “When do you leave?”

  “Tomorrow, and only for a few days. I’ll drive back the second we’re through.”

  A few days. That wasn’t good enough for me; I wanted precise numbers so I could count down the time un
til I could see him again.

  “I would take you with me if I could,” he went on. “But you met Nerio … he didn’t exactly respond to you all that well, did he? Some of them that will be there are worse than that when it comes to people like you.”

  “I thought it was the other way around.”

  “Usually. They’ve had some experiences that didn’t exactly leave them with good impressions.”

  And here I thought my kind were the only ones biased. If Elementals could be just as hateful towards witches, I didn’t think I had a chance in the world.

  “You’ll be fine while I’m gone,” Linden said, scooting closer and pressing up against me. “I mean, you better be. I can’t be driving around worrying.”

  He rested his chin on my shoulder, and I reached up to touch his cheek. It was cool against my palm, and he raised his hand and pressed mine against him. His free arm wound around my waist and held me to him.

  “You’re not leaving … for good?” I asked, voicing my worst fear.

  “Are you kidding?” he asked, looking at me.

  I finally met his eyes. “No. Are you?”

  He just stared at me for a minute, eyes sweeping over my face in search of any kind of joke. When he didn’t find it, he slammed his lips against mine, our noses bumping so hard it sort of hurt. I couldn’t breathe until he pulled away.

  “No. I’m coming back here, I swear. I can’t just drop you like that, even if I wanted to,” he said.

  Even through his conviction, I worried. Instinct could be a hard thing to ignore, and he’d lived with that instinct longer than he’d known me. Who would win over that internal battle?

  He kept on kissing me after that, long, full kisses that had that spark igniting in my stomach over and over again. Like he had asked me once, I wondered if this was some sort of good bye; a permanent one. Would he lie to me? In this instance, I believed he would to keep me from begging him not to go. But as he moaned into his kisses, I mentally slapped myself for disbelief. He had never done anything to make me distrust him.

  I’d fallen back onto the couch as Linden’s hands slipped under my shirt. I gasped at the coolness of his hands over my stomach and ribs, wanting more the instant he stopped to lift me back into a seated position.