by C. M McCoy
“No,” he whispered, and a single tear dropped from his beautiful eye. “Hailey, I would not harm you,” he pleaded, and Hailey’s heart broke.
She bowed her head, disarmed. She knew Asher wouldn’t have done that, but still. There had to be a reason he didn’t stop her. Maybe he wanted to find out if he had an enemy; maybe he was testing that stupid rock...
“But you let her attack me. Why?”
“Joanne attacked you, because she coveted the closeness you share with Pádraig,” he explained, tentatively stroking her cheek. “She won’t harm you again.”
“That doesn’t make any sense, Asher. She would’ve known that you’d . . .you’d . . .” She couldn’t bring herself to say it. “Did another Envoy make her do it?”
Certainly Joanne would not have risked Asher’s rage—and her very life—over simple jealousy.
“She believed she acted alone.”
Believed. Past tense. Hailey swallowed hard. “Jealousy,” she said.
“A savage motivator.”
He would certainly know.
Asher moved to his violin, and Hailey watched him—not technically a murderer, but a killer just the same.
“Why didn’t you stop her?” she asked. “And why . . . I watched you look at the black stone as I was dying. For a moment, I thought you wanted me to die.” She hugged herself tight.
“For a moment, I did.” Asher picked up his bow, twisting the tension screw.
“You wanted me to die,” she repeated. “And you let Joanne poison me. And then you changed your mind . . .?” she said slowly, her voice quavering as she exposed Asher’s darkness.
“I reconsidered.”
“How can I trust you, Asher?” Hailey said over her shoulder.
“You shouldn’t,” he said, and his bow splintered in half.
“Are you jealous too?”
He stood in stiff silence.
“Don’t be,” she moaned throwing her hand out. “Fin is just a big flirt. There’s nothing serious between us at all. He flirts with everyone.”
Hailey turned to a painting of the river in Pennsylvania, where Uncle Pix had once taken her and Holly rafting. She’d shown that place to Asher after Holly had died, and he’d made her feel so safe there.
He’d always been there for her, in one way or another.
“You know, if you would’ve just let me go, you could’ve gone home. Your troubles would be over.” She tried to gauge his reaction, but he revealed nothing. “Why did you save my life?”
“Because I would rather endure the hell of this Earth with you than spend an eternity in paradise without you,” he replied without hesitation.
The fireplace crackled in the next room, and Hailey exhaled. But then she shook her head. “Most of the time, you mean,” she said sadly, as she scratched at a mosquito bite on her neck.
Asher brushed her skin with the back of his hand, and like an eraser, it wiped away the itchy welt.
“I reconsider often,” he confessed, still caressing her neck, and Hailey readjusted her arms, hugging herself closer.
“Should I be afraid of you?” Honestly, she didn’t know if she wanted to scream and run or stay and find out if he’d finally kiss her again.
Stroking her arms, Asher coaxed them away from her belly. “I don’t want you to fear me.”
Hailey couldn’t look at him.
“Fear the others,” he told her. “If Cobon finds out he’s killed the wrong girl, he and the others will tear you apart. But they won’t touch you as long as I protect you.”
“You mean as long as you favor me over your home,” she corrected him. “And who knows how long you’ll want me.”
“Forever,” he murmured.
Hailey bowed her head so he wouldn’t see her tears.
“Even when you enrage me with your disobedience, I still choose you over the Aether.” With the back of his hand, he brushed her tears away. “Hailey, you’re weak from poison. You should sleep.”
“Are you asking me to stay with you tonight?” she teased.
“I’m asking you to stay with me forever.”
“Oh.” Her heart pounding, she tried to read whether he meant “forever” literally. “In case you change your mind by morning, will you stay up all night and talk to me? Here . . .on Earth?”
“You’re exhausted,” he said with an amused half frown, “but I’ll stay with you until you sleep.”
“Tell me about DOPPLER. They’ve been watching us since we were kids,” she said, recalling the photo of their childhood home from Holly’s police file.
“They are curious about any human who has dealings with the Envoys. Because of the black rock, Cobon has guarded your family for centuries.”
“Until recently, you mean. What happened the night my parents died? Who started that fire?”
“Adalwolf, I believe.”
“Adalwolf,” Hailey repeated, thoughtfully. That was the name Fin had said. That was the Envoy that had tied his soul. “Where is he now?”
“He’s dead, Hailey.”
“An Envoy can die?”
“Not in the sense that you know it. But, an Envoy can be torn apart, effectively destroyed.”
“Who destroyed him?”
Asher studied her.
“You,” he said simply.
“Me?” She shook her head. “No, Asher, I would remember destroying an Envoy. I can’t even tear myself away from your gaze.” She laughed, but he seemed quite serious. “Asher,” she said just as seriously, “you’re mistaken.”
“It’s no mistake. You were quite young, and you don’t remember.” Hailey opened her mouth to protest—but Asher cut her off. “DOPPLER is harmless,” he said, steering her back to her original question. “They are an Envoy’s pawns. They obey us, and they don’t even know it,” he said leading her back to the couch. “Your friend, Tage, for example.”
“Tage?”
“The men at DOPPLER knew I protected you. I allowed them their curiosity for a while. But when they placed one of their agents close to you, I became . . .jealous very quickly.” Asher flicked his eyes at the floor then back to Hailey.
“You stopped . . .” Hailey shook her head. “Did you make him forget me?”
Asher nodded, looking ashamed.
Hailey’s head pounded. She sat on the edge of the couch. Tage really didn’t like her after all—he was just spying. It made her sad and angry, because his stupid attention dominated one of the last conversations she’d had with Holly.
“Forgive me,” said Asher.
“I’m glad you stopped him.”
Asher sat next to her. “When I built this place,” he said, his eyes tracing something in the distance, “it was with the intention of tearing the Barrier and finding a way home—I was never convinced that Cobon’s rock would succeed. To function in the world of men, I made certain concessions . . . I shared bits of information with the government through DOPPLER, and in return they sent me great minds and stopped interfering with my work.”
Though she hung on Asher’s every word, Hailey stifled a yawn, struggling against the drowsy aftermath of a paranormal poisoning.
“Sometimes it’s necessary to have dealings with those who are despicable—an alliance, even. The men at DOPPLER believe they operate as spies for the humans, gathering information about the Envoys. But they are our puppets. Many Envoys use them. Cobon has used them to watch your family for decades.”
“Do you think he kidnapped my poltergeist from Pittsburgh?”
Asher tilted his head, squinting slightly.
“Tomas—he told me he escaped from DOPPLER . . .that they were dangerous . . .”
“Cobon,” Asher said as if to himself then he looked at Hailey. “Call your ghost friend. I wish to speak with it.”
Gleaning informati
on from a poltergeist was no easy task, even for an Envoy. There was no mind to manipulate, and ghosts simply didn’t care—about anything. Tomas had latched on to Hailey, though, and he eventually offered Asher a few details.
When Asher returned from his conference with Tomas, he was sure of two things. First, Cobon already knew he’d killed the wrong sister. Before escaping DOPPLER, Tomas had witnessed many things, one of which was Cobon’s interference with Jaycen’s pathetic attempt at spying. Jaycen had been telling the truth—Cobon had indeed switched her barrier breaker.
Second, Hailey fussed with her hair a lot, especially if she anticipated seeing Asher, which bolstered his confidence in her affection for him.
He found Hailey sleeping soundly on his couch and watched over her for several loving minutes. When it was clear she wouldn’t wake to continue their talk, he gathered her in his arms and moved her into his bed.
She never stirred.
During the night, she shivered once. Very easily, he could have pulled a blanket over her. Instead, he warmed her with a gentle embrace, holding her tenderly through the night, wondering how much of his plan for her he would divulge.
“Thank you for the book for Mrs. Spitz,” Hailey told Asher as he escorted her across campus to her dorm the next morning. “I can’t wait to get my hands on some ParaScience data—I’m designing a new ghost trap. The one in our room doesn’t work, and even if it did, it would require an escape hatch—I’d feel awful if Tomas got stuck,” she gushed, feeling completely rejuvenated after a great night’s sleep in a bed with blankets and a pillow—and Asher.
“Mrs. Spitz expects you this afternoon,” he said. “She’s a gifted clairvoyant, and she has a message for you.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
The Librarian
“A room without books is like a body without a soul.”
- Cicero
“Want to come to the library with me?” Hailey asked her newly appointed conversation partner in her ParaCommunications class.
Giselle contorted her face. “I hate libraries,” she grumbled. “Too many bookworms.”
She only answered because she had to, otherwise she’d get a low mark in class participation, and she’d already failed the class three times. She wasn’t happy about having a conversation partner, but then Giselle wasn’t happy about anything. At least she hadn’t asked Hailey where she’d slept last night . . .which reminded her . . .
“Giselle, where were you Monday night? You never came home.”
“Working.”
Hailey jerked her chin back.
“Really? Where?”
“I had the night shift at the hospital,” she said airily.
Of course! That’s how she knew about carnivorous splinters.
Hailey tried not to shudder as she imagined Giselle’s bedside manner.
“And by the way,” Giselle continued like a snob, “I wasn’t home last night, either. Obviously, you weren’t there to notice—where were you?”
Well, that backfired.
“Were you sleeping with Pádraig?” Giselle jeered.
“No—I didn’t—it was—” Hailey sputtered, and then she huffed in frustration. “I got shot by a poisoned quill.”
“Really. I didn’t see you in the hospital.”
“Asher fixed me up.”
Giselle crossed her arms and bared her top teeth. “You mean he made you his slave.”
“No, he just fixed me up.”
“Envoys are all about balance. They don’t just save people without getting something in return.”
“Well, this one did.”
“Then he must be losing his mind.” As soon as she said it, she slapped her hands over her mouth and ducked. She looked around, terrified for several seconds before bowing her head, sniffling and pulling a string of silk from her eye.
“Are you alright?” Hailey asked.
“Asher scares me,” Giselle answered softly, and Hailey gently patted her back.
“Remarkable!” trilled Professor Mum loudly as she clapped her hands and rushed over to the girls. “You two are a model of human/non-human cooperation.” She beamed. “Everyone!” she called, and the whole classroom turned to see a frozen, wide-eyed Hailey patting the back of cobweb-faced, whatever-the-heck-Giselle-was. “Observe.” Professor Mum motioned to the girls. “This is what a cross-creature friendship looks like!”
Hailey turned stiffly to Giselle, who turned to Hailey, looking as shocked as Hailey felt. Hailey stifled a giggle. And Giselle actually cracked a smile.
“Well, non-human friend,” said Hailey at the end of class, “you sure you don’t want to come to the library with me?”
“I hate you,” said Giselle, but she was only mildly wrathful as she walked out.
“Hello?” Hailey called softly as she finally stepped over the threshold of the Bear Towne University Library. An impossibly large shadow-clock spanned the ceiling, hands silently twitching. “Hello . . .” Hailey sang again, though she wasn’t sure why—it was a public library.
Some clairvoyant, she thought as she made her way inside, bribe in hand.
“Six hundred and eighty-seven,” barked a female voice.
Hailey spun around.
There stood the librarian, hands planted firmly on her hips, foot tapping impatiently. Mrs. Spitz looked like she’d just stepped out of 1960. She wore pointy, wing-tipped glasses, a beehive hairdo, and a boxy jacket with large buttons.
“Excuse me?” Hailey said politely.
“Six hundred and eighty-seven.” Mrs. Spitz articulated each syllable. Peering down her nose at Hailey, she thrust her hand out.
Hailey placed her offering into Mrs. Spitz’s outstretched hand and stepped back.
Mrs. Spitz opened the book, read a few lines, tested the binding, sniffed loudly, slammed the book shut, and said, “Follow me.”
Falling in step behind her, Hailey noticed a suspicious object protruding from the librarian’s back. And it looked an awful lot like a knife.
“Uh . . .Mrs. Spitz?”
The librarian whirled around.
“You have a . . .a . . .” Hailey remembered she wasn’t supposed to mention sharp objects.
“A what?” Mrs. Spitz demanded.
“There’s something wrong with your jacket,” Hailey said quickly, cringing as she nodded to it.
“Huh?” Looking over her shoulder, Mrs. Spitz tugged at the hem of her retro coat, which made the knife in her back wiggle up and down.
“I can never get this thing to lay right,” she muttered. “How’s that look?”
“That’s much better,” Hailey whispered, giving her a nervous thumbs-up and trying not to hyperventilate.
“Hmph. Still feels wrong.” Mrs. Spitz placed her hand on a bookcase in the reference section. “You’ll start on this shelf, here. Those books need to be shelved.” She pointed to a stack on a wooden cart next to the shelf, and then she shook her finger at Hailey. “Exactly six hundred and eighty-seven books to a case.”
Hailey gave her a blank stare.
“Oh, I wasn’t looking for a job, Mrs. Spitz, I came to find some information, and Asher said you had a message for me.”
“You’ll finish these, and then you’ll start on the Mysteries section in the 001’s with the books on Atlantis.” She shoved an armful of books into Hailey’s chest. “Six hundred and eighty-seven books per case,” she said again, and then she walked away.
Hailey wasn’t sure what to do, so she started shelving and counting and making sure each case had exactly six hundred and eighty-seven books. So began Hailey’s first day as a part-time library clerk at Bear Towne University.
It took her two hours to sort out one case in the reference section, mostly because every time she started counting, a poltergeist would shout numbers at her, and she’d lose her place. O
ver and over and over.
Finally, she gave up and worked on her original mission, which was finding a book on ghost traps. “And you’re the first ghost I’m going to lock up!” she called over her shoulder as she marched to the circulation desk.
There she encountered a problem. The place was deserted. There was no card catalog and no computer. Hailey slapped her hands against her legs and looked all around. How was she supposed to find a book in that place? Slumping into a wooden chair at a desk near the stacks, Hailey plopped her head against the bare wood of the table and squeezed her eyes shut.
When she opened them, she saw, unnervingly close to her face, a tiny inchworm.
Hailey bolted upright. “You’re a bookworm, aren’t you?”
The worm nodded.
“You wouldn’t happen to know where I could find a good book on ghost traps, would you?”
The worm nodded again, inched itself together and like a pebble out of a sling-shot, it flew off the table toward the stacks, skidding to a halt only moments later on the desk in front of Hailey with two books in tow—Modern Methods in Poltergeist Procurement and Techniques in Crystallic Ghost Trap Calibration.
“Perfect!” she said, and the worm bowed. “You got a name?”
The worm nodded and flipped open a stray book on the desk, tapping its nose against the name of the author—Matthew.
“Pleased to meet you, Matthew.”
The worm bowed again and inched away as Hailey headed to Mysteries.
She’d only just climbed the ladder with an armful of books when Fin appeared.
“Too bad you’re not wearing a skirt,” he called up to her with a broad smile.
“Fin!”
“Hai—ley!” Mrs. Spitz called out.
She pumped her arms high as she took ridiculously long strides.
Fin gave her a wide berth.
“There are only six hundred and eighty-five books on that shelf!” She pointed emphatically toward Reference.
“I’ll add another two when I’m finished here.”
“You’ll add another two right now,” Mrs. Spitz countered.
“I’ll only be ten minutes longer here . . .”