by Aria Sparke
She looked into my eyes with an emotion I could only read as grief.
The day had turned cold, so we packed the remains of the picnic into the basket and strolled together in silence from the gardens.
* * *
CHAPTER 9
Lily: The Truth About Jack
Why was life twisting and turning so wildly? Just when I had found the man I loved and wanted to spend the rest of my life with, the universe had thrown a ridiculous and complicated mess in our laps. Our love was so pure yet contaminated by an ugly world. Since the picnic in the gardens, my worry had deepened. I sensed Flynn didn’t want to take the mortal step. I couldn’t blame him. In fact, I didn’t want him to make the sacrifice. It wasn’t fair or right if he entertained fear or doubt. Given he must harbor abhorrence to the idea of aging; it wasn’t the right decision for him. Just because Alexis and my father had taken the step, I couldn’t let Flynn change his mind out of guilt.
As for his worry about drawing me and our potential children into his flawed world, that notion was too big for me to think about clearly or logically. At nineteen, I hadn’t even considered the prospect of kids in my future. That was too far away.
I decided to back off and distance myself from him romantically to give him space and time to think. Even though I longed for him physically with an almost inhuman intensity, I knew it was for the best. Instead, I decided I’d redouble my efforts to learn magic in-between studying my courses.
Early in the morning a week later, I tiptoed from my bed so as not to wake Anya. Saddened by the sight of Flynn’s closed door, I hurried out to the kitchen where my dad was hunched over his computer.
‘Are you okay?’ he asked. ‘You look tired.’
‘I probably studied too late last night.’ I didn’t dare tell him I’d spent hours scouring my mother’s books for a spell to solve our dilemma. I desperately wanted to tell Dad everything and to ask him what had given him the courage to age although the reason was glaringly obvious. I didn’t want my father thinking less of Flynn if he weren’t prepared to follow where he had gone.
‘Everything okay with you and Flynn?’ He was digging and I suspected he already had an idea why I was so flat and downcast.
‘Yes, why?’ Neither Flynn nor I had spoken about our discussion in the botanic gardens. Outwardly we spoke to each other as though nothing had changed, yet physically we hadn’t touched each other. I missed him desperately.
‘No reason.’ He waved at a box of cereal and a container of milk lying on the table with a pile of bowls and spoons. ‘Have some breakfast.’
‘I’m going to the hospital to work on a project.’ I poured tea for both of us. ‘It should help my grades.’
‘Which department?’
‘Professor Gamin is running a few personal research projects in hematology.’
He nodded with a curious expression. ‘Take my car. Flynn said he was going to hire a car today, so I can get a lift with him if I need to go anywhere.’
‘Thanks, Dad, but that’s okay. I’m going with a group from my class after lectures. We’ll be back in the late afternoon.’ Jack had texted me last night inviting me to go with him and two others from Burgmann College. ‘In any case, I don’t have a local driving license.’ It made me wonder how Flynn had managed to get one—then again, his family seemed adept at procuring what they needed.
Later that morning, I mechanically took notes in the statistics class while my mind drifted toward thoughts of Flynn and our problem. Compared to the other classes, statistics wasn’t too challenging, so I relaxed as I daydreamed.
Mentally floating off toward the end of the lecture, I was startled by a vision of Prof. Gamin in a laboratory setting and Jack sitting in a chair giving blood. The scene swirled and morphed while Jack was being chased by the professor down a lit corridor with shiny white tiles and glaring overhead lights. Clutching the desk, I pulled my mind from the nightmare only to see those around me with their heads down writing and the woman at the lectern pointing to some notes on the whiteboard. What had I just seen? Was it a vision or a simple daydream?
As I walked to Burgmann College after lunch, my earlier fears subsided. Every day before heading off to classes, I packed my cante at the bottom of my bag like a security blanket and as I was now living with four dhampirs far away from Wicklow, what could go wrong? My father and the triplets were here to support and protect me. As I thought about it, my need to study toward medicine was endangering them. Being out in the community without witchcraft skills left me vulnerable and made their job harder. Was I being too selfish in following my dream? Perhaps I needed to postpone it. I shoved the uncomfortable thought deep in my brain out of sight.
Jack was standing by his car with Maeve in the parking lot under the overhanging branches of a leafy tree, but they hadn’t spotted me approaching across the lawn. I could see they were arguing. Maeve had her hands on her hips, and as I got closer I could hear her raised voice. In the shadows, Jack was leaning on the car with his hands and chin resting on the top. Before I reached them, Maeve had stormed off in the opposite direction. I slowed and when I reached Jack pretended I hadn’t heard them fight.
‘Hi, Jack,’ I called.
He swung around. ‘Hi, Lily. Ready for our unashamed attempt to curry favor with the great Prof. Gamin?’
I expected him to sound flustered, but he seemed calm and light-hearted. ‘Sure, why not? Where are the others?’
‘Nick and Cheng have bailed—something to do with beer and football. Never mind, we’ll get the good grades.’
As he opened the door to his yellow Toyota, I climbed in feeling uncomfortable being alone with him after witnessing his fight with Maeve.
‘You look tired and pale.’
‘Maeve and I had a fight,’ he said as he slid into his seat.
‘I’m sorry, but I’m sure you’ll sort it out. These things happen.’
He shrugged. ‘We’re always fighting. How about you and your boyfriend? What’s his name?’
‘Andrew.’
‘Do you fight much?’
‘Occasionally, but we’re pretty good.’
Jack started the engine and drove from the university toward the hospital. ‘Your boyfriend’s lucky. I think Maeve’s insecure. She gets jealous easily.’
I really didn’t feel comfortable discussing their problems, so I tried steering the discussion toward Prof. Gamin’s research project, but Jack seemed resistant.
‘Say, since you’re alone here how about you and I go out to dinner after helping the professor?’
Alarm bells were ringing. ‘Thanks, Jack, I appreciate the offer, but Andrew wouldn’t be happy to know I was dating in Australia.’
He nodded and grinned at me with a cheeky smile. ‘That’s okay. I thought it was worth a try. You can relax.’
But I didn’t. I knew now I had to keep an eye on Jack and avoid being alone with him in future.
He parked the car in a multi-story parking lot and we headed to an older part of the hospital.
‘Where’s hematology?’ I asked.
‘His lab isn’t with the rest of the hem guys.’
Remembering my earlier vision and seeing the glaring overhead lights in the corridor, I started to worry. Jack hurried along the corridor with me in his wake.
‘What’s his research about?’ I asked as we stepped through a doorway leading into a lab, which thankfully looked different to the one I had imagined.
The towering figure of Prof. Gamin came from the far end of the long room. ‘Good afternoon. How may I help you?’
‘Hi, Professor,’ Jack said. ‘We’re in your human physiology class and want to volunteer for this semester’s projects.’
Stressed by the memory of my vision, I glanced around his lab looking for any giveaway signs such as a coffin or a spare silver blade or two.
‘Ah, wonderful.’
I felt the hairs prickle on the back of my neck. ‘Hello, sir, I’m Lily and you already know Jack from
last year.’
Prof. Gamin looked at Jack vaguely. ‘I heard you asking about my projects a few moments ago.’ The professor’s skin was even paler than my father or the triplets’. If his hooded, lizard-like eyes hadn’t been silvery-blue, I would’ve believed him to be albino. ‘I’m working on several to do with immunology including inflammation and cell death.’
‘Sounds interesting, how can Jack and I help?’ I asked.
‘Hmm, well a blood donation would be a good starting point.’
I baulked. It wasn’t what I’d anticipated.
He handed me a card and asked me to fill out my details. When it came to the section about next of kin, I wrote Andrew Jones, Flynn’s alias. As for the address, I wrote another number and street name in the suburb I was staying. I’d be gone in about ten weeks with a bit of luck and no one would know.
The whole afternoon was becoming bizarre with Jack hovering and Prof. Gamin rubbing his hands and licking his lips before extracting blood from my arm.
‘I’m most grateful, Lily. Fresh blood’s hard to come by, yet the more I can gather, the quicker I can progress my research. I know it’s a little unscrupulous of me.’ The professor chuckled. ‘But those annoying ethics chaps would take the rest of the semester to meet and discuss my methods. I haven’t the time or patience. Do you mind?’
I shook my head after he had plunged the needle into my vein. ‘That’s a lot of blood you’re taking,’ I said feeling dizzy after a couple of minutes.
‘Oh, sorry, I was daydreaming,’ Prof. Gamin said. ‘I had such a lovely, long lunch outside on the oval, but the sunshine and fresh air has made me drowsy. Maybe I’ll have a nap after we’re done.’
‘Don’t you worry about sunburn with the weather warming up?’ I asked.
‘Ah yes, especially with my white skin, but don’t worry I always wear sunscreen and a hat.’ He pointed at a large pump dispenser of sunscreen.
I almost laughed aloud. Sunshine? Sunscreen? I knew of no vampire or dhampir who would choose to eat lunch outside on a sunny day. I also noticed the blinds at the back of the room where he had come from weren’t drawn allowing natural light on his desk.
‘Your turn, Jack,’ the professor said.
‘Can’t today, sir, sorry. I think I’m coming down with a cold. I’ll come back next week and give you a bottle once I’m in the clear.’
‘Lovely, thanks.’ Gamin placed my blood sample in the fridge next to what looked like sandwiches he’d half eaten and forgotten.
For the remainder of the afternoon, Jack and I were given the task of feeding details the professor had scrawled on a massive stack of cards into a database. It was tedious work, so by the time five thirty came around, I was longing to leave. My initial fears of him being a vampire or even a dhampir had vanished. He was just a doddery, absent-minded professor obsessed by his work whose recording methods were outdated.
After leaving the lab we walked to the car joking about the professor’s ancient card system.
‘He’s good hearted but eccentric,’ I said.
‘That’s not uncommon with brilliant scientists.’ Jack chuckled. ‘Did you see his moldy sandwiches with the bottled blood?’
‘Yes, and cooking and craft books among the science texts in the bookcase.’
We both laughed and talked about the professor until we reached the parking lot. Jack let me in the car but suddenly remembered he’d left his bag behind.
‘You wait here. I won’t be long.’
He was gone for thirty minutes when I really started to worry. Sitting in the car alone, my mind drifted back to the daydream yet again. As Jack hadn’t given blood today, it had to be a glimpse of the future if it were a vision. I wasn’t planning to return here, so I pushed the dream to the back of my mind.
I texted Dad to tell him I was running late. I’d decided to ask Jack to drop me at the uni library because I didn’t want him to know where I lived. I told Dad I’d be at the library and not to wait for me at dinner. He texted back immediately and said they were all going out on a raid and might get back late.
A raid? Who or what were they chasing? I shivered.
Keep the doors locked, my dad warned in the text. I debated whether to climb out of the car and head for the bus stop across the road from the hospital, but as I didn’t have a timetable or map, I was reluctant. I then realized a taxi was the best option. I opened the door only to see Jack running toward the car.
‘I’m so sorry, Lily! I was held up by a pair of security officers. Just after we left, someone broke into the lab and whacked Prof. Gamin on the back of the head. I helped him up and called security. They carted him off to the emergency department.’
Horrified, I didn’t know what to say.
‘I’m sure he’ll be okay. He was conscious and sitting up.
‘Why would someone do that?’ I said.
‘No idea. It was probably a crazy, escaped patient. The world’s a weird place.’ He didn’t seem overly perturbed. ‘Come on, I’ll drop you home.’
‘Thanks, Jack, but I’m meeting someone at the Hancock Library.’
‘I’ll drop you there.’
We drove in silence. Something about his story didn’t seem right. With a relaxed demeanor, he was whistling like nothing unusual had happened. It also occurred to me that the professor hadn’t recognized Jack when we’d first arrived at the lab although he was repeating the subject. Prof. Gamin was old, so perhaps he was forgetful, yet it made me uneasy.
Once Jack had dropped me at the library, I ventured over to the cafeteria nearby and bought dinner. After eating a chicken stir-fry meal, I rang Dad, but he wasn’t picking up. It was only a fifteen-minute walk home, so I decided to jog. Although it was now dark, there was sufficient lighting on the oval to see signs of normality—a group on the other side doing athletics training and a man walking his dog. When I crossed the highway to cut through a park, I was beginning to regret my decision not to take a taxi.
A shadow in the corner of my eye seemed to be moving parallel to me, yet when I turned all I saw were a line of shadowy trees. A shiver ran down my spine. Perhaps the afternoon had been too eventful and my nerves were heightened. I picked up my pace. I swore I could hear footsteps keeping in time with mine, but saw no one behind me as I entered a narrow walkway to my street. Relieved to be only a few doors away from our house now, I slowed to a walk under the streetlights. I glanced around one more time before ducking down our drive.
Once inside the house, I turned the lights on, pulled all the drapes and locked the doors. I wished the others were here. A dog barked next door as though disturbed. I collected one of my mother’s spell books, propped it open and emptied my bag out on the floor of the lounge. Picking up my cante, I took chalk from it. Tonight I was going to test the wards of protection I’d recently studied. If there was someone out there, they weren’t going to get me because I was going to make certain no one could cross the doorways or enter through the windows. Although terrified, I was also excited at the thought I could defend myself from any vampire or dhampir that might be tempted to smash through our windows or doors. If my potential pursuer were human the locks should hold giving me time to call the local police and if they were slow, I’d rely on my physical skills. I knew I could do it.
Working steadily, I made the necessary chalk marks on the floor before the front and back doors. After I’d drawn them I progressed to the windows and repeated the symbols. Sitting in the center of the room, I lit a candle and began the complicated incantation to engage each set of ward symbols I’d drawn. I then set to work on a smaller circle of protection in case the door or window wards failed. I’d no sooner finished the spell than I heard footsteps down the side of the house.
Shaking, I fumbled for my phone and called Flynn.
He answered.
‘Where are you?’ I whispered.
‘About six miles away near the hospital.’
‘There’s someone here outside the house. I think he followed me. I
’m scared.’
‘Stay put. Lock up. We’re coming.’ His voice was steady and reassuring, but I knew he was pretending to be calm. Six miles may as well have been fifty.
‘Have you drawn a ward of protection?’ he asked quietly. ‘Just in case.’
‘Yes, it’s in place.’ I struggled not to sound panicked. ‘I’m more afraid of a human intruder.’
‘We’re getting closer.’
‘Please stay on the phone, Flynn.’
‘I’m here.’
‘Talk to me.’
Hearing a knock at the front door, I climbed to my feet, stepped over my circle of protection, turned the lights out inside the house and went to the front window.
‘What’s happening, Lily?’
‘Someone’s here.’
‘Please be careful.’
A figure was on the path. I turned the porch light on and caught Jack in the flood of light. I exhaled a sigh of relief, which was almost instantly replaced with one of fear. What was he doing here? And how did he find me?
‘It’s Jack,’ I whispered to Flynn. ‘I don’t know if I can trust him.’
‘Be careful,’ Flynn repeated. ‘Any sign of trouble, call the police. Whatever you do, don’t let him in.’
‘I’ve cast wards and a circle, but I’ll leave my phone on so you can hear everything.’
‘It’s me, Lily are you okay?’ Jack called.
Stepping carefully, so I stood behind my ward symbols, I opened the door with the safety chain attached and peered out at him. ‘What do you want?’
‘She broke up with me. Maeve says she’s had enough.’ His voice sounded different.
‘How did you know I lived here?’
‘I saw your address on the card today at the hospital.’
A lie. Who was Jack? He had obviously followed me. ‘I’ll talk to you tomorrow at uni in the physiology lecture.’
He dropped to the ground and sobbed. ‘What do I do now without her? Please could I come in and talk to you?’
‘I don’t really know you, Jack. Do you understand? My friends will be here soon though and then you could come in for a short while,’ I lied while stepping back further behind the ward symbols.