“You know, happily ever after.”
“No. I see her going back home to her family.”
“Without you?”
I didn’t hesitate. “Without me.”
There was another beat of silence. “Mind if I take a shot?”
“You can try. But I don’t think you’ll have any luck.”
He snorted. “No? Why not?” When I didn’t reply, he laughed. “You like her.”
“Of course.”
“But you don’t want to be with her?”
“I’m not right for her. You aren’t either.” Whether he wanted to face it or not, it was true. “You’re not stable. You don’t have a good job, with a high-rise somewhere. You can’t take care of her. Think about it. I don’t know what your game is here, but I know it’s not one that can give Lexi the lifestyle she’s used to.”
“And you think that would make her happy?” he asked. I pushed the image of the man who’d stabbed me with the broken vase from my mind. “I don’t know her that well but, from what I can see, she doesn’t seem to care about money and definitely not about stability”.
“Maybe not now. But that kind of thing will matter to her later on. When she’s trying to make a life for herself.”
“And what makes you an expert on all things Lexi?”
“I’ve seen enough of rich people to know that they tend to value their money. And whether she sees it now or not, she’s one of them. It’s the kind of life she deserves.”
He shrugged. “It’s the kind of life we all deserve. Or nobody does.” I didn’t reply. I thought of the stack of cash I had in the bottom of my bag. It would last me a long time, but not forever. It certainly wasn’t enough to provide anyone with any kind of stable life. Besides, even if I’d had all the money in the world, stability wasn’t in my cards.
“Listen, Eric. A girl like Lexi is inherently better than you or I,” I said. His fingers tightened on the wheel. He didn’t want to hear it, but I could tell he knew it was true. “She just is. There’s something special about her. Besides the contacts and the amazing hair.”
“Her hair is amazing.”
“Uh-huh. But beyond that. She has something special.”
“From the guy who has wings! Man, if I could fly...”
“If you could fly, you’d be stuck hiding. Stuck alone.”
“You have Lexi,” he said quietly.
“Not really. And not forever. Everything is temporary.”
“Everything is temporary for everyone. At least you can fly.”
Lexi shifted slightly, and we both fell silent. As we flew down the highway, I tried not to think about Eric’s intentions. It would be convenient for him if I were gone. But he didn’t seem evil- intentioned, despite the covert plans he was enacting. I wondered if he had family somewhere—people who loved him and cared whether or not he were okay. I thought again of Nik. Everything about my education had been serious and thorough: read, work, study. Most of it, of course, had been focused on how to steal from the regular rich but the other stuff—the math, the science, the literature—had been there too. Beyond education, though, Nik and I never had a relationship. There were no stories read to me by my bedside, no asking me about my day, no indication that he cared about me beyond how well I was learning whatever it was he was trying to teach me. I wondered if it would have made a difference, had he spent time showing me any sort of affection. Instead, I’d always gotten the vague impression that he disliked me. I had spent my time, early on at least, trying to earn his approval. I had failed.
I looked at Eric, hands still white-knuckled on the wheel, and wondered if he’d ever worried about his parents’ approval. The three of us were so different; we were all together and yet all completely alone.
I knew we were nearing our destination when Eric started slowing down as we passed highway markers, reading carefully as he went. It was pitch black aside from the headlights. “We’re getting close now?” I stated the obvious as a question.
“Yeah, the property is right around here somewhere.” We turned off the main highway and drove in silence for a long while. I could tell he knew exactly where we were going now because he sped up a little, merely scanning for the correct place to turn off. I glanced at Lexi, worried. If he had some sinister purpose, I would have to protect her.
Why had I allowed her to come in the first place? Was I really so selfish that I would endanger Lexi, simply for the fleeting pleasure of her company? I had known Eric was up to something and I had brought her anyway. He slowed. As he turned down an unmarked gravel road, I looked for a clue as to where we were going. Far ahead of us was a structure, shrouded partially by trees. I suspected that was our destination.
“Is that the place?” I asked. He started slightly.
“You can see it from here?”
“Good eyesight.”
“Yeah, that’s the place.” He slowed again as we approached and pulled into the rough-hewn driveway.
“This place is—abandoned?” Lexi asked. It seemed to be dawning on her that there were details he must have taken care of in advance, before we’d even talked about setting out together. “When—how did you find it? How did you know it would be abandoned?”
“I have contacts,” he said. He was looking closely at me now, in the mirror. I could guess he was trying to decide whether or not I would see this thing through. As we coasted to a stop, I could see there was a light on in the living room of the small farmhouse. The curtains were drawn but a sliver of white alerted me to the fact that there was likely someone inside. I never should have allowed Lexi to come. I had no idea what we would be walking into.
Eric swung his lanky frame out of his seat and, as Lexi and I followed him to the rear of the car, I grabbed her arm, slowing her. He pulled his bag out and started towards the house but, as we reached the trunk, I leaned in close to Lexi.
“When I head towards Eric, lock yourself in the car.” She didn’t need to hear anything else. She nodded quickly, and I grabbed my bag and caught up with Eric, who was lingering between the house and the vehicle, watching me uncertainly. I swung my arm around him in an unexpected gesture of false camaraderie. “Well, Partner, let’s go.” The car door slammed, and Eric glanced behind us. “She’s going to wait in the car,” I said. He’d left the keys in the ignition and I was glad to know she could at least attempt an escape, should something happen. I wondered how long she would wait out there for me. “After you.”
Eric glanced sharply at me. “You think I would let anything happen to her?”
“I don’t know anything about you, other than you haven’t asked me anything about who I am or where I’m from, and I would bet my life on the fact that you didn’t need a GPS to tell you where we were going.”
“If you knew so much,” Eric said, flinging open the front door, “why did you bring her? I’m not the bad guy. I don’t have some evil plot up my sleeve. I’m just doing what I was told.” He gestured to the interior of the room now, and I followed his gaze.
“Hello, Joshua,” Nik greeted me casually, leaning against the brick of the unlit fireplace. “Glad you could make it.”
Chapter 12
I said nothing to the man before me now. The vitality I remembered so clearly in him was gone; his cheeks were sunken, skin ashen, eyes hollow. Like a walking death. “Sorry for all the secrecy,” Nik said. “I was afraid you wouldn’t come and it was imperative that I see you.”
“I would have come.”
He shrugged. “I couldn’t risk that you wouldn’t. I told Eric to get you by any means.”
“Good for you. Why?”
“I needed to tell you some things, before it’s too late.”
“You’re dying.” It wasn’t a question but he nodded.
“I am. We all are, actually, but I’m on my way out right now.”
“What’s wrong with you?”
“I don’t know. But I’m not getting any better.”
Eric cleared his throat. “Can
I bring Lexi in now?” he asked.
Nik raised his eyebrows. “Lexi?”
“A friend. She knows,” I said.
“Not good.”
I knew how Nik believed we should deal with problems. He tended to think permanent solutions were always the most effective. It was the primary reason we’d parted company. “This guy knows, ” I said.
“He works for me,” Nik said. “He knows he’ll be well paid, if he does what he’s told. And what will happen if he doesn’t. Fear and money make excellent companions.”
“She actually cares about me.”
“So much less binding, when the affection starts to wane.”
Eric shifted and coughed slightly. “She’s out there waiting. She saved his life, you know, Nik.”
“She did? You’re a lucky man, Joshua. I just wish –“ he turned his gaze to Eric again, “that you’d let me know you were bringing her. But you might as well invite her in now.” I didn’t like the way he said it, but I couldn’t very well leave her in the car forever. And he knew about her now, anyway. As Eric disappeared, Nik said, “We have much to talk about, Joshua. But not right now.”
Lexi came in, looking hesitant, and I reached out my hand to her. She took it quickly. “Lexi. Good to meet you.” His steely blue eyes met her gaze directly, and his voice communicated no warmth. “I’m Nik.” She glanced at me sharply.
“Nik.”
“Ah, you’ve heard about me. All good things, of course.”
“Of course.” I felt the pressure on my hand tighten, and I squeezed hers quickly in return.
“Come, sit. It’s late. Or early, depending on how you want to think of it. I’ve made coffee.”
Things were uncomfortable, at best. We sat at the kitchen table. Nik’s coffee was strong, like he’d always made it, and I saw Lexi grimace as she swallowed. She cleared her throat. “So, how do you and Eric know each other?” she asked.
“I noticed that the young man was in need of gainful employment. I decided I’d offer him some work.”
“That was generous of you.” Lexi looked at me.
“Yes. I’m the true definition of a philanthropist,” he said dryly.
“It was a pretty sweet deal,” Eric added, taking a swig of his drink. “Takes me off the street, lets me live here, and then pays me to find this guy.” He gestured with his free hand at me. “Easiest money I ever made.”
“How did you find me?”
“Easy. Nik said you like looking for money in condos way up in the air. I started reading a bunch of newspapers online from all over the place for stories about strings of high-rise robberies. I kept looking until I found the right city. And then I just watched the skies in the pricey neighborhoods. Eventually, there you were. I followed you.”
“Pretty good.”
“I taught him to outsmart even you, my boy.” Nik smiled thinly across the table at me. “It’s too bad you were so easily found.”
“Not really,” Eric interjected quickly. “If I hadn’t found him, he probably woulda bled out.”
Lexi blanched slightly, and I tried to steer the topic to lighter things. “So, how’d you find this place?”
“Bank was auctioning it off. The family all died in a tragic accident. Carbon monoxide, I think they said.” So much for lighter conversation. Carbon monoxide. Right.
“So you own it?”
“I do. Free and clear. This and a dozen other properties. Bet you never thought you’d see the day when I owned my own land.”
“Can’t say I did.”
“It’s a lovely home,” Lexi said.
“Home indeed.” We fell, then, into an uncomfortable silence.
He drained his cup and stood abruptly. “Time to talk, Joshua. You and I.”
I took Lexi’s hand. “I’m not leaving her alone here,” I said. I’d come to a decision at the table. “She already knows about me, obviously. Anything you plan to say can be said in front of her.”
Nik tilted his head thoughtfully. “As you wish then.” I was certain he saw her as a threat; he must feel that way about Eric too and, if that were true, Eric was no safer here than Lexi. I knew exactly how Nik felt about liabilities. As we settled down in the living room—Lexi and I on the couch, Nik standing awkwardly across the room against the wall—I could hear the clink of dishes as Eric began cleaning up.
Nik cleared his throat. He looked almost vulnerable, standing there, trying to figure out how to begin. I’d never seen the man look so unsure of himself. “I didn’t want to leave anything unsaid.”
“Is this where you tell me you’ve always loved me like a son?”
“No. This is where I tell you who you really are.” Lexi inhaled sharply beside me, and it took me a moment to realize I was holding my breath too. He waited for us to exhale, and then he continued. “I knew your mother and father—your real ones. You might as well know—I was in love with your mother, and I was there the day you were taken.” The room was so still that we could have been in a painting. A thousand questions rushed to mind, but I couldn’t seem to give voice to any of them. “We used to live with others of our kind—in parts of Siberia, up in the mountain caves. Ours is one tribe of many. Your mother and I –” He hesitated and then seemed to decide something. “There’s a much easier way to do this.” He crossed the room, stopping directly in front of me.
“Do what?”
“Make you understand where you came from.”
He placed his hand on my cheek. “What...” I started, but I felt the question die in my throat as a rush of memories flooded my senses. The sharp scent of trees, the cool winter air, the drifting snow—and her. I could see her in my mind as clearly as I saw Nik standing before me. She grinned, her dark familiar eyes gleaming at me in the twilight and her wings extending from the back of her white fur tunic.
Except she wasn’t really looking at me, I realized. These were Nik’s memories. She was looking at him. Together, they were flying downwards towards a low, white clearing, far below the snow-capped mountaintops. Nik was flying.
“What’s happening?” Lexi’s voice was panicked.
I couldn’t look away from Nik’s face, but she was waiting for some kind of answer. I groped for words to explain what was happening. “I’m pretty sure I can see Nik’s memories.”
“How?” she asked.
“Pay attention,” Nik whispered to me, ignoring Lexi. In his thoughts, he and my mother landed amid trees. She was holding a small bundle securely against her body with one hand and, with her other, she touched his. I could feel, through the emotion in his thoughts, how much he loved her. There was an air of excitement about them, too: a thrill and a newness. She looked down, her smile faltering, and I realized then that the bundle in her arms was a small baby, with eyes like hers, like mine.
“Is that me?” I asked, interrupting his vision.
He nodded. “We’d meet like this, every few days, while she was out gathering snow for water. She’d bring you, and we’d leave you in a small outcropping of rocks among the cave while we—enjoyed—each other’s company. Your father didn’t know.”
In the memory, she placed me down on the snowy ground. My wings were fanned out around me. She took Nik’s hand again, and they flew off a ways, leaving me lying there alone.
“We should never have been flying below the tree line. But the knowledge came too late.” I heard my mother’s scream ring out—a loud, broken sound. She grasped at the ground, frantically, clinging to the empty blanket. Nik was looking around quickly, scanning the woods and the trees. The retreating figures of two people with backpacks, a high-powered flashlight to guide their way, were just visible in the distance. Nik flew after them, leaving my mother behind him in a heap on the snow. He closed in on the couple and, with a sudden surge of speed, pushed the man to the ground. I could see, through his eyes, the fight. In the periphery, I saw a woman clutching the baby close, tears streaming down her face. She looked familiar. I knew that face. I knew that woman. Nik’s att
ention, though, was on the man. They were fighting; Nik was powerful and angry, but the man was more sure on his feet. The ground was home to the man and foreign to Nik. Gear was everywhere, and Nik’s hand was around the man’s throat. I could hear the woman screaming in the background. “Let him go! Stop! Please!” They were words spoken in English. So familiar. Then I heard a loud crack, and Nik’s vision went black.
“I tried so hard to get you back. But I failed. They were climbers; adventurers on some kind of pointless exposition. And we left you right in their path. They took you, Joshua. Stole you. By the time I came to, they were long gone through the woods, daylight was coming, and your mother was destroyed.”
“Joshua?” Lexi’s voice broke through again. “What’s going on?” I blinked quickly and moved my head back, away from Nik’s touch.
“I’m sorry, Lexi,” I said, feeling like I couldn’t even quite catch my breath, feeling ashamed for shutting Lexi out completely. “I just—Nik was showing me my mother. My real one.”
“Showing you?” Her eyes were wide as she studied my face. “How?”
I looked at Nik and repeated the question. “How?”
“We –and others like us—have abilities that they—” he steadied a pointed gaze at Lexi, “don’t.”
“Like?” I asked.
“Like flight, as you know, and the ability to see without light. Like our preference and tolerance for cold extremes. We need less sleep; we heal faster.” He looked back at me and shrugged. “These things you know, of course. But we can also share memories, images, and emotions with others like ourselves, at will. Our energies connect through skin contact.”
Lexi’s brow furrowed, and she opened her mouth to ask another question, but then closed it again. “Nik used to be like me.” I told her. Her gaze shifted to my wings and then back to my face. “What are we?” I asked the question for her.
“Human, or so I’ve been told. Whether it’s adaptation or mutation, we don’t really know. We just know that they,” he gestured to Lexi again, “don’t like it. So we stay hidden.”
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