“I want to put you back onto the bed and take your hair down,” he growled.
My eyes traveled over the outline of his Adam’s apple and up the sharp curve of his jaw. “I want to do that too.”
My heart beat faster. Some sensible part of my brain was urging me to step away, but my body wouldn’t listen. The humming grew louder as I stepped even closer to him. His eyes were burning as they stared into mine and I had the overwhelming urge to know what he tasted like.
“Earth to Fawn!”
Genie’s fingers snapped in my face, bringing me out of the daze. I quickly pulled my hand from his.
“Jeez, I’ve been talking to you both for five minutes. Close the door next time.” She sauntered toward the kitchen. I rushed to beat her there, keeping my eyes downcast so she didn’t see my embarrassment. I had forgotten to put away the…
“Pears!” Genie screamed right beside me. “You got us a whole case of pears.” I tried to pull the box away, but she yanked it from my arms. “Why’d you get a whole box of canned sausages? We’ll never go through all of those.” Her nose wrinkled in disgust. Alister stood in the living room unsuccessfully trying to hide the amusement on his face.
“I’m saving them,” I glared at Genie. “Vorie was preparing for the move and now she isn’t here, so I’m doing it.”
“Where are you moving?” Alister interrupted. I grabbed the pears while Genie was distracted and hid them on the top shelf of the pantry.
“The wild.” Genie rolled her eyes. “They’ve been making plans to leave the city and go live in the wild of Idaho.” She turned to me. “I thought with Vorie gone you’d give this up.”
I shook my head. “It’s what I want for us more than anything in this world.” I glanced up at the clock. “Can we please talk about this later? I have to get to work.”
“When will we go see Vorie?” Genie asked as I raced to the door with Alister following me.
“Soon,” I promised.
Chapter 22
∞
“Slow down.” Alister reached out to grab me but thoughtfully pulled his hand back. “What’s this whole living in the wild thing about?”
“I’m not even sure what I want anymore. It was always my dream to leave here and live somewhere with no portals. Now that idea hurts because if I don’t have a portal, I can’t go see Vorie whenever I want.”
“I see.” He looked out over the trash lined street. “But you are still preparing to go. You haven’t made your mind up yet.”
“No, I haven’t.” I picked up the pace.
“If it’s worth anything, I’d like you to stay.” Alister’s long legs allowed him to easily catch up to me.
I looked at him from the corner of my eye. “You could always come with me.”
“Run away to the wild?” Alister smiled. “I’d like that, but I doubt they’d ever let me leave.” We rounded the corner to the street with the portal entrance. A woman was sitting on the sidewalk.
“Ruth!” I left Alister’s side as I rushed to her. “You came back. I was really hoping you would.” All the stress of the past few days eased from my shoulders. If she was here, then maybe everything I’d been doing wasn’t all for nothing. I pulled her up and hugged her tightly.
“I never left.” Ruth pried herself from my embrace and I stepped back slightly embarrassed. “I mean, I left this spot for a few days, but I didn’t go back to the realm. I was hiding but I think the coast is clear now and I felt that I had to tell you what happened.”
Suddenly the sound of an approaching engine filled the quiet street. I looked up to see Brayson’s truck barreling down the pavement. The tires screeched as he slammed on the breaks. Then he jumped out of the driver’s seat clutching a stack of papers in his hand.
“Fawn, come here!” Brayson yelled. I raced over to him leaving Alister and Ruth to follow.
Brayson spread the blueprints over the hood of the running engine. “Look,” he said excitedly as he showed me the design. “This is it here. The grates beneath the floor span the entire length of the structure. The funnel opening of the grate empties right below the stage. But look at this.” He shuffled a new page to the top and smoothed out the wrinkles. “The grates were designed with these weird symbols on them. The symbols confuse spirits who died in a violent manner and pull them into the web.”
“This is it then.” I looked at the pages, not fully understanding what I was seeing. “The symbols on the grates are the trap that is holding her there. Is there any way to change them?”
“That’s the thing.” Brayson ran a hand through his hair. “I don’t think there is, but if I can find a way to shift the walls then she might be able to escape.”
“Alright,” I breathed a sigh of relief. “We have a plan.”
“Fawn.” Ruth grabbed me by the shoulders. “I really need to talk to you.”
“I’m listening.” I tried to focus but my eyes kept glancing toward the intricately designed symbols on the page.
“The day after you brought me food, that blond jerk came back through the portal. He was raging mad and he glared at me with such hate that I ran into the building over there to hide after he left. I thought he was going to your house to see you, but I watched you and your other two friends enter the portal without him. I must have fallen asleep while waiting because it was morning when I opened my eyes. That guy was so intense, I didn’t know what to think. He scared the shit out of me though.”
“Fergus?” I backed away from her slowly until my body connected with the brick wall behind me. “He was here the night she died?”
“What did she just say?” Rage contorted Brayson’s face into someone unrecognizable.
“How? Why?” My words were so quiet I wasn’t sure if I’d said them aloud.
Is this why Vorie doesn’t trust him? Why wouldn’t she have just told me?
I suddenly remembered him kissing my cheek the other night and I felt like I was going to vomit.
“I’m going to the club with you,” Brayson snarled through clenched teeth.
“I’m coming too,” Alister said coldly. He took a phone from his pocket and I stared at the device. There were rumors that phones still existed, but I’d never seen one. I glanced to Ruth and noticed the healthy color in her cheeks that wasn’t there before.
My mind was fracturing, picking up tiny insignificant details, because I couldn’t cope with the idea that I’d brought someone here who would kill Vorie. I’d even talked to him for days after her death. I was kind to him. Bile rose in the back of my throat and I spit it onto the sidewalk. I needed to get to work and I needed to find Fergus.
“I got tickets for us there,” Alister told Brayson. I vaguely registered this meant they were coming with me as I stepped into the void. The pulling, clawing sensation of being sent to the in between ripped me from the pit of my own self-loathing. I was going to kill him.
*
Fergus was standing there waiting as if nothing had happened when I exited the portal. I went running full speed at him, beating my fists against his chest as soon as I got close enough. A small internal voice reminded me I couldn’t actually hurt him there, but I swung with every ounce of strength I had anyway.
He easily caught my wrists and looked at me in shock. “What are you doing?” he asked in confusion.
“Why would you? How could you?” I screamed incoherently. The air around me was shaking unsteadily.
“Let her go,” Alister commanded from behind me. The two of them locked eyes as I shoved Fergus away.
Brayson came roaring out of the portal. He dove past me and grabbed Fergus by the shirt collar. His fist was white knuckled as he repeatedly slammed it into Fergus’ face.
Alister put his hand on my shoulder. The touch sent waves of warmth down my spine. “You have to calm down little deer. Look around, you’re making something happen here and we are right in the middle of it.”
I felt the air shifting and whipping our faces. In a small moment of clari
ty, I knew he was right. Inhaling deeply, I stepped to Brayson’s side. He’d wrestled Fergus into a locked position on the ground. The wind died down around us.
“Get off me,” Fergus said. “What the hell is wrong with you people?”
I dropped to my knees and calmly looked at his face. “What did you do to Vorie?”
“Vorie? I didn’t do anything to her. Why would you think I did something?” Brayson tightened his arm around Fergus’ neck.
“You came to my portal the night she died. Why were you there?” My voice was flat and steady.
The color drained from his face and his eyes shifted before responding. “I wanted to talk to you before you left. I was hoping to convince you not to go to Dives.”
“Bullshit,” I spat out the word. “You would have run into me if you were looking for me.”
“Fawn, I’m not lying. I got turned down the wrong street and by the time I found your flat, you were already gone.”
“Do you believe him?” Alister stood beside me.
“No.” The word hung heavy in the expanse of space. “All he does is lie.” Fergus struggled against Brayson’s hold but couldn’t budge him off.
“We can’t stay out here all night.” Alister glanced at the portal. “Someone is bound to come through soon.” He manifested some rope and tied Fergus up. Brayson and Alister pulled Fergus to his feet.
“Let me see if Raleigh is here.” I raced down the hall of The Nocere to find the coat check desk empty. “Come on!” I yelled back to the guys. They dragged him through the bar and into the employee lounge.
“Fawn,” Fergus pleaded again. “I didn’t do anything to Vorie. I would never do anything to hurt you. Please believe me.”
“I don’t believe a word you say.” I shut the door behind us. “Alister, will those ropes hold up? He is a destroyer.” Fergus flinched when I said the word. “Oh, that bothers you, but killing my friend doesn’t?” I glared at him.
“We need something stronger.”
“Like a cage or a crate?” Brayson was shaking with rage but I could tell his sensible side was remembering he couldn’t physically hurt Fergus here.
“Can you build something? Fast,” I urged him.
Brayson closed his eyes. “Walls are my specialty,” he murmured. Almost instantly a soundproof box with thick black walls appeared around Fergus sealing him inside. Brayson sat on the couch with his hands covering his face. “What do we do with him now?”
I saw Vorie before Brayson could sense her sitting next to him.
“Hey,” she whispered in his ear. He broke into tears and tried to hug her before falling face first on the cushion.
“Vorie,” he cried as he sat back up and reached out to touch the wound on her neck.
“Shh, shh,” she soothed him. “It’s okay. I’m okay.”
“I’m going to kill him,” Brayson’s voice cracked. Alister and I stepped to the side to give them a moment alone.
“The grates are keeping all of them here,” Alister whispered excitedly. “Does that mean Roger is somewhere here too?” I nodded.
“Roger!” Alister called out to the ceiling. “Oh man, I need to talk to you.”
“He won’t come,” Vorie spoke softly from her seat next to Brayson. “He doesn’t trust anyone anymore.”
“They’ve been searching for him in the realm for days now,” Alister said in frustration. “We are trying to find out who did this to him.” Vorie shook her head sadly.
“I have to go Fawn,” Alister said as he opened the door. “I hate to do this to you right now, but I will be back as soon as I can. Keep him in the box and don’t do anything drastic until I get back.”
“Where are you going?” I followed him into the bar.
“I have to tell them where he is.” Alister took off running down the hallway and the girls flattened themselves against the wall to let him by.
“Are you okay?” Astrid asked as she skipped down the steps.
“No,” I sighed. “I’m falling apart here. It’s just one thing after another.”
“What’s happening now?” the twins asked in unison.
Karl walked out of the hallway and I quickly ushered the girls into the lounge. The questions started flying before I fully closed the door.
“Is this your friend Vorie?”
“Who is this guy?”
“Why is there a giant freaking box in here?”
“I’m going to need you all to sit down for this.” Vorie smiled at the girls as they took a seat around the room. Then I explained how we got to this point in time.
“He killed you?” Lilith asked in shock.
“I don’t know,” Vorie shrugged. “I didn’t see who it was. He came up from behind me.”
“Why would he hurt her?” Claire asked.
“Do you see the way he looks at Fawn like he owns her?” Chloe nudged her sister. “Maybe he thought she was some kind of threat to that.”
“Or I might have pissed him off when I was prying into his life at dinner the other night,” Brayson suggested, casting a cold look toward the box.
“What do we do? How can we help?” Astrid asked. The other girls nodded and looked to me expectantly. Their unquestioning loyalty gave me a deeper strength. That’s what orphans do though, we stick together.
“I’m still not sure what the best plan is, but our shift is about to start. Act like normal for now and I’ll figure it out by the end of the night.”
Chapter 23
∞
“Have you seen Fergus?” Bemouth towered over me as I filled the drink order for my table. The club wasn’t as packed as a show night, but it was busy enough to keep me moving.
“Nope.” I picked up the tray. Bemouth lingered where he stood for a moment before stepping out of the way so I could do my job.
The crowd began to thin out towards the end of the night. Bemouth no longer stood at the entrance and I worriedly wondered if he was off looking for Fergus. My mind was racing as I tried to come up with a plan.
Maybe we should just keep him in the box until Alister gets back. He can buy Fergus a ticket to our portal. We’ll sneak him out of here and take him back to the world. There was no law that would help us, but maybe my neighborhood would if they knew what he did to Vorie.
I walked across the bar to the furthest table in my section. The table sat hidden in the shadows from the drapes on the walls. A single customer had come in and taken a seat there. I glanced at the clock. One hour until closing.
Hopefully Alister comes back soon, otherwise Fergus is staying in there for the night.
“Look at you now. You’re all grown up.” Time stood still as I looked at the customer’s face half hidden in the dark.
“Excuse me?” My forehead creased as my brain tried to register what he just said.
The man chuckled and an icy fear pricked its way down my back. This wasn’t the fear I dealt with daily, this was a primal deep-rooted terror that slowed the beating of my heart. I knew that laugh.
“What can I get you to drink?” My shaking voice came out a whisper.
“Tell me you don’t remember me.” He feigned indignation. “I remember you. I watched you at the orphanage after they brought you back. I watched for many years.”
I glanced at the empty entrance door willing Bemouth, or even Fergus at that point, to be there.
The man continued, toying out his words, keeping me frozen to the spot. “I had to go away for a while, but I rushed back to you as soon as I could.”
My heart started beating again, harder than normal, as a cold panic pumped through my veins.
“You grew up on me. Tsk, tsk,” he clucked his tongue. “I thought it was you working at the orphanage when I went to check, but she didn’t fight like you did.” The monster waved his scarred hand in the air, I could see the teeth marks still embedded in the healed skin. “When I saw you rush to the stage that night, I knew who you were.”
Anger and panic played tug of war with my stoma
ch as I slowly pieced together what he was saying. “You were the one who killed her?”
He bared his teeth as he grinned. “My mistake,” he said. “Why don’t you fetch me a glass of red wine and keep them coming. We wouldn’t want the owner of this establishment to think he had lazy employees, now would we? As luck would have it, I’m meeting with him tomorrow night to go over some business arrangements.”
Dreamlike and dazed, I turned on my heels and headed toward the bar.
He’d been out there waiting in the dark. I always did have a reason to be afraid. And he’d hurt Vorie. My monster killed my friend because he thought it was me. It really was my fault that Vorie died.
By the time I reached the counter, the anger fighting to be set free finally escaped.
Lilith was waiting for Karl to pour her drinks. “It was freezing in here two seconds ago and suddenly it is burning hot. Tell me this isn’t menopause and you felt it too.”
Karl laughed. “Aye. I felt it. Strangest thing.”
“I need you both to leave right now. Get the rest of the girls and go home. Don’t be obvious but do it fast.” Something in my eyes told Lilith to move without question. Karl stood staring at me confused. She took the liquor bottle from his hand and led him away by his elbow.
“Lilith,” I whispered as she passed. “Leave your shoes please.” She took off her heels and placed them on the bar counter.
“Good luck,” she whispered back as she quietly slipped away. I poured a glass of red wine and methodically carried it over to the table, giving the girls enough time to safely leave.
“Don’t go far,” the monster smiled. “I’m going to want more, and we have a lot of catching up to do.”
I lowered my eyes and walked slowly to the lounge. My brain was numb as I opened the door. I didn’t have a plan. I was running on pure adrenaline.
The Nocere: A Haunting Dystopian Tale Book 1 Page 13