Chapter Thirty-Nine
IF IT SOUNDS LIKE THEY were hoping to attack today, or at least soon,” Sophie said the next morning, “then I shouldn’t meet you. I’ll only go to classes, and normal public places like that, and stay in the dorm the rest of the time.” She sat across from Adrian at the Airstream’s table, coffee and cereal between them.
He looked sober and stressed. “I hate it, but yeah, a couple days apart might be wise. We have to assume you’ll be followed. Watched. They’ll be looking for any time you meet one of us and disappear. So you mustn’t do that. Still—” He leaned forward, pointing at her in lawyerly fashion. “Do what a normal person would do if she saw someone stalking her. Call the police. Tell someone. Confront these people, make a scene. And if they lay hands on you, zap them and scream and all that. Although…I don’t know, be careful. They’ll probably be armed.”
She nodded and turned her gaze away, watching a long-tailed bird swoop from one treetop to another. She did want to fight them, as bitterly and viciously as she could, but what if fighting got her hurt, or killed? What if she and Adrian dodged the assassins this time, but next week Thanatos sprang a new plan on them, catching Adrian off guard and killing him?
Then at least Niko or Rhea or someone could take her to the Underworld to see him. But to be unable to touch him, to know he was confined to that cave with his emotions diminished until he felt like becoming reincarnated, and began life again as an infant somewhere…no, that was unbearable.
She turned her face farther away, as if following the bird’s flight, in order to hide the tears welling into her eyes. But the sharp catch in her next breath gave them away.
Adrian came around the table, sliding onto the bench seat beside her and enfolding her in his arms. “Don’t worry. Please don’t. Their plan’s not very good, you know. Think of the strength we have on our side. How easily we can escape into this realm. I don’t think Wilkes even knows we’re reading his email. And Niko’s going to shadow him and see what he can find out. If he sees Wilkes about to attack me or you, he’ll stop him. He wouldn’t let anything happen to us.”
She steadied her voice with another deep breath. “Do they know about Niko?”
“We don’t think so. Even if they suspect he exists, he’s so good at aliases that they’d never recognize him, or know where to look for him.”
“But how is shadowing them going to be enough?”
“Ideally, he’ll get them caught with weapons they shouldn’t have, or trespassing somewhere they shouldn’t, and they’ll get arrested. That’s why it’s important you call the police if they touch you or threaten you. Then you could get restraining orders, even if they don’t get locked up. They’d never be able to explain to a judge why they were lurking around you and behaving like that.”
Sophie sighed, resting in his embrace. “They’ll find another way. Other assassins. They always do.”
“Listen.” Adrian swayed her back and forth in his arms. “We’re the smart ones here. We’re going to win, nearly every time. All they have on their side is surprise and violence—and they’re not even very good at those. We’ve eaten the pomegranate. We have the knowledge of thousands of years.”
“Great, so I know how to milk a goat. And make my own barley bread.”
“Those could come in handy. You never know.”
Finally she smiled, and he chuckled, kissing her on the ear.
“I’m going to miss you tonight, though,” he said, voice husky. “Right now, that’s what I hate them for the most.”
She had a class in half an hour. It was time to leave. He walked her to the newest switchover spot, and kissed her on the lips, his hands framing her face. A tear spilled from her closed eyes, and he wiped it away with his thumb. “We always get back together,” he told her. “Always.”
She opened her eyes. The beauty and familiarity of his face pierced her heart. “I’d rather it was in this life, though.” Her voice quivered.
“It will be. I’ll be careful. So will you. Lie, lie, lie, just like the trickster says.”
“Lie?” She cleared her throat. “In that case, I don’t love you.”
He smiled. “I don’t love you either.” He hugged her and switched realms. With a puff of cold air that smelled of grass and car exhaust, the living world hummed to life around them. They stood under a huge rhododendron, near the edge of campus.
Sophie straightened up with a deep breath. “Do not let them get you. Whatever happens.”
“I promise. You stay safe too.”
She nodded. “I promise.”
Adrian glanced aside as a bicyclist zoomed past on the nearest street. “Better go.” Looking miserable, he kissed her once more. “Bye.”
“Bye.” She kept her eyes locked on his until he vanished.
It’ll be okay, she repeated as she walked to class, wrestling down the tears. Knowledge of centuries. We always get back together. It’ll be okay.
Then why didn’t it feel okay?
ADRIAN LEANED AGAINST a tree in the spirit realm and closed his eyes, feeling her walk away from him, the strength of her signal fading from a vibrant nearness to a modest gleam.
He heard a rustle of trotting feet and a canine grumble. Opening his eyes, he held out his hand to let Kiri lick it. Appeased, she sat at his feet and gazed at him, as if asking what they should do now.
What he should do. Good question.
Simple. Stay in this realm, smash his mobile and get a new one Sophie didn’t know about, and never approach her again. Not so much as a comment on her blog. Then she’d be safe. Thanatos would sniff around her a while, but they’d eventually realize she didn’t know where he was, and they’d leave her alone.
But it was much too late for that. She’d eaten the pomegranate. It would be psychological torture to leave her now, when she could remember it all but was physically unable to break through into this realm.
Besides, he lacked the strength to stay away from her. Existence without her—especially now that she loved him and wanted to see him—wouldn’t be worth enduring. Far better to risk his life to be with her whenever he could.
But risking hers as well?
Bloody hell, why wouldn’t she just eat the orange and join him over here?
That was a sore point. A few days ago, after he and Sophie had returned from the Underworld, Niko had texted him, Felt like you two went overseas. Orange cocktail for your girl, then?
Adrian had gritted his teeth, and had been forced to answer, Not yet. She’s thinking about it a while.
Pity, was all Niko had said, and then presumably returned to larking about the world, free as a jailbreaking bird.
Adrian knew he shouldn’t resent her for hesitating. He couldn’t expect Sophie to give up her entire earthly life just for him, a mere few weeks after they’d officially met. Besides, her eating the orange wouldn’t solve all their problems. It would only swap one set of problems for another.
As he considered ripping a few limbs off the nearest tree in frustration, another familiar signal strengthened in his mind. Nikolaos was near—and so was Freya.
He turned in the direction the signals streamed from, and within seconds, a white spirit horse streaked down from the sky and skidded to a stop, plowing up a spray of wet grass and dirt. The two riders, sharing a saddle, slid off and called hello to him.
It wouldn’t surprise anyone, Adrian thought, that Aphrodite had been reborn as a curvy Swedish blonde. Though Aphrodite’s hair had been black and her skin olive-toned, somehow he recognized her easily as the same soul. The eyes gave her away—the same shape and expressiveness they’d displayed in every life. She now wore jeans and hiking boots and a blue parka instead of clingy robes and jewels, but she still moved like Aphrodite too, all swaying hips and graceful arms.
She strolled up to Adrian and kissed him on each cheek. She smelled like woodsy, smoky vanilla, a scent he supposed was meant to allure (and usually did, surely), but which only went as far as calming him a b
it right now.
“Oh, my dear.” Her Swedish accent rounded her words. With her warm fingers she smoothed back his hair. “It looks quite serious for you.”
He felt a second’s flash of alarm before glimpsing her smile and realizing she only meant he was quite seriously in love.
Niko, having tied up the horse, walked over too. “Told you. They’re right back in the thick of it. Full marital bliss. Quick work, Adrian.”
“It’s not a conquest,” he snapped. “It’s—” Adrian exhaled and looked at their spirit horse. “Why are you here? I thought you were tracking Wilkes and Quentin.”
“Still can’t find Quentin,” Niko said. “I have a hunch on some rental houses; we’ll be checking those out. Wilkes is still in Salem, with nothing exciting showing up in his email yet. So we came to say hello. To the world’s grouchiest person. Because that’s such fun.”
Adrian knew he ought to apologize, but stress and worry delayed the words. “Thanks for coming,” he finally muttered. “I wish I were freer to move around over there, so I could just handle it myself.”
“If it means protecting Sophie, I’m happy to help,” Freya assured. “I can’t wait to meet her. I do hope she joins us.”
“Yeah, hasn’t she shown any interest in that orange?” Niko asked.
Adrian folded his arms, staring past the horse. “She wanted to see it. But not eat it yet.”
When they murmured in pity, or possibly disapproval, he burst out, “You two wouldn’t get it. You got to live decades first, have a career, have kids if you wanted, see them grow up and leave the house. She’s eighteen. If she joins us now, that’s it for a normal life. No big events in the real world, no Christmas with the family, no watching her brother graduate high school, no going to her best friend’s wedding, no sitting at her parents’ bedside when they’re dying. Because Thanatos would expect her to be at all those things, and they’d target her, and possibly blow up everyone she loves along with her. Can you blame her for wanting to think it over a bit before joining her weird brand-new boyfriend in his wasteland of ghosts and freakshow animals?”
Freya and Niko, receiving his diatribe, looked more sympathetic than offended.
Niko, in fact, looked impressed. “That may be the most I’ve ever heard you talk all at once, Adrian.”
“Of course we get it, dear.” Freya caught Adrian’s hand and stroked it. “It’s all right. The tree’s still growing and making new flowers. She has time. Plenty of opportunities.”
“And in the meantime,” Niko said, “we’ll catch the bastards. So let’s do it.” As he and Freya turned away, Niko punched Adrian on the shoulder. “You worry too much, mate. We’ll fix this. You’ll see.”
TEXTS TO AND from Adrian kept Sophie going that day. As agreed upon beforehand, the messages were vague. When Sophie said Boring day so far, she knew Adrian would understand it meant she hadn’t seen anyone following her. And when he answered, Same here. Saw friends briefly, she knew it meant he had checked in with Niko and Freya.
They said nothing of substance; no plans for next time they’d meet, not even, “I miss you and I hate this,” though Sophie longed to say it.
She slogged through the day, barely able to focus in classes, itching with paranoia every time she was outside. Rain poured down during most of the hours, hindering her ability to spot anyone suspicious in the crowds. Coats, hats, and umbrellas disguised the populace. Once or twice she thought she saw someone who might be Wilkes, but wasn’t sure.
As night fell, and she sat in her dorm room, depressed at the idea of sleeping alone, a text arrived. “Customer Disservice” was the sender. After a moment, she remembered it was Nikolaos. He hadn’t texted her directly before, but Adrian had forwarded her the contact.
Look out your window, love, it said.
She leaped up and peered out through the rain and darkness. There, under a lamppost, stood a middle-aged guy under a bright red umbrella. He wore a business suit, his paunchy belly stretching out the jacket, and his hair was gray and thick and combed back. He waved at her. It took her a moment of squinting, then she recognized Niko under the disguise. Tonight, deprived of Greek gods and aching for them, she felt unusually delighted to see him.
Hi! I’ll be right down, she answered.
“Just going to get some fresh air,” she told Melissa, who was studying at her desk.
“It’s pouring,” Melissa said.
“Yep, I’ll…bring an umbrella.” Grabbing her purple umbrella, Sophie darted from the room, down the stairs, and out into the wet, breezy night.
Niko sauntered over, meeting her beneath the shelter of the dorm’s overhang. He looked ridiculous to her eyes, but surely would pass as a parent or professor to any casual onlooker.
“Hi, Uncle Joe,” she said, not that anyone was out there listening.
“Hello, niece.” He switched to the ancient language that was Persephone’s mother tongue. “I just wanted to assure you I haven’t seen any indication that anyone’s moving in on you tonight. Nor on Adrian, not that they could reach him. He’s safe in his caravan, scowling and being prickly.”
For the word “caravan,” she noticed, he substituted English. That was a word the old language didn’t have.
“Good,” she answered, using the old Greek-ancestral tongue as well. “Is Wilkes following me? I thought maybe I saw him.”
“No, he’s been stuck at home all day. Strangest thing. His car battery—” (he also resorted to English for those words) “—disappeared completely.”
Sophie grinned. “How very strange.”
“Yes. Can’t imagine how that happened. Then, while he was dealing with that, a fire started in his laundry room.”
She covered her mouth. “Niko!”
“Uncle Joe,” he corrected sternly. “No one was hurt, so calm down. Kept him busy all day, though. Not a chance to drive here and disturb anyone.”
“But isn’t he going to suspect someone’s messing with him—that we know his plans?”
“He might, yes.” Niko sighed. “Adrian’s angry at me for that. We’re supposed to be like the Allies in World War Two, I guess, and let attacks happen so no one knows we’re decoding the Nazis’ messages. I’m not a big fan of that approach. I’d have messed with him a lot more if left to my own devices. I had plans for a whole cage of ferrets…” Niko’s voice trailed off as he looked away, forlorn at the rejection of his glorious ideas.
“What about Quentin?”
“Freya’s been looking for her. Surveillance on one rental house after another in Corvallis. Haven’t found her yet.”
“I don’t suppose you could set her house on fire when you find it.” Such sentiments were unlike Sophie, but she couldn’t help feeling them when it came to Quentin.
“I just might. Well, we’ll check in tomorrow, darling. Can I bring Ade a kiss back for you?” Without awaiting permission, he leaned down and kissed her juicily on the cheek.
She wiped it off. “Yuck.”
He nodded in commiseration. “Isn’t that the kind of kiss uncles always give, though? Now, Freya’s been complaining that today’s surveillance was absolutely the most boring thing she’s ever had to do, so I’d better go make it up to her with a much more exciting night.”
“Again yuck,” said Sophie, but she smiled.
With a wink, he walked off.
Despite Niko’s assurance, she felt uneasy as she reentered the dorm. The divine liar, thief, and trickster evidently wasn’t above arson. And he remained the only person she knew to have gotten hold of her phone. Was there any chance he was the exact person they should suspect? A chill crawled through her body.
Pausing on the landing in the stairwell, she dialed Adrian’s number.
“What’s up?” he answered, sounding tense.
She resorted to the language of the Underworld this time. “Are we sure we can trust Nikolaos?”
He took a moment to answer, then said, also in that language, “Of course. I mean—trust him, no, n
ever entirely. He does what he wishes, even when it’s reckless and wrong. Like that fire tonight—did you hear?”
“Yes. He just visited. Told me about it and took off.”
“Well, he definitely is irritating, but he wouldn’t sell us to the enemy.”
“Are we sure?” she said. “I’m trying to think of anyone else who might have betrayed us, and there aren’t many possibilities.”
“What could they offer him that he doesn’t already have? What could possibly make him work for their side? We know he’s immortal. We know they hate immortals. There’s no way. No.”
“Then…” She slumped back against the wall. “If it was Jacob spying on my phone, which I guess is the likeliest, then I don’t know what I’m supposed to do about it. He’s in another city, and I already dumped him.”
“Nothing. Tonight you don’t have to do anything. Except do your homework and get some sleep.”
“Sleep.” She grunted a laugh, and switched the phone to the other ear. “I’m still avoiding the dreams. I know there’s drama later—Demeter finding out, trouble with immortals and the rest of the world—and I don’t want to go there yet. So when I do visit Persephone, I’ve just been replaying that one day. The spring equinox.” She smiled fondly. “It’s been good. Suppose I should move on, though.”
“You’re in control. Dream what you like.”
“You’re the only thing I want to dream of.”
“You’re the only thing I have dreamed of, for years.”
The soft words washed over her, bringing love and loneliness at the same time. “I’ll miss you tonight,” she said, still in the Underworld tongue.
“You too, my love.”
Chapter Forty
WHEN SOPHIE CAME BACK TO the room, Melissa glanced up from reading something on her phone. “Not seeing David tonight?”
Lie, lie, lie. A good policy, in case dorm gossip was getting back to Thanatos.
Sophie shook her head, sliding her phone into her pocket. “I don’t think it’s working out. It’s…too weird.”
Melissa nodded, as if she totally knew the weirdness guys brought to your life. “A good night’s sleep ought to help.”
Persephone's Orchard (The Chrysomelia Stories) Page 32