Secrets of the Guardian (Waldgrave Book 3)

by A. L. Tyler

  She heard him sigh. “I’m—“

  A distant woman’s voice cut into Lena’s ear from across the line. “Griffin? Are you awake?”

  Lena froze. She couldn’t believe what she had just heard—she had heard it, hadn’t she? She heard Griffin cover the phone, and she thought she heard a door open. Her throat had gone dry and her voice had left her, and as such, she hung up the phone. She felt her face burning red, though she didn’t know why. She turned back to Devin.

  He gave her a surprised and concerned look. “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing,” she muttered, “It’s nothing. He said it was just a thought, that’s all. His opinion on the politics of the matter, and nothing else.”

  Devin gave her a long look before pulling her into a hug. She felt the tears coming, but managed to hold them back. Devin took her back into the hotel room and tucked her in next to Cheryl; she was still there, lying awake, long after Devin had fallen asleep.

  *****

  “Yeah, we’ll have two number threes and a number…six.”

  The next day went by much smoother than Lena had anticipated. She was wearing the same jeans as she had the day before just because she could; these were the first casual moments in her life in a long time, and the last for who knew how long. And despite Devin’s minor stomach upsets, it was still fast food all the way. They were making good time, and decided to actually stop for lunch. They pulled into a shady parking spot outside the restaurant to eat.

  “So, what exactly did he say?” Cheryl asked through a mouthful of fries.

  “Nothing. I think he was just weighing in his vote late.” Lena said hollowly. She saw Devin turn a sympathetic look her way, but refused to look back at him.

  Cheryl didn’t notice, and continued in her clear and perceptive tone. “You know, he’s been awfully quiet lately. Are you sure he’s not up to something?”

  Lena put her fried chicken burger down and sighed. As sad as it was, she wished he was up to something. “He’s not up to anything. He’s just out there screwing around in his parent’s house.”

  “Alone?” Cheryl questioned, “You know he can’t take care of himself. He’s like a child…can’t make his own toast or fold a shirt or anything. I’m telling you there’s no way he’s out there alone, no matter what he’s telling you. I think he’s up to something.”

  Lena swallowed and tried not to let Cheryl’s words seep too far into her. Devin was right; Cheryl had a gift. She didn’t know why she cared so much, but the fact that Griffin had been living in silence with an anonymous female guest irritated her to no end. She couldn’t stop thinking about it; she couldn’t identify the voice. Perhaps it was because she had missed him so much, or perhaps it was because she had missed him more than she had known. She knew for a fact that she cared about Griffin’s unknown guest more than she thought she would, and she hated to admit that a twinge of jealously had been worming in her stomach that he had chosen someone over her to help him cope with his problems.

  In the baking silence of the car, Lena suddenly realized she had been sitting still, not eating, for quite some time. She compulsively picked up her burger and took a bite. Devin caught her eye.

  His thought was so quiet that Lena barely caught it. That’s it, isn’t it? He’s not out there alone.

  “What?” Cheryl called from the backseat; Lena looked in the rearview mirror and watched as she looked back and forth between her companions. “I’m sorry, what was that?”

  Lena took a deep breath. It couldn’t have stayed a secret much longer. There were no secrets among human-borns. Lena undid her seatbelt and turned so that she faced Devin and could easily turn to see Cheryl, who had leaned forward in her seat to be closer. “He’s not out there alone. I heard another voice over the phone.”

  Cheryl’s eyes went wide. “Who was it?”

  “I don’t know,” Lena said. Then, knowing it would get out eventually, with a twinge in her chest, she added, “It was a woman’s voice.”

  The car went quiet. Devin was caught halfway between looking very not surprised and trying to be sympathetic. Cheryl sat back in her seat looking dumbfounded, and then said in a quiet voice, “I’m sorry, Lena.”

  Lena turned back to sit in her seat properly, staring fixedly out the windshield at a crow picking at a french fry on the sidewalk before refocusing on her own white knuckles gripping the steering wheel. She put her seatbelt on, and moved her food from her lap to the space between the driver’s and passenger’s seat. She was disgusted with herself for telling them. She was disgusted with herself for caring so much, and for the mixed look that Devin was still giving her.

  “It’s okay.” She muttered. “I don’t know why I care so much, anyway. It’s just weird, that’s all.”

  She turned the ignition, determined not to let Devin and Cheryl drag the discussion out. It was likely to be a point of contention among them now; Lena knew Griffin had an antagonistic history with both of her friends. Cheryl thought he was an incapable, arrogant, poorly tempered child, and Devin detested him because Griffin had frequently and loudly voiced his opinion that he, and by his order Lena, was above hanging around stupid, dirty, lowly bred human-borns. In short, Griffin was as bad as they made him out to be, but he was also Lena’s first friend. He had saved her life many times over, literally laying his own down for her sake; despite the fact that he was a terrible person, she couldn’t just leave him behind. They were a part of each other.

  Or at least, Lena had thought that they were.

  They drove on to Missouri that night without stopping, and no one brought up Griffin again, or talked much at all afterwards. Lena wished they would have, because it might have helped her to forget for a while. Cheryl fidgeted in the uncomfortable silence the whole way. She kept complaining that the car was either too hot or too cold, she wanted music or silence, or she was tired but she couldn’t sleep. Devin kept shooting Lena ominous looks; it was clear that he didn’t think she was fidgeting. He thought she had tapped into some manner of mystical knowledge about the future, and that her discontent meant they were all tragically doomed to suffer an unknown fate if they didn’t turn back.

  Lena was nearly miserable enough to wish that a cliff would appear, and a semi would drive them off of it.

  Cheryl finally wore herself out around eight that night and fell asleep with her face pressed against the window in a downright comical manner. Devin, being Devin, stole Lena’s cell phone right off of her hip to take a picture.

  “That’s great, Dev, just great.” Lena said, frowning. “You’re a true friend.”

  “I’d expect nothing less from either of you.” Devin said with a grin. He showed her the picture on the tiny screen. Cheryl’s slack-jawed and vacant expression was stretched and squished and dimly reflected in the glass that she had collapsed against. “What? You don’t think it’s funny?”

  Lena took a moment to gather herself. She didn’t want to wake up Cheryl; she was so sensitive lately that Lena feared even the most tempered of emotional states around her might disrupt her enough to wake her up. She was beginning to remind her of Hesper, so tuned in to the world that even the quietest of goings on was like a scream in her ear. Lena wasn’t sure, but she could swear Cheryl was developing the ability to hear private thoughts.

  “I just think you’re being a little ridiculous, that’s all.” Lena said in an entirely even tone, taking back her phone and shoving it into her pocket. She was very keenly aware that Cheryl had fallen asleep at just around the time her own emotional state had finally worn down to a dull hum in the back of her mind; she didn’t want Devin riling both of them up again.

  Devin glanced over his shoulder into the backseat before turning back to face Lena. “How so? You didn’t find the stash of potatoes in my bag, did you?”

  Lena threw him a sharp look, but he seemed entirely unfazed. She had to wonder for a moment if he actually had a hidden bag of potatoes somewhere in the back—it seemed like the kind of joke he would play. �
��No, it’s just that you seem to believe it’s possible to tell the future, Dev, and in my experience, even with all the many things full Silenti can do, I’ve never…”

  Lena trailed off as the words tumbled from her mouth. In the darkening light, she glanced at Cheryl’s sleeping form in the rearview mirror. Maybe full Silenti could tell the future, but there was only one person that had ever claimed it to be true, however inadvertently. It seemed years, and not months, away from her now. She could see Griffin’s dark silhouette before her, the lighted interior of the car glowing behind him as he confirmed his guilt. It had happened in a field, much like the ones surrounding the car now.

  “I never would have put you on that train if I had known. He never told me that Aaron would die in the crash.”

  Pyrallis had known the train would crash. He had strategically put Lena and Aaron on it, knowing that the father would die and throw the daughter into a custody battle. It was a specific event and not a large generality like a stock market crash; aside from the one incident, Lena had never known any Silenti to be able to predict an event so precisely. Not even the legendary Silenti of times past, hidden away in Pyrallis’s books, were that good. He had known somehow, and the only person likely to know how he knew was the last person she wanted to talk to at the moment. Lena gave Devin a sidelong glance to be sure he didn’t know that she doubted herself, and then pulled the car off on the shoulder.

  She didn’t believe they were in any danger. But she had to be sure.

  “Stay here with her.” She said calmly. Devin only shrugged and nodded, and then turned around to dig a soda out of the cooler in the back seat.

  Lena got out of the car and walked a short distance away. She pulled out her cell phone and reminded herself that it wasn’t personal. Nothing was personal for full Silenti Council members. Like your spouse? Sure. Love your spouse? Most certainly not, as Master Prescot had so aptly told her. To Old Faith Representatives, feeling too deeply was a mortal weakness that could, and would, be exploited at the first opportunity. It was a dogma that her grandfather, and most certainly Griffin as well, prescribed to. And, she reminded herself, she wasn’t going to let her feelings interfere with what she had to do.

  She flipped the phone open and found Griffin’s number on the speed dial.

  Ring. Ring. Ring. Ring. “God damn, Lena. I told you to call at a decent hour.”

  “Hey, Griffin,” she tried to say coolly, “I just had a quick question for you.”

  He took pause; Lena had the uncomfortable notion that he was scanning her voice. He had an odd way of knowing what she was feeling; he had pegged the fact that she was covering for Hesper sneaking out, from halfway across the planet, a couple of years ago.

  “What is it?” He finally growled.

  “Well, I want to know how he knew the train was going to crash.” Lena said in the most straightforward way she could muster. She was anticipating that the mystery voice was going to be on the phone again any second, and this time she was ready for it. She wasn’t going to miss who it was this time.

  Griffin took a long time in answering again. “This isn’t important Lena, it’s a detail. You woke me up, again, to ask me some stupid question about your grandfather and…and some wild guess that happened to be right?”

  Lena tried not to feel too affronted. She could hear the anger building in his voice, and she really wanted an answer. “Look, Griffin, I realize you’re out there doing…whatever it is you’re doing—“

  “That’s right.” He cut her off in a cold tone. “Doing what I’m doing, which I didn’t have an opportunity to explain last time because you called and woke me up, and then hung up on me. I don’t know why I’m even bothering with you anymore.”

  It stung. It stung horribly, but Lena pushed on. “Sure. I’m sorry about that. The phone died.”

  “Liar.” He hissed.

  Lena closed her eyes to regain her composure. “I’m way out here, on the Missouri border, away from home, and it’s just become relevant that I know how he did it. Do you know how he knew?”

  “No.” Griffin drawled, seemingly now bored with her questions. “I have no clue how he did it, or why. Maybe he had someone blow the tracks.”

  “But that doesn’t explain how he knew my father would die and I wouldn’t.” Lena continued. “I mean, if I had died—“

  “Then maybe he would have found someone else who fit the bill. You don’t seem to get that he was fooling all of us. You were never important and neither was I. If you had died he would have found someone else to fill your part in whatever sick game he was playing. End of story. Good night.”

  “Wait!” Lena yelled. She didn’t believe what he was saying. Had she really been only a token player to Pyrallis?

  She heard Griffin heave a heavily impatient sigh. “What now?”

  “I—“ Lena’s mind grasped at straws, she didn’t know why she had stopped him. She made a desperate leap to the first thing that came to mind. “Who’s your girlfriend?”

  Lena’s heart raced for a moment; she wished she hadn’t asked it. Picking a fight with Griffin was never a wise idea, and this time he was already angered to begin with. His voice came back wary and even more impatient. “What?”

  Lena swallowed hard. Now that it was out, she really wanted to know. And, since she had already started it… “The voice I heard over the phone yesterday. Who’s there with you?”

  “No one.” He growled again. “I’m here alone.”

  “You are not.” Lena insisted, emboldened by his lie.

  And then his voice changed. He wasn’t aggravated or upset anymore; in her mind, Lena saw his face go into debate mode; the look he had when dealing with other Council members. He said completely neutrally, “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m here alone.”

  “Fine!” She almost screeched, trying to keep her voice down so that she wouldn’t alert Devin. She started berating him in a low, angry tone. “That’s fine! Just treat me like I’m everyone else. I’m not, Griffin, not to you! I know you give a damn no matter how much you try to hide it! You said so that night in the field, remember?! Remember the night you said you killed him, and that you hadn’t stopped thinking about me since that first time in Ireland?! You’re a good liar to hide it all those years, because I bet they would have done terrible things to both of us if they’d known you were so weak, Griffin! You weren’t supposed to leave!”

  Lena stopped. She was shaking. Back in the car Cheryl had woken with a start, and Devin had partially jumped into the back to calm her down.

  Griffin was breathing into the phone. Normally, he would have shown some minor amusement at Lena becoming so overcome by her emotions. However, this time he didn’t show any hint of satisfaction. “That was before. Don’t call again unless it’s important.”

  And he hung up. Every nerve in her body felt raw and tortured; it was just that simple to him. Looking back at the car through the dwindling dusk light, she knew they would be missing her soon. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to scream or cry; at the moment, she was leaning toward the former. She wasn’t sure why he had gotten to her, or why she had let him. It was maddening.

  She stomped back up to the car, got into the driver’s side, and slammed the door shut. It was all she could do to stare at the wheel, meters, and knobs in front of her.

  “Want me to drive?” Devin asked timidly.

  Lena didn’t even need time to think. The loud buzzing in her ears would have prevented it anyways. Her words came out in a quick, even beat. “Yes. You will not tell Howard, either of you. You will obey all traffic laws. You will not get us pulled over. You will not assume that this means you can drive after tonight. And on pain of death, Devin, you will not ask me what’s wrong until tomorrow at least.”

  “Okay.” He chirped in response.

  They both got out of the car to trade places, Lena handing the keys off on her way to the passenger’s side. She still felt emotionally frayed, but she wasn’t sure why. Griffin
had been his usual self—tired and cranky, but still Griffin. Was it the fact that there was a woman staying with him? Possibly, but Lena doubted it. She had been so resolved and collected when she dialed the phone.

  In the back seat, Cheryl had blearily laid herself across the ice chest situated next to her. “I don’t know why you get so worked up over him.”

  “Now’s not the time, Cheryl.” Devin said with an air of finality, pulling them back onto the road. Lena did her best to ignore them both, sinking low in her chair; it wasn’t that she cared that they knew, because they knew more about her, probably, than anyone.

  Except for Griffin, she reminded herself with a harsh tone of sarcasm.

  It was that they were right—Griffin was a waste of her time, and she was acting foolish.

  “Anyway,” Cheryl yawned, “I had a dream that we were late getting to the hotel and they gave the room away. I think we need to find another hotel.”

  Devin looked ready to honor this request, but Lena shot him a look of pure acid. He tried to mollify them both. “I think we’ll check, just to be sure, Cheryl…and when—I mean if!—if it’s gone, we’ll get a different one.”

  “Whatever.” She murmured, settling back into her seat and closing her eyes. “But I’m telling you it’ll be gone by the time we get there.”

  The room was gone. Lena was hardly surprised by this, as they had arrived much later into the night than the agreed upon check-in time because she had specifically told Devin to drive slowly; there appeared to be a wedding or some other event going on nearby—the first three hotels they checked were booked. Devin wasn’t surprised either, but for much more annoyingly superstitious reasons.

  Lena could only shake her head. “I’m telling you, it’s common sense that we didn’t make it, Dev. Anyone could have predicted the room would be gone when we were more than four hours late!”