Set In Stone

by Balmanno, Beth

  I untangled myself from her embrace. “I should go,” I said. “I need to think…”

  She nodded. “I’m here, Valerie. Any time. Fanchon can drive you home.”

  I looked out the living room window. Geoff’s car was still in the driveway, the wipers dancing furiously as they struggled to keep up with the pounding rain.

  “He’s still here.” Hope looked as surprised as I was. I reached for my wet clothes, intending to change back in to them, but she stopped me.

  “Wear them home,” she said, gesturing to the outfit I wore. “It’ll give you a reason to come back and see me.”

  I raced outside and hopped into the passenger seat. Music played, loud and angry, a perfect reflection of Geoff’s mood.

  He turned the radio down a fraction. “Where to?”

  The clock on the dash read 2:00. I didn’t know whether to go back to school and arrive just in time for dismissal, or head home and deal with the possibility of getting there too early.

  “School,” I decided.

  He said nothing on the drive there. The rain switched over to light drizzle and a tiny patch of blue sky peeked out from the thick curtain of clouds by the time we reached St. John’s. A few cars were already waiting in the roundabout. A new black Range Rover was one of them.

  “You sure you don’t want me to take you home?” Geoff asked. His fingers drummed the steering wheel.

  “No,” I said quickly. “Thanks. For coming earlier today and for taking me to Fanchon’s.” I paused for a moment. “And I’m sorry--”

  He cut me off. “Don’t apologize. You haven’t done anything. Yet.”

  Chapter 41

  I waited until Geoff disappeared down the road and then hurried to Noel’s waiting car. He got out and I launched myself into his arms, nearly knocking him over.

  “Whoa,” he said, steadying himself against the car.

  I held him tightly, my arms wrapped around his neck.

  “Hey,” he whispered next to my ear. “What’s all this about? I told you I’d come back. Remember?”

  I turned toward him, searching for and finding his lips with my own. He responded, his arms tightening around me before he suddenly relaxed his grip and stepped away.

  “We’re at school,” he chided. “Besides, don’t you remember last night?” He chuckled. “Are you trying to seduce me?”

  I shook my head. I was trying to keep him, to sear some small part of him into my memory. I needed to start now, to tuck away those moments, to store up enough to last a lifetime without him. But I didn’t say this.

  “No,” I said. I tried to bring my emotions under control. “I missed you. I was worried about you.”

  He helped me in to the car. I put my still damp backpack and umbrella on the floor this time.

  “Where did you go?” I asked him as he drove to my house.

  “A meeting is probably the best way to describe it. Nothing important.”

  “Who was the girl?”

  “A messenger.” Noel turned to me. “So, where did you go?”

  I raised my eyebrows and he stared pointedly at my new outfit.

  “Do you often bring a change of clothes to school?” he asked lightly. I’d forgotten that one tiny detail.

  “I left after lunch,” I said.

  He let out a soft whistle. “You ditched? Really? Where?”

  He pulled in to my driveway. The house was shuttered, dark. I doubted anyone was home.

  “To Fanchon’s. Hope’s,” I told him. “That’s part of my past, right? Can’t you see it?”

  Noel rolled his eyes. “I haven’t looked. It seems to bother you so I try not to. Do you want me to?”

  I shook my head.

  “Tell me, then. Why did you go there?”

  “Because I was scared,” I admitted. “After this morning with Leo and then when you left…”

  Headlights flashed on the garage and I glanced in the rear view window. Mom’s car pulled up along side of us. She waved at us before pulling into one of the stalls.

  “We’d better go in,” I said. “Otherwise Mom will come out and drag you in herself.”

  Her arms were loaded with shopping bags from the mall. Noel reached out to take them and she smiled in appreciation. We followed her into the house and he set the bags on the breakfast bar.

  “You guys want a snack?” Mom asked, digging in the fridge for a diet Coke.

  I hadn’t eaten lunch but I wasn’t hungry. “I think we’re going to head upstairs.”

  “I promised Valerie I’d help her study for her chemistry test on Friday. Unless you’d rather we study somewhere down here?”

  Mom shook her head. “No, you guys go ahead. I’m not staying. I have an appointment over at the club.”

  I climbed the stairs two at a time, Noel following behind me. We got to my room and I quickly shut the door.

  He leaned against the closed door. “So, tell me again why you left,” he said, not wasting any time.

  I sat down on my bed. “I told you. I was worried. Scared.”

  “About Leo? He shouldn’t be able to do anything to you now. Remember?”

  I shook my head. “No, I know that. I was just worried about you. And…and scared that you wouldn’t come back.”

  “How many times have I told you that I’m not going anywhere? Not for a while, anyway. I won’t lie to you, remember?” He tilted his head back against the door and closed his eyes.

  I decided to tell him about Hope’s theory. What did I have to lose? “We talked a little bit about you and the stone.”

  His eyes flew open. “Really? What did they have to say about that?”

  “Well, Hope had a theory.” He waited and I continued. “I mentioned the clue you gave me the other night.” I relayed the conversation I’d had with her. “So…is she right?”

  He closed his eyes again and nodded. “She’s right.”

  I thought for a moment, searching for a loose thread on the comforter to pick. “There’s something I don’t quite understand. How did you know I’d found it? Is there like an alarm or something inside of it, signaling to you?”

  “Not quite.”

  “But if you’ve been looking for it…”

  He shook his head. “The location has never been the issue, Valerie. Leo and I have always known where it was. It was safe there with the Goddess protecting it. Neither of us have the power to take it from her. When you found it, I sensed it right away. I wasn’t tempted by it but I knew Leo would be. That’s why I came so quickly. I knew I had to get to you first, before he did. But you didn’t tell me anything, didn’t admit anything to me.” He chuckled then. “I thought I did a pretty good job with this particular persona. I thought I’d be irresistible, that you’d tell me what you’d found and I could convince you to get rid of it. Instead, you barely spoke two words to me and ran away. Not exactly what I’d planned.”

  I didn’t know if I wanted an answer to my next question but I asked anyway. “What if I don’t want to get rid of it? I mean, let’s say I decide I want to give it you. What would happen if I gave you the stone?”

  Noel raked his hands through his hair and sighed. “I don’t know. I don’t want you to give it to me. I don’t want it.”

  “But if I did?”

  He looked at me with anguished eyes. “I’m not perfect, Valerie. Despite what you might think. The same thing would probably happen as before.”

  “And if Leo got it?”

  “Exactly the opposite. Not an ice age but a warming trend—massive and widespread. It will make this little blip you’re experiencing now feel totally insignificant.” He moved to my desk and sat down in the chair. “We battle twice a year because we have to and we—our powers—die. Or rather, retreat. But neither of us really wants to. It’s part of our essential make up. Who we are, why we exist. So to have the opportunity to avoid it, to be in complete control of our future instead of being tied to our destinies…well, it’s easy to do, to forget about the repercussion
s our choices make here on earth.”

  I understood. He didn’t want to covet the stone but he did, the same way I would want ten-million dollars if I suddenly won the lottery. Would I walk away from it if given a choice? Could I?

  I looked at him. “How did it end? The last time?”

  “I gave it back.” He closed his eyes again. “In the exact place you found it. And it’s been there for twelve-thousand years. Undisturbed. Safe. Until now.”

  He opened his eyes. “So now you know,” he said, a sad smile on his face. “Are you ready to make your decision? The right decision?”

  “No.”

  He frowned. “Valerie, there isn’t a choice here. I mean, there is, but you know what you need to do, right?”

  “Yes, I know,” I said slowly. “But you’re not getting rid of me just yet. I have until Midsummer, right? That’s six weeks away, right?”

  “Yes, but --”

  “So we wait. Leo can’t hurt me, thanks to you, and I get…” I stopped, embarrassed.

  “You get what?”

  More time with you, I thought.

  “It will just make it harder,” he warned. “Waiting.”

  I scowled at him. “So what are you saying? You want me to make a decision now? So you can leave? Is that it? Are you anxious to get back to wherever it is you go, whatever it is you do?”

  “No,” he snapped. “You don’t know anything, Valerie.”

  “I know what I see,” I said bitterly. “You standing in my doorway and then sitting at my desk, doing everything possible to avoid me. You pushing me away this afternoon when I kissed you.”

  “You think I did that because I don’t want you? Because I’m trying to get away from you? To leave?” He moved towards me. “Why don’t you listen? You always focus on all the negatives. Why can’t you hear the good things I tell you?”

  “There isn’t anything good.”

  The look on his face was incredulous. “Listen to me. When I came to you that day at the campground, you were nothing to me. I thought it would be easy to persuade you. After all, I’ve dealt with your kind for centuries. I thought you’d be someone like Ashley. But you surprised me. You wouldn’t tell me anything—not there and not that first day of school. You intrigued me. And then Leo showed up and I watched him work you. You told me you were scared. Do you remember?”

  I nodded.

  He moved closer to me, to the bed. “I looked at you then, really looked at you—into you and into your past and I knew then that I had to protect you. Not just the stone and all it represented, but you. Because you are kind and pure and good.”

  Noel sat next to me and put his hands on my shoulders, forcing me to look at him. “Do you have any idea how hard it is for me to be here? To be with you and not touch you?” he asked, his voice soft. “Every minute I spend with you is a minute spent wanting you. The last thing I want to do is leave you. But I will. And it will be the most selfless thing I’ve ever done.”

  He kissed me soundly, a deep kiss that stole my breath. His lips, soft and cool, were demanding as he pressed them against mine. His hands cradled my face, his thumbs tracing my jaw as he kissed me.

  “I want you,” he breathed and all my doubts melted away. “I want you and it is one of the greatest agonies I’ve ever known, not being able to have you. I promise you that.”

  He let go but his eyes burned into me. I gripped the comforter, digging my nails into the fabric. I looked for his hands. They were clenched tightly together as he, too, struggled for control.

  “So, I can wait?” I mumbled. My heart swelled with joy over the words he’d just spoken. Maybe, just maybe, I could let myself believe that what he’d said was true.

  His hand reached out and brushed a strand of hair away from my face. He sighed. “You can wait,” he promised.

  Chapter 42

  Noel kept his word. We waited. Those first couple of days after all of the revelations were a blur as I came to terms with who he was and the decision that awaited me. He didn’t press and he didn’t question. He just waited.

  It was Friday and the weekend beckoned, two full days without school and in Noel’s company. The final bell rang and, after gathering my things, I stood outside of my chemistry class and watched for him. He walked through the open door of his classroom, scanning the hallway. He smiled when his eyes met mine and my heart skipped a beat.

  He took my backpack from me and slung it over his shoulder. He held my hand as we walked, oblivious to the disbelieving stares of the girls we walked past on our way to the student parking lot.

  “So,” he said, hooking his free arm around my shoulder. “What are we doing this weekend?”

  “Holocaust Museum. Remember?” I’d decided to write my history paper on this topic instead.

  He grimaced. “That’s right.”

  “You don’t have to come,” I told him. But I wanted him to.

  He opened the passenger door for me. “No, I want to,” he said. “I’d spend every minute with you if I could. It’s just such a revolting period of human history.”

  I settled into my seat. “I know. It’s hard to believe it was only sixty years ago.”

  “A blink of an eye to me,” he murmured. “Tomorrow, then? Get it out of the way?”

  I nodded. Within minutes, we were on my street, pulling up to the house. Dad’s car was parked in the driveway.

  Noel noticed. “Isn’t it a little early for him to be home?”

  “I hope everything’s OK.” I reached for my backpack and got out of the car.

  My mom stood by the stairs, dressed in black pants and an ivory silk blouse. A small black suitcase sat next to her feet.

  “Oh, good, you’re home.” She fiddled with her ear, inserting one of her diamond studs.

  “Where are you going?”

  She smiled as she worked the other earring into place. “New York. Your dad has a meeting—a deposition that just came up. We’re all going.”

  I froze. “What?”

  “It’ll be fun,” she said. She hunted through her purse, locating the lipstick she was looking for. “We can shop, maybe take in a show.” She glided the pink tube across her lips.

  Dad appeared then, hauling his briefcase and a thick pile of folders. He looked especially handsome today, dressed in a navy blue suit and striped shirt. The tie he wore was red; his power tie, he called it.

  He glanced at me. “You ready, Val? We need to leave in ten minutes.”

  I didn’t want to lose one single day with Noel, let alone an entire weekend. I looked back at the opened front door. Noel stood on the steps, just outside of view, and watched the exchange.

  “I’m not going.”

  “Excuse me?”

  I thought quickly. “I can’t, Dad. I have way too much homework --”

  “So bring it with you.”

  I shook my head. “But I have to go to the Holocaust Museum. I’m writing my history paper on --”

  He tucked the files he was holding under his arm and grabbed the suitcase. “Go next weekend.”

  “The paper is due next Friday, Dad. This is the only weekend I can go.”

  “You’re not staying home alone.”

  I wasn’t sure but I thought his eyes flickered to the front door. Maybe he did know Noel was standing there, waiting and watching.

  I tried again. “But, Dad…”

  “No.” His tone was firm. “Find some other way to research it or choose another topic. Now go get packed.”

  I glared at him for one long moment before storming up to my room. I threw myself on my bed and stared at the ceiling, angry tears blurring my view. The last place on earth I wanted to be was New York City. Quickly, I amended that thought. The last place I wanted to be was New York without Noel.

  There was a soft knock on my door and I remembered that I’d left him standing on the doorstep. I wiped the tears away. “Come in.”

  It wasn’t Noel who opened the door.

  “I called Fiona,” my
mom said. “She’ll come over tonight and tomorrow. Spend both nights here.”

  I stared at her.

  “So you can stay.”

  “I don’t have to go?” I couldn’t believe she had intervened on my behalf.

  “You don’t have to go.” She paused. “But your dad’s not too happy about it.”

  “Thank you.” It seemed an inadequate response but it was all I had to offer.

  “You’re welcome.” She glanced at her watch. “Your dad and I need to get going.”

  I sat up. “Have a good time,” I told her. And I meant it.

  She smiled. “I will.” She turned to go but stopped. “Oh. Noel said he’d come by in the morning. For the museum.”

  I nodded. “OK. Thanks again, Mom.”

  I hoped she knew how grateful I really was.

  Chapter 43

  Fiona stood by the kitchen sink, finishing a glass of orange juice when I stumbled downstairs.

  “Did I wake you?” she asked. Without make-up, she looked softer, more vulnerable. And definitely older. “Sorry. I’ve got to meet a client at nine-thirty.”

  I rubbed the sleep from my eyes and helped myself to the container of orange juice still sitting on the counter top. “It’s OK. I’m heading out soon, anyway.”

  Fiona nodded. “Your mom said you had plans today. With your boyfriend—Noel right?”

  I thrilled to the sound of the word. “Yeah.”

  She put her empty glass in the dishwasher. “Well, have fun. I have dinner plans tonight but I’ll try to be back around ten. You’ll be all right on your own?”

  “I’ll be fine,” I assured her.

  With a wave, she grabbed her purse and headed toward the front door. I glanced at the clock on the microwave. It was just after eight. I could be showered and ready by nine.

  The doorbell rang and for once, I didn’t wonder who it was. I smoothed my hair and straightened the pajamas I’d worn to bed, a white camisole top and silky blue bottoms. I was glad I’d brushed my teeth the minute I’d woken up.