by Noelle Ryan
Marcus’s eyes narrowed slightly. “I see. I’ll be sure to…keep that in mind.” He looked at Jade and Orchid. “I’m sure everyone else will as well.”
Impressive. Have you been studying up on the nuances of vampire politicking behind my back? Tom asked, sounding slightly awed.
No, I just tried to imagine how Damian might have said it, I replied. Tom chuckled silently.
Well, I wouldn’t count Marcus on your shortlist of friends any time soon. But I think you impressed Damian—and maybe even the silent twins over there.
I cast a sideways glance at Orchid and Jade. I couldn’t be sure, but there seemed to be the slightest hint of a smile lingering around the corners of their mouths. Well well, wonders never ceased.
Damian’s cautionary glance was easier to read, though he didn’t completely conceal the hint of pride in his eyes. I took both to heart. I’d risked ticking Marcus and Temora off enough with my threat—no point in getting myself in any more trouble if I could help it. I made a big show of stretching sleepily, then reclined my chair, shut my eyes, and took a nap for the rest of our trip.
Twenty-six
A stray ray of sunlight crept in through a small hole in one of the plane’s window curtains, causing me to awaken with the beginnings of a nasty headache. I quickly fumbled through my purse for my sunglasses, heaving a sigh of relief as they slid into place. I then grabbed my heavy-duty all day sunscreen from my bag and went to find the plane’s lavatory to make sure I’d covered every inch of my exposed skin.
When I flicked on the light, I saw a small burn that was just beginning to heal on my face. Clearly yesterday’s application had worn off and I was in need of a new one—I was just glad I’d remembered to bring my bottle with me in my bag.
Once I was fully protected, I stepped out to check on everyone else. I didn’t want any other stray holes in the curtains sizzling any of my companions.
Well, maybe Marcus just a little.
Everyone looked fine, though, and they were all sleeping soundly, so I decided to pay Luis and Sam a visit. I was tired of the lingering tension between Sam and I anyway, and I figured now was as good a time as any to nudge things back towards normalcy.
I tapped lightly on the door that separated the cockpit from the cabin and Luis opened it a second later, gesturing towards a jumpseat as he returned to his chair next to Sam.
“I just wanted to see if you guys needed anything.”
“No, we’re fine, thank you” Sam said stiffly, and I actually found myself missing his usual sarcasm. I didn’t know quite how to respond to this newly cold and polite vampire.
“Thanks, but we’ve got everything we need,” Luis said in friendlier tones. “It won’t be much longer until we land anyway.”
As nice as this jet was, the thought of landing was far more appealing: I wanted the confrontation with Cesar over and done with. Then Luis’s comment struck a note of panic.
“Uh, guys, this is probably the worst time to be realizing this, but it just occurred to me that I don’t have my passport with me,” I said, mentally kicking myself for not having remembered this rather important detail previously.
Luis looked at me and smiled. “Don’t worry, bribery is far more effective than legitimate paperwork for what we want to accomplish anyway. Marcus has already set everything up with some local friends from what I understand. None of us will be going through customs. Resistencia airport isn’t really set up for that anyway.”
I gaped at him. Sure, it was bound to be a small airport—but having someone else comfortably bribing my way into a country I’d never even seen before shocked me.
“Is that generally how you all travel?”
Luis nodded. “If it’s for business, yes. When I travel on my own, I do things the normal way.”
If I hadn’t been looking in Sam’s direction already as I thought about this, I wouldn’t have noticed the lightning-fast glare he gave Luis, who abruptly became much less chatty and focused on the dials in front of him with renewed vigor, as if they were suddenly demanding his full attention.
I sat there in silence, not yet ready to return to the darkened cabin now that I was awake, and more than a little tired of Sam’s silent treatment.
“So how often do you all fly planes?” I asked after a few moments ticked by.
“I usually try to get up in the air every month, but recently it’s been a few months since I’ve been up,” Luis replied, hesitantly flicking his eyes at Sam as he did so.
Sam didn’t say anything. I decided to try a more direct approach.
“Listen, Sam, I know I’m not your favorite vampire right now. Whatever I did, I’m sorry.” Granted, Tom’s explanation had given me a pretty good idea of what I—inadvertently—had done, but I didn’t want to make things worse by revealing that.
Sam only grunted in reply, but given that the tension perceptibly eased in the cockpit I decided that was good enough. With a quick mock salute, I eased my way back into the cabin, not wanting to press my luck.
You made nice with Sam? Tom asked me as I re-entered the still-dark cabin, sounding slightly surprised. It took my eyes a second to readjust, and then I noticed that his eyes were open, though everyone else still appeared to be sleeping.
No-one was awake and I needed to do something to relieve my boredom, I quipped, though I knew he could tell how much the tension had been bothering me.
I’m awake now; I’m sure we could come up with something interesting to do. He grinned at me, and I felt a not-unpleasant flutter swarm my stomach—and areas slightly lower down.
Sorry, but I’m not the exhibitionist type, I replied, while parts of my body tried to convince me that maybe I should rethink that policy.
My my, I don’t know what you were thinking—I was only talking about a game of cards. He reached behind him and pulled out a deck, and I raised an eyebrow.
You keep a deck of cards in your back pocket?
Only when I’m travelling.
I shrugged, trying to hide my slight disappointment at his innocent intentions. After all, it’s not like I would have done anything with him in a plane with seven other vampires anyway. I came and sat down beside him.
Sure, I guess we might as well. What shall we play?
How about some strip poker?
I smacked him lightly on the shoulder, but I was secretly relieved not to be the only one with my mind in the gutter.
No? he inquired, feigning innocence. Maybe ninety-nine then?
And that would be?
A perfectly innocent card game, I promise. Here, I’ll teach you.
It only took him a few minutes to show me the basics of the game, which was actually pretty fun, and we played several quick-moving hands while we waited for the rest of our group to awaken. To my surprise, Jade and Orchid both asked to join us when they awoke. It was the first time I’d heard either of them speak since I’d met them, and their voices didn’t seem to match their previous personas at all: they were light and playful, almost childish. As they played, they even laughed a few times, and their laughs were identical, sounding like a cheerful tinkling of chimes. I found myself wondering if the reason they were usually silent was because otherwise people might not take them seriously. Though I could also imagine that would work to their advantage in situations where they wanted someone to underestimate them.
“Ninety-nine to you, Aly,” Jade said, and I searched my hand for a card to play—and found none that could save me. The goal of the game was to keep the accumulated value of the group discard pile at ninety-nine or below, and if you were the one who took it above that amount you lost. There were a few trick cards that could allow you to pass the pile onto the next player, but my hand contained none.
“A hundred and four?” I said, joking, as I laid a five down. Jade and Orchid both released their chiming laughter again, while Tom swept the cards up and began shuffling them, preparing to deal the next hand.
“We’ll begin our descent in a few minutes,
” Luis’s voice informed us over an intercom system I hadn’t previously noticed, and the mood on the plane changed immediately. Jade and Orchid stood, stretched, and returned to their original seats. Tom tucked the cards back into their cardboard case and dropped them into a pocket along the side of his chair. Marcus, without even clearing his throat, managed to draw everyone’s silent attention towards him.
“When we land in Resistencia, Jade and Orchid will be the first off the plane. Cesar has not met them before, so they will scout the airport in case he is currently there. If he is not, they will acquire copies of the flight manifests for all the passengers who have arrived in the last six hours or are scheduled to arrive today and bring them back here. They will then return to watch over incoming flights while we examine the manifests and investigate any possible passenger couples to see if they might be Cesar and the hu—” Marcus paused when I cast him a sharp glance, “—and Ava,” he continued smoothly, turning to face me. “We’re hopeful you might get a reading off these documents to expedite the process, though there are inquiries I can make of friends in the Buenos Aires airport about any names we are suspicious of if your gift should prove uncooperative.”
I crossed my fingers it wouldn’t, and decided I’d begin focusing on lavender water as soon as we got the manifests, in the hopes that Dorothy might make an appearance and sense something even if I couldn’t. Her skills seemed far more advanced than mine anyway—she’d been able to detect the lingering traces of emotion from Cesar’s note back in Louisville, and I wondered whether empathy was a skill she’d always had or if she had somehow developed it after death.
We landed, and a few minutes later someone drove up a set of stairs, which Jade and Orchid promptly descended. We closed the door after them, and then settled into an uncomfortable silence. A week ago, I would have been the person trying to break it, but now I decided to use the time to experiment with contacting Dorothy sooner than I’d initially planned. I closed my eyes, leaned back against my seat, and tried to empty my mind as much as possible.
Of course, as soon as I attempted to clear my mind, it filled with every terrible mental image my brain could concoct about Ava. The worst was the possibility that we had missed them entirely, and Cesar had already spirited her off to the jungle in the east. If he had, and he’d reconnected with Marielle…
Don’t torture yourself, Tom interjected; we have every reason to think they haven’t even come through here yet.
What if they aren’t coming through here at all? What if he’s taking some other route, or we got this totally wrong and he’s headed to some other place that feels like home?
Then we’ll find them¸ he replied. We’ll find them, and Ava will be fine and back to teaching in no time.
Teaching, shit. It was now Monday morning, and I had my afternoon class today. There was no way I could make it now, but if I cancelled again I would really be on Moira’s list—and justifiably so.
I checked my watch. It was seven a.m. at home, still too early to call any of the colleagues who might cover for me. I turned to Tom.
Can you help me remember to make some calls in about two hours?
He looked uncomfortable. I’ll try, but if we’re… he trailed off, but I could see what he was thinking about. If we were running through the airport chasing Cesar, or driving out to the jungle, there was no way I’d be able to stop to make a few calls. I sighed, knowing he was right. I’d just have to owe someone big time, and hope my colleagues would forgive me.
“Marcus, I’m sorry to ask this, but is there a phone on the plane that I could use to make an international call?”
“Now?” He looked more surprised than annoyed, which I took as a positive sign.
“Yes, I have an afternoon class today that I can’t afford to cancel. I need to see if I can find someone to cover me.”
He shrugged. “You will find it in the cabinet there,” he gestured towards the wall outside the bathroom. “As soon as Jade and Orchid return, however, we will need your full attention for the manifests.”
“Of course—and I’ll pay back whatever the costs—”
Marcus interrupted me with a wave of his hand. “It is nothing. Just make the calls promptly, please.”
I stood and made my way to the cabinet, opening it to find a normal looking phone bolted to the wall inside the door. I dug out my cell phone to look up the numbers of my colleagues, deciding to start with Dave, who owed me for covering one of his classes last semester. For once, my luck held—he not only answered, he sounded like he was already awake and he said he could cover me. I sighed in relief, hoping this was an omen for the rest of the day, and turned at the sound of tapping at the door. Jade and Orchid were back, far faster than I’d expected. It was a small airport, but they must have covered it at particularly high speeds to be back so soon.
When I opened the door, I discovered it was actually just Jade—she handed me a stack of papers, mentioning that we were the first flight to land today, and then spun, gracefully descending the stairs and jogging back to the building. I closed the door and returned to the cabin, raising the paperwork in a questioning gesture to Marcus, who extended a hand to take them from me.
“How fortunate. Knowing no-one has been through here yet should make our job slightly easier,” Marcus said, glancing at the manifests. “As should the relatively small list of incoming passengers. There are ten flights arriving from Buenos Aires today. Let’s each start with one list and go through it for any possibilities. Alyson, why don’t you circle as we do this to see if you get a reading off of anyone’s list.”
Sam and Luis had joined everyone in the cabin shortly after landing, so Marcus handed out six lists, setting the remaining stack of four in the pocket beside him. Everyone began looking over their lists, circling pairs of passengers. I walked around, feeling awkward as I stood in front of each person and studied the names upside down. After nothing was triggered, I went and retrieved the remaining stack of four from Marcus and sat down cross-legged in the middle of the cabin floor, spreading them out in front of me.
Having the papers to myself made me slightly more comfortable, and I ran my finger along the lists as I silently read each name. When I’d gone through two without even the faintest twinge of feeling, I began to worry. I paused, closed my eyes, and began focusing on Dorothy and the image and scent of lavender. I spent what felt like eons conjuring up pictures of lavender fields, bottles of lavender water, sprigs of dried lavender, and the earthy floral smell, all while reciting Dorothy’s name over and over. But nothing happened. My eyes snapped open in frustration—and then my gut clenched so quickly I doubled over, glad I was already so close to the floor.
Were you calling me?
Yes—it worked! I was exuberant, and Dorothy seemed amused. I didn’t think it was going to—I’d been sitting here thinking about you and lavender for forever.
It just took me a little while to trace where the thoughts were coming from—Cesar had a home around this part of Argentina, I assume?
Yes, and we’re hoping he’ll be coming through this airport today to return to it. But I’m not getting anything. I was wondering if you would give it a try?
You don’t have enough faith in yourself, Alyson. You’re relying on me more than you need to.
I shook with frustration. You can lecture me later—please, just help me find Ava.
Alright, I will investigate—but once this is over you need to set aside time for some training so that we can hone your talents.
That’s possible? I asked, surprised.
Of course it is. We’ll discuss that later, though. For now, I want you to retrieve the rest of these lists everyone is holding, and carefully go over each name. Say it in your head, run your fingers along the letters, do everything you can to really feel who the person is. While you’re doing that, I’ll go through the airport to see what I can find.
Thank you.
The clench faded to a mild twinge, and I regained sufficient control
of myself to sit upright again. I still felt like I might topple over if I stood, however, and since everyone was already looking at me expectantly, I simply extended my hand towards Tom. He was crouched beside me, and at first he misunderstood my gesture as a request for a hand up.
“I need all the lists,” I said quietly, ignoring the small twist of pain speaking triggered in my still slightly clenched abdomen.
Tom handed me his, and I began studying it as he went to collect the others. I laid it on the floor in front of me, running my finger slowly across the first name as I silently pronounced it. It was a slow process, and it took a few minutes to get through Tom’s list; none of the names did anything.
I moved on to the next list, trying to ignore my mounting frustration and impatience as once again nothing happened. Then, about midway down the third list, my index finger brushed against the first few letters of the name Julius—and it felt like my skin had touched a live ember. I began laughing once I realized how terribly obvious the alias was—especially when I noticed the name of the passenger travelling with him: Cleo. If I hadn’t known already that Cesar had grand ambitions, the fact that he chose Julius Caesar and Cleopatra as the inspiration for his and Ava’s aliases would have confirmed it. I just hoped it didn’t also mean he had actual romantic designs on Ava.
Marcus snatched the list out of my hand. I didn’t have to say anything—he spotted the obvious alias almost immediately.
“I suppose we should thank the gods he is such a fool,” he muttered, and then straightened. “Valerie, please inform Jade and Orchid of the plane on which Cesar will be arriving.” He handed her the manifest, and she stood and departed silently. Tom got up and shut the door behind her.
“When do they arrive?” Damian asked.
“In two hours and fifteen minutes. I propose we use that time to refuel and then send Samuel up with the plane half an hour before Cesar’s flight is due in, so that he will not notice the presence of another jet. We can station ourselves inside the airport by the gate his plane will use. I will ask my friend to have two of his staff detain he and Ava as they disembark so that they might be separated just enough to make it easier for us to apprehend him without putting Alyson’s friend at risk.”