by Lila Veen
My lips twitch into a smile. “No, I suppose she wouldn’t,” I agree.
Olivia smiles. “So I want to be your friend, and I want to offer my protection when you’re away.”
“Protection?” I repeat. “I don’t even know where I’m going.”
“Someplace you’ll need my protection,” she says. “You think Blackwater is dangerous? You have no idea what you’re in for.”
I sit down, feeling a little bit dizzy. “I thought I was going to escape whatever dangers are lurking here.”
Olivia nods. “That’s true, but…well, I don’t want to say too much. I’ll let Theo tell you where you’re going. I wouldn’t want to ruin any surprises.” She sits up and takes something off from around her neck and saunters over to me. She slips the necklace over my head and I pull it forward to look at it. It’s a single pearl, larger than I’ve ever seen, with a wavy line carved into it with a straight line below. “The drowning symbol,” she tells me, and I nod. “It will give you a strong sense of your water elemental. I don’t need it here. I’m just going to sit around Normandy and rot away until I’m officially an old spinster.”
“It’s beautiful,” I tell her, and I mean it. The pearl is about the circumference of a quarter and has a rosy sheen to it. “Thank you.”
She nods and then walks over to the window in the parlor and pulls the curtains back. I gasp to see a helicopter on the back lawn. “Your chariot awaits,” Olivia says, laughing.
“Oh god, you can’t be serious,” I say. “A helicopter?”
“There’s no better way to get to the private airfield,” Olivia says.
I shoot her a freaked out look. “Just where am I going?”
“Let’s go out and talk to Theo,” she says. She leads me out of the parlor and around to the back door, the same one I followed Ash out of a few nights ago. Olivia doesn’t bother with shoes or a coat, and I wonder if it’s a Lavanne trait to never feel the cold. It’s about twenty degrees and it’s not even Thanksgiving yet. She doesn’t even shiver when she’s outside, as though she’s actually as physically numb as she indicated she is emotionally.
Theo steps out from the helicopter, complete with a brown leather jacket, Ray Bans, large headphones and a pair of tight jeans that make my loins squeeze just a little bit. “Livvy, go inside, it’s freezing,” he shouts over the whirl of the helicopter blades in the background.
Olivia ignores him, though, and accepts his kiss on her cheek. She turns to me and takes my hands in hers and pulls me close to her so she can speak into my ear over the chopping sound that invades our hearing. “As long as Theo is with you, so am I,” she tells me. “Protect him while you’re there, and give Ash my love.” She gives me a quick kiss and turns to walk back to the house. The skirt of her gown whips through the wind and swirls around her legs as she walks away and inside.
“Ash?” I repeat. I turn to Theo. “Where are we going?” I shout.
“To the airport,” he shouts back, handing me a pair of headphones like his. “And then to France. Why don’t you get in and I’ll explain?”
I look at the helicopter and then back toward Normandy. “Sure,” I shout back. “What have I got to lose?” I let Theo pull me inside of the helicopter, and I see someone else is driving, thankfully. I place the headphones on my ears and notice a mouthpiece so I can talk to Theo. He helps me to belt in, the straps similar to what I’ve seen children wear in car seats, and I think of Heidi as I’m harnessed in.
“You good?” Theo asks. I can hear him clearly through the headphones.
I nod. “Is Ash in France?” I blurt out. I feel my stomach drop as the helicopter is lifted in the air. I can’t help but watch out the side as Normandy looms in the distance, growing smaller and further away.
“He found your father,” Theo tells me. His voice is strangely distant but clear in my ears, as though we’re speaking over the phone. “And I’m not sure, but I think Heidi and Gabe took off for France, too. Something is about to blow up over there, and so I’m taking you away from the trouble you’re in here in Blackwater and sending you into a whole other mess overseas.”
“Sending me?” I ask. “You’re not coming with me?”
Theo shrugs. “I’m taking you there, and I’ll help you find Ash, but once you’re with him, he won’t want me around.”
“Theo, you’re my catalyst too. We need to work this out,” I say. “I can’t pretend that you don’t exist when I’m with Ash, or that Ash doesn’t exist when I’m with you.”
“I agree,” Theo says, pulling my leg over toward him so it’s crossed over his own. “But Ash isn’t taking the whole situation well, Leah. He was never happy until he found you, and when he did, he thought everything was perfect. Then I came along, and now everything is turned around for him.”
“I know,” I say softly, not really for Theo to hear. “So why don’t you stay in France and help us?” Then it dawns on me. “Olivia?”
Theo nods. “That too. We have a whole international trip to talk about everything, though. Right now let’s focus on getting you out of Blackwater.”
Ironic, since only a few weeks ago I was focused on coming home to Blackwater. And twelve years ago I was focused on leaving Blackwater to find my dad. Now it seems like I might find my dad outside of Blackwater, but I had to come back to find him.
Home in the darkness
Home on the highway
Home isn’t my way
Home will never be.
Blue Oyster Cult “Burning for You”
About the Author
Lila Veen is a crazy cat lady living in the Chicagoland area with her husband, two kids, four cats and two dogs. When she isn’t picking pet hair off of her black clothes she’s eating, reading, writing, singing karaoke, dancing or watching bad television. If you’d like to contact her, she is sporadically on Twitter @lilaveen, or check her Facebook page or just email her if you’d like to get personal at [email protected].
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34