Purpose: Whisperer of Night

by Keya Jay

Chapter seventeen: Ryder Ferris

  “Umm sir that woman from before…uh,” Ash said as she tried to remember her name.

  “The name’s not important Ash, why the hell are you telling me this?” Ryder sneered having no time to play rescue the damsel in distress.

  Elliot’s been missing for 24 hours and no one hadn’t a clue how it happened. How do you lose a wisp without seeing a single thing? He’s been under Ryder’s care all day yesterday and then all of a sudden his room is empty today and no one knows what happened.

  Nico and Carter claim that no one’s been in or out which—to sum it up in only a few words—is fuckin impossible! Either Elliot walked out—which Ryder highly doubts or someone fuckin took him—which was starting to seem a whole helluva lot more reasonable.

  “Ash,” Ryder warned as he could tell she was still trying to figure out a got damn name.

  “Well sir the one with the bad mouth and the no manners,” she explained and in that moment Ryder’s heart stopped immediately; Elliot already forgotten.

  “What about her?” he asked trying in vain to control his voice.

  “Well Nico says that she is lying on the pavement and Sidney is with her,” she says as she averts her eyes so that Ryder wouldn’t be able to see them. Somehow though he already knew there wasn’t an ounce of pity in them.

  “Why is she on the pavement?” Ryder asked confused, thinking that somehow this was all some kind of sick fuckin joke.

  “Well Carter thinks the girl may be passed out, he says he nudged her with his foot and she hadn’t moved but Sidney seems to think she needs you.”

  Ryder wanted to curse a blue streak as he ran his fingers through his hair and pulled at the ends as he exited the tunnels.

  From where Ryder stood maybe just about a block away Skylar was indeed lying on the floor and Nico, Carter and Sidney surrounded her.

  “Ryder!” Sidney exclaims, “We need your help.”

  “Well what do you know I hadn’t fuckin noticed,” Ryder said sarcastically as he made his way toward the group of people and without paying them an ounce of attention lifted Skylar off of the ground and into his arms.

  “Nico and Carter watch the front and back exits make sure no one’s in or out. I mean it; watch as though your lives depend on which if another wisp goes missing it just might,” Ryder warned as he walked toward Terri St. with Sidney close behind.

  “How the hell did this happen Sidney?” Ryder asked as they continue their walk.

  “Well truthfully I have no clue why she started acting all jittery and short of breath I just knew we had to find you so I brought her here hoping one of your many minions would see us, recognize her and get you—which they did might I add, but I hadn’t a clue she’d pass out.”

  “Of course you didn’t.”

  This is the third fuckin time she acted like this, something is wrong and she won’t tell me what the hell it is, he fumed to himself.

  “Why were you looking for me?” Ryder asked Sidney.

  “Well I was looking for you because of Hank but gave up once I realized you weren’t still at her house, but then she suggested that we should find you now. I have no clue why it was so urgent and why she insisted we do it but long story short here we are,” she explained.

  It had to have been of some importance, Skylar would never willingly seek me out, Ryder thought.

  “Where is Hank?” Ryder asked Sidney.

  “I don’t know when we got back down stairs my mom said that Hank had left.”

  “Skylar was at your house?” he asked her.

  “Yea, well I invited her but I was looking for you,” she explained.

  “So who’s watching your damn mother?” Ryder asked as they reached the landing of Skylar’s house.

  “No one I told her to lock the doors and to go to bed.”

  Now why would she do a stupid thing like that?

  “Go to her, don’t leave her alone. Hank specializes in home improvement it won’t take him long to break in if need be,” Ryder explained.

  “Yet another damn job, how many does that make now?” Sidney asked confused.

  “What do you mean?” Ryder asked just as confused.

  “She’ll explain it to you,” she said motioning toward Skylar, “I have to go check on my mother now,” she said turning to leave.

  “Sid be careful,” Ryder said as she walked away.

  “You too,” she said and Ryder knew somehow that it served as a double meaning.

  “I will,” he said as he opened the door to Skylar’s house and laid her down on the couch before closing and locking the door.

  “Ego vertiginem,” she mumbles as she turns on her side. [I am so dizzy].Ryder chuckled lightly as he went to her kitchen and filled a glass with water. “Here drink this,” Ryder said as he handed her the cup, he waited for her to sit up completely before questioning her. “Do you have some type of stress disorder or something?” he asked as he took a seat beside her.

  She looked at him as if she wanted to fight him but instead she shook her head and sipped from the cup.

  “I don’t have a disorder,” she says as she sits the cup on the coffee table and grabs the blanket that sat against the couch.

  Does she sleep down here often? He thought to himself.

  “So what’s the issue? This is the third time now that you’ve acted…” What’s the word I’m looking for? He thought.

  “Crazy?” she offered, but that wasn’t it.

  “No, you’ve acted unhinged I think that’s the word I’m looking for,” he says as he rubs his hand across the slight stubble on his jaw.

  “Like I said I don’t have a disorder,” she argued.

  “I don’t believe you do but something’s up I know it. How long has it been happening?” he asked even though a part of him didn’t think she’d answer.

  “As long as I can remember, I know… I guess when I was around 14,” she answered surprisingly.

  “For 6 years? What triggered it?”

  “I don’t want to talk about this Ryder that’s not why I called you over here.”

  “You didn’t call me over here,” he reminded her.

  “Well I would have but I didn’t have a number and I didn’t know where you lived, so no I didn’t call you over here because I couldn’t,” she said a bit on edge. “

  What is it?” he asked having no intentions to comment on the not being able to contact him theory, though it was true he didn’t give her any kind of information on himself.

  “It’s Hank.”

  Those two words immediately captured his attention, that’s all she needed to say.

  “He’s…up to something, I don’t know what It is but I’m almost certain it’s not anything good. He works like 6 jobs but according to Sidney spends all of his time with her and her mother.”

  Ryder looks down at her and wonders if this is what she was investigating and if so why is she telling him now? Before she immediately shot him down when he asked about it before.

  “Why are you so curious?” he asked vigilantly.

  “Hank was my father’s friend, how dare he treat his friend’s daughter like some kind of game?! He lied to me!” she said defensively.

  “What did he lie about?”

  “I don’t have all night to recite it,” she huffed agitatedly.

  “So what the hell did you need me for?!” he asked no longer wanting to do this at her pace.

  “I didn’t need you, Sidney did,” she said defensively.

  “Well that’s not what Sidney said,” he said knowing that she did need him but for some reason she was just changing her mind about it.

  “Well then I’m telling you now that I don’t need you,” she huffed as she sank against the couch and tucked her legs beneath her.

  “Bēlua you’re being stubborn,” Ryder sulked as he sagged against the couch beside her.

  “Surprise, surprise,” she said as she gr
abbed the blanket and draped it across her legs.

  “Are you allergic to being nice?” she asked out of nowhere.

  “Allergic?” Ryder questioned. “No I wouldn’t say I’m allergic to it,” he said with clear amusement.

  “So why aren’t you?” she asked seriously.

  “Who says that I’m not?” he asked as he looked over at her serious expression.

  “I say that you’re not, because you’re not; or at least you don’t want to be,” she said as she looked away from him.

  Where was this coming from? He questioned himself.

  “You don’t think I’m nice to you?” he asked.

  “No you are nice to me occasionally, but…”

  “But what?” he asked.

  “But Hank says that people don’t fall under you willingly.”

  Ryder didn’t get what she meant by that but if Hank said it then he didn’t care either.

  “And I believe him,” she added and he’d hate to admit it but it was like a punch to the gut. He didn’t say anything because what could he say? She’s going to believe what she’s going to believe.

  “But not for the reasons Hank seems to,” she continued. “I believe it because you haven’t given me a choice to believe otherwise,” she finished. “My mom always says “Keep smiling because life’s such a beautiful thing and there's so much to smile about,” but you don’t smile,” she said sadly. Ryder knew that this had to be of some importance to her because she never talks about her mother.

  “Sentio maligne vos,” she mumbled. [I feel bad for you]

  “Ne mala sentiunt, ad me, Promerear omnis qui venit ad me,” he mumbled back in perfect Latin. [Do not feel bad for me; I deserve all that comes to me].

  Ryder could feel the couch rumble from her laughter.

  “What so funny?” he asked as he looked over at her.

  “That’s the second time you done answered me, I didn’t know you spoke Latin if I had known I wouldn’t talk in it around you,” she said as a smile lingered on her mouth.

  “So you only talk in Latin when you don’t want someone to understand or hear what you have to say?”

  “Me and mom used to do it all of the time and dad used to get so upset,” she laughed.

  “Mom took me to Vatican City to meet some of her relatives. You’d be surprised that there are still people familiar with the language. Latin’s not as common as Spanish or French is so you can only imagine my shock; I couldn’t help but learn,” she said as she smiled at the memory.

  “So Mr. Bilingual how did you come across Latin?” she asked.

  “Well one of my college professors was Latina, she was gorgeous so I thought if I learned the language that I would impress her, but it never occurred to me that she didn’t speak Latin until I actually learned enough of it to speak in full sentences,” he said also smiling at his memory.

  “She told me that she had no clue what I had just said but that if I was this determined with my classes like I was with the language that I would actually learn something and hopefully pass.”

  “You smiled,” she whispered and Ryder couldn’t help but do it again.

  “Well your mother’s a smart woman,” he said as he looked down at her.

  “She is,” she agreed sadly. She looked at him as if he had just spoken a language that she didn’t understand.

  “What?” he asked.

  “You went to college?” she asked.

  “I was there for about 3 days but I dropped out.”

  “3 days? That’s it?” she asked shocked.

  “I…couldn’t stay; there were other things that were more important at the time,” he said not planning to go into any farther detail and she seemed to have detected it as she soon changed the subject.

  “It’s raining,” she said as she looked back at her mother’s door.

  As if the dog knew she was looking, it began to wine and scratch at the door.

  “You have a dog?” Ryder questioned, not remembering seeing one the last times he were here.

  “Yea, it’s a stray but I didn’t want to just leave it outside with nowhere to go,” she said as she walked to the door and opened it to let the dog out. It immediately pounded its way toward the couch and began to sniff Ryder.

  “Hey Angelo this is Ryder,” she said as she sat down on the couch beside him again.

  “Angelo?” He asked her as he looked between her and the pit-bull.

  “Who names a pit-bull Angelo? I’ve come to know a lot of pit-bulls in my time and never have I ever heard of one by the name of Angelo; devil maybe,” he mused. She immediately stiffened.

  “Those are just stereotypes,” she said defensively. “He’s an angle, if he weren’t you wouldn’t have a hand to pet him with,” she said as she looked at his hand as it rubbed the dog, Ryder was unaware that he had even began petting the dog that he immediately stopped.

  “Don’t stop he liked it,” she said as she began to get comfortable on the couch. Ryder continued to pet the dog as she suggested.

  “He hasn’t been loved you can tell, or at least you could but he seems to like staying in my mother’s room with her. I guess all of that staying outside through the worst of weathers he was just glad to be inside for a change,” she said as if she knew exactly what the dog had been through.

  “I had one dog before,” Ryder said as he watched the dog and how it seemed to be studying her.

  “What was its name?” she asked.

  “I named him Kibbles, I was 10 so don’t tease,” he warned. Even though he warned her, she still laughed.

  “Kibbles, that’s cute,” she said between laughs. “So what happened to it?” she asked as soon as she sobered up.

  “My dad killed it because my mother wouldn’t listen to him. He got angry and the dog was the first thing he could reach, I was glad that I had stood as far away from him as possible. I wasn’t expecting him to come back…” Ryder surprised himself by admitting.

  “Oh-my-gosh,” she said as she covered her mouth in shock.

  At that moment the dog hopped on the couch between them and laid his head in Ryder’s lap so he’d continue to pet him.

  “I’d hate to imagine the pain that poor puppy suffered,” she said as she leaned over to pet the dog as well. Ryder was actually glad she hadn’t apologized; he hates it when you tell someone something sad and the first thing out of their mouths is I’m sorry. She seemed more concerned for the dog than him and what he went through and he was grateful for it, but it does make him question why she hadn’t asked him about it, why she hadn’t questioned him farther about what happened.

  “Are you staying here? I don’t mind I know it’s getting dark and it’s still raining and I don’t want to have to send you out there like that,” she said as she continued to pet the dog.

  Ryder hadn’t noticed that it had gotten so late; he hadn’t even noticed that it was raining until she pointed it out.

  “I can go now—”

  “No you’ll stay here and you’ll leave in the morning,” she demanded.

  Did she not want to be alone tonight? He questioned as he looked at her and she continued to avoid his eyes.

  “Alright I’ll take the couch—”

  “No you won’t. You can have the guest room, it used to be my father’s but… well you don’t need me to tell you why it no longer is,” she said as she got up off of the couch and called the dog to her.

  “Alright come on Angelo let’s go to bed,” she said as the dog followed her back to her mother’s room.

  “You can head up Ryder it’s the door at the end of the hall, first floor,” she instructed.

  First floor? How many floors does she have in this house? And if she has other guest rooms why stick me in her fathers? He questioned something he seemed to do a lot of when around her.

  When Ryder got to the door she indicated it was maybe the biggest room in the house, the bathroom was in the room so he
didn’t have to go down the hall and go.

  The room was royal blue and gold, it looked expensive and rather elegant for it to have been a man’s room. The bed was maybe the biggest thing in the room and next to it was one floor length window with sheer gold curtains pulled tight so no light seeped through.

  The rugs begged you to take your shoes off and just stand there for hours; it was so soft. Ryder was afraid to even look at the other door in the room but he did it anyways.

  It was a walk in closet filled with suits.

  I guess they never truly cleaned this room out, he thought to himself as he fingered the suits.

  “There are other clothes just in case you’d wish to change,” her voice echoed from behind him almost making him jump.

  Ryder looked over his shoulder toward her and she was pointing at the closet light, he flipped the switch and the closet was soon filled with bright lights. He looked through a couple of drawers which were filled with shorts and random t-shirts.

  “They’re all clean,” she said closer this time.

  Ryder didn’t doubt her statement for one minute.

  “Thanks,” he mumbled.

  Ryder has never in his poor excuse for a life been surrounded by such nice things. He laid in the king sized bed and almost purred like a cat in how soft and subtle it felt against his naked back. Ryder knew—though nightmares haunt him often—he would have no problem falling asleep tonight.