Allie's War Season One (20 page)

Tiptoeing around the pie to the refrigerator, I opened the door softly, glancing over the contents before grabbing a container of milk and quaffing it. Setting it down carefully so as not to rattle the metal shelf, I pulled out a package of bread, then another plastic package of what looked like real cheese, probably from one of the local farmer’s markets.

As I closed the door softly, I caught sight of the entryway table. On it sat a leather purse, worn to a pale beige from years of use. It looked like something my mom would buy and wear into nothing, too, and suddenly I felt a little sick.

Shoving aside my lingering guilt, I walked with painstaking care down the hall, conscious of any loose floorboards as I lifted and placed my bare feet. I reached the purse and opened the snaps, wincing at the faint click before I tugged it open.

The woman’s wallet lay on top, a faded Gucci with a white and brown pattern along the coin purse. I opened it quickly and quietly, found an ident card and breathed a sigh of relief in spite of my guilt. Tugging it carefully out of the side pocket and shoving it into the front pocket of the stolen jeans, I closed the purse, then hesitated again, seeing the woman’s headset.

I could leave both in the taxi. Minus a few credits, the woman would probably get them both back without too much of a hassle; the cabbie would be legally obliged to turn them in, and they were both coded to her. Hesitating only a second longer, I snatched up the headset, too, and turned for the back door.

I found myself facing a four-year-old boy with dark eyes and dark hair. His mouth fell slightly open as he stared up at me, his eyes growing wider and wider. My heart thudded in my chest, but I held up a hand to reassure him.

“It’s okay, kid,” I whispered. “It’s for a good cause. Tell your mom I’m really sorry.”

The kid stared at me, his almond eyes growing wider still.

Then his mouth dropped open for real.

“Mom!” he shrieked. “Mommy! There’s a dirty lady in here! She has my sammich bread! She has my sammich bread!”

My heart stopped for a half-beat.

...Then I bolted, leaping over and past the boy.

I landed off-kilter on one foot, picked up my weight, stumbled for the door, limping on the ankle I’d just twisted. I knocked into the door frame as I ran by, smacking my shoulder and making a loud clattering noise that echoed into the small clearing.

A screech of lake-rusted hinges followed me as the door swung behind my erratic path. I glanced over my shoulder and saw that the door hung crooked on its wooden frame.

I didn’t look back again.

At the small opening in the hedge, I scooped up the clothes I’d stolen for Revik, then ran behind the denser vegetation and through the next backyard over. I made it back up to the wooded park above the row of homes a few minutes later, trying not to think about whether Revik would still be there.

Panting, I ran up to the cluster of roots on to the tree where I thought I’d left him.

He wasn’t there.

My heart stopped again, until I realized I’d gone to the wrong tree.

I found him after I’d already started to panic, skidding to a stop when I saw his long legs splayed. When I saw his eyes closed, I panicked, sure he was dead...but they fluttered open as soon as I crouched beside him.

“I didn’t sleep...” he said. “I didn’t.”

Relieved beyond words, I kissed him on the mouth.

His eyes registered a dim surprise.

“Sorry I took so long,” I said, embarrassed, then grinned. “But hey, look!” I showed him the headset. Fitting it over my ear, I switched it on, even as it occurred to me to hope it didn’t have a DNA key. I knew some of the newer ones did.

Luckily, it wasn’t that new.

I scrolled through the woman’s cached numbers until I found one labeled “taxi.”

“Yeah,” I said when the dispatcher picked up. I waited for her to trace our location. “Yeah, now.” I glanced at Revik, watched him fumble with the sweatshirt I’d brought him. “We’ll be in the parking lot.” I hung up, crouching in front of him again. “You up for this? We can’t go door to door...we’ll have to have them drop us near a bus stop, or downtown. It’s in Chinatown, right?”

He nodded, unbuttoning his shirt.

I continued to stand there as he began struggling out of it. Looking down at his exposed neck and shoulder, I noticed a question-mark scar curling up from his back to his throat, such a pale white color it had to be really old. It wasn’t small though, or particularly light. In fact, it was nearly the width of my index finger.

I hesitated, wondered if I should offer to help, given his condition, then thought better of it and walked off a few paces instead, sitting on the grass with my back to him.

Twisting off the clasp ties, I reached into the plastic bag filled with bread, selected a big piece with dark crust and began munching. It was soft with a crunchy, chewy crust, and at that moment I decided it was the best damned bread I’d ever eaten.

I played lookout while I ate, combing fingers through my hair to get as much gunk out as I could, pausing occasionally to try to clean up my face on the long-sleeved tee.

“Stockholm syndrome,” I muttered, then laughed, stuffing another piece of bread into my mouth and chewing.

I would think about that later.

THE SUN DIPPED towards late-afternoon before we finally stood in front of a red-painted basement door.

I looked up the cement stairs to the street, where a woman leaned against a telephone pole. Nylons torn, makeup running down her cheeks under a slightly askew wig, she swayed drunkenly on high heels, staring at Revik with half-hearted interest. She saw me looking at her and gestured in a dismissive wave.

“Enjoy yourself, girlfriend.” She burst into a laugh. “That one’s too drunk to fuck, so you be nice...I find him in the gutter tomorrow, I’ll remember your face, honey...”

My eyes found Revik’s. He continued leaning against me, his hand on the wall. He was having trouble breathing.

I said to him, “You sure this is the place?”

He didn’t look at the woman, who called out again, trying to get his attention. “Yes.”

“Hey, lover! Be careful! That one looks like a predator...” She burst into drunken laughter. “Wanna come home with me? I’ll take good care of you. Hey! Tall and dark...”

“This part of town isn’t exactly where I’d put a ‘safe’ house,” I muttered. “You’re sure we’re at the right—”

“Seers have photographic memories, Allie,” he said. “Trust me. It is here.”

Seeing the exhaustion behind the request in his eyes, I gripped him tighter, but still hesitated, staring at the chipped, red-painted door. I was about to walk into a house full of seers. Seers who would probably think I’d done this to him.

And they wouldn’t be that far off.

“Knock, Allie.”

I raised my hand.

The door opened before I could touch the wood.

A woman stood there with stunning dark-red hair that hung in ringlets down either side of her heart-shaped face to bare, pearl-white shoulders. My eyes took in that flawless face, the dark blue eyes that shone almost violet and perfectly drawn lips. Everything about her, from her clothes to her figure to her hair reminded me of an old sex siren from the forties or fifties. The clothes she wore fit so well they could have been made for her.

Or painted on her, perhaps.

The woman smiled, and the smile drew me like a caress.

“Can I help you, friend?”

I glanced at Revik. No wonder he wanted to come here.

He remained outside the circle of light, but I felt his fingers relax slightly when the woman appeared. Turning away from the relief I could see on his face, I looked past her, glimpsing a wider space with more people, but her eyes must have followed mine back to him.

“Revi’!” The violet eyes widened, all trace of coyness gone. “Gods, Revi’! What happened to you?”

Before I could say a word, she stepped forward, not moving me aside so much as sliding into the gap between me and Revik and circling his waist with her arm. She took him for me before it occurred to me to protest, and led him through the doorway. I found myself just standing there, strangely light without him to prop up, but not really relieved, either.

Then another pair of hands dragged me in after the two of them, swinging shut the door.

More people rose from chairs, their faces showing different amounts of surprise. None spoke...aloud anyway. Looking around at all of them without really seeing them, I glimpsed satin dresses and long jackets, faces heavy with make-up with a variety of skin tones and hair textures. The first woman I’d seen appeared to be in charge. She gestured with her free hand to the others, speaking an odd mix of accented English and a language I didn’t know.

“Mira, lock the door!
Il’letre ar enge.
Ivy, set up the room, yes,
ugnete
...make sure Sharin knows, and tell her to let the last one out the back...”

The woman with the long red hair stood at a decent height, maybe five-nine, but still looked small where she supported Revik with her shoulder. I saw her caress his back with a ring-adorned hand and felt more than that pass between them.

“That was you on the news!” she said, looking up at him. “I should have known...they intimated terrorism. But we didn't expect you so soon.” As if remembering, she looked over her shoulder at me. Her eyes glowed briefly, taking me in.

“Is this her?”

Revik glanced at me, too. Then he turned away, speaking only to her, using that other language, interspersing his words with a series of clicks.

“Arente ar mulens, sarten,”
he said softly. He glanced at me again.
“Il en, yet. Igre ar ulen.
Bridge,” he added.

The woman stared at me.
“Ar li ente u?”

“
Ur et estarn.
Alyson...
ut te
Allie.”

The woman looked at me more intently. Her irises blurred just enough that I suspected she was reading my mind. I saw Revik nod to her perceptibly a few seconds later. He gestured fluidly with one hand, ending on a downward slash.

I stood there, arms folded, fighting back emotion that felt more and more like anger. My eyes found his fingers entangled in the woman’s dark red hair, caressing the bare skin of her neck and shoulder.

A pulse of warmth reached me.

I jumped, my face hotter when I realized who had sent it. Then it hit me. He had access to his abilities again.

He met my gaze.
Ullysa has a construct on this place. It will keep us hidden from the Barrier proper. We are safe here...for now.

Ullysa made a soft clicking sound that held a trace of amazement, drawing my eyes.

“She is
young,
Revi',” she said. “I pictured an old man from the Elders’ impressions. Is she trained at all?”

Revik made another of those downward slashing motions.

No,
he translated for me.

Ullysa looked up at Revik’s face. “And how did they find you? We were told you got away from San Francisco cleanly.”

“It was my mistake—” Revik began.

“No,” I said. “It wasn’t.”

Ullysa looked at me in surprise.

Her expression suddenly grew much harder for me to read. She bowed politely as I thought it, indicating around the room with her free hand. I couldn’t help but notice her other hand was now under the sweatshirt Revik wore, caressing his bare back.