Fall (Roam Series, Book Two) (16 page)

I hurried to the bathroom, amazed that my body (or Annie’s body) could still function after
such an ordeal. I knew that women gave birth every day, and it was perfectly natural, but I never expected to feel so…
normal
… after just having a baby.

I returned to the bedroom, finding only West and Eva. “Okay… we’re going to do this together,” West helped me prop my arm up comfortably, and Eva began to cry as he moved her to my arms. “Just… just show her you’re in charge,” he encouraged.

I grinned skeptically. “Do you even know what you’re talking about? She’s not a puppy,” I said. He gave me a mockingly defensive face before lowering his lips to mine.

“Okay, do it your way, Mrs. Perry.”

It took an hour, but finally we… clicked. Uncomfortable as the entire process was for me, I understood why some women chose to breastfeed… the bonding was palpable between us, and the idea that I was providing her with food from my own body was incredibly gratifying.

“
We’re getting nowhere with Troy.” West said as we lowered the sleeping baby into the cradle. “He heard Eva crying.”

I moved to the closet, finding a simple, green dress with wide shoulder straps and apron skirt.
Slipping it over my head, I was grateful for the forgiving waist. “I want to talk to him-…,”

“Absolutely not.”

“You can stay with Eva, Logan can stand right outside the door. I’ll be safe. He’s tied up, right?”

“We need to go to the mainland, get you to the hospital with Eva…,”

“We will, just let me talk to him, now,” I ordered, my words delicate but firm. “I deserve that.”

He straightened, facing me squarely. “Do not let him
touch you.”

I sighed, moving into his open arms. He smoothed my hair, kissing the top of my head. “The dreams started again. I had one… in a pub, in 1790. I was Spanish.”

“Isa,” he murmured, and I could feel him smile against my forehead. “You were… a dancer.”

“
You were a… rake.”

His chest shook as he laughed silently over the sleeping baby.

We ate from the groceries in the refrigerator, West preparing eggs and sausage for us all with fresh orange juice. I watched him move around the kitchen with ease, talking about the year that he spent in 1977.

“I fixed cars, and alternated between trying to find Troy and guarding Laurel. I tried to find Julie… I even went to her father, asking about her. He told me that he didn’t have a daughter. She was just… gone. As if she’d never existed.”

“
I could only remember the first few numbers of the coordinates from 1977; it took months for me to piece together the rest and locate the fountain in Cleveland. Troy must have been doing the same. I found him in Cleveland minutes after I traveled. We fought, and I sent him to my house. I knew I could call Logan in time to warn you.”

“But
you didn’t know that Violet was there.”

He brushed his hands against a towel.

“How long has Logan known that I’m…,” Violet looked down at her plate, unable to finish her sentence.

“I told him that I… suspected... that you were immortal. On the phone, when I called, Logan told m
e that Violet had driven into town. He didn’t tell me she was at my
house
.”

“He didn’t know you’d sent Troy there,” Violet defended him softly.

I met West’s eyes, gathering a plate of food. “Thank you. I’ll take this out to Logan.”

“Roam.”

Looking back at him, I watched his severe expression. “Don’t let Logan leave your side.”

“I know.”

The shack behind the cottage had been obliterated during the 1999 hurricane, but it was new and freshly painted to match the house in 1955. Logan stood outside the door, staring out over the ocean.

I padded to him through the sand, and he caught me approaching from the corner of his eye. “You’re not going in there.”

“I already talked to West. He’s okay with it.” I passed him the plate of food.

“Bullshit.”

“Go ask him.”

“Roam,” he shook his head disgustedly. “What purpose will this serve?”

“I need to look him in the eye and say something.”

“You spend seven lifetimes running from him, and now you want to
tell
him something. Girls.” He puffed the air from his lips in irritation, a characteristic that was so
Logan
that it was comforting to me, coming from a stranger’s body.

“I
will
go in there.”

Logan stepped aside, holding his palm up toward the door. “Go on. I’m right here. Don’t touch him.”

“No problem.”

I pulled the door open, blinking as I tried to adjust to the slatted light coming in through the cracks of the wood. I focused on him right away; hands and feet tied, and tied again to a metal stake attached to the shed. A dirty, white rag was stuffed in his mouth, tied
around the back of his head, taut, so that his cheeks were lifted slightly. I thought of the Joker character in
Batman
.

The cold hutch reeked of urine. I
coughed and turned to Logan quickly. “Take the gag off him.”

Logan started to argue, but instead
shoved the plate of food at me and walked to Troy, untying the rag. He fixed his eyes on me, never once looking in Logan’s direction. “If you start shouting, it goes back on,” Logan warned, and then looked at me. “I’m on the other side of the door.”

“Okay.”

Logan stepped out, and I backed against the wooden door, my fingers looped through the door handle.

“
Well,” his eyes swept over me from head to toe. His voice was jagged, as if he needed water. “Blonde. My favorite.”

“You can stop being gross and weird,” I crossed my arms over my chest, glaring at him. “
You sound like the corny villain in a low-budget movie.”

“Oh, and there she is. I guess I expected the demure, fifties housewife. But then there’s
her
tongue.”

“You lost, Troy. It’s over.
My child is born. She’s healthy, and beautiful, and she’s fulfilled the prophecy-…,”

“…you
think
she has. Kill me, see if it takes.”

“I need to know about the doors first. To the other world.”

“Join the club.”

I softened, releasing the door handle and taking a tentative step toward him. My heart thundered against the inside of my ribs. “
Let Violet have her mother back. And then… it’s over. Otherwise, they’re going to do… awful things to you,” I couldn’t bring myself to say exactly
what
West planned to do, but I was sure he guessed.

“What, like tie me up, starve me, and let
me rot in my own piss?”

I covered my mouth with my hand, cringing involuntarily. “I can make things better,” I said quietly, under my breath so that Logan couldn’t hear me through the door.

He glared at me. “You always have.”

I gathered all of my courage, staring at him. “I want you to know that I’ve had dreams about our life. In the cold castle.”

Recognition flickered for a nanosecond in his ice blue eyes, encouraging me.

“And since I have, you don’t
…
scare
me… like you used to. Knowing that you once… loved me, it makes you seem… weak.”

He pulled at the ropes suddenly, almost making it to his feet. I choked a scream, slamming my back against the door.

“Asher saved your long, pretty neck with his spell.”

Now we’re getting somewhere.
“His spell?”

“I will tell you everything, only because you are about to experience the
worst
pain of your life. It’ll destroy you- and maybe West. Hopefully.”

I swallowed hard, trying to ignore his ominous threats. “Okay, tell me.”

He lowered back to the ground, facing me. “You were sixteen years old when you came to my castle. I expected a virgin bride, but what I got was the kingdom whore.”

His eyes disturbed me; I looked away.

“My brother wanted my place on the throne. He conspired to get it, believing the quickest way was between your legs.”

“This is the oldest cliché in history.”

“Oh, there’s a twist.” He scraped his eyes over me in repugnance. “You weren’t just fucking me over. You fucked my brother over, too. With my knight. You believed you could turn my own army against me. Treasonous bitch.”

“
Can you stop calling me names, please?”

“
Asher was West’s father. Before I could put you both to death, he conjured some dark magic to split the universe in two. West had no memory of the world- I did.”

“He was a wizard?” I asked of Asher; Troy shrugged.

“Magician, enchanter, warlock- I don’t know what he was. He did this to all of us, all to save his son.”

West
. I looked toward the house. “But Asher wasn’t immortal. He died in a fire.”

“Oops.” He
shrugged at me, tilting his head slightly. “Why do you want to help little Curly in there find her mother?”

“Because I know what it’s like to lose my own mother.”

“She doesn’t age… Laurel, you know,” he sneered, his lips curling in a filthy smile that reminded me of the pool at the high school. “She’s been twenty-eight years old since I took her over, in 2003.”

I processed his cruel banter, suddenly feeling light-headed.

“Don’t you wonder what your hero will think of her? They are still married… but that’s just a technicality in 2012, right?”

Knotting my fingers together, I stared him down. “Tell me where the doors are.”

He met my eyes. “You saw the castle. What did you see?”

“Ice! Frozen water! Arctic cold.”

“What else did you see? How did you get from the ground, up to the castle?”

I had no idea what he was talking about; my dream of the castle was indoors, once in a grand hall, and once in a ballroom. “Just tell me!” I shouted, frustrated, wanting desperately to go back to Eva and hold her in my arms.

He gave a half-laugh, staring at the ceiling. “The fountain doors were made by mortals- mere men. So are the doors to our world.”

“
Your
world,” I hissed, shivering. “My world is
any world without you in it.
”

I turned on my heel, throwing the door open. The bright, morning light blinded me.
Before I could step out, he called me.

“Roam, whatever happened to Julie?”

Logan waited, most likely having heard our entire conversation. I glanced at Troy’s hideous smile once more before hurrying out of the putrid shed. “Gag him,” I cried, running back to the cottage.

The sky turned dark within an hour.
Rain began to slash at the cottage in sideways sheets as I fed Eva. West diligently worked at soaking the dirty laundry in the bathtub filled with detergent. “We’ll go across as soon as it stops raining,” he called from the bathroom.

I heard Violet in the kitchen, cursing every so often as she tried to prepare somethin
g for the four of us to eat for lunch. She’d borrowed a pair of hip-hugging capris and blouse from Annie’s closet, complaining about our height difference.

Sitting on the bed g
azing at Eva, I touched her delicate nose, sighing. “I don’t want to stay here, West. I want to bring her… home. We’ll make it work- I’ll go away with you.”

“We don’t know if the prophecy has been fulfilled. The numbers are still her
e.” His sleeves were rolled up past his elbows, clearly revealing the numbers in the bathroom light.

“We have to feed him.” I rocked the baby in my arms, lifting my eyes to his. “We can’t starve him. I can’t know he’s just out there… rotting. Indefinitely.”

“Do you know what he’s done to you? To me- to our child?” He stood up, brushing his wet hands on a towel. “This is not the first time I’ve held our child in my arms, Roam. It’s the first time I’ve held our
living
child in my arms.”

I winced, gripping her tightly to me. “I just want to… end this. I just want to… go home,” the overwhelming need to cry hit me with such force, I could barely keep from doubling over. He hurried to me, taking Eva and gently placing her in the cradle before
gathering me into his arms.

“I understand… it’s been non-stop for the past two days… you just went through so much, baby,”
he pressed my face against his chest while I cried silently, trying not to wake Eva.

“I just don’t see the end… what are we doing? Are we trying to save… Laurel? Is it worth keeping Troy alive for… her?”

West held me, not speaking for long moments. When he did, his voice was strained. “If he had taken your mother… or father… or Morgan, how far would you go?”