The Evensong (39 page)

When Rhys was sure I was okay, he moved on to talking about such normal topics. Dinner, what to do about the leak developing in the kitchen, how long it would be until Tally stopped living on her own. I sat in the midst of their talking, wondering if I would even be a part of all of this later. Was this just a polite move after what had happened to me? Rhys was so kind, it was hard to tell. I tried to let myself be at ease, and it worked a little as the hour wore on.

Later, I called Alysana to make sure she was okay. She was fine now; they had all moved in with Meryl for the time being until they figured things out. Rene was at a complete loss of what to do. I didn’t mention who I’d seen at the fire, but Alysana was already speculating it might have been Aidan’s fault. The source of the fire couldn’t be found due to the damage, and police were insisting we had to have left a candle burning somewhere. Apparently they were trying very hard to ignore the things they couldn’t explain.

When she asked how I was doing, I assured her I was fine. I just needed some time to recuperate and gather my thoughts correctly. Then I planned on taking some action. But I let her go, saying I would call her soon to keep checking up on her.

Nerio came back near the evening in a predictable huff. Luckily, I wasn’t in the kitchen as he stormed in. Calder and I were just watching TV in the living room while the others were in the kitchen.

“And here we go again,” Nerio said. “I knew I shouldn’t have thought we were so fortunate.”

“Could you cut it out?” Linden spat. Calder and I glanced at each other warily.

“No, nuh-uh. Tallulah called me and told me what’s up,” he said.

“Nerio, I did—”

“Don’t deny it!” he yelled when Tally tried to speak.

“You had to know sometime,” Rhys said calmly.

I just heard Nerio’s breathing for a minute. “If she’s being targeted, why does she have to come here? She’ll drag the vulcani right back here!”

It was a great reminder, and I sighed as Calder stood.

“I think they have a bit more sense to stay in line,” Rhys pointed out.

“If this is the same one from ’55 he’s not staying in line.”

I turned towards the kitchen when I heard that. ’55? He couldn’t be referring to
1955
. . .

“We don’t know who he is—”

“Linden, you saw him, now spit it out: was it the same guy?”

Linden didn’t immediately reply to Nerio’s question. There was silence as Calder crept closer to the door and I stayed put.

“I don’t know,” Linden finally said.

“The hell you don’t,” Nerio hissed. “It was, wasn’t it? Now we’ve got to try to put that guy down again and worry about what petty little girl he’ll go for next. Brilliant, Linden! You’ve made it
so
easy for the rest of us bringing your dirty witch-bitch into our—”

Nerio’s words were abruptly cut off as there was a loud thud and a crack. I stood fast, squeezing past Calder as he walked into the kitchen as well.

Linden had Nerio pinned by the neck against the wall, and there was a long crack going up to the ceiling. I could see the amazingly tight grip Linden was keeping on him; his knuckles were whitening and Nerio’s neck was bright red.

“Watch your goddamn tongue,” Linden said through his teeth. Nerio gasped, trying to pry Linden’s fingers off. Linden didn’t move, instead squeezing harder.

“That’s enough,” Rhys said harshly. Linden held on for one more second before he let Nerio go. Nerio coughed and sucked in as much air as he could. Linden turned away from him and spotted me, shrugging slightly.

“You both made your point, so none of that,” Rhys went on, looking at the fresh crack in the wall. “And you’ll be fixing that.”

“I will, sorry,” Linden muttered.

Rhys looked to Nerio as he caught his breath. “He’s right. Watch your tongue in my house. If you haven’t forgotten, some of us have taken a vow here and under this roof you will honor it. Are we clear?”

Nerio didn’t speak but nodded grudgingly.

“Good. I’m sorry you had to see that, Riley,” Rhys said when he noticed Calder and I standing there. “Anyway, dinner’s ready. Tally, plates, please.”

I admired how cool and calm he was in the situation. It almost made me laugh, and I was glad to see Calder was also holding back a smile. I fought for control as Nerio glowered with rage.

Sitting at the table with the five undines felt strangely comfortable. Though I couldn’t help feeling the anger lingering, I felt good. This was the closest to home I had right now and it was turning out well. Rhys carried most of the conversation, but Tally did pitch in once in a while. Nerio was absolutely silent, and he ate and left swiftly.

I did my own dishes before I left the kitchen even though Rhys kept insisting I stop. After that, I let Linden drag behind and told him to meet me at the beach. I couldn’t wait much longer.

It was a refreshing scene after the fire and so much sleep. I surprised myself with how calm I was about this whole situation; I hadn’t yet started to worry about Home. For now I didn’t have to have a permanent one, and I already felt like this place was a comfortable substitute. Maybe Nerio would never change, but he wouldn’t stick around.

I went to stand in the surf after a few minutes and finally admitted that the dress was a good idea. No wet jeans to worry about. I watched that warm glow of the sun over the water until Linden walked up beside me, jeans rolled up to his knees.

“That was some move you did in there,” I said, looking up at him.

He shrugged. He was still mad. “He deserved it.”

“I mean, I didn’t know you were
that
strong.”

“Ah, you reserve it when you really need it,” he said. He took a deep breath and stretched out his fingers. “Besides being a little shocked, I’m really surprised at you today.”

“Why’s that?” I asked as the water washed over our feet.

He gave me a confused look. “Not to bring it up again, but your house burnt down, and you seem um . . . okay with that.”

“I’m not okay with it,” I corrected. “Far from it. But I accept that I can’t do anything about it right now. No one can. What I
can
do is pretend this is my home for now and enjoy it.” I gestured out to the expanse of water in front of us.

“Wow,” he grinned, “that’s impressive, really. I’m glad you think that way.”

“Yeah me, too, or else I’d be a wreck.”

He laughed and turned, looking back at the house. “You can think of it as a home as long as you want. Don’t pretend, because it really is.”

“Well thanks,” I said. “But don’t worry, I don’t expect it to be forever.”

Linden pursed his lips and shrugged dramatically. “I dunno—I wouldn’t mind it.”

He walked away, leaving me to try to decipher what he meant. I concluded I couldn’t quite figure it out, so I jogged to catch up with him. I caught his hand and turned him around, kissing him firmly. I could always pretend it meant what I wanted it to.

I had just touched the skin at his waist when he pulled back a little, blinking rapidly. He swallowed hard and choked out a laugh.

“What?” I asked, pulling back to look at his whole face.

“Ignore me,” he replied, pushing my hands further up his chest. He smiled, though I wasn’t sure what to make of it.

We stayed there until it was too dark to see much. Going back to the house sounded like a good idea since I was getting tired again. Inside, everything was quiet and Calder happily announced that Nerio had decided to go driving for a while. I smiled in response to this, just following Linden back up the stairs to the bedroom. I let him pull off the dress and drape it across the dresser. The heat of his skin was enough warmth for me, though he still didn’t reach for the clasps of my bra. I lay on top of him, wanting to get lost in him again. He seemed to be on the same page, his hands roaming everywhere, but he slowly began to stop and just kissed my neck.

“Hm?” he asked, noticing the subtle change in my attitude.

“What? Nothing,” I said quickly.

He gave me a look and turned over so we were both on our sides, facing each other. “I’ve been with enough girls to know that face.”

That comment threw me off my original track. “Enough?” It brought back what Nerio had said to me the night I found out Alysana was sick.

“Hey, give me some leeway here, I’m older than you,” he rebutted.

“Okay, okay, so what’s your point?” I asked, trying not to imagine him kissing someone else.

He seemed to see right through me. He rolled onto his back and put one hand to his forehead. “I guess I’m just going to try to explain this.”

“All right . . .” I instantly felt embarrassed, exposed too much. I waited for him to go on, all the while wondering what kind of girls he had been with in all his drifting. Were there other undines he’d been with? I wonder how different they really were from me . . . did being an undine give them some kind of advantage besides the fact that they weren’t a witch?

“I’ve been with girls, right. But I didn’t really feel as . . . as . . .” He couldn’t seem to find the words. I wished I had never reacted or thought about what I had been thinking about.

“It’s okay, you don’t have to—”

“Just give me a sec,” he said. He rubbed the side of his nose, addressing the ceiling. “I haven’t slept with anyone in a
very
long time.”

Yes, he was able to see
straight
through me. My cheeks felt as hot as they had in front of the fire. I didn’t look at him, waiting to see if he would continue.

“There are a lot of myths surrounding the whole thing,” he said, “and no one really knows what to believe. It all got really skeptical a while ago so . . . I didn’t want to take any chances.”

“What kind of myths?”

He paused and sighed. “You don’t want to know.”

“Ugh, Linden!” I sat up in impatience and looked down at his surprised face. “Is that the excuse for everything? There’s ‘a lot of myths’ and ‘you don’t want to know’?”

“No,” he said defensively. “But I know for a
fact
that if you knew, you’d want nothing to do with me.”

“You don’t know that because you haven’t told me anything! And the things I
do
know about you didn’t have me running away, did they?” He didn’t speak so I went on. “Just tell me.”

He slowly started frowning and took on a guarded expression. “No. I know what I’m saying.”

“How am I ever going to learn anything about you? You barely tell me anything; I have to try to fill in the blanks myself. I don’t know where you came from, I don’t know how old you
really
are, and I don’t know what ascending is, I don’t know your middle name. And yes, these things are important.”

He just stared at me for a minute. “I don’t have a middle name.”

I dropped my hands in exasperation and lay down again, my back to him. The bed moved as he scooted closer.

“Okay, let’s say my middle name is Jack,” he said as he pulled my hair away from my neck.

“It’s too late, you don’t have one,” I mumbled.

“Seriously though, Riley. I know what I’m talking about in this case, and if you knew the details you wouldn’t be so keen on being here.”

“Linden . . .”

“I will think about it though. Trying to explain it.”

Sure he would. I just nodded and closed my eyes, no longer in any kind of mood to talk to him. He left me alone, which was good for the time being. When I had calmed down and didn’t care so much, I turned around to find he was already asleep. Carefully moving his arm to drape over my side, he instinctively held me close and entangled his legs with mine. At least in his sleep he was forgiving.

THE
COMING
STORM

I woke up the following morning to find myself lying in the same position. Linden breathed easily, his breath fluttering my hair. I watched him sleep for a few minutes until I heard voices from the house. Maybe they needed him soon, the tones sounded urgent. I started to kiss his chin, the light stubble there scratching my skin. I grinned to myself and kept going until he moved slightly.

“Forgiving, are you?” he mumbled.

“Only sometimes,” I said, moving on to his shoulder. He smiled and stretched, muscles quivering, and paused to listen to the house.

“Sounds like another argument. Perfect,” he sighed as he sat up. “Let’s make for the pier or something.”

“I could definitely do that,” I agreed.

“’Kay, just let me talk to Rhys for a few minutes. You get dressed and all, I’ll be right back.” He stood and left the room in just his boxers, closing the door behind him. I yawned and ignored his comment, choosing to doze for a few minutes instead.

I would have stayed asleep if I hadn’t heard Calder’s voice coming up the stairs. Remembering our little argument from the night before, I got up fast, pulling on the green dress as quickly as I could before darting into the hall. It was empty, but I chanced calling out for Calder in a quiet voice.