The Evensong (40 page)

He stuck his head out the bathroom door. “Hey, Riley.”

“Hey,” I replied, walking towards him. I was so glad he was on this floor when Linden was downstairs. “Can I ask you a quick question?”

“Um, sure,” he said, looking hesitant.

“Do you know if Linden ever had uh—a girlfriend before?” I asked, starting out simple, if not a little embarrassing for me.

Calder looked relieved and thought about it for a moment. “There was one about like . . . twenty years ago. That was the last kind of serious one, but not really. Before that he never really had a real girlfriend like you; not that I can remember.”

I blushed when he called me a ‘real girlfriend’. I had never actually applied the term to myself. But my mind was also stuck on another fact:
twenty
years ago was his last kind-of-girlfriend? That would make him three years old, and that made absolutely
no
sense.

“Calder, how old is Linden?” I asked next.

“Twenty-three,” he said immediately. But I just shook my head.

“He can’t be just twenty-three. In Elemental years,
how old is he
?”

He sighed and got a sort of pained look on his face. He knew he was trapped here as long as Linden didn’t come back up the stairs right now.

“Okay, but keep in mind that we age really differently than you—”

“I know, I know, you’re not immortal, but I know you live a lot longer,” I said, impatient to get the answer.

“Right. And one hundred years old for you is pretty old.”

“Yes,” I said slowly, wanting him to just spit it out.

“Okay, well a hundred is like . . . pretty young for us. Your hundred is our one thousand.”

I was able to stomach that all right; Linden wasn’t exactly getting on in the years, so he wasn’t that old.

When I didn’t react to that, Calder went on. “I’m sixteen by your standards, two-hundred and twelve by ours.”

I just stared at him, unable to really see him living that long already. “Wow.”

“Yeah.”

He didn’t go on, and I tried to shake off the minor shock. “Okay—okay, so that makes Linden . . .?”

He looked past me towards the stairs, a hopeful look on his face. There were voices nearby, but I wouldn’t let him out of this.

“Calder!” I shook his arm.

“He told me not to tell you,” he whispered fiercely.

“I don’t care, I need to know!” I replied.

“But why? If it’s going to freak you out, why would you want to know?”

“How do you know I’m going to freak out? If you’re two-hundred and twelve, he can’t be that much older than you,” I said, now hearing footsteps on the stairs. I looked at him pleadingly, and he grit his teeth before whispering, “Two-fifty-three.”

He disappeared into the bathroom right away, shutting the door behind him. I just stood there as Linden appeared around the corner.

“Calder taking forever?” he asked as he saw me.

“Yeah—yeah, he is,” I replied, walking away. “It’s okay though. Get all your talking done?”

“Yep. Let me get dressed, then we can go,” he said.

While I waited, I thought about what Calder had told me. I wasn’t about to overreact like he thought I might. It was something to really get used to, but I wasn’t repelled by it. Still, I wouldn’t mention it yet to keep the peace between everyone.

I acted normal when we drove into the town, though I was secretly watching him and visualizing the number:
253.
It was a mystery how they aged, but it must take a while for really noticeable changes to surface. Those classic slim fitted jeans and the studded belt that was threatening to break any day didn’t say Ancient Being to me. But that’s how I was starting to think of him; he was something different from humans, though it didn’t look like it, and he’d lived through centuries of lifetimes. I wanted to know what that was like, but I wouldn’t ask him. Not yet. I could always go back to Calder for some more answers.

I played tourist all day, looking at the old buildings that reminded me of the photos Rene used to show me of Salem, her birthplace. Everything was rimmed with ocean, and I don’t think it left my sight all day. While passing by the frequent houses near the coast, I couldn’t help but silently judge them all, choosing which one I would live in if I had the choice. This seemed very real to me with the absence of my home. I shuddered at the thought of standing in that place as it burnt down, and Linden noticed right away.

“Cold?” he asked, though I could tell he knew differently.

“No, I was just thinking,” I replied. He nodded to himself and leaned against the railing in front of us.

“Are you worried?”

“No,” I replied, “not really. This whole ocean thing kind of keeps the panic down.”

“Good to know. I thought I was the only person who felt like that sometimes. Kind of just want to drown down there for a while to forget things.”

His tone hinted at something else, and there was a brief flash of concern across his face before it was gone. I sighed and decided now or never.

“When’s your birthday?” I asked.

He looked at me with some suspicion, probably since I changed the subject so quickly. “October 25
^th
.”

“Scorpio,” I muttered, remembering the lessons I’d had in astrology when I was younger.

“Good call,” he said, pointing to a small tattoo of a scorpion on his arm. I had never noticed it before, hidden between the petals of the lotus on his upper arm. It had a very old, vintage look to it, and for the moment I resisted the urge to just examine his tattoos for a while.

“So you’ll be how old?” I asked, acting like I couldn’t remember.

“Twenty-four.” He definitely suspected me of something now.

“Or two hundred and fifty-four?”

His jaw went slack, and then the muscles tightened. I could hear his teeth click together. “So Calder wasn’t hogging up the bathroom, he was
hiding
there.”

“It’s not his fault, I forced it out of him.”

“I told him—asked him—to resist whatever pleading you tried.”

“Well you don’t see me trying to get away, do you?” I pointed out, nudging his arm. He glanced at me, and I smiled as big as I could to emphasize my point. He laughed weakly.

“Okay, so you know that much.” He stood up straight and walked away from the railing. “But that doesn’t mean I’m going to start spilling stories.”

I sighed and trailed after him calling, “I never expected you to.”

He didn’t seem very angry about the whole thing after a few minutes. Maybe he warmed up to the idea more, since I didn’t mention it again or change my attitude the rest of the day. When a huge fleet of clouds appeared on the horizon, he suggested we go back to the house.

“This isn’t just my storm, that’s a collected effort,” he said as we got in the car. I glanced back at the clouds, the tops piles of white while the undersides were a dark blue-gray. The idea of a storm here was exciting for me—how would the ocean react? Was the house even at a safe distance if things got violent? I asked Linden as we approached the drive, the clouds right behind us.

He laughed, “Rhys chose this place for a reason. It gets a little risky during storms, but that’s what he likes about it.”

That didn’t do much for my nerves, especially since I could see Nerio was inside. I bet his attitude would greatly affect the whole outcome. Hopefully, I could just stay out of his way.

As soon as we walked in, Linden yelled for Calder.

“She begged,” he called back from the living room.

“That’s what I told you to look out for,” Linden replied, going towards him.

“Well she doesn’t mind anyway,” Calder shrugged.

Rhys had walked into the room and was surveying the scene with interest. “Mind what?”

“My age,” Linden said.

Rhys nodded and smiled to himself muttering, “I told you she wouldn’t care.”

Linden just shrugged, knowing he had been proven wrong. I laughed to myself and joined Calder on the couch.

“You look happy,” he commented.

“Yeah well—I got one thing out of you,” I grinned.

“And that’s it,” he warned, “that’s all I’ll tell you.”

I left it at that, deciding I could maybe prod him for more at another time. Who knows, maybe Linden would even take the liberty now that he knew I wouldn’t react badly.

I didn’t have much time to think on it as Nerio burst in, almost running into the living room. He stopped short when he saw me and almost seemed in pain as he opened his mouth and spoke to me.

“That vulcani you came across—what was his name?”

I took a moment to give him the same look. “Aidan, why?”

“He gave no other name?”

I frowned slightly. “No, not that I heard of.”

He stormed into the kitchen, frustrated, and called for Rhys. I looked to Calder, confused, but he only shrugged. “He’s probably still being paranoid about the whole thing. He’s convinced you’re some kind of bad omen.”

“Well that’s a surprise,” I said, rolling my eyes. “Anyway, I’m going to go upstairs.”

Calder looked a little disappointed to be left alone in the middle of the brewing storm, but at least he wasn’t an enemy to some.

Alone in the room, I opened the window for some of the fresh air. The wind was picking up outside and the surf was making a loud crash against the sand and rocks. The sky was completely covered now, just waiting to let loose. I watched the water for a few minutes before I turned to the dresser to sort through the shells I had collected there. I sorted them into piles depending on shape and size, gasping quietly when I held a spiraled shell in my hand. I remembered that dream I had with the two people entwined as a shell. Holding the actual thing in my hand was different, and I pondered over what the whole thing could have meant. Maybe it had been some kind of foreshadow of this whole thing, though the two people confused me a little. I would have liked to be so lucky as to think it was supposed to be me and Linden, but it would take a better interpreter to prove that. I settled for the fact that I remembered the dream and went on sorting.

I jumped when I heard a crack. I dropped the shell I’d been holding and whirled towards the window. It was the same noise that I had heard the night of the fire. I could barely breathe, but I rushed to the window and looked out. Scouring what I could see, I couldn’t deny that there was absolutely no one there. I swallowed hard, trying to get rid of my fear. They would both be insane to try to come to a house full of undines; they would be outnumbered.

The wind blew hard and the crack happened again, though this time I saw it was just some fragment in the air, blown up by the gusts. I took a deep breath and walked away.

“Don’t be Nerio,” I muttered to myself.

Hours passed without event and I tried to forget about the small crack. The gale outside was increasingly worse, but there was still no rain. Everyone seemed to be under a huge amount of stress that I didn’t understand, though I hoped it had nothing to do with any other Elementals. Since Linden didn’t seem to be in the best mood, I didn’t question him and I didn’t seek out Calder when he was alone. As night had fallen and I was too tired to keep guessing, I decided sleep was the best option. Linden was still hanging around the group, and I pulled him aside for a second to say I was going to sleep.

“It’s not that late,” he insisted at first.

I checked the time. “It’s 11:30, that’s late enough for me. Plus you seem to be in an important conversation. I’ll just see you in the morning.”

“No, I’ll be up there soon. We just have to finish comforting Nerio, then I’ll be up.”

I glanced into the kitchen, only seeing Tallulah and the back of Nerio’s head. “Fine, but don’t mention my name.”

He just laughed as I walked away, but I sincerely hoped he wouldn’t. The last thing they needed to hear was that he was leaving them to be around me.

There was a fair amount of sand on the floor when I walked in and I hurried to the window; I had forgotten to close it. The sound of the ocean was almost deafening, and I was only muted when the window was shut and locked. Even though I’d convinced myself things were all right, I still pulled the thin curtain across the glass.

I took off my dress and put it on the end of the bed, wondering if Tally was keen on giving up a few more clothing items. She didn’t seem to hate me as much anymore, but she never spoke to me. As I lay down in bed, I hugged the pillow to my head and listened to the clouds rumble lowly. So far there was no threat of a headache coming on, but I was afraid of what might happen when it did start raining. It was just one Elemental that caused the extreme headaches, what would
five
do? I remembered Alysana’s scarred body and considered what might happen to me. Would I just pass out from the pain or would I be inhibited afterward? Hopefully Rhys understood these things and could possibly control this. I wasn’t about to ask, but the thought still lingered.