Drowning in Deception (24 page)

Her heart was thundering throughout
every blood vessel and vein in her body. Why was this happening? Had she done
something wrong? Something to make him angry? A voice in her head was echoing
the word, “run”, over and over again, but she couldn’t move. She was stuck, frozen
in place, unsure of whether she was more fearful or fascinated by what she was
witnessing. His transformation was utterly amazing and terrifying at the same
time.

“Run,”
screamed the frantic voice
in her head.

But it was too late.

He rose to his feet, a hulking, menacing
form, looming over her with vicious, narrowed eyes. She watched as his fingers cracked
when they flexed. She couldn’t run now. There was no chance of escape. But she should
at least die trying to get free, shouldn’t she? This beautiful boy, who she had
grown to love with her entire being, this beautiful boy, really was a monster.
The very type of monster she'd been warned about her entire life. And he was
about to end that life.

His breathing was loud and slow, like far
away thunder warning of the storm that is to come. His eyes were piercing hers,
wide and vicious, searching methodically for something. Perhaps he was deciding
on the best way to take her life.

Did he expect her to scream?

Her knees quivered under her weight as
the terror gripped her. No, she decided, she wouldn't scream. If this boy, this
monster that she loved, needed to taste her blood and her flesh, then she would
accept it. She would offer it to him freely. He wouldn't have to take her with
a fight. She’d already pledged her heart to him. And so her heart would be his
in any way he needed it.

In a grand gesture, she threw her
shoulders back and then followed with her head, opening up her neck to him,
offering him the fatal strike to her jugular. If this was to be her fate, then
let it be swift.

Take me now, she thought. Get it over
with. Her entire body started to tremble and quake. The anticipation of his
strike was half the fear. She waited with eyes squeezed tightly shut, breath
motionless in her lungs.

But it was much too quiet. Shouldn't he
be growling or snarling?

She dared a peek. He was still in front
of her, his glowing, yellow eyes staring at her ferociously.

Clover startled and then whimpered when
he made a low guttural sound. Then he suddenly whipped his head away from her,
turned, and bound out of the bushes and into the woods. His fluid, animalistic
movement was almost beautiful.

She breathed out harshly, releasing some
of the tangled terror. Then reality set in. She wrapped her arms around herself
and sunk to the ground, a shaking, sobbing mess of emotion.

She was alive. He hadn't laid a finger
on her. How was that possible? From everything he’d told her, the transition
meant a loss of rational thought. It meant certain death to anything nearby
that would bleed. They only had one goal when they were in the changed state.
Isn't that what he'd said? All that mattered at that moment was the kill and
the feast. He’d spared her. He’d spared her life. He hadn’t said the words out
loud, but now she knew that he loved her. He loved her enough to be rational at
the most imperative moment. He loved her enough to not view her as prey.

She lay still for a long time, listening
to the sound of her breath. A warm glow rose from inside her chest, sending its
soothing radiance throughout her entire body.  She had been right. He couldn’t
harm her. Love really did conquer all. They did have a future.

***

The sound of someone knocking woke her
up the next morning, lifting her groggily out of dreams about beautiful
monsters. There was a brief silence and she almost slipped back into that
peaceful place, but then she heard frantic whispers mixed with the sounds of
people shuffling around.

She got up, wrapped a blanket around
herself and headed toward the door of her room. It opened in front of her, and
Sera stood there, her short hair sticking up in odd directions all around her
head. “Your dad is here,” she snapped.

Clover walked out into the hall just in
time to see Smith disappear into the master bedroom. Sera followed close behind
him and before closing the door behind her, turned to Clover and spat, “Get rid
of him. It’s way too early for surprise visits.”

She shook her head to clear the dream
fuzz and made her way down the hall. Zander was just about to grab the
doorknob. He turned and gave her a quick nod before proceeding to swing the
door open.

“Mr. Swelton. What a pleasant surprise.
Please, come in.” He stood back to allow the big man room to enter, and then
closed the door behind him.

“Thank you, Zander. I apologize for
stopping by unannounced, and so early.”

“You’re welcome anytime, of course.”
Clover wished he hadn’t said that, but he was only trying to keep up with what was
expected of a content, milk-drinking citizen, and future son-in-law. She
wondered briefly how long they had to keep up the charade of being boyfriend
and girlfriend.

“Zander. Your friend, Gart, is doing
very well with his training at the Tower. He’s moving up rapidly and everyone
is very impressed with him.”

“That’s great to hear, Mr. Swelton.”

He turned and looked at Clover, still
wrapped in her blanket and blinking the sleep from her eyes. “I’m actually here
to see my daughter. I need to speak with her alone, if you don’t mind.”

“Of course, sir. It was nice to see you.”
Zander bowed slightly and headed down the hall, ducking into the master bedroom
and clicking the door closed behind him.

As angry as she was with her father, and
as much as she didn’t want to see him, even he couldn’t put her in a bad mood.
She was in love. And now she knew that Rye felt the same. His feelings for her
were so strong that he couldn’t bring himself to kill her, even though he’d
transitioned right in front of her. He loved her. A wave of warm happiness
rushed into her at the thought.

“Do you want to sit down?” She gestured to
the living room. Her father looked at the couch with the pillow and blanket
still spread out on it. His eyes narrowed at her in question. She darted to the
sofa, took Smith’s sleeping items, and set them down on the coffee table. “Zander
sometimes falls asleep on the couch,” she explained. She didn’t even bat an
eyelash. It amazed her how easy this lying thing was for her now.

She sat down on one end of the sofa, and
after removing his boots, her father followed her lead, taking a seat at the
other end. He didn’t look like his usual jovial self. Clover felt a wave of
panic rise up in her, but she quickly swallowed it away and smiled at him. “What’s
up?”

“I don’t suppose you’ve seen this morning’s
newspaper yet?”

She shook her head and suppressed the
urge to smile. Luas’s uncle must have gotten their article in as they’d hoped.

“There’s a rather disturbing article in
there about our milk being poisoned.” He reached into the inside of his coat, pulled
a copy of the paper out, and handed it to her.

She unfolded it and looked down at the
front page headline: ‘Important Bulletin from the Watch Tower - Eadin’s Milk Contains
Poison’.

Her eyes slowly lifted to meet her
father’s. She resisted the urge to swallow a giant lump in her throat. She
couldn’t believe that after everything she now knew of her father that she
still feared disappointing him.

His eyes narrowed at her and a small frown
formed on his mouth. “I took the liberty of investigating it myself. Before I
came here I paid a visit to Mr. Landsdown, our local newspaper man. You are
acquainted with him?”

He watched her for a reaction, but she
didn’t know what to say or how to act. She was certain her face had paled to
the shade of a fluffy summer cloud.

“Clover. What are you up to? Why would
you do such a thing? And do you realize that you could’ve gotten Mr. Landsdown
into some serious trouble? Lucky for him I’m a patient man and was willing to
ask questions before hauling him away to be punished.” So, Luas’s Uncle Joseph
had named her as the article-writer. She couldn’t blame him, and she didn’t.

She remained silent, chewing her lip,
trying to restrain herself. Her instinct to not disappoint her father was
waning. Who was he to judge her? And for doing nothing but telling the truth.
Well, almost - poison… drugs… was there really much difference?

“Clover.” His voice was stern. “I demand
an answer. Why would you do this?”

Play stupid. It was the first thing that
popped into her head. “Daddy, don’t you know that they’re adding something to
the milk? I work in the milk enhancement division now, as I’m sure you know.
They call it enhancement, but I’m not so sure.”

“It’s for everyone’s health. They must
have explained that to you.” Wow. He was very good at lying. No wonder it was
coming so easily to her. But the biggest kicker was that he was looking at her
suspiciously. It took everything she had to supress the anger that was rising
inside. Her belly burned with it.

“Well, you know how I like to read. I
read a book not too long ago about a town where they were adding poison to the
vegetables, and I guess I just… I’m sorry Daddy. I guess I just got carried
away with my fiction.” She turned her big blue eyes on him.

He visibly relaxed before her. “I was
thinking it must be something like that. Very well, then. I have instructed Mr.
Landsdown to print a retraction and have it delivered by first thing tomorrow
morning. Hopefully not too much damage will be done. And as for you, young
lady, you will no longer be working at the Watch Tower.”

“But…”

“Now listen to me. What you’ve done is a
crime. Your punishment should be severe, but lucky for you I’m the man in
charge. Although I will have plenty of explaining to do.” His look was so
intense, so serious. “Now I need to take your access key.”

Clover hurried to her room, retrieved
the key and walked it back to her father. He was now standing at the door with
his boots on.

In a way, getting fired from the Watch
Tower was a relief. She loathed being a part of the milk drugging. But it also
meant she would never work her way up to the possibility of helping Gart more.
He was on his own in there now.

He cocked his head and exhaled. “If
anything like this happens again, you will be moving back home. Is that clear?”

“I understand, Daddy. It won’t happen
again. I promise.”

Now he looked like the man she was used
to. His gigantic smile returned and his eyes twinkled at her. “That’s my
four-leaf Clover,” he said. “You can’t imagine how worried I’ve been, wondering
if…well, just worrying about you.”

He pulled her into a quick bear hug, and
when they pulled apart, he looked at her closely and said, “Be more careful
from now on and make sure to drink plenty of milk.”

“Yes, Daddy.”

She gave him a bright smile before
closing the door behind him.

Luas arrived at the house shortly after
Clover had showered and dressed. “C’mon,” he said. “Uncle Joseph wants to see
us.”

Twenty minutes later when they arrived
at the house where Luas lived with his aunt and uncle, they were immediately
greeted by Luas’s Aunt Darna. She was a plump woman with a round, friendly
face. “You two must be freezing. Come in and sit down. Joseph will join us
shortly.”

She took their coats and, when they took
a seat on the sofa, she offered them coffee. They declined and Clover took note
that she didn’t offer them warm milk as was standard protocol on a cold day in
Eadin.

“Clover,” his Uncle Joseph beamed when
he entered the room. “It’s so good to see you again. I do apologize for not
spending more time talking with you when we met yesterday, but I was on a
deadline.” He walked to where she sat and took her hand.

Their meeting the day before had been so
brief, and he’d hardly spoken. But now she could tell that he was a nice man,
and almost humorous looking with his messy red hair, the same color as Luas’s,
sprouting around a large bald spot.

“I’m so sorry, Mr. Landsdown, for
getting you involved in this.”

“First of all,” he said as he took a
chair across from Clover and Luas, “call me Joseph. And second, I am the one
who is sorry. I printed that article willingly, knowing full well that it
didn’t come from the Watch Tower. They would never tell people to stop drinking
milk for any reason. But I figured that what you had in that article was a good
idea, and I wanted to help. I also knew they would come for me, and they did. Your
father did. And that’s when I got the idea to bring your name into it. I didn’t
think, didn’t believe, he would punish his own daughter. It was a risk, I know.
And I am sorry. But if I hadn’t taken the risk, both my wife and I would have
ended up like my dear sister and brother-in-law, Luas’s parents.”

“That’s right.” Clover remembered Luas’s
story. “They were punished for telling everyone to stop drinking milk.”