FEARLESS: The King Series, Book One (28 page)

“How about we both stay away from life-threatening danger? I can’t handle losing you, either.”

“Sounds like a plan.” He straightened and took my hand again, holding it in both of his. “Speaking of danger, you want to tell me exactly how you ended up out there with Nell? I know you heard something from her, but what made you think I was in danger? That’s still the murky part of the story.”

It didn’t take long to sketch out how I came to be at Lake Rosu. A myriad of expressions crossed Michael’s face as he listened to story, and I heard his thoughts clearly enough to know I was in trouble.

“Why did you even think about going out there by yourself?  Do you know what a chance you took?” The anguish was still stronger than the anger. I squirmed uncomfortably.

“I heard what she was thinking, and—I just reacted. I thought you were in danger. I never for a moment thought that Nell was setting
me
up to be the sacrifice.”

There was a rustling at the door, and Marly leaned into the room. “Tasmyn! Oh, it’s good to see your eyes open!” She moved to my bedside and hugged me carefully. I could see the weariness etched on her normally unlined face. “We’ve been so worried.”

“I’m sorry,” I murmured, chagrined to be apologizing yet again.

“Don’t be silly. There’s no reason for you to be sorry. You’re a hero, don’t you know?”

I rolled my eyes. “Some hero. I put other innocent people-including your son—in danger, and I needed rescuing. That’s just stupidity.”

Marly looked at her son. “Clearly that’s the head trauma speaking. The Tasmyn I know and love is much smarter than that. She would know that we’re only happy and relieved that she’s all right, that we’re proud of her for being very brave.” Her eyes flashed at me, daring me to contradict her. I blushed and lowered my eyes.

“Your parents are heading back down here,” she announced. “They’ve been so sweet to give you two time together, but your mom is going to self-destruct if she has to be away from you any longer. They’re lovely people, by the way. Such a pleasure to meet them.”

Michael chuckled. “Yeah, most couples introduce their parents to each other over a nice dinner. We do it in the hospital after a crazy witch almost kills us both. We’re definitely unique.”

“We bonded,” Marly said smugly. “I’ve already spoken to your mother about coming out to the nursery for coffee one day soon, Tas, and your dad is chomping to come and look over our bushes. But now,” she said, turning to Michael and fastening on him a gaze that brooked no nonsense, “I am taking my son home to get some sleep, and to let you visit with your parents and rest.”

Michael protested, but to no avail. I could see exhaustion lying just below the worry in his eyes, and I joined his mom in insisting he go.

“I promise not to do anything exciting or dangerous while you’re gone,” I teased. “I’ll just sleep and recover.”

He finally left, with the promise to return first thing in the morning. My parents sat next to my bed until sleep claimed me once agai
n
.

I was released from the hospital late the next afternoon. My head seemed to be recovering; the dizziness had subsided, and the headaches were duller. The cuts on my neck were healing, too. The worst physical issue was the residual soreness from the ropes and a few bruises from Nell’s less-than-tender handling of me.

Before I was discharged, the doctor reviewed my litany of injuries and treatment. He pointed out that the backs of my legs were pretty scraped up; they assumed that Nell had dragged me across the gravel parking lot and forest floor.

In the twenty-four plus hours since I had awakened, we had ignored the circumstances that landed me in the hospital. My parents diplomatically avoided bringing it up, and I wasn’t in any rush to talk about it with them. But the doctor’s words seemed to end that moratorium. My mother shuddered slightly, and I felt leftover fear and wild worry coming from both of my parents.

The ride home was quiet. I concentrated mainly on keeping up the mental block; I wasn’t ready to hear my parents’ thoughts yet.

My mom insisted on a nap once we arrived home. I knew that Michael had returned to school that day; he didn’t want to miss any more mid-term exams than he already had. I figured a nap was the safest way to wait until he was free to come and visit me.

But the house was silent when I opened my eyes. I could tell that it was late afternoon by the angle of the sun through my window. I lay still for a moment, listening. I could hear vague thoughts from my parents; it sounded as though my mother was sketching in her office, and my dad was reading reports from work.

My stomach growled, and I decided to seek some sustenance. The food at the hospital had been less than extraordinary, and I hadn’t really been hungry there anyway. I poked around in the refrigerator and came up with a bagel that looked mildly appetizing.

I had it toasted and was just sitting down with my plate when I heard both parents approaching. I could tell that they had decided I was sufficiently healed to offer some explanations. I bit into the bagel to buy myself some time.

“How was your nap?” My mother needed to be sure I was feeling well enough before she attacked—psychologically speaking, of course.

I swallowed before answering. “Good.” I was cautious.

My father took the seat across the table from me. “Tasmyn, the detective investigating this mess with Nell Massler called while you were asleep. I guess he’d gone by the hospital hoping to see you and learned you’d been released. He wants to come by and ask you some questions.”

My heart was racing. “The police? What does he want to know? Why does he need to talk to me?”

“Obviously because you are a witness—really, their best witness. He’s already spoken with Michael, Amber and Cara… oh, and of course, Reverend Pryce. But he needs to get the details of how Nell—well, how you came to be in the clearing.”

Distress must have been evident on my face, because my mom reached out to cover my hand with hers.

“Don’t worry, honey. They just need to get the facts straight. You didn’t do anything wrong. You’re the victim here.”

“But how am I going to explain everything to them? You know, about how I knew what Nell was planning.”

Both of my parents’ faces were grave. It was my father who answered me.  “That
is
going to present a problem, Tasmyn. If you tell this detective that you overheard Nell sharing her plans with someone, he’s going to want to know who that was. And you can’t give just any name; that person would then be implicated in Nell’s crimes.”

My anxiety was rising. “So what do I do?”

My dad hunched over the table. “You’re going to have to tread carefully. It’s possible that you can use your gift to know what he’s going to ask before he does and be ready for it.” He sighed, heavily. “And of course, if it comes down to it, you’re going to have to tell the truth, and hope for the best.”

My head was beginning to pound again. “When’s he coming?” I asked dully.

“Tomorrow. I persuaded him you needed a little more rest before you could deal with the interview.”

“Thanks. I guess that gives me some time to figure it all out.”

My mother spoke this time. “Maybe if you told us what happened, we could help you.”

I toyed with the bagel still on my plate. “I thought Michael and everyone told you.”

“They did. Well, of course, Cara and her dad were fuzzy on some aspects, since they don’t know the full story. But we heard their side, at least. Now we’d like to hear it from you.”

I drew in a deep breath. “I assume Michael told you that I wasn’t completely honest with you about what happened with Nell at the dance. I know you’re upset about that, and I’m sorry. But I was afraid that you’d over-react—that you’d pull me out of school, or keep me away from Michael—something like that.”

“Have we ever given you cause to believe that we’d be so unreasonable, Tas? I can’t think that we have.”

“You haven’t exactly been completely supportive about my relationship with Michael, and we don’t see eye to eye on my abilities lately. I was afraid it would be the last straw.”

“Of course we would have been very upset, Tas. The idea of you and Michael taking something like this into your own hands—well, it’s irresponsible.”

“But what would you have done if I’d come to you with the information I had? You would have told me to stop listening to Nell. You would have probably sent me off to boarding school.”

My father sighed in exasperation and my mother rolled her eyes. “No need for melodrama, Tasmyn.”

“You want the story, and I’m just telling you how I feel. That’s why I did what I did. So then when I heard Nell again on Wednesday…”

I shared the entire story, from overhearing Nell in History to when I passed out in the clearing, after all my rescuers had arrived. My parents were silent throughout the telling; if a few questions flared now and then in their minds, I was able to block them. When I finished, we were all exhausted.

Finally, my father spoke. “Tasmyn… what you did was extraordinarily dangerous. You put yourself at risk, and consequently you put other people at risk. I’m trying to look at it from your perspective, trying to think of what in your background, in how we raised you, would make you think that you could handle this on your own or that you couldn’t tell us the truth. But I have to tell you, I’m having trouble figuring it out.”

“It’s not that we’re not proud of you, on some level,” my mom interjected. “You were incredibly brave, and very resourceful. But you risked so much—not once, but twice—and it could have ended so differently.” She closed her eyes against the sudden tears I saw leaking out the corners and covered her mouth with her hand. “Tas, I have never been so frightened in all my life.”

I swallowed hard over a lump in my own throat and tried not to cry. “I’m sorry,” I whispered.

We were all quiet for a time, and then my dad cleared his throat. “I think we’ve had enough for today. We’re all tired and more than a little emotional. Let’s wait and see what happens tomorrow after you talk with the detective.”

I nodded. “Can I ask just one more thing?”

My father patted my arm. “Of course you can.”

“Where is Nell now? What happened to her?”

My parents exchanged glances, and the buzz factor of their thoughts went up several notches. I frowned and tuned them out with a great deal of effort.

“As far as we know, Nell is in police custody. However, apparently she was pretty out of control after they took her in, and the detective said something about moving her to a mental health facility.”

“But she’s—she’s not just out there, right? She’s not free?”

“No, Tas. Don’t worry. I promise, you’re safe from Nell. She won’t be able to hurt you again.”

That was true in theory. Actually, though, Nell still had the power to haunt my dreams.

Michael arrived just after dinner, having promised both his parents and mine that he would only stay for one hour. We sat on the front porch; I knew my parents weren’t letting me out of their sight any time in the near future.

He held my hand and kept his eyes glued to my face, as though I might disappear at any moment.

“How was school? Was it weird?”

Michael hesitated, and I could feel him searching for the right description. “It was… different. First of all, I missed you all day. It felt wrong without you there.”

“You’ve been going to school there for over three years without me,” I reminded him.

“Yes, but that was before I knew what I was missing,” he retorted, lightly rubbing the back of my hand with his thumb. “Aside from that, of course everyone was talking about Nell and wanted to know what had really happened. The rumors going around are pretty wild.”

I groaned. “That’s great. Just what I need.”

“Don’t worry, it’ll die down. But you should’ve seen all the people stopping by the lunch table—you know, just to ask about you of course.” He rolled his eyes. “I didn’t need to hear their thoughts to know what they really wanted.”

“What did you tell them?”

“The truth. It’s an on-going police investigation, and none of us are at liberty to say anything.” Michael smiled smugly.

“Good answer,” I said.

“Thanks. Like I said, pretty soon everyone will have something else to talk about and they’ll leave us alone.”

“How are Amber and Cara doing? And did Liza or Casey say anything to you?”

“Amber and Cara seem to be doing fine. I think they’re getting to be pretty good friends—I guess they bonded over this whole thing. And I only passed Liza in the hall. She made a point of not even looking my way.”

“Hmm.” We sat in silence for a few minutes, as I digested all the news. “They must be shaken up by this whole thing.”

“Amber said that Nell’s group was questioned by the police, so I’d say you’re right about that.”

“What about Ms. Lacusta?” I had nearly forgotten about the teacher until then.

Michael shrugged. “As far as I know, she was in school today. And I didn’t hear anything about her in all the talk going around.”

I leaned closer to Michael and lay my head on his shoulder. The night was peaceful; through the cooling air I could hear the chirp of crickets and cars in the distance. His fingers tightened around mine, and when he spoke, it was hardly above a murmur.

“Are you worried about tomorrow? Talking with that detective?”

I frowned. “A little. I think my parents are resigned to the fact that I’m going to have to tell him the truth.”

“Will you?”

“If I have to. I’m not going to lie and implicate someone else just to protect myself, and that’s what I’d be doing if I said I overheard Nell talking to someone. Even if I claimed not to know who she was talking to—they’d still think there was another person who knew. I can’t do that.”

“I know. What do you think they’ll do?”

“Will they believe me, do you mean? I’m not sure. It might make me sound more suspect. I guess we’ll have to wait and see.”

And the waiting was the hard part.I tossed and turned in bed that night; I hadn’t been active enough to be worn out, and my anxiety about meeting with the detective intensified when I was alone in the dark.

When I finally did fall into a troubled sleep, my dreams all centered around Nell. I was back in the woods, and she had the knife. My nightmares didn’t allow for rescue; instead, I was powerless as I watched Nell stab Michael over and over again. My own screams woke me, and my mother was immediately at my side, soothing me.

She stayed next to me the rest of the night, but I remained restless. When dawn broke, I was more tired than I’d been the night before. I dozed on the sofa in the living room, reassured by the familiar sounds of my mother preparing breakfast. In my half-asleep state, I could hear her thoughts and those of my dad, as they worried over me.

I roused myself mid-morning to shower, carefully protecting the bandages on my neck and avoiding the lump that still ached on the back of my head. The detective was scheduled to arrive at noon, and I was jittery as I tried to fill the time until the meeting. I sat in my mom’s office with her as she sketched; she kept up a constant chatter about her shortened visit to New York, describing the hotel, the buildings and the author with whom she was working.

“She was so understanding when I had to leave. I guess I’ll have to go back once everything is settled down here.” My mom cast a concerned glance my way. “No rush, of course.  I don’t have to go anywhere for now.”

I sighed, more in frustration with myself than with my mother. “Mom, I’m okay. I know I had a bad night, but it’ll get better. Once I get this police thing out of the way-“

As if on cue, the doorbell rang. My heart pounded in my throat, and nausea overwhelmed me. My father was working at home again today, and I heard him answer the door.

“Come on. Let’s go out there and get this done,” my mother said softly, rising and taking me by the hand.

The man standing in our living room was tall. He wore jeans and a collared shirt with the letters “KPD” embroidered on the pocket. In his hand he held a baseball cap. I judged him to be in his early thirties. He regarded me with thinly veiled interest, and his eyes swept over my bandaged neck.

Still looking shaky. Girl did a job on her neck, no doubt. Hate to put her through more, but it’s gotta be done. Procedure, if nothing else… covers us… get this started.

He greeted my mother in subdued tones, and then held out a hand to me. “Tasmyn? Detective Sam Lawrence. Good to see you up and about. I saw you after they brought you into the hospital. You were pretty roughed up.”

I nodded, unable to work my voice yet. He turned to my father again. “Is there some place Tasmyn and I can speak privately?”

My dad scowled. “Does she have to be alone? She’s not the criminal here; I don’t see why her mother and I can’t stay with her.”

“Daddy.” I laid my hand on his arm. “It’s okay. I’ll be all right. I can handle it.”

He hesitated for a moment and then nodded. “Why don’t you stay here, and we’ll go into the kitchen. Sit down, please,” he offered belatedly.

We sat across the room from each other, the detective holding his hat between his hands and looking at me with a not-unkind smile.

“Been through a tough time, huh?”

I cleared my throat and tried to keep my voice steady. “Yes. It was very frightening, and I was very lucky.”

He squinted at me and thought,
She’s not going to give anything away easy.
I kept my face as impassive as I could.

The detective shifted in his seat. “I’ve spoken to some of your friends, to the others involved in this situation. It’s quite a story they tell.”

I waited again. That wasn’t really a question, and until he asked me something directly, I didn’t feel the need to volunteer information.

“I’d like to hear your side of things. How did you end up in those woods with Nell Massler?”

I took a deep breath. “I thought my boyfriend was in danger. While I was in the parking lot at school, about to get in my car to go out to him, Nell hit me in the back of the head. When I came around, I was in the clearing, and I was tied to a stake.”

His face revealed nothing, but I could hear him clearly.
That agrees with what her friends said. Doesn’t answer the questions they couldn’t.

I tensed, waiting for him to ask those questions. Instead he nodded slowly. “And she cut you there, on your neck, with the knife?”

I was confused by the direction of his question, but I answered. “Yes, with the athame. The same one she used to hit me in the head.”

“Athame… that’s a witch’s knife?”

“Yes.  I guess… as far as I know, most of the time it’s used to draw the circle.”

“Yeah… that sounds right. Not that I know that much about it, of course.” He sat quietly for a few more minutes, turning his hat over and over in his hands, examining it closely. I couldn’t get a clear line on his thoughts, but when he spoke again, there was a different intensity in his voice.

“You should know, Nell Massler is going away for the rest of her life. She’s not going to be hurting anyone else again.” His head dipped so that his eyes were shadowed, and I couldn’t see them. “She’s not going to prison. There won’t be a trial. She’s been declared mentally incompetent. Her father has agreed to commit her to an out-of-state hospital.”

My breath caught in my chest. Battling with the relief I felt in hearing that Nell wouldn’t be a threat to me again was the horror at hearing her fate, so eerily reminiscent of her mother’s. An unexpected surge of anger toward her father choked me. Nell’s crimes fell at least partly at his feet. How could he abandon her yet again? I couldn’t reconcile these two reactions, not yet.

“So you see, most of what I would normally ask you really becomes superfluous. No need to waste time setting down all the details. Not that I don’t have questions, because I do. I’m curious about how you came to know what Nell was planning. And if there were a case here, I’d have to ask you those questions.” Detective Lawrence raised his eyes to meet mine levelly. “But since it seems there’s no case, since that’s all been taken out of my hands by powers way above mine, I guess I don’t have to do that. I’m just here to wrap up paperwork. Unless, of course, you want to tell me about it.”

I didn’t blink. “No, I don’t think so. As you say, there’s no case, no need.”

He stared at me deeply for another few seconds before he exhaled and leaned back. “All right then. Seems like that’s all I have for you. If you think of anything else you feel I should know, your parents have my card. Just get in touch.” He rose to his feet, and then turned back to me abruptly. “Is there anything I can answer for you before I go?”

Something
had
occurred to me in the last few minutes. “What about Ms. Lacusta?”

I sensed his surprise at my question, and he looked down at me, eyebrows raised. “What about Ms. Lacusta? I talked with her. Said she knew Nell from some chemistry club at school. She told us Nell’s behavior lately had been more and more erratic, and that she’d been worried. Nothing else. Is there something we should know?”

I shook my head slowly. There was nothing I could say; I had no proof of the teacher’s involvement in Nell’s actions, only Nell’s own word.

“No, nothing,” I murmured. “I just… wondered. She seemed pretty close to Nell.” It sounded lame even to my own ears.

Sam Lawrence eyed me thoughtfully. “I’ll keep that in mind. Not much I can do right now, but I can keep my ears open.”

“Thank you.” This interview could have gone much differently, I realized. I was grateful that I hadn’t had to reveal anything, grateful that the detective hadn’t satisfied his own curiosity at my expense.

“Okay, then.” He turned again toward the door, and this time I stood and followed him. As he stepped out, he looked back over his shoulder at me. “Try to keep your head down. King’s a good town, a decent place. You don’t ruffle too many feathers, and you’ll get along. Call me if anything else comes up. Don’t try to handle everything on your own again, you hear?”

I heard the not-so-subtle chastisement, and meekly I nodded. He met my eye for one more instant and then he was gon
e
.