Flicker (45 page)

              Wind rustled the branches of the willow trees around them and ruffled Elise's hair. The sound of an orchestra swelled within their thoughts as Alex's firm grip led her in slow circles across the wooden floor of the gazebo. He was so strong, so sure-- she felt safe in his arms, secure in a way she had never been before, not even when she was a child. Everything about his embrace just felt right. The wind blew his raven hair across his face, shadowing the bright cerulean of his eyes but unable to hide the joy in his expression. They talked and laughed as Alex spun and dipped her, and then came the moment when he helped her understand how much she truly loved him. There was no going back from that realization-- she wanted to be with him, whatever it might mean.

              And as he looked down into her hazel eyes, loving the flecks of green and blue and gray and little bits of gold that he could see there, Alexander was awed by the purity of his adoration for her, and by the utter sincerity in her as she gazed up at him in wonder. She was soft and delicate and warm in his arms, and he had wanted that afternoon to last the rest of eternity. Overcome with joy, he'd swept her up, lifting her high above his head and twirling her around, cherishing the astonished delight on her face. There had been no question of his kissing her then, no hesitation, no holding back.

              Elise gasped, shocked after the vividness of the memory to see Alex by the harsh light of the battery-powered lantern Rashid had left. His skin was still ashen, and his eyelids drooped, but his eyes were open, and he was looking at her with a complex mix of emotions written on his face. Elise felt his adoration, betrayal, relief, distrust, and exhaustion as they chased through his mind, and let out a long breath herself.
At least he's okay
, she told herself, fighting to keep her own emotions in check so she could help him stay calm.

              Without looking away from Alex's intense gaze, Elise murmured, “Gregory, can we get out of here?”

              “Yes,” came his prompt reply. “I think that would be best. Let me help Sarah down to the car, and I'll be back for Alexander.”

              The fifteen minutes or so that Elise waited for Gregory to come back were an eternity. After the first moment when he met her eyes, Alex wouldn't look at her again. He spent the time alternating between staring at the twisted remains of the chair he'd been tied to, and letting his eyes flutter shut, until he could have been sleeping. Elise knew better. Despite her feeding him, Alex was still weak, and couldn't spare the effort for a shield. Elise felt that she owed him this contact and so much more, and so she sat silently, tears running freely down her cheeks as she relived with him every second of the hours he'd spent alone with Rashid, over and over again.

              When Gregory finally returned, he didn't say a word, simply knelt and pulled Alex's other arm around his shoulders, pulling the weight off of Elise. She walked woodenly down the stairs behind them, holding the little lantern high to light their way. The only time any of them spoke was after Elise helped Gregory settle Alex in the back seat of his car beside Sarah. Once she'd shut the door, she turned to him.

              “Will you contact the Court for me?” Elise asked softly, meeting his eyes plaintively, but firmly-- there was no arguing this point. “I don't know what the proper procedures are, but I need to meet the Queen.”

              Gregory nodded, looking down at her sadly, as if he wished he could disagree with her. “Yes, of course. You're wise not to delay-- tonight's events look bad enough as it is.”

              Elise frowned up at him, nervously twisting her shirt hem around her fingers. “Is the Queen, the Court, really that powerful?”

              In reply, he brushed his hand over her hair once, as if saying goodbye, and walked around the car to get in the driver's seat. Elise stood stock-still, rooted by the abject fear that gripped her heart, and it took her several seconds to join him in the vehicle.

12 AFTERMATH

              The following Friday was Halloween; it was also when the letters came.

              Elise was glad that the date fell on Friday this year, because she hadn't really been up to the task of concocting a satisfactory excuse for her parents about why she'd suddenly lost interest in her favorite holiday. As it was, she'd barely been able to go through the motions of finishing her costume over the past week.

              To say it had been a hard week was a dramatic understatement. The sun had barely touched the horizon as their exhausted group had piled into Gregory's car; given that, and the fact that Elise's parents were expecting her to be in New York anyway, Gregory had suggested that they all to go back to his apartment and rest for the day. Elise hadn't needed to be told twice-- the minute her head hit the pillow in Gregory's spare bedroom, she had fallen deeply asleep, and hadn't woken until Gregory shook her shoulder that evening to tell her that he'd be taking her home now. She reflected with longing that that had been the last time she slept without nightmares.

              Saturday night, alone in her own bed once more, she woke gasping, her hand clapped over her mouth to keep from screaming as memories of Alex's torment at Rashid's hands assaulted her. Thanks to their close connection as she healed him, she'd felt every injury Rashid had inflicted, had heard every pointed lie and-- even worse-- every barbed truth. And Elise knew that even after the memories of the agony and horror had faded, she would still wake to the helpless, fading, suffocating sensation of being drained of her power completely.

              Sunday night, she was woken by her imagination's brutal rendition of what would have happened between her and Rashid if Sarah and Gregory had left her and Alex to Rashid's mercy. This version pulled no punches, and Elise spent half an hour retching into the toilet as she tried to forget the sensation of Rashid's fingertips caressing her skin, finding their way under the hem of her shirt and exploring her body...

              Monday morning found her trying to use powder to cover up the dark circles under her eyes before school. She was worried about Alex-- she hadn't seen him since she'd fallen asleep at Gregory's apartment, hadn't heard anything except Gregory's assurances on the car ride back to Willowdale that he was recovering. So she didn't want him to be distracted by her haggard appearance when she saw him in Latin-- she wanted to make sure he was all right. But he wasn't in Latin class. That night, she woke up sobbing after a dream that she'd stumbled into a graveyard to find his tombstone beside those of his dead wife and child.

              On Tuesday, she actually had to borrow some of her mother's liquid foundation to cover the evidence that she hadn't slept-- and it was a good thing she did, because Alex was back in school that day. He seemed normal enough, but Elise couldn't help but notice a definite distance between them that bordered on cold. It wasn't on her part-- she wanted nothing more than for them to go back to the way they'd been when they danced in the gazebo. But Alex was carefully shielded and his demeanor was reserved, his smiles coming slowly and going quickly, if they came at all, and his eyes often focusing off into the distance, on something Elise couldn't see. He bid her a short goodbye outside the school and left her to walk home alone. That night, she didn't sleep at all.

              Finally, she managed to get a few, restless hours of sleep the past two nights. Now it was Friday, and Sarah and Gregory had come down from New York. Elise had the impression it was so Sarah could say goodbye before departing for the next country on her list. She'd only stayed this long, Elise guessed, to keep an eye on the situation in case Rashid decided not to abide by their agreement, and returned with his followers to push the issue. But at least for now, that part of their lives seemed to be on hold.

              Elise had made hot chocolate, and the four of them sat on her front porch, enjoying the cool weather as Elise listened to the other three reminisce. When the mailman politely interrupted to slip a cache of mail into the box at the top of the stairs, she didn't really think anything of it; still, she got up automatically to check what he'd brought. It was still too early for college acceptance letters, but she'd made time on Monday to send in her application to Oxford, and had resigned herself to obsessing over the mail every day until she heard something back.

              She flipped absently through the white envelopes-- phone bill, bank statement, an invitation for her parents to an Art Museum fundraiser, something from the Red Cross-- and then froze. The blood drained from her face, and some of the other mail fluttered from her fingers as she gripped onto the bannister to keep herself steady as a wave of dizziness swept over her. Behind her, Gregory's spirited reenactment of a sixteenth century monk faltered and died.

              The silence stretched as Elise tore into the envelope and read the short letter over rapidly once, and then again more slowly.

              “Elise?” Alex asked finally, his voice bracing. “What is it?”

              In answer, she held up the other little packet of papers that had been in the envelope.

              “Tickets,” she said numbly. “Plane tickets. To Russia.”
I asked for this
, she reminded herself-- she just hadn't expected it to come so soon. Either the Court was incredibly efficient, or her presence was very important to them; she was betting on both. Taking a deep breath, she composed herself, turning to face them as fearlessly as she could. They all knew what she meant, but she had to say it aloud. “It's a summons from the Queen.”

              After a long, breathless pause, Sarah clapped her hands together briskly. “Well, kids, it's been fun-- but that's my cue to be gone. Iran is calling.”

              Elise raised her eyebrows at the taller woman. “Not coming with us?” She asked, trying to distract herself from the uncomfortable way her pounding heart was lodged in her throat.

              Sarah snorted. “Count the tickets,” she said shortly.

              Elise cast her a glare for giving her an order, but her heart wasn't in it-- she was too curious. She did as Sarah suggested, and frowned in confusion. “There are only three,” she said. Gregory and Alex chuckled.

              “Yes, she knows you, all right,” Gregory patted his sister on the shoulder.

              “May I see the letter?” Elise handed it to Alex without a fuss, along with the envelope and slender sheaf of tickets. She didn't want her sweaty palms smudging them. Instead, she bent to gather the rest of the mail that had fallen from her nerveless fingers.

              A few minutes later, Elise was smilingly ushering a group of young trick-or-treaters off the porch when the sight of her parents' car pulling into the driveway brought her up short. Whirling to Alex with wide eyes, the distance between them momentarily forgotten in her panic, she gasped, “What on earth are they doing home so early?”

              Sarah began to laugh harshly. “You have got to be--” was as far as she got, before Gregory's elbow caught her in the ribs and made her cough.

              “Do your parents prefer to be addressed as “mister” and “missus,” or their first names?” Gregory asked Elise.

              Alex spoke before she could answer. “I don't use their first names,” he said, calmly pocketing the letter and tickets from the Queen and settling himself comfortably into the rocking chair he occupied. “Elise, you might want to find a place to sit down; you look unnecessarily guilty.”

              She did as she was told, perching on the porch railing as she fought off a wave of hurt that rose up at his impersonal tone.
We just need time
, she reassured herself as she rearranged her features into something resembling carelessness. By the time her parents had reached the front steps, she looked as if she had expected them home at this time. “Candy?” Elise offered them the bowl nonchalantly.

              Marie chuckled, but her eyes were wide. “No, thank you, Elise. I wish we'd known you were staying home this year, though-- we came back early to hand out candy for the children.”

              “Oh,” Elise said, startled. She must have been even more exhausted than she'd thought, or this possibility would probably have occurred to her. “It was sort of a last minute decision. Mom, dad, these are Alex's cousins, Gregory and Sarah.” Sarah nodded when Elise said her name, and Gregory rose to shake her parents' hands.

              “Mr. and Mrs. Whitfield, it's nice to finally meet you,” Gregory said politely. Elise just shook her head-- there had to be a vampire class on meeting people's parents, or something. Even Sarah must have taken it, because she chimed in when Gregory finished speaking.

              “Yes, we were hoping to be introduced while we were here. Anyone who can get through our cousin's pigheadedness is a very special girl, and I was interested to meet the people who raised her.” No amount of politeness could dull the barely contained violence in Sarah's eyes and make her seem harmless, but Elise was still somewhat astounded by how convincing her clean-cut, all-American persona was, and how quickly she'd slipped into it.

              “Oh!” Marie flushed. “Well, thank you! We're so glad to meet more of Elise's new friends. You're both certainly welcome in our home.” While she spoke, Robert raised his eyebrows at these two new people hanging out with his daughter, and Elise found herself mentally begging him not to try talking to them the way he'd talked to Alex. Knowing her luck, Gregory would say something so ridiculously flirtatious that her father would actually blush-- or Sarah would punch him.

              “Elise, that candy bowl is almost empty-- why don't you come inside and refill it?” Robert said firmly, his tone making the suggestion a command. Elise made a face at his back, but cast an apologetic glance at Alex and the others as she followed her parents into the house.

              Her dad led her into the kitchen, where she busied herself dumping candy into the large plastic bowl. He wasn't letting her off easily, though, and when she turned to head back outside, he was standing in her way.

              “The girl-- Sarah?-- she's Alex's cousin?” Robert asked abruptly, and Elise couldn't blame him for the fatherly aggression in his tone-- or the tiny hint of fear he thought he was covering.

              “Not the one we've been going to visit,” she answered reassuringly. Hoping desperately that Sarah would consent to go along with her lies, she continued. “Gregory's the one who goes to college in New York; Sarah is on leave right now from the Marine Corps.”

              “Ah,” her dad breathed, glancing back toward the foyer as if physically looking Sarah over with new eyes. Just as Elise had hoped, she saw his opinion shifting from a potential threat to his family to someone who had an excellent reason to seem so very dangerous.

              “See, dad?” Elise chirped brightly. “She makes Alex look pretty tame, huh?”

              Her father scowled, and Elise pretended not to hear him grumbling under his breath as she hefted the candy bowl, stood on tiptoe to kiss him on the cheek, and skipped back to her friends.

             
Friends
, she repeated the word to herself, smiling.

              It was another hour before the conversation, abridged though it was for the sake of Elise's eavesdropping parents, began to wind down. “I'm going to hit the bathroom before we head out,” Gregory said abruptly, grinning slyly as he dipped through the front door without giving anyone the chance to raise an objection. At the same time, Elise heard her mother's voice from the dining room.

              “Alex, could you give me a hand with this, please?”

              His eyebrows climbed as he got up. “Looks like I've officially been accepted into the family.” He chuckled; it warmed Elise's heart to see his easy smile. Pausing in the doorway, he cast a stern glance at Sarah and Elise. “Behave,” he said firmly, pinning each of them with his eyes in turn before he also ducked inside.

              Sarah's level gaze was heavy with a mix of emotions, all of them negative. “I still don't trust you,” she said quietly as soon as Alex was out of earshot.

              Elise cocked an eyebrow at her, settling in Alex's vacated chair. “I don't trust anyone, and it's worked out well enough for me. You might want to look into the practice sometime.”

              Sarah looked out over the street of neat suburban houses, seeming like she'd rather be doing anything except sitting here talking to Elise. “You're going to have to trust someone sometime, little princess,” she said, sounding torn between annoyance and pity. “You can't face the Court alone.”

              Elise frowned at the title, uncertain what exactly Sarah was mocking, and sighed. “I'm wrong anyway,” she said after a moment's hesitation. Sarah glanced at her, doing a poor job of masking her surprise. “I trust you.”

              Now the warrior looked truly shocked. “That's not the best choice you've ever made,” she scoffed dryly.

              “It's not the worst, either,” Elise replied blandly, leaning her elbows on her knees and meeting Sarah's eyes. “Trusting someone doesn't mean blindly believing everything they say-- it just means being able to predict what they'll do in a given situation. You've never lied to me-- you may be the only person I can say that about. And I can trust that even though you despise me, you'll have Alex's back. So as long as I'm looking out for him, you and I are on the same side.” She finished gently. “I don't mean him any harm, you know.”