Secrets of the Guardian (Waldgrave Book 3) (10 page)

“No.” Griffin drawled, seemingly now bored with her questions. “I have no clue how he did it, or why. Maybe he had someone blow the tracks.”

“But that doesn’t explain how he knew my father would die and I wouldn’t.” Lena continued. “I mean, if I had died—“

“Then maybe he would have found someone else who fit the bill. You don’t seem to get that he was fooling all of us. You were never important and neither was I. If you had died he would have found someone else to fill your part in whatever sick game he was playing. End of story. Good night.”

“Wait!” Lena yelled. She didn’t believe what he was saying. Had she really been only a token player to Pyrallis?

She heard Griffin heave a heavily impatient sigh. “What now?”

“I—“ Lena’s mind grasped at straws, she didn’t know why she had stopped him. She made a desperate leap to the first thing that came to mind. “Who’s your girlfriend?”

Lena’s heart raced for a moment; she wished she hadn’t asked it. Picking a fight with Griffin was never a wise idea, and this time he was already angered to begin with. His voice came back wary and even more impatient. “What?”

Lena swallowed hard. Now that it was out, she really wanted to know. And, since she had already started it… “The voice I heard over the phone yesterday. Who’s there with you?”

“No one.” He growled again. “I’m here alone.”

“You are not.” Lena insisted, emboldened by his lie.

And then his voice changed. He wasn’t aggravated or upset anymore; in her mind, Lena saw his face go into debate mode; the look he had when dealing with other Council members. He said completely neutrally, “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m here alone.”

“Fine!” She almost screeched, trying to keep her voice down so that she wouldn’t alert Devin. She started berating him in a low, angry tone. “That’s fine! Just treat me like I’m everyone else. I’m not, Griffin, not to you! I know you give a damn no matter how much you try to hide it! You said so that night in the field, remember?! Remember the night you said you killed him, and that you hadn’t stopped thinking about me since that first time in Ireland?! You’re a good liar to hide it all those years, because I bet they would have done terrible things to both of us if they’d known you were so
 
weak
, Griffin! You weren’t supposed to leave!”

Lena stopped. She was shaking. Back in the car Cheryl had woken with a start, and Devin had partially jumped into the back to calm her down.

Griffin was breathing into the phone. Normally, he would have shown some minor amusement at Lena becoming so overcome by her emotions. However, this time he didn’t show any hint of satisfaction. “That was before. Don’t call again unless it’s important.”

And he hung up. Every nerve in her body felt raw and tortured; it was just that simple to him. Looking back at the car through the dwindling dusk light, she knew they would be missing her soon. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to scream or cry; at the moment, she was leaning toward the former. She wasn’t sure why he had gotten to her, or why she had let him. It was maddening.

She stomped back up to the car, got into the driver’s side, and slammed the door shut. It was all she could do to stare at the wheel, meters, and knobs in front of her.

“Want me to drive?” Devin asked timidly.

Lena didn’t even need time to think. The loud buzzing in her ears would have prevented it anyways. Her words came out in a quick, even beat. “Yes. You will not tell Howard, either of you. You will obey all traffic laws. You will not get us pulled over. You will not assume that this means you can drive after tonight. And on pain of death, Devin, you will not ask me what’s wrong until tomorrow 
at least.
”

“Okay.” He chirped in response.

They both got out of the car to trade places, Lena handing the keys off on her way to the passenger’s side. She still felt emotionally frayed, but she wasn’t sure why. Griffin had been his usual self—tired and cranky, but still Griffin. Was it the fact that there was a woman staying with him? Possibly, but Lena doubted it. She had been so resolved and collected when she dialed the phone.

In the back seat, Cheryl had blearily laid herself across the ice chest situated next to her. “I don’t know why you get so worked up over him.”

“Now’s not the time, Cheryl.” Devin said with an air of finality, pulling them back onto the road. Lena did her best to ignore them both, sinking low in her chair; it wasn’t that she cared that they knew, because they knew more about her, probably, than anyone.

Except for Griffin,
 she reminded herself with a harsh tone of sarcasm.

It was that they were right—Griffin was a waste of her time, and she was acting foolish.

“Anyway,” Cheryl yawned, “I had a dream that we were late getting to the hotel and they gave the room away. I think we need to find another hotel.”

Devin looked ready to honor this request, but Lena shot him a look of pure acid. He tried to mollify them both. “I think we’ll check, just to be sure, Cheryl…and when—I mean if!—if it’s gone, we’ll get a different one.”

“Whatever.” She murmured, settling back into her seat and closing her eyes. “But I’m telling you it’ll be gone by the time we get there.”

The room was gone. Lena was hardly surprised by this, as they had arrived much later into the night than the agreed upon check-in time because she had specifically told Devin to drive slowly; there appeared to be a wedding or some other event going on
nearby—the first three hotels they checked were booked. Devin wasn’t surprised either, but for much more annoyingly superstitious reasons.

Lena could only shake her head. “I’m telling you, it’s common sense that we didn’t make it, Dev. Anyone could have predicted the room would be gone when we were more than four hours late!”

They were standing in the lobby of a smallish motel, trying to feed dollar bills into a vending machine to refill their car supply of soda. The machine, unfortunately, was picky; it kept spitting out every crinkled bill they forced upon it in a process Devin described as “re-George-itation.” Lena laughed despite herself.

He shook his head. “I’m not saying she’s the know-all, end-all, just that she has a gift for this and you should respect it. That’s all. It might have saved us a little time even, if we’d stopped at one of those places before we got here and didn’t have to spend an hour and a half hunting down another hotel because they’re all full. Why don’t you trust her?”

Devin loaded up his arms with the five sodas they had managed to get out of the vending machine and started walking to the car.

“I do trust her.” Lena said, trotting after him. “I just think it’s a lot of pressure, that’s all. You’re putting your faith in a fourteen-year-old, and I don’t think that’s wise. Her instinct shouldn’t be a deciding factor for you, because we haven’t seen any real evidence that she can actually do it.”

Devin suddenly stopped walking, and Lena almost ran into him. He cocked his head and raised his eyebrows, annoyed. “You’re doing it again. You sound like a politician. This isn’t a court proceeding, so please drop the fancy shit. I don’t see why it’s such a big deal, anyways.”

“I—Sorry.” Lena paused. Devin started walking again, and Lena resumed following him. “I guess it just bothers me that you seem to be making decisions based on her feelings, and to me it’s like you might as well be flipping a coin. I mean, she said she thought we were in trouble, right? And nothing happened. You’re only remembering the times when she was right.”

As he popped the car door open, he sighed deeply. He opened the ice chest and put in the few sodas they had acquired and looked up at Lena as he put the lid back on. “I don’t want to fight about this. I don’t want to fight, period. You have a point—maybe I do rely on her a little too much, Lena, but I have a point too. She has an edge where we don’t, and even if I stop making decisions based around that, I’ll still believe it. After everything we’ve been through, I can’t believe you’re still fighting me about this…”

Lena looked around the dark parking lot. It felt strange to be able to be out in public, at night, alone; the slight tinge of excitement from danger was still ebbing in her brain from so many years of protective seclusion. As afraid as she felt in the pit of her stomach, she still wanted to stay out all night—like the night she had stayed out with Devin, Tab, and Pepper the year before.

Of course, she had no idea where Tab and Pepper were now, what they were doing, or even if they were still alive. They had gone with Rollin out of either frustration with the Council or necessity of their own survival, and even with the close bond that Devin and Tab had shared, they hadn’t heard a word from him. They were so close, Devin had forgiven Tab without hesitation for turning him in to Rollin. Human-borns had strong ties, and both Cheryl and Devin still occasionally had trouble accepting that their friends were gone to fates they might never know. They hadn’t heard a word from anyone that had gone off with Rollin, and now, wherever they were, Lena was sure they were penniless because Lena had seen to it. She suddenly felt sobered of her desire to stay out tasting freedom for the sake of it.

She crossed her arms against the cold. “You’re right. It doesn’t matter…I don’t know why I’ve been so focused on it. I’m sorry, Dev.”

A wind blew across the parking lot as Devin shut the car door and walked back over to her. He threw an arm around her shoulders as they walked back to the room. Somehow, she knew he was thinking about that night with Tab and Pepper, too.

When they got back to the room, Devin muttered something about taking a shower before disappearing off to the bathroom. It was a decent room for a motel; the walls were a light yellow color with matching bedspreads that had floral prints on them, and the windows had been done up with blue drapes that matched the upholstery on the two well-worn chairs stationed at the breakfast table. Lena settled down to check her phone messages. She sat down carefully on the edge of the bed, trying not to wake up Cheryl.

“Were you talking about me?” Cheryl asked, without a hint of having been asleep.

Lena closed her eyes. She really did hate to admit it, but Devin had a point—Cheryl was shaping up to be a very talented Silenti. “Yes, we were. We’re just concerned about you, sweetie.”

Lena heard the bed sheets ruffle against the comforter as Cheryl sat up. Her voice was very quiet, but still rang out clear. “Why are you so sad?”   

In fact, Lena wasn’t sure why. She hadn’t thought about it up to this moment, but she was sad lately. She had been so perpetually sad recently that she might have even described herself as depressed, and she was sure it had all started with that damn semi back in Kansas and the ensuing call to Griffin. She was sad because he had moved on and because he had veritably incised her from his life. She was sad because Tab and Pepper were gone except for a few bright memories that illuminated their otherwise bleak outlook in her mind. She was sad because Devin was sad; because he was living a true tragedy, and because he just didn’t have a place in the world anymore—he was always welcome at Waldgrave, but he faced the same situation Rosaleen had in her youth. Even if you claimed full Silenti as your kin, you would never be one simply because of your birth. Your kin prevented you from being fully in one world, and your birth prevented you from the other.

Lena felt Cheryl drape an arm over her shoulders. “It’s okay, Lena. It’s not all that bad.”

Lena went back to her phone messages to distract herself. There were two from Howard saying something about needing her to check her email, and then one from a voice she barely recognized.

“I heard you were in town and thought we could chat for a while if you’re available. I’ll be at the little diner on the corner of Fifth and Geraldine tomorrow night, around seven.”

She felt her heart soar in triumph; through whatever means he had, he had found out.

“Who was that?” Cheryl asked.

“It was Warren Astley,” Lena said softly. “Your father.”

Cheryl didn’t move, but Lena had the feeling that she wanted to. They sat on the edge of the bed, just being quiet and listening to the whine of the water in the pipes as Devin took his shower, until Lena heard an unmistakable sniffle issue forth from Cheryl. She looked over, and saw that she was crying.

“Cheryl, what’s wrong?” Lena said, half in a panic.

“It’s…nothing.” She said, pulling away and tucking herself back under the covers.

Lena laid down next to her, hugging her through the comforter. “Shh…it’s okay. Whatever it is, it’ll be okay.”

In the bathroom, Lena heard the water turn off. Cheryl was turning back towards Lena. Her eyes were already red and puffy, and held an air of concern far beyond her years. “I don’t want to go. It feels like the 
end
.”

Lena paused. She had been expecting something like this, but not with this kind of emotion. She had been through the experience of reuniting with a long lost parent; but unlike Cheryl, she had never had the option of choosing to stay where she was, in the life that she had lived before finding out.
 
The end
—Lena had never heard it put so succinctly. It was the end; the end of a way of living, and the start of something new. It was like dying and leaving yourself behind when something that big happened. She tried to gather herself enough to explain everything that had fleeted across her mind when Cheryl had spoken.