Sleight (42 page)

Henry handed me a tissue for my runny nose. I gave him a smal smile, puling my brush and the rol of gauze from my bag.

Unweaving the gnarl of my curls was going to be a chalenge, but most of my hair was going to be gone soon. Might as wel take whatever pampering I could get. And I loved having my hair brushed. Junie and I used to spend hours doing one another’s hair.

Her lustrous blonde mane was so thick, you could only wrap an elastic around her ponytail once. Although I had a lot of hair sprouting from my scalp, it was fine, textured, and so curly. I’d always envied Junie’s Swedish blood that had gifted her so generously with beautiful skin and hair. My Irish heritage hadn’t been so kind. Or maybe it was the Romanian in me…

After Henry bundled my palm in enough gauze to treat an amputation, I sat on the bed, my back to him, and handed over the hairbrush. His touch was gentle, his fingertips grazing my ears and neck as he puled my hair over my shoulders. He started with the ends and unknotted the strands from one another. He proceeded up the length of my hair, aware of each tangle that might snag on the bristles and yank on my head. A welcome shiver rippled down my back and into my cheeks with each downward stroke. Henry had been right—this was very relaxing.

“Promise me, Henry. No dream visits,” I said.

“No heroics,” he whispered, his lips next to my ear. It gave me chils.

As the drowsiness set in, my head bobbed forward a few times, making Henry chuckle. He set the brush down and patted me on the shoulder, urging me to climb under the covers and give in to sleep. I was more than happy to lie down; the pilow felt glorious under my weary head.

Henry bent over and kissed my forehead, but I grabbed the back of his neck and pressed my lips against his. He kissed me, too, gentle at first but with more vigor when I refused to release his head. He tasted so good. His hair felt soft in my fingers. I loved his smel, the feel of his face so close to mine.

He slowed his return kisses and puled away, his face hovering just inches from mine.

“Sleep now,” he said.

I smiled at him, my cheeks flushed but not from embarrassment.

“Stay close. Don’t leave me,” I whispered.

“Never, G.” He stroked my forehead as I succumbed to blissful, perfect sleep, safe in the arms of my future.

:44:

Day Two

Dum vita est, spes est.

While there is life, there is hope.

A sudden thirst puled me to the surface. I couldn’t have been asleep that long, though when I opened my eyes, Henry was curled next to me, his perfect face peaceful and so handsome it brought the familiar lump to my throat. As I wasn’t brave enough to venture out of the cabin on my own in search of a beverage, bottled water was going to have to be enough.

I inched my way from under the covers, mindful of my movements so I didn’t wake Henry. The door of the tiny closet that housed our backpacks opened without a sound. I fumbled through my bag first, my hand groping the contents in search of the bottles, but they must’ve al been stuffed in Henry’s pack. As quietly as possible, I unzipped the top of his bag and again started the process of rooting around for water when a fluttering sensation started over the surface of my chest. I puled my arm out and reached for the amulet.

It wasn’t burning, but vibrating. Like the wings of a hummingbird against my palm.

“Henry…,” I whispered. As I turned to face the bunk, the room lit up, filed with the brightness of a midday sun. A strong wind blew my hair back and I was no longer in the cabin, the door to the bathroom and out to the halway no longer closed, no longer present, but rather comprised of air and space. I was in an open area, like the field where I first saw Alicia and Delia.

I squinted through the hazy sunlight, the ground moving past me even though my feet remained stil. I felt a hand touch my shoulder and whipped around to see who was there.

“Auntie!” I threw myself into her arms, inhaling the smel of her hair. She smeled like safety and love and everything precious.

“Gemma, my sweet girl. How are you?”

“Oh, my God, Auntie, I miss you so much my heart hurts!” I cried. “And I’m so scared, I just want to go home. He’s hurt Irwin, Auntie. Poor, defenseless Irwin.”

“I know, I know,” she hugged me again. “You must be strong.

Don’t cry, sweetie,” she said, wiping my face with her hands. Teo appeared next to Marlene and offered his hand.

“Where is Alicia? And Delia? Where’s my mother?” I spun around, the environs changeable and intangible, a dreamscape in constant flux.

“We cannot al be here together. It is too easy for Lucian to interfere, with Delia, in particular. She is not strong against him yet,” Marlene explained.

“But you are? Is that why you can speak to me?” She nodded. “I’m too bloody tough for Lucian to destroy me completely,” she laughed. Teo smiled at her and shook his head.

“Gems, remember I told you that maybe the people you’ve seen al these years were trying to talk to you, but that perhaps you just weren’t listening?”

“Yeah…”

“Wel, it is important that you listen now, to whomever comes to you. They are strong, and they wil help you, help Henry. It’s important.”

“But…what about Alicia?”

“She is weakening. She cannot come, not yet,” Teo said. “She’s bound by the rules of the AVRA-K and her ability to communicate with her son has been interrupted until the book is back in the hands of her father.”

“But doesn’t Thibeault already have the book? Isn’t that the point of al of this?” Surprise registered on Teo’s face. As I took in his confusion, the sky darkened, the bright sun dimmed as if someone turned it down.

I knew what this meant. He was coming for me again.

The three of us were suddenly standing on a cliff overlooking a sparse field, our attentions drawn to someone below, someone in stylish dress, smal in stature, her long, blonde hair dancing in a soft breeze.

Junie.

Junie! What was she doing in the field? I flew to the edge of the cliff, stretching forward on my bely, forgetting about Teo and Marlene standing behind me. I reached out over the edge, rocks and dirt faling away under my weight.

“Marlene! It’s Junie!” I struggled back to my feet and rushed at Teo, puling at his arms. “Come on! We have to help her!” I whipped my head back toward the field below and dropped my grip on Teo. “Please!” I screamed, launching myself to the brink where the sheer face dropped into a chasm below.

A quick look behind me revealed that both Marlene and Teo had disappeared. I was alone, the sunlight gone and replaced with the darkness that comes before a storm. Junie wrapped her arms around herself, her hair whipping about her head as the wind escalated.

“JUN-NIE!” I screamed until my throat burned, slamming my hands into the unforgiving earth in a futile effort to get her to see or hear me.

Behind her smal, shivering form, about thirty paces back, a cloaked figure stepped out of the shadows. I recognized the heavy draped fabric, the concealed face, the long arms sheathed in thick layers of black. As the arms came up from the figure’s sides, as he stepped ever closer to my darling friend where she stood trembling in the looming gale, I gathered every shred of remaining strength I had and screamed at the top of my lungs: “Junie, run!”

:45:

Someone stands behind you, and you have power; you shall neither perish nor be destroyed, but you shall act among men and gods.

— Chapter 177, Egyptian Book of the Dead, The Book of Going Forth By Day

A forceful slap to my cheek puled me out, back into the darkness of the sleeper cabin, away from the desperation of the desolate field. Away from Junie.

I was on the floor, on my stomach, my legs bent against the closet. I scrambled to my feet, stretching for the door handle. Henry managed to wrap a strong arm around my middle just before I laid my hand on the latch, and I struggled against him, beating at his arm with closed fists.

“Gemma, calm down, sshhh, it was just a bad dream,” he murmured into my ear, his face pressed tight against the side of my head. “Calm down…breathe…it was a nightmare. You’re okay.

You’re with me. You’re safe.”

“It wasn’t a nightmare! I wasn’t asleep, Henry! It was real! I was awake!”

“Breathe. Come on, you’re al right…sshhh.”

“Junie,” I cried. My voice cracked and my body went limp against Henry. He puled me backward onto his lap on the bed and wrapped his arms around me so I couldn’t fight him. “Junie…”

“Gemma, listen. Are you listening?” He shifted me on his legs so our eyes were paralel. “Junie is okay. She’s at home, with Mattias and Emelie. It’s al right. Everything is al right,” he said, his voice quiet and calming. He grabbed my left hand and sent torrents of warmth and reassurance through my body. “It was just a bad dream. Everything is okay.”

“No, it wasn’t a bad dream. I wasn’t asleep. It’s not…nothing is okay anymore,” I sobbed. “Not Junie, too. Please, God, not Junie, too!”

Henry quieted me by rocking me back and forth. “What did you see?”

The calm vibrating through my hand and up my arm provided enough clarity for me to describe the scene. “Lucian is coming for her, too. Marlene was there, on the cliff with me. Teo said your mother is weak. He said…,” I hesitated.

“What did Teo say?” Henry stopped rocking.

“He said Alicia cannot communicate with you until the book…

until Thibeault gets the book back.” I sniffed. “I’m so confused. I thought Thibeault had the book. I thought that’s what al this was about.”

My reteling of the vision was interrupted by a firm knock on the cabin door. I must’ve disturbed the other passengers with my screaming. I flashed Henry a panicked look.

“Who is it?” Henry demanded, his tone gruffer than usual.

“Conductor, sir.”

Henry cursed under his breath but gently scooted me off his lap to answer the door. When he dislodged the lock and opened it, it was not a conductor waiting outside to check on the disturbance.

“Sounds like somebody’s having a rough night,” he said, the familiar eyes looking past Henry, driling into mine. Henry took a step backward and opened the door to reveal Ash standing in the middle of the door’s frame. I didn’t understand why Henry would step aside to permit Ash’s entry, or why Henry put his hands up in front of him, as if he were being held at gunpoint.

At gunpoint.

Protruding from the open flaps of Ash’s long coat was his gloved hand wrapped around a smal pistol. He waved Henry away from the door.

“You didn’t think I’d let you just run away without saying goodbye, did you, Gems? It’s bad enough you abandoned Ted and Irwin in their hour of need, so soon after Marlene’s unfortunate passing,” he said, stepping into the cramped cabin. He clicked the door shut behind him.

“What are you doing, Ash? You’re a lunatic! Now he’s got you carrying a gun?” I hissed and jumped to my feet. Ash answered my sudden movement by extending his gun arm. He leveled the muzzle at Henry’s chest, directly over his heart.

“Save the lecture. This isn’t the time. Al it would take is one phone cal, and the conductor wil have this train stopped and the police waiting outside for you. I trust you’ve seen a newspaper lately,” he snarled. “Don’t you think enough blood has been shed?” The malice in Ash’s eyes curdled my stomach. He motioned with the pistol for Henry to move to the bench. “Wel, wel—looks like the two of you have been busy in here,” he said, eyeing the messy state of the bed. “Clean up this love nest so a guy has a place to sit.

It’s been a long day chasing you fugitives around.” I gathered up the sheets and blankets into a bal, and Henry helped me push the pulout sleeper sofa back into the bench position. We sat together on that side, though I didn’t touch Henry, for fear he was beginning a slow, electric boil.

Ash sat down across from us, stretching his legs but keeping his weapon trained on Henry.

“Ash, please. Junie—how’s Junie? Is she safe? Has Lucian done anything to her?”

“Junie is fine.”

“She’s not fine. I saw her—”

“If Junie does what she’s told, she’l be fine.”

“Oh my God, you traitorous bastard! You’d let Lucian hurt your twin sister?” I stood to throw myself at him but was stopped by Henry’s quick arm around my waist.

“Temper, temper! You have a lot of questions, and a lot of bals, Gemma Flannery, but then again, I always did like that about you.

Al sizzle, but no fire…”

“You’re a pathetic coward. I cannot believe you’re actualy helping Lucian. You don’t have any idea what you’ve gotten yourself involved with. Do you…? Why, Ash? Why?”

“You know why. Lucian wants his precious book back. And, let’s see—oh, yeah. He’s richer than God, and he’s wiling to pay a lot for its safe return. I’m doing it for the same reason you’re hanging out with Prince Charming here,” Ash said, his glare hard and unwavering. “The fine, sweet taste of cash.”

“You have no soul.”

“Sure I do. But just like everyone else, my soul has a price. You think I want to work in some loser circus forever, risking my life every single day for the crap wage Ted pays us?”

“That just proves everything I’ve ever thought about you. You’re shalow and misguided. And gulible. If you think you’re going to come out of this alive, you’re the biggest, sorriest dumbshit on the planet.”

Ash snorted at me. “Gemma, who’s the dumb one here? Let’s review: you are insulting a man with a gun pointed at your boyfriend’s heart,” he said. “You might want to rethink your strategy a little before continuing to run off that pretty mouth of yours.”

“A man? Did you just cal yourself a man? You’re nothing but an insecure, scared little boy. A candy-ass who’s going to end up with that ass handed to him on a silver platter.”

“Henry, you’d be wise to tel your girlfriend to shut her nasty mouth before I shut it for her.” I’d struck a nerve. The arrogant smile on Ash’s face evaporated.

“Ash, listen to me. Please. And then I’l shut up, I promise,” I said. “I had a vision—”

“A vision? Like you see yourself getting away with murder, maybe?”

“Please—it’s like a nightmare, only awake—”

“Yeah, I heard. I’m pretty sure everyone in this train car did.”