Speed of Light (14 page)

“I can get it.” I stood and the nerves in my foot
throbbed to life. I grimaced before I tamped down my reaction.

Catching my wince, Meridian shoved me back down. “Where is it? I’ll get it.”

“Under my bed, but wait—”

She was already sprinting down the hall. I didn’t want her to see what I’d stashed under there. Rocks. A fossil I’d found near the creek. Arrowheads. Halves of hatched robin’s eggs. A nest like the one Kirian gave me that blew away in the tornado. A brooch I’d pocketed at Helios last month in the shape of a hummingbird and covered in rhinestones. Meridian’s green scarf.

Meridian came back out with the scarf draped over her neck and the Spirit Stone in her hand. It glowed like a million refracted rainbows, the tree inside spreading out, inviting us all to dive into its light. She didn’t say anything to me about all the stolen goods.
She doesn’t have to
.

“Why the escalation?” Nelli said. “If it is Nocti?”

“You found the remains of an old DG boy, right? Howie? Or maybe because Juliet survived her transition to full Fenestra?” Tony asked Nelli.

Why are they escalating? Because they can. They don’t need a logical reason. There’s more to it, Juliet. Figure it out
.

“Are we being dumb not considering other options? Criminals without supernatural connections?” Nelli pointed out.

Tens shook his head. “It sounds like Nocti, but we
should keep our eyes peeled regardless. I don’t know why humans would care about the Spirit Stones. They’re just trinkets.”

“I’ll go make dinner.” I tried to stand and flinched as the nerves in my foot woke again and pulsed.

“Sit!” Tony scolded me. “We’ll order in pizza.”

“But …”
I love the kitchen
. They coddled me rather than understood my need to escape there. The pity rolled over me like breaking waves and made me nauseous.
Poor Juliet. She’s too fragile and useless
.

“Don’t worry about it tonight, okay? We have lots to talk about.” Meridian used the scarf to make a nest on the coffee table and set the sphere gently into its folds.

I wasn’t used to being waited on. It rankled.
She’s probably going to tell everyone I stole her scarf and hid it under my bed. At least the folio is in my bag. They don’t know about that
.

“Thanks,” I said, not meaning it.

Nelli told us about going to the Milk building and gathering the boy’s remains. They couldn’t identify the cause of death. “Too much time passed; there was no evidence of foul play.” Nelli flushed. “My boss isn’t being helpful. He’s not even sure we have identified Howie correctly. There’s no information about his past anywhere. It’s as if he didn’t exist except for the tiny bit in the DG papers. I’ve requested Howie’s remains be given to me for burial.”

“What happens to him if you don’t get them?” Tens asked.

“There’s a mass grave at Riverside Cemetery for the unclaimed, and there’s a monument his name would be engraved on if we prove his identity.”

“He mentioned meeting Roshana and Argy. I think maybe they were all at DG together—at least their time overlapped,” Meridian said.

“How does something this horrid happen for decades without anyone noticing and stopping it?” Nelli hung her head.

“Because people turn away from truth. From seeing the dark sides of life. If it’s not happening to them, it doesn’t matter. Hiding in plain sight,” Rumi said, voicing my thoughts perfectly. “They made the children anchorites, living in seclusion, and the murders were secretive murdrums. The general populace doesn’t believe in things they don’t see. Much of reality they turn away from so they don’t have to see it or believe it.”

I pressed my foot against the chair leg until I felt the edges of the cut break apart and bleed again. I’m still alive.
For the moment
.

“You’ll never guess who we met today.” Tens demanded everyone’s attention.

My heart pounded.
Had Ms. Asura come to them as well?

“Juliet’s Protector.”

The room erupted with questions and exclamations.

Who?
I shook my head, not sure I’d heard correctly. “What did you say?”

“Her name is Fara, and she’s been traveling from New
York, but I don’t think she’s American,” Tens answered. “She claims to be your Protector.”

“So she says,” Meridian plugged.

How could Meridian gloss over such an important announcement? My Protector made contact?
Who is she? Where is she? Is it Nicole come back again?

“Mirabile dictum! Precious good news!” Rumi exalted.

“We have to talk this through.” Tony’s face twisted in doubt and fear.

Tens leaned down to me and whispered as the decibel levels around us rose. “We’ll introduce Fara to you as soon as we finish this discussion, okay?”

“But—”
No!
I didn’t want to wait.
Why are we waiting? Where is she? Not a boy? A girl?

Meridian tried to reassure me. “We can’t bring her here with all of us. Everyone needs to understand the risk. What if she’s a Nocti sympathizer?”

“You’ve looked in her eyes? She’s not Nocti?” I asked.

“No, she’s not. And Tens feels certain she is your Protector. But there are questions—”

“Then why didn’t she get here in time for my birthday?”

“I don’t know. I really don’t. She’s at the coffee shop on Main waiting to hear from us.”

“Let’s go now.” I stood up.

“Not until we’ve all talked about it,” Meridian said, and shook her head.

My opinion was dismissed as the pros and cons were battled around. I lost my appetite, counting the minutes
until the pizza arrived. Until they’d eaten their fill and decisions were made.
Events with the Nocti are rising again. No one knows why
.

I wanted to meet Fara. Decide for myself. Make up my own mind.

Tens finally took pity on me and suggested he go get her.

“No. You can’t bring her here,” Tony objected. “Not until we know more about her. Juliet is just starting to get comfortable.”

Really? News to me
. “But—” I tried to argue.

“Juliet can’t walk on that foot,” Nelli pointed out.

“We do have her bags …,” Meridian suggested, and let it hang in the open space as everyone heard her and thought of the invasion, the line that going through her bags crossed.

I leapt to my feet, putting all of my weight on my wound, showing no weakness even though a light sweat broke out along my scalp. “I want to see her bags. Now.”

Meridian winced as if she regretted suggesting it.

“Okay,” Tens said. “I’ll get them, but I think we’re invading her privacy.”

“She dared us to, Tens.” Meridian shrugged.

He nodded, his expression closed and hard to read. “Fine.” He headed out the front door and I sat back down.

“Don’t get your hopes up,” Meridian said to me.

What does she mean by that? Maybe Fara wasn’t here sooner because she, too, knows I’m not worthy. She knows how damaged I am
.

“A
n extra pair of combat boots, enough metal jewelry to remold into a jumbo jet, and a wardrobe from Madonna’s 1986 closet,” I huffed. Nothing incriminating.

“I told you she’s one of us,” Tens scolded me.

I almost stuck my tongue out at him. “I didn’t expect to find a Nocti membership badge.” But maybe something, anything that lent a little suspicion.
There’s nothing
. Just the bags of a girl who shopped at thrift stores and collected shiny objects like a magpie.

Juliet sniffed a sweater but abruptly stopped when she realized I was watching her. I raised an eyebrow but didn’t say anything. She’d stolen my scarf, hidden
merchandise from Helios, and stashed the flora and fauna of the creek under her bed.
What else is she hiding? Why?

“How do we know we can trust Fara? You’re sure you felt a connection?” Tony asked Tens, having a complete change of heart.

“On my grandfather Tyee, she’s like me.” Tens nodded.

Tony and Tyee served in Vietnam together. Tyee saved Tony’s life, and it was this long-standing relationship that brought Tens and Tony together.

Tony crossed himself. “We must have faith. If you say she’s worth trusting, that must be good enough for me. Why don’t we put her bags in the guest room while you go get her from the coffee shop?”

“I’m sure she can stay at Joi’s house while they’re gone. I don’t know how comfortable I am with her here.” Nelli’s anxiety notched up a level. “What if she’s—”

“Does anyone care what I think?” Juliet’s face flushed bright red. “If she’s my Protector, then she should be near me. Unless Tens is going to go to Joi’s too?” Her defiance felt overblown, but I understood her view.
Juliet has to fight everything. She knows no other way of life
.

“It’s a risk,” I pointed out.

Juliet simply stared me down.

“Okay, Juliet wants her here.” I shrugged. I wasn’t going to argue, and no way in hell was Tens leaving the cottage.
My man stays with me
.

Tens nodded. “She’s just down at Book ’n’ Bean. I’ll be right back.” He brushed a hand against mine as he left the condo.

“Why don’t we hang the Spirit Stone in the front hallway?” Nelli moved toward the living room. “That way everyone who enters must pass by it.”

Bad people don’t make the glass darken, nor do good people make it lighten. Only Nocti or Fenestra changed the light within. But whatever, Nelli was nervous.

“We’ll unpack Fara’s things.” Juliet began taking stacks of clothes into the room across the hall from hers. “That way it won’t be like we snooped.”

“She won’t have any idea,” I muttered under my breath, grabbing boots and another scuffed leather jacket full of metal spikes. Juliet needed a Protector who was nurturing and cuddly. Someone who would give her confidence and teach her to navigate this world. I felt like Juliet lived most of her life in a very nasty bubble. The last thing she needed was arrogant, cocky, know-it-all Fara.

“Can Protectors be female?” I asked no one in particular.

“We’ve found evidence of male Fenestra,” Rumi answered me from the hall. He didn’t need a ladder to hang a hook in the high ceiling, only a footstool.

But is Fara Juliet’s soul mate? Like Tens is mine? Or does that have to happen? Can you have a soul mate who isn’t also a lover?
Juliet loved Kirian, but he was human. A fallible manipulated innocent who hadn’t stood a chance against Ms. Asura and her cohorts.

My thoughts tumbled over themselves, twisting, knotting, tangling, and giving me a headache. A very human throb at the base of my neck.

Juliet disappeared with her canvas satchel into her bedroom and shut the door. I thought about knocking but decided to give her a minute alone. Each change seemed to take a lot out of her.

Tens came back less than five minutes later, Fara in tow. She marched in, filling the spaces with bravado and conceit as if she belonged and we had no say in the matter.

“That was fast,” I said by way of greeting.

“There’s a GPS tracking bug in my bag. I was already outside.” She shrugged.

My jaw dropped.

“Nah, I just like old spy movies they show late at night. But Dark could do that, so we’ll have to be more careful.” Fara straightened when she realized there were more people in the room. She considered each face, dismissing us quickly. Clearly she thought she knew what Juliet looked like.

I half expected her to crack her knuckles and pop her neck like she was preparing to go into a boxing ring.

“Welcome.” Tony was the first to hold out his hand. “Juliet is like a daughter to me. You’ll care for her to the utmost of your abilities?”

Fara nodded, taking his hand. “Fara Vishi. I will.”

“Lass, I’m Rumi.” Rumi engulfed her in a bear hug that made me giggle. Fara’s stiff acceptance made me think she wasn’t used to such displays of affection.

“Where is she?” Fara let herself be guided toward the couch.

Nelli answered, “We have a few questions for you first.”

Juliet was still nowhere around. I excused myself to find her, and after knocking on her door, opened it.

She was in her bedroom, rocking back and forth with her arms around her knees. I knew Tony wanted her to feel at home, but he’d decorated the room as if a six-year-old had requested a theme of unicorns, princesses, and Laffy Taffy. But the interior decorating wasn’t making her cry.

“Fara’s in the living room,” I said quietly, trying not to startle her.

Tears clung to her bottom lashes as she raised her head and wiped her eyes on her T-shirt.

“What’s wrong?”

“Bad day,” she said so quietly the words floated before drifting away.

“Are you worried about Fara being corrupt? Tens swears he knows she’s one of the good guys. The Spirit Stone didn’t do anything when she walked under it either.”
Not like it would
.

“No, I … just …”

Don’t interrupt her; let her speak
. I slouched down, trying to give her more room to get the words out. Sometimes Juliet seemed like a wild animal.

“Never mind.” Juliet shook her head.

“No, I want to know,” I pushed. She couldn’t keep shutting me out. It was as if we took one step forward and two steps back.

“I thought when my Protector got here I’d feel better. Like it would fix everything. And she didn’t fix anything. Nothing!” Juliet raised her voice and tossed a pillow.

Not sure what to do with her anger, I shook my head. “Tens and I fought when we first met. It wasn’t easy and it certainly didn’t make everything better.”

She nodded.

What is she really thinking?
“I wish I
could
make this simpler for you. I do. Just talk to me, okay? Tell me what you need. Let me try to help?”
How do I prove I’m her sister?

“Okay.”

“Promise?” I asked, holding up my pinkie, mimicking Bodie and Sema’s new swearing ritual.

She gave a tiny smile and hooked her finger. “Promise.”

“Want to go meet her now?” I asked.

“No.” Juliet stood and put all her weight on the toes of her foot. She stumbled, losing her balance, then righted herself with a frown and a shallow breath.