Tab Bennett and the Inbetween (24 page)

You know how in every movie about boxing there’s always a scene where the boxer practices hitting his coach’s palms? Well that’s what I was doing when Alex said, “I’ve gotten word from Francis.”

“When?” I stopped punching. “What’s going on?”

“The Generals have sent a scout into the Underneath. The mission is supposed to last for three days and when the scout returns with her report, the Generals will decide whether or not they will go to war.”

“Do you think We will?” I asked.

“The Generals have already gathered in the Center to discuss tactics. They’ll wait for the scout to return before they give the official word, but it seems likely to me that this is the time.”

I pictured my cousins, Robbin, Alex standing in a crowd of men, rows and rows of them lined up to board a ship that would take them far away to fight. I saw myself standing behind the barricade with the other wives and children, waving and crying and shouting goodbyes. I knew it wouldn’t look that way, like a scene from an old movie, when We of the Light marched off to war. The fundamentals were the same though: the people I loved would be in danger and I would be left behind to worry and wait.

I let that sink in.

“Shouldn’t I be the one to decide if my people go to war or not?”

“Is that a decision you wish to make?”

“Not really,” I admitted. “But if I’m going to be Queen isn’t the responsibility mine to bear whether I want it or not?”

He looked pleased with me when he said, “It is. Or rather it will be soon. Given your lack of knowledge regarding matters of state, the Interim Council holds that authority for now.”

“They can keep it.”

“Many of them would be happy to.”

He got up then and wandered around the room, poking into corners, opening closets, and peeking into cupboards. I followed him while he surveyed the room that had served as my personal sanctuary since I was eight years old. I heard him mumble and watched him wrinkle his nose. “You really like it in here?”

Looking around, I had to admit the solarium didn’t have much to recommend it. The furniture was old and mismatched, the fountain at the center had been dry for as long as I could remember, and the few remaining trees scattered around the room grew cobwebs instead of leaves.

“What’s so awful about it?”

“Where do I begin?”

“There are like nineteen other rooms in this house, you know. Why don’t you go see if one of them suits you better?”

“Two reasons,” he said quickly closing the distance between us. “You are in this room which makes it by far the most interesting.”

“And the second?”

He shrugged. “Your right hook needs work.”

“Show me again.”

Over the next three days Alex and I practiced a lot. The physical activity helped relieve some of the tension of waiting for news from the Inbetween. It also kept us from getting involved in another kind of physical activity entirely; the enchantment was there between us but it was removed a little, lingering in the very near background.

That’s how Alex and I began to be friends, by fighting.

Don’t worry, I didn’t miss the irony.

********

On the day the scout was supposed to return from her tour of the Underneath, Alex wasn’t waiting for me in the solarium when I came down for our morning workout. Matt was there instead. He stood by the wall of glass with his back to the door, looking out toward the hedge maze. He was distracted, his mind a jumble of things he didn’t want to think about, images he didn’t want to see. But he couldn’t get them out of his mind and they wouldn’t get out of mine either.

There was Rivers laying on the stone bench at the center of the hedge maze, reading a book, her wheat gold hair like a cloud, like a halo in the sunlight. She was wearing dirty white Keds and a red shift dress and a ridiculous pair of gigantic sunglasses with white plastic frames that she believed belonged to her mother. Matt said her name and she held up her finger, her message as clear as if she’d spoken: Wait.

“What are you doing out here?” he asked when she looked up at him.

I could fell his younger self trying to push the feelings he had for her away even while the man standing across the room from me struggled to pull those same feelings closer.

Rivers looked at the book in her hand. “I call it reading,” she said. “You should try it sometime.”

 “It’s getting dark. You should come inside.”

“There’s a monster in this hedge maze that wants to kill me. He’s been watching me all day.” She laughed nervously. “But now I’m safe because you’re here.”

“Of course you are,” he said, uncertainly. “I’ll keep you safe.”

“Will you hold my hand?” she asked. “I’ll feel better if you do.”

I saw the shiver run up his spine as he remembered what it felt like to hold her hand in his. He leaned his head against the cold glass. He told himself to knock it off, to let her go.

“Hi,” I said softly.

It took a second before he turned to look at me. “What’s the matter?” he asked.

“Nothing,” I said, wiping away a tear with the back of my hand. “I think there’s something in my eye.”

“Want me to look?”

“That’s okay,” I said, rubbing my eyes. “It’s better now.”

He shrugged. “Alexander had to go home for the Council meeting. He’ll be back later tonight, after the scout comes in. He told me he’s been working with you on hand to hand combat. Do you want to spar a little?”

Considering what he’d been thinking about when I walked in, I was surprised by how nice he was being. I decided to take it as a sign that he’d eventually stop hating me.

“Actually, I’m kind of sick of fighting with you.”

He smiled like he knew what I meant. “How about I take a shower and nap on the couch while you sit upstairs and try to stay out of trouble?”

*********

The front gate bell scared me when it rang. Usually the gates were open; a visitor could just drive up to the house and ring the doorbell like anywhere else. But after that day at the bank George started keeping them locked. He knew as well as I did that if They were going to come here to kill me a locked gate wouldn’t keep them from it but for some reason it made us both feel better to keep them that way.

The bell rang a second time before I got to the call box.

“Hello?” I could hear the uncertainty in my voice.

“It’s Nina. Why are the gates locked? I’ve got Trudy and Allison out here and we’ve got pizza and wine and we want to come in. Open the gates.”

I heard Allison say, “May we come in?”

I want you to know that I briefly considered the possibility that one of them was one of They before I opened the gates. I dismissed the possibility that Trudy or Nina might be involved. I’d known them both my whole life. They were my friends. I couldn’t imagine either of them trying to drag me into a hole in the ground.

Allison, the creepy, weird stranger, was a different story all together. She might as well have been wearing a sign that said, “Hi. I’m here to kill you.”

So why did I let them in? Two reasons: first, it seemed to me that hiding wasn’t going to be a long-term solution. Eventually, I would have to confront the situation and put an end to it. I figured knowing Allison a little might help me in the end. And second, I didn’t think she’d attack me in a room full of humans. And if she did, I figured Nina, Trudy, and I could take her. Matt would wake up once we started screaming. Also, I was lonely and bored and I wanted pizza. That makes three reasons, I guess.

It was so good to see them, to see anyone, from the normal world. Nina and Trudy kissed me on the cheek as they came into the house and Allison made a weird little bow, which I ignored.

I brought them into the dining room and we sat at around the table eating pizza and making small talk for a while.

“This is a lovely room,” Trudy said.

“I guess it is,” I said. “We don’t really use it much.”

Trudy had already complimented the drapes, the furniture, and the rug. It was obvious that she had something on her mind; she and Nina both did. Allison, it seemed, was just along for the ride. She looked more relaxed than I’d ever seen her, sipping at a glass of wine and taking impossibly small bites of a slice of pizza. I guess I’d had a fair amount of wine myself because in the dim light of the crystal chandelier, I could see a prettier Allison just desperate to get out.

“I’m so glad you girls came,” I said. “It’s so boring being stuck in here. Robbin is…out of town with everyone else and it’s just me and,” I struggled to remember who I’d told Trudy was taking care of me, “George all day long.”

“But he’s so funny,” Trudy said. She had always had a little crush on him.

“He is…but you know, after a while...” I shrugged.

“She doesn’t like to feel that she’s being watched and he watches her too much. And she doesn’t like being restricted but she is,” Allison said.

We all looked at her. She took a sip of wine and smiled down into the glass. She was absolutely right. That was exactly how I felt. Maybe she could read minds too.

“So anyway,” Nina said, looking over at me with raised eyebrows. “What’s this leave of absence all about? Is this like part two of your nervous breakdown or what? We’re worried about you.”

That was as good an explanation as any I could offer. And it was more believable than the truth because it didn’t involve Elves. “I guess after everything that’s happened recently, I just need some time at home.”

“Of course,” Trudy said. “Take as much time as you need.”

Nina said, “It’s getting kind of weird though.”

Allison stood up and walked over to the window. She moved the heavy drapes aside and looked out. “Do any of you know what phase is the moon in tonight?”

Suddenly, she had my full attention. This had to be the start of the big “here’s how and why I’m going to kill you” speech that villains always give in the movies. I couldn’t believe she was going to start this, attack me, in my own home – and in front of the humans too.

For shame.

Trudy went to the window too and they stood there together, looking up at the sky. “Do you follow lunar astrology, Allison?”

“It’s interesting. People all seem to know their sun signs but very few people know their lunar sign even though it’s just as important. Maybe more important. People ignore the moon at their own peril.” Allison’s voice was dreamy, soft, and far away. You had to listen, really listen, to hear her.

“Your moon sign represents the unconscious side of your personality, the part you keep hidden—maybe even from yourself. It informs the quality of your soul, your mind, your body. It’s all the things you secretly love and all the things you secretly hate. It’s the child-like side; the side that feels without thinking. Some astrologists think that the traits of your moon sign are more telling, more your true self than your solar traits. Maybe that’s why no one wants to know their lunar sign.

“The moon’s placement at the time of your birth is important too. It influences so much about you, love affairs, health, how many children you’ll have, how successful you’ll be, even how you’ll die. Not when, but how. Will it be quick or lingering? An accident or sickness or old age? Like that.

“It’s so far away from us, the moon is, but it holds so much power over our lives. So much sway. Sometimes I look up at it and wonder.” Her voice trailed off and we all sat there, waiting to hear what she would say next.

I heard her think,
Poor Tabitha
, but that was it; the connection between us went out. She turned from the window and looked at me. There was no malice on her face, no hatred. She looked peaceful if a little sad; like she would kill me but only because she had to. For just a moment, a flash really or quicker than that, I wished she would just go ahead and try. It would put an end to the suspense.