The Other Side of Life (Book #1, Cyberpunk Elven Trilogy) (20 page)

Anya turned her head towards Leticia, who
kept her gaze lowered. “What is it you wanted to say?”

“
It’s Julius.” Leticia’s
mind was a swirl, as she tried to piece things together. She gazed
down at one of her shoes. “I shouldn’t have gone for the
rehearsal.”

Anya jabbed Leticia on the arm lightly.
“What did he do?” Anya detested it, whenever something or someone
caused a dear friend of hers any kind of torment. She made no bones
about it.

Leticia held her hands and arms out, as if
looking for some tell-tale marks. “I think he drugged me,
Anya.”

In a horrible, appalling flash, Anya knew
what Leticia was getting at.

“
With what? Where? When?”
Anya’s anger simmered under her skin. An inner red sun seemed to
raise the temperature of her blood. She was riled up someone they
personally knew had done something so despicable.

“
I thought it was odd,”
Leticia continued, in a croak of a whisper. “He said he had
something to show me…so during a break, he led me into one of the
rooms backstage. It was just the two of us.” Leticia craned her
head back. “He brought out an inhaler…I took one whiff…it was
something earthy and musky…like wet soil and wood…I think I…passed
out. When I came to…I was in the room. Alone.”

Suddenly, Anya remembered the text message
she had received from Leticia. “Is that when you sent the
message?”

“
What message? That I’d get
here at eleven forty-five?”

“
No, not that one. The one
with the question about elves living forever.”

Leticia pushed back some strands of her
black hair, which were clinging to the sides of her face and neck.
“I never sent that.” Leticia dug her cell phone out when she saw
Anya wasn’t buying it. “I didn’t send it! See?”

Leticia showed Anya the items from her
‘sent’ inbox. “Did you reply? I didn’t hear anything from you after
I said I’d be here at eleven forty-five.”

“
I
have it,” Anya scrolled through her inbox. “And my reply”—Anya
read the text aloud—’Asked Nin your question—his reply: more than a
few centuries…’”

Anya exhaled with a sigh of
frustration. “God, Lei…” Anya roughed up her hair. She was close to
pulling some of the more brittle strands out. “Couldn’t you have
been more
careful?
”

“
I…”

“
Julius—he used your phone.
He used your phone to contact me, pretending to be you so I’d
answer.”

A shade of anguish colored Leticia’s dark
eyes. That was quite a conclusion that Anya was jumping to.

“
It’s true!” Anya was in a
frenzy. “Did he say anything? Anything at all?”

Leticia shook her head. Her heart swung
between two points: first on Julius’s side, then on the side of
facts and evidence. “Nothing…why would he do that, anyway?”

Anya was more distraught at the ease at
which they had been beguiled. “We knew from a long time ago, not to
trust anyone!” Anya’s tone was colored with hostility and
accusation. “How could you break that rule?”

“
How was I supposed to know
what he was going to do? And it was you”—Leticia deflected the
criticism back to Anya—“
you
broke that rule first, by talking to Ithilnin in
the first place.” Leticia said Nin’s real name with a certain
amount of cynical distaste, which Anya resented. Leticia’s view was
that Anya treated Nin too well, more than he needed to be. “I mean,
what was that whole thing here at the church about? We practically
confessed everything to him—everything! What we do, how we earn our
money, where we’ve been. He could turn us in and off we’d go to
jail. We’d be stuck there till we’re grandmothers…or till we
die!”

Anya and Leticia spent a few seconds tuning
in to the surrounding vicinity’s symphony of chirping crickets.

“
It’s not the same.” It
really wasn’t, from Anya’s perspective.

“
Is to.”

“
Is not.”

“
Is to.”

“
Is
not.
” Anya liked having the last
word. This time was no exception. “Nin’s not like that—he wouldn’t
do that. I
knew
he
wouldn’t, that’s why I trusted him in the first place.”

“
And how is that not the
same as me trusting Julius?” Leticia questioned. “If I told you I
had something to show you, you wouldn’t be suspicious of anything,
would you?” Leticia went one step further. “Bet you wouldn’t think
twice if Mister I’m-So-Perfect Nin led you into a room.”

Anya scowled at Leticia, but kept her mouth
shut. She’d only be fooling herself, if she denied Leticia’s last
sentence. Besides, Nin had shown her Helli’sandur…

Anya remembered the gift of Sight. She was
keeping it from Leticia, and she didn’t feel great doing so. It
felt like a betrayal, almost. Not telling wasn’t the same as
outright lying, or was it?

“
I meant…” Anya mumbled,
“that you should have been more…careful.”

“
This is crazy,” Leticia
replied with a sigh. “We’ve never fought, not even
once.”

Anya shook her head. “We’ve been under
intense pressure, over the past…day or two.”

“
Friendship—that always
meant more than anything. Looks, money, boyfriends...”

Anya shrugged, careful not to slide off the
rooftop in her tired, groggy state. “I’m not the one with a false
nose.”

Leticia jolted up in defense. “You told!”
she gasped, glaring at Anya, with a sharpness in her throat.

“
No, I didn’t,” Anya said,
in her most convincing voice, as she crossed her fingers beside her
hip, hidden away from Leticia’s view. “I’m just sayin’.”

Leticia dangled her legs over the edge of
the rooftop, precariously.

“
What’s important now,”
Anya went on, after taking a few deep breaths, “is for us to tell
Nin what you just told me—it might be crucially important in
finding Tavia. I just hope we’re not too late.”

Leticia turned to look back in the direction
of The Velvet Underground, suddenly feeling very remorseful,
worried and angry at herself all at the same time. She spotted Nin
pacing slowly at the area beside the tree with the hidden doorway,
bringing his head up now and then, like he was listening to the
wind.

“
You tell him about
Julius,” Leticia said to Anya, in a near-monotone. “And tell him
I’m really sorry,” she added, almost inaudibly. “I…I can’t face
them right now.” She started walking away from Anya, towards the
spiral staircase.

“
Where’re you
going?”

Leticia held up her motorbike key to Anya.
“Home. It’s been a long night.”

Anya stayed behind, listening to Leticia’s
ever-fading footsteps, and then to the rumble of the bike, as it
pulled out of the stone church’s driveway.

Anya brought out her own set of keys too.
She gazed at the keychain, a gray teddy bear with the word
“Friends” inscribed on its navy blue sweater. Leticia had the other
half. When they joined the two bears’ paws together, the two key
chains read side-by-side: “Best Friends.”

Nin sat at the edge of the train tracks, his
back facing towards Anya. He could hear Anya approach, long before
she was aware of it herself. He had overheard bits and pieces of
the girls’ conversation, heard them banter about their friendship
and Leticia’s “false nose,” when the night breeze blew in his
direction. A close affinity with the natural elements was something
he liked most about being an elf. He waited to see what Anya would
have to say about the one named “Julius.”

“
What’re you doing up
here?” she asked first.

Nin hid a smile, keeping a deadpan face and
tone of voice. “Listening to the wind.”

Anya took a seat beside him, wondering if
she’d walk off if he gave her the cold shoulder. “Any news on
Tavia?”

Nin shook his head. Just then, Anya realized
he was holding the parchment piece in his hand.

“
What’s it say?”

“
Something very deep,” Nin
replied, in a profound manner. “The title’s
ilfirin.
It’s the Elven word for
eternal life.”

Nin read Anya the lines of the poem:

~~~~~

. ilfirin .

Redroot and diamond

dust; one part moonshine; one part

Elvenhumankind.

~~~~~

“
The, ingredients…for an
elixir of everlasting life,” Nin made clear. “And there are some
familiar numbers, here in this circle.”

Anya’s heart froze over. “Elvenhumankind”
sounded sacrificial, like the mingling of blood—the life
force—between humans and elves. That Tavia, who embodied the spirit
of a female Elven warrior, could very well be involved in some kind
of horrific ancient rite was unimaginable.

The elves had been right then, according to
what Nin had said at Helli’sandur.

Nin was the one who was
idealistic, who believed in some value of the poem entitled
lir.

Anya remembered what she said. She’d asked
Nin why he’d want to bother with humans, when most of the species
was selfish and destructive.

“
Why are you crying?” Nin’s
voice drifted towards Anya like a cool breeze.

Anya looked up at Nin through damp, matted
eyelashes, oblivious to the hot tears that streaked down the sides
of her face. The tears gave her a sense of vulnerability and
fragility she was not accustomed to showing. Not even to Leticia,
if she could help it.

“
At Helli’sandur…” Anya
started, in a constrained whisper. “You seemed to really care
for…your side…and the human side.” Anya reflected on the current
situation, concurrently reflecting on the nihilistic lyrics of a
Nine Inch Nails song, one of her favorites. “And this is what you
get. Life is always cruel to the dreamer.”

Nin gazed up at the stars.

“
Real life is what we
are…dreams are what we could be.”

He didn’t know what life would be, if he
didn’t have his ideals. A quantum leap of faith could end up going
both ways: soaring high, or crash-and-burning. Nin thought it was a
fair price to pay for being true to oneself.

Anya was shaking by now, feeling utterly
powerless. Nin draped his arms around her, to soothe her delicate
soul buried deep within.

Anya was sobbing, soaking a patch of Nin’s
shirt. “Sorry,” she said, upon noticing.

Nin just held her. “There’s
an Elven poem…called
Tears from the
Stars.
” Nin’s tone of voice was musical and
lyrical. He recited it, sending goose bumps all over the surface of
Anya’s skin.

“
Stars shine, they are so
bright,

Each one for us ignites,

When they cry it is a melancholy sight.

Tears unmask sorrow. The cleansing is
purity, pure divinity.

Each of us a star in the night—alone in the
dark—together undivided.

Tears fall, and the earth glistens…like
stars.”

For a moment, Anya envisioned The Star
Prophecy, of the maiden that had sacrificed herself, and her
lover’s tears who had glistened like the stars, which mingled with
her blood. Anya could feel her blood turning to ice, as she thought
of the prophecy. Even the air seemed to have turned chilly.

Nin was aware of her fears, and held her
close for a while, in silence, under the moonlight, as the rest of
the world passed them by.

Chapter 14:

“
There’s something you
should know,” Anya began, when she had calmed down. “Leticia’s
boyfriend, Julius, might have something to do with Tavia’s
disappearance.”

Anya was a little hesitant, as she said
Julius’s name. She knew he must be involved somehow. She just
couldn’t prove it, beyond all shadow of a doubt.

“
How so?” Nin was all ears.
Even the slightest bit of information could point them in the right
direction. At times, there could be a tendency for everything to
happen all at once. He didn’t think the current situation was any
different. He was waiting for a turning point—something that would
show them what to do thereafter.

“
Leticia thinks he drugged
her, just before the break-in. She didn’t know what happened, while
she was unconscious.”

“
Who is this…Julius? What
does he do?”

Anya gave all the details she could about
Julius, including the photo of his dad, and their ties to Xenith.
Nin seemed to perk up at the mention that Xenith was a
“pharmaceutical company.”

“
And…” Anya remembered the
open document she had the day before, when Julius stepped into the
room. She knew he had seen the document too. “Elves!” Julius had
exclaimed. Anya could hear his voice, as if Julius had just spoken
before them.

“
Is there something else?”
Nin prompted.

Anya blinked a few times, looking into the
kindness in the depths of Nin’s eyes. “I was gathering facts on
elves,” she said, noticing one of her tears had fallen onto Nin’s
boot. “On my computer…Julius noticed. But I turned it off before he
could read anymore.”

“
Checking up on us?” Nin
asked, with more good cheer than necessary. He didn’t like seeing
anyone unhappy for too long.

Anya shrugged. “I read about the pure
iron.”

“
Did he say
anything?”

Anya thought hard. “He said…something about
how it wasn’t possible for elves to exist.”