Chapter 29

 

FREI AND I kept a constant vigil day and night but two days passed and Renee was no better. I mean we tried everything. I sat and told her all that was going on in the town. How Hal had two operations to save his leg but he was doing good and Marie had already agreed to marry him. I thought it would make her smile to tell her that Marie had loved the dumb fool all along but it was such a surprise to him that when she agreed, he fainted.

Frei told her how things had been in CIG and that if she didn’t come to, she was gonna be shipped back to her mom, who was safe and well, and then she’d have to face her sorrow. The threat would have worked if she’d been in there at all, I was sure, but nothing, not even a flicker.

I’d brought Zack around, he’d signed for her and Martha and Earl had translated as he’d been teaching them how to read his gestures. He’d drawn some pictures of superheroes for her and we’d told her all about how he’d given her a cape because all heroes flew.

Nothing.

I was catching some morning air on the porch when Blob appeared beside me and I smiled at the floating smudge.

“Sorry I ain’t been much use to you so far,” I said to him. “With everythin’ . . . I just . . .”

Blob yawned. “I am missing something . . . but your friend, she needs your help more.”

“That’s real honorable,” I told him. “How did it go with Seth Jewel after.”

If floating blobs could smile, I swore he was smiling. “You’ll see soon enough. If you don’t find my name . . .” I waited while Blob grappled with what he wanted to say. “Can I come with you?”

“Who said I was goin’ anywhere?”

Blob hissed his derision at my answer.

“Okay, okay . . . but you ain’t allowed to spook Renee.”

“Deal.”

Martha waved to me as she headed up the path and I stretched out my back. I’d been hunched over for so many hours, too many hours.

“Martha, could you watch Renee for a while?” I asked. “I just want to get a change in perspective.”

“Course. I have her breakfast so you’ll only be in the way.”

I headed down the steps only for a whoosh of air to hit me in the side of the face. “Hey, Nan.”

“Oh, Shorty. I hate seein’ you this way.”

I shrugged. What could I say to that? I didn’t want to be miserable, I just wanted Renee back. I wanted her fixed.

“She still silent?”

I nodded, tears brimming all over again. I swear I’d cried myself stupid over the last two days.

“Want to do something nice?”

“Like what?” I asked. “Nan, I’m not in the mood for riddles.”

Nan breezed through me, making my insides feel like I’d swallowed ice.

“Hey, quit it.”

“Stop your whining and head over to that outhouse over there.”

To stop her icing up any more of my organs, I followed the order and found myself in a ramshackle hut with holes in the floorboards. “What now?”

“Can you feel where I am?” she asked.

I nodded and headed over to the spot she was hovering in. “Rip up the board.”

Her voice was full of mischief and normally it would make me smile but all I’d done for two days was worry and cry like I had overactive hormones. Nothing seemed to calm me. I’d even thought about joining Frei in drinking a few times. Well, until I smelled the stuff and remembered the one shot she’d made me drink. It nearly knocked me clean off my chair. The woman drank paint stripper, I swear.

“Hey, sleepy,”Nan said, knocking over something behind me and I jumped. “Floorboard.”

“Yeah, yeah,” I muttered, taking the board in one hand and ripping it upward with ease. There was nothing I enjoyed more than dismantling and I half wanted to keep going till there was no floor at all. “You got a reason for this?”

“Look down,” Nan muttered.

I did so and saw a battered . . . something. “You’re gonna make me pick it up, ain’t you?”

“Darn shooting, I am.”

I sighed and picked up the battered plastic. “Are you going to explain why I have a decrepit toy mouse in my hand?”

“Out to the oak tree . . . the one you like so much.”

“I do?”

Nan breezed through me again. “Walk and talk, Shorty, let’s get you in good spirits.” She chuckled at her own joke as I shuddered and followed her out of the building.

“Nan, What do you mean I like the oak tree? What oak tree?”

I stood, looking at a magnificent guardian. Its gnarled knots twisted up its mighty thick trunk. A meandering maze of bare branches stretched up to the crystal blue heavens. I had stared at it countless times without realizing and when I got to the weathered wood, I grounded myself, feeling its life beating below the bark.

“Bury the little fella right where you’re standing,” Nan instructed.

“The ground is solid.”

Nan chuckled. “Then it will take longer.”

Groaning, I left the mouse and went to a small shed to retrieve a shovel. It took nearly half an hour to dig any kind of sizable hole but Nan chatted to me the whole while. I took comfort from her babbling on about how my grandpa was a card shark. I could hear how much she adored him in her voice.

“Is he where I get my height from?” I asked between my grunts.

“Oh no,” Nan said, chuckling. “He was only a nose taller than me.”I could feel her glowing with love. “When we met, he was a skinny little thing, long black hair and skin like redwood.”

“Ah, so he’s where the Native roots come in?”

“Yup,” Nan said. She sounded like a teenager. “His folks understood about my gifts . . . good people his folks.”

“They play cards too?”

Nan laughed again. Her bright mood lifted me. “Sure do. Your grandpa learned some tricks from them!”

“Nan,” I said, finishing digging and leaning on the handle. “Why am I so tall?”

“You ate your veggies.”

“Funny,” I muttered. “I’m serious, why am I so tall?”

“My family,” she said. “They were all giants. I was just a tiny thing compared to my brothers. You get it from them.”

Brothers? Why did I know nothing of my family? “What happened to them?”

Nan sighed. “War, Shorty . . . war.”

“Well, I for one, think that violence sucks.”

Nan made a mumble of agreement and I popped the mouse into the hole. “Rest well, little friend.”

I filled in the hole and patted the top. Blob appeared next to where Nan was sitting. I blinked a couple of times as a shape not much like a nineteen-year-old boy came into view.

“You’re a cat?”

Blob licked his paws and a set of yellow eyes peered up at me. “Guess so.”

“So there is no mystery?” I asked Nan.

“He lost his mouse,” she said. “And his name is—”

“Tiddles. Yeah, I see.” I knelt down and peered at the name tag. “Should have figured.”

“And why is that?” Blob asked in a bored tone.

I smiled. “I got an affinity with animals. If I was gonna see any ghost, it was gonna be an animal.” I looked down at the mound of dirt. “So what was with the ‘he’s older than me,’ thing?”

Nan swooshed around to my side. “He is, in cat years.”

Figures.

“Where do I go now?” Blob sounded so lost and, I guess, cute. He was a handsome cat. All fluffy and grey.

Nan clicked. My heart leapt up into my mouth and clattered around. “What is it with the weird noises?”

“Hush now, Shorty. Tiddles and I are gonna go level the score in the game.”

I rolled my eyes. I’d never known she was so into cards but I guessed maybe time was different where she was now. “Say hi for me, won’t you?”

“Sure thing, Shorty.”

I fought the urge to lean forward and scruff Tiddles between the ears. Talking to ghosts was one thing but the cabin still had windows. “And Nan?”

“Yup?”

There were times when I really did want to hug her. Times like now. Times that just reminded me how separated we were. “Thanks.”

“That’s what I’m here for. You did good.” Nan disappeared and I stared at the fresh dirt.

A cat who couldn’t rest without his toy mouse. It was cute.

If only I could fix Renee so easily.

  

URSULA FREI SCOWLED at the noise as a teenager burst into the police station.

“How long to fix it?” she asked Ewan, trying to ignore the shrieking.

“Few hours, ma’am.”

Ursula studied the wall. It looked as good as new. The locals in town had come to the meeting Lilia had suggested. When Ursula explained the need for discretion to help keep Aeron incognito, they had all agreed there on the spot. St. Jude’s had been blown over by hurricane Aeron and were totally besotted by her. Having watched the giant-hearted woman at Renee’s side, Ursula was with them every step of the way. She caught herself thinking it and almost smiled.

Almost.

And the damn kid was still shrieking.

“Why are you yelling?” Her voice cut across the mayhem and silenced the room. She had a gift for it.

“I did it,” the boy wailed. “I did it!”

“Did what?” Her head was pounding. Hair of the dog was needed.

The boy hurried to her, his eyes pleaded with her as he gripped hold of her jacket. “Ronny. I ran Ronny down in the car . . .”

Ursula looked down at his hands and back to his face. Her favorite jacket.

“Er . . . why don’t you explain to the deputy?” Ewan ushered the kid away from her.

No one touched the jacket.

The sheriff raised his eyebrows and exchanged glances with Charlie, the deputy. “You confessing, Seth. You should have your mother here.”

Seth was undeterred. “I hit him because he got picked. I didn’t get picked.” He took a couple of breaths. “I swear I did it, just make it stop!”

Ursula narrowed her eyes. “Who? Make who stop?”

“The ghost,” he whined, gripping his head. “The ghost of my conscience!”

“Okay, kid’s lost it.” Ursula turned and walked away. “He’s all yours.”

To get away from the hysterics, she headed out into the street. The snow had fallen again overnight and it crunched beneath her boots. Renee loved this time of day and Ursula had always hated it. She had never been a morning person. She sighed. She missed Renee’s gentle chastising.

“Yannick’s truck got hit. He’s been taken.” Aeron’s accusatory tone made her turn to look at her. “I heard Ewan saying that the police think somebody got tipped off.”

Ursula kept her face impassive. Aeron wouldn’t understand. “Thanks for the newsflash.”

“I know that he is like Sam but that ain’t right.” Aeron was looking at her and Ursula knew that she could read her.

“He won’t ever let her be free.” She needed to see that.

Aeron said nothing. Shock filled her eyes.

“Aeron, please.”

Aeron turned on her heels and strode off, her hand whipping through her hair as she headed down the street. Ursula sprinted after her and tried to keep up with her long strides.

“Things aren’t always black and white.” Ursula knew it was a call that Aeron would find hard to understand but it was a call that she’d make again.

They reached the path to the cabin and Aeron finally stopped. “You’re supposed to be the boss. You’re supposed to be the one who makes the right calls.”

“And I’m also human. I care about her too.” Ursula sounded more like she was asking the question not answering. “Yannick won’t stop. He’s fixated on her. You must know that what has happened to her. It’s all his fault.”

Aeron flinched.

Ursula nodded. “Yannick gave her those scars and could rob her of her mind.” She put her hands on her hips. “You want him to finish the job?”

“No,” Aeron whispered.

“You want him to go looking for her mother?”

Aeron shook her head. Her amber eyes flicked over the ground. “He won’t, he can’t.”

“He will.” Ursula had no doubt in her mind. She’d made the right decision.

Aeron started up the path but kept talking. “What would my mother think?” she asked over her shoulder. “What would Renee think if they knew what you just did?”

“I am doing it for their own good,” Ursula said. “Whatever happens to me, I am doing it for them.”

“If the authorities find out, you’ll be the one on trial. What happens if they trace it back to you?”

“I weighed the risks. I need to protect Renee.”

The sound of voices ignited her instincts and she dropped her hand to her gun. She relaxed when she saw Martha and Lilia heading in the direction of the cabin from the yard. Lilia had a large suitcase with her. Ursula wasn’t surprised that she’d come straight to see how Aeron and Renee were before going to her own accommodation.

“What will she do if she finds out?” Aeron asked.

“Lilia?”

Aeron nodded.

“Report me.” At the very least.

Aeron glanced at Lilia and back at Ursula. “She trusts you.”

“She should,” Ursula answered, praying that Aeron would see it in her eyes. “I’d give anything for every one of you.”

Aeron stared at her for long seconds. Lilia walked up to them and Ursula prepared herself.

“Everything okay?” Lilia asked as she came up the steps.

Aeron kept her eyes locked with Ursula’s. Eyes so much like her mother’s. “We just want Renee to get fixed up.”

Lilia looked at Ursula. Aeron trusted her, for now. “Yes, if we can.”

The faith made Ursula’s relief blurt out. She trusted her.

Aeron’s eyes twinkled and she gave a curt nod.

She trusted her. How had that happened?

“Good,” Lilia said, drawing Ursula’s gaze back to her. The light shone through her eyes much the same as it did Aeron’s. “Because I have a plan.”

  

I HAD TROUBLE following my mother as she explained how she felt Renee could be reached. My head was swirling with what Ursula had said. Thing was, when we got Renee back, how was I gonna keep that from her? I couldn’t lie. I was the worst liar that I knew.

The other swirling thought was that my mother, Lilia, was just breezing in all over again. One half of me wanted to ask what she was doing here. The other was so relieved at the sight of her that I could barely stop myself from running to her like a child would. She was my mother and mothers fixed stuff. At least they were supposed to. It felt like such a dumb reason to want her around.

“ . . . so, I think the only conceivable option is to reach her through this.” Lilia unzipped the large suitcase she’d brought with her and pulled out my violin case. She held it out to me. “I believe you once played her something?”

“Not when I started but then she was there, watching in the doorway.”

 

“I didn’t know it had been done on violin.”

I shrugged. She’d hurt me pretty bad. I weren’t sure how to communicate with her. It hurt just hearing her voice. “I liked the music, so I adapted it.”

Renee walked into the cell and stood looking at the music notation. She cocked her head, running her finger down the notes I’d written.

“It’s just for me,” I said, the pain of her being so mean still echoed through me. Still I could see her envisioning me performing in some fancy place. “I ain’t playing to a theatre full of people . . . even if they are ten feet away.”

I knew she was looking at me. I tried to block out how much it meant that she enjoyed it so much. I could feel her gaze on my cheek burning, urging me to give her a way back in. “Have I hurt you that badly?”

I met her eyes for the briefest of moments. Yes, she had. I had been wounded by her. I had put my trust in her and it had been shattered. It was too hard to care. It hurt too much.

“It’s too late to apologize to you, the damage is done,” she said, placing the score back on top of the tiny dresser. “But, for what it’s worth, I am truly sorry.”

I nodded but kept my eyes fixed on the wall, the same as when Yasmin died. I couldn’t let her in. It didn’t matter how moved she’d been by the music. I couldn’t.

She stood in front of me so I had no choice but to look at her. Her grey eyes locked onto mine with such intensity that I couldn’t block her out. They warmed, her aura filled with pink. I’d never seen anything as vibrant. It was memerizing.

“I believe you.” Truth glittered from her lips, the pink swirled from her and wrapped itself around me like a warm hug. She did, she really did believe me.

 

I laid the case on the arms of a chair and opened it. I stared at the violin and ran my hand over it. It was my trusty friend and I hadn’t seen it since going to boot camp. Now it was in front of me, and I ached to play it, but how the heck was that going to help anybody?

“Moonlight Sonata,” Ursula answered for me. “She didn’t shut up about it.”

That made me smile. Renee had liked it that much? “I think I remember it.” Understatement of the year. I relived the memory once more, her standing in the doorway to my cell. It was such a strange moment, like the music somehow transcended all the barriers, the pain, the fear and forged a connection between us.

Lilia walked to the dormant grand piano and sat down. “You get your musical skills from me. I’ll accompany you.”

I did? Ursula and I exchanged glances. She looked as shocked as I was.

“A woman can have many strings to her bow,” Lilia said. “Have you ever heard the phrase, ‘I have many skills’?” 

Ursula and I exchanged glances again.

“No, should we?” I asked.

Lilia sighed. “Violin?”

I took out the cake of rosin and rosined the bow and then tuned the violin to the “A” Lilia played for me. Any worries I had about remembering to play vanished the second I ran through a warm-up exercise. As I let myself relax, the piano began to accompany me. I narrowed my eyes. Let’s see if she could keep up.

I moved through a medley of pieces in different keys, different speeds. My mother effortlessly followed like she knew my every move. I slowed, she slowed, I paused, she added a flourish. I was having so much fun playing with my mother that in any other circumstance, I would have been filled up to the brim by it.

And boy, could she play.

“Ready?” she asked, a smile filling her every pore.

I looked at Renee and nodded. “Ready.”

  

THE MOUNTAINS GAVE a shady blue tint to the trees as the sun sunk lower into the summer sky. Renee reclined back on the grass, the sweet smell of flowers in the air, the gentle breeze dancing over her sun-warmed skin.

“Hey.”

Renee smiled up at Aeron as she flopped onto the grass beside her.

“Mrs. Squirrel has requested a new door. She said it was getting all squeaky on her.”

“Ah,” Renee replied. “I wondered why you were quiet.”

Aeron looked down at a piece of grass she twirled between her fingers.

“You have something else in that mind of yours?”

Staring down at the blade, Aeron sighed. “I wish you didn’t have to go. This summer has been amazing, just like I always wanted.”

Renee leaned on her fist. “I don’t have to go.” A part of her had longed for this conversation. She wanted Aeron to stop her. She wanted to stay here in Oppidum in Nan’s cabin and never leave. Here was home in every sense of the word.

“If you stay,” Aeron whispered, her gentle eyes catching the warm glow, “you’ll never get to see this in real life.”

Renee winced. It hurt knowing that no matter how she hid in her memories, in her safe world with Aeron beside the river, even in dream form, Aeron was too honest to let it slide. “I don’t want to leave you.”

The sun set in a blaze of reds that gave way to a starlit night. “You need to go back if that’s true.”

Renee shook her head. “Out there . . . I could be somewhere . . . I can’t.”

Aeron wrapped strong arms around her and she calmed in the warm embrace.

“In reality, I could watch you walk away.”

“I think you know that ain’t true,” Aeron whispered and then hummed a slow sweet tune that was so very familiar. “Do you remember?” She got to her feet. “Do you remember when I played this?”

Renee watched as Aeron picked up her violin and bow.

“Yes, you were in your cell . . . God, it was the most beautiful sound I had ever heard.”

The arpeggiated notes eased out of the violin and colors oozed from Aeron’s hands.

“On a night like this,” she said. “There is nothing more magical than a sonata.”

“Moonlight Sonata,” Renee whispered back.

Aeron laughed, reaching upward to touch the night sky. The world shifted and the stars danced, swirling as the music rose and fell. The colors wrapped her up and twisted her around.

Aeron held out her hand. “Come back to me.”

Renee tried to reach out and felt a warm face under her fingertips. Real warmth, no vivid dream, but warmth. She focused on brown eyes before her. “Aeron?”

“Hey.”

The sound of a piano still carried the tune and Renee blinked, turning her head. “Lilia?” And the familiar face of her old friend beside her. “Urs?”

“We’re here.”

The panic shot through her system and she gripped the leather beneath her. “He—”

“He’s gone,” Ursula said. “Aeron punched his lights out.”

Renee frowned, sure that she was in a dream still. “Sorry?”

Aeron gave her a wry smile. “I . . . he . . . well . . . yeah, I knocked him clean on his butt.” She shrugged. “That’s what happens when people try to hurt you.”

Renee didn’t miss the glance between Aeron and Ursula. Something had warmed between them, and it made her smile. “He is really . . .”

“You’ll never have to worry about him again, Renee.” Ursula’s voice was so certain that Renee’s fear faded with it.

Renee went to smile but her face stung and made her eyes water. “What . . . what happened to me?”

Aeron put down the violin.

“Aeron . . .” Lilia sounded her warning.

“If she is gonna be up and about, I ain’t having her look at what he did.”

Before Renee could ask, Aeron placed her hands on her face.

“Just relax, okay?” she said. “I just want to fix you up.”

Relishing the touch, Renee let Aeron’s hands soothe away her pain and was not surprised to feel it permeate through her like liquid warmth. It seeped into her mind and chased away her fear, her doubts. Aeron was in front of her, she was real and she had taken away the one thing that had terrified her into silence.

After long minutes, Aeron’s hands trembled and she dropped them away. Stitches fell to the floor. She stood, wobbling, and staggered in the direction of the bathroom.

Renee got up to go after her, the rush after being still for so long making her woozy.

“It’s okay,” Lilia said, taking Aeron by the elbow. “I’ll see to her.”

Renee nodded and Ursula came over to help.

“Did she really do that?” Renee asked, glancing at the door. “I thought you said she wouldn’t hurt anyone.”

“If I hadn’t stopped her . . .” Ursula helped her to sit back down. “Aeron would have pureed him up against the bars.”

“How close?”

Ursula sighed. “Let’s just say Aeron was your knight in shining armor. I was fashionably late and Yannick won’t be a problem again.”

“How?”

“You weren’t the only one he hurt.”

Renee nodded. Part of her was relieved that he would never come back, the other part wanted to see it with her own eyes. “Why did I have stitches in my face?”

Ursula’s blue eyes flicked away. “It doesn’t matter now. Wonder healer just vanquished any sign.”

“You saw it healing . . . in front of your eyes?”

Ursula shook her head. “I saw nothing until the stitches dropped to the floor.” She smiled and touched warm fingertips to Renee’s cheek. “Your skin looks rosy.” She dropped her hand away. “Thing is . . . We need to—”

“Hey, Black,” Aeron called, hurling something at them. “Go long.”

Renee reached out and caught the tension ball in her left hand, then she turned to look at it, stunned. She saw it coming.

Ursula shook her head and muttered something under her breath, and Aeron shrugged.

“When you helped me back in Oppidum,” Renee frowned up at Aeron. “You couldn’t fix it then . . . ?”

Aeron smiled and Renee felt like mush. It was even more potent in reality.

“Let’s just say I’ve got some practice in since then.”

“You haven’t been healing on your own.” Renee frowned. She put her hands on her hips. “Aeron, you promised.”

“I had a spotter every time,” Aeron said, holding up two fingers. “Scouts’ honor.”

“You were never a scout and you’re a terrible liar.” Renee tried to scowl. She really did. But something bubbled inside. It started in the pit of her stomach. It rumbled and rolled and built momentum up into her legs, her chest, her arms, her neck, and then the joy burst from her mouth before she could stop it. Laughter. She was laughing. She was laughing so hard her ribs ached.

“Some folks get a bit giggly,” Aeron said to Ursula who looked concerned beyond words.

Renee bent over at the knees, trying to suck in her breath. Pure joy, pure happiness, relief, and love.

She met Aeron’s eyes. Yes, pure unadulterated love. “God, I missed you.”

She flung herself into Aeron’s waiting arms. Soaked up the real feelings. Having the real thing was better than any dream.

“Missed you too,” Aeron said, gripping her tightly.

Something in her voice spread hope through every part of Renee and she closed her eyes to revel in it.

Ursula cleared her throat and Renee pulled back enough to look up into Aeron’s beautiful face. “You did?”

Ursula rolled her eyes and headed for the kitchen, muttering under her breath.

“Course I did.” Aeron nodded. She shot a glance Ursula’s way and shrugged. “For a start, I’ve been starving.”