chapter XIV
ELLIE HAD PAID FOR two rooms with the cash Michael had given her. He wanted us all to share one room, saying, “We’ll be safer if we stick together.” Ellie vetoed that idea though, on grounds of decency. Her stock began to rise in my estimation at that point.
“Hey,” I elbowed her as we left Michael to himself and made our way to the girls’ room, a few doors down. “Good call.”
“What, keeping you and your hormone-happy boyfriend separated? No problem.”
“Yeah, no, it’s not a problem,” I reiterated. “And again, thanks. I’m not your average girl and I don’t think it’s cool to place myself in…awkward situations.”
She stopped and looked at me, sizing me up again. “You’re welcome, girlie. We’ve got to look out for one another, right? Besides, you’re right. It would be a bit ticklish, that.”
I laughed, and it made her smile. The sight of that expression on her face filled me with such a confusion of emotions that I couldn’t sort it out at first.
It’s like watching someone die: you know they’re going to a better place, but you also know you’ll never see them again. I didn’t know how else to look at it; it weirded me out. Why would I feel like that? I chalked it up to my special abilities, which were still, after all, pretty new to me. How would I know when I had plumbed the depths of all the gifts my angel blood had given me?
We had arrived at our room. She turned the key in the doorknob, and before either of us could enter, Kim barged between us and bolted for one of the beds. “This one’s mine!” she said and jumped on it like a little girl. She began peeling off layers, starting with her hideous red sweater.
We had to hurry inside and close the door before she flashed the whole parking lot from the second floor. “Geez, Kim!” I said.
“I’m first into the shower!” she ran into the bathroom in nothing but her underwear and slammed the door.
“The room’s already thrashed,” Ellie said. She groaned as she looked around us. “I’m not picking this stuff up; it’s nasty.” Kim had been a tornado of dirty smelly clothes.
I could hear the shower start up. I was a little jealous of that, but I figured I could wait. I kicked her shirt and jeans into a pile against her duffel bag, which had fallen into the space between her bed and the wall. “There,” I said, “out of sight, out of mind.”
“Did you see her…?”
“How could I miss her,” I said.
“No, I mean the bruises. You saw it, yeah?”
I nodded. “Yeah.”
“She looks like a user.”
I was shocked at Ellie’s frankness. “Wow…but that’s weird. Why would you say that?”
“What?” Ellie said, pulling her own sweater off over her head. She pulled the hem of her white t-shirt down and sat heavily in one of the chairs by the modest table.
I lowered my voice. “Because I was just thinking the same thing out there.” I motioned to the grassy park outside, beyond the closed curtains.
“Look, it’s no great stretch of the imagination.”
“Duh,” I said. “I’m just sayin’.”
“Tell you what, Airel. Why don’t you go next.” She motioned to the shower. “I’ll go get us some ice, maybe see if I can scare up a soda or two.”
“Um, sure?” I gave her a confused look.
“It’s not you,” she said, trying to explain her abruptness. “I need regular alone time or I get grouchy.” She smiled, again setting off the emotional fireworks within me.
What the heck, dude.
“You know what else…we’re gonna need some new clothes, right? I’ll be the search party for that.”
“But I—”
“Don’t worry,” she said, “I’ll get us some cute stuff. What, you don’t think I know style when I see it?” She pointed to her blue mane.
I’m not worried about style, I didn’t say, I’m worried you’re finding all kinds of excuses for seducing Michael behind my back. “Whoa…” I was dizzy with the cascade of unexpected thoughts in my head.
“I know, I know. Good luck finding anything in this little country town, I know.” She held up her phone. “I’ve got all kinds of fun toys to help me.”
“Great,” I said. “Gas-station clothes. Awesome.”
“Aw, chin up. After bathing you’ll feel properly sorted.” She punched me in the arm playfully. “Promise.”
Owwww! So much emotional pain! I wanted to die in the avalanche of it.
Michael felt exactly like a kid in over his head. He had poked the dog with the stick one too many times, and now the fence had broken and he was on the run, eager fangs giving chase and closing in. It was too much. He felt very heavy. Exhausted and worthless. He was waiting for some strong hand to rescue him—though his only experiences with strength had been commingled with unspeakable abuse.
Stanley had been…unkind.
He had enough faith to wrestle the doubt that kept throwing little pebbles at his resolve, pecking away at the belief that he had what it took to make it through this latest wrinkle, this latest setback, this absolutely insane upping of the ante.
“How could she?” he choked out, the tears coming. He was glad to be alone, he decided. This is right. It fit, though it made no sense and he had no idea how he was going to summon the strength to continue on. Though it was right, though it was…justice, he supposed, it still made no sense.
It was surreal. It was like he was watching a copy of himself when it had happened. He stood off, frozen in shock, and watched his body do things.
It had happened in the little park. Airel and Kim were being charmingly immature, roaring about eating rhinoceros or something, and then she tackled her and they wrestled and rolled around on the grass.
How could she?!
Airel and Kim rolled away, leaving it quite literally at his feet: the Bloodstone.
My God! “She’s been carrying it this whole time…” his mind flew backward through all the places they had been, all the things they had done, all the plans they’d made, and all this time, the Bloodstone had its carrier. “Kim…how could you?”
She’s a traitor…
No one had seen him pick it up. He had covered it with his shoe; that’s where the wretched thing belongs, under my feet; and when Ellie took the cash to go get the rooms, he had bent and…and took it.
He cursed his awful father, cursed his memory, cursed the day of his own birth into this insanity. The why filled his head. El…why? Can El be any good at all when His creation is so…so evil? “Why do I have to be the one to carry this burden?”
He felt absolutely alone.
What will it do to me?
Michael felt pulled in two directions as the perpetually unhealing wound in his chest throbbed stronger.