The Van Alen Legacy

“Amazing, aren’t they? A city within a city, really,” Mimi said. “It’s a wonder they all don’t come crashing down during flood season.”


Kingsley put down the melon rind. “The shanty towns . . . of course. The Silver Bloods have always been drawn to chaos and disorder. That’s where we’ll start.”

“Are you serious?” Mimi groaned. “No one goes there unless they have to.”





NINE

Bliss


The Visitor was annoyed. Bliss felt his irritation like a blister. It was afternoon, as far as she could tell. The days slipped by one after the other so easily that it was hard to figure out what time it was, but Bliss tried to keep track as best she could. When he was quiet, it was night, and when she could sense his awareness, it was day.

Usually she would get a glimpse of the outside world when he woke up. Like yesterday morning, with the white shutters. Then the blinds would shut again. Only when he let his guard down was Bliss able to get a quick image of the outside world.

Like now, for the Visitor had been taken by surprise.

One minute they were striding through the house, and the next they were smack in the middle of a bunch of animals: grotesque and pitiful. Ugly. What was this? What was she looking at? Then she realized she was seeing the world through his eyes. Only when she pushed herself a little harder did she see that they were just among an ordinary group of people. A lady wearing a beige suit and sunglasses was ushering a family through the foyer. They looked like the typical Hamptons crowd, Dad in a pastel alligator shirt with a white tennis sweater over his shoulders, Mom in lavender seersucker, the kids—two boys—in miniature versions of Dad’s outfit.

“Oh, hello . . . I’m sorry. We were told the owners wouldn’t be here for the showing,” the lady in the business suit said with a fake smile. “But since you’re here, do you know if your father’s contractor is still available to complete the renovation?”

Then it all went black and the image disappeared again, even though Bliss had been able to hear the question. BobiAnne had been in the midst of renovating before she died. The Hamptons house was supposed to be completed by now, but when they returned from South America, Forsyth had ordered the construction ceased. The entire back half of the house was missing. In its place was a big hole in the ground covered in plaster dust, sawdust, and plastic.

The senator had returned to New York only to discover that he had been cleaned out in the latest financial upheaval. Some kind of Ponzi scheme, Bliss understood; a total scam. She wasn’t sure, except that whatever it was, it had been enough to get Forsyth out of Conclave duties for a while. She couldn’t quite tell what had happened, since it was around this time that the Visitor began to take over completely; but she had a feeling they were bankrupt. Forsyth was trying to get a loan from the Committee to tide them over, but it would not be enough. His salary as a U.S. senator was trifling. The Llewellyns, like many Blue Blood families, lived on investment returns.

And apparently those investments were gone.

Which was probably the reason why there was a real estate agent at the house with her clients. Forsyth was selling the house. The thought didn’t make Bliss very sad. They didn’t spend so much time in the Hamptons that she would miss it. She had been much more despondent when they had left their home in Texas. She still missed that house sometimes: the way her two-level attic bedroom rested under the leaves of an old willow tree, afternoons spent reading on the porch swing, the old antique mirrors in the bathrooms that made everyone look a little bit mysterious and faerie.

The Visitor’s been gone awhile, she thought, alone in the darkness. How long, she wasn’t certain. It was hard to judge time when you weren’t in the physical world anymore.

Bliss wasn’t sure, but she thought that there was something different about the solitude. That she might be truly alone this time, and not just cast out of her body while the Visitor did god knows what. Usually she sensed his presence, but there had been times in the past when she was quite convinced she was completely alone. That it was only her inside her body, and the other had gone.

Could it be? Was she truly alone? Bliss felt an excitement rising in her chest.

There was nothing. The Visitor was gone, she could feel it. She was sure. She knew what she had to do. But she didn’t know if she still could.