The Fate of the Muse

chapter TWENTYFIVE

INFERNO





I stood transfixed, looking up at the flaming house in utter agony.

“MARINA!” a hoarse voice called out.

I looked up to see Cruz and Brad standing on the sidelines, and my knees went weak with relief. Cruz came flying at me, nearly knocking me over as he threw his arms around me with a sob. We embraced, speechless, both of us crying with joy. As the storm of our emotions subsided, Cruz pulled back to look at me with a tear streaked face, “What happened? I thought–” the words caught in his throat.

We hugged again, and I looked over his shoulder to see Brad, standing off to the side awkwardly.

His pained eyes met mine, “I’m so sorry… I had no idea… I still can’t believe it…” Brad’s eyes were as puffy as Cruz’s, and I wanted to believe him.

Cruz drew back again, his hands clutching my arms, “Marina! We didn’t see you make it out! You need to–”

“How did you get away?” I interrupted him.

“Brad,” Cruz choked out, nodding this head towards him, “But Marina–”

I wanted to trust him, but I had been burned before, “How?” I repeated, sounding harsher than I’d intended.

“Oh God!” Cruz took both my hands, “It was just like you said… The room they had me in. I was so scared… until Brad came to rescue me.”

Clearly Cruz was no longer suspicious of him, but I was. I faced him with blazing eyes, “How did you find him if you didn’t know those rooms were there?”

Brad looked traumatized, “After I talked to Cruz, I went down to the garage and started snooping around. I…I always thought they were just storage rooms… but I saw all the locks and it just didn’t seem right.” He drew a shuddering breath, “So, I snuck into my dad’s study and I…I…”

Cruz took over for him, “There were a bunch of security monitors, and Brad saw everything. He found the keys and snuck past where they had you in the library.”

I remembered the cameras that had watched me when I was held in Edwards little prison cell. I supposed it was plausible that the monitors would be in his father’s study…

Cruz looked at Brad adoringly, “I’ve never been so happy to see anyone in my life! But Marina, you really need to–”

“MARINA!” another voice boomed out, and when I saw a huge man rushing towards us in the eerie flickering light I yelped, scared until I recognized Boris. He swept us off to the side, his eagle eyes scanning the scene as he assessed the situation. Brad stood watching the house burn numbly, finally trailing behind us like he was lost.

“Boris! That guy… Yuri. The one from before– he’s back! He took me out there and… and, he fell…” I looked over my shoulder at the dark cliffs beyond.

“Vere?” Boris asked.

I pointed, “Just there… he actually saved my life.” My voice cracked as I explained to them what I remembered, “Barbara threw the ashtray at him… it must have started the fire.”

“Stay here!” Boris commanded, stalking off into the darkness.

I looked over at Brad, and then back to Cruz, “Did everyone get out?”

Cruz shook his head no, “We called the police and waited outside for help. We heard gunshots, but nobody came out. Then the police showed up, and there was a ton of smoke and they wouldn’t go in without the fire department…” Cruz’s eyes filled up again, “I thought you were in there… I even called Ethan!”

“Ethan?” I asked.

“That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you! He’s here!”

“Where?” I cried, looking around.

“Come on,” Cruz took my arm and led me over to a pair of police cars that were just past the fire engines in the long drive. I could see Ethan’s truck parked behind them and my heart leapt. I wanted nothing more than to feel his arms around me. Cruz pointed to Ethan, sitting in the back of the patrol car, head hanging down, shoulders slumped forward in an attitude of abject despair.

“He went crazy,” Cruz explained, “The firemen wouldn’t let him go in… he started fighting the cops… they had to handcuff him…”

I rushed to the car, trying to open the door but finding it locked, flattening my hand against the window, hating to see him like that. He lifted his head, the eerie blue and red lights reflecting off his handsome face. His eyes were wild with pain and fear.

“Miss! Step away from the car!” I turned to see a policeman trotting up.

Cruz jumped in, “Officer! Please let him go, she’s the reason he was going nuts! He thought she didn’t make it out…”

I looked up with pleading eyes and saw his face soften.

“They’re gonna get married!” Cruz wailed.

The policeman sighed, reaching out to open the door.

Ethan came pouring out of the car, calling my name in a strangled voice. I rushed to grab hold of him, hugging him with all my might. He buried his face in my hair, his breath coming out in ragged shivers. His hands were still bound together behind his back, and I tried to comfort him, stroking the back of his neck. Gradually, his breathing slowed and steadied.

The policeman approached, removing Ethan’s handcuffs, “Son, I’m gonna let you go with a warning this time. But you’d best stay outta trouble.”

“He will,” Cruz volunteered with a big smile, heading back over to Brad.

Ethan threw his arms around me, rocking back and forth in relief. He drew back to look at my face, lifting a shaking hand to smooth my tangled hair.

I tried to speak, but I found myself too moved by what I saw in his eyes.

He pulled me close again, crushing me to his chest. I whimpered involuntarily, the breath completely squeezed out of me, “It’s okay,” I gasped, “I’m fine.”

“I thought you were in there,” he groaned in a low shaken voice, plastering my face with kisses. His lips finally covered mine, latching onto my mouth with a smoldering intensity. The noises of the fire and the men fighting it faded into the background as he kissed me like he wanted to consume me, wrapping himself completely around me as we stood locked together in the cool night air.

He ran his hands up and down my back, twining his fingers in my hair as if to reassure himself that I was solid and not some figment of his imagination. He stopped to pick a twig out of my hair and brush some bits of leaves from the back of my shirt.

“What happened to you?” he asked, pulling back to inspect me more closely, “What happened to your shoes?”

I looked down, “I’m not sure… they drugged me.” I searched my arm for the needle mark in the dim light.

“So Barbara Watson is Brad’s aunt?” he asked angrily, “And Nathan Edwards is his dad?”

I nodded, looking back at the destruction that was once a huge house. There was no way anyone inside could have survived. If Barbara didn’t get out she was dead, and when I remembered her plans for Cruz and Nixie the idea didn’t bother me at all. “Good riddance,” I whispered under my breath.

Cruz came back to us, leading a dazed looking Brad by the hand, “The cops want to talk to us… They want to know what happened.”

Ethan looked at Brad angrily, his arm firmly around my waist.

“We can’t tell them the truth,” I said. “We can’t say why they took us.”

“I don’t get it,” Brad said woodenly, “Why would my aunt do this to you?”

“Why don’t you ask your father?” Ethan said angrily.

Cruz and I exchanged a look.

“Listen to me,” I said, thinking fast, “What did you say when you called the police?”

“I said there was a kidnapping, and begged them to hurry.”

“Did you say who?”

Cruz thought for a second, “No, I just told them the address.”

“OK,” I said calmly, “We were visiting Brad’s house after we went surfing and we saw some bad guys breaking in… there were three of them… maybe coming after his aunt. We ran out and got split up… that’s how you didn’t know where I was… okay?”

“Sounds reasonable,” Cruz said firmly, turning to Brad with a serious look in his eye, “Trust me, they’ll never believe the truth.”

“What truth?” Brad looked sick.

A police officer approached our little group, staring down Ethan with hard eyes,

“I need to make a report,” he announced, “Which one of you called in the kidnapping?”

“That would be me,” Cruz volunteered, raising his hand. He walked off with the policeman, animatedly recounting my newly made-up version of events. I was surprised at how readily Cruz adapted to the need to lie for me, and it made me a little uneasy. However, there was simply no other way, for the real story sounded like something out of a science fiction novel.

When Cruz left I turned to Brad, “I have just one question… How is it that you were the reason I met your aunt in the first place?”

“Oh God,” his voice cracked, and a look of comprehension slowly dawned on his face, “She called me and invited me to the gallery opening. I was flattered… because she hardly ever talks to me. She said that she knew I was always looking for artwork and that she wanted my advice on her campaign.” He looked at me with shocked eyes, “She wanted to meet you!”

I looked at Brad, standing there confused and devastated as his father’s house burned down behind him. My heart went out to him, and I groped for the right words.

“I’m sorry,” was all I could say.

He swallowed hard, looking back at the enormous burned out shell, “She never made it out,” he said.

“Your aunt was going to get rid of Cruz,” I told him flatly, “They already brought Evie’s car back here. They were going to send him off a cliff… exactly the same way that they murdered Congressman Hill.”

Both Ethan and Brad looked at me in shock. I suppose I’d blurted that out rather bluntly, but after the day I’d just had I was simply in no mood to sugar-coat anything.

“It’s the truth,” I said wearily, “And your father is in on it too. I had no idea you or your aunt were part of the Edward’s family.”

Boris appeared from the shadows, surprisingly stealthy for a man his size.

“Marina,” he gestured for me to follow him, “Come… Evie needs you.”

Ethan clamped down on me in a panic, pulling me behind him like a ragdoll, “NO!” he said harshly, “She’s not going anywhere.”

I saw Boris sizing Ethan up, the two of them staring at each other intensely. The last thing I needed was more trouble. I felt weak and dizzy; all I wanted at the moment was a hot shower and a long nap.

I pointedly shrugged out of Ethan’s grip, and came around to stand between them, “Boris, I really need to go home right now. Please warn Evie about Olivia. Tell her I’ll be in touch soon. I need to speak with her alone.”

He nodded curtly, looking over my head to address Ethan, “Keep your eyes open.” He turned and disappeared back into the shadows, clearly in a hurry. I thought he must want to get back to Evie. I sighed, and looked up at Ethan, too exhausted to be annoyed.

“I’m sorry,” he said sheepishly, taking my hands, “I just can’t let you out of my sight… I won’t.”

I slumped onto him, giving in to the need for support, and yawned, burying my face in his chest, “I’m so tired.”

He stroked the back of my head, “Yeah, me too.”

I looked up to see Cruz returning, addressing Brad, “Mission accomplished. They’re going to contact us when they finish the arson investigation.” He paused uncomfortably, “They’ll let us know as soon as they can get in and do a search. You’re going to have to call your father…”

“What am I supposed to say?” he choked out, still clearly in shock.

“He already knows that they took us,” I said, “Barbara said he was on his way back to town.”

Cruz screwed up his face for a moment, “But he won’t know what happened… All the surveillance tapes are gone… Just tell him what I told the cops… Some crazy home invasion robbers showed up after we went surfing and you helped me get away from them.”

“We ran out and called the cops… We heard gunshots… They must have started the fire,” Cruz’s eyes were darting around as he thought.

“Yes!” I jumped in, “Brad can play dumb, say that he thought they were after Barbara.”

Cruz jumped in, grasping Brad by the arms, “Just tell the truth… You don’t know how Marina got out of the house.”

“Be sure to mention that you didn’t see them grab us.” I added. “It’s important to stay as close to the truth as possible when you lie.” I should know, I thought.

Cruz nodded, “And don’t tell him that you know Marina was here before! Can you do that?”

Brad nodded numbly, “But why?” he asked again.

I looked at Brad, and then at Cruz, “I guess you can tell him the truth… but take him home first.”

“Oh my God! Evie’s car!” Cruz wailed, “What will she say?”

“It’s gone now,” I nodded towards the house, “But I’m sure Evie could care less.” The loss of one of her many cars was the last thing Evie would be concerned with once she learned what had been going on.

“I can drive,” said Brad.

“Good,” I said with finality, turning back to Ethan, “I want to go home.”

Ethan had been watching us formulating our story, looking back and forth between Cruz and me apprehensively, “You guys are scary.”

“No,” Cruz snarked, “We’re creative.”

“We’re outta here,” Ethan said, taking me by the waist and leading me down the driveway. He picked me up and carried me over the rough gravel drive to deposit me in his truck.

“We have to stop meeting like this,” I joked.

“I hear that,” he said.

I asked him to take me to my studio and found it just as we’d left it that afternoon, with the door swinging open. I was relieved to find my bag still lying there, untouched. I picked up the broken lamp, finding Cruz’s phone on the floor. I realized with a shudder that if he hadn’t have called Brad to confront him, he wouldn’t be alive. Ethan looked around, inspecting the broken lock.

“I knew this place was a bad idea, How did they find out about it?” he asked.

“They know about everyplace,” I said morosely. “You can’t blame this one.”

I wondered what Edwards would do next. Since he didn’t know about Yuri, he might think I had done it all singlehandedly… Maybe it would scare him enough to back off. He might leave me alone, but I doubted he’d forget about Nixie; I was sure that he’d never give up on her.

“Cmon,” Ethan said, ushering me out and forcing the door shut, “Let’s get out of here.”

I fell asleep in the truck, my head gently bouncing on his shoulder. When we pulled to a stop I sat up yawning, looking out at the harbor lights and up to Ethan’s apartment.

“What are we doing here?”

“Dad’s staying with Abby tonight,” said Ethan, “I want you here with me.”

I looked down at my dirty jeans and torn shirt, “Uhm, okay… But I don’t have any clothes to change into.”

He smiled, “I do.”

After I showered and changed I stumbled out to find Ethan sitting on the couch waiting for me with a mug of hot chocolate.

“How do I look?” I asked sardonically, thinking probably something like a drowned rat. I was swimming in his sweatpants and T-shirt with damp hair.

“Perfect.”

He opened his arms and I slipped into them. We snuggled together on the couch, and I was finally able to let my guard down, feeling completely safe. Ethan kissed my bruised wrist and insisted on putting some bandages on the spots where the skin was broken. His wrists carried handcuff marks too, telling the story of how hard he’d fought to try and get to me.

“We match,” I said, smiling feebly.

“We’re a good match,” he replied, “Now what do you want to eat?”

I slumped back on the couch, exhausted, “I don’t know.” I drained my mug and was warmed through, having a hard time keeping my eyes open. I laid my head down on his chest with a satisfied sigh, at long last back home.

The last thing I remembered before drifting off to sleep was the sound of Ethan’s strong and steady heartbeat, booming like the crashing of distant waves on a familiar beach.