Intaglio Dragons All The Way Down

chapter 22: Ripples Going Both Ways



‘Where am I…?’ Ava’s mind asked in concern.

She hadn’t gone anywhere. She just suddenly was… and she didn’t know how it had happened.

Ava eyed her surroundings with concern. She was standing in a bustling shipyard, her thin grey cloak soaked with mud. There were people everywhere. ‘Too many people,’ her mind hissed as they shoved and jostled her. She lifted her gaze to the ship's tall masts overhead. Ava caught sight of a single bird wheeling in the sky, as a thought began pushing at the edge of her awareness.

‘I know this place…’

Something about it that rang to her... that’s what her father Oliver would have said... some resonance that echoed with her own. Her eyes focused, looking further into the press of the crowds, the unwashed children, the threadbare clothing of adults, the toothless grins of the elderly. Sharp thrusts of distant buildings angled into the bright sky: ‘azure blue,’ she thought, ‘mixed with a touch of white.’

A smile pulled up her lips as the pieces fell into place... ‘It’s the colours,’ her mind whispered. She’d painted this before. With an odd prescience, Ava realized she knew exactly how to mix the pigments to match the variegated tones in the darkened structures surrounding her. A base of Titanium white lit from within by Raw Sienna for the broad planes of the sooty buildings, a hint of Davy’s green for the moss on the lintels, the shadows blended in tones of Delft blue and Burnt Umber.

Under her cloak, her hands itched to try it.

She turned in a circle, watching the people moving around her. There were people packing two boats, as she knew they would be. (She’d seen this play out a hundred times before.) Everything was familiar. The way that the dim alleys reflected the opposite spectrum: purple bands under the golden light.

‘Where am I going?’ Ava’s mind wondered. Her answer wasn’t ready anymore.

A man pushed through to her side. ‘Jon’s returned…’ her mind announced, and then the screen of people parted, revealing the spare, sharp motions of the person striding forward. She could imagine him gathering wood the same way.

She stared in shock. It wasn’t Jon, as she’d expected, it was Cole.

‘No, not Cole...’ a voice inside her corrected. That wasn’t his name; not here, not now. She knew that much. This was Thomas – ‘her Thomas’ - and they were going to be married today by the captain. They hadn’t had time to post the banns, and it seemed improper to ask Jon to do the ceremony… not after what had happened. They’d marry here on the wharf and leave the next day.

“Ava!” Thomas shouted, “the governess has agreed to give us her berth. I’ve got us passage!”

“Passage?”

He reached out for her hand and she put her fingers into his, confusion rising. ‘Something’s changed.’ She flashed to another time. Cole and Kip fighting in an alley. Ava frowned; she couldn’t place that either. Thomas watched her in concern. Ava’s eyes scuttled warily from the boats to the sky and then to him. Around them, the wind rose and swirled, lifting pieces of her strangely-long hair.

“Sorry,” she said shakily. “I don’t… I don’t understand.”

“Passage,” he repeated, “to the Americas.” His smile faltered. “The woman I mentioned… the governess – Miss Brown – she’s agreed to give us her berth, and she’ll stay with the children she’s travelling with. It’s what I asked you about last night.”

“Oh,” she whispered. “That’s right.”

Her chest was tight; the noise around her loud and confusing. ‘What’s going on here?!’ her mind screamed. She realized now why she knew this place. She’d been here before. ‘I’ve painted this before…’ But everything had changed.

“Ava,” Thomas said, stepping closer, his voice dropping low. “Is... is everything all right?”

“I don’t know...”

The noise and the light and the crowds were smothering her. Everything was different. She didn’t know what was happening. Hadn’t seen this part before.

“Ava, tell me honestly,” Thomas whispered, his other hand coming up to hers, “are you having second thoughts? It’s not too late. I could take you back home to your mother. Do you…?”

He left the rest of the question unspoken.

Ava lifted her gaze to the ships’ masts, the buildings darkened with soot, and the glittering sea in the distance. They were all the same... but something had shifted inside her, leaving her trembling. She could imagine a voice – her father’s – speaking words he’d never said in life.

‘It’s a shadow of something that’s coming from the future... Nothing’s ever set. It’s only ripples of what can be. You always have a choice.’

She smiled at the thought.

“Everything is fine, Thomas,” she answered. “I was just thinking on things.”

He grinned lopsidedly, more certain now, the wrinkle between his brows smoothing out. He lifted her hands between them, pressing a kiss against her knuckles, his face fervent like when he’d kissed her on the dock. He lowered her hands, but didn’t release them.

“Tell me, love, what were you thinking?”

“Of the beginning of a journey…”

: : : : : : : : : :

Ava woke with a start in the oily darkness of the guest suite bedroom, her body warm under the heavy coverlet, warmer still where Cole's chest was pressed tightly against her back. He was awake, Ava realized. His lips and teeth moved against her neck and shoulder, urging her impatiently to awaken.

She fought against the loss of her reverie. She’d been dreaming a moment before. ‘It was something important…’

His hand roved over her breasts and hips, kneading and grasping.

“Cole...?” she murmured groggily.

He ground himself against her, the heat of his body spreading through her thin panties and tank top. She could feel his arousal nudging her as he moved, brushing the curve of her ass as he pulled her closer.

“Want you,” he murmured against her shoulder.

He pushed her flat on her back, dropping his lips down her neck while his hands impatiently rucked her top up. In the darkness, she felt rather than saw him drop his mouth to hers, the kiss sudden and needy. Ava’s hands rose to his shoulders, clutching onto him even as her mind scrambled backward, struggling to hold onto the disappearing thread of the dream. ‘It was about one of my paintings…’ Cole’s lips let go of hers for a second so that he could pull the shirt free, then moved to her breasts, sucking hard against the raised peak of one before moving to the other. His hands shoved the thin fabric of her panties away; his fingers slid downward, hinting at the path his mouth would follow.

She was still struggling to awaken under the onslaught of his caresses. It seemed like there was something she was supposed to tell him... but it was a wash of colours now. ‘Davy’s green?’ Ava wondered... ‘or was it Burnt Sienna...?’ The message was no longer clear. Her attention was drawn to the burning spots of pleasure where his mouth and fingers focused. His lips dropped from her breasts to her ribs, moving across the flat plane of her stomach over to her hips and inward, nuzzling against her curls before angling her leg over his shoulder. Finally he leaned in and tasted her.

Ava gasped as his tongue began lapping against her, desire coiling tight in her core. Flashes of her dream appeared behind closed eyelids as waves of ecstasy rode over her. There was the shipyard... and the shore beyond… and then the field and the sea. It was like her painting, but different. She moaned as his tongue moved faster, his shoulder pressed against her thighs, pushing wide. ‘The dream’s changed...’ she realized, but now Cole's fingers were inside her in time with his mouth, and the only thing she could say was his name.

Her body was tensed and shaking as the motions grew faster, her moans rising in intensity until he finally pulled back, sliding into her. The feel of him, thick and tight inside her, left her crying out for more. His tongue pushed inside her mouth, possessing her. She could taste herself salty on his lips, his kisses leaving her breathless as he moved in an ever-increasing rhythm.

Wave after wave of sensation lapped against her, blotting away the pressing need to tell him what she saw. It felt too goddamn good: one of his hands wrapped tight in her hair, the other pulled up her knee while he drove into her. Ava moaned, eyes shut; the colours were there again. This time it was in the shadows... Delft blue sharpened the focus of the light in a too-bright sky. The memory loomed nearer. ‘Something changed!’ her mind shouted, while her panting increased. The agonizing coil of desire was tightening like a spring, focused on the spot where their bodies were joined, thoughts emerging as sounds of pleasure.

Cole moved faster now, hips thudding against her. He slid his hand in between their writhing bodies to reach the point where they joined. Ava cried out as he brushed the spot and his body shuddered at the sound of her ecstasy. He paused mid-thrust, gasping against her ear until he regained control.

Seconds later he was moving again. His hips pumped faster while her moans built to cries of desire. The flashes of colour and memory quickened. The shipyards, and the feel of the wind on her face, the Azure blue of the sky, gold in the light, the hint of purple in the shadows, all flickering together... reminding her. Cole’s fingers were moving faster, leaving her legs jumping in desire, sensations meshing with the rush of memories.

She wavered near the peak, her body writhing in time to his rhythm, the importance of this dream hanging just out of reach. Cole’s body distracted her from all thought. With a ragged cry, she tumbled over the edge, her body breaking around him. Shudders left her limbs rubbery and weak as Cole thrust twice more, gasping her name as he collapsed atop her.

For a few moments, he didn’t move. She smiled against his hair, feeling the moment he realized he was probably crushing her and quickly slid to the side. He pulled her toward him, so that she lay in the tight circle of his arms. Cole’s breathing began to slow.

“That’s a nice way to wake up,” Ava said with a giggle. “Some special occasion I should know about, or is this just a kink about being in your parents’ house?”

He laughed tiredly, turning so he could kiss her again.

“I had a dream,” Cole said.

Ava froze. She could feel her own dream again, wrapped tight around her.

“W-what?” she stammered. With shaky fingers, she reached out for the bedside lamp, filling the room with hazy light.

Cole watched her. When she lay back down, he dropped a light kiss on her lips.

“I had the dream I always used to have... the one with the storm, and then the field. The one I told your dad about that night after the Student Show when he was reading teacups.”

Ava nodded.

“Yeah... I remember.” Her voice was wary.

Cole's face was on the pillow next to hers, close enough that he could hold her eyes without straining.

“Well, I had it again... but it changed.”

“The part about Hanna?” she asked in worry.

“Not Hanna,” Cole laughed. “The thing about everyone being in the water together.”

Ava pulled herself up on her elbow. She could remember something else, but hers was wrapped up in the painting of the dockyard.

“I don’t… I don’t know what you mean,” Ava muttered. Every time she tried to remember her dream she got a wash of colours: Delpht blue and Burnt Sienna.

“The Hopi proverb,” he said with a grin. “You see, the ending changed.” He leaned forward, kissing her again. “This time you were there in the water with me too…”

: : : : : : : : : :

There was a faint sound of tapping.

Ava slowly emerged from the cocoon of sleep, itching with the swirl of warm breath on her neck. Cole slept behind her, one arm stretching around her ribs, his fingers cupping her breast in sleep. Sometime in the night, his legs had tangled with her own. She smiled and let her eyes close.

She had just begun to drift when she heard it once more.

Twisting, she glanced at the curtains. It was daylight, a rectangular corona of light marking the edge of the window. She wasn’t sure what had awoken her. The quiet sound of hesitant knocking returned.

Easing herself out of Cole’s arms, Ava grabbed one of his t-shirts, pulling it atop her naked chest, and donning a pair of sweatpants. She tugging her clothes into place as she crossed the floor to the entrance, hoping not to awaken Cole.

She pulled open the door. Nina stood on the landing, wearing a camel hair coat and knee-high boots. Seeing her, Ava frowned, stepping onto the narrow landing and closing the door behind her.

“You okay, Nina?”

The older woman’s eyes were red, face tired and drawn. ‘The older Josephine…’

“Long night,” she answered with a wan smile. Before Ava could ask, Nina pushed a small pile of books into Ava’s open hands. “You forgot these in the library,” she explained, “and I found the third of the trilogy this morning.” She gave a tight smile. “I wanted you to have them before you left.”

Ava glanced down. The final image was one Ava recognized from Wilkins’s class last semester. It was a painting of David’s, Josephine being crowned by Napoleon. She no longer looked like a woman, Ava thought, but like a doll dressed up for display.

“Thanks...” she said, gesturing to Nina’s coat. “Are you leaving or something?”

Cole's stepmother gave her a brittle smile, fidgeting with her buttons.

“Frank and I had a bit of a…long night.” Nina ran her fingers through her curls, leaving them dishevelled. “We’re going to go for a drive this morning. There are a few things we need to do, and talk about. And, um…” She glanced at the closed door. “I’m sure Cole has a few things he’d like to…think about too.”

“Do you want me to wake him up?”

Nina’s eyes widened.

“Oh no!” she said too quickly, “let him sleep. I just wanted to give you the books. No need to bother him.”

She turned, ready to start back down the stairs, but Ava's words stopped her.

“Yesterday you said the whole truth,” she said quietly. “Did you mean it?”

For a moment, it seemed like Nina was going to say something, her mouth half-opening, but then she shook her head. Instead she gestured to the volumes in Ava’s hands.

“Read the books.” she said earnestly. “And enjoy your trip... there’ll be plenty of time to talk when you return.”