He washed the red off his hands, whistling, and went to check on his pack. He’d packed everything he could think of, including an iPod loaded up with every favorite song old Joe had ever played for him. It would probably all go up in flames, but he was taking a chance.
He climbed the steps up to the clouds. He walked down to the Borderlands. He did not leave his name behind him, but carried it with him, along with his bag.
“Give it to me,” said Luke, sounding weary but also determined to stop Elliot hurting himself. “Whatever contraband you have, hand it over right now.”
Elliot did not, of course, but he appreciated the concern.
“WHOO! Go Luke!” Rachel and Serene stood up and yelled, their voices rising over the chaos of the year’s first Trigon match.
Under his breath and the sound of cheering, Elliot muttered: “Whoo.”
Once the excitement had settled slightly, Rachel lowered herself back down to the bench with a jingle of gold necklaces and reached out for one of Serene’s hands and one of Elliot’s.
“Luke asked me not to tell you guys,” said Rachel. “Well, he asked me not to tell Elliot. I think he thought you would tease him, because this is a little embarrassing.”
“High five because the teasing continues to get to him,” said Elliot. “You’d think he’d have built up an immunity over the years. Our sensitive flower.”
Serene gave him the dead-eyed stare that he loved.
“Self high five,” Elliot decided. “Nice to know he still cares.”
“But the secret isn’t just embarrassing,” said Rachel. “It’s—it has the potential to be dangerous for him, and scary. He’s going to need his friends. And I know you two love him and will support him.”
If he hadn’t come back, Elliot thought, he wouldn’t have been there to support Luke, and he was glad all over again, even if he was a little worried. But Rachel looked calm, and she loved Luke: she would not have been calm if she did not think Luke was going to be okay.
“Though I am honored by your confidence, I am unsure about learning something about my swordsister which he would rather I not know.” Serene bit her lip. “On the other hand, if you truly believe my knowing would be to his benefit . . .”
Serene’s decision made, Rachel looked to Elliot, and the soft rays of sunlight caught the glitter of her chains and rings, the gleam of her hair, but above all the glow in her eyes, loving Luke and asking for help. It was a look that expected to be answered, a loving, demanding look confident there would be a similar look returned. The turn of summer into autumn would be easy this year, golden and sweet, and Elliot could not help believing they were all going to be all right.
“Sure,” said Elliot, laughing. “Please tell me an embarrassing secret about Luke. I would love that.”
The news that Luke’s biological father was not Michael Sunborn but, in fact, a harpy, was received with stunned silence.
For about ten seconds.
“A harpy?” Elliot asked, staring at Rachel. “So you know all about harpy customs, and their language, and how their matriarchy differs from that of the elves—though I suspect most of the differences arise because in the case of the harpies there are many more women than men, whereas in the case of the elves the numbers are far more equitable—”
“Elliot,” Serene interrupted. “Your thirst for knowledge and interest in other species is both praiseworthy and endearing, but—not right now.”
Elliot looked at her. Then he looked at the Trigon pitch.
“Oh, right,” he said. “Of course.”
He squinted over at Luke’s golden head, shining amid the dusty hollows of the pitch. He remembered Luke jumping from impossible heights, seeing impossibly distant things. Everything made sense now. They had not been the superlative attributes given to a fairytale hero, after all.
“And he’s really going to grow wings?”
Rachel frowned. “They think so. He came in with shoulder pains and the medics said they were quite advanced. That he should have manifested them before now, actually, but he was probably trying to will them away. One medic remarked that he must be very stubborn, but I explained that my Luke has a beautiful nature.”
Beautifully pig-headed, Elliot thought as he nodded and smiled and carefully did not agree or disagree.
“Wings,” he said easily. “So cool.”
They were. Luke did not know it yet, but he would be forced to submit to measurements.
Rachel frowned some more. “He didn’t seem—happy. He said that he didn’t want you to know. Especially, Elliot, and I know you boys are always joking around like this, but especially not you. I’d appreciate it if you could support him, but let him take his own time to tell you about this.”
Especially not you. Elliot tried to keep his face bland and pleasant. It made perfect sense to him, if not to Luke’s mother. Rachel didn’t know that Luke was not actually Elliot’s friend.
“If he doesn’t want us to know,” Serene said, “it could be a long time before he tells us about it.”
“Could be days,” Elliot agreed.
Luke was one of the world’s worst secret keepers, and painfully sincere. Elliot gave it a week, tops.
“I have given my word that I will keep this secret, and my swordsister will not be desolate or unsupported while I live,” Serene said. “You can rely on both of us.”
Rachel tucked her chin into her mass of glittering necklaces, not quite hiding a smile. “Do you know,” she said, “I suspected I could.”
Elliot returned his focus to the Trigon pitch, where Delia Winterchild had just thrown the glass ball too short. Luke flung himself off one of the crags to catch it, and a murmur ran through the crowd, as if the whole audience were a beast about to rouse.
It had almost looked like Luke was flying.
Luke’s face was extremely guilty when he came over to his mother after the game so she could pet and praise him. She gave him a lightning-fast cossetting before saying she had to leave.
“You were wonderful!” Rachel said, kissing Luke all over his face. “And I have to run now, darling. See you at Christmas!”
Her love was like sunlight, delivered in a box and wrapped with a ribbon for Luke alone, but Elliot watched Luke watch her go, and thought of how it might feel, to have sunshine put in your arms and then abruptly taken away: maybe, since Rachel was a soldier, never to return.
Especially at a time like this, when Rachel’s exuberantly loving nature had put Luke in a situation he had never anticipated.
Elliot and Serene both made sure to act entirely normal, which meant Serene expressing admiration and Elliot extreme indifference.
“Good form,” said Serene.