Heart of Thorns: a Between the Worlds novel Page 7

  She tilted her head, unconsciously reverting to elven body language to show him he had her full attention. “Why? Not because I cut my hand, that was such a minor thing really.”

  She saw something in his eyes then, something secretive that made her frown, “What is it? What aren’t you telling me?”

  He pulled her hand to his lips, kissing her fingers slowly. She felt his emotions swirling, a blend of too many things for her to sort out. When he spoke again his voice was low and uncertain. “I don’t know what I would do if anything happened to you.”

  And with that he got up and left for work, with Allie still sitting there, staring after him.

  ********************************

  She had gotten into the habit of sitting in her car just down the street from his house, where she could watch the front. She kept hoping she’d see something, some sign that her magic was working, but so far he seemed unperturbed. Maybe now though with the new physical hex in play…

  She was also hoping to learn something about this mysterious girlfriend he’d mentioned. She knew he did have several roommates, including one woman, and since he never went anywhere except work and home she had started to think that the woman must be the girlfriend. But all she knew about her so far was that she was blond, looked to about college aged – hardly a surprise there since he obviously liked them young – and didn’t seem to have a car. She suspected the young woman did work but she hadn’t had any luck following him when he gave the woman rides so she had no idea where.

  She had only just gotten back to her car that morning after leaving another note on his car, when the door opened and he was coming out of the house alone. She tried to scrunch down in her seat, hoping he hadn’t seen her. After a moment she dared to look and she watched as he plucked her envelope from under his windshield wiper. She was pleased to see that he was wearing the same leather jacket, the one with the curse paper in it. She waited gleefully, anticipating his reaction. But a moment later without even opening it he used his elven magic and the envelope went up in a puff of flame and smoke.

  She felt a wave of fury wash over her. How dare he! How dare he! She fumed. He didn’t even read it. How could he not even read it? She sat in her car as he drove away in his expensive little black sports car and she ran through a list of new things she could do. Each one had to be discarded though, as even in her anger she realized none of it was practical. Finally she took a deep breath. Okay Riley you pull yourself up by your boot straps and you move on is what you do. He’s a bastard. He’s a heartless bastard who doesn’t care about any of it. Maybe even this brilliant idea of cursing around him won’t matter. Okay. Fine. I came here to get this curse off my family and I am by Gods going to get it done. I am not going home a failure.

  She’d wait and see if he could still be broken, because she hated to give up on plan A. But it was time to start thinking about plan B too. With a renewed sense of resolve she started her car and put it in gear, deciding to head back to the occult shop she’d gotten her supplies at. There had to be more than one way to remove a curse.

  *******************************

  Jason dropped Allie off in front of her store on his way to work; it was technically his day off but he was going in to cover for several hours so that one of the other fire fighters could go to her niece’s birthday party. Which meant that Allie felt slightly less bad about having to bum rides from him, since he was more or less going the same way around the same times.

  For a moment she stood in front of Between the Worlds, taking a steadying breath and reminding herself that today was a new day. She lowered the wards and unlocked the front door, still annoyed that the back door was jammed. Bleidd might be right that it would be fixed soon but until then having to go in the front was ruining her entire morning routine. Not to mention the $250 fine she had to pay to the town, which she couldn’t help but think of every single time she came in or left by the front door.

  Walking in this morning she found that at least there were no new disasters waiting for her. And it’s Saturday she thought as she walked across the open area between the seating and the bookshelves, heading for the back. No work tomorrow, I can just stay home and relax. After this week I may not even get out of bed.

  Allie quickly checked the answering machine in the back room, then reversed her course, heading back up front to turn the lights on and open the store for business. It may have been a bit silly to do things that way but she just didn’t feel right unless she started by listening to the messages and then moved forward from there. It was such an ingrained habit after all these years that she didn’t even realize she was doing it. The bookstore had been her grandmother’s, originally having only a general occult focus, but when Allie had inherited it a decade before she had shifted it to specializing in rare and hard to find esoteric books, as well as the more common ones. She’d slowly built a reputation and a solid online business as well.

  She flipped the sign to open and then limped back behind the counter, sitting down on the stool she kept back there since hurting her ankle. During the week she tried to keep busy while she was in the store but Saturdays were more relaxed, and this particular day she decided to get caught up on some reading. She hung her keys up under the counter and pulled out a novel she’d been meaning to read but hadn’t had time to get to yet.

  Mid-morning there was a small rush of tourists who all wanted books on the history of Ashwood or local folklore. It was the sort of thing she usually only moved during the summer but because her season this year had been so bad she had more in stock than she normally would have after Labor Day. The tourists all left happy and Allie felt her mood lifting at such a good morning – even if the rest of the day was quiet it wouldn’t matter.

  Feeling more cheerful she was sitting back down when the bells over her door rang again and she looked up to see a familiar face. “Rose!”

  “Hey Allie,” Rose said, smiling as she walked towards the counter. Allie had met the artist in the spring when a regular customer, who ran the artists’ co-op that Rose had moved to, had brought her in to help her find some books. She’d become really fond of Rose in the ensuing months, although she suspected Rose thought of her more as a substitute daughter than a friend. Although there was only about 15 years or so between their biological ages, Allie knew that she strongly reminded the other woman of her youngest daughter who had just started college before Rose had moved to Ashwood.

  She walked in looking almost exactly as she always did, her grey-streaked black hair bound in dreadlocks, wearing a multicolored sundress; her only concession to the colder weather was a heavy shawl in a deep golden brown which draped across her shoulders.

  Allie moved out from behind the counter and hugged her friend, feeling Rose’s simple happiness and an unexpected nervousness as well. “Is everything alright?”

  “Well, I was going to try to ease into it,” Rose said stepping back and trying not to smile, “but I should know better than to try to be sneaky around you.”

  “Oh dear,” Allie said with mock seriousness. “Should I brace myself? Or start getting the bail money ready?”

  Rose made a face, “I swear Allie sometimes you are even worse than Cecile and I wouldn’t have thought that was possible.”

  “I’ll take that as a compliment,” Allie said, smirking. Cecile was Rose’s youngest daughter, of course, and Allie was used to being compared to her by now. She was fairly sure at this point that she’d really like Cecile if she ever met her.

  “Oh it is,” Rose smiled, pushing her hair behind her shoulders.

  “So what can I do for you today?”

  “Do you remember when I first met you and I mentioned that you should think about modeling for me?” Rose said hopefully.

  “I remember,” Allie said, and then as the words really sank in, “Oh no Rose, I told you I can’t. I’d feel ridiculous.”

  “I know you think you would, most people are nervous about it, but Allie I had this amazing in
spiration for a new series of sculptures,” Rose said, her enthusiasm palpable through Allie’s shields. “Less movement based and more contemplative. And you’d be absolutely perfect for one. In fact I can’t imagine anyone else for the piece, I really can’t.”

  “Rose,” Allie said, knowing that she didn’t stand a chance if the artist had really made up her mind about this but also embarrassed at the idea of herself being anyone’s model.

  “I’m serious,” Rose said. “And it won’t be anything like what you’re thinking. You see I want this series to be about the fine details of still poses, sort of the opposite of my last several exhibits. That’s what came to me, it will be like still life work but with people instead of objects! I’ve gotten Sara to pose for one, and Alex, he’s this artist at the co-op who works with chalks. And I have this vision of doing one with you, with your hair down, reading, it will be amazing, I just know it.”

  “Reading?” Allie said, feeling herself starting to give in.

  “Yes, sitting on the floor and reading,” Rose said eagerly.

  “I don’t know,” she said, still fighting the inevitable.

  “It’ll be fun,” Rose said carefully, “and I promise Allie, my word of honor, after it’s done and the collections done – if I decide to exhibit it – I’ll give you the piece to keep.”

  “You should never promise any being of Fairy – even someone like me who’s really more human than Fairy - anything in case you can’t fulfill the promise,” Allie said, trying to buy time to think.

  “You’ve mentioned that before,” Rose said smiling as she sensed victory at hand. “Why is that anyway?”

  “Simple,” Allie said, inclining her head in an elven shrug without realizing it, “if you’re foresworn you’d owe the other person an honor-debt and they can choose how you pay it back. Also being foresworn in general weakens your honor and the Fey take their honor very, very seriously.”

  “Well, then no official promises, but you agree to come model for me, and I’ll give you the statue when I can in payment.”

  Allie felt her resistance crumbling as she sensed Rose’s resolve. “What exactly does modeling entail?”

  The other woman smiled widely, knowing that she’d won. “It’s easy. You come out to my place, maybe tomorrow if you have the time, and I’ll get you set up in the pose I want then take pictures for reference. That’s it. Then your part is done and I use the pictures to base the sculpture off of.”

  Allie sighed. “What time tomorrow?”

  “Yes!” Rose threw her arms around Allie in another big hug and Allie couldn’t help but bask in the other woman’s happiness. “Oh, thank you so much Allie, you’ll see, this will be amazing!”

  “Just tell me when to be there,” Allie said again, smiling.

  “Oh, right, how about 11 a.m.? We can have lunch afterwards.”

  “Okay,” Allie agreed, “I’ll see you at 11.”

  “Thanks Allie, you won’t regret this,” Rose said. “I have some other errands to run before I head back, but I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  Allie waved as Rose left, feeling slightly bemused. She did feel ridiculous posing for anything but on the other hand it was such a simple thing and it had made Rose so happy. And it’s not like she wants me to model naked or dressed up as some kind of Grecian muse or something Allie consoled herself. I just have to sit and read. Pretty much what I do with most of my free time anyway.

  Shrugging she headed back around the counter just as the phone started ringing. She scooped it up automatically, “Good afternoon, Between the Worlds, how may I help you?”

  “Allie?” a female voice greeted her on the other end of the line.

  “Yes, this is Allie.”

  “Hi, this is Hannah,” the nurse from the clinic sounded uncertain and Allie’s mind went blank for a moment trying to figure out why she was calling the store.

  “Oh hi Hannah, what’s up?”

  “I hate to bother you at work,” Hannah said. “But I tried your cell phone and it said it was out of the service area. So I called the house number you gave me and talked to Shawn – he seems nice by the way – and he gave me this number. I hope you don’t mind me calling here?”

  “I don’t know why my cell wouldn’t go through,” Allie said pulling the offending piece of technology out of her pocket as she spoke. She flipped it open and was greeted by a screen covered in random symbols; even Allie knew that was a bad sign, so she closed the phone and put it back in her pocket to deal with later. “But it’s no problem to call me here. I’m glad Shawn gave you the number if my cell isn’t picking up.”

  “Oh good,” Hannah said, sounding relieved. “I was calling about that room you mentioned. My living situation’s gotten more complicated. Which I guess is my nice way of saying my roommate moved her boyfriend in without asking me, or you know telling me first, and I really, really need to find another place. I was kind of hoping I could come take a look at your open room soon. Like maybe today?”

  “Well, today might be tough,” Allie hedged, not wanting Hannah to change her mind but knowing that by the time she closed and got home it would be getting late to show anyone around the house. “Would tomorrow be okay?”

  “Yeah, you know what I can work something out,” Hannah said after a slight pause. “I get out of work at 4 tomorrow, is that too late?”

  “No, that’s fine, I actually have something to do earlier anyway,” Allie said, feeling more cheerful than she had in a week. “And, no pressure or anything of course, but if you like the room its move in ready whenever you want it.”

  “Great,” Hannah said. “Well I’ll let you get back to work, but I should be able to get there a little after 4.”

  “Perfect, I’ll see tomorrow.”

  “Okay. Bye Allie.”

  She hung up and smiled widely at the empty store. Finally things seemed to be turning around. I should have listened to Bleidd this morning she thought, sitting down and picking her novel back up, already forgetting her glitchy cell phone. He was right, things really aren’t that bad.

  ********************************

  Bleidd was starting to understand how Allie had been feeling all week. In all the years he had worked at Henry’s Taxi he had never had such an appallingly bad day. There had been difficult days before, certainly, but nothing on this scale.

  First there was the stolen cab, which had turned up an hour later in the river. Henry had been apoplectic at the driver for allowing it to be stolen, and never mind that he’d been forced out of the vehicle at knife point.

  Then there were the two gremlins who had appeared in the lot. Sylvia, who had just come in at the end of her shift had seen them pulling the bumper off a parked cab and come screaming into the office to get Bleidd. The damned things had damaged three cabs before he’d managed to drive them off and instead of thanking him for the magical effort which was most decidedly not part of his job description Henry had screamed at him for ten minutes because he’d left his position at the radio to handle the situation and they’d lost two calls.

  Then the parade of drivers quitting, drivers calling out sick, cabs getting lost – he still couldn’t even understand how that was possible in Ashwood but two of the new drivers had managed it – and no less than a half a dozen fares trying to claim the prices they were charged were too high and refusing to pay.

  At the moment Bleidd was standing in the back of the lot with the employee vehicles watching the fire department try to put out a burning cab in the vehicle lot and listening to the gathered drivers take bets on whether the building would catch. He had no idea if they’d still be in business tomorrow.

  He zipped his jacket up, deciding to call it a day, and to Hel with what Henry had to say about it, when Maurice walked over.

  “You heading out?” Maury asked, scratching the heavy five o’clock shadow that perpetually covered his jaw. Maury was pushing 60, pot-bellied, and balding, but he was one of the kindest humans Bleidd knew and one of the few pe
ople the formerly-Outcast elf might be willing to call a friend.

  “My shift is over in another fifteen minutes and I doubt this will be cleaned up before then,” Bleidd said shrugging. “I don’t see any reason to linger.”

  “Fair enough,” Maury agreed. “I was gonna head over to the Tiger and grab a pint myself. You want to join me?”

  Bleidd hesitated, turning the offer over. He’d been sober for six months and he was fairly certain that his sobriety was a key factor in Allie agreeing to court him. On the other hand, that uneasy feeling continued to follow him, hitting him when he least expected it and the stress was wearing him down. It would be nice to relax for a bit and have a drink or two, and he was certain that he could limit himself to a reasonable amount.

  “Come on,” Maury said when it was obvious that Bleidd was considering it, “A bunch of the guys are going and it would be good to see you outside work again. I know you got a hot little number for a girlfriend now, and I’m not criticizing, but a guy needs some guy time too.”

  “It has been a long time,” he said, still wavering.

  “It’ll be fun. And your girl won’t mind too much will she?” Maury wheedled.

  “Allie?” he thought to her, looking down and pretending for Maury’s sake to be thinking about what he’d said.

  “What’s up?” she thought back, her voice cheerful.

  He felt a surge of annoyance that she could be so happy; obviously she had been having a good day. His plan to ask her opinion went out the window and instead he briskly thought to her “I am going out with some co-workers. I will be home later.”

  “Oh,” she thought back her mental voice unable to hide her hurt. “Okay. Thanks for letting me know.”

  As soon as he’d thought it and gotten her response he regretted his rashness, and almost changed his mind. Almost. “Yes Maury I think I shall join you.”

  “Excellent!” his friend said. “I’ll meet you over at the Tiger then.”