Chapter 9
1715 Words
9
The taxi showed up in front of my parents’ building at 8:45 a.m.
“Ms. Sterling?” the driver asked through his lowered window.
“Yes,” I said, skeptical.
“I’m here to take you to your meeting.”
I nodded and entered the taxi. He drove toward Minneapolis but turned south before we entered the city.
Forty minutes into this awkward drive, the driver exited the interstate. He took us down a back road for about five more minutes, and then stopped at an abandoned motel.
I opened the door. “Thank you.”
“Thank the guy paying for this trip because if it wasn’t for the ridiculous amount of money, I wouldn’t drive here. Ever.”
I ignored his comment and exited the car. Pulling my coat tighter around me, I looked around. The place was creepy and reminded me too much of the school where Brock had kept Morgan, Micah, and me.
The motel didn’t only look abandoned; it looked sacked. Vandalized. Torn down doors, walls covered with graffiti, broken lamps, and the sign, once hanging from a post, was now in pieces on the ground.
Victor wanted to meet here? Seriously?
And where was he? I wouldn’t stay here, in the dark and in the middle of nowhere, for long. I grabbed my phone and was about to call him when he appeared out of the darkness.
I held my breath.
His sea-green eyes were hard on mine, ensnaring me.
And he didn’t look sick.
“I thought you said you needed my healing,” I said as he approached me.
“Yeah.” He ran a hand through his hair. “Not really.”
Frustration built in me. “What? You brought me to this motel out of a horror movie for nothing?”
He halted four feet from me. “Not for nothing. I think we need to talk.”
“Talk? No.” I turned to the taxi, but he held my arm.
“That day at the hospital, I wanted to talk to you, but you just left. You’re not leaving again.”
“Who do you think you are to tell me what I can or cannot do?” I raised a finger. “Don’t answer that.”
A smile tugged at the corner of his lips. “Please, talk to me.”
Talk about what? The past? He was dreaming if I was going down that lane again.
“Victor, I didn’t sign up for this. I don’t want to be involved in any of this. I know I can’t escape healing you or Micah, but this doesn’t work.” I gestured around us. “I can find a way of coming to you when you need healing, but other than that? Please, leave me alone.”
“I’m trying,” he said in a low voice. “I’m trying to leave you alone, but after all that happened between us, I think we should talk.”
I crossed my arms. “About what?”
“Us. We obviously felt something for each other a few months ago.”
I stared at him. The expression on his beautiful face reminded me of a lost puppy. “Like you said, a few months ago. It’s in the past.”
“Is it?”
I took a deep breath. “You want to know what I think? Okay, I’ll say it. I think my feelings for you weren’t real, as yours weren’t for me. Ceris planted those feelings in me. She steered me to you, and she pushed us together. It was her plan. Every little thing, especially my feelings. Whatever I felt for you wasn’t real.”
“Felt,” he repeated.
“Yes. In the past. And I’m sure if you stop and think about it, you’ll realize your feelings for me weren’t real either. Or maybe you felt something because you thought you were alone. You wanted to feel something for someone, and I was there. Which was not a coincidence since it was all in Ceris’s plans.”
He frowned. “She said the same thing.”
Wow, that was unexpected. I tried pressing my lips together, but the words rushed out of my mouth on their own. “I take it things aren’t good between the two of you.”
Victor laughed, and it wasn’t an amused tone. “Aren’t good? They have been terrible.” He paced. “First, she takes me off that mountain without my permission and leaves you alone with that demented Mitrus against hundreds of demons. After all the bad things she had done and the people she killed, I was sure I could have included that act to the list. But then the Fates found us and said you were okay.”
I snorted. “No thanks to them. I was lucky Micah and Morgan were there with me.”
“I’m sorry about leavin—”
I raised my index finger. “Don’t go there.”
He stared at me, and I averted my eyes. “Anyway, Ceris and I talked—well, argued really. We can only argue—and we decided to start working toward finding my scepter. That’s what we’ve been doing for the last three months.”
Of course. Finding the scepters was priority.
“No success?”
“None. We have no idea where to look for it. In addition, we had to deal with the demons and run from Omi and Imha more than once. Ceris can fade her aura completely, but only lessen mine. The demons pick up my aura often, and that makes it hard to look for the scepter because we can’t stay in one spot for long.”
“Unfortunately, I know nothing about The Everlasting Circle’s lore and power or whatever. I can’t help with that. I also don’t have visions anymore and can’t lead you where you need to go. What I can help with is healing, which isn’t what you need right now.” I turned to the taxi. “Please, only call me when you need my healing.”
He rushed toward me. “Nadine—”
“I beg you, Victor. Don’t involve me in this mess more than I need to be involved.” I slipped inside the taxi. “Good luck.”
“Ready to go, Ms. Sterling?” the driver asked.
I closed the door and turned my back to the window. “Yes, please, take me back.”
The rest of the day was uneventful.
I returned home in time to have lunch with my mother. Then she asked about my plans, and I said I didn’t have any. Which wasn’t a complete lie. After the kids had gone to bed last night, I had thought about what to do, but my mind kept going to Victor and his call, and I lost my train of thought. Now that I had seen him, I was in a bad mood because I had been away for two hours for nothing and because I had seen him.
I told my mom I would probably try to find a job while applying for scholarships to other universities, preferably closer to home this time. That part of the plan was true, but what I didn’t tell her was I would be leaving in two or three days. I wasn’t sure exactly to where. At first, I had thought I needed to stay in a big city because they had more soldiers and protection, but my options weren’t many. I wanted to stay no less than five hours from here. Minneapolis was too close to home, and Des Moines was only three and a half hours away.
However, now that I had talked to Victor and he mentioned having to move around because the demons could sense his aura, I wondered if that would happen to me too. I was afraid of attracting them here, wasn’t I? So what would stop them from sensing me in Des Moines or any other place I decided to move to? Then demons would attack the city, and people would die because of me. I couldn’t live with that.
The solution was to move around.
But how would I help my family if I didn’t stay in a place long enough to get a job and make some money? If I couldn’t be in school?
At three thirty, Mom picked up the kids from school, and I went grocery shopping. Mom almost had a heart attack when I came back with more than I could carry, but it was the least I could do. Once inside the house, the kids surrounded me and we played on the side patio until Dad came home from work. After dinner, I put the kids to bed, singing the lullaby song for them, and then came back to the living room where my parents sat. My father cleaned his work boots, and my mother organized the kids’ toys.
I knelt on the floor and helped Mom.
“Nadine,” my father said. “Your mom and I need to talk to you.”
I stopped and looked at him, worried. Could he know something? “About?”
“About you and your situation right now.”
“Oh.” I put the toys in my hands in a box, and then sat beside him on the couch. “I know things aren’t easy and I’m sorry for being a burden, but—”
“A burden?” my mom asked, her expression appalled.
Dad shook his head. “You’re not a burden, dear. On the contrary. You’re the one that actually kept this family up for so long.”
“I’ll do it again,” I said. I had to believe I would. There had to be something I could do. “I’m not sure how yet, but I will.”
“You don’t have to do this. It’s not your responsibility.”
“But I want to help.”
“I know. But I think finishing your education is more important.”
Honestly, I wasn’t sure about that. Right now, I just had to work anywhere so I would stop being one more mouth to feed and maybe help with feeding the others. Regardless, I was convinced I couldn’t stop in one place for long. How would I finish school like that?
“Yeah, but that is gone. I am thinking about going back to school, but I don’t know where and how yet,” I lied. Guilt filled me, but what could I tell them? They sounded so hopeful and thankful that I was here, that I would stay here. I couldn’t break their hearts. Not yet.
My father narrowed his eyes. “If you’re not in a rush, I could talk to the mayor and see if he has a job for you.”
“Work on the construction of the wall?” my mother asked. “That isn’t a place for a woman.”
“I know,” my dad said. “But I can ask him if he has anything else.”
I pressed my lips together. My leaving would be hard on them, maybe harder than I thought it would be.
“Yes, Dad,” I said. “Talk to him.”
I probably wouldn’t stick around until a job came up, but I couldn’t tell them that. Not yet.
Dad patted my hand. “Good.”
- Writer
