Nevermor (33 page)

“Where are you?”
he asked, his voice so low that it was terrifying to the rest of them.

Whisper didn’t
come out immediately, and when she did, she floated down gently to hover in
front of him with her head down.

“Did you do
this?” he asked her directly, but he already knew the answer.  She wouldn’t
look at him, but her body language showed her guilt.

She was trying
to act like she had suddenly become too weak to even hold herself in the air,
as if the effects of her previous sickness were still with her, but he knew
better.  She had flown with him just fine the whole way to get Wren’s brothers.

“Speak!”

He heard her
whispery voice, speaking lowly, and though he didn’t hear all of the words so
clearly, he heard enough to know that she had done this.  He didn’t care about
any excuses that she used to try and cover up that fact.

He was
disappointed and angry, especially since she had been the last one he’d
expected to have done it – the one closest to him.  He’d been ready to believe
any of his brothers might have done it over her.

“For a long
time, I’ve told myself that you were different from the others – that you were
human enough to know right from wrong.  Is that untrue?”

More excuses
came from her mouth. 
I did it for you.  She’s an evil, terrible thing.  I
love you.  I love you so much.
  He couldn’t listen to any of that.

“Just go.  I
can’t look at you right now.”

“
I’m sorry;
I’m so sorry
,” she said.

She was begging
now – pleading with him – but he wasn’t willing to hear it.  She’d made him
ashamed to be associated with her, and in that moment, he didn’t even want to
call her a part of himself.

“
Go
!” he
shouted at her, and she stormed out in the way that only she could do, leaving
a flicker of light behind her that eventually faded.

They were all
quiet after that until they realized that the silence was too awkward, and then
the boys began to talk among themselves again as if nothing had happened.

But the damage
had already been done to Rifter’s pride.  He didn’t want to be among them.  He
thought they were all looking at him with pity because he hadn’t been able to
see what was right in front of his face.  Even Wren was staring at him,
pitying
him.  The one he’d trusted most had made him into a fool.  He couldn’t face the
humiliation of it.

Rifter turned
and retreated to his room to be alone.  Wren looked after him, but she didn’t
call him back.

1

Rifter did not
return before the rest of them had retired to their own spaces for the night. 
Max was to sleep in Wren’s room and Henry was given the spot on the rug in the
den.  Even though he was Wren’s brother, the rest of them didn’t like the idea
of the older one being in the same room with her, since she was a lady.  Max
was young, however, and they agreed that he should be under her care – mainly
so that they wouldn’t have to deal with him themselves.

Her bed was big
enough for both of them, so she put Max to sleep first.  The traveling had
tired him out it seemed, even though he’d been asleep for most of it.  It
wasn’t long before he was out again.

Wren watched him
sleeping there for a while, and she felt relief at something as simple as
listening to him breathe.  It seemed like so long since she had seen him, and
she knew he had been worried over her.  Perhaps he hadn’t slept at all since
she’d been gone and that was why he was so exhausted, but he was here with her
now, and he would not be taken away.

No one else will
have him.  He’s mine forever.

She didn’t feel
wrong for thinking that then.  Maybe she wasn’t his mother, but he was her baby
all the same.  She was the only one who had ever cared about him, after all. 
Now he would always be hers – frozen in time, kept so innocent –
always
. 
Her heart swelled with love and pride, and a smile came to her lips.  He would
want for nothing.  They would keep him safe.

A boy does need
a father, but…

Wren snapped up
when she heard a light tapping on the outside of her doorway, and she lost her
thought.

“Wren?  You
awake?”

Her heart
thumped when she heard Rifter’s voice, and she got up promptly to meet him,
pushing the curtain aside to see his face.

“Max is asleep,”
she told him quietly.

He motioned for
her follow him out into the corridor and took her a few steps away before he
turned.  He had an unusual expression on his face, like he had a bad taste in
his mouth.  She stood patiently, waiting.  Rifter kept his eyes averted,
looking at everything except her for what seemed like much too long, and then
finally he spoke.

“I’ve been
trying to think of why she would do it,” he said, and Wren guessed he must have
been talking about Whisper.

Wren hadn’t been
surprised to hear the accusation against the fairy for luring the monster to
her.  It made perfect sense to Wren and, in fact, she wasn’t sure why that
wasn’t the first thing she’d considered when seeking her own explanation.  She
was only glad they had survived the encounter, but Rifter seemed to be taking
it hard.  With good reason, she supposed.  It was a betrayal from the one he’d
trusted most.

“We’re all
alive,” she reminded him, looking on the brighter side.  The wisp was already
gone.  It wouldn’t do any good to speak ill of her.

“That’s true,”
he agreed, but he seemed hesitant.  His gaze had drifted off to the side,
leaving him to stare absently at the ground.  Wren knew how to recognize when
there was trouble brewing in someone’s mind, and this was what she saw on his
face now.

“Is something
else bothering you?” she asked.  He glanced at her with surprise, as if he
hadn’t expected her to be so perceptive.  Since he didn’t protest, she thought
she might be able to get an answer out of him.  She decided to press further. 
“You can tell me.”

She reached for
his hand just to put him at ease, but quickly found herself glued there when he
laced his fingers with hers.  Wren wondered how her heart wasn’t bursting out
of her chest when she looked into his eyes, longing for the secrets of his
mind.  He considered another moment, but eventually decided to put his trust in
her.  He gave in.

“I’ve always
considered Whisper to be like another limb.  I send her out and she does what I
tell her.  We’re part of each other.  If I believe that, I also have to believe
that I’m responsible for this – that some part of
me
wanted to hurt
you.”

Wren shook her
head to deny it, but it was a frightening thought.  She didn’t understand the
truth about the way he was bound to the pixie, but she was sure that they did
not act as the same person.

“The first thing
you ever said to me was that you would never hurt me,” she said to reassure
him.  “I believed you and I still do.  She acted on her own.”

Rifter seemed
grateful for that, but his optimism was quickly taken again by the sorrow and
anger from the betrayal.

“Where were you
when it came after you?” he asked seriously, changing the subject.

Wren hesitated
at that.  She searched her mind for some vague answer she could give him that
would not hurt the promise she’d made to the others.  They didn’t want him to
know where they had gone.

“I’m not sure. 
I haven’t really learned my way around yet, you know.  We were just out there
and it showed up all of a sudden.”

Rifter shook his
head as he mulled it over, but he seemed to go right over what she’d said
without a problem.  She felt a bit guilty for lying to him.

“Will you take
her back sometime?” Wren asked.  She wasn’t requesting it, but was curious to
know if he would be able to forgive his companion for her wickedness.

“Not anytime
soon.  She made a fool out of me.”

She could tell
he was still angry about it, and it wasn’t that Wren was unhappy to have the
wisp gone, but Rifter had a bond with that hateful fairy.  She guessed it would
be hard for them to break apart completely.

“You know,” he
started again, “the more I think about it, the more it seems to make so much
sense.  Whisper set it up and then she wouldn’t even have to be around when it
happened. 
Dammit!
  I don’t know why she would do it.  I just
don’t
.”

Wren wasn’t sure
that she was doing the right thing by explaining it to him, but she felt he
should have been able to understand.

“Sometimes women
are jealous,” she said, divulging the secrets of her gender.  “She felt that I
was a threat to the relationship the two of you have.”

“She was jealous
of you so she tried to
kill
you?” he asked.

More than once.
 Wren shrugged.

“You understand
that but you think
I
have poor reasons for killing?” he asked, amazed.

“It was a bit
extreme,” she admitted, “but she wanted to get rid of me any way she could so
that I wouldn’t come between the two of you.”

He thought about
that, creasing his tanned brow.

“So all women
are jealous this way?  I guess it does explain some things…”

“Not all of us
are,” she defended.  She didn’t care for any generalization about her sex.

Rifter cocked
his head and smiled roguishly.  “Are
you
jealous, Wren?”

The way he said
it – his voice suggestive – made her blush.  She had never given much thought
to whether she was easily taken by jealously or not.  She’d never found herself
in a situation where it might be demonstrated.

“Well, I don’t
know if I am.”  She smiled a little.  “Should I be?”

There was
something on his mind.  She could tell.  Of course, she didn’t know what it
was.  She never could with him.

“I want to show
you something else tonight,” he said.  There was a mischievous note in his voice,
but she managed to overlook it.  “Will you come with me?”

His fingers
shifted against hers and Wren lit up at the prospect.  Her brothers were here,
safe and sound; there was no reason why she shouldn’t.  Being alone with him,
especially without Whisper, was rare.

“Where are we
going?” she asked as a way of accepting.

“It’s a
surprise.”  There was still a secret at the corner of his mouth as he brushed
past her.

“Will I like
it?” she asked.  “Is it very far?”

He turned to
her, still close, and put a finger to her lips.  She was promptly silenced,
lost in the way he smiled at her.

“You’ll just
have to trust me,” he said.

He tugged her
hand to pull her along, and while she wanted to throw away all caution, she
resisted.  Her sense of responsibility was holding her back.

“The others are
here to keep an eye on Max, aren’t they?”

“Of course,” he
promised with a laugh.  “You worry too much.  What do you think we are?
Animals?”

Wren was certain
that she shouldn’t answer that, and he didn’t make her.  She let go of her
concerns and allowed Rifter to lead her on through the tunnels until finally
they emerged in a distant part of the forest.  The night was dark around them,
the tree branches creating a canopy to shield the ground from the light of the
large moon.

“So, you’re not
afraid of flying?” he asked her once they were out in the night.

Flying?  Would
he finally take her up?  Wren was so excited that she was nearly breathless.

“No,” she said,
shaking her head rapidly.  “I’m not afraid.”  How could she be, after the other
things she had seen?

Rifter seemed
pleased to hear that.  He didn’t ask permission to put his arms around her, but
the surprise of his immediate closeness excited her in a way that she’d been
unaware of until now.  It was a pleasant shock.

“Hold on tight,
then,” he instructed, and she wrapped her arms around his neck just before he
took off into the air, supporting her so that she could fly with him.  Wren was
conscious of her own weight but he didn’t seem to mind much.  She smiled as the
wind blew her hair back, as Rifter took them higher until they were above the
trees and under the starlight.

Was this
different than it had been before?  He had taken her up into the clouds once
when she had been a dreamer, but this felt different.  Then, she had been
terrified at what was happening, but now she was willing to embrace it.  He
held her tight and spun around in the air, and instead of shrieking, she
laughed.  She was brave enough to spread her arms out and let them cut through
the air.

This is unreal –
fantastic!

She looked up at
the stars, watching them sweep by as twinkling gems.  From that, she
transitioned to his blue eyes, which watched hers raptly.  They were shining as
brilliantly as the stars, and were, perhaps, more beautiful to her.