Phoenix: The Rising (19 page)

“Guilty? Why do you feel guilty?”

“Because I thought such bad things about her. I know she wasn’t the nicest person in the world, but she was the one person who wanted to be my friend. I hadn’t had a friend in so long.”

Eli forced a smile. “You have absolutely no reason to feel guilty. She died because they were looking for me. If anyone should feel guilty, I should.”

Julie shook her head just slightly. “No. Even you shouldn’t feel guilty. She’s dead because the Nephilim are murderers. This is their fault, not yours ... and not mine.”

A noise outside the door prompted Eli to place his finger across Julie’s mouth to quiet her. Instead, she moaned as Eli felt a zap of electricity pass between his finger and her tender lips. He snatched his hand away and leaned towards her, just inches away from her face.

“I am so sorry, Julie! I didn’t mean to hurt you.” He felt horrible for causing her any more pain. His touch had to be excruciating.

She blinked slowly. “It’s okay. I like it. Let’s me know that I’m still alive.” Eli saw a small smile erupt on her lips.

“What? Why are you smiling?” He met her smile with one of his own.

“It’s your breath. It makes me feel better. Like I’m floating. Always sooooo ... minty fresh.” She giggled as the door flew open.

“Young man, what are you doing here at this time of night? Don’t you know this girl is in quarantine?”

Eli stood and backed away. He couldn’t chance this woman touching him. Not in the state he was in right now.  

“I’m sorry. I just had to see her.” He skirted his way around the room and out the door before she could lay a hand on him.

The nurse turned to Julie. She was smiling.

“Boyfriend?”

Julie thought for a moment. “No. Just a very good friend.”

The nurse rolled her eyes as she took Julie’s vitals. “Right. And I’m the Queen of England.”

Chapter Twenty-One

Wednesday morning, Lucy Temeluch stood at the door of 621 Garcia. She’d put off meeting her grandmother two days earlier, but now, claiming her place in the Temeluch clan was the only way she’d be able to enroll at White Mountain Consolidated, and the only way she’d be able to keep a close eye on the Fire-Child. According to Kas, Julie Mason had been a no-show at school for the last two days, but if the legend was correct, her injuries should be completely healed by today, and Lucy wanted to start tailing her as soon as possible. She lifted a hesitant finger and poked the doorbell. Then, she waited.

Twenty seconds later, the door opened.

“Yes? May I help you?”

Lucy stared at the woman in front of her. She didn’t need a blood test to know that this was her grandmother. The old woman had her mother’s eyes. Deep, brown eyes. Eyes haunted by a secret, just as her mother’s eyes had been haunted. Ebony hair streaked with silver and deep lines fanning out from those unmistakable eyes were the only things that revealed her age. This was what her mother would have looked like in twenty years.  What she would look like in another fifty.

The woman observed her in silence. Her eyes finally widened in recognition and her hand flew to her chest.

“Adrienne? Is it you?” She reached out. Lucy stepped back, avoiding her touch.

“Adrienne’s dead. I’m Lucy Temeluch. Her daughter.”

The woman grabbed the doorjamb to steady herself as her knees buckled. Lucy’s initial reaction was to stifle a laugh. She was getting a morose kick out of watching this woman’s reaction, but surprised herself as she reached out to keep the poor, old thing from falling to the porch. Maybe she had a smidgen of humanity left in her after all. She walked the shell-shocked woman into her living room, and sat her on a chair.

“I’m sorry for blurting it out like that. The lady at the Reservation headquarters thought you might be family.” Lucy grabbed a tissue and handed it to the weeping woman, not letting on that she already knew the answer. For some reason, it was important for her to hear the declaration directly from her grandmother’s mouth. “Are you?”

The woman nodded her head in affirmation as she wiped the tears from her eyes. “Yes.” She smiled as she cupped Lucy’s face in her small hand. For some reason, Lucy didn’t pull away. Her touch seemed ... comforting. “I’m your grandmother. Liana Temeluch Sullivan.”

****

Lucy returned from the kitchen with two mugs of steaming coffee. “Here. Maybe this will help.”

She watched, mesmerized as this woman, this stranger, dumped in a packet of sweetener, stirred, and then tapped her spoon twice on the rim. Exactly as her mother used to do. The woman took a sip, using both hands to steady the cup. Lucy didn’t know if it was the news that her daughter was dead, or the realization that she had just been discovered by her granddaughter that had the old woman so flustered.

“So, the lady at the headquarters said my mother was raised by her aunt, not by you.” Lucy stared into her coffee. She felt like she was looking into a black hole that contained all of her history, the complete explanation of why her mother chose to be alone all those years. She was tempted to throw the coffee into the woman’s face, yet at the same time, she felt a pang of pity for her. Why was she vacillating so much in her feelings towards this stranger?

The woman wiped her eyes once again and smiled as she looked at Lucy. “You look just like her. Like my Adrienne.”

Lucy gripped the mug tighter. “I want to know why you did it. Why did you give up my mother?”

The woman lowered her eyes, her delicate, trembling hands caressing a small leather pouch hanging from a long drawstring she wore around her neck. “We were young and on the move all the time. She needed stability. She needed a home and my sister could give her that back here in Bishop. So I gave her up.”

Lucy took a sip of her coffee. Why did it suddenly taste so bitter? “What about your husband? Didn’t he want to keep her?”

The woman stood and walked over to the window. “We chose what was best for our daughter.” She nodded, as if justifying her actions to herself. “After Adrienne, I was unable to have any more children. I thought of that as my punishment. Simon, my husband, accepted our life as it was. Years later, we heard that Adrienne had run away. Since then, we hadn’t heard a word about her, until now.” She turned to face Lucy. “She’s dead? My daughter is dead?”

Lucy stood. Images of her mother’s body plummeting to the garage floor, the snapping of her neck, the creaking of the rope on the rafters as her body swung and twirled, a marionette dancing at the end of the puppeteer’s string, filled her mind. “Yes,
my mother
is dead. She hung herself. In front of me. Four days ago. Of course... ” Lucy stopped herself before she said it. Before she let on that Adrienne Temeluch killed herself just after trying to smother her only daughter. Must be a pattern with the Temeluch women—trying to get rid of their children. “Now you’re the only family I have.” She inhaled through her nose, calming herself so she could focus on her plan. “I need a place to stay.”

For a moment, Lucy feared that her plan was about to fall through, that dear old Grandmother was going to send her packing. Finally, the old woman nodded once. “Of course. Of course you do. And you’re welcome to stay with us. We have a third bedroom.”

Lucy grabbed her bag and followed as she was led up the stairs. “A third bedroom? Who sleeps in the second one?” The woman continued through the hallway, stopping outside the furthest door on the left.

“Simon’s great-nephew has been staying with us for ... several years now.” She opened the door to Lucy’s bedroom.

Lucy walked in and threw her bag on the bed. “Hmmm. Sort of your penance for giving up my mom, huh?”

Lucy saw a bittersweet smile flit across the old woman’s face, but her eyes were still filled with tears. “I guess you’re right.”

Lucy sat on the bed and bounced twice. “And, now you have me.”

“Yes,” Liana nodded, “we do. All things happen for a reason, Lucy. You were destined to come here.”

Lucy studied her grandmother’s face. It was odd how she said that. “I guess I was.” She ran her hand over the patchwork of her quilt. “What’s his name? Your husband’s great-nephew?”

Liana grabbed the doorknob and looked at Lucy. “His name is Eli.”

Eli Sullivan was immensely grateful that he still possessed powers of healing, strength, and immortality, but it was at times like this when he wished he could still access his wings. If he could, then he would have been able to follow the Nephilim, and possibly have saved Charsey. They would also come in handy with Julie barely hanging on to life in a hospital bed on the other side of the Sierra Nevadas. Getting to her was a logistical nightmare. Going by motorcycle, the round-trip was almost ten hours. Flying commercially, while possible, was also limited, with the latest flight back to Bishop from
Fresno
during the weekday being eight p.m. Considering that Eli could only visit Julie under the cover of darkness, commercial flights were not a viable option.

Tonight, Eli settled for a short conversation, although he tried to convince her to let him visit. Julie’s voice was barely a whisper on the other end of the cell.

“No, Eli, you can’t come. If they catch you in here again, it could mean that they’ll put off the infusion. They think you’ll contaminate me. I’m basically living in a plastic bubble right now. Besides, I look like crap.”

Eli thought of Julie’s pale green eyes and milky skin. “There is no possible way you could look like crap, Julie.”

“Picture Michael Keaton in Beetlejuice,” Julie countered.

The image that popped into his brain was not a good one. Patches of platinum blonde hair standing on end. Deathly white skin. Dark rings surrounding pale, lifeless eyes. Eli pushed the thought to the back of his brain and focused on the beautiful girl he knew was on the other end of the conversation. 

“I’m sure it’s not as bad as you think.”

“Yeah, right. I’m the new poster child for the term
Bad Hair Day
.”

Time to change the subject. “So, sounds like they’re planning the infusion soon?”

“Monday, as long as I don’t catch anything from any unauthorized guests, hint-hint.”

Eli felt as if he’d been hit in the gut. Not being able to see Julie was physically disconcerting. He felt as if a part of him were missing.  He longed to sit with her, let her breathe in his euphoric scent, give her the little bit of comfort that he could. But, he knew that was impossible. For now.

“Then, I guess I’ll have to wait.”

Julie sighed into the phone. Was it possible she was feeling the same way?

“There’s just one more thing.” Her voice cracked as she continued. “Charsey’s funeral is Monday. Would you place a flower on her casket for me?”

Eli’s voice became thick with emotion. “Of course. I’ll be there. Anything for you.”  He couldn’t stand the thought of Julie suffering physically or emotionally, and now she was getting it with both barrels.

“Thanks, Eli. I’ll let you know when my count starts going up. I know it would freak my father out if you didn’t start visiting as soon as they give the thumbs up. I mean ... it would seem strange if you didn’t.”

“Right.” Eli smiled to himself. “And we don’t want anything to appear out of the ordinary, do we?”

Julie yawned. “No, we don’t.”

“Sounds like you need some sleep. I’m heading home myself. Been staking out your house, just in case one of them decided to make an appearance.”

Eli waited for a response, but all he heard was a light snore. He slid his phone shut and looked up at the darkened window of Julie’s hospital room.

“Goodnight, Jules.”

It was three a.m. by the time Eli pulled into his driveway. He didn’t have to worry about being quiet as he made his way up to his bedroom, since Simon and Liana had both become a bit hard of hearing through the years. Still, Eli’s natural gait was one of stealth. He could sneak up on anyone without being heard.

Eli pulled his t-shirt over his head, grabbed a towel from the linen closet, and opened the bathroom door. His jaw dropped. Standing in front of the sink wearing only a towel was a young, dark-skinned woman, her chestnut hair hanging in long, wet curls halfway down her back. She glanced at him, toothbrush in hand.

“Shut the door, will you? I’m freezing!”

Speechless, Eli backed out and shut the door as he was told. For about two seconds. It took that long for the shock to wear off and his protective instinct to kick in. He flung the door open.

“Who in the hell are you, and what are you doing in my bathroom?”

****

Lucy turned to see the young man staring at her. His cheeks flamed with color as his sapphire eyes darkened. She smiled in amusement. “You must be Eli, and me? Well, I guess I’m some type of cousin to you. At least that’s what I’ve been told.” Any other boy would not have been able to keep his eyes trained on hers. They would have automatically made a circuit over her body. But this one’s eyes didn’t waiver.
Interesting
.