Silence - eARC (16 page)

Wanda sighed. “Okay, we can talk. Come with me, and I’ll teach you everything you need to know, whether you want to know it or not.” Staci was certain she actually saw Wanda
grin
as she threw an arm over the Blackthorne cousin, leading her away.

Staci let out her breath. “Oh…wow. That went well!”

“I’m actually surprised. Happily so,” Sean said, grinning toothily at Staci. “Shall we?”

He offered her his arm, and she took it. He whisked her around the party, from group to group. Sean was as charming as ever, introducing her to everyone, making conversation and including her in everything. She saw that her friends were getting along just fine, as well. Seth and Jake were absolutely devastating everyone else at some first-person-shooter game, taking on all comers with smug satisfaction. Riley was holding her own in that department as well, but regularly took breaks to talk fashion and Silence gossip with both Blackthorne and townie girls. Wanda was in her own little world with Morrigan, off away from the rest of the party, heads together, over a pile of magazines, talking as intensely as a couple of scientists over an experiment.

It was all…perfect. Even her one fear, that the Blackthornes or the townies or both might encourage her friends to get drunk…maybe in order to make fun of them…never materialized. In fact, once she even heard one of the waiters say to Jake, “Not that one, sir, that’s gin and tonic, not ginger ale. Here you go.”

“You know, Staci…your friends are as much fun to have here as you are,” Sean said. “Well…
almost.
As much fun for my cousins, I should say. Would you mind if we found somewhere a little more private to talk? The noise of the party is a little much, sometimes.”

Since that was pretty much exactly what she was hoping for, she nodded. “Of course, if you think you don’t need to play host so much.”
Don’t look needy, girl! Don’t blow this.

“They’ll survive without me.” He took her by the hand. “Follow me.” Sean led her along, past the pool and out of the range of the music.

He was at his most casual tonight: khakis and a simple chocolate-brown short-sleeved, V-neck sweater— a sweater which she knew, from casually brushing against him, was silk. He also had on some sort of after-shave or cologne that had an unusual, woody smell to it, with a hint of musk.

Sean waited until they could barely hear the din of the party before he stopped. It was dark on this part of the property; they were behind the pool house, well onto the rear lawn where there was only moonlight. Staci could see the expanse of the hedge maze off to the left, and vaguely shuddered at the memory of what she had seen there. Finally, Sean stopped walking, turning to face her and taking both of her hands in his.

“Staci…I want you to know that you’re really special to me.” He sighed, chuckling to himself. She had the sense that he wasn’t amused, but rather sad in his mirth. “I can’t really talk to any of the others about this. Not even my own family, really. All of them, especially Finn, are looking for any opening that they can get. Weakness isn’t well tolerated amongst my family.”

She squeezed his hands. “I’m so sorry, Sean…my family…well, they’re pretty dysfunctional too. I can’t say I know what you’re going through, but I can sure understand. And you can always talk to me, I want you to know that.”

Sean pulled away from her, breaking the grasp. “How could you understand?
Really?
Do people only care about you because of your name? Do they only see you for your money, or what you can do for them? Do they hate you for what you have, and what they don’t? As if it’s
your fault
?”

She took his hands back in hers and looked deeply into his eyes. “Sean, my dad threw me out because he loves my stepmother more than me. He
threw me under the bus.
He knows what my mom is…what
everyone
in this town knows she is! She’s the drunk slut who’ll sleep with anything in pants and it’s a wonder she hasn’t managed to lose her job at the Rusty Bucket like she’s lost every other job she ever had! Every time the phone rings, I’m scared it will be her boss telling her not to come in! And my father
cares so little for me
that
that
is what he sent me to live with! Everyone in this town who knows her, knows all that. And even her
boyfriend
thinks I’m just like her, and if she’s not available, I am! Yes, I can understand being despised! Maybe not the same as you, but…equally!”

Sean searched her eyes for a few moments, then looked down in shame. “I’m sorry, Staci. I got caught up in my own bullshit for a minute. It’s tough, always being on guard and having to pick your words.” He looked up, meeting her eyes again. “You wouldn’t believe the pressure. Everyone is focused on success, achievement. It seems like a lot of other things get forgotten in the mad rush for a bottom line. My father values success above everything else. He’ll cut me off in a heartbeat if I can’t perform. And my stepmother is worse. I don’t have any stepbrother or sisters, but that wouldn’t stop her from encouraging him to slough me off if she ever thought that I wouldn’t continue to help supply her with the lifestyle she’s become accustomed to. So you see”— he smiled crookedly—“we aren’t that different after all. Our parents are equally focused on their own selfish desires, regardless of what happens to their children.”

Before she could think of more than how odd it was that Sean was involved in the family business, and that he would talk about his father cutting him off if he couldn’t perform, when he was
still in high school,
Meaghan approached them. Not from the party side, but from the garden, out of the shadows. Staci was startled by the other girl’s sudden appearance; Sean, though surprised, seemed more angry than anything else.

“Meaghan. I was having a private conversation with Staci. What do you want?” Very subtly, Sean had pushed Staci back and to the right of him, so that he was slightly between her and his cousin.

Meaghan tossed her hair back and smiled at Staci. It wasn’t a nice smile. It was the sort of smile that Staci had seen—

—
on Brenda, when she looks at Dad!

“I was just coming to see how you and your special town-friend are doing, Sean. The rest of your guests are missing you. Would you like me to take her to—”

“
No!”
Sean took a step forward towards Meaghan, until he was almost nose to nose with her. For the briefest moment, Staci thought that he was going to hit his cousin, right then and there. “You don’t have any business being around her, especially when
I
am talking with her. I’ll go back to the party when I feel like it.” He seemed to catch himself for a moment, glancing over his shoulder at Staci before leveling Meaghan with a stare. “You need to leave. Now.” His tone didn’t leave any room for argument.

Strangely, Meaghan didn’t seem in the least put out. She ran her fingers through her long hair and smiled again, a smile that this time looked supremely self-satisfied. “Why, of course, Sean. I was only trying to be helpful. But if you don’t want my help, that’s all right with me.” Before Sean could retort she turned on her Jimmy Choo stiletto heels and stalked back to the party with her hips swaying.

“Sean, I’m sorry about that…I see what you mean about them—” Just as she reached for his arm, Sean whirled on her. She had seen his face that angry before, once, when he was talking with Finn. It scared the hell out of her, especially now that it was directed at her. The expression lasted for only a flash; then he was back to looking apologetic and bashful.

“No, I’m sorry, Staci. My family brings out the worst in me, sometimes.”

The conversation seemed to turn into…little nothings. Not long after that, Sean escorted her back to the party. The rest of the gang were cleaning up on a Team Deathmatch round on the game system, save for Wanda, who was still educating Morrigan on the finer points of Goth fashion. The remainder of the evening continued on like that; Sean whirling her from one conversation to the next, everyone stuffing themselves at the buffet table, and generally having fun. But Staci couldn’t shake a tickle at the back of her mind, and what strangely felt like a knot of ice deep in her gut.

The way Sean looked at me after Meaghan found us…
It gave her chills, and not the good kind. He had been
very
quick to shut Meaghan down at the very idea of separating the two of them…he actually looked like he was ready to become violent, at that. She didn’t know exactly how she felt about that. On the one hand, it was…well, it was the sort of thing you saw in movies, where the guy would do anything to protect his girl. But on the other hand…

He’s under a lot of pressure. And it was clear that Meaghan was trying to push his buttons. Of course he’s going to be short and snap a little bit after something like that.

…but…

Just
as she was beginning to give in to her unease, Sean took her a little aside from the rest during a lull. “Staci, I’ve been thinking about what you said earlier. About your mother, I mean, and I can at least do a little something to make your life easier.” He took her hand in his, and held it gently. “And this will be no problem, and it won’t make any problems for me. Father has me managing all the entertainment venues we own down in Silence, and one of them is your mother’s bar. I’m going to have a word with her boss.” He held up his hand. “Nothing to worry about—but he has alcoholics in his family, and he knows how to handle them. He’ll make sure your mother doesn’t drink on the job, and that if she shows up under the weather, he’ll start making her come in early enough that he can get her sobered up before she starts her shift. And he won’t fire her. I hope that will help you feel a little more secure.”

All of her doubts evaporated. How could she even
think
Sean might be overly aggressive when all this time he’d been thinking about this? “Sean…I don’t know what to say. Thank you—”

“Think nothing of it. I know you’d help me like that if you could.”

Again, Staci was torn. While she needed all the help she could get with her mother…

She shook her head.
No. Don’t sabotage yourself when you finally find a guy that’s worth it! Don’t look this gift horse in the mouth, girl.

When things started to wind down with the party, Seth, Jake, and Riley found Staci and Sean by the pool. Seth and Jake both looked absolutely stuffed and tired; Riley just looked tired. “Wow. I didn’t know a video game tournament was like a marathon,” Staci said, looking from one to another of them.

“You’d be surprised at the stamina it takes to kick that much butt.” Riley stretched, cracking her back. “Luckily, I have practice.”

“Hey, we held our own!”

“Well, you did okay, Seth. I was barely keeping along, though. Riley knows all of my moves,” said Jake, grinning. “Hey, where’s Wanda? It’s about time we got back.”

“Your queen is here. No need to panic.” Wanda strolled up, yawning. “I am going to sleep like a rock. It’s exhausting to be this awesome.”

Seth stared at her with his mouth dropping open. “All you did was talk all night about clothes and music!”

“Like I said. Awesome.”

Sean bathed them all in a gracious smile. “I take it we passed your tests, then?” he said teasingly.

It was Riley who said the right thing. “We’re awfully glad we came, and it was wonderful of you to invite us, Sean,” she replied.

“Then you will have to consider yourselves invited whenever Staci is—” Sean began.

It was Jake who held up a hand. “Not that we don’t appreciate it, because we do, but…our parents are a lot stricter than Staci’s mother is. There’s no way we can do entire weekends.”

Sean looked disappointed, and sighed a little as if with resignation. “I can certainly understand that, but it is a shame. I was looking forward to a real all-night gaming session, but I will just have to content myself with watching you wax my cousins over the course of a couple of hours. Some other time, maybe. Perhaps with enough urging on my part, your parents will relent. I’ll call up a car to take you all home. Until next time!”

The mood in the limo on the way back down was generally contented and happy. Riley actually fell asleep with her head on Jake’s shoulder. Jake and Seth were drinking the designer water as if they were dehydrated, and talking over particular moments of triumph in the games they’d played. Wanda kept to herself, but did have a slight smile on her face as she listened to the guys.

Staci was—just happy. It seemed that her friends had scored well with Sean, which meant she was no longer going to have to choose between time with him and time with them.

And Sean was going to help her with Mom…or at least, make sure that Mom didn’t screw up everything like she always did. Hopefully that would give her one less thing to worry about at home. Things finally seemed like they were looking up.

This had to be one of the best evenings she had ever had in her entire life.

Chapter Twelve

As always, when the weekend magic at the Blackthorne Estate was over, Staci felt…depressed was the only word for it. The contrast between
up there
and
down here
was just so enormous, and it was in a way that wasn’t entirely to do with money.
Down here
was always dull, the days always seemed to drag, there never seemed to be any sunshine. Everything was bland and uninteresting, except, of course, for her characters’ lives in the gang’s games. And…that wasn’t real life. It was so bland you couldn’t even say “Real life is horrible” because, except for when Mom’s boyfriend came after her…it wasn’t. It was just blah.

Mom’s boyfriend hadn’t reappeared…so Mom was out the two hundred bucks she had loaned him. She used that as an excuse for why the tip jar was now empty when Staci went to get groceries.
At least I have my credit card.
Mom could just starve, as far as Staci was concerned. She was buying salad stuff, whole wheat bread and things that required actual cooking, or things she knew Mom hated, like tuna fish. Unfortunately, the grocery store was pretty…well…stuck in the Fifties, like all of Silence, and it didn’t have things like hummus and pita, which Mom would never touch but Staci found very comforting. And when she wanted comfort food or was too lazy to cook, she went to the Burger Shack, the diner, or the pizza place and never ordered more than she could eat by herself.

This morning…with Mom sleeping off the weekend, the memories of the party where
everyone
had had fun, and the emptiness of the fridge staring at her, felt like a morning she was going to need comfort food. A great big plate of hash brown potatoes, scrambled eggs, and bacon was called for. After getting showered and dressed, she gathered up her shoulder bag and bicycle, pedaling for town and the diner.

Since she was “late” by the standards of the fishermen and dockworkers who usually ate here, the diner was empty, and Beth Phillips was doing busywork behind the counter. Rather than take a booth, Staci hopped up on a stool as Beth greeted her with a big grin.

“Hey, stranger! How have you been? Silence treating you okay?”

“Silence? Not so much.” Staci made a face, and ordered quickly. “But there are some bright spots.”

“One second while I finish this stuff up. Then dish. I never seem to have free time to do much around town, so I want details.” The other girl finished her prep work before plopping down on a stool next to Staci, pushing a large glass of orange juice in front of her. “On the house, but keep it between us.”

“Naw, my dad is paying for this. He can damn well afford it after dumping me here.” Staci smiled a little. “And a twenty percent tip, too. So…like I said, Silence sucks, but it turns out some of the people don’t. You—” she tipped the glass at Beth. “Some kids I met at the bookstore. Seth, Jake, Wanda and Riley.” She figured she would start with the “small stuff” first.

“I think I know them. They seem like a good bunch, if a bit on the nerdy side. It’s good that you found a group to hang out with, though! Everyone needs someone to hang with in this town, since there’s nothing else to really do, aside from watching paint dry. What else have you been up to?”

“Well…Sean Blackthorne’s been inviting me up there for parties,” Staci said coyly.

Beth’s eyes grew wide. “No joke?
The
Sean Blackthorne? Of
the
Blackthornes?”

Staci had to grin at that. “Yeah…I’m…kinda shocked. He turned up at the church hot dog thing, and next thing I know, he’s invited me up there. I’m still not sure why.”

She described everything that had happened—without the Leannan Sidhe or the Red Cap, of course, because the last thing she needed Beth to think was that she was crazy—as Beth hung on her every word. “And this weekend he invited the rest of the gang up there.”

“That’s insane! None of the upper crust ever takes an interest in anyone besides some of the jocks or the other popular kids.” Beth looked at her sidelong. “Sooo…have you made out with him yet?”

Staci wasn’t even going to pretend to be shocked. Seriously? She wasn’t ten. It wasn’t as if she hadn’t made out with guys before this. “No, and actually, I’m not sure why he hasn’t put any moves on me. I don’t think he’s gay. Maybe it’s ’cause he doesn’t want to take the risk with a lawyer’s daughter?”

“He obviously likes you, though. I mean, the limo rides, the parties…I’ve
never
heard of anything like that happening, not with him. Sean Blackthorne is the one and only, the unattainable. I’m not going to lie, I envy you, girl. Me and every other female with a pulse in Silence.”

She blushed. “Oh stop it. It’s not like there’s anything going on. I keep telling myself as soon as the novelty wears off he’ll drop me like a dead Tweet.” She looked earnestly at Beth. “I mean, that has to be all it is, right? The novelty?”

“I couldn’t say. He’s being
awfully
nice to you if it’s just because you’re new and shiny.” Beth frowned for a moment. “What’s the rest of his family like?”

Staci had to roll her eyes a little at that.
“Weird.
Well, okay only a couple of them are weird. There’s this Morrigan chick who is seriously Goth, and she and Wanda were like besties after ten seconds. And there’s some gamer guys, so, you know.” She shrugged. “The difference between Blackthorne gamer guys and regular gamer guys is the price of the toys. Otherwise, it’s eight straight hours of thumb exercise and then a break for food. Okay, the difference is the Blackthornes have twenty-six flavors of artisan popcorn and lobster rolls, and regular gamer guys have Cheezy Puffs and pizza that hasn’t quite turned into a board yet.”

“So…who’s creeping you out?” Beth prodded. “Because something—or maybe someone—is.”

How much can I tell her without giving too much away?
There was Finn. He was clearly trying to hurt people, and was just awful in person besides. But…then there were a few times when she had seen Sean angry. There was something there that she couldn’t put her finger on, and the fact that she didn’t know what it was bothered her.

“Well, there’s a couple of cousins. Finn and Meaghan. They’re…I dunno. It’s really hard to put a finger on it.” She thought a moment longer; what could she say? “Okay. Finn. He’s got this whole Cain-and-Abel thing going with Sean, and you know what? I think that could be literally. Meaghan. I get this
Game of Thrones
vibe from her, like she’s maybe one red dress away from being Cersei. And yeah, maybe literally.”

She saw the incomprehension on Beth’s face at the second. “Right. No HBO in Silence. Ah, how about…Lady Macbeth? And she’s trying to get Finn to do the stabby part for her. Anyway, I thought my family was dysfunctional, I think at least part of the Blackthornes take that to a whole new level.”

“So…there’s some kind of power struggle? What does that concern you, other than making boy-toy Sean unhappy?” Beth wriggled her eyebrows for that last part.

“Because where there is a power struggle, people are always looking for pawns or weapons. I don’t want to be either one.” That felt right.

“That actually brings up my next question. What
do
you want?”

“You would ask that.” She sighed. “I haven’t figured that part out yet. It’s complicated. I
really
like Sean, but he hasn’t put any moves on me, and I still haven’t figured out where that’s going, or if it’s going at all. And there’s another guy. Who
also
hasn’t put any moves on me.”

“The plot thickens! Who is this other guy, then? Someone from the bookstore…Seth?”

“No…it’s a guy I don’t think lives here.”
I don’t think camping counts as living here.
“I don’t even know if you’ve seen him around. His name’s Dylan, and he rides this amazing motorcycle.…”

“Oh…
that
guy. I’ve seen him around town. He’s been hassled by the cops a couple of times, looks kind of dangerous, right? Also…like you could iron your laundry on his abs. What about him? Do you know him or something?” Beth propped her chin on her hands and waited, avidly.

“I met him my first morning here. He’s the one that showed me how to get to the diner. I’d have starved otherwise.” Had that been an accidental meeting? With everything that had happened since, with the Red Cap, with Sean and Finn…now she wasn’t so sure. Would Dylan have seen that “elf ancestor” stuff on her and made a point of meeting her? “And I keep running into him. When Mom’s boyfriend came after me the other night, he even came riding to my rescue.” That was safe enough.

“Okay…so, what’s the deal? Do you like him, too? You said he came to your rescue—I won’t pry, I can tell that’s something kind of serious—but how do you feel about him?” Beth had lost that
okay, time to dish
look and had gotten more earnest. Staci liked her more and more each time she saw her.

She’s one of the good ones.
“That’s just it. I don’t know. It’s like with Sean, I can’t tell what either of them think, and I’m not going to, you know, get my hopes up until I’ve got some clues about it. If one or the other would actually
do
something, I’d have a better idea. I’m not exactly a mind reader. For all I know, they both think of me as a little sister or something equally lame.”
But maybe the reason Sean hasn’t done anything is to protect me. If Finn thought he was really interested in me…that might be bad. And I still don’t know what Dylan thinks. But maybe he’s trying to keep his distance for some other reason? Or maybe he’s one of those guys that doesn’t even want a hint of commitment?
“I guess I’ll have to be patient and wait and see what happens.”

“Hey, in the meantime…you’re going to
Blackthorne parties!
Which is about a million times better and more exciting than anything going on around here!” Beth sighed with envy.

“You certainly have a point there,” Staci agreed. She was about to say more when Ray called from the back. “Beth! Order up! And I need the salad cut up for lunch!”

“Back to the salt mines. If you ever have an extra invite for one of those parties, let me know. Anyways, I’ll be right back with your order.” She turned to the kitchen. “Coming, Ray!”

Beth returned with Staci’s heaping plate of food; it was more than Staci remembered getting the last time. “Ray thinks you’re too thin, and he knows about your mom,” Beth whispered. “I think he figures you never eat because she never cooks—according to him, moms are supposed to be the ones doing the cooking. Ray can be an asshole, most of the time, but he’s got a soft spot other than the one on his head.”

“Hey, come by the bookstore tonight and we’ll hang,” Staci replied. “The Nerd Squad are pretty cool and it’ll give me someone to talk to if they start in on gaming stats.”

They probably wouldn’t, though. They’d probably talk about the party, and that would give someone else for Beth to ask questions of. Someone who didn’t know about the
other
side of the Blackthornes…and Dylan.

* * *

Staci was mulling over whether she should try to talk to Tim again as she pedaled down the street on her bicycle. He definitely knew more than he had let on to her, even if he didn’t want to talk about it. She was pretty sure that she could trust him…at least with some of the details about what she had been through. And it might help her to get some better perspective on Sean and Dylan, hell, about elves in general, maybe.

She was so lost in thought that she almost didn’t notice until it was too late that there were three people just ahead of her, standing in the middle of the narrow street. She clutched the handbrake, bringing the bike to a screeching halt barely ten feet away from the people. They were young, around her age or a little older. All of them were boys, and dressed similarly; a sort of small-town version of “gangsta,” with sports jerseys under jackets, baggy pants with wallet chains, and tan work boots. Warning bells immediately went off in Staci’s head. She started to turn her bike around, when she heard more boots-on-asphalt behind her; two more boys had come from a side alley and positioned themselves behind her, blocking off the way she had come.

“Nice bike you’ve got there.”

Do they just want the bike? They can
have
the bike!
She couldn’t remember; were you supposed to talk to thugs who looked like they were going to come at you, or just run?

“I
said
, ‘nice bike.’ What, your momma didn’t teach you any manners, girl?”

She couldn’t see any weapons on the ones in front of her, but that didn’t mean anything. In New York, she’d
know
they had guns. Every street punk in New York had a gun. But here?
I haven’t seen a gun store. And I wouldn’t think the cops would have just talked to Dylan if they’d thought he was packing. But these guys could have knives, easy.

The one in the middle was the one doing the talking. He looked like the oldest of the bunch; probably out of high school, but not by much. He glanced nervously from side to side, and she could tell he was building up courage to do
something
, pumping himself up to keep his image up in front of his gang. Finally, it happened. The leader took a step towards her, his hand reaching for the handlebars. She knew that if they took hold of her, she was screwed, totally at their mercy. Instead, she did the first thing she could think of.

Staci ditched the bike, running to her left. She almost got tangled up on the bike as it crashed to the ground, but she was able to right herself and keep running. She could hear shouting behind her; it had taken a second for the thugs to process what had happened and start pursuing her. Her only chance now was to get away from them, get indoors somehow, get around people. Everything was a blur to her as she ran, clutching her shoulder bag close so that it wouldn’t get caught on anything or move around, slowing her down. The alley she was running in was narrow, with parts of it cluttered with shipping pallets, barrels, or bits of trash. The buildings on either side were really run-down; on the left, corrugated metal, weathered to a dusty silver, with streaks of rust down some of the corrugations. To her right, wood, once painted white, now flaking, the wood underneath sunbeaten to a dull gray. It was incredibly noisy; from inside both buildings it sounded as if poorly maintained machinery was running dangerously fast, clattering, and rattling. There was a smell of diesel exhaust, oil, the ocean, and over everything, fish. There wasn’t a single sign of another human being, even though
someone
had to be working in those buildings. Any of the doors she tried were locked, some of them chained shut. She could have screamed, shouted for someone, but she doubted that anyone would be able to hear her over the din. She couldn’t afford to stay still, either; the thugs were still behind her…and catching up.