The Fey (17 page)

Alex began clearing plates from the table.
Raz took the stack of plates from her and they walked into the
kitchen. Alex set to making a pot of coffee.

“
What do you think?” Raz
asked.

“
We either kill them or
invite them into our lives. With Eleazar breathing down my neck, we
don’t have a choice to wait and see or get to know them slowly over
time. And we can’t risk sending them back. They know too much.”
Alex shrugged. “We’ve done the intel. They seem to be good guys. I
think we should go ahead.”

“
I agree,” Raz
said.

When Alex returned to the dining room, they
were talking about Eimilie. John’s face was flushed red. He looked
down when she came into the room. Matthew stood, blocking Alex’s
access to the room, then took her hand. He shot John a disgusted
look.

“
Come on, let’s get some
coffee,” he said. Before he left the room, he turned to look at
John. “I told you what would happen if you fucked up.”

John looked up at Matthew then looked
away.

“
What happened?” Alex
asked.

“
They were talking about
John’s wife. I thought they were talking about you. I was getting
offended when…”

Raz came touched her shoulder then moved
into the dining room.

“
I just found out,” she
said.

“
Thank God Jesse’s dead.
He would have killed John,” Matthew said.

“
Actually, he’s all right
about the whole thing. He thinks John’s going to make it right.”
Alex shrugged.

Matthew crushed her in a hug. “Honey,
Jesse’s dead.”

“
Mattie, he’s still here.
He’s the one who told me where the soldiers were. He says that you
hear him in your head and even talk to him in your head, but you
pretend it’s not him.”

Matthew startled.

“
I’m sorry about all of
this.”

“
Oh Mattie, me too,” Alex
said. “Every single thing I depended on is gone. I mean, what’s
next? Max isn’t my twin?”

“
I’m here now,” Matthew
said. “And Troy will be here as soon as he finishes up.”

Alex nodded. “Thanks.”

“
For what?” Matthew asked
pouring a cup of coffee.

“
For being my friend,” she
said. “You know, I went from Basic training to Bosnia then Bosnia
to Special Forces training. I married John, or thought I did, the
day I left training. I don’t really know what to do. Should I move
out? Date other people? Maybe we should get re-married
but…”

Raising her shoulders in a shrug, she looked
away from him.

“
Alex, you and John have
something rare and very special.”

“
It was all a
lie.”

Shaking her head, she began to cry. Matthew
swept her into his arms, catching her. After a few moments, she
pushed the pain back into its tight box. She let out a breath,
kissed his cheek and stepped back.

“
We have to finish this,”
Alex said.

“
What can I
do?”

“
You’ve already done it.”
Alex arched one eyebrow. “My sister is very hard to
please.”

He burst out laughing.

Alex winked at him then carried the coffee
pot back into the dining room. She caught John’s eyes then looked
away to cover her sadness. John took her hand when she sat down
next to him.

“
What happens to us?” Cian
asked.

“
I’m glad you brought that
up,” Raz said. “We’ve spoken to your associates in Ireland. They
are willing to let you move to Denver, if you would like
to.”

Ben tapped two pieces of paper on the table.
“These are work visas. They are good for the next year. We believe
that a year is a long enough time for you to sort out what you
would like to do with your lives.”

“
And what do you want in
exchange for all of this?” Cian asked.

“
I’m going to need help
sorting all of this out,” John said.

“
I’d do that anyway,” Cian
said.

“
My brother, Max, is
John’s best friend,” Alex said. “He has offered space in his home
with a few conditions.”

“
You must find work.
Everyone works at our house,” Max said. “You must be wiling to join
the family which means that you make efforts to make seven o’clock
dinner and you help out around the house. “

“
More than anything,” Raz
said. “You must be loyal to us. We are not asking that you give up
your other loyalties, just that you are loyal to us.”

“
Who’s in this family?”
Eoin looked at Raz.

“
Everyone in this room,”
Alex said.

“
You mean, we get to move
here, have a place to live, find work in America and join you
guys?” Eoin looked at Cian and laughed.

“
I haven’t worked in a
long time,” Cian started. He shrugged then looked down.

“
I always wanted to own a
bakery,” Eoin said.

Cian looked at Eoin’s excited face. “How are
you going to do that?”

“
We can talk about that as
well,” John said.

“
Everyone sitting in this
room had someone step in to help them at one time or another,” Max
said. “We’d like to extend a little luck in your
direction.”

“
Why don’t you think about
it?” Alex asked. “I hate to eat and run, but I’m supposed to meet
my family at Mass in,” Alex looked at her watch, “crap, forty
minutes. I need to get Alyssa-ed up.”

“
You’re welcome to join us
for Mass,” Max said. Wrinkling his nose, he added, “Maybe after a
shower.”

“
We don’t have any midget
clothing here,” John said.

“
I brought their
suitcases,” Raz said.

“
Then we’re set,” Alex
said.

She ran up the stairs to the bathroom.
Standing under the warm shower, her sadness rushed forward and
tears dropped from her eyes. Her mind repeated the logic–you’re
married to John Drayson, not John Kelly–but her heart only felt the
betrayal of his lie. When she felt the water pressure shift with
someone taking a shower in the basement, she knew she needed to
keep moving. Wiping her eyes, she pushed her emotions away again
and stepped out of the shower.

One thing was true: Eleazar was good at his
job. He was destroying the very fabric of her life.

F

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Three hours later

August 19 – 11:24 A.M.

Cherry Hills Estates, Denver, Colorado

“
Pumpkin, I need to speak
with you,” Patrick Hargreaves said.

Alex was standing on their back deck of her
parents’ Cherry Hills home. When her parents were in town, the
family met at their home after Sunday Mass.

Today, Alex and Max were inseparable. Where
one went, the other followed. John was Max’s best friend, the best
friend he had lied to for fourteen years. Max might have let it go,
but he felt Alex’s struggle in a deep visceral way. When Alex
withdrew into her connection with Max, everyone was locked out of
the twins’ world.

Alex turned to look at her father.

“
Why?” she
asked.

“
Ben suggested that you
and I discuss something,” he said, “in private.”

Alex looked at Max then two alike faces
turned to look at their father.

“
No thanks,” Max replied.
They turned their backs to their father.

“
Alexandra,” Patrick
said.

Alex turned her head toward Patrick.

“
I’ve had a very difficult
night and no sleep. I don’t think I can do any more.”

“
You don’t have a choice,”
Ben said. He walked to stand next to Patrick. “I’m sorry Alex, but
after last night, we must clear the closet.”

“
What does that mean?” Max
asked.

Ben looked at Max and shook his head. “Our
closet.”

“
Why do I care about the
skeletons that lie in your closet?” Alex asked.

“
Because they involve
you,” Rebecca said. She moved across the deck to Ben and Patrick.
Patrick put his arm around Rebecca and she smiled up at
him.

“
What? Max’s not really my
twin?” Alex asked. Her squinted eyes reflected her anger. “Why do
we look exactly alike?”

Ben laughed at Alex. “Picked the worst
thing?”

“
I picked the only thing
left that matters to me,” Alex said. “Screw this. Come on Max.
Let’s go home.”

“
Alex, he will use the
truth to destroy you again,” Ben said.

“
Fine, spill it, then we
leave,” Alex said.

“
We’re adopted,” Max
asked.

“
You found us on the
doorstep,” Alex said.

“
We’re aliens,” Max
said.

“
Worse, we’re illegal
aliens,” Alex said. She made a face at Patrick’s latest political
drama.

“
I was a girl,” Max
said.

“
I was a boy.”

“
We don’t actually exist,”
Max said.

“
We were
conjoined.”

“
We only have one brain,”
Max said.

“
Hey, that’s good.” Alex
and Max looked at each other and laughed.

“
You’re not going to
intervene?” She looked at Patrick then Ben.

“
They’re pretty funny,”
Ben said. Switching to French, he said to Alex and Max, “Nothing
pains me more than to cause you misery, especially today. After
Walter Reed, you made me promise to never keep an important truth
from you. There’s an important truth you do not know.”

“
We’ll do it together,”
Max replied in French.

“
Fine,” Ben replied.
Turning to Rebecca and Patrick, “They are willing to listen if they
do it together.”

Patrick nodded. “Let’s go to my office.”

Alex and Max followed their parents and Ben
into the house and upstairs to Patrick’s home office. As they
walked passed, their siblings turned to watch the glum parade. John
moved to follow Alex and Max but Alex shook her head. Standing at
the bottom of the stairs, he watched them until they were out of
sight.

Patrick flipped on the office lights. He
gestured toward the leather furniture grouped around his gas
fireplace. Alex and Max pressed against each other in a leather
armchair. Ben took the armchair opposite to them. Rebecca and
Patrick sat together on the couch. They sat in silence.

Alex made a face, then looked at Max. The
twins moved to leave.

“
Please sit down,” Rebecca
said. “I’m sorry. I can’t imagine what you think.”

Alex and Max looked at each other again,
then sat down. The silence continued.

“
Who would like to go
first?” Alex asked. Her scowl and sarcastic tone expressed her
disgust.

“
I’m your father,” Ben
said.

“
Benjamin, God damn it,”
Rebecca said. “There are better ways to…”

Alex’s fake blue eyes held Ben’s brown.

“
Metaphorically?
Biologically? Spiritually? Intellectually?”

“
Biologically,” Patrick
said.

“
Is that all?” Max
asked.

Alex and Max walked from the room. Alex
heard their parents voices behind them but she didn’t care. They
walked down the stairs and out of the house to Max’s car. John ran
after them.

“
We need some twin time,”
Max said closing his door.

“
I’ll wait for you at
home.”

Alex raised her hand to wave good-bye but
when he caught her eyes, she was somewhere else. John closed his
eyes and touched her dog tag around his neck. His mind filled with
the horror that he had lost her forever. When he opened his eyes,
Patrick was standing next to him.

“
I…” Patrick
started.

“
You are not putting me in
the middle. My allegiance is with them. Period. I’m going
home.”

“
What did you do?” Erin
screamed at her father.

“
It’s none of your
business, Erin. Go back inside,” Patrick said.

“
Oh no. I let you push
Alex away once before and did nothing. I’m an adult now and you
will not push my sister out of my life again. I’m leaving. Come on
Matt,” Erin said.

Matthew raised his eyebrows. Turning into
the house for their jackets, he ran into Colin.

“
What’s going on?” Colin
asked.

“
Dad pushed Alex and Max
away again. They’re really gone this time.”

Colin shook his head.

“
You never understood, did
you Dad?” Colin said. “They don’t need us. They never needed us. We
need them. This family can’t survive without them.”

Turning, Colin walked into the house passing
Matthew on his way out of the house with their jackets and Erin’s
purse. Without another word, Matthew and Erin got in the car. They
followed John’s car out of the driveway. Colin and Julie came out
of the house.

Colin put a hand on his father’s arm, “You’d
better fix this.” They climbed into their car and drove out of the
driveway.

Samantha stood in the doorway. With a flip
of her hair, she walked to her car.

Patrick turned to see Rebecca come from the
house.

“
Where did everyone go?”
Rebecca said.