The Spider Catcher (Redemption by A.L. Tyler Book 1) (13 page)

As she sniffed and wiped at her face with her good hand, he lowered his lips to kiss the cut, long and slow.

Ember laughed through her tears, pulling her hand back. “Acton, you shouldn’t wish that you were dead.  You’re a good person, and a good friend.”

He didn’t remember when he had said that to her.  He had said a lot of things to test her emotional depth.

“It’s me,” she said, her voice quivering.  “I’m a bad person.  That’s why no one loves me.  I wish I was dead.”

Acton coughed, licking the blood off of his lips and settling back onto the ground. He felt sick, but she was right.  The stars were beautiful tonight.

When Ember awoke the next evening, and saw her little spider dangling above her bed in the organic dream catcher that he had carefully spun, it took her a moment to gather her thoughts. Her body ached everywhere, and she had the fleeting notion that cold water could do that to a person.

She got up out of the bed and started pacing, but her legs were too stiff. She went to the bathroom and filled the tub with hot water, stripping out of the sweat suit that Acton had given her. It was too big for her, and must have been one of his. She set it by the door and got into the bathtub, letting the heat soak through her as she planned her next move.

Not human
. The words rang in her head, and she couldn’t decide how she felt about it. She thought she had seen his eyes glow, like an animal’s eyes, but that could have been a trick of the light. He had made her see things—lights, and beauty in the night and the forest—but that could have been anything from alcohol to something he had put in her drink.

Ember sank lower into the tub, dunking her head under to get the ocean smell out of her hair.

Acton had pulled her out of the freezing water, and it hadn’t affected him at all. He had just hung out in the night, and the wind, in his soaking clothes, and he hadn’t even looked cold—it should have put him into shock, at least.

That one was harder to explain away.

As Ember tried to puzzle it out, she washed her hair, and when the water in the tub was too cold, she stood up to shower off. When she got out and started to towel off, a different question crossed her mind.

Acton would be expecting her that night, and she wasn’t sure if it was safe to go with him. He was her friend, and he wanted her. Looking at her reflection in the mirror, she tried to smile; it was something to hope for, at least.

She wondered if she should dress up or wear something fit for hiking across the island. As she bandaged her injured palm, she hoped she hadn’t ruined the sheets with blood. She should have wrapped it when she got home, but she didn’t remember coming home.  It was odd, because forgetting that one detail, she remembered more about the previous night than she did almost any other so far.

Butterflies erupted in her stomach when she thought of Acton’s lips on her hand, and the sad look in his eyes as he had kissed her. She hadn’t really thought of him as anything more than a friend, and now she wasn’t sure what he thought of her.

As Ember quietly puzzled, walking back to her bedroom as she contemplated the thought that she might not die alone, she had no warning for what she was about to see.

The room was empty, and it stopped her in her tracks. Her suitcase was gone, and the clothes, and the bed sheets and blankets and pillows. Even the mattress was gone. Her drapes had been stripped from the window, and as Ember walked forward, frowning, she saw the blaze going in the backyard—a pillar of fire that stretched clear to the second story of the house. Tendrils of red and orange curling into the darkening night as sparks drifted like deadly fireflies from every hot wisp.

And down in the yard, pitching in one item after another was Gina, working in a frenzy to empty Ember’s suitcase into the blaze before throwing in the bag itself. She hurled in the bedclothes, and finally, a small, bundled wad that looked uncannily like Acton’s sweat suit.

Ember stood slack-jawed, now with nothing to wear but a towel as she watched the rest of her things burn up. Gina raised her hands to grab at her hair before lowering her clenched fists to her sides, screaming into the fireball in front of her.

Chapter 13

As Ember stood looking out the window, unsure about what would come next, she heard soft footsteps behind her. She turned to see Thalia next to her, looking out at her mother pacing around the fire, with regret.

“She said it was the smell,” Thalia said finally. “She could smell them on everything, and she couldn’t take it anymore. Not inside the house.”

Ember was almost speechless. Thalia was so calm about it. “Is she crazy?”

“She…well, no.” Thalia’s face had crunched up in concentration. “She’s just protecting us, from all of the bad people on the island.”

“Who?” Ember asked.

Thalia shook her head, looking at the floor. “Everyone. Come on, I’ll get you some clothes.”

Ember followed Thalia to her room, and was shocked to realize that Thalia didn’t have a room of her own after all. There were two beds, identically made with blue quilts, that shared a wide nightstand between them. The walls were covered with an old floral pattern wallpaper, and the lampshade on the light between the beds was so old that it had turned from white to yellow in spots.

“You sleep with Nan?” Ember asked incredulously.

“Nan has her own room.” Thalia explained, walking over to a wardrobe that was wedged between the wall and the foot of one of the beds. “I sleep with mom.” When she turned around and saw the look of horrified bewilderment on Ember’s face, she smiled politely. “I like it that way. It makes me feel safe, and she likes to keep me close. I hope these fit you——they fit me and mom. You just have to roll the waist up, and the sleeves and the cuffs sometimes, and make sure your belt is tight enough.”

Ember looked down at the pants and shirt that Thalia had handed her, and her sister shyly excused herself from the room so that Ember could dress. Ember shook her head in disbelief as she laid out the pants and shirt; they were both made from simple cotton. The green shirt had buttons down the front, but the pants operated by a simple drawstring. As Thalia had indicated, they both fit marginally well once they had been rolled up in the right places, but she wasn’t about to borrow the underthings of her crazy mother or frail sister—that would cross a line to intimacy that didn’t exist.

However, she did look through the drawers, one by one, until she located a small metal box on one side of the nightstand that had a wad of money in it. Ember could only assume that her cash was gone, and she was going to need to replace a few things. Her mother’s habit so far had been to take her keep out of her trust fund, so she couldn’t see why taking some money would be any different. Fair was fair—Gina had taken her money away, and she was going to take it back.

But as she took the money out of the little box, and quickly counted out more than five thousand dollars, she knew she wasn’t going to steal it.

She set it back in the box and closed the lid, staring mournfully at her chance to buy underwear and shoes. Makeup, books, and jeans; Gina had taken it all. But as Ember stared longingly into the nightstand drawer, she saw something else, pushed to the very back behind a little tray of pens and notepads, and next to a little bag of potpourri.

It was a stack of all of the letters that Ember had sent over the years. She picked them up, thumbing through them absently, and hardly believing that anyone had bothered to keep them all. Gina didn’t seem like the sentimental sort. Some of them were years old—large letters drawn in crayon on the back of childish drawings, but even from a young age, Ember had impeccable spelling. She sighed, going to put the letters back, but noticed that they had been sitting on top of a stack of photographs in the drawer.

She slowly pulled out each one of her school photos, one for each year that she had been away, ending with the photo she had sent with her last letter. The letter she had sent to her mother to say that she was unhappy at school, and that she wanted to come home.

“Ember?”

Ember looked up sharply to see Thalia’s face poking out from behind the door.

“Oh…” She said, sliding into the room and shutting the door behind her. She sat on the opposite bed to face her sister as Ember put the photos back under the stack of her letters and snapped the drawer shut. “Mom wanted to get rid of those, but I asked if I could have them. I wanted to know what you looked like. I guess I could have just looked in the mirror.”

Thalia laughed nervously. Ember only frowned.

“Am I going to have to sleep in here with you, and her?” She asked.

Thalia matched her frown, and quickly looked down again. “No, mom doesn’t want you getting attached. She said you could have Nan’s bed.”

“I don’t think getting attached will be a problem for me anymore, but thanks for clearing that up.” As Ember stood up to look out the window at the bonfire still burning in the backyard, Thalia smiled brightly. “I’m sleeping with Nan?”

“No, just in her bed.”

“Where’d she go?” Ember asked, turning back.

Thalia’s face grew long and dark as she stared hard at the floor. “They had an argument about you, and Nan left. I don’t know when she’s coming back, but mom said you could sleep in her bed. But just shower before you get in it, or she might have to burn that one, too.”

Ember pressed her hands together, bringing them to her lips. As Thalia sat on the edge of the bed, with her hair pulled back in a ribbon and wearing a simple yellow plaid dress, Ember couldn’t help but think that she was naïve to a dangerous extent. She was supposed to be the older sister, but she acted like she was ten, and even living with a maniac like Gina, she was still innocent.

“Thalia,” Ember said, sitting down next to her. “Earlier, you said that mom is trying to protect us from the bad people, and that the bad people are everyone on the island. What makes them bad?”

Thalia frowned, shifting and making the mattress bounce nervously beneath them both. She paced to the window and looked out, and then came back to sit by Ember.

“Mom told me not to tell you, but I hate it when you go out,” she said in a whisper. “They’re demons, Ember.”

Ember thought she had steeled herself against anything her sister could have said, and any idea that Gina could have planted in her head. Even so, she felt her eyes go wide. “Demons? As in, fire and brimstone and Satan, demons?”

Thalia nodded solemnly. “But these demons don’t like fire and brimstone. They’re cold, and they hurt people—”

The door opened, and both girls jumped. Gina stood in the doorway, covered in a fine layer of ash and dust, smelling of smoke, and wearing an impassive expression. “’Lia, go downstairs. I need to speak with Ember.”

Thalia rushed from the room with her head down. Ember met her mother’s stare head on, and refused to blink.

“I am sorry that I had to burn all of your things, Ember.” Gina shut the door, and started to unbutton her ash-covered shirt, sweeping sweat off her brow and back through her frizzy hair. “I don’t know what came over me. I seem to get this way when you’re around. I think it would be best if you left now, so I’ve arranged for you to take a boat back to mainland tomorrow. You’re out of clothes anyways, so it will be better for you to get back—“

“I know what they are.” Ember said quietly.

Pausing, Gina took a deep breath. She stared at the wall above the hamper as she gently dropped her shirt in. “Excuse me?”

“Acton.” Ember said quietly. “I know that he’s not……normal.”

Gina spun around, crossing her arms over her white cotton undershirt. “Ember…”

“They’re not evil.” Ember said quietly. “And they’re certainly not demons.”

Gina pressed her lips together, exhaling slowly and diverting her gaze. Ember waited patiently.

“I don’t know what Acton has been telling you.” Gina said quickly. “And you couldn’t possibly remember, because he’s been—“

“Not anymore.” Ember said quietly. “I remember last night just fine. I didn’t get drunk last night.”

“You remember what he
wants
you to remember!” Gina said with a sudden flare of anger. “Ember, he is using you to get to me, and he is succeeding. I need you to leave now.”

“He’s the best friend I’ve ever had!” Ember shouted back.

Shaking, Gina walked over to her, clenching her fists to reduce the urge to grab Ember by the shoulders. “You have come home freezing. You have come home sick. You have had alcohol poisoning, and bruises, and burns—“

“And I remember
none
of that!” Ember said, standing and walking to the door. Gina grabbed her hand, turning it over to reveal the bandaged cut. Ember rolled her eyes. “I fell last night. It was an accident.”

Gina pressed her lips together and shook her head, very slightly. “This cut is more than a week old, Ember.  If you don’t believe me, look at where it’s started to scar around the edges.  He makes you do awful things. Things I won’t even tell you—“

“You are
paranoid
.” Ember said with finality, pulling her hand away. “And if you really thought he was doing those things, then why would you let me go out? Why wouldn’t you stop me? Why wouldn’t you stop him?”

The look in Gina’s eyes burned—
burned
, like the fire was inside of her, just beneath the surface—and her lip curled in disgust at the same time it started to tremble. “Because I wanted this to end cleanly, and I didn’t want anyone to get hurt, but you seem to be in league with them now. So you go, Ember—go be with your
friends
. It will all be over soon enough.”

Despite the hot tension boiling beneath Gina’s skin, an unusual calm had come over Ember. She dropped her hands to her sides. “What does that mean?”

“Nothing.” Gina repeated, taking a deep breath and shaking her head. She turned toward the window, dressed with limp, hand-sewn drapes that reminded Ember too much of the shirt and pants she was wearing. “Go—I want you to go. I can’t think straight when you’re here. You’re throwing your life away. The life
I
gave you.”

Ember had her hand on the doorknob at her back, clutching it like was a weapon that could save her. Gina only seemed interested in getting out of her sooty clothes and into the shower as quickly as possible, so Ember went downstairs, borrowed a pair of Thalia’s shoes, and walked out the door.

She went into the backyard and jumped up on the wall to sit and watch her bedroom finish smoldering. As she sat up on the wall, Acton was suddenly standing next to her on the ground outside the yard. He crossed his arms to lean in, watching the fire.

“That’s a new look for you,” he said finally.

Ember nodded. “She burned all of my stuff.”

“I know.” Acton replied. “I watched. So why are you so upset?”

“There was a spider in my room. Above my bed, and I think he might have fallen in when she took the sheets and stuff out and burned it.” Ember said, staring at the charred mess in front of them, still spewing flames from the red hot spots. “I feel like I should have put him out the window sooner.”

Acton stared at her for a moment, considering, and then raised his eyebrows as he went back to watching the fire burn itself out.

“Are you going to hurt me?” Ember asked. When he didn’t respond, she looked over to see him giving her the same sidelong look. “It’s just…Thalia thinks…well, she said—“

“Demon?” Acton offered for her. “Ember, if I were going to kill you, I would have done it already.”

Ember bit her lip, shaking her head. “Why didn’t you?”

Acton sighed, turning his back on the fire to lean against the wall. “I had a realization. You’re not one of them. You’re one of us. Come on——“ He offered his hand to help her off the wall, “I’ll take you to town, and we’ll replace the things you’ve lost.”

She swung her legs over the wall, and took his hand as she slid off. “I don’t have any money…”

“You have half the damn island in cash, as I understand it.” Acton said, laying his hand on her back to guide her into the woods.

“No, I mean, I don’t have any on me,” she said, looking up at him.

Acton nodded, slightly irritated that she would make him clarify the point. “I’ll pay for everything, Em.  Stop worrying about it.”

She stopped, her hands fidgeting with the front of her shirt. Sighing, Acton turned to face her.

“A demon?” She said finally.

Acton turned his head slightly to the side as he thought. She didn’t seem afraid of him. “I’ve been this way my whole life. It’s just who I am, but your mother calls me a demon.  Is that what you think of me as well?”

She thought for a moment. Acton waited patiently.

“No.”

“No.” His lips twitched at a smile. “Then let’s get to town. You look like Thalia wearing those things.”

Ember pursed her lips and nodded. When he settled his hand on her back as they went, she walked a little closer to him. The forest was quiet the entire way to town.

When Acton stopped on the street, she wasn’t sure exactly where they were going until he opened the door for her. She took a step back to look at the sign, and realized that there wasn’t one.

“This is Bateman’s.” Acton said. “He’s the only grocer on the island. He supplies gas for the tractors, collects and delivers mail, and sells general goods.”