The Spider Catcher (Redemption by A.L. Tyler Book 1) (25 page)

Chapter 25

Three days passed without incident; Zinny counted every minute of every day.  Ember accepted their way of life with a quiet grace that was admirable, and even when she was horrified, she was grateful.  Isaac and Asher never made a harmful move against her.  Acton was experiencing what was probably the longest stretch of non-boredom in his life.  Perhaps most importantly, Gina never came knocking.

Zinny waited, every moment of every day, for everything to fall apart, but it never did.

Acton hadn’t engaged in her ideal of a family life since he had become old enough to struggle free and strike out on his own, but now, he had traded his overnight haunts and illicit trips away from the island for late nights at home with his brothers.  He didn’t have to go out looking for trouble when he had it living in his home.

Even as Ember’s presence brought the dark shadow of Gina’s ever present threat to hang over the house, Zinny found herself relieved.  She hadn’t known a moment without fear since Acton’s birth, but now, at least, he was at home.  They were all together, and that was how things should be.

The girl was the miracle she had prayed for.  When the movies came on, she would bring a book down from the bedroom and sit next to Acton, reading and looking up occasionally.  She sat right next to him, with his arm around her, and acted like it was nothing.

No one had ever demonstrated such trust.  Acton had never allowed anyone to trust him to that extent.  When she fell asleep next to him would lie with her on the couch.  He allowed her to follow him wherever he went, and walked on her behalf so that she could keep up.  He hadn’t even extended that privilege to Isaac.

Someday, one of them was likely to be the death of the other, but the calm that ensued when they were together was so overwhelming that it was hard to do anything but watch, wait, and breathe a deep sigh of relief after so many years of tense risk.

Ember gave Asher an audience when he wished to entertain.  She ate the food that Zinny cooked, and sat around the fires at night while Isaac skinned rabbits or cleaned the empty carapaces of dead crabs.  She was never afraid; Isaac was still suspicious, but with every trinket she left outside his door, he was slowly coming around.

At odd times of the day, Acton would offer to walk with her, and they would leave the house for hours.  Zinny wasn’t so naïve that she couldn’t guess what they were doing.  Asher mocked them for it.  Isaac became sullen and jealous that Acton’s new toy had so thoroughly captivated him.  But that was just it—Acton had brought home many new “friends,” but none of them had held his attention like Ember.  The others were toys, but Ember was different.

He wanted to buy furniture, for his bedroom…for her.  Zinny had tried not to laugh at him when he had broached the subject; he was making plans.

After every outing, when she returned slightly disheveled and he was only quiet, Ember would pause as she walked past Isaac’s door on the way to Acton’s bedroom.  She found little things in the forest.  They were insignificant to everyone else, but she had figured him out.  Isaac was a hoarder, and each smooth stone, piece of oddly shaped bark, and tiny rabbit skull was a small gift. 

It was unlikely that she would ever fully win him over, but she had at least broken even on the day that she left him a swatch of her pants leg with dried blood on it.  She had caught her foot on a jagged branch during one of their nature hikes, and though the cut was unremarkably superficial, the stain had dried into an odd resemblance of a seagull.

Almost a week later, Isaac came home to announce that there were visitors on the island.  Ember had looked up from her book on the couch, and then glanced at Acton. 

“They know about me?”  He asked without looking over.

Isaac nodded.  “They want to meet you.  At the bar.”

“I’m busy.”

“They have questions about the—“  Isaac paused, staring with consideration at Ember. 
Them
; that was the word he liked to use.  When he finished, Zinny was surprised.  “The Gillespies.  They have questions about the Gillespies.”

Acton stretched as he got up from the chair, and started walking to the stairs.  “Zinny, you’ll need to find something appropriate for her to wear.”

That was how Ember came to be dressed in a traditional geisha’s kimono and obi on a late Thursday afternoon.  Her hair was too short to do anything fancy, but Zinny had styled it all the same.  She overdid the makeup, which made Ember laugh; the significance of being dressed like a geisha wasn’t lost on her.

Zinny had a somewhat twisted sense of humor.

In a far corner of Zinny’s bar, they had pushed together three of the small, circular tables.  Isaac was sitting at one, and Kaylee was sitting in his lap, her legs crossed as she filed the nails on her remaining fingers, awkwardly clutching and maneuvering the file.  She had taken to wearing a glove on her damaged hand to hide her missing digits until they grew back, and smiled overly civilly at Ember when she caught her staring.

Ember sat back in her chair, letting Acton’s form block their eye contact.  Zinny was on her other side, wearing a gold Elizabethan era dress with a collar that would have made the queen proud, and Asher was on her other side.  The people standing in front of them looked homeless.

Their eyes darted back and forth across all of the attendants at the table, assessing whether or not they were to be trusted.  Both of the men had shaggy beards and crazed eyes; Ember wondered if they were brothers.

“Well?”  Acton prompted.

The one on the left barred his teeth in a snarl, revealing yellow and brown nubs where his teeth had been.  “You’re Acton?”

He nodded.

“You own this island?”  He pressed.  “You live with the hunters?”

“There are rules.”  Zinny said in a cool tone.  “They leave us alone and we—well, they leave us alone, as long as there isn’t any trouble with humans.  Interfere with the humans in a harmful way, and they will return the favor.”

Ember tried to suppress a snort; Zinny had almost asserted that they left the hunters alone.  That clearly wasn’t the case anymore.  When her attention returned to the strangers, she saw that all four of their pale, shallow, bloodshot eyes were focused on her.

“She doesn’t carry the curse,” the first brother said. 

“She’s mine.”  Acton said forcefully.  Ember didn’t see Zinny move, but the tension coming off of her was palpable.  She was preparing to launch herself across the table.

“You keep her for fun?” The brother cracked a smile.

“I keep her for my own purposes.”  Acton did not look entertained.  “Don’t touch her, and don’t try to make your own pet.  She’s the only exception the hunters have allowed, and they only make exceptions for me.”

The smile turned to a sneer, and Ember felt her heart start to race as the second brother remained silent.  His expression hadn’t changed at all since the talking had started, and Ember was beginning to wonder if he was mentally handicapped or mute.  But as their eyes met, a slow smile spread across the second brother’s face, and his eyes narrowed and they wandered up and down. 

Ember shuddered, looking away.

“And why are you so lucky, boy?”  The first brother was asking. 

In a blur, the second brother lunged, but stopped suddenly, turning his hungry gaze back on the first brother, who was beginning to look increasingly uncomfortable.  The crazed brother’s teeth snapped inches from his face.

“I don’t like people who disregard my rules,” Acton said calmly.  “So now you’re warned.  Try it again, and I’ll make you do to each other what he was going to do to her.”  His eyes turned cold and serious.  “That’s why I’m so lucky.”

The first brother seemed sufficiently convinced, but he wasn’t happy about it.  “You said humans were protected…”

“She’s not human.”  Zinny said quickly, and Acton looked over.  He was annoyed, though it was hard to say if it was because of Zinny’s constant interjections or the brothers’ general existence. “She’s the second daughter of the resident hunter, which is another reason to leave this one alone.”

Ember swallowed hard, trying not to let the smell and appearance of the two men scare her. They looked and acted like human incarnations of rabid, mangy dogs.  She glanced back and forth between Acton and Zinny, and realized that they were trying to align themselves with the power of the hunters with her presence.  She hoped it worked.

“Bullshit…”  The first brother said.

“She looks exactly like her mother.”  Asher added, and for the first time, Ember didn’t see him smiling.  As if he heard her thoughts, he suddenly sat up straighter, and a gleam appeared in his eye.  “Still looks a lot like her sister, too, despite my best efforts.  There’s the other daughter.”

The two brothers turned, and despite her fear, Ember stood up to see around them.

With half her face covered in black and blue bruises, Thalia was standing in the front entrance to the bar, with the late afternoon sun glowing around her silhouette.  She was alone, and must have been terrified, but she didn’t look it.  Across the crowded room of demons, she was only looking at Ember.

Acton gave her a quick nod as she looked over without a word, and Ember rushed from behind the tables to the front of the bar, grabbing Thalia into a hug.  The older girl placed her arms lightly on Ember’s back as she nearly had the breath squeezed out of her.

“Thalia!”  Ember said, finally letting her go, and stepping back to examine her.  The bruises were bad.  “Are you okay?”

“I will be.”  She responded, looking at the floor.  Her hair was done into herringbone pigtails, which was much fancier than the simple braid or bun that she usually wore.  “Mom was afraid because I couldn’t see out of my eye for a moment.  The doctor said I had a mild concussion, and some shock, and I broke my cheek, but just a little.  I lost a tooth.”

She pulled back her cheek to show Ember, who cringed, and then hugged her again.

“I’m sorry,”  she whispered.  “I’m sorry that happened to you.”

Thalia nodded.  “It’s okay.  I know it wasn’t your fault.  But Ember, I need you to come with me.”

Ember looked at her seriously.  “I’m not leaving them.  They take care of me.  They’re my family now, too, ‘Lia.  As much as you are.”

Thalia looked like she was going to cry as she shuffled her feet and stared at the floor.  She mumbled something.

“What?”

“I said,” she started louder.  “I think something bad happened to Nan.  Can we just go for a walk, and I’ll tell you?”

Ember frowned; if Ethel hadn’t returned yet, then she had been gone for at least two weeks.  “Sure.”

She followed her out onto Main, and then into the forest.  Ember knew that Thalia was leading her back to the house, but decided she would hear what she had to say first.  Acton knew where she was, and she was sure he would come if she called.  Even if he didn’t owe her any loyalty, she had added a new aspect to his power that she was sure he wouldn’t give up easily.

“Are you okay?”  Thalia asked.

“I’m fine.”  Ember responded curtly.

“Are they taking care of you?  Feeding you?”  Thalia asked urgently.  “Did they hurt you?”

“Yes, yes, and no.”  Ember responded.  “They’re not evil, ‘Lia.” 

“Then they’re manipulating you.”  Thalia seemed certain.  “Acton is very good at manipulating people.  He only wants you until you give up whatever it is he needs.”

“He’s not the monster you think he is.”  Ember turned around, taking care to hold up her kimono; Main had disappeared in the trees.  It was one of the few days on the island where the fog and clouds weren’t threatening to drench everything, and it was beautiful.  It was exactly the kind of walk, on exactly the kind of day, that she had imagined taking with the sister she had always wished for.  “Well, yeah, he kind of is, but not to me.  We have a deeper relationship than that.  I kind of get why he does it.”

“Why?”

“Mom.”  Ember smiled sardonically.  “Have you met mom?”

Thalia didn’t look amused.  As she flashed Ember a shocked glare, the contrast of the white of her eye against the black and blue swelling of collected blood beneath it made Ember cringe.  “If you knew what he did…”

Ember rolled her eyes.  “Am I the only one that doesn’t know?  Please, ‘Lia, tell me what he did.”

Turning to face Ember, Thalia stopped.  The look on her bruised face was sad and serious; whatever Acton had done, it must have been unimaginably bad.

Thalia finally shrugged, looking away.  “Ember, I am so sorry.  It’s just that you can’t help yourself.”

Ember didn’t even have the chance to yell before the cloth landed over her nose and mouth, and she felt strong arms keeping her from running away.  The kimono tangled around her legs, and she felt her body going gently to the ground.  Her mother’s voice was in her ear, filled with sadness as the darkness fell around her.

“I’m sorry, Ember, I’m sorry…there’s just no other way…”

Chapter 26

The days went by slower than Ember had ever known they could.

She had managed to keep time for the first two days, awake and screaming, tied by her wrists and ankles to her bedframe.  But time wore on, and Acton didn’t come for her, and she was starving. 

The ropes on her ankles were replaced with chains and padlocks, her wrists were released, and she was allowed a bucket to use as a toilet.  Water appeared by her bedside when she slept, announced by the quick retreat of mouse-like footsteps as Thalia ran away.

They didn’t know.  When they left, the pale woman came, and her face floated like a ghastly specter.  She laughed at Ember’s pitiful state, but it seemed no one else could see her.

They had removed everything from the room except the mattress, the blankets, and the heavy wrought iron bedframe.  The bucket was made of plastic, and too light to use as a weapon or throw through the window.

The sun rose, and set, and rose, and set, and soon, Ember wasn’t even sure how long it had been.  She was nearly certain that she was going to die in her bedroom, and then Gina would burn her, bury her, and write the school that she wouldn’t be returning.

She didn’t have any friends.  No one would look for her.

It was a cold day, late in the season, when Gina found herself looking up from the last of her tomato crop to see Ethel walking back towards the house with a young man in tow.  He had grown since the last time she had seen him, but his face was the same.  Round and gloomy, and shrouded with brown hair.  He was taller than she expected him to be.

“Theodore,” she said, suppressing the surprise she felt and the urge to hug him.  “You said you’d never set foot on this island again.”

Looking around and blinking grimly, he shrugged.  “I made an exception when I found out it was Acton Knox.  I’m not staying.”

“I wouldn’t let you.”  Gina snorted, but smiled gently.

Theo nodded.  “I know.”

Ethel’s voice was cold when she spoke.  She didn’t bother asking what had happened to Ember, or where she was, or how she was.  She had known all along that it would happen, but she wasn’t the kind of person to rub it in when someone else had messed up their kid.  “Let’s just get it done, then.”

Gina nodded, looking at the ground.  “They’ve left us alone since—“

“I don’t give a shit, Gina.”  Ethel pushed past her and towards the house.  “You’re going to let him do this, or you’re going to watch her die.  I’m making that decision for you.”

With a long, apologetic look, Theo followed her.  There was another girl, the spitting image of her mother years before, slowly stirring soup in the kitchen.  She stared at the wall as if her life depended on it; she wasn’t lost in thought, or daydreaming.  She only stared.

“’Lia this is Theo.”  Ethel said shortly.  “Friend of the family.”

As she looked over, Theo saw the yellow side of her face, where she had taken a hard blow recently.  Tulukaruk wasn’t a place for humans, the daughters of angels or not.  The girl nodded at him.

“Would you like something to eat, Theo?”  She asked, her voice barely a whisper.

He shook his head, frowning.  “No.  No, thank you.  I’m here to see your sis—“

Thalia turned away sharply, staring out the kitchen window.

Theo turned to look at Ethel, who bore the same stony expression that she had when she had come looking for him.  She nodded toward the stairs, and followed him as he ascended.  They stopped in front of the second door at the top. 

Theo looked from the door to Ethel, and the clapped his hands together.  He laughed nervously.  “Well, I guess this is it, then.”

Ethel only eyed him seriously.  “Good luck.”

Turning the handle, Theo stepped inside. 

Ember was lying on the bed, staring at the ceiling in much the same way that Thalia had been staring at the wall.  Her cheeks were sallow, and as she turned her exhausted gaze on him, he knew that she needed help.  Bad things had happened to this one.

“Are you a doctor?”  She managed.

Theo suddenly didn’t know what to do with his hands.  He walked toward the bed, swinging them, until he put them under his legs as he sat at the foot of the bed.

“Yes,” he said.  “Yes, I’m a psychiatrist.”

Even in her weakened state, Ember managed to roll her eyes.  “Figures.  She’s trying to kill me.”

“Who?”  Theo asked.

“Gina.”  Ember responded, licking her lips.  “My mom.  She tied me up.”

Theo turned around to look, moving the blankets from the foot of the bed.  “Ember, you’re not tied up.”

“She must have taken away the chains last night.”  Ember shook her head; she sounded so certain.  “Who are you?”

“It doesn’t matter.”  Theo said, giving her a long look.  “I’m someone who can help you, but you won’t remember me.  And that’s okay—just let me help you.”

It wasn’t until much later that Gina joined him, sitting on the bed with Ember’s head in her lap, slowly stroking her hair as she slept.

“Well?”  She asked, eyeing the door warily as Ethel walked in.

Theo was holding his head in his hands; the service he offered was reserved for his most difficult patients, and he had done it many times over the years, but it never failed to make him tired in a way that no amount of sleep would ever cure.  It burdened the soul to know some of the things he knew.

“Did you chloroform your daughter?”

Gina cringed.  “I can’t think.  I can’t think when she’s around, and when she looks at me—“

“That’s called guilt.  You did terrible things to this girl, Gina.”

Gina scoffed.  “I didn’t ask you to—“

“You didn’t ask me to do anything.”  Theo snapped.  “You were going to let it go…No.  No, you had already let it go.  You treated her like she was worthless.  You couldn’t even do her the justice of giving her up for adoption.  You just ostracized her, and then you fed her to the Knox family.”

They had taken all of the lights out of the room, but there was enough light streaming through the window to illuminate Gina’s pale face as her hard eyes softened, and her hand stopped to rest on Ember’s brow. 

“I love my daughter, Theo,” She took a deep breath, shaking her head.  “I had one job to do.  Just one.  I promised to give her a life, and keep her safe.  And I couldn’t do it.  She came back, and I need your help.  I need to train her—“

“No.”  Theo said flatly.  “You don’t deserve her.  She doesn’t deserve the life you want to give her.  I took my family away from all of this to keep them safe from the Acton Knoxes of the world.  She can come with me.”

Gina looked down at her lap, breathing, and trying to steady herself.  She didn’t remember it that way; in the moment, it had all made sense.  Since figuring out what was happening, she had spent days trying to convince herself that neither of them had said or done the things that she remembered.  “I saw Amy a few years back.  She stopped and stayed for a few days, passing through on her way to Russia.”

“How many years?”

“Four.  Maybe five.”

“It’s been six since I’ve seen her.”  Theo said plainly, cracking his knuckles as he looked to the window.  “You know why?  She died in Russia.  Some man whose name I don’t even remember, who I had never seen before in my life and who I have never seen again since, showed up in my office to tell me my little sister had been ripped to pieces.  And he was sorry.  That’s what happens to angels, Gina.  They die for the cause.”

Without looking at him, Gina carefully wiped her cheeks on the back of her hand and slid out from under Ember’s head, resting her carefully back on the mattress before walking from the room.  Theo glared as Ethel walked in, her arms crossed, nodding slightly to herself.

“That make you feel better about it?”  She asked, crossing her legs and sitting on the floor.  “It’s not her fault.”

“It’s not?”  Theo said in mock disbelief.  “This girl is a renegade, Ethel.  I think you know what she did to her.  Her life isn’t about duty.  She felt that rejection very keenly.”

Ethel only shrugged.  “I made her send her away.  She wanted to keep her, but I know better than most that renegades make piss poor soldiers.  As you said, her life isn’t about duty, and Gina doesn’t understand that.”

In disbelief, Theo shook his head.  “You do fine—“

“We create our own chaos.”  Ethel said calmly.  “That’s what she means when she says she can’t think.  This island only has room for one of us, and it’s me.  If I have to suffer so that she can have a normal life, I’m going to do it.”  She leaned forward, holding his gaze.  “Gina won’t tell you to do it, but I will.  I want you to take it all away from her.  Erase it all, and give her an excuse to never come back here, and she can go and became a psychiatrist in Arizona.  One with an unlisted number, who’s impossible to find when someone needs her.”

Theo didn’t even crack a smile.  “You want me to rob her of who she is.  You want me to take away all of her memories of what Gina did, and make you out to be a model family?”

Ethel snorted, smiling and shaking her head.  “You just don’t get it, do you?  Theo, Gina didn’t do those things.  I’m saying it isn’t her fault, because whatever Ember remembers isn’t what really happened.”

She gave Theo a hard stare before continuing.  “Ember came back on a clear spring morning.  She dropped her bag in the water and Gina had to help her fish it out; it just about destroyed all of the books she brought, but she didn’t care because she was so happy to be back.  The weight from the damn books is the reason she dropped it in to begin with.  They came home, and we all cooked dinner together.  Ember sat in the living room and taught Thalia how to braid her hair some fancy way, and then she taught Gina how to braid Thalia’s hair, and then she got really quiet.  She asked why we sent her away, and Gina told her.   She told her about the demons, and the life we lead, and the danger.  She told Ember she wanted her to leave again, to stay safe, and Ember got very upset about it, and then Thalia got upset about it.   Gina, being Gina, got weak and told them that they could talk about it when summer was done.  We tucked the girls into their beds upstairs, but they stayed up talking anyways.  Life went on, and it was almost like she never left.” 

Ethel paused, shaking her head and furrowing her brow.

“What?”  Theo asked; he was still frowning, but his expression had become distant.  He had seen the cracks and odd seams in her mind, but had assumed it was because of her dealings with the demons. 

“It was a few weeks later.”  Ethel looked back at him.  “It was the middle of the night, and we found her screaming on the doorstep.  I don’t know why she went outside, or what happened out there, but that was the beginning of the end.  That’s when things stopped matching up, and that’s close to the time we learned about Joseph.  I don’t know how long he had been here.  He might have been here all along.  Gina figured it out, and she claims she caught him, and burned him, but Theo…”  She shook her head.  “I looked in the fire.  There weren’t any bones.  We fought, and that’s when I went for you—you have similar abilities.  I thought you might be able to catch him, because maybe you’ll cancel each other out.  Zinnia Knox told me that Acton burned him when Gina left, and made a gift of the bones to Isaac, but Jesus, I still haven’t seen the bones.  He’s probably still here, screwing with all of us.”

“A meddler could do it.”  Theo nodded, leaning forward.  He crossed his arms, looking out the window as he thought.  “You’re saying he erased her memory, and gave her this illusion to further his goal of luring her away.  Ethel, is all of that true?  Gina welcomed her back?”

Ethel’s expression turned sarcastic as she smiled.  “Maybe it is.  Or, maybe I’m just saying it to win your cooperation.  Does it matter, if none of us will ever know the truth?”

Theo stared at her for a moment, but Ethel only continued to smile serenely.  He threw his hands in the air and stood up, starting to pace.  “Of course it matters!  It matters a great deal.”

“It doesn’t.”  Ethel spat back at him, leaning back against the wall.  “Because the other day, I found myself standing in front of the house, and I had no clue what I was doing out there.  And that’s the truth.  It’s never happened before.”

“You’re senile.”

“Hunters don’t go senile, Theodore,”  she said, without the slightest bit of humor.  “He’s used his tricks on Gina more than a handful of times, and even if she doesn’t want to kill Zinnia’s little boy, I would have no qualms about it if I could catch the bastard.”  She pointed to Ember’s sleeping form on the bed.  “He’s using her to cut his teeth on puppeting renegades, and if he manages it, we’re up shit’s creek.  I’m the only one who still immune here, and that means he’s one kill away from running the show if he ever gets the edge on me.”

Theo frowned as he turned back to Ember; most of the community looked upon renegades as unmanageable flukes, but Ethel was right—hunters that had the quirk of retaining human emotions had a few advantages.  Their chaos made them harder targets for demons, but it would be just like Acton Knox to step up his game.  While most hunters were bound by animal instinct to hunt and kill demons, renegades were more human in their emotions; more often than not, it got them killed.  Most hunters looked upon them as a runt of the litter, and considered it kinder to let them die young than to weaken the community with their presence.  If one wanted to study them, a young and inexperienced renegade would be the place to start.  Ember hadn’t awakened to her calling yet, so it made sense that Acton would want her for practice.