Darkness & Discovery (The Bespelled Trilogy #2) (10 page)

But for now, my
attention was drawn to something far more fascinating: the gorgeous guy sitting
on the little bench seat with me, our legs intertwined, his eyes sparkling mischievously.
The room was fairly dark, but his skin was bathed in moonlight and looked like
pale silk. And I thought this was exactly how Alastair was meant to be seen,
because moonlight suited him somehow. He was luminous in it, as if it radiated
from within, a part of him. “You’re beautiful,” I murmured, and he laughed and
ducked his head.

“I was about to say
that to you,” he said shyly. And then he reached into his shirt pocket for
something, and held it concealed in his palm. “So, I got you something today
when we were in Chinatown.”

“You did?”

He nodded and met my
gaze with a playful smirk. “I couldn’t let Joey hog all the glory, thoughtfully
sniffing out cookies and soaps and, what was the other thing?”

“A bean bun.”

 “Ah yes, bean buns for
you.” He rolled his eyes. “Bean buns are no way to show someone you care.”

“So what did you sniff
out for me?” I asked, smiling ear to ear.

“Oh no, I didn’t play
his game. I didn’t go looking for olfactory delights. I wanted to get you
something real. Something lasting. Something…well, something
me
.”

“I’m intrigued.”

He took my right hand
in his and said, “The necklace I gave you for Christmas was meant to be a token
of my affection. But after hearing its far less than romantic history, I guess
I wanted a do-over.” He took my hand in both of his now and rested it across
his palms. “And here it is.”

Without my noticing,
he’d slipped a beautiful silver ring onto my finger, several slim bands
interlacing artfully and holding a round dark stone in place. “Alastair, it’s
beautiful,” I gasped.

“You really like it?”

“I love it.” I turned
my hand slightly, and the dark gem sparkled in the moonlight. “What color is
the stone?”

“Let me show you.” He
hesitated for a moment before saying, “Ok, don’t freak out. But I realized I could
do this a couple days ago.” He took my right hand in his, and held his left
hand a few inches above it. And after a pause, a pure white light shone from
his palm.

“Oh my God,” I
murmured. “How are you doing that?”

“No clue. I stumbled on
it by accident. It’s pretty weird, right?”

“It’s amazing. Thank
you for showing me. And thank you for the ring. Oh, the stone is indigo blue.”
I grinned at that. “It’s the color of your eyes.”

This flustered him a
bit. “Ugh, that’s weird, I hadn’t made that connection. When I said I was
giving you something that was ‘me’ I just meant something I liked. I didn’t
intend it to be so literal, like I was giving you a scale model of my eyeball
to wear on your hand. And God, that sounds disgusting! I should really just
stop talking.”

“Mmhmm, you should,” I
grinned. “And kiss me instead.”

He smiled and leaned
forward, kissing me until I thought I was going to go into cardiac arrest. And
when he pulled back he was smiling broadly, and looked down at his hands
(which, by the way, were no longer serving as built-in lanterns).

“What’s that smile
for?” I asked.

“It just makes me
happy, knowing you like me.”

“Oh man. Are you saying
that because you can hear my heart racing? Because that’s kind of embarrassing.”

“It’s not embarrassing.
It’s wonderful, knowing the girl I fancy fancies me in return.” I bit back a
snort of laughter, and he raised an eyebrow at me. “What?”

“Fancy. That’s
hilarious,” I said with a big smile.

“Don’t people say
that?”

“People do. Just not
people
here
.”

“Alraaaaht,” he
drawled, putting on a thick southern accent, “Guess ah should try to sound more
‘merican. Ah thank yer real purdy, and I’m kinda sweet on ya.”

I laughed at that.
“Needs work.” He pulled me into his arms and kissed me again, and when we broke
apart I said, my voice a bit rough, “And that doesn’t need work. It’s perfect.”

“We’d better keep
practicing anyway,” he said, and kissed me again. And afterwards I scooted
around so I was leaning back against his chest, and he wrapped his arms around
me as we looked out at the night.

“So, when did you
figure out you’re a living glow stick?” I asked.

“Night before
Christmas, when Joey and I were putting up the tree. I’d had some random
thought about illumination, and next thing I knew, my fingertip was glowing.
Joey fell on the floor laughing. Said I looked like E.T. He had to explain to
me what that was.” I could practically hear Allie rolling his eyes. “So after that,
I experimented with it, just a bit. I’m kind of afraid to go full human torch,
though I think I could. I’m worried I might not figure out how to shut it off
again.”

“That’s quite the
random superpower. Stronger! Faster! Never needs a flashlight!”

“I think…I think it’s
the first stage in going full angel,” Allie said. “Apparently they seem to burn
with white light.”

“Yeah, that’s what Joey
says.” I tilted my head back onto his shoulder and looked up at him. “Have you
tried to figure out what else you can do?”

“A little. It’s all
been quite lame. I tried to see if I could move objects with my mind, and spent
several minutes staring at an orange. It fell off the table, just on accident,
and scared the hell out of me.” I laughed at that, and he added, “And I was
doing that because Joey seems to think I must have some innate magical ability,
since magic flows through my veins. Not that he’s ever seen me do anything of
the sort. But he’s still convinced it’s in there and I just have to tap into
it.”

“Well hey, it’s a
theory.”

“I suppose I could ask
Bryn about it…only, I don’t want to pester him with my issues, not when he’s
going through so much.”

“He’s coming with us to
Las Vegas, by the way. I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.”

“Why would it be bad?”

“Because,” I said,
“he’s already trying to drink away his problems. And you know what Vegas isn’t
short of? Booze.”

“You have a point. So
we’ll just have to keep an eye on him. The change of scenery will do him good,
though. He’s been cooped up in this house too long, it’s probably starting to
feel like a prison.”

“That reminds me.
Tomorrow night, I’m going to be doing something I swore I’d never do: I’m
visiting my mother in jail. I figure, as long as I’m in the bay area…and, I
mean, it
is
the holiday season and all….” I fidgeted with my new ring,
turning it in circles around my finger.

“Wow. I know what a big
deal that is for you.”

“I’m not ready to
forgive her or anything. She was a terrible parent. The best thing she ever did
for me was accidentally getting arrested so I could go live with her sister.
But,” I added, “I keep thinking about something Joey said a while back. He
misses his family, and thinks I’m lucky because I still have a mom. I mean,
she’s no prize. But…well, I guess she’s all the family I have. I mean, there’s
my cousin Bonnie in Chicago, who’s my legal guardian, but she could care less
about me. So anyway…yeah. I’m going to go see my mom.”

“Your father could
still be out there somewhere, you know.”

“Sure, but what does it
matter? He took off when I was a toddler, and never contacted me after that. It’s
clear he wants nothing to do with me, or else he would have gotten in touch a
long time ago.”

“Why do you think he
left?”

“I can only assume my
mother’s substance abuse drove him away. God knows that by the time I was a
toddler, I was ready to run away, too.”

He kissed the top of my
head and hugged me to him. “Want me to go with you to see your mum?”

“No thanks. Joey was
planning to go with me, but I’m kind of rethinking that. This might be
something I have to do on my own.”

“If you change your
mind, let me know.”

“Ok. I should be done
by seven, by the way, and Bryn wants to charter a plane and take off shortly
after that. He’s eager to get to Vegas.”

“I’ve never been on a plane,”
Allie said. “Well, let me rephrase that: I don’t remember ever being on a
plane…obviously, because I don’t actually remember anything. But my point is,
the idea of flying makes me really nervous.”

I turned partway around
in his arms and looked at him. “Allie, somewhere in here,” I rested my hand on
his chest, “you’re part angel. It’s in your DNA to fly.”

“What are you getting
at?”

“Only that I never
would have expected to hear that from you. It’s like a fish being afraid of
water.”

“It isn’t!” He chuckled,
and I could feel the rumble in his broad chest. “It’s nothing like that.”

“Ok maybe not. But
look, it’s fine. I’ll be there with you. I’ll hold your hand.” I tried to look
serious.

“Well, now you think
I’m a total – what’s that word Joey’s so fond of? Ah yes, wuss.”

“You’re not a wuss.
You’re a big, tough vampire hunter.”

“Not these days.”

I turned around so I
was facing him and gave him a hug. “I like the vulnerable side of you, Allie.
I’m teasing you a bit, but I actually love that you don’t try to act like
you’re invincible. I’m actually–” I cut myself off abruptly.

“What were you going to
say, Lu?” he asked, his cheek resting against mine.

“I almost said I was
going to miss this side of you once you remember who you are,” I said quietly.

“You don’t think I’ll
be like this?”

“From everything I’ve
heard, you were a warrior. Joey described you once as a soldier, always serious,
tirelessly doing your job. I just…I can’t imagine you’ll show this side of
yourself very often, once you remember.”

He pulled back to look
at me, his dark eyes troubled. “I don’t want that. I don’t want to become some
other person.”

“You won’t be becoming
another person, you’ll be becoming yourself. Who you really are.”

“Then maybe I don’t
want my memories back.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Because of what it
might cost me. I don’t want to turn into that person you described. A  man like
that can’t be what you want.” He took my face in his hands. “I don’t want to
lose you, Luna.”

“Allie, you’re not
going to lose me. Remembering your past, even if it changes how you behave,
isn’t going to affect how I feel about you.”

“You don’t know that.”

“Sure I do. And you
know what? When your memories return, you don’t actually have to go back to
what you were like before, not if you don’t want to. If you want to keep being
the person you are now, why couldn’t you do that?”

“I…guess I could.”

“You have nothing to
worry about, Allie. The past is just the past. We get to choose our future.”

“The future I choose is
you, Luna Harper,” he said softly.

I ran my hand over his
cheek and said with a grin, “Right back at you, Alastair Davies.”

Chapter
Seven

At six p.m. the following evening, I was fidgeting
nervously in the back seat of a big black town car. The car had been Bryn’s
idea. He’d leased one for Allie and Joey and himself as well, to take all of us
to the airport for our flight to Las Vegas. I was going to meet them there in
about an hour, after visiting my mother.

I’d decided to do this
alone. It was already weird and awkward, and having someone else along to
witness the weirdness and awkwardness would only have amplified it.

The car entered the parking
lot of Addelson Women’s Prison, and I wiped my sweaty palms on my jeans. We
pulled up to the curb and Juan, the young Latino driver, put the car in park
and started to get out to open my door. “Hang on, Juan,” I said, meeting his
dark eyes in the rear view mirror. “I’m just going to sit here a minute. Is
that ok?”

“Of course, Miss
Harper. No hurry.” He picked up a newspaper and began reading.

I exhaled slowly and
shifted in my seat, nervously picking at the rough edge of a fingernail. I
stared at the back of the driver’s head, at his close-cropped black hair under
his chauffeur’s cap, just for something to focus on. I very nearly asked him to
start driving, to get me out of here.

Nearly.

My Aunt Claire used to
ask me if I wanted to visit my mother. When I first came to stay with her at
age twelve, she’d ask every month. Then it became several times a year. Later
on it became once or twice a year, when it became clear that my answer was
always the same: no.

I’d been so angry. I
was
still
angry…but maybe not like I had been. I was angry at my mother
for being such a lousy parent. And angry at her for choosing drugs over me. But
the way I felt about my mother didn’t have the edge to it that it once had. It
wasn’t a sharp, palpable thing anymore, like a knife in my gut. It was now more
of a dull, quiet ache in my heart.