Flicker (13 page)

“Because you
did.
Those were
your memories of
the revel.
You were magic-sick. The transition from the faerie realm back into the human realm took a toll on your mind.
” Hesitantly, he touched her shoulder. “I know it feels like
way too much right now. You
have to give it time.”

“Don’t tell me what it feels like,” Lee snapped,
twisting away from him
. She was surprised by her own vehemence, and by the slightly wounded expression on his face. “You have no idea. When was the last time
you
lost seven
years without even knowing? When did
you
lose your friends and family, your whole life?”

Nasser
drew back from her
. While he was silent, Lee noticed the scratches and bruise
s on his face and throat
. There were scars, too, some faint as half-forgotten
memories, others
striking against his warm, lightly browned skin. The first two fingers on his right hand were slightly b
ent, as if they had been broken
and hadn’t healed properly.

“I never lost
seven
years,” he admitted
. “But when I
was twelve, I did lose my mom
, and my home. Everything I ever had disappeared overnight. Everything but my little brother. I know what it feels like
, Lee
. I was just like you once.”

Lee gripped the cup tightly. She looked away from Nasser, shamefaced. “Where are
Neman
and
Morgan
now?” she asked
softly
.

“They left
after you blacked out.”

“When am I going to leave?”

The question seemed to t
hrow him.
“
You shouldn’t get your hop
es up,” he said finally.
“It’s been seven
years. Things might not be the way you remember.”

“I don’t care.
I have to see it for myself.”

“I know,” he
said
. “Just don’t rus
h it if you don’t have to.
”

He looked
so sad, Lee thought, so honest and so sad. It was all in his eyes.

“
Morgan
,” she began. “Is she really a bird?”

“Sometimes, yeah. And sometimes she’s a woman. And other times she’s probably something else.”
He gave a little shrug. “
I have my theories. But h
onestly, I
never really asked.”

There were a thousand other things Lee wanted to know, but she couldn’t decide what to ask next, so she kept quiet and downed the rest of the water. The taste jolted her.

The door on the far side of the room opened with a creak; Filo stepped through it.
As he closed the door, Lee noticed that the frame was lined with white chalk markings, strange symbols she didn’t recognize. So was the door on the other side of the room.

“I see you’ve calmed down a bit,”
Filo
observed.

“I guess.”

She watched as Filo went around the room, lighting candles by touching a finger to their wicks. Each glowed with a bright blue flame, bathing the room in a curious light. Lee’s heart began to pound.

Her thoughts kept straying back to what she’d seen earlier. What she’d
remembered
. The scattered images tickled her memory uncomfortably. It was like struggling to remember an hour-old dream. Now only hazy, confused
impressions
remained.

Curiosity smoldered i
nside of her. She felt
as if she would catch fire if she stayed silent for another moment.

“You’re not lying, are you?” she asked bluntly. “It’s all true.”

Filo, who had been stacking books on the long table, looked up. He was as battered as Nasser, maybe more so.
A dark bruise shadowed his jaw, and red scratches crossed his throat where Morgan had grabbed him.
“As far as we can tell.”

Lee
stood. Her legs felt rubbery, but she crossed to the open window.

An old city sprawled before her. The buildings were all red brick or concrete; some still showed faded painted-on advertisements
from decades past
.
An almost tangible sense of history filtered through the chill
air, though in the distance, she could see the cold concrete and flashing windows of newer buildings against the skyline.

Voices floated up from below
.
Lee saw that she was on the second floor o
f a building, above a sidewalk.
“Where are we?”

“Bridgestone City,” Filo told her.

“Oh.
That’s kind of far from Bluewood.”

“So y
ou believe it now?”

“I don’t know. Right now, no other explanation makes sense, which is probably the craziest part.”
Lee sighed. “But who knows?
Maybe I’m in a coma
or something
, and this is just a dream. Or,” she acknowledged slowly, “maybe this is real, but I can still go back home.”

“Do you have selective memory?” Filo asked, a frown creasing his bro
w. “Can’t you remember the date
?”

“I don’t care h
ow long it’s been
,” she insisted.
“I could have been gone for seven years, or ten
, or twenty. It doesn’t matter. I’ll figure it out.”

“What, you think
your parents will
be sitting on the front porch waiting for you?” Filo shook his head in disgust. “It’s been
seven
years,
kid.
M
aybe you can’t grasp how long
that is.”

Without thinking, Lee whipped one hand back and slapped Filo across the face. The world flashed lightning-bright for a second, then dulled. Eyes stinging inexplicably, Lee blinked and tried to force her heart out of her throat.
She couldn’t believe herself.
She’d never actually hit anyone before.

Filo’s eyes darkened, and for a moment, she thought he was going to hit her back. But he only crossed his arms, which appeared to be an effort for him.
He glared
at the nearest candle. A
ll the candles
in the room
brightened steadily, until they threw off blue-white light.

“It’s
getting
late,” Filo announced. “You should get going
, Nasser. Jason might’ve come back.”

“Here’s hoping,” Nasser sighed. “I guess I’ll be seeing you, then.”

Filo shook his head
wearily
. “Just go.”

Nasser looked at Lee for a long moment, long enough to make her wonder exactly what he saw, before he turned a
nd
strode
out the door.

* * *
 

Skillfully wielding a short-bladed knife, Filo chopped a bundle of
pale,
twisted roots that released a scent so spicy that Lee’s eyes watered, even from her seat on the edge of the bed.
The knife
was
like
an extension of his hand.

“Where did Nasser go
?” Lee asked, wrinkling her nose at the scent
.
Filo didn’t even squint as he worked.

“He and Jason have a place
on the other side of town.”

“And Jason is his brother?”

“Yeah
, his younger brother.
He’s not bad
, all things considered
.
You’ll
stay with them, as soon as Nasser finds Jason again.”

“He’s missing?”

Filo shrugged.
“In a manner of speaking
.
Jason
takes off sometimes when he and Nasser have a fight, but he’s
probably
just partying
, finding some good musicians to play with
.
He
does like
that dandelion wine
at Chimeric,”
Filo
mused. “The faeries spike it with something to give it a
real
kick, so I don’t really like it, but…”

Lee froze as the rest of Filo’s statement registered with her. “What do you mean, I’ll be staying with them?”
she interrupted.

He stopped midsentence.
“You’ll leave here, and go live with them.”

“
I’m not going to go live with a boy that I don’t even know,
” she sputtered,
“
just like I’m not going to stay here with you. I’m out of here as soon as possible.”

Filo rolled his eyes. “What’re you so worri
ed about? They’re not gonna chain you to the radiator or anything
. I doubt tha
t anything so
interesting
happens around their place.”

“It’s the principle of the thing,” she protested
, frowning
. “And I wasn’t even thinking that!”

“Whatever.
Find
yourself other arrangements. Not my problem.”

With a huff of irritation, Lee strode into the small, grubby bathroo
m
. Looking around, she
noticed the bottles and packets that lined the counter, and the bare bulb hanging from the ceiling. She tugged on the cha
in, but nothing happened
.

Lee turned on the tap and splashed cold water onto her face. She
stared
at her reflection in t
he cracked mirror
. Red hair. Green eyes. Freckles. She looked just like she always did. Her hair hadn’t even grown. How could she look the same, and feel so different?

“I
honestly
don’t know what Nasser thinks he’s
gonna
do with her,” she heard Filo sigh.

“Some good,” replied a lilting voice—
Neman
. “He only wants to help. It’s rather funny.”

Lee
went
to the door and pushed it open as quietly as she could,
peering through the small crack
.
Neman
was sitting on the desk, legs crossed. At the table, Filo mixed powders and funneled them into paper packets.

“It’s not funny,” Filo said sourly.
“
It’s pathetic.”

“I remember when you and Jason were inseparable,”
Neman
said
dreamily
. “And Alice followed you everywhere, and Nasser watch
ed over the three of you as
Morgan
and I should have. When you were children. You loved Nasser dearly then.”

“That was a long time ago.” Filo stalked over to a bookcase and grabbed a
dusty
from the shelf. He flipped angrily through it.

Neman
slid off the desk and joined Filo by the bookcase. “I’ve a
task for you,” she said
, gently plucking at his hair.
His shoulders tensed.
“Tomorrow, you will take Weatherly to her home. You will show her all there is to see. You will make her understand. Then you will bring her back here.”

Filo balked.
“I’ve got appointments tomorrow!
I can’t push them back.”

“Pixies in a greenhouse, and a cow cursed to give only sour milk?”
Neman
snickered. “You’ve pushed back more dire situations than those.”

“
Morgan
won’t like it.”

“There is very little that she lik
es.
For the most part, she
tolerates.”
Neman
crossed to the open window and slipped her feet over the sill,
so she was sitting on the frame
. She
looked over
her shoulder
. “You can come out now, Weatherly. No use hiding behind that door.”

She
beckoned with her talons
, and Lee fe
lt an overwhelming urge to come forward.
Before she knew quite what she was doing,
Lee
had already stepped into the front room.

“I guess it’s better that you heard, even if you
were
eavesdropping,” Filo
grumbled.

Neman
laughed. “You see, Filo? You’re learning already.”

“Uh-huh. Good night,
Neman
.”