Flicker (43 page)

“
It’s better
that
you don’t remember him,” he
said
softly
. “That way
,
you don’t miss him.”

“I guess so. Are these herbs okay?”

Nasser checked the herbs, nodding his approval. “What’s next?”

Lee glanced at the recipe and
scat
tered herbs into the water. Then she
splayed her hands over the dish and concentrated, letting her magic drip into the water. The green bits began to dissolve, as if some unseen force were eating them away. “Finish your story,” she prompted.

“Right. Well, eventually, I shut up, but it was too late. The local faeries knew about me, and Sighted humans are rare enough that, when one turns up, faeries talk. Since I lived all the way out in Rookview, it was a few years until word reached Bridgestone.”

“Rookview? Where’s that?”

“It’s a little town way up north.”

“How far north?”

“Far enough that no one goes there without a good reason and a passport.”

“Wait—you’re Canadian?”

A ghost of a smile touched his mouth. “And proud of it.”

“Have you ever gone back?”

“There’s nothing there I want to see.”

“Oh.” She paused
, then asked, “When did they hear about you?”

He didn’t have to ask who she meant. “I don’t know when
Neman
and
Morgan
turned up in Rookview. I don’t know how long they watched us before they decided I’d make a decent apprentice. I don’t know how they reached that conclusion at all, considering.”

“Considering what?”

“I was twelve,” he said simply. “That’s much too old by most standards. Most apprentices
start when they’re
five or six.”

“That’s insane. How do you teach a five-year-old to work magic?”

“How do you teach a five-year-old to read?
That’s
how it’s done.”

Lee paused. “You didn’t go with
Neman
and
Morgan
by choice
, did you?”

“No.”

“So they took you, after your
mom
died. Or
…
”
Maybe your
mom
died because they wanted to take you,
she thought silently, but she couldn’t bring herself to say it. Nasser neither moved nor spoke, just stared at the floor with sightless eyes.

She continued to plug away at the potion, letting him think.

“They were going to take me eventually,” he said finally. “But I don’t know if they caused what happened, or if they just took an advantage of an opportunity.”

“Opportunity?”

“There was a fire,” he explained. “Around Christmas.  The smoke alarm woke us up. Our mom was outside our room, trying to get the door open. It wouldn’t budge, though, and she wouldn’t leave.
Neman
and
Morgan
were there, in the room, standing over us. The room was filled with smoke, but they were looking like nothing was wrong. I thought I was hallucinating.”

Lee’s hands fell to her sides. She watched him, listened.

“Our mom was screaming
for us
, but I couldn’t answer her, couldn’t even move.
Neman
took me by the shoulders, and
Morgan
grabbed Jason. Then we were outside. I don’t know how. Our
house
was completely engulfed in flames. It was snowing, but the heat from the fire made the air warm. I could hear sirens. Neighbors were standing all around
, staring
. No one noticed us. I don’t think they could see us.”

“Your mom didn’t get out?” Lee asked, her voice small.

“No. I guess when the roof caved in, she
…
” He shook his head. “The next thing I remember is waking up in a bed at Flicker. Alice and Filo were sitting by the bed, staring at me like they’d never seen another person before.”

For a moment, Lee was silent. “I’m so sorry,” she whispered.

“Don’t be. It wasn’t your fault. Anyway,” he added, “I never found out if
Nem
and
Morgan
started the fire as a cover, an easy way to get us both at once, or if it was accidental, and they took us then because it was convenient.”

“But
…
d
idn’t someone notice there was
…
”

“Only one body? Lee,
do you know about faerie stock?”

“
I do.
So, as far as anyone knows, you’re
…
”

“Dead,” he finished gently. “It’s okay. You can say it. It’s true.”

She let out a breath. “I guess we’re in the same boat, then.”

“Didn’t I tell you that I used to be just like you?”

She smiled sadly. “I’d almost forgotten about that.” She picked up the dish, swishing the dark green contents. “I think it’s finished.”

“Okay. Fill the bottle, and let me have it.”

Careful not to splash the potion all over herself, Lee funneled it into the small bottle and handed it over. “Is that all you need?”

“For now. We can bottle the rest later.”

Nasser felt his way to a chair and lowered himself into it. He tilted his head back, opened his eyes, and calmly poured a measure of the potion into each eye. His
face tightened into a grimace;
he snapped his eyes shut.

“Are you all right?” she asked worriedly.

“Fine,” he said, through his teeth.

“Doesn’t that hurt?”

“Very much.”

“Should it?”

His voice was strained, like a rope bearing too much weight. “It’s dissolving the layer of pollen over my eye. It’s supposed to hurt.”

After
funneling
the rest of the potion into the other
bottle and corking it, Lee
sank into a chair near Nasser’s and watched him in silence. He tapped one heel rapidly against the floor, his arms and shoulders tense, seemingly oblivious to her. After several minutes, he lowered his arms and seemed to relax somewhat.

Finally, he raised his head, eyes open. Profound relief washed over her: Though the skin surrounding his eyes was still discolored and slightly puffy, his eyes were a shade lighter now, with no traces of black among the purple.

“Well?” he asked nervously, when she didn’t answer right away. “How do they look?”

“Better,” she assured him. “A little. They’re not so dark. Can you see anything?”

Squinting, he leaned
forward in his chair. “Will you
raise your hand to the light?”

“Sure.” Lee raised her hand to her face, then extended it so it was silhouetted by the rain-gray light pouring through the windows.

He reached out and caught her hand in his. She gasped a little as her vision intensified. A smile broke over her face.

“Shadows,” he said. “And light.”

“So the potion works.” She laced their fingers together.  “You can tell where I am now.”

He shook his head.
“I can see
your shadow, that’s all. But even if I can’t see you, I can always feel exactly where you are.”

Lee squeezed his hand, then dropped it with a start as the door was flung open. She looked toward the figure standing in the doorway.

“Filo,” she said, with some surprise. “You okay?”

He ignored her completely, looking past her. “Jeeze, Nasser. You look like someone punched you in the face.”

Nasser shrugged. “Where’s Jason?”

“In the shop.”

“What happened?” Nasser asked
, in a slightly parental tone
.

Filo squirmed a bit under Nasser’s blind gaze. “Nothing.”

With a
long-suffering
sigh, Nasser stood. “I’ll go talk to him.”

“You’
ll fall down the stairs and break your neck.
”

“No, I won’t. I can make out shadows now, and there should be enough light in the front room for me to get around the bigger stuff.”

“The problem of stairs remains.”

“Each flight of stairs has six steps,” Lee said immediately. “And the landings are about three paces long. He just has to count.”

“How do you know that?” Filo asked
, blinking
. “
I
don’t even know that.”

“I’m an artist,” she reminded him. “You look. I observe.”

“Well
…
” Filo jammed his fists into his pockets and addressed Nasser. “When you talk to Jason, tell him that you’re staying over again.”

“Why?”

“You’re blind,” Filo said flatly. “I can’t have you stumbling around the city like that. You’d embarrass yourself.
Anyway, it
won’t kill you to stick around for a few days.”

* * *

When Filo returned to the workroom, he had a stack of note cards in one hand and several sheets of paper in the other. He threw them on the table and seized a pen.

“Are you okay?” Lee asked, from her seat near the fireplace.

“I’m
fine
,” Filo snapped, scribbling furiously on the paper.

“What are you doing?”

“Writing my clients. After last night, and then today
…
” He shook his head. “I’m totally fried. I’ll be out of commission for a few days. I can push back some of the appointments, but the more urgent ones will ha
ve to be referred to other practitioners
. Ugh. I hate losing business.”

For a moment, Lee said nothing, just watched him copy whatever was written on the note cards onto the papers. “I’m sorry,” she said eventually. “I didn’t mean for any of this to happen.”

“It wasn’t your intention,” Filo said tonelessly, expertly folding the papers into airplanes. He
tossed the plan
e
s through the window,
one by one. “Doesn’t mean it wasn’t your fault.”

* * *

Rain was pattering against the windows when Lee shoved the covers back, throwing her legs over the side of the bed. It had to be well past midnight, but she was still awake, her eyes aching with weariness. She looked across the dim room to the sleeping figures that occupied the other beds, envying them.

Though Nasser and Jason had dropped almost immediately into deep sleep, Lee had slept restlessly, in short bursts broken by dreams of choking and blindness and blood. She longed for sleep, but her mind worked relentlessly. Hoping a glass of water might help, Lee padded quietly into the workroom.

Filo was slumped in a chair before the fi
replace
,
The Collected Shakespeare
cradled between his hands
. The pile of blankets he’d been sleeping on these past few nights had been shoved aside. Without looking up at her, he grumbled, “What do
you
want?”

“Nothing,” she said, setting aside her previous intentions. She pulled up a chair and dropped into it. “I just can’t sleep.”

“Figures.” With a small sigh, Filo reached for a small glass bottle on a nearby table and passed it to her. It was half-filled with lavender liquid. “Here. Drink this. It’s a sleeping potion. Two swallows ought to do it for you.”

Lee eyed him uncertainly, then brought the bottle to her lips and swallowed twice. She’d expected something sweet and soothing, but the potion was bitter. She coughed as she gave the bottle back to Filo, wiping her mouth with her sleeve.

“I don’t feel any different.”

“Give it a few minutes. It’ll knock you out.”

Her gaze wandered back to
The Collected Shakespeare
. “I read some of tho
se plays, you know.
In school.
Romeo and Juliet
and
A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
We were supposed to read
Hamlet
junior year, but—” She bit her lip.
Her voice was small.
“Well, I never made it back to school for junior year.”

He snorted. “To die, to sleep. To sleep, perchance to dream.” He gave her a sideways look. “
Hamlet
is a good play. You should read it
.”

“Maybe you’ll
lend me your copy
.” She
gently took the book from him
,
almost surprised when he let her. Leafing
through its thin
pages, she
noticed it was one of the few books in Flicker not stamped with Nem and Morgan’s insignia.
“
How long have you had this?”