Heroes of Falledge Book One: Black Hellebore (9 page)

Nicholas peeked out from around the hideous plaid curtains. Thankfully, he had a clear enough view of the scene. Official personnel swarmed around the two prone bodies. He couldn't see what they were doing, but finally enough people moved away that he saw the boy placed onto a stretcher. His arms and legs moved. Good.

He turned his attention to the mother. She lay deathly still, at least it appeared to him, and the breath in his airways lessened. If he had been the reason for another death, this one unintentional and because he was a dumbass, he would never be able to forgive himself.

Despite longing to turn away, he remained fixated on the scene in front of him. Finally, the officials slowed their movements, no longer looking like frantic squirrels collecting nuts for the winter. They seemed to hold their heads higher, as if proud of their efforts. Nicholas sent up a prayer that that was the case. A bundle of nerves, he collapsed onto the couch.

His schooling, or lack thereof, had never bothered him until today.

He had never felt more ignorant.

If he was going to continue to try to help people, he needed to be smarter.

First thing in the morning, he was going to change all that.

Chapter Thirteen

Justina was a devil on her bike. Nick struggled to keep up with her the first several times they rode together, but soon he was just as accomplished a rider as she was.

One day about a month after he had arrived, the duo were speeding through town.

Her blond hair flew behind her until she halted her bike. The golden strands covered her face and mouth. She impatiently brushed them back. "Do ya like it here?"

"Course I do!" he exclaimed, stopping beside her. "Don't you?"

"Naw."

Nick's jaw dropped. "What..."

"Don't get me wrong," she added quickly. "Between you and Julianna, and everyone, I have more than enough friends here. It's not that. But Falledge's so..."

He grinned. "Tame?"

"Exactly! I want to travel the world. Jump out of a plane. Sail across an ocean. Maybe even go to the moon." She glanced at him sideways. "You'd never jump out of a plane, would you?"

"Yes, I would." And not just because she thought he wouldn't.

Her giggle was still the happiest sound he'd ever heard. "I know. You used to be so quiet and tucked up all inside like a hermit crab. I'm glad you're out of your shell now."

Inwardly, he winced. Justina didn't know about his past, about all the fights he had gotten in. He didn't tolerate anyone picking on him -- kids
or
adults. He never really had a shell. Just built-up walls to keep others away.

At least that's what his psychiatrist said. Nick hated him. He liked to throw around fancy terms and big words, but Nick didn't think he knew anything about anything.

No one knew the pain Nick felt every day. No one took the pain away like Justina did.

As much as he wanted to confide in her, he knew he never would. He would never do or say anything that would drive her away.

"It's all thanks to you." He faked a grin.

She tilted her head. "Are you okay?"

"Of course. One day, I'm gonna get a motorcycle and we'll hightail it out of here. How does that sound?"

Justina threw back her head and giggled. "Sounds like a plan."

*****

The front door creaking woke Nicholas. Good thing he'd fixed it after the last of the gawkers left. He still owed her a new shelf. Hopefully she hadn’t realized that tidbit yet. He stirred, sat up, and rubbed the sleep sand from his eyes.

Ginny chuckled quietly and tossed the newspaper onto his lap. "Breakfast will be ready in a few," she said as she headed toward the kitchen. "Won't be much though. I'll have to go to the store and get more food. How long you think you'll be staying?"

"Not lo... What the hell?" He stared at his blurry, almost unrecognizable picture on the front page. "'Mysterious Night Caper Saves the Day'?"

Ginny laughed again. "I swear I didn't tell the reporter anything."

That blinding light that prevented him from beating the thief's ass must have been a camera's flash.

He tucked the newspaper under his arm and waltzed into the kitchen. The clump in the middle of the frying pan couldn't have come from more than two eggs. Two slices of toast popped up. He reached for one, but noticed the plastic trash from a now-empty loaf, and pulled back.

Nicholas kissed her left temple. "You eat. I gotta get going."

"Do you have to?"

The loneliness in her voice churned his stomach. "Yes. But I'll come back. I promise."

Her smile looked hollow.

"I promise," he repeated, and strolled out the back door. He fleetingly thought about the witch and, before he knew it, stood in front of her house. The black sheer curtains fluttered. Then the door opened.

Nicholas waltzed inside. "We need to talk, witch," he said into the empty room.

Heels clacked against the floor, and she emerged from behind a beaded curtain. "So now you believe?" she asked, the corners of her lips twitching upward.

"What the hell did you do to me?" he growled.

"What kind of a question is that?"

He stomped over to her. To her credit, she didn't back down. In fact, she placed her hand on her hip and narrowed her eyes.

"What did you do to me?"

"I saved your life! Nothing more, nothing less. I'm beginning to wish I never bothered."

Nicholas stared at her. As far as he could tell, she wasn't lying. "Then how do you explain..." He shook his head, uncertain how to vocalize the changes he couldn't deny.

"When people die and are brought back, they're never the same. Not exactly." Her voice was hushed, her mood somber.

"I'm not the first?"

"My first, yep. Popped my cherry, all right." She giggled and rolled her eyes. "Naw, I'm just sprouting hearsay. I'm sure I'm not the only witch to bring someone back from the dead though. After all, if I could accomplish it, anyone can." She shrugged and bit her lower lip. "Not all of my spells turn out correctly. What's going on?"

He stared at the newspaper still tucked under his arm. "I can run."

Gavina giggled again. "Good. Glad to hear your legs still work. Kinda figured that from you standing there."

Nicholas spied a small list on top of some thick books. Bread, milk, eggs...

"Be right back," he said. He used his speed, ran to the nearest grocery store, and was back ten seconds later. His conscious twinged a little. He'd stolen the food. Lacked the money to buy them.

He handed her a jug of milk, a carton of eggs. She reached for the loaf of bread.

Nicholas held it high above his head out of reach. "Not for you." He bit into the apple he'd swiped.

Gavina stared at the milk. "Whole? Do you want me to gain twenty pounds? Like your girls thick, huh?"

Before he could respond, she twirled around and walked two steps before a splat sounded. She'd dropped the eggs.

"You went to the store."

"Yes."

"That quickly."

"Yes."

"How is that possible?"

"That's what I wanted to ask you."

Gavina slowly faced him. Her face matched the milk she still held. "I-I don't know."

"I'm also strong." He waited for her to make a joke, but when she didn't, he added, "Like super strong."

"As in..."

"Ripped off a car door. Lifted a car above my head."

"Adrenaline can make people do things they can't normally do," she protested.

"Want me to prove it?"

Gavina shook her head. "N-no, I believe you. I just don't know what went wrong..."

Nicholas glowered at her. Incompetent witch. She saved his life, but now his life wasn't his own, his body wasn't his own. If it weren't for her meddling, he would have left Falledge long before now.

Of course, if it weren't for her meddling, he'd be dead right now.

His gaze fell to the mess on the wooden floor.

"Anything else different or changed?"

She was calling to him from another room. Brushing the beads aside, he entered a surprisingly normal-looking kitchen.

She closed the black refrigerator and leaned against it, her arms crossed over her chest. "Well?"

Nicholas shook his head. As much as he wanted her help, he didn’t want her thinking him a freak more than she already did. He was lying though. His senses were increased. All of this frightened him, and he almost didn't want to know all of his capabilities.

"You sure?" she asked, sounding crestfallen. Then her eyes lit up, and she clapped her hands. "I know. We can do experiments!"

"I'm not a science project," he grumbled, but allowed her to grab his hand and pull him to another room. This one looked every bit the witchy part, with jars and vials of various sizes filled with different colored lights, liquids, or solids.

"Sit here." Gavina guided him to a tall stool. She opened a desk drawer and pulled out a silk scarf.

"You're not tying me up," he informed her. He might have been mildly amused by all this if it weren't so serious and life-altering.

"Relax." She winked and tied the scarf so it covered his eyes. "Now, what do you see?"

Was it a trick question? "Blue."

"No, don't look with your eyes. See. I want you to really see."

What the heck was she talking about? He closed his eyes and opened them again. "Blue," he said, frustration creeping into his voice.

"Look beyond the scarf."

Sighing, he reached behind his head to untie it. His head began to hurt, and his ears rang. In fact, he felt nauseous. "Sorry to disappoint you, but this experiment failed." He handed her the scarf.

She took it and wrung it, her eyes on him as if he were a puzzle. "Maybe we can test your sense of smell next."

His stomach churned at the thought of sniffing some of the vials with their questionable contents. He leaned forward and retched, purging his stomach.

Gavina sighed. She grabbed a vial and dumped its contents onto his mess. The stench immediately disappeared. His stomach still felt queasy though.

"Don't try so hard next time. Relax."

"You think... you think this has something to do with... it?"

"I don't know what to think about any of this. Bringing you back was straightforward enough. Maybe..." She turned around and rummaged through the vials. After collecting five of them, she opened each one and sniffed the contents. "They're all fresh."

Nicholas jammed his hands into his pockets. His fingers brushed against something brittle. He pulled out the contents. Black powder coated his hands.

"What's that?" She came over and inspected the substance, her hand twisting his wrist this way and that.

"Black hellebore." His heart skipped a beat. He always made sure to have several on him. The scent reminded him of Justina. It always made him smile, no matter how crappy of a day he was having. To see this one, the remaining remnants of his last flower, utterly destroyed like this, broke his already crumbling spirit.

"Black hellebore?" Her eyes bulged to the point that Nicholas thought they would pop out of their sockets.

"Yeah. It's a flower--"

"I know that," she snapped. She walked over to a bookcase and grabbed the thinnest book. Gavina thumbed through the pages, then slapped it open. "I thought it sounded familiar. Hellebore can be used in witchcraft."

"So it tampered with your spell to bring me back?"

"I guess so." She smiled and slammed the book shut. "So there you go. Nothing to worry about."

Her smile was a little too bright, her explanation too easy. He made a point of sniffing. If she didn't clean up the mess in five minutes, the house would start to smell. How he knew that precisely, he wasn't sure. "You might want to clean up the eggs."

"Oh!" She scampered out of the room and, thankfully, didn't notice when he thieved the book from beneath her arm.

He flipped to the appendix and found the hellebore entry. Gavina was right. Hellebore was used in witchcraft -- to summon demons.

Nicholas sank back onto the stool. A demon. Was that what he was now?

No. Demons didn't help people. They kill them.

It's not as if you haven't killed before,
a voice in the back of his head said.

He shook his head. That was different. He wouldn't kill anyone now.

Chapter Fourteen

Nicholas just returned his attention to the book to learn more about the black hellebore when Gavina came over and shut it on his fingers.

"You know why you're different." She toyed with a feather earring and avoided eye contact.

"Why don't you want me to see it?"

"N-no reason."

"Let's play poker," he suggested.

"Strip?" She grinned.

"For money. Because you can't lie worth a damn."

Gavina stuck out her lower lip. "I'm not lying to you."

"You're hiding something. Is it the demon thing?"

Her eyes grew as wide as saucers. "What demon thing?"

Nicholas gaped at her. She wanted to keep something else about the flower from him.

The witch tried to wrestle the book away from her, but she was no match for him. He opened it, and she sighed. All she could do was follow along over his shoulder as he read. "'Hellebore is highly poisonous but was used as medicine in the old days for paralysis, and other body ailments and diseases, both of the body and of the mind, specifically madness and insanity.' Isn't that great?"

Gavina's breath tickled his ear. "An overdose of hellebore killed Alexander the Great, you know."

"Really?" He twisted his neck to look at her.

She shrugged. "That's what witches say. Don't know for sure." She pointed to another paragraph. "Read this."

"'Hellebore can cause tinnitus, vertigo, stupor, thirst'... What's tinnitus and vertigo?"

"I know vertigo is dizziness. Think tinnitus is that ear-ringing thing."

"'Emesis, bradycardia'... What is this, a medical journal? Why can't you witches use regular terms?"

She said nothing, and he refrained from saying aloud the last symptom: death.

"It says here it can be used in weight-loss supplements. So you'll never have to diet again." Even she didn't seem to appreciate her weak joke, as evident by her equally weak chuckle.