Lost in Mist and Shadow: A Between the Worlds Novel (17 page)

Allie gave him her best disapproving look, “Jason you know she has a boyfriend.”

“We know she has a boyfriend,” Bleidd said, “but maybe she’s not remembering.”

“Guys!” Allie shook her head, “You can’t be serious. Liz isn’t like that. She doesn’t have it in her. She’s just trying to be nice and honestly maybe reliving her teenage popular years a little bit. But nothing’s going on with those two.”

“If you say so,” Jason agreed, while Bleidd continued to look skeptical.

“Yeah,” Allie said forcefully, “I say so. So no more talk like that.”

“Where are the theater duo anyway?” Jason asked lounging against the counter as Allie cleaned up her own dishes.

“Probably still sleeping. With that play rehearsing and that other charity thing going on at the theater I think they’ve been pretty busy,” Allie said. “Anyway as much fun as the gossip game is I’ve got to get to work.”

“I’ll go with you,” Jason said.

At the exact same moment Bleidd said, “Wait a moment and I’ll go with you.”

She stopped and turned looking at both of her friends, puzzled, “What’s up?”

The two men were looking at each other as if waiting for the other one to speak. Allie risked using her empathy to read them and was surprised to feel worry from both. “Guys, I’m fine. I don’t need someone with me all the time. A couple dead animals and some broken windows doesn’t mean anything. It could be kids messing with me – come to think of it I had some teenagers in the store who wanted to mess around with necromancy that got pissed when I wouldn’t help them. It could be them. It’s nothing to get this worked up about.”

“You could have a stalker,” Jason said seriously.

“A stalker? Jason you have got to be kidding.”

“It could be someone who means you harm Allie, I don’t think it’s wise to ignore this,” Bleidd said.

“You are being ridiculous. Both of you.”

“Without the cameras working anything could happen and if you are alone…no I don’t like it Allie,” Bleidd said, shaking his head. She could feel his resolve hardening.

“Well rest assured the cameras are getting fixed,” Allie said stiffly, wishing there was some way to change the subject.

To her complete annoyance they both shook their heads. Bleidd pressed the issue, “Until they are fixed I don’t think you should be alone.”

Jason nodded, “Its escalating Allie, from animals to the windows. Now maybe you’re right and it’s really nothing but some pissed off kids. But what if you’re wrong? You think I can live with myself if you talk me out of hanging out with you to make sure you stay safe and something happens to you? And it’s not like I have anywhere else to be.”

She pressed her lips together, wanting to keep arguing but she could feel their joint resolve. She remembered only too well what it had been like during the murder investigation, having the Elven Guard following her everywhere. Having her whole life taken over by other people. She did not want that to happen again. But was it worth alienating her only real friends to prove that she was independent and didn’t need anyone’s help? Hadn’t she just learned that the only way to keep a relationship was to let people in, not push them away? She groaned, “Crap.”

Bleidd looked disapproving but Jason smiled triumphantly, correctly reading her. “Give me fifteen minutes and I’ll be ready to go.”

“Fine, but hurry up I have to run an errand on the way in,” she relented, sighing as he ran out of the kitchen. As soon as he was gone Bleidd stood and crossed over to where Allie was standing, pulling her into a loose embrace. She tensed but held herself still.

He spoke in Elvish, “Please Allie, don’t take risks just to prove something to me or anyone else about your self-sufficiency. I have no doubt you can take care of yourself, you have been doing it for a long time, but if you are in danger…don’t risk yourself for nothing. Let us help you. For the Gods’ sakes let Jessilaen help you.”

“If you are saying that,” she replied slowly in the same language, “then you must truly be worried.”

******************************************

“Rose is really nice,” Jason said later as they pulled into the parking lot of Between the Worlds.

“Yeah,” Allie agreed, “she is. I’m glad you two hit it off so well.”

Allie had brought Jason with her to go pick up the sculpture at the co-op and much to her relief he and Rose had liked each other immediately. She didn’t know why it mattered to her but she wanted Rose to like Jason and vice versa. As it turned out she didn’t need to worry on that count; Jason had been completely enamored with the artist and her artwork and Rose, for her part, had seemed to take to Jason just as well. Before they left Jason had agreed to help Rose learn her way around town, something that Allie thought was a brilliant idea. It would get Rose out a bit and get her acclimated to all the little oddities of Ashwood and it would give Jason something to do besides worry about his upcoming hearing.

“Hang on a sec while I get this unlocked,” Allie said, stepping up to the door and lowering the wards as she turned the key. She wouldn’t admit it to anyone but she was relieved to see an empty doorstep and feel the wards still in place. Everything seemed calm and peaceful, a typical late spring morning in Ashwood. The sun filtered down through the tree branches, just starting to unfurl new leaves, and a slight breeze kept the air pleasantly warm but not hot. The little wrens over the door peeped for their food and further out Allie could hear the sound of traffic picking up on Main Street.

Feeling a sudden surge of cheer Allie pushed the door open.
Maybe
, she thought,
things are turning around
. Aloud she said, “Come on in Jase, make yourself at home. You’ll see my day is pretty boring.”

“Can’t be worse than hanging around the house all day.”

“Give it time, you might change your mind,” she said smiling as she checked the phone messages. In between the usual batches of curiosity seekers, reporters from out-of-town papers still looking for a new angle on the story, and hang-ups, were a couple special orders for books. Allie’s smile widened as she quickly jotted down the pertinent information.

“Well,” Jason said poking through the small refrigerator in the kitchenette area, “At the very least it’s a change of scenery.”

“How can you possibly be hungry again? We just ate breakfast,” Allie teased him as she walked past, heading out to open the store for business. Saturday was usually a busy day, and she hoped they’d start to see the sort of tourists who were interested in shopping and not interrogating her.

“That was hours ago. You’ve got to feed the machine Allie.”

“If ate as often as you do,” she yelled back over her shoulder, walking up to the front door, “I’d break my machine.”

She could just barely hear him laughing, the sound faint across the length of the store. She opened the front door and let out a breath she didn’t realize she’d held as she’d unlocked it; the front door step was empty. The new windows gleamed in the sunlight. Feeling foolish for letting Bleidd and Jason get her so worried she left the door open to the beautiful day and turned the sign to open, flipping the light switch on the wall so that the overhead lights buzzed to life.

Turning to the side of the room filled with book shelves she pulled out the list she’d made of the phone orders and headed over to start finding the books. They were all easily located and five minutes later, Allie was returning to the sales counter with an armload of special orders. Jason was leaning against the counter eating a sandwich; after a moment Allie identified it as the lunch she’d brought in yesterday. “You know that’s old right?”

He shrugged, “Tastes fine. So everything’s quiet?”

“Yeah, everything looks fine. I told you it would be.”

“You might think we’re overreacting but Allie, honestly, and I’m saying this as your friend, I don’t understand where you’re coming from on this one. You’re having panic attacks about this stuff, but then you’re totally blowing us off when we try to help you. I don’t get it,” Jason ate while he talked, his voice pensive between chewing.

“Jason, I just…”Allie stopped, not sure how to explain. If she let herself believe she was really in danger now she’d lose any ability to function. She just could not think it. “It’s not that easy. And the panic attacks aren’t because of what’s going on they’re because of what happened before. The stuff now just triggers things. I don’t want you and Bleidd wasting your time babysitting me because of stupid things.”

“Have you told Jessilaen?” Jason asked, in a tone that made it clear he expected the answer to be no.

“For your information I have. I told him everything that’s been going on,” Allie said, feeling some satisfaction that coming clean to Jess about everything had the added benefit of wiping that know-it-all expression off of Jason’s face.

“Oh!” Jason didn’t bother to hide his surprise. “Well good. What did he say?”

She rolled her eyes, organizing the books into piles by which customer wanted what, “That he wants the cameras fixed as soon as possible.”

“Huh. Well he and I agree on that one. Have you called someone to come look at the system?”

“Not yet. I wouldn’t even know who to call. Do you have any idea how old that system is?” she reached for the phone as she spoke, watching Jason polish off the last of the sandwich. “Where do you put it all?”

“Are you calling now?”

“I just said I don’t know who to call. I need to get back to people about these phone orders so they’ll come pick them up,” she said, distracted. She started to dial the first number on her list.

“Tell you what then you do that and I’ll track down someone to come out and look at the surveillance system.” Jason said, already pulling out his cell phone.

“You don’t need to do…Hi, is this Phil?” Allie cut off mid-sentence as the man she was calling answered the phone. She made a face but waved Jason away, watching as he huddled in a corner and started talking into his phone. “Hi, this is Allie at Between the Worlds, I got your message about needing a copy of ‘Signs and Portents’. I have one in stock….yes….uh-huh….not a problem, we’re open until 5:30 on Saturdays….sure, I’ll have it behind the counter for you….you too, thanks.”

She wrapped up her first call but Jason was still on his phone so she called the next one on her list, and kept going with one eye on Jason. She talked to several people and left one message as his conversation dragged out and she started to wonder if he hadn’t called a friend to talk to while she worked. The curiosity was driving her crazy and she was tempted to walk closer to where he was standing and try to overhear something, if only to know whether he was talking about her camera system or not, but her ankle was starting to hurt. She knew from experience that if she didn’t take a break and sit down she’d really be in pain later.

Keeping one eye on Jason she reluctantly sat on the stool she’d put behind the counter when she’d come back to work after being injured. She reached down and was rubbing her ankle, trying to decide how much of the computer system she could afford to pay for herself before she’d have no choice but to let Jess help, when the bells above the door rang. The sound got her attention immediately because it was not a noise she had ever heard them make before, as if the bells had been wrapped in cloth: muffled and subdued. Allie had no idea what to make of that. If it was someone from the Dark court here to start trouble or someone who meant her harm the bells should not have rung at all and the ward should have broken…

She looked at the customer just walking in and realized he was an elf. A very young elf she thought in some shock, and alone. You didn’t see the younger elves often outside of Fairy, which meant that Allie hadn’t seen an elf this young in decades. The birthrate was extraordinarily low, favored male children, and the mortality rate in childbirth – for mothers and babies - even with magic and the use of human technology was very high so that children were a precious commodity. On the rare occasions when a family might decide to risk their precious offspring in the human realm or Borderland the youth in question would be accompanied by a half dozen relatives at least. And yet here this one was alone. Despite the weirdness with the bells and feeling of warning that came with that Allie was intrigued and her curiosity got the better of her.

He was tall, but probably not as tall as he would be when he was fully grown. He had the look of a human teenager of perhaps sixteen or seventeen, which meant that he was probably around a hundred, give or take a few decades. His hair was a rich chestnut brown which he wore loose over a pristine t-shirt bearing the logo of a rock band. She’d bet real money the shirt was brand new. From the look of the jeans the entire outfit had probably come out of a bag within the last few hours.

Allie stood up slowly, careful to put most of the weight on her good leg, and walked out from behind the counter. “Hello, may I help you?”

The elven boy’s eyes, an unusual light hazel, took in the store with interest before settling on Allie. When he spoke it was in Elvish, “Pardon, but do you speak the language?”

Once again Allie felt a strong sense of warning. Something was not right here. Even if he had somehow, completely inexplicably managed to get free to wander around Ashwood alone, he had to speak English or know that it was spoken here. Elven children were taught the human language of their nearest neighbor from a young age, in some cases several of them. It was barely within the realm of possibility that he could be from a Fairy Holding that did not border an English speaking country, but he should have tried another human language first. Very few humans spoke Elvish with any degree of fluency and those that did were usually military or politicians. In a very few cases scholars, but that would be at universities not small bookstores, and there was no reason for him to look at Allie and think she was anything but human. Nonetheless she answered very politely, if cryptically, in kind “I speak several languages fluently. Is there anything I can help you with?”