Nevermor (17 page)

“
Pretty
is not going to do us any good,” Nix assured them.  “If anything, it will cause
us more trouble.  What if the Tribals decide they want her?  Or the pirates? 
I’m telling you: her presence is no good to us!  She’s useless and she has no
skills.  She’s monster bait!”

The twins
snickered together.

“Monster
bate
...”
one of them muttered, and the laughter soon caught on to Finn and then Toss,
who laughed nervously only because the others were.  Sly put a hand over his
face and shook his head at them.

“I don’t know
why I bother,” Nix said, throwing up his hands.

“You’re talking
to simpletons,” Sly said with a weary sigh.  “You can’t expect them to see the
big picture.”

“Then why don’t
you
agree with him?” Finn asked pointedly, irritated at being talked down to.

Sly shrugged. 
“I let Rifter make his own mistakes.  That’s something
I’ve
learned in
my time here.”

“But you really
do agree with me.”  Nix was anxious to have him commit.  Having Sly on his side
would make his case stronger, as he’d known from the beginning.

“I’m not going
to say that you’re wrong.  Yes, it could go badly in a lot of ways.  I told
Rifter what I knew from what I’ve read, and he ignored it.  I’m not willing to
go further than that.  But as for my personal feeling, I’m with them – she’s
pretty and I like her.”

“Simpleton,”
Finn teased, nudging Sly in the side.

“Then here’s an
issue that none of you can deny,” Nix started again.  “She’s female – obviously
different from us in many ways—”  The twins looked at each other mischievously,
and Nix had to head them off.  “Do
not
elaborate on that or so help me…”

He didn’t have
to finish, leaving the identical boys to snicker without a word, as if knowing
each other’s thoughts.

“Where are we
going to put her?”  Nix finished finally.  “Is she supposed to stay down here
with us?”

“She can sleep
with me,” Finn declared as if he was doing so at great sacrifice to himself. 
“I’ll take good care of her!”

He laughed
wickedly and some of them chortled along with him – especially the twins – but
the truth was that none of them would have known what to do if they’d had a
woman spread out before them.

“Are you done?”
Nix asked with a hard stare, and gradually they became serious again.

Toss raised his
hand hesitantly, and Nix allowed him to put his hand on the skull to speak his
mind.

“You sound like
you really don’t like her, Nix.  You wouldn’t think of getting rid of her
yourself, would you?  I don’t think I’d like that very much.”

It took quite a
bit to get Toss upset, and though he spoke calmly now, he waited for Nix to
give him an honest answer.

“Bloody hell,”
Nix said in disbelief.  “I’m not going to
hurt her
, even though it would
be easy, I’m sure.  The fact remains that it was a
bad
choice to bring
her here.  He was supposed to bring another boy – someone who could take care
of himself and make us stronger as a group.  Not some
girl
who we have
to take care of!  We have enough problems without that!”

“I don’t know,”
Sly said thoughtfully.  “Who is to say that making us all come together to look
after her won’t make us stronger?”

“Like she’s a
pet?” Finn asked, confused.

“I’m pretty sure
she wouldn’t appreciate being called that,” Toss added.  “Aren’t girls
sensitive about that kind of thing?”

“Is that how it
happens in your storybooks, Sly?” Nix asked, discouraged that none of them were
agreeing with him.  “Well this is real.  I know I don’t have to remind you why
we need a replacement in the first place, or what we all saw happen to Cyprus.”

There was
silence after that name was spoken.  If Rifter had been there, he would not
have allowed it.  One of his rules was that they did not speak of the fallen. 
Rifter would rather forget, but it wasn’t so easy for the rest of them.

Nix took note of
their humble expressions.  “My point is proven then.  If we don’t risk our own
lives to make sure she stays safe, then she will soon be forgotten as well.”

He watched his
brothers carefully, and though the twins shifted uncomfortably and Finn kept
his eyes averted, they still refused to speak up against Wren.  Nix was angry
at them, but in these few seconds, he did begin to doubt his own logic – but
only for a moment.

“Well if you all
insist that she stays, she ought to at least pass the test.  Simple enough, isn’t
it?  I say we take her out right now and make her prove that she can stand on
her own.  Then I’ll be satisfied.”

Even at this,
none of them agreed.  Did they not care that she was weak?  How could they not
be concerned?  Nix’s fury swelled inside him until he couldn’t hold it anymore.

“Fine.  If none
of you are with me, I’ll do it myself!”

Nix tromped
heatedly from the room and the others were after him in an instant, ready to
keep him from doing anything too drastic – if not for Wren’s sake, simply so
they would not get in trouble with Rifter.  None of them wanted that, and it
could be suspected that Nix didn’t either, but he was letting pride get the
best of him now.

When Nix came
into the den, he stopped abruptly, and the others behind him came to a halt as
well.  There, in the middle of the rug, Wren was sleeping, lost somewhere in
the darkness behind her eyelids.  Her gown and her blond curls were spread out
around her, framing her pale skin beautifully.  She looked so peaceful and
lovely that not even Nix could be stirred to move against her, and they all
just stood there looking over her.

“She looks like
an angel,” Toss commented quietly, and the others agreed silently to
themselves.

Nix looked on at
her a moment before he snorted and stormed away down one of the tunnels, but at
least his vile intentions had been cast aside.  The rest of them could find no
fault with her and left her alone, deciding to retire to their own beds.

Wren slept on,
oblivious to their actions.  She was floating through the dark, brushing her
fingers on soft purple clouds, and somewhere in the midst of that, a handsome
boy was smiling at her.

3

Rifter passed
through the sky for hours, beyond so many stars in formation, most of which he
knew by heart.  He had come this way many times before – whenever he met a
wanderer that had gotten lost on the way to heaven.  There was a soft spot in
his heart for them.  He took pity on those wayward souls, for he knew what it
was to be lost.

Everyone needs
somewhere to belong.

The small boy
stayed quiet through the flight as Rifter guided him across the universe,
weaving through the cold vastness of space.  Some would say that the outer
reaches were empty, but it was far from that.  There was light cast from many a
celestial body, and Whisper was with him as well to help him find his way back.

There was one
thing that Rifter hated about the journey.  It was the icy silence.

He increased his
speed and pressed onward, traveling until he saw a light in the distance, so
bright that the Rifter could not go any closer to it.  He had to stop.  From
here, he could hear the song of a choir rolling over him like warm waves, and
while it was welcoming, he knew it was not for him.  This was not where he
belonged.

“Go ahead,” he
urged the boy.  “It’s alright.  This is home now.”

The boy’s eyes
were alight with wonder, and he was even smiling now, contented.  He knew this
was what he had been looking for.  He broke away from Rifter’s hand and drifted
forward to the light.  As he went on, the form of his body faded away until he
had transformed into a glowing, featureless orb which passed on into the light,
disappearing into the brilliant spectrum.

Even after the
boy had gone, Rifter lingered for a moment, hovering in the sky.  Unlike the
trip back would be, this place was warm and comforting.  He felt at ease. 
There was a time when he’d thought he might like to stay here, but he wasn’t
ready for it yet.  He had far too much living to do.

On that thought,
he turned to go, shooting across the sky like a comet, back to the place where
he belonged.

1

Wren awoke with
her face buried in the fur of the animal rug, and for several moments, did not
know where she was.  The night before had all seemed like a blur, and part of
her still doubted that any of it had happened, but she could not deny the dirt
walls of the tunnel around her.  She knew she could not have made any of it up,
for she was certainly not at Miss Nora’s.

For one glorious
moment, she was happy, but then felt a pang of guilt as she imagined her
brothers waking up without her.  She’d not been able to leave them any hint of
where she had gone, but she hoped they’d be able to trust that she would come
back for them.

The sooner, the
better.
 
There was no way to know how long Henry would wait.

She inhaled
deeply, embracing wakefulness.  For the first time since she’d laid down on the
rug – so exhausted she hadn’t cared where she found her rest – she realized
that it didn’t smell very inviting, like dust and sweat and wild boy.  Perhaps
it was that which urged her up instead of enticing her to sleep longer.  She
vowed that she would clean the rug later.  It had probably never been washed. 
Boys couldn’t be bothered to care about that sort of thing.

Propping herself
up on one elbow, Wren sat quietly, trying to convince herself that she was
ready to be awake.  She couldn’t say how long she had slept or what time it was
now, only that she was exactly where she had fallen asleep in the underground,
and no one had tried to throw her back in the ocean while she’d slept.  That,
on its own, was a blessing.       

I wonder if
Rifter is back yet.

She made a move
to get up, and only then did she notice that there was another person in the
room.  A large figure was hunched over the crude hearth of uneven stones, coaxing
a fire to rise.

Wren paused in
her ascent, startled.  Toss turned to her, looking just as stunned as she did
to find that she was awake and looking at him.  His face quickly turned red and
he looked back at the fire.

“Oh, I’m sorry,”
he muttered.  “Did I wake you?”

“No, it’s fine,”
she said once she’d gotten her bearings.  She wasn’t used to waking up with
strange faces around her.  “I’m sure that I need to get up anyway.  Do you know
what time it is?”

He shook his
head.  “I haven’t gone out yet.  I thought you might be cold, so I was going to
make a fire first.”

“Oh, yes.  Thank
you.”  Wren smiled sweetly at him, he blushed, and then she remembered
something from the day before.  “And thank you for yesterday.  It was you who
helped me.”

Last night when
the nightmare had been looming over her, he was the one who had rushed forward
to protect her first.  He deserved her thanks, but of course this made him
blush even darker, the color spreading to his ears like a rash.

“It was
nothin’,” Toss said to brush it off, but he was smiling.  He enjoyed her
flattery.

“No, it was,”
she insisted.  “It was very brave.”  She laughed nervously as she recalled her
performance.  “I’m no fighter.  I might have been dead if it weren’t for you.”

He didn’t say
anything to that, but she could tell that he was pleased.  Since she was on his
good side, she thought she might pry a bit.

“How did the
meeting go last night?  Was a decision made?”

He looked
startled to have her ask about the council of the Talker.  Did he think she would
forget?  He fumbled over words for a few moments, but she kept looking at him,
and eventually he caved.

“Not really,” he
said shamefully, “but we rarely do make decisions without Rifter, so it was
pretty pointless in the end.”

Wren was happy
with that, though she couldn’t say she’d felt very threatened by their council
in the first place.  She had Rifter on her side and he seemed to be their
leader.  She felt secure in that thought.

“Is Rifter back
yet?” she asked.

“I haven’t seen
him.”

She was
disappointed to hear that, but there was no reason why she should sit and mope
until he came back – nothing stopping her from making the day more productive.

“Well, since he
is not back, perhaps
you
might show me the rest of your home here.”

“Me?” Toss
asked, pointing to himself in disbelief.  His expression was so comical that
she had to laugh.

“I’m sure to get
lost if someone doesn’t show me how to navigate these tunnels, and I’m anxious
to see how you live.”

Whether it was
her friendly words or simply because he couldn’t say no, Toss rose up from the
fire and agreed to her request.