“That’s cool. Doesn’t help with the greble wh
o wants to eat my brain, though,” I mention as I think back to work. Amber pops in my head. “Oh, hey, did you know Russell and Amber set a date?”
I hear the phone drop on the other end and really hope Gunthreon didn’t faint.
Chapter 27
Concerned
Kioto greets me at my door rather slowly, panting heavily but seemingly satisfied, and I realize it’s her post-walk mode. Sure enough, her leash has been moved, and I see her water bowl has been refilled. I turn right back around and knock on Philip’s door, because I really can’t imagine an eight-foot greble walking my dog down the street to the park.
“Yes?
” Philip answers the door in a Darth Vader shirt and torn jeans. I hear his babysitter talking on the phone in the kitchen. I try to peek in, but Philip closes the door behind him.
“My dog is quite worn out right now. Would you have any idea why?”
He pulls on a thick silver chain attached from his belt loop to his pocket and pulls out a black wallet embroidered with a white skull. He starts thumbing through his dollar bills. “How much are dog walking services these days? I think I need to start getting paid for it.”
“Such a cool seven year old, aren
’t you?” I tease.
“The coolest,” he replie
s, jerking his head quickly to move his hair from his eyes.
I think about the privacy of my apartment, but realize I don’t have
much to hide. Kioto gets to go outside during the day, and I don’t have to worry about her poor bladder. “How’s thirty bucks a week sound to you?”
“Wonder how long it will take you to pay me back for all those souvenirs you bought with my gold.”
I totally forgot to pay him back. “Damn! Sorry. Let me check my purse,” I say. I open my wallet and find it totally devoid of cash. A few receipts fall out, along with one of those scratch-off lottery tickets.
Philip reaches down, grabs it, and says, “This will have to do for now, I guess. Thirty bucks a week? Deal. That’ll give me some extra cash when I move out. There’s an apartment available in the next building.” He shakes my hand, then hol
ds it briefly before letting go and returning to his apartment. A sensation of longingness lingers as I touch the hand he held.
I wonder how moving out will work with his foster mother.
As I put my wallet back, Amber’s red envelope falls to the floor, still smelling of her sickeningly sweet perfume. I pick it up, pinning it to my refrigerator with one of my numerous Akita magnets. The damn envelope practically screams at me to make my phone call. So I do.
“Hello?” Con
ner sounds as if I’ve just woke him up.
“What would one do for a living if he
’s sleeping at this time?” I ask. Surprisingly, Conner’s occupation has never come up. “Broker? Self-employed entrepreneur?”
“Phone-sex operator.”
“What?!”
He cracks up on the other end. “Don’t get your panties all in a bunch.” He continues laughing, but eventually calms himself down. “Real estate, actually. Think about it. I’ve got to put my gift to good use somehow, right?”
Thank God for small miracles. “Sorry I haven’t called you back,” I say. “I know I promised I would, but lots of things have been going on and I couldn’t find the time, and I’m actually calling you for another favor.”
“My, my. You are really going to owe me one, aren’t you?”
“Would you go to a wedding with me?” I ask. I practically hold my breath as I speak, wincing.
“That’s not a favor. I’d love to.” Praise the Lord again.
“Guess who?”
“Our two lovebirds?”
“How did you know?”
“Russell gave me an invitation, too,” he says. “I must say he’s been so quiet lately and hard to get in touch with, but anyway, you saved me a phone call.”
How can I kill Amber quickly and painlessly, at least for me?
“Kailey, what are you doing right now?”
I’m sitting picking at my pedicure right now, but he doesn’t need to know that. “Nothing. Why?”
He’s silent. “I was just wondering if I could stop by. I got you something—something small. It just made me think of you, that’s all.”
I then realize I still have
his
gift from Meadow’s Edge. “You can stop by if you’d like,” I say. “I was just going to order takeout Chinese. Did you have dinner yet?”
“No, and Chinese sounds great.” I decide to order a smorgasbord, and he can pick and choose, because I don
’t really know what he likes.
I’m starving, though, and can’t wait until he gets here. My work clothes have to come off, and I decide on something comfortable, but something that shows my figure slightly—and, oh, a little strawberry lip gloss.
Eventually, the doorbell rings and I let him up. He’s as handsome as ever, with his dark blue frayed jeans, white pullover V-neck sweater, stubbled chin, and slightly tousled hair. He gives me a warm peck on my cheek as he puts his hand on my shoulder and closes the door behind him. I shudder slightly. He smells divine, as usual.
“Here.” He puts a small, black velvet box in my hands. I open it, and it’s a sterling chain with a small silver and brass whistle attached. He helps me put the chain on, and I put it to my lips and blow. It’s quite loud and shrill for its size. Kioto pulls her ears back and runs. “It’s in case someone gets a little overzealous with you and you need to fend them off,” Conner says.
His eyes soften and I instantly feel a pain from him, similar to a broken heart.
My own anxiety flares up. “What’s wrong?” I say, concerned.
His eyes are tearful and he brings his hands to hold mine. “Amber told me what happened to you. I’m so sorry you had to go through that. No woman should ever feel that kind of pain.”
“Thanks,” I sa
y, “For both the gift and your concern. I hope I’ll never need to use this, but I’ll keep it close at hand,” I say, as I turn the whistle over in my hand. I smile warmly at him. “Oh, oh, I got you something too!” I hand him his box, and he slowly opens it.
“
’The truth shall set you free.’” A large grin appears on his face, and he leans in to hug me. It’s one of those good, firm hugs one learns to appreciate.
There’s a quick, single knock at the door and the door opens. I let go of Conner, quickly, but reluctantly.
“Oh, you little karmelean queen, I... ” The look on Philip’s face shows shock, embarrassment, and a hint of jealousy all at once. The fact it’s from a seven year old is a bit disturbing. I can only imagine what is running through Conner’s mind. Philip has now made me decide I
do
need my privacy.
“Conner, this is Philip, my neighbor friend,” I say, a bit uncomfortably.
Conner’s face contorts slightly, and I realize what Philip said as he walked in. “Nice to meet you, Philip,” Conner says. “It’s always nice meeting another traveler.” He shakes Philip’s hand, and Philip shakes back as firmly as a seven year old’s muscles will allow. He holds on slightly longer than I would expect, and I hold my breath once again in anticipation of what he may do to Conner’s insides, but he lets go and proceeds to turn around and leave.
“Hey, wh
at did you come over for?” I ask.
“
Just to hang,” he sputters in his best seven-year-old impression.
In deciding I rather not have him slamming the door as he leaves, and the smallest bit of desire that I
want him to stay, I request, “Don’t leave yet, I’ve ordered a whole bunch of Chinese food and we won’t be able to eat it all.” I glance at Conner as I talk and he nods.
“Yes,” says Conner.
“Please stay, Philip, and I mean it.” He speaks in his special way, and Philip does indeed come in and sit on the couch.
“Soulspeak, eh?” says Philip.
“Yep. Glad we can be ourselves here. What about you, ‘Philip’?” I hear the question in his voice, as I know Philip does.
“You can call me Ladimer.”
Conner adjusts his seating a bit and bites his lip, unknowingly. “Nice to be in the presence of such a celebrity,” he says. “I’ve heard your tales, Ladimer, from my parents. How long have you and Kailey here known each other?”
“She knows who I am and what I am. It doesn’t really matter how long we’ve known each other.”
Conner smiles slightly.
The doorbell rings, and I shout, “Food!” I’m famished, and I need a break from the boys in the room. I run downstairs, and pay the delivery guy, and lug up all the bags. Both my guests jump up and help me as I enter my apartment.
“Hey, this should be on me,” states Philip. “I won a thousand bucks with a certain lottery ticket. It’s wonderful knowing you, Kailey.” My mouth opens wide, and I could kick myself. It makes me wonder—if I kept it for myself, would it have been worth anything when I scratched it?
After much eating, talking, and a transformation
and clothes change for Philip—I guess to even the ground—the boys seem to warm up to each other, almost to the point of forgetting about me. They even come up with a plan for Conner to help Ladimer with his foster situation. I’ll kind of miss Philip, though.
The men eventually say their goodbyes and arrange for Conner to come over another day.
Ladimer leaves first, and asks me to walk him out. “Be careful, please,” he whispers. “I know you like him, but how well do you really know him?” He looks me in the eyes, and just as I think he’s going to kiss me, he heads to his apartment, where he will quickly change into Philip before Karen arrives home.
Upon returning to my own place, I see Conner putting his shoes on. “Thanks for dinner and the company, Kailey. Thanks for my gift, too. I know just where I’m going to put it. He stands close to me and stares intently into my eyes. “Be careful of Ladimer,” he says. “You have not heard all the stories I have. My mother and father told me lots of Renhala tales, and Ladimer played a few parts in them. He’s a powerful and dangerous man.”
I agree to watch my back, and before he leaves, he leans into me, stealing my breath as his lips press to mine. I hope he tastes the strawberry lip gloss I reapplied after dinner. His hand is at the lowest part of my back, and I suddenly feel a hunger for it to roam, but he’s a gentleman and removes it hastily. I sigh deeply when he leaves as I stand at the top of the apartment stairs.
As I watch from the hallway window, Conner beeps his horn as his car pulls out. I hear Ladimer’s blinds close as I stand, staring at nothing. Both warnings replay through my head, and I decide, after much thought, that I cannot live my life fearing everyone close to me. My, what help a nice, tall glass of wine could do for me right now, if I were normal.
Chapter 28
Missing
Time flies when you’re busy, and the next few days are just that, but it makes me happy that I can earn a paycheck doing things that help others. In just a week, Helping Hands has helped six individuals complete a difficult task, achieve some lifelong dream, or just plain relax. Life is good, until I receive a strange phone call from Gunthreon.
All I get from the one-sided conversation is that something is wrong with “the connection” and Neda must be found soon. I agree to come see him, since he sounds so distraught. Evan allows me to sneak out a few hours early.
Fidello picks me up straight from work and drives me quickly to Gunthreon’s place, Spirit Cave, where I am greeted by Russell. I hug him and ask how the wedding plans are going, but he dismisses my questions and says that he’s on his way out to pick up Amber’s dry cleaning. “Tell her to pick up her own dry cleaning,” I say. He just smiles quirkily and waves goodbye as he drives away.
I find Gunthreon in the room with the disappearing door. He’s seated, staring at his urn, which is propped up on a chest. “Gunth, are you okay?” I say. I walk over to stand directly in front of him, and he finally notices he’s not alone.
“Do you see it?” he questions.
“Yes, I see the urn.”
“No, do you
see
it?”
“Umm, you need to be a little more descriptive right now.”
“It’s cracking, Kailey,” he comments. “The urn is breaking down.”
There is indeed a small hairline crack on the urn’s lip. “Well, it’s old, I’m sure,” I say. “If it gets worse superglue works wonders. There’s also this antique place I pass on the way to work that could maybe—”
“
You don’t understand!
” As he turns away, I take a few steps back and fidget with the silver ring in my pocket. “Who did you awaken, Kailey? Who answered you?” he says to himself. Thank God he isn’t actually expecting an answer from me, because he’s scaring the hell out of me. He turns back and the fire in his eyes is so bright that I back up even further, not knowing whether to run away or cower in a corner. He apologizes and, in his persuasive voice, asks me to sit. He eyes the ring in my hands as I continue to play nervously with it.
“Your father
’s?”
“Yes,” I repl
y as I place it back in my pocket.
“Keep it safe, for it
’s your only connection to what was once good.” He hesitates, then adds, “You must know this urn also has a special connection. It signifies a living link between those who reside on this plane and Neda. You can say that this urn is actually alive,” says Gunthreon. “Nobody knows what it is made of, but it’s something organic and connected to the living force of Neda. The fact that it is breaking down means we must find Neda, and immediately. Something is terribly wrong. And
we continue to waste time!
”
I switch into business mode.
“Okay. I know that you and Ladimer have been attempting to dig up information. Pull this information together to find Neda as a first step. How do we start? Do we need to brainstorm?”
“I
don’t know how to say this... I have no idea.” But
I
have a feeling traveling is involved.
Good-bye Helping Hands.
We spend about an hour talking about what to pack for our trip to Renhala and who to bring. My need to explain how I’ve never been camping in my life is overshadowed by Gunthreon’s fire and his sudden energy to move fast. “Can I at least bring the s
’mores?” I say. It falls on deaf ears.
On my way home, I call my mom to ask if she can dog sit Kioto for a while. She does not agree, because she knows something’s going down. Her voice is snotty as she says, “You
’re going to need my help aren’t you?”
“Yes, I need you to help me by watching Kioto.” Gunthreon doesn’t want my mom along for fear something may happen to her and she may slow us down in some way. Go figure—Quicksilver slowing us down. I guess Gunthreon knows best, or otherwise, he just used that persuasion power to get me to agree that she shouldn’t come. “Gunthreon was very specific about each of our tasks,” I say, standing my ground.
“Whatever. Fine. I have the spare set of keys you gave me. I’ll pick her up tomorrow,” she says. “Hey, I got an invitation to Amber’s wedding?”
“Yeah, weird, huh? She and Russell have only been dating two weeks, but I
’m hoping he may be exactly what she needs.”
“I
’ve always liked him. Let’s hope so.” She hangs up the phone.
I arrive at my place thanks to Flash Gordon behind the wheel of the limo. As I head
upstairs, I hear Bu and Ladimer in the hallway in a heated debate. Just as I reach the second floor, I see the hippie couple who live below me shutting their door. All I hear is, “Whoa, man, those mushrooms are killer.”
“You guys need to calm down and get out of the h
allway,” I say to Bu and Ladimer, quietly yet firmly. “My neighbor just saw you! What were you fighting about?”
Ladimer
twitters, “He won’t leave your door no matter how many times I tell him I live across the hall. He’s only jeopardizing you by being here.”
Bu adds, “Bu only knows what Bu would do.” I think to myself and realize he just admitted he only trusts himself.
“Thanks Bu,” I say as I hug him.
They enter my apartment, and I force them both to sit down and stop arguing. Kioto cuddles up next to Bu.
Ladimer glances toward Kioto. “Why big smelly here? I’m the one who walks you.” Ladimer looks blatantly jealous. It seems to be a common trait of his nowadays.
But “big smelly” isn’t the best thing to call Bu right in front of him, so I change the subject. “Bu, Gunthreon told me how you can fix things. That’s pretty cool big guy.”
His head turns down in a modest sort of way. “Yeah, Bu just like to see how things work here.” Modesty turns to sadness. It hits me that Bu would probably rather live here, but cannot because of what he is.
“Funny, Bu—both you and Ladimer kind of do the same thing. You both know how things work!” Bu looks up, and there’s a sudden gleam of pride in his eyes. Ladimer rolls his own. A sudden knocking noise from my refrigerator diverts Bu’s attention while I pull Ladimer to the side. “You can change him!”
“What?”
“Make him human.”
Like a tornado, Ladimer’s energy starts twirling, violently, for no apparent reason. “
No!
I will not!” His intensity frightens me and I take a step back as he takes a deep breath to calm himself down. “Altering living creatures to that degree is wrong. Believe me, I’ve had experience.” He turns from me and heads toward Bu, whose concentration is intense as he reconnects some wires in my refrigerator and blabs something about a thermistor. He then cleans off one of his wrenches.
I turn on the television, and there’s nothing on except the good ol
’ news. The lead story is on a missing physicist, Dr. Martine, who disappeared from his lab in Maryland, and the only clue they found in the lab was a dead chupacabra-looking animal. I click off the TV and move to pack a bag for our trip.
Ladimer turns the news back on. “Don’t you want to be up to date on current events?” he says. “Who knows what happened to this guy? He’s been working on some pretty interesting things—one
’s some kind of machine that’s able to replicate what might have happened during the so-called ‘Big Bang.’ You know, more and more occurrences like this are happening around the world. I just heard a week ago there’s also a famous biologist missing.”
“You sound like a reporter,” I say.
“I just like not to be left in the dark.”
I stand hands-on-hips in front of him. “Don’t you know a lot of this is bull?”
“Yeah, well, a lot is
not
.”
He
’s evidently one of those late night news junkies. I don’t want to argue. “We are going on a trip tomorrow, so go start packing.”
“Gunthreon already called. I
’m packed. I also threw a few things in a bag for big dopey.” I give him a look, daring him to say one more insulting remark about Bu.
Bu doesn
’t hear, and asks if he can take a few of my snacks on the trip. “Go ahead, Bu,” I say. “Take whatever you’d like.” This gets him very excited. At least someone is satisfied with the simple things in life.
“Well, I’m going to finish wa
tering some plants at home,” yaps Ladimer. “And oh, your
boyfriend
is coming over to help me with you-know-who before I leave my apartment next-door for good.”
“He
’s not my boyfriend.”