The Evensong (13 page)

“Yeah, yeah . . . well, I have to go but I’ll be back in a few hours, okay? I need to talk to you about some things.”

I nodded and said I’d see her then. Before she left I wished her luck, which made her smile hugely. That made me wonder if she’d ever met a guy before.

I went straight up to my room when I walked inside. Sharon and Rene were sitting in the living room, so everyone else in the house was upstairs. Music came from behind Omar’s door and the TV in Hunter’s room blared a movie on high. I closed my door to block out the worst of the noise, but soon realized silence wasn’t any better. My thoughts took over with the lack of sound.

I started cleaning, hoping that might get my mind off things. But it really didn’t help and I had only piled dirty laundry before I gave in.

Crouching next to my bed, I lifted the mattress and pulled out the book I’d kept there for the past week. The gold leaf title was partially faded entirely but you could still read “Elementals”.

Sitting against the bed, I flipped to the page I’d marked with a scrap of paper. The particular chapter was about the history of the Elementals themselves along with their interaction with other beings. I was interested in the topic of the history between them and witches.

I guess it had always been understood that Elementals keep themselves hidden from most of the world. Once they were in alliance with most witch clans, but they were still revered as higher beings. Back then they were used frequently in rituals and that was the only time they showed themselves in a tangible form. Everyone was accepting of them.

So where did it go wrong?
I wondered, flipping a few pages.

I stopped when I saw the word Undine. It was what Linden was—a water Elemental. From what I read, they could control all forms of water, though this sometimes depended on their amount of power. Some Undines could easily control the ocean, others couldn’t. Still, I thought there had to be at least hundreds of Undines in charge of the ocean. Others just governed certain parts of the land and brought with them rain. This had to be Linden’s case—we had never had so much rain until he arrived.

I was about to go to the next page when someone knocked on the door. I threw the book under my bed, panicked for a second before I called that the door was open.

Rene stuck her head in, smiling when she saw me sitting on the floor. “Doing some cleaning?”

“A little,” I replied, standing.

“I’m heading into town with Sharon for a while,” she went on, opening the door. The hall was pretty quiet now, and I assumed she’d asked the boys to turn things down while she was gone; one of them was probably deemed in charge.

“Okay—well, have fun,” I replied. I wondered if she’d noticed a particular book missing from the shelf.

When I heard Rene leave the house, I decided I’d had enough history. I pulled the book out and returned it to its place under the mattress. The room suddenly felt stuffy, and I stood on stiff legs, heading for the door.

The hall was empty, but there were voices drifting up from the kitchen. By the amount of arguing voices, a lesson must have been going on with the younger kids. As I reached the living room, I saw I was correct. The four younger ones were sitting around the table in a heated argument while Hank tried to quiet them. For some reason, Hunter was involved, though he just stood to the side with his fingers on his temples. This definitely wasn’t something I wanted to get into, so I tried to turn back up the stairs.

“Psst.”

I stopped and glanced over my shoulder, seeing Omar standing in the living room. He motioned towards the front door, and I nodded, hurrying to get my shoes from the pile next to the door. I pulled them on fast and slipped onto the porch, waiting.

Omar appeared a few seconds later, making sure the door closed as quietly as possible.

“Feeling up for a walk?” he asked.

I replied instantly. “Sure.” Anything to get me out of the house for a while.

Even though it was close to dark, we started out down the road in the direction of town. So far, neither of us had voiced any destination, but I was all right with that for the time being. As the wind blew a little hard, I clasped my hands together and balled them up in my jacket. Looking up at the sky, I stared at the dark clouds, trying not to think of the inevitable face of a certain Elemental . . .

“I needed a break from the house,” Omar sighed when we were far out of earshot of anyone at home.

“Me too,” I agreed, looking away from the sky. “I’ve been there way too often.”

“I’m jealous of Alysana getting to meet her ‘friend’ so often.” Omar rolled his eyes as he smiled. “At least she’s already prepared for next year.”

“What do you mean ‘friend’?” I asked, mimicking his tone.

“Come on, it’s a little obvious she’s always excited to go see him. I guess it’s healthy for her though—in the long run.”

I shrugged, not entirely sure I agreed with this. Then again, I was completely capable of being biased.

“So are you as happy to be hanging out with
your
potential friends?” I asked, referring to the people he was supposed to meet from his college.

“Hey, want to head to the railyard?” he asked instead. I nodded, hardly caring, but took note that I hadn’t been around there in a long time. We used to go there frequently during the summers and dodge the men who paced around the trains, flashlights in hand, ready to scare off any kids who happened to be loitering around or spray painting the property. With light still in the sky, we might have a chance of walking without being disturbed.

“So, friends?” I asked again when we turned down the road into town.

“Oh, yeah—they’re all nice, normal people. As far as normal goes for me, I mean.”

“That’s good,” I responded automatically. “And they’re like—us?”

He nodded. “Yep. But they grew up in public schools and all, so they’re got a slightly different outlook. Rene’s convinced I’m secretly terrified to leave, so I think she was hoping they’d be able to reassure me.”

“Are you?” I asked, looking up at him. “Terrified?”

He pursed his lips and shook his head. “Nah, not that scared. Nervous, I guess, but isn’t everybody?”

I was unable to answer, but left it at that as the large, still trains came into view. The first streetlamps had flickered on and I could see the movement of people near the station.

“Let’s go around this way,” Omar suggested, seeing the men up ahead. He took my arm and pulled me down the brick walkway until we’d put two trains between the men and us.

We started walking between the trains, avoiding the gravel that covered the ground and instead stepping on the wooden pieces of the train track.

“How long’s it been since you were here?” Omar asked lowly, walking ahead of me.

“However long it was since we were both here,” I replied, nervous as I looked behind me. These walks never used to irk me, but this time around I was afraid of being caught. Not that we were doing anything wrong—just trespassing on private property after hours.

“So a long time,” Omar said, his foot slipping from the wood to the gravel. The crunch of the rocks was loud in the quiet, and I flinched a little as he walked on, hardly caring.

There was new graffiti on the trains we passed. I didn’t recognize any of it before, and I wondered if security had been bumped up to prevent anymore of this. I was busy looking at the art, bracing my hand on the train, and I ran into Omar’s back when he stopped abruptly, signaling for me to be quiet.

“What?” I whispered under my breath, glancing behind me. I could hear the gravel shifting somewhere nearby and low voices talking under the noise. From under the train across us, I could see the spots of light from the flashlights.

“Come on.” Omar grabbed my hand and rushed me to the next train car, climbing up the nearly vertical steps. I carefully followed after him, my heart speeding up when I saw the dark shape and bright light coming around the train. Standing between the doors of the separate cars, I bit my lip as Omar quietly tried the door of the yellow car—that was locked. Moving between some chains as quietly as possible, he went to the green car and tried that door, finding it unlocked. The door swung open silently, and he ushered me inside first before coming in after me.

I stood in the darkness of the interior, looking out the grimy windows while Omar closed the door after him. He was smiling widely as he stood beside me, looking out at the two men walking by, their flashlights scanning the ground, under the trains and on the platforms. I shrunk back when the light went over one of the windows, but the man didn’t see me. They moved on, listening for the sound of spray paint as I caught my breath.

“Since when was this stressful?” I muttered, almost afraid to speak.

“I guess the idea of getting in trouble was a thrill back then,” Omar replied, not bothering to lower his voice. I tried to shush him, but he just laughed at me.

“They can’t hear us in here, Riley, don’t worry,” he said, looking around the room. “Wonder who’s place this is . . .”

I stayed put as he walked down the narrow space between desks. There was a worn couch placed at the opposite end of the car, under one of the cleaner windows. Across from that, a small table held a coffee maker and some plastic cups. The place served as someone’s office—or a few people, judging by the multiple desks—and I suddenly felt very intrusive. I guess there couldn’t have been much important inside if they neglected to lock the door.

I sat on the desk nearest to me and picked up one of the papers under a notebook. It was impossible to read the handwriting, and there were some configurations in the corner, but other than that I had no idea what the subject might be.

“Interesting workspace,” Omar commented as he made his way back towards me.

I nodded, anxious to go. It was cold in here, which meant it was only getting colder outside. I stood, glancing out the windows for any sign of the guards. But there didn’t appear to be any light at all, if not for the weak moon on the horizon.

“We should go,” I said.

“In a minute,” Omar said, glancing at the work on the desktops.

“No,
now,
” I insisted, tugging at his sleeve.

“Calm down, no one’s going to catch us,” he said, laughing at little. I folded my arms over my chest, impatient to go. He leaned on the desk across from me, imitating my stance.

“Omar—”

“Okay,” he said, standing fast. There was hardly any room between us, and his arms brushed mine as he dropped them to his sides. I stood slowly, not believing he’d be so willing after a weak argument. But he was looking at me in a way that I wasn’t sure how to decipher.

“Come on,” I said, turning towards the door. He stopped me when he held out an arm, pulling me back towards him. Now this was too close for my own comfort at the moment, and I tried to discreetly move away. There was no way out of his arms though—with the desk behind me, I was pinned.

“Wait a sec,” he said quietly. I couldn’t meet his eyes, and I waited to see what he wanted to say. “Why don’t you just . . . just come with me to college. You could get in, no problem.”

“No,” I replied instantly. Was this really what he wanted to say? I doubted it. “I already told you, it’s not for—”

“Then why not for me?” he asked.

I was quiet for a long time, not understanding what he had said. When I finally looked up at him, I shrugged. “What?”

“Why don’t you come with me? For me?”

The last of his question was almost an inaudible mumble, but I still heard him, and past his embarrassment, I knew he was relived to have said it.

“I—Omar, you—” I couldn’t give him a straight answer. There was the obvious: no, I said no college for me. There was the logical: I couldn’t go now, it was too late, and where would I stay? There was the confusion: I could go, he was my friend and I didn’t want him to leave . . . but follow him to college? And there was the unspoken threat: Linden.

I was left there stuttering into the dark, trying to find a logical answer, when Omar’s face was suddenly very close and I could feel his breath on my cheek. He didn’t give me a moment to clearly react—one second I was still gaping, another and his lips were over mine.

I gasped, though I could hardly breathe. He seemed to smother every part of me in this suffocating, random act. I tried to move away, though I did it slowly so I didn’t seem disgusted or anything. Still, that didn’t work, and Omar only pressed his body into mine with more force. The edge of the desk was digging into my lower back, and I made a noise of discomfort, though it was muffled. Omar’s lips worked against mine, maybe trying to coax the want out of me. Beyond my surprise, the only thought that came clearly to my mind was the fact that I felt nothing like that towards him; it was nothing like kissing Linden.

I tore away when the memory of Linden flooded my mind. Omar still held me, his arms around my waist, and I could feel him trying to catch his breath.

“Riley—”

“No, Omar . . .” I twisted out of his grasp, going towards the door. I opened it and stepped out, not bothering to wait. I didn’t even care if one of the men caught me, I just wanted out.