AN: I originally wrote this story back in May/June 2013. At the time, I never thought that the authors would write Macon/Lila's story. I know The Mortal Heart is out, and this story does not follow that story at all. I have taken a few creative liberties, but the entire story will follow the original series. I hope that you enjoy it nonetheless.
I am revising this story, but please feel free to continue. Any advice, critique, or thoughts are welcomed as I continue to make this story the best it possibly can be.
Rating T For: Language, violence, and some sensuality.
Disclaimer: The Caster Chronicles series does not belong to me. It belongs to Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl who created a fascinating world and characters. I just hope to flesh it out a bit and include the parts I wish were written.
Please enjoy the story!
Chapter One
"I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It's when you know you're licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what."
- Atticus Finch from To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Late August 1986
Lila Jane Evers craved a life filled with meaning after the dreaded four years of high school. In front of her towered the Gothic structures of Duke University and its landscape. She sought to explore the world and thirst her quench for intellectual stimulation be in in the library, the classroom, or the brochures that were outside the study abroad office.
She paused Peter Gabriel's new cassette, So, as she wound her way up through East Campus in her sky blue Honda Civic to let the moment sink in. The humidity stuck to her skin and Lila opened her car window even further to allow the breeze to cool her off. It would be just her luck that the air conditioning broke on her way up to Durham, North Carolina.
Lila scanned the parking lot and could not see a space, except for one. She parked her car next to a black hearse with a South Carolina license plate. The black hearse was an odd car for sure to find at a university campus, but the world was filled with strange things. Just look at Ronald Reagan as the president of the United States. How could a man who destroyed the California education system get elected president? Lila shook her head and decided that she would stop with the political comparisons. She wasn't in Savannah, Georgia anymore.
Lila flew solo for the first time in her life as she drove all the way up to Duke by herself. She was growing up as her mother said as her mother cried on Lila's shoulder before she left. Lila thought her mother was a bit too sentimental for her own good, but after driving a few hundred miles her heart began to wrench. She had never been this far from her parents before, but she would buck up.
She opened up the trunk of her car, grabbed her black rolling suitcase, and pulled a backpack filled to the brim with her favorite books. The backpack's seams at the bottom were strained and ripped when she swung her backpack over her shoulder. It broke and all the books, hardcover and paperback, fell onto the black hearse and tarmac. The alarm on the car blared to life.
"Crap," Lila muttered.
She disregarded her broken backpack and picked up the books off the ground, wincing as her prized possessions were wrinkled, ripped, or destroyed by the hot asphalt and dust. Students nearby looked at her in question, or covered their ears as they passed by. She hoped who ever owned the car would know she wasn't trying to steal it.
The first thing however was not a person, but a large black dog that ran up to her. The dog looked more like a wolf with its midnight fur and narrowed grey eyes. It had a nasty scowl on its face. She normally liked dogs; her family owned a golden retriever named Scout.
Its large paws were sure to break her neck, if it had the chance to pounce on her. Its teeth were pointed and sharp enough to bite her neck clean like Sweeney Todd's razor. The dog's hind muscles were scrunched ready to attack at any moment. Lila wasn't the kind of gal to hurt any animal, but this dog wanted a piece of her. She was ready to punch it if it came to that.
"Boo! Down boy!"
The dog whipped its neck around to look at the person who had called him. Every muscle in its body recoiled as its master wanted its attention. So, the wolf had an owner? Lila's shoulders relaxed, since she didn't see a collar on the dog. What kind of person had a wolf around? Dogs weren't even allowed in the dormitories to begin with at Duke.
The apparent owner walked over with a dignified air. As if he grew up as royalty, or at least thought he was better than everyone else. Every step was measured and thought out. Black hair gleamed on his head and was smoothed back into a style that even a younger Cary Grant would have approved of. He wore a suit, classic in design with its pinstriped trousers, white silk shirt, and black silk blazer with golden cuff links.
The dog named Boo trotted up to the young man who looked at the scene in front of him. The trunk of his car had a few books on top of it. She was about to grab them, but stopped once the dog came up to the car. He took out his keys and clicked a button to disengage the alarm.
"Are these your books?" His hand waved over the expanse of her collection.
A slight southern drawl tainted his words as he spoke. Each word spoken with the same lilted grace and cadence. He picked up her worn copy of To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, one of her favorite books of all time, off the back of the hearse's trunk.
"I'm sorry. My backpack," Lila blushed as waved at her broken bag on the pavement, "fell apart when I grabbed it. I'll pay for damages if there are any."
She hoped there wasn't. Duke was already going to cost a pretty penny, and she didn't have a ton of funds to depend on for emergencies. Her parents could only help her so much. She already knew a job was in the near future.
The young man eyed the back of the hearse, while his dog growled at her. Its eyes fixated on her like she was the villain rather than a young woman. She had to give the dog credit that he was scarily loyal to his owner.
Lila gathered the remaining books and put them back into her car before the dog would bite her.
"I don't believe that will be necessary." He lifted his gaze from the trunk of his car.
His eyes reminded her of a hidden fire. The bronze irises rippled with intensity and emotions she could not discern. They weren't the kind of eyes one would see every day, nor the look on his face as one of his eyebrows shot up. He stood there with his hands crossed, and still held her copy of To Kill a Mockingbird in his left hand.
"That's good to know," Lila said but added, "about the damages anyways. Can I have my book back Mr…" She fumbled over what to call him.
"Macon, you can call me Macon, Jane."
She saw that he flipped open her book to see the name Jane on the backside of the cover. Her grandmother gave her the copy and wrote her middle name in it, since it was what she called Lila before she passed away suddenly from a brain aneurysm. He handed it back to her.
Lila stood there as she took her book from his hands, and by accident her fingers touched his. They were cool and soft, as if he had never done a lick of hard labor in his life as compared to her rough calluses and wrinkled fingers.
Macon's face was impassive, but he kneeled down afterward to itch behind Boo's ear. The wolf melted away to show a large black puppy instead of a menacing beast.
"Huh, there's a Macon, Georgia did you know that?"
Lila didn't know why she asked Macon that question. Maybe it was because he got up and headed back to his car? But why? Her mind taunted. He was nothing special, but the feel of his soft hands distracted her.
He gazed at her and did not blink. "No, I did not."
His dog, Boo, whined to get his owner's attention. Macon opened up the front seat for his dog instead of opening up the back part of the hearse. As Boo entered the car, Macon walked around to the driver's side. He looked back at her for a second, before he entered his car and Lila moved away. The engine turned on and Lila saw the tail lights glowed red. Lila went over to the driver's side window. Her feet guided her there, and she did not even think as she knocked on his window and he lowered it.
"I know this is weird to ask, and I might be possibly be reading too much into this, but did you name your dog after Boo Radley?"
For the first time, she saw a bright smile adorn his face, instead of a nonchalant expression.
"If I said yes, what would you say?" His eyebrow rose in the way her father's had when he was being sarcastic about something.
He was teasing her.
"I would say that either you're incredibly uncreative when naming a pet, or you're a fan of Harper's work and putting your love onto your poor little furry friend."
Lila's knew she had a smart-alec side, the one her sister Caroline told her could get her into a bit of trouble from time to time wanted to come out and play. Only in this case, Macon chuckled.
"Uncreative? I think it's a better name than Spot, Janie. Wouldn't you agree?"
Lila saw Macon start his hearse and Boo wagged his tail as if saying his own goodbye to her. Lila waved and walked back to the sidewalk as Macon pulled out. She watched as he drove out of the student parking lot without waving her goodbye.
She went back to her car and saw all the books she had collected, on the top was To Kill a Mockingbird. Her fingers ran across the worn edges and thought, if only for a moment, she felt a resonance of Macon's fingers. The icy silkiness allured her neurons, and his eyes too. She shook her head. There was nothing. The weather plagued her thought process. It was the dust jacket's sheen cover and that was all. He was one student at a large university, and doubted she would see him again.
A/N:
I am not trying to be political with the Reagan comment. It is written in the series that Lila is a Democrat, and during that time Democrats did not like the Reagan administration. Even though she cannot vote at the age of seventeen, I see her as politically active and opinionated. I do hope you enjoyed this chapter.
Thank you for your time. I hope you enjoyed this chapter.
Much Obliged,
Dark Horse Writer