ELSA'S POV
It was only a little while later that Anna reminded me of my priorities.
It took her just one word.
"Eleazar..."
I sighed. She would be awake soon. It must be nearly seven in the morning. Would she be looking for me? Abruptly, something close to panic had my body freezing up. What would he look like today?
Anna felt the total distraction of my stress. "It's all right, love. Get dressed, and we'll be back to the house in two seconds."
I probably looked like a cartoon, the way I sprung up, then looked back at her - her diamond body faintly glinting in the diffuse light - then away to the west, where Eleazar waited, then back at her again, then back toward her, my head whipping from side to side a half dozen times in a second. Anna smiled, but didn't laugh; she was a strong woman.
"It's all about balance, love. You're so good at all of this, I don't imagine it will take too long to put
everything in perspective."
"And we have all night, right?"
She smiled wider. "Do you think I could bear to let you get dressed now if that weren't the case?"
That would have to be enough to get me through the daylight hours. I would balance this overwhelming, devastating desire so that I could be a good - It was hard to think the word. Though Eleazar was very real and vital in my life, it was still difficult to think of myself as a mother. I supposed anyone would feel the same, though, without nine months to get used to the idea. And with a child that changed by the hour.
The thought of Eleazar's speeding life had me stressed-out again in an instant. I didn't even pause at the ornately carved double doors to catch my breath before finding out what Alice had done. I just burst through, intent
on wearing the first things I touched. I should have known it wouldn't be that easy.
"Which ones are mine?" I hissed. As promised, the room was bigger than our bedroom. It might have been bigger than the rest of the house put together, but I'd have to pace it off to be positive. I had a brief mental flash of Alice trying to persuade Arianna to ignore classic proportions and allow this monstrosity. I wondered how Alice had won that one.
Everything was wrapped in garment bags, pristine and white, row after row after row.
"To the best of my knowledge, everything but this rack here" - she touched a bar that stretched along the half-wall to the left of the door - "is yours."
"All of this?"
She shrugged.
"Alice," we said together. She said her name like an explanation; I said it like an expletive.
"Fine," I muttered, and I pulled down the zipper on the closest bag. I growled under my breath when I saw the floorlength silk gown inside - baby pink.
Finding something normal to wear could take all day!
"Let me help," Anna offered. She sniffed carefully at the air and then followed some scent to the back of the long room. There was a built-in dresser there. She sniffed again, then opened a drawer. With a triumphant grin, she held out a pair of artfully faded blue jeans.
I flitted to her side. "How did you do that?"
"Denim has its own scent just like anything else. Now... stretch cotton?"
She followed her nose to a half-rack, unearthing a long-sleeved white t-shirt. She tossed it to me.
"Thanks," I said fervently. I inhaled each fabric, memorizing the scent for future searches through this madhouse. I remembered silk and satin; I would avoid those.
It only took her seconds to find her own clothes - if I hadn't seen her undressed, I would have sworn there was nothing more beautiful than Anna in her khakis and pale beige pullover - and then she took my hand. We darted through the hidden garden, leaped lightly over the stone wall, and hit the forest at a dead sprint. I pulled my hand free so that we could race back. She beat me this time.
Eleazar was awake; se was sitting up on the floor with Rapunzel and Cassandra hovering over him, playing with a little pile of twisted silverware. he had a mangled spoon in his right hand. As soon as he spied me through the glass, he chucked the spoon on the floor - where it left a divot in the wood - and pointed in my direction imperiously. His audience laughed; Alice, Jasper, Arianna, and Frederic were sitting on the couch, watching her as if she were the most engrossing film.
I was through the door before their laughter had barely begun, bounding across the room and scooping her up from the floor in the same second. We smiled widely at each other.
he was different, but not so much. A little longer again, hia proportions drifting from babyish to childlike. His hair was longer by a quarter inch, the curls bouncing like springs with every movement. I'd let my imagination run wild
on the trip back, and I'd imagined worse than this. Thanks to my overdone fears, these little changes were almost a relief. Even without Frederic's measurements, I was sure the changes were slower than yesterday.
Eleazar patted my cheek. I winced. he was hungry again.
"How long has he been up?" I asked as Anna disappeared through the kitchen doorway. I was sure she was on her way to get her breakfast, having seen what she'd just thought as clearly as I had. I wondered if she would ever have noticed her little quirk, if she'd been the only one to know her. To her, it probably would have seemed like hearing anyone.
"Just a few minutes," Rapunzel said. "We would have called you soon. he's been asking for you - demandingmight be a better description. Arianna sacrificed her second-best silver service to keep the little monster entertained." Rapunzel smiled at Eleazar with so much gloating affection that the criticism was entirely weightless. "We didn't want to... er, bother you."
Rapunzel bit her lip and looked away, trying not to laugh. I could feel Cassandra's silent laughter behind me, sending vibrations through the foundations of the house.
I kept my chin high. "We'll get your room set up right away," I said to Eleazar. "You'll like the cottage. It's magic." I look up at Arianna. "Thank you, Arianna. So much. It's absolutely perfect."
Before Arianna could respond, Cassandra was laughing again - it wasn't silent this time.
"So it's still standing?" she managed to get out between his snickers. "I would've thought you two had knocked it to rubble by now. What were you doing last night? Discussing the national debt?" she howled with laughter.
I gritted my teeth and reminded myself of the negative consequences when I'd let my temper get away from me yesterday. Of course, Cassandra wasn't as breakable as Olaf_
Thinking of Olaf made me wonder. "Where're the wolves today?" I glanced out the window wall, but there had been no sign of Liam on the way in.
"Honeymaren took off this morning pretty early," Rapunzel told me, a little frown creasing his forehead. "Olaf followed him out."
"What was he so upset about?" Anna asked as she came back into the room with Eleazar's cup. There must have been more in Rapunzel's memory than I'd seen in hee expression.
Without breathing, I handed Eleazar off to Rapunzel. Super-self-control, maybe, but there was no way I was going to be able to feed him. Not yet.
"I don't know - or care," Rapunzel grumbled, but he answered Anna's question more fully. "She was watching Elson sleep, her mouth hanging open like the moron she is just looked like she was thinking, and then she just jumped to her feet without any kind of trigger - that I noticed, anyway - and stormed out. was glad to be rid of him. The more time she spends here, the less chance there is that we'll ever get the smell out."
"Rapunzel Arianna chided gently.
Rapunzel flipped her hair. "I suppose it doesn't matter. We won't be here that much longer."
"I still say we should go straight to New Hampshire and get things set up," Cassandra said, obviously continuing an
earlier conversation. "Anna's already registered at Dartmouth. Doesn't look like it will take her all that long to be able to handle school." She turned to look at me with a teasing grin. im sure you'll ace your classes... apparently there's nothing interesting for you to do at night besides study."
Rapunzel giggled.
Do not lose your temper, do not lose your temper,I chanted to myself. And then I was proud of myself for keeping my head.
So I was pretty surprised that Anna didn't.
She growled - an abrupt, shocking rasp of sound - and the blackest fury rolled across her expression like storm clouds.
Before any of us could respond, Alice was on her feet.
"What is she doing? What is that dog doing that has erased my schedule for the entire day? I can't see anything] No!" She shot me a tortured glance. "Look at you! You need me to show you how to use your closet."
For one second I was grateful for whatever Honeymaren was up to.
And then Anna's hands balled up into fists and she snarled, "she talked to Agnarr. she thinks Agnarr is following after him. Coming here. Today."
Alice said a word that sounded very odd in her trilling, ladylike voice, and then she blurred into motion, streaking out the backdoor.
"she told Agnarr?" I gasped. "But - doesn't he understand? How could he do that?" Agnarr couldn't know about me! About vampires! That would put him on a hit list that even the Cullens couldn't save him from. "No!"
Anna spoke through her teeth. "Honeymaren's on her way in now."
It must have started raining farther east. Honeymaren came through the door shaking her wet hair like a dog, flipping droplets on the carpet and the couch where they made little round gray spots on the white. Her teeth glinted against her dark lips; her eyes were bright and excited. she walked with jerky movements, like she was all hyped-up about destroying my father's life.
"Hey, guys," she greeted us, grinning.
It was perfectly silent.
Liam and Olaf slipped in behind her, in their human forms - for now; both of their hands were trembling with the tension in the room.
"Raps," I said, holding my arms out. Wordlessly, Rapunzel handed me Eleazar. I pressed him close to my motionless heart, holding his like a talisman against rash behavior. I would keep him in my arms until I was sure my decision to kill Honeymaren was based entirely on rational judgment rather than fury.
he was very still, watching and listening. How much did she understand?
"Agnarr'll be here soon," Honeymaren said to me casually. "Just a heads-up. I assume Alice is getting you sunglasses or something?"
"You assume way too much," I spit through my teeth. "What. Have. You. Done?"
Honeymaren's smile wavered, but he was still too wound up to answer seriously. "Biondie and Cassandra woke me up this morning going on and on about you all moving cross-country. Like I could let you leave. Agnarr was the biggest issue there, right? Well, problem solved.'
"Do you even realize what you've done? The danger you've put him in?"
she snorted. "I didn't put him in danger. Except from you. But you've got some kind of supernatural self-control, right? Not as good as mind reading, if you ask me. Much less exciting."
Anna moved then, darting across the room to get in Honeymaren's face. Though she was half a head shorter than Honeymaren, Honeymaren leaned away from her staggering anger as if Anna towered over her.
"That's just a theory, mongrel," she snarled. "You think we should test it out on Agnarr? Did you consider the physical pain you're putting Elsa through, even if she can resist? Or the emotional pain if she doesn't? I suppose what happens to Elsa no longer concerns you!" She spit the last word.
Eleazar pressed his fingers anxiously to my cheek, anxiety coloring the replay in his head.
Anna's words finally cut through Honeymaren's strangely electric mood. Her mouth dropped into a frown. "Elsa will be in pain?"
"Like you've shoved a white-hot branding iron down her throat!"
I flinched, remembering the scent of pure human blood.
"I didn't know that," Honeymaren whispered.
"Then perhaps you should have asked first," Anna growled back through her teeth.
"You would have stopped me."
"You should have been stopped - "
"This isn't about me," I interrupted. I stood very still, keeping my hold on Eleazar and sanity. "This is about Agnarr, Honeymaren. How could you put him in danger this way? Do you realize it's death or vampire life for him now, too?" My voice trembled with the tears my eyes could no longer shed.
Honeymaren was still troubled by Anna's accusations, but mine didn't seem to bother him. "Relax, Elsa. I didn't tell her anything you weren't planning to tell him."
"But he's coming here!"
"Yeah, that's the idea. Wasn't the whole let him make the wrong assumptions' thing your plan? I think I provided a very nice red herring, if I do say so myself."
My fingers flexed away from Eleazar. I curled them back in securely. "Say it straight, Honeymaren. I don't have the patience for this."
"I didn't tell him anything about you, Elsa. Not really. I told him about me. Well, show is probably a better verb."
"she phased in front of Agnarr," Anna hissed.
I whispered, "You what?"
"He's brave. Brave as you are. Didn't pass out or throw up or anything. I gotta say, I was impressed. You should've seen his face when I started taking my clothes off, though. Priceless," Honeymaren chortled.
"You absolute moronl You could have given him a heart attack!"
"Agnarr's fine. He's tough. If you'd give this just a minute, you'll see that I did you a favor here."
"You have half of that, Honeymaren. " My voice was flat and steely. "You have thirty seconds to tell me every single word before I give Eleazar to Rapunzel and rip your miserable head off. Olaf won't be able to stop me this time."
"Jeez, Elsa. You didn't used to be so melodramatic. Is that a vampire thing?"
"Twenty-six seconds."
Honeymaren rolled her eyes and flopped into the nearest chair. Her little pack moved to stand on her flanks, not at all relaxed the way she seemed to be; Liam's eyes were on me, his teeth slightly bared.
"So I knocked on Agnarr's door this morning and asked him to come for a walk with me. He was confused, but when I told him it was about you and that you were back in town, he followed me out to the woods. I told him you weren't sick anymore, and that things were a little weird, but good. He was about to take off to see you, but I told him I had to show him something first. And then I phased." Honeymaren shrugged.
My teeth felt like a vise was pushing them together. "I want every word, you monster."
"Well, you said I only had thirty seconds - okay, okay." My expression must have convinced him that I wasn't in the mood for teasing. "Lemme see... I phased back and got dressed, and then after he started breathing again, I said something like, 'Agnarr, you don't live in the world you thought you lived in. The good news is, nothing has changed - except that now you know. Life'll go on the same way it always has. You can go right back to pretending that you don't believe any of this.'
"It took him a minute to get his head together, and then he wanted to know what was really going on with you, with the whole rare-disease thing. I told him that you had been sick, but you were fine now - it was just that you'd had to change a little bit in the process of getting better. He wanted to know what I meant by 'change,' and I told him that you looked a lot more like Arianna now than you looked like Iduna."
Anna hissed while I stared in horror; this was headed in a dangerous direction.
"After a few minutes, she asked, real quietly, if you turned into an animal, too. And I said, 'She wishes she was that cool!'" Honeymaren chuckled.
Rapunzel made a noise of disgust.
"I started to tell him more about werewolves, but I didn't even get the whole word out - Agnarr cut me off and said he'd 'rather not know the specifics.' Then he asked if you'd known what you were getting yourself into when you married Anna, and I said, 'Sure, she's known all about this for years, since she first came to Forks.' He didn't like that very much. I let him rant till he got it out of his system. After he got calmed down, he just wanted two things. He wanted to see you, and I said it would be better if he gave me a head start to explain."
I inhaled deeply. "What was the other thing he wanted?"
Honeymaren smiled. "You'll like this. His main request is that he be told as little as possible about all of this. If it's not absolutely essential for him to know something, then keep it to yourself. Need to know, only."
I felt relief for the first time since Honeymaren had walked in. "I can handle that part."
"Other than that, he'd just like to pretend things are normal." Honeymaren's smile turned smug; she must suspect that I would be starting to feel the first faint stirrings of gratitude about now.
"What did you tell him about Eleazar?" I struggled to maintain the razor edge in my voice, fighting the reluctant appreciation. It was premature. There was still so much wrong with this situation. Even if Honeymaren's intervention had brought out a better reaction in Agnarr than I'd ever hoped for...
"Oh yeah. So I told him that you and Anna had inherited a new little mouth to feed." she glanced at Anna. "She's your orphaned ward - like Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson." Honeymaren snorted. "I didn't think you'd mind me lying. That's all part of the game, right?" Anna didn't respond in any way, so Honeymaren went on. "Agnarr was way past being shocked at this point, but he did ask if you were adopting him. 'Like a Son? Like I'm sort of a grandfather?' were his exact words. I told him yes. 'Congrats, Gramps, and all of that. He even smiled a little."
The stinging returned to my eyes, but not out of fear or anguish this time. Agnarr was smiling at the idea of being a grandpa? David would meet Eleazar?
"But he's changing so fast," I whispered.
"I told him that she was more special than all of us put together," Honeymaren said said in a soft voice. she stood and walked right up to me, waving Liam and Olaf off when they started to follow. Eleazar reached out to her, but I hugged him more tightly to me. "I told him, Trust me, you don't want to know about this. But if you can ignore all the strange parts, you're going to be amazed. She's the most wonderful person in the whole world.' And then I told him that if he could deal with that, you all would stick around for a while and he would have a chance to get to know her. But that if it was too much for him, you would leave. He said as long as no one forced too much information on him, he'd deal."
Honeymaren stared at me with half a smile, waiting.
"I'm not going to say thank you," I told her. "You're still putting Agnarr at a huge risk."
"I am sorry about it hurting you. I didn't know it was like that. Elsa, things are different with us now, but you'll always be my best friend, and I'll always love you. But I'll love you the right way now. There's finally a balance. We both have people we can't live without."
she smiled her very most Honeymaren-y smile. "Still friends?"
Try as hard as I could to resist, I had to smile back. Just a tiny smile.
she held out his hand: an offer.
I took a deep breath and shifted Eleazar's weight to one arm. I put my left hand in her- she didn't even flinch at the feel of my cool skin. "If I don't kill Agnarr tonight, I'll consider forgiving you for this."
"When you don't kill Agnarr tonight, you'll owe me huge."
I rolled my eyes.
she held out his other hand toward Eleazar, a request this time. "Can I?"
"I'm actually holding her so that my hands aren't free to kill you, Honeymaren. Maybe later."
she sighed but didn't push me on it. Wise of her.
Alice raced back through the door then, her hands full and her expression promising violence.
"You, you, and you," she snapped, glaring at the werewolves. "If you must stay, get over in the corner and commit to being there for a while. I need to see. Elsa, you'd better give him the baby, too. You'll need your arms free, anyway."
Honeymaren grinned in triumph.
Undiluted fear ripped through my stomach as the enormity of what I was about to do hit me. I was going to gamble on my iffy self-control with my pure human father as the guinea pig. Anna's earlier words crashed in my ears again.
Did you consider the physical pain you're putting Anna through, even if she can resist? Or the emotional pain if she doesn't?
I couldn't imagine the pain of failure. My breathing turned to gasps.
"Take him," I whispered, sliding Eleazar into Honeymaren's arms.
she nodded, concern wrinkling hee forehead. she gestured to the others, and they all went to the far corner of the room. Olaf and Honeymaren slouched on the floor at once, but Liam shook his head and pursed his lips.
"Am I allowed to leave?" se griped. she looked uncomfortable in his human body, wearing the same dirty t-shirt and cotton shorts he'd worn to shriek at me the other day, his short hair sticking up in irregular tufts. His hands were still shaking.
"Of course," Honeymaren said.
"Stay east so you don't cross Agnarr's path," Alice added.
Liam didn't look at Alice; he ducked out the back door and stomped into the bushes to phase.
Anna was back at my side, stroking my face. "You can do this. I know you can. Ill help you; we all will."
I met Anna's eyes with panic screaming from my face. Was she strong enough to stop me if I made a wrong move?
"If I didn't believe you could handle it, we'd disappear today. This very minute. But you can. And you'll be happier if you can have Agnarr in your life."
I tried to slow my breathing.
Alice held out her hand. There was a small white box on her palm. "These will irritate your eyes - they won't hurt, but they'll cloud your vision. It's annoying. They also won't match your old color, but it's still better than bright red, right?"
She flipped the contact box into the air and I caught it.
"When did you - "
"Before you left on the honeymoon. I was prepared for several possible futures."
I nodded and opened the container. I'd never worn contacts before, but it couldn't be that hard. I took the little brown quarter-sphere and pressed it, concave side in, to my eye.
I blinked, and a film interrupted my sight. I could see through it, of course, but I could also see the texture of the thin screen. My eye kept focusing on the microscopic scratches and warped sections.
"I see what you mean," I murmured as I stuck the other one in. I tried to not blink this time. My eye automatically wanted to dislodge the obstruction.
"How do I look?"
Anna smiled. "Gorgeous. Of course - "
"Yes, yes, she always looks gorgeous," Alice finished her thought impatiently. "It's better than red, but that's the highest commendation I can give. blue. Your blue was much prettier. Keep in mind that those won't last forever - the venom in your eyes will dissolve them in a few hours. So if Agnarr stays longer than that, you'll have to excuse yourself to replace them. Which is a good idea anyway, because humans need bathroom breaks." She shook her head. "Arianna, give her a few pointers on acting human while I stock the powder room with contacts."
"How long do I have?"
"Agnarr will be here in five minutes. Keep it simple."
Arianna nodded once and came to take my hand. "The main thing is not to sit too still or move too fast," she told me.
"Sit down if he does," Cassandra interjected. "Humans don't like to just stand there."
"Let your eyes wander every thirty seconds or so," Jasper added. "Humans don't stare at one thing for too long."
"Cross your legs for about five minutes, then switch to crossing your ankles for the next five," Rapunzel said.
I nodded once at each suggestion. I'd noticed them doing some of these things yesterday. I thought I could mimic their actions.
"And blink at least three times a minute," Cassandra said. she frowned, then darted to where the television remote sat on the end table. She flipped the TV on to a college football game and nodded to himself.
"Move your hands, too. Brush your hair back or pretend to scratch something," Jasper said.
"I said Arianna" Alice complained as she returned. "You'll overwhelm her."
"No, I think I got it all," I said. "Sit, look around, blink, fidget."
"Right," Arianna approved. She hugged my shoulders.
Jasper frowned. "You'll be holding your breath as much as possible, but you need to move your shoulders a little to make it seem like you're breathing."
I inhaled once and then nodded again.
Elsa hugged me on my free side. "You can do this," she repeated, murmuring the encouragement in my ear.
"Two minutes," Alice said. "Maybe you should start out already on the couch. You've been sick, after all. That way he won't have to see you move right at first."
Alice pulled me to the sofa. I tried to move slowly, to make my limbs more clumsy. She rolled her eyes, so I must not have been doing a good job.
"Honeymaren's I need Eleazar," I said.
Honeymaren frowned, unmoving.
Alice shook her head. "Elsa, that doesn't help me see."
"But I need him. he keeps me calm.'The edge of panic in my voice was unmistakable.
"Fine," Alice groaned. "Hold him as still as you can and I'll try to see around him." She sighed wearily, like she'd been asked to work overtime on a holiday. Honeymaren sighed, too, but brought Eleazar to me, and then retreated quickly from Alice's glare.
Anna took a seat beside me and put her arms around Eleazar and me. She leaned forward and looked Eleazar very seriously in the eyes.
"Eleazar, someone special is coming to see you and your mother," she said in a solemn voice, as if she expected her to understand every word. Did she? She looked back at her with clear, grave eyes. "But she's not like us, or even like Honeymaren. We have to be very careful with her. You shouldn't tell her things the way you tell us."
Eleazar's touched her face.
"Exactly," she said. "And he's going to make you thirsty. But you mustn't bite him. He won't heal like Honeymaren."
"Can he understand you?" I whispered.
"he understands. You'll be careful, won't you, Eleazar? You'll help us?"
Eleazar touched her again.
"No, I don't care if you bite Honeymaren That's fine."
Honeymaren chuckled.
"Maybe you should leave, Honeymaren," Anna said coldly, glaring in her direction. Anna hadn't forgiven Honeymaren, because she knew that no matter what happened now, I was going to be hurting. But I'd take the burn happily if that were the worst thing I'd face tonight.
"I told Agnarr I'd be here," Honeymaren said. "He needs the moral support."
"Moral support," Anna scoffed. "As far as Agnarr knows, you're the most repulsive monster of us all."
"Repulsive?" Honeymaren protested, and then she laughed quietly to herself.
I heard the tires turn off the highway onto the quiet, damp earth of the Cullens' drive, and my breathing spiked again. My heart ought to have been hammering. It made me anxious that my body didn't have the right reactions.
I concentrated on the steady thrumming of Eleazar's heart to calm myself. It worked pretty quickly.
"Well done, Elsa," Jasper whispered in approval.
Anna tightened her arm over my shoulders.
"You're sure?" I asked her.
"Positive. You can do anything" She smiled and kissed me.
It wasn't precisely a peck on the lips, and my wild vampiric reactions took me off guard yet again. Anna's lips were like a shot of some addictive chemical straight into my nervous system. I was instantly craving more. It took all my concentration to remember the baby in my arms.
Jasper felt my mood change. "Er, Anna, you might not want to distract her like that right now. She needs to be
able to focus."
Anna pulled away. "Oops," she said.
I laughed. That had been my line from the very beginning, from the very first kiss.
"Later," I said, and anticipation curled my stomach into a ball.
"Focus, Elsa," Jasper urged.
"Right." i pushed the trembly feelings away. David, that was the main thing now. Keep Agnarr safe today. We would have all night_
"Elsa."
"Sorry, Jasper."
Cassandra laughed.
The sound of Agnarr's cruiser got closer and closer. The second of levity passed, and everyone was still. I crossed my legs and practiced my blinks.
The car pulled in front of the house and idled for a few seconds. I wondered if Agnarr was as nervous as I was. Then the engine cut off, and a door slammed. Three steps across the grass, and then eight echoing thuds against the wooden stairs. Four more echoing footsteps across the porch. Then silence. Agnarr took two deep breaths.
Knock, knock, knock.
I inhaled for what might be the last time. Eleazar nestled deeper into my arms, hiding his face in my hair.
Frederic answered the door. His stressed expression changed to one of welcome, like switching the channel on the TV.
"Hello, Agnarr," he said, looking appropriately abashed. After all, we were supposed to be in Atlanta at the Center for Disease Control. Agnarr knew he'd been lied to.
"Frederic," Agnarr greeted him stiffly. "Where's Elsa?"
"Right here, Dad."
Ugh! My voice was so wrong. Plus, I'd used up some of my air supply. I gulped in a quick refill, glad that Agnarr's scent had not saturated the room yet.
Agnarr's blank expression told me how off my voice was. His eyes zeroed in on me and widened.
I read the emotions as they scrolled across his face.
Shock. Disbelief. Pain. Loss. Fear. Anger. Suspicion. More pain.
I bit my lip. It felt funny. My new teeth were sharper against my granite skin than my human teeth had been against my soft human lips.
"Is that you, Elsa?" he whispered.
"Yep." I winced at my wind-chime voice. "Hi, Dad."
He took a deep breath to steady himself.
"Hey, Agnarr," Honeymaren greeted him from the corner. "How're things?"
Agnarr glowered at Honeymaren once, shuddered at a memory, and then stared at me again.
Slowly, Agnarr walked across the room until he was a few feet away from me. He darted an accusing glare at Elsa, and then his eyes flickered back to me. The warmth of his body heat beat against me with each pulse of his heart.
"Elsa?" he asked again.
I spoke in a lower voice, trying to keep the ring out of it."It's really me."
His jaw locked.
"I'm sorry, Dad," I said.
"Are you okay?" he demanded.
"Really and truly great," I promised. "Healthy as a horse."
That was it for my oxygen.
"Honeymaren told me this was... necessary. That you were dying." He said the words like he didn't believe them one bit.
I steeled myself, focused on Eleazar's warm weight, leaned into Anna for support, and took a deep breath.
Agnarr's scent was a fistful of flames, punching straight down my throat. But it was so much more than pain. It was a hot stabbing of desire, too. Agnarr smelled more delicious than anything I'd ever imagined. As appealing as the anonymous hikers had been on the hunt, Agnarr was doubly tempting. And he was just a few feet away, leaking mouthwatering heat and moisture into the dry air.
But I wasn't hunting now. And this was my father.
Anna squeezed my shoulders sympathetically, and Honeymaren shot an apologetic glance at me across the room.
I tried to collect myself and ignore the pain and longing of the thirst. Agnarr was waiting for my answer.
"Honeymaren was telling you the truth."
"That makes one of you," Agnarr growled.
I hoped Agnarr could see past the changes in my new face to read the remorse there.
Under my hair, Eleazar sniffed as Agnarr's scent registered with her, too. I tightened my grip on her.
Agnarr saw my anxious glance down and followed it. "Oh," he said, and all the anger fell off his face, leaving only shock behind. "This is his. The orphan Honeymaren said you're adopting."
"My Nephew," Anna lied smoothly. She must have decided that the resemblance between Eleazar and her was too pronounced to be ignored. Best to claim they were related from the beginning.
"I thought you'd lost your family," David said, accusation returning to his voice.
"I lost my parents and some of my siblings only two survive. My Younger brother was adopted, like me. I never saw him again after that. But the courts located me when he and his wife died in a car accident, leaving their only child without any other family."
Anna was so good at this. Her voice was even, with just the right amount of innocence. I needed practice so that I could do that.
Eleazar peeked out from under my hair, sniffing again. She glanced shyly at Agnarr from under her long lashes, then hid again.
"he's...he's,well, he's a beauty."
"Yes," Anna agreed.
"Kind of a big responsibility, though. You two are just getting started."
"What else could we do?" Anna brushed her fingers lightly over her cheek. I saw her touch her lips for just a moment - a reminder. "Would you have refused her?"
"Hmph. Well." He shook his head absently. "Honeymaren says you call him Elson?"
"No, we don't," I said, my voice too sharp and piercing. "His name is Eleazar."
Agnarr refocused on me. "How do you feel about this? Maybe Frederic and Arianna could - "
"She's mine," I interrupted. "I want her."
Agnarr frowned. "You gonna make me a grandpa so young?"
Anna smiled. "Frederic is a grandfather, too."
Agnarr shot an incredulous glance at Frederic, still standing by the front door; he looked like Zeus's younger, better-looking brother.
Agnarr snorted and then laughed. "I guess that does sort of make me feel better."His eyes strayed back to Eleazar's "he sure is something to look at." Her warm breath blew lightly across the space between us.
Eleazar leaned toward the smell, shaking off my hair and looking him full in the face for the first time. Agnarr gasped.
I knew what he was seeing. My eyes - his eyes - copied exactly into her perfect face.
Agnarr started hyperventilating. His lips trembled, and I could read the numbers he mouthed. He was counting backward, trying to fit nine months into one. Trying to put it together but not able to force the evidence right in front of him to make any sense.
Honeymaren got up and came over to pat Agnarr on the back. she leaned in to whisper something in Agnarr's ear; only Agnarr didn't know we could all hear.
"Need to know, Agnarr. It's okay. I promise."
Agnarr swallowed and nodded. And then his eyes blazed as he took a step closer to Anna with his fists tightly clenched.
"I don't want to know everything, but I'm done with the lies!"
"I'm sorry," Anna said calmly, "but you need to know the public story more than you need to know the truth. If you're going to be part of this secret, the public story is the one that counts. It's to protect Elsa and Eleazar as well as the rest of us. Can you go along with the lies for them?"
The room wasfull of statues. I crossed my ankles.
Agnarr huffed once and then turned his glare on me. "You might've given me some warning, kid."
"Would it really have made this any easier?"
He frowned, and then he knelt on the floor in front of me. I could see the movement of the blood in his neck under his skin. I could feel the warm vibration of it.
So could Eleazar. he smiled and reached one pink palm out to him. I held her back. She pushed her other
hand against my neck, thirst, curiosity, and Agnarr's face in his thoughts. There was a subtle edge to the message that made me think that she'd understood Anna's words perfectly; she acknowledged thirst, but overrode it in the same thought.
"Whoa," David gasped, his eyes on her perfect teeth. "How old is he?"
"Urn..."
"Three months," Anna said, and then added slowly, "rather, he's the size of a three-month-old, more or less. he's younger in some ways, more mature in others."
Very deliberately, Eleazar waved at him.
Agnarr blinked spastically.
Honeymaren elbowed him. "Told you he was special, didn't I?"
Agnarr cringed away from the contact.
"Oh, c'mon, Agnarr" Honeymaren groaned. "I'm the same person I've always been. Just pretend this afternoon didn't happen."
The reminder made Agnarr's lips go white, but he nodded once. "Just what is your part in all this, Honeymaren " he asked. "How much does Billy know? Why are you here?" He looked at Honeymaren's face, which was protective as he stared at Eleazar.
"Well, I could tell you all about it - Billy knows absolutely everything - but it involves a lot of stuff about werewo - "
"Ungh!" Agnarr protested, covering his ears. "Never mind."
Honeymaren grinned. "Everything's going to be great, Agnarr. Just try to not believe anything you see."
My dad mumbled something unintelligible.
"Woo!" Cassandra suddenly boomed in her deep bass. "Go Gators!"
Honeymaren and Agnarr jumped. The rest of us froze.
Agnarr recovered, then looked at Cassandra over her shoulder. "Florida winning?"
"Just scored the first touchdown," Cassandra confirmed. He shot a look in my direction, wagging his eyebrows like a villain in vaudeville. "'Bout time somebody scored around here."
I fought back a hiss. In front of Agnarr? That was over the line.
But Agnarr was beyond noticing innuendos. He took yet another deep breath, sucking the air in like he was trying to pull it down to his toes. I envied him. He lurched to his feet, stepped around Honeymaren, and half-fell into an open chair. "Well," he sighed, "I guess we should see if they can hold on to the lead