Chapter 12
New York
It had taken several hours... but Eleanor and Phillip had finally pieced together Derrick's past from his haunted memories. Phillip double-checked some things on-line and found some old news stories. Finally they had it all... or at least enough of it that they now understood some of Derrick's greatest fears.
His adoptive parents and his sister had been killed in a house break-in... one of several which took place in a small New England town over a month-long period. The then three-year-old little boy had vanished. From Derrick's memories, it was evident that the burglars had taken him with them for some reason. Derrick had memories of a woman who cared for him... of traveling all the time... and a sword. Additional research finally solved the puzzle. Staring at the news-photo, Eleanor recognized the woman from her time in the Watchers... she was an immortal named Bess Moran. She'd evidently decided to just keep the boy and raise him to be a companion... she'd done it before. When she tired of her companions... or they wanted to leave... she killed them.
Derrick's fate would have been sealed if he had remained with her much longer. But Bess had evidently run across another immortal... the news story in a mid-western paper spoke of a bloody slaughter at a motel not far from where Eleanor had found the terrorized little boy hiding beneath a highway overpass. Since she'd been passing through... she'd not stayed long enough to read local papers... besides... once Derrick had called her Eleanor... she'd already made up her mind to take him with her.
And then, of course, he'd started doing things and saying things that had reminded her of Darius... and she'd become entranced by the boy. She had no longer been certain what to do... she had become willing to let him make many of their decisions, willing to trust him... trust his judgment. She had been unable to let him go, although she had known it was necessary.
Those things still made no sense. But Derrick's reaction to the guns and to the blood began to come into perspective. They could help him cope with those memories. They could help him understand that it wasn't his fault... it was nothing he had done... and hopefully... given time... and a quiet life somewhere... these things would gradually fade away into a past which would no longer haunt him. Then, perhaps, they might be able to unlock the other set of memories... the ones that simmered under the surface of his infectious grin and broke through when he met immortals.
***
The boy sipped a chocolate shake at a fast food restaurant on 42nd street. He looked at Eleanor thoughtfully. "Ellie?... When Adam was shot... those bullets didn't just bounce off... did they?"
Phillip had eyed the boy thoughtfully but had continued to chew his burger, wiping his mouth with the paper napkin, while Eleanor stirred her salad several times before meeting Derrick's gaze. "No... they didn't bounce off."
"He was shot... but he didn't die." Derrick continued.
Eleanor continued to stir her salad, then took a bite. She chewed and swallowed feeling as though it were something inedible. Phillip said nothing. Finally she lay the plastic fork down and smiled at Derrick while glancing around to make certain no one was within earshot. "He was shot... but he didn't die." She repeated his words back to him... but the difference was in the inflection.
Derrick let out a long breath and seemed to consider her words. "Can he die?"
"All living beings die Derrick."
"Will you die?"
Eleanor paused, feeling that here was the heart of Derrick's greatest fears. She smiled and reached a hand out to take his, "Hopefully not for a long, long time. I wish I could promise I wouldn't die, Derrick, but I can't. But I promise you... I will try not to die until you are grown and no longer need me."
Phillip smiled and shook his head.
Derrick regarded her for a long moment. "What if I always need you?"
"You say that now... but a day will come when you'll want to move on with your life. When that day comes... I'll rejoice in your choices and wish you good fortune and happiness."
Eleanor recalled a similar conversation she had once had with Miriam, the orphaned Jewish girl she had raised after World War II. There had come a time when she had needed to explain some of her life to the little girl so that she'd understand why her "Mama Marie" did not age and would one day have to leave. While Eleanor still received letters at a post office box in Switzerland from Miriam and her children and grandchildren, she had not seen any of them in almost forty years. It was safer that way.
Raising Miriam and her brother Joshua had helped Eleanor to find a balance in her life that she had lost when she had absorbed the quickening of Kae Dhun and the power of the quickenings taken from the great sword. Joshua had died as a young man, a victim of the violence of the Middle East... Eleanor had wept bitter tears at his death... he had been as much her son as any child she'd ever known ever was. After his death, she did not want another. His death at an early age had helped her face so many of her own demons. If not for the re-entry of Carerra into her life once more... she might have been fine.
But Carerra had re-entered her life. And then she'd found Derrick. All her reservations about raising another child had vanished when he'd called her "Eleanor, Lady of Light". But Derrick had wanted a sister... and she had thought... I can be a sister. Besides... Derrick was a pre-immortal child. The important thing was to keep him safe to grow up and into his potential... and then... then... her thoughts faltered. Eleanor did not know what would be needed then. From deep within her she heard O ro' dred whisper, "One day you will have to kill the boy or watch him grow old and die." She smiled... time enough to face that tomorrow.
She released Derrick's hand and returned to her salad. Phillip wiped his mouth with the napkin once more and took a drink of the soda he'd ordered. He made a face and shook his head. Soda was not Phillip's drink of choice. Derrick sipped at his chocolate shake and his eyes glazed over slightly while he was apparently considering Eleanor's words.
Finally he looked over at her and smiled, "That day won't be for a long, long time Ellie... promise me you'll stay with me for now."
Eleanor nodded, "That's one promise I make gladly, little one."
Phillip cleared his throat, "So while we're here do we take in the Statue of Liberty or something?"
A loud slurp from Derrick indicated he'd finished his shake. He nodded with a big grin... once more only a little boy. Eleanor stirred her salad again. She could eat something later, perhaps. Evidently the eating binge she'd been on the past month or so was at an end. As it had been for the past several years... food was something to just stir and pretend to eat.
Within her the old voices murmured as one, "We are darkness... we are chaos... we are yours to command!" Eleanor felt that soon... she and Methos would both have to confront the forces they had unleashed in Seacouver. They could not be suppressed forever... they were darkness and death... they were chaos and destruction... somehow they'd have to face them and finish integrating those aspects of their past back into their respective psyches. If they didn't... those forces might break loose once more onto an unsuspecting world. Eleanor smiled knowingly... but she still had time... they were hers to command for the present. "Creation is destruction... chaos is order... death is life... all are one... all are one!" she thought as they exited the restaurant to take Derrick sightseeing.
