The Gift
Episode 12: Here I am
By Sulia Serafine
This is an ALTERNATE UNIVERSE fic. This is the sequel series to It Could Be Worse, which will end with season 4. NOTE: You can read it if you have not read ICBW. It's possible. You won't get the foreshadowing and the cameos, but you will, eventually. I'd explain them. Credit goes to Tamora Pierce. I'm broke, so you can't sue me. Any other copyrighted things that don't belong to me in here in fact belong to other very businesslike people. Could you believe that? I guess that's why I'm broke.
Warning: This episode is rated R, for one scene in which a character totally loses it.
Author's note: I can't believe how much I missed writing in the first person. I'm sick and tired of school. Coming out of winter vacation has only made me realize how much I want out. Anyway, hope you enjoy the episode! It's a different change in pace, you'll see. Hope you like it anyway.
*yawn*
Can I graduate now? Someone? Please?
~~
There is a time in every man's life when he realizes that despite all tragedy, there is a ray of light at the end of the tunnel. No matter all the strife and the torture that he's had to endure along the way… there is still a wonderful, brilliant, stupendous, and (dare I say it) spectacular reason to go on living. However, now was not that time.
"You lying sack of shit!"
No. Definitely not that time.
Yvenne had the front of my shirt in her fists, shaking me back and forth as if I were an uncooperative vending machine who'd stolen her money. (I'd seen her do it once before. Man! If I thought she looked scary then…) I didn't fight back. What good would that do? It's not like I could avoid her. We were traveling companions, after all. I'd have to face her sooner or later. So on the plus side, it was good that I was doing it now. I could get this over with.
"So you've been spending this entire trip slinking away from us so you could search for your parents? And what made you think that you couldn't trust us to help you? Huh? I thought we were all friends, Vince! Isn't that what we are, Vince?"
"Um…" I began. Maybe sooner than later wasn't such a good idea after all.
"Vinny, could you show me where the bathroom is? I really have to go!" Faleron interrupted, tugging on my shirt. I looked down at him, a smile spreading across my face. At once, I shook Yvenne's grip from me and took the boy's hand in mine.
"We'll continue this conversation when we get back," I told her with a horribly happy grin and rushed away with Faleron toward the hospital doors. The slightly cooler air inside the building had me breathing in deeply, never mind the antiseptic smell. I looked down on my little partner. I had to hand it to the kid. He knew how to handle things. Every time I was in a tight spot, I could depend on the little dweeb to bail me out. How wonderful is that?
We rounded a corner and stopped in front of the men's room. I released his hand and leaned against the wall.
"Thanks, squirt. Now take your time. I need a few minutes to come up with something to say to Miss Attitude. If I don't come up with something, the trip up to Irontown is going to be hell."
The boy nodded. "You owe me for this."
Me? Owe him? He is such a little punk!
"Ice cream will do," he quipped.
"Fine, fine," I replied, rolling my eyes. "Right after you get out of here, I'll go take you for some ice cream."
"Yvenne, too?"
You're kidding me. Oh well, I suppose it couldn't hurt to suck up just a little bit at this point. "Sure. Yvenne, too."
The boy started to push the bathroom door open. Just as he did, the door lightly hit a person who had been about to swing the door open. The man paused and stepped back. Faleron murmured an apology and went inside.
"Ah. We meet again!" Ansil exclaimed as he let Faleron pass him. He came through the doorway and stopped in front of me with his arms folded across his chest. Boy, am I sick of seeing that damn face. I wonder if planted a tracer on me the first time we bumped into each other? I wouldn't put it past him for doing it. They're all alike, those do-gooders. Feh.
I immediately recoiled at the very first word that came out of his mouth. I walked away a couple of steps, turning my head away to ground my teeth in annoyance. "Yeah. How unfortunate."
With my back still turned to him, he continued to speak. "I was wondering when I'd see you again, young Vincent."
"Who cares?" I snapped. "I'm not on your turf, nor am I wreaking havoc so I don't know why you would want to see me again." I rolled my eyes and muttered, "Unless you like to molest boys."
The detective laughed. "Ha! Don't you have a disrespectful little mouth on you! Someone ought to teach you some manners, kid."
His voice had suddenly changed its tone. It wasn't scary. But it was almost… warning. I frowned, but still refused to face him. I quickly considered my options. Could I run? No, I had to wait for Faleron. Besides, the damn man would follow me. And even worse, he could follow me outside and run into Yvenne. If the two of them met, I had a feeling it would be even more disaster for me. Explain my mother and a cop to Yvenne? Hell would have to freeze over first.
"Vinny, I've been meaning to talk to you about something."
A bewildering tingle raced up the back of my legs and straight through my spine. I swallowed convulsively. "Yeah? About what?"
"Going home."
My eyes widened instantly. I began to turn around. But before I could move an inch, there was a lightning bolt of pain that jolted me in the back. I didn't even have time to cry out before my eyes fluttered closed and I slumped to the ground. Everything went black.
~~
The nerve of that guy! Vinny had nothing good coming to him if he thought he could hide something as important as that from us this entire time. I ought to clobber him for it! It's not like he would have to go far for medical help. We are at the hospital. I'm not an inconsiderate person. I'd make sure he would get treatment. Faleron could drag him inside while I flirted with a nice young doctor who wouldn't patronize me like what's-his-face Blondie.
I finally took a deep breath and sat down on the bench. Crossing one leg over another, I impatiently waited for my two traveling companions to exit. They kept me waiting for a long time. Actually, my anger had just started to subside when a familiar mop of deep black hair on a short body exited the hospital and headed toward me.
"Hey, Fal," I greeted calmly. I had no reason to argue with the kid. His good behavior sometimes bothered me. He never did anything wrong, which is kind of weird for a kid now that I think about it. Even the best of kids does something wrong every now and then. It's in children's natures to mess around, if you ask me.
Faleron looked around. "Where's Vinny?"
I raised one eyebrow questioningly. "Why would he be out here? He went inside with you to avoid me."
"When I came out of the bathroom, he was gone. I thought he went back outside to apologize to you."
Apologize? To me? Vinny?
I shook my head. "Guess again. Hmm. Maybe he went out the back way to avoid me." I growled. "The good-for-nothin' is probably hiding out."
"No, he wouldn't have done that," Faleron protested. "He promised to take us out for ice cream as soon as I was out of the bathroom.
Sometimes little boys can be so naive. I uncrossed my legs and leaned forward. "I hate to tell you this, Fal, but Vinny isn't exactly a man of honor. I wouldn't rely on him to keep his promises."
Surprisingly, he fixed me with an accusing gaze. "Just because he breaks promises to you doesn't mean he breaks promises to me. He's never broken a promise to me. He promised to take care of me! And he is!"
My eyes instantly widened and I sat back, completely shocked. Could it be? Was Faleron right? I closed my mouth, having nothing else good to say. Maybe it was true. I checked my memory for times when the boy had been disappointed. I found nothing to my liking. I sighed and let my eyes wander to my shoes. Maybe the whole reason I was always bitter toward Vinny was because he disappointed me in his promises.
His eyes had promised me something when I first looked into them. Back in Carthak, I'd seen something. I could have sworn it had been a promise for something… something more. He'd broken that promise when he rejected me. In fact, that was the only promise he'd ever broken. He'd made me angry plenty of times, but had Vinny ever…
No. He had never told me anything and contradicted himself. Vinny always acted as he said he would: as an arrogant asshole.
Looking back up at Faleron, I knew that wasn't true for everyone else. I reached forward and rubbed the boy's arm affectionately, smiling a little. He treated Faleron like his kid brother. Sometimes, even like a son. Maybe it was a guy thing. Maybe it was because Faleron was a child and so much easier to get along with than me.
I made things awkward. Just me.
I'm gonna end up as a spinster. A spinster with a dozen cats.
"He would have been waiting for you," I said at last. "Something must have happened to him."
"Do you think he's okay?"
"I hope so." For your sake.
We went back inside the hospital and looked around the first floor. A few nurses shooed us out of places we had inadvertently trespassed. We even asked the woman at the front desk to make a general announcement for Vinny to return to the entrance. We waited fifteen minutes, but he never came.
Thinking perhaps he was waiting for us at the car, we hurried outside only to find it as empty as we had left it. It was difficult deciding whether we should leave for the ice cream shop. There was always a chance he had gone ahead of us to make it a surprise. He was an incredibly selfish guy at times, but he could be sweet when he wanted to be. He really could be. It wouldn't be impossible for him to have huge sundaes waiting for us by the time we got there.
We arrived at the nearest ice cream shop, the one that Vinny would predictably have gone to. There was no blond young man to be found. Faleron and I leaned against the car and looked at each other worriedly.
"Maybe a cop picked him up," Faleron suggested. "You know how he pickpockets. Maybe the DJPF saw him and followed him. They could have arrested him!"
The next twenty minutes found us inside a phone booth, calling the police station and inquiring about any young men that had been taken into custody. None matched his description. I hung up the phone angrily and pinched the bridge of my nose with my thumb and forefinger.
"We'll check back in at the police station again in an hour, if he's still missing by then," I muttered, impulsively drumming my fingers against the side of the phone booth.
I was startled to admit it, but I was terrified. Vinny wouldn't have disappeared on his own. He had no reason to! And as independent as he'd always been, I knew he could hold himself up in a fight and could slip away from the best of them, if need be.
When a woman in a pink dress walked past us, it dawned on me the one other place he could have gone. We rushed out of the phone booth and began soliciting people on the sidewalk for a diner where the waitresses dressed in pink. If there was one other place, or in this case, person, in Tusaine that Vinny could have gone to, it was his mother.
At last, someone told us of a small place three blocks from where we were that had waitresses in pink. The woman was completely shocked when we hugged her and thanked her profusely. We ran at breakneck speed to our car and drove away at an equally dangerous rate.
While we drove the short distance, I was tempted to think about the time Vinny had left us while we were in the science museum. He'd boarded a train and come right back at the next stop. Sure, I'd been absolutely furious with him. Not only had he tried to ditch us, but he'd punched a hole through the convertible roof of our car. Even as he kindly bought Faleron ice cream and even as it was made clear that he'd come back when he could have kept on going—I didn't see that. I only saw my temper and the palm of my hand coming in contact with his cheek.
Vinny had come back that time. And it was for that reason that I knew that he wouldn't have left this time either. Not intentionally. Not to hurt us. He would be attacked by another stab of conscience like he had been that day on the train. He would come back. He would!
We pulled into a parking lot where there were too many potholes. As soon as we got out of the car, we nearly ran for the door. At once, we could see several women dressed in pink waitresses uniforms with white (or nearly white) aprons tied on.
I spotted the same strawberry blonde woman from in front of the hospital somewhere in the back of the diner. I made my way quickly around the tables, swiftly weaving in and out between people until I was within range.
"Hey! Miss… Vinny's Mom! Excuse me!"
The woman looked up. She looked stunned, but she smiled anyway. She had a very beautiful smile. "Oh! Yvenne, wasn't it? Hello!"
"Hi, ma'am," I greeted, not sure what else to call her.
"Please, call me Julia." She indicated her nametag. Her nametag. Duh.
Faleron caught up with me. As soon as she saw him, she 'awwed' and bent down to give Faleron a kiss on the forehead. He beamed up at her appreciatively.
"Uh, I hate to interrupt you here at work," I apologized. "But have you seen Vinny? Did he come to see you?"
Julia frowned. "No. I haven't been here too long at all. The last time I saw him was with you two in front of the hospital." She gasped. "Did something happen? Is he alright?"
I shrugged helplessly. "We don't know. He was supposed to be waiting for Fal outside the men's room, but he disappeared. We've looked everywhere. It's not like him to take off like this. Something must have forced him to leave."
His mother appeared completely distraught by what I was saying. She had one hand over her mouth and the other over her heart. I wouldn't blame the woman. Julia had just been reunited with her son after seventeen years. They'd never met, Vinny had told us. They hadn't found each other until today.
When I thought about that, it made me miss my own mother. Truth be told, my mother had divorced my father when I was ten. She wanted to be young again, and cared very little about me. She'd left my father, who tried to be a good parent to me for several years before giving up and becoming a slob. Pops wasn't a bad man. Just not a family man. The fact that I wasn't a great daughter either had led him to kicking me out after I dropped out during my senior year in high school.
I use to lie about my parents. Lie about graduating. Lie about sports teams and everything else. But I didn't do that much anymore. I hated it when Vinny lied. I hated it worse when he persuaded Faleron to lie. But standing here with his trembling mother, I almost wished she were lying about not knowing where Vinny was.
Vinny Winston! Don't you see that we need you, you son of a bitch?
"Is there any place where Vinny could have gone? Or some place where someone might recognize him as your son?"
Julia was crestfallen. "No. I've severed all my ties with people who knew me in this city. There's no one—oh!"
"What?" I cried. "What is it?"
She clutched my arm tightly. "Mr. Yukishiro! He called and met with Vinny in front of the hospital. That's how I knew to find him there earlier."
"Who's Mr. Yukishiro?" Faleron inquired.
"A very nice man," Julia replied. "When I first gave birth to Vinny and he was sick—I didn't have any money to pay for the tests, but Mr. Yukishiro was a family friend and he paid for it all. When times are tough, Mr. Yukishiro has always sent a little money to help me along."
"Great! Where do we find this guy?"
Julia's happy expression faltered. "You don't."
"What do you mean we don't?" I demanded.
She sighed. "He doesn't live in the city anymore. I was surprised he came back to Tusaine today to see Vinny. You can't ask around for him either. Mr. Yukishiro used to be of… ill repute, you could say, when he used to live around here. It was the reason he had to leave."
Faleron and I exchanged hopeless looks. Julia shook her head sadly and wiped her hands on her apron.
"I'm sorry. I wish I could help you more. I only want my son to be safe and happy, wherever he goes—" she began.
"Julia! Get back to work!" the greasy cook from behind the counter yelled.
Julia glared in his direction before turning back to us. "I'm sorry."
"It's okay," I told her. "We'll let you know if anything comes up."
"Take care!" she called to us as we left the diner. I wish I'd had a mother like her. Some people were meant to be parents. The way that woman presented herself to children, the way she looked at her son even years after his childhood had left him, spoke to me. I would have enjoyed learning how to grow up into a young lady under this woman's guidance. I wished in some alternate universe, she was my mother.
But that's getting off track. She is Vinny's mother. And Vinny is gone.
So there we have it. We had no idea where to go. I still don't believe it happened so quickly. In so short a time, our dear friend had vanished into thin air.
We returned to the front of the hospital in hopes that Vinny had returned there. There was no sign of him. I must admit, I was really starting to think that maybe he had worked up the nerve to leave us for good.
But then I glanced down at Faleron's face. I knew I was wrong.
Sighing, I ran my hand through my hair. "Okay, squirt. Let's head down to the DJPF station and see if he hasn't been brought there yet. Do you know the way?"
"Of course!"
We drove to the station. The radio was broken and neither of us felt like talking, so it was an uncomfortable silence all the way there. I started to think about how life would be without the good for nothin' jerk. I mean, the three of us were going to part ways anyway. I was going to settle down in Port Legann. Faleron would finally go back to school. And Vinny… he would have gone wherever the wind took him, I guess.
We would have said goodbye sooner or later. That idea scared me. After I had made my plans to find a place in Port Legann, it still never hit me that I would have to get used to not seeing either of my friends again. I doubted Faleron's parents would ever let him out of their sight whenever he returned. And Vinny isn't the type of person that keeps in touch.
I missed him already. I thought to myself, it's too early to miss him. We'll find him and we'll make it last.
But the truth was, it wouldn't last and I would miss him no matter what happened. The way those slim, graceful fingers—like an artist's or something—flipped a coin in the air. The way he held the steering wheel with one hand while sticking his elbow out the window. He had a way of grinning, lazily, that just made him look so suave and laidback—almost like he knew something you didn't and there was no way in hell he was going to condescend to tell you.
I hate his pride. I hate his arrogance. But it's never hurt me. Annoyed yes, but that's not so bad. To tell the truth, I'd started to look forward to our arguments. Life was boring without them. I'm sure that's not healthy, but I don't really care. Realizing how petty our fights were made me happier to be alive, every day.
When we reached the station, we made it as far as the front desk before the worst thing in the entire world happened.
"Faleron?" a man called. He spilled his cup of coffee as he hastily set it down and practically leapt over the front desk to get to the boy. Faleron's eyes widened. His face paled. When I saw how stiff the boy had become, I knew we were in for it.
I frowned and clenched my fists. "Fal—"
"H-hi, Uncle Neal," Faleron stammered. He gulped and hunched his shoulders. "Nice to see ya."
The officer, Neal I presume, fixed him with a stern look and set both hands on Faleron's shoulders, gently shaking him. His face was turning pink, most likely from restrained anger. "Do you know how worried you've made your parents? And here you are, traipsing around the city—this close from home… and you don't stop to think how many people you've upset?"
"I didn't mean to!" Faleron cried. He pouted. "Besides, Uncle Cleon found me. I talked to him and he talked to my friends and he said it was okay!"
Neal stood straight up. He scowled. "His permission amounts to squat, Faleron, and you know it!" He tapped the side of his head. "He hasn't been right in the head since he came back from the mountains… and… and you knew it! Your parents told you as much, I'm sure. And if they hadn't, the fact that they don't let him visit you whenever he's in town should say as much!"
"That's not true! Uncle Cleon is—" Faleron protested, his voice cracking with emotion.
"Stop yelling at the kid!" I shouted, glaring at the man. "He didn't mean any harm! He just wanted to escape his stupid school vacation because he…" I glanced at Faleron fleetingly. "He was miserable. Spending holidays with his class instead of with his family. If you knew how sensitive he was, you wouldn't be singing the same tune!"
The man's gaze landed on me. His jaw was set grimly. He folded his arms across his chest. "And who are you? The irresponsible adult who's also to blame for all this commotion?"
"To blame?! Listen, pal! You know nothing!"
He shook his head slowly. "I know enough. He needs to go home. Spending weeks on end with absolute strangers—I don't care how nice you really are—is not right." He took Faleron by the hand. "Come on. I'm calling your parents."
It occurred to me that this man was right. Vinny and I had been irresponsible and it had been a completely bad idea to let a young boy hang around us without so much as asking his parents' permission. I had laid the idea to rest when we'd run into Cleon Kennan and received his approval. But now that they were actually taking Faleron away from me (the sight of tears dripping down his cheeks broke my heart right in half) I couldn't let it happen. Not yet.
"Let go of him!" I threw myself at the officer, tugging hard on his arm. I wasn't thinking. No. All I could focus on was freeing my friend and escaping the place. With the greatest of ease, Neal jerked me forward, and twisted my arm behind my back. It felt like he was going to twist my arm out of my socket! I gritted my teeth in pain.
Faleron stood mute, tears still running down his cheeks. He looked at me pitifully. And I knew that he thought it was all his fault. I didn't care whose fault it was. We'd just lost Vinny. I wasn't about to lose Faleron so soon.
I don't want to live without either of them.
~~
I curled up in the corner of my holding cell. By some miracle of the gods, no one else was in the cell with me—no drunkards or lunatics like I'd imagined. I was cold. I refused to touch the single bed they had, for fear of what had slept there before. Instead, I leaned against the wall, knees tucked toward my chest. I wondered what Faleron was doing.
His parents were probably on their way back to Tusaine that very second. Faleron would be fussed over by the family servants, all who would be pinching themselves for buying into that babysitter lie earlier that day. It's not my fault that they had believed us. And they had seen how well Faleron had been!
No. Now the head butler or whatever knew the truth and would scold Faleron for lying and worrying his parents half to death (who were at this very instant, probably arguing with themselves on how they could have spawned such a deceptive child). And Faleron would be so exhausted from the day's traumatic events that he would not offer any more words of protest. He would only wish to be left alone, to weep, to mourn the loss of two very loyal friends.
Directly after Neal had restrained me and tossed me into a holding cell, I heard him get on the COMscreen with Cleon Kennan. I could not see the screen. I didn't need to. The officer yelled at the redhead very loudly. With familiarity. By the way they addressed each other and spoke of Faleron's parents, I knew that they had long been involved with the Jasson family. Perhaps Neal and Cleon had even been around during Faleron's birth.
Cleon did not put up much of a fight. Like Faleron, he seemed to take the scolding like he believed he deserved it. The redhead admitted that he'd been thinking of other things when he'd given Faleron permission to continue traveling with Vinny and me. The redhead spoke in low tones. His voice had always seemed depressing to me. But I'm sure… I'm sure he wasn't always like that. A face like his wasn't fit for melancholy.
Neal finally ended the conversation, still very bothered by the fact that his friend had seen Faleron and had perpetuated the deception. Whatever that meant. He came back to my holding cell and curtly informed me that I was to stay until he knew what to do with me. My car was being impounded and my stuff locked with criminal evidence.
Had this been a different situation, I would have been screaming my head off. I would have demanded a lawyer. And I would have threatened to knee him in the groin. I would have thrown a tantrum, only worsening my position.
But it was all very clear to me that this had been our fault. How foolish we were.
I went to sleep in the corner, still refusing to touch the bed. They shut off the lights, eventually, and I huddled in my thin clothing hoping that Faleron's parents would drop any charges and I would be allowed to go.
A dream came to me. Vinny had come to my rescue. He'd infiltrated the security system and shorted out the electronic padlock that kept me imprisoned. He'd looked at me tenderly, telling me with his eyes he had missed me just as much as I had missed him. Romance be damned, I did miss him with all my heart. Down to the last lying, stealing, back-talking hair on his head. When I opened my eyes, long after midnight, I sighed. It was just a dream. It was a good dream. Far too unrealistic, but a good dream.
"Good. You're awake."
I stiffened at the words, a shiver running up my spine. I squinted in the darkness.
"Vinny?" I called out hesitantly. My heart beat more loudly in my chest. Thud thud. Thud thud.
A man's hand reached out to touch me on the shoulder. I flinched. No, it was not Vinny. That was not his touch. Not his graceful hands. Someone else.
"Shh. I'm going to get you out of here. Follow me."
I stood up quickly, nearly bumping heads with my liberator. "Who are you? What do you want from me?"
He exhaled deeply. "Nothing. There's nothing I want from you. Just come with me. I'll drive you and the kid as far as Irontown, but that's it."
"But who are you?" I demanded, whispering fiercely. I couldn't see his face in the darkness and it was really bothering me. Things like this don't just happen. And did he already have Faleron? How did he know about us? Was this some sort of sick trick?
No, I had to have been dreaming again.
"Please… tell me," I began to beg.
"We don't have time for introductions right now. Now shut up and follow me." His hand closed around my wrist. I had no choice but to close my mouth and do as he said. I moved awkwardly close to him in sync, my right toe against his right heel and my left foot doing the same.
I was surprised to see the station deserted. For safety reasons, there was really only one way out through the front. I was nearly certain that someone would have to see us. The lights were on, the horrible fluorescent lights that made me feel half awake. What about the security cameras? I glanced at them mistrustfully.
"Don't worry about them," he whispered to me.
I could see his face now. He looked to be in his early late twenties, early thirties. Dark short hair, creamy skin. Slightly angular features, but all in good proportion. He was, I bet, even taller than Vinny. It was hard for me to tell since I'm so short. Though he looked very grave, there was an air of mischief about him. Not the good kind. To my great surprise, I saw now that he was wearing a black silk shirt and a deep red necktie. His dress pants were well pressed. I could see the creases so plainly. What kind of guy breaks someone out of prison looking like he'd just come from a business meeting?
"Where is everyone?" I murmured. He didn't answer. Actually, he didn't need to. As we passed by the front desk, I saw several men and women on the floor, out cold. They appeared uninjured. Perhaps he'd used some sort of smoke bomb or something to fill the air with knockout gas.
The monitors for the security cameras were mostly black or fuzzy with static. I couldn't help but shudder again at what kind of person was able to perform all of this and get away with it.
Wouldn't someone have shown up by now? In a big city like this, cops were bringing in all sorts of bad people at all hours of the night! Why hadn't someone come in yet? Why hadn't some squad car gotten suspicious when no one at the station answered their radio call?
The questions continued to pile up as we went calmly through the front door. Now that we were out of the building, my unnamed rescuer started to whistle nonchalantly as he looped his arm with mine and pretended that we were minding our own business—just a couple out on a very late night stroll. The sidewalk was wet from the sprinklers. We cut across the landscaping when we reached the edge of the station property. I could feel the moisture on the grass on my thinly covered ankles
Every car that passed by us caused me to flinch. I must have been squeezing his arm too tightly when the last set of headlights had gone by, because the man shook my arm irritably and shot me a warning look.
He looked handsome. I didn't know why I hadn't noticed before or why I chose to notice now. The last thing I should have been thinking about was the attractive looks of a complete stranger. I had just escaped from jail, for crying out loud. And after all those romantic overtures I'd made inside my head to Vinny while I slept! What of those? Yuck. Have I ever been this shallow before?
"We're almost to the car. Just relax," he muttered to me. His voice was mildly pleasant, too. But it was not as attractive as the piercing look he gave me with his eyes. He had these dark, brooding eyes. They reminded me of Vinny only because they were completely opposite of his frosty blue ones.
I continued to stare at my rescuer, undaunted anymore by his anonymity. "Will you tell me now? Who you are? Why you're helping me?"
The man fiddled with his necktie absently. "I can't say why exactly I'm helping you. The help I can give you is very limited. There are eyes watching us constantly. It would be… dangerous for me to go any farther than what I offered." He paused and looked at me, flashing a perfect smile. "You can call me… Li."
"Lee?" I intoned.
"L-i," he spelled. "I can't tell you much more than that. Ah. There it is. Hurry it up." With that, he began to quicken his pace. I lengthened my stride to keep up with him, but he didn't seem to notice that I was stumbling over my own feet.
We reached the hovercar, a two-door sedan with a broken rear windshield wiper. I quickly climbed into the passenger side, slamming the door after me. He started up the car almost as soon as he touched the seat. His eyes darted back and forth to see if anyone had followed us.
My hands were shaking as I put the seatbelt on. I nearly screamed when I felt someone from behind me throw his arms around my neck. After a few seconds, I recognized the embrace and breathed a sigh of relief. I closed my eyes as I reached behind me to pat Faleron's soft hair.
"Nice to see you, too, squirt. Don't tell me you set this all up."
As Li pulled away from the curb, it really started to sink in. The last ten minutes had gone by so fast. I could hardly bring myself to believe everything that had just happened. I turned around in my seat so I could take a look at Faleron. He appeared safe. He was still wearing the same clothes. His cheeks were a little blotchy, probably from crying. I was just happy to be with him again.
Faleron smiled. "I was planning to run away. I was going to go out on the fire escape and come see you, Yvenne. Mr. Li met me at the bottom."
"It was foolish of you to make plans on your own," Li interrupted, a small smirk gracing his lips as he glanced in his rearview mirror at the boy. "Someone else could have reached you before I did."
"You know each other?" I asked, thoroughly confused.
"It's hard to say," Li replied after a moment's hesitation. "I've met others."
"Like Uncle Cleon and Uncle Neal! You told me you met them! That's how I knew to trust you," Faleron grinned. "There's only a handful of people who know how much Uncle Cleon likes orange juice and how Uncle Neal got that scar on his arm!"
I raised one eyebrow skeptically. So apparently it had turned into a game of "who's who?" among acquaintances. I narrowed my eyes at Li. "If the kid trusts you, I guess that's good enough for me. His judgment is pretty good—better than mine, anyway. So what's the deal?"
Li shrugged. "I'll drive you to Irontown. I have to leave right away, but I'll make sure you get there. You'll have to take care of yourselves from then on. They'll be hunting for you now, Jailbird."
"Peachy," I griped.
He grinned. I felt something in my chest constrict at that. He really reminded me of Vinny. But in the opposite. Almost like a photographic film negative. I leaned away, pressing one hand to the cold window while Faleron squeezed his shoulders between the two front seats to get a good view of us.
"Why don't you go to sleep? It will be a long drive," Li suggested.
It was hard to argue with him. I suddenly realized how tired I was. I really did need the sleep. There was no longer any anxiety about Li murdering us in our sleep and burying us in the middle of nowhere. He'd passed Faleron's test. And the little squirt was a good judge of character. I certainly didn't know what to make of him.
But with the pressing matter of Vinny's disappearance, Faleron's running away, and my "prison break," the matter of a mysterious rescuer didn't faze me. It couldn't faze me. There were so many other things to worry about.
"Go to sleep," Li urged in a gentle voice.
It soothed me to hear him say that, though I don't know why. Feeling like I had betrayed someone, though in actuality I had not, I fervently pictured a memory about Vinny, Faleron and I in my mind. I gazed at Li for a few more moments, at odds with myself. The man hadn't even done anything truly notable—I had just met him… but there was something different about him.
It was the same sort of "different" that I felt from Vinny. I tried not to think about it too hard and forced my eyes closed. The rest would do me good.
~~
My body sagged against the cold metal interior of the van. The pounding of my heart spread throughout my body. I could feel it in my head—in my stomach, behind my eyes, in my fingertips. I slowly curled my hands into fists and, clammy forehead still pressed against the metal, lashed out. I gritted my teeth, knowing I was doing nothing more than bruising my knuckles. Doesn't fucking matter. They'll heal quickly. I flung myself away and collapsed on the hard vehicular floor.
It felt like curling up on top of an ice pond. I closed my eyes, wondering what would happen if I stopped breathing right then. After that, I stared into the empty space surrounding me. There was my heartbeat again. So loud. Like in stereo.
I think I lost touch with my humanity then. I opened my eyes, my pupils shrinking to sharp pinpoints. All that ran through my mind at that very moment was, I'm going to kill them.
With a sudden burst of energy, I rolled over onto my knees and glared at the small peephole where the men in the front of the van could slide the grating back and check in on me. I pretended that the slot was open and that all my rage could get out through the space and down the throats of my kidnappers. Choking them. Faces turning blue.
"Do you hear me, you mother fuckers?!" I screamed, hearing my vocal cords constrict in pain at forcing such a volume. "I'm going to kill you bastards when I get out of here!"
The slot slid open a crack, just enough for me to see dark, emotionless eyes. All I saw was red. Fresh blood for a shark! Cannibal delight! With a feral cry, I leapt for the peephole, eager to claw the asshole's eyes out. Damn it all! He slid it shut again before I could cause any damage. I threw my body against the side of the van again, howling like a werewolf. Like I'd lost all my sanity.
Who knows? Maybe I was crazy.
Like an animal in a damn cage. That's what I was. I willed my brain over and over to foresee something… anything… that would get me out of there. I tried to see where we were going, although it was pretty obvious from the beginning. Styx! Home sweet home. Or should I say prison?
Wherever Ansil Groten was, I hoped his dick would rot and shrivel off. I hoped that his hair and teeth fell out and that his skin was covered with disgusting, oily pimples and boils. Puss. Lots of puss. Where the fuck is a voodoo doll when you need one?
I growled and angrily wiped tears of frustration from my eyes. My face was hot and my skin pink and bruised from my own abuse. It didn't matter so much as what had gotten me into this mess in the first place. I knew it! I knew that jackass was out to get me from the very beginning! Why couldn't I sense it? How could a scumbag like him get the best of me? ME?
Vinny Winston! Vinny the Unbeatable! I fooled chumps for a living! I was the greatest con artist you ever saw! Pick locks? Lie through my teeth? Break into high security shindigs like it was child's play? Hell yeah! That was me! Now this… this… cop wannabe had gotten the best of me? No! No, he hadn't! The game was not over. Far from over! Not by a long shot.
I pounded on the sides of the vans again. My voice was becoming hoarse. I didn't care. I didn't friggin care. A rational part of me begged me to save my strength, but there was another part of me—a crazier, raw beast with its teeth bared and its fangs dripping with hot saliva—that said no one messed with me and got away with it.
Fucking no one.
~~
Author's notes: yay! I put off yet another VERY important project to write fanfics! Yay! And I feel WAY too lazy, so I'm not going to edit! There are so many errors, it's painful to look at—but I've got to get this history project done or I'm SCREWED! WHEE!
Thanks for reading. Hopefully I'll survive long enough to write another episode within the next several months…