14. Reflections of a Friend...

They stood there embracing for a long while after the phone call to Wade. William motioned Kim to the couch and they sat, still in each others' arms. Kim drifted in and out of crying fits for nearly an hour, talking softly in between with her head on William's chest, still in disbelief that Angelica was really gone. Each time the tears returned, Kim would tighten her embrace, one arm around his back, the other at his shoulder. her hands curling into fists against his shirt, sometimes pounding against his chest. William could really find little to console her. He knew he couldn't stop the torrent of emotion over the loss of her friend - the best he could do was to be here for her.

One of his hands held her free arm just above the elbow. He would stroke her hair slowly with the other. When Kim broke down, he would place his other hand either against her head, his fingers sinking into the softness of her hair just behind her ear, or down to where her neck and shoulder meet. He would hold her against him as she cried, trying to absorb the sobs that were racking her body under his touch - he was trying to absorb the hurt.

9:42 PM.
Kim had cried herself to sleep. In subconscious movement she slid down slowly, slipping from William's embrace, but with her fingers lingering on his forearm. She now lay on her side, facing the back of the couch, knees drawn up. William took a small round pillow leaning against the wall from the top of the couch, and carefully tried to raise her head. Kim stirred, looking toward William with half-opened eyes crimson with emotion. "Shhhhhhh..." he said, slipping the pillow under her head from behind. She nodded slightly, and settled onto the pillow, one edge of which was propped against his leg. Her face was still like cream, even though showing effects of having been through an emotional upheaval. Her mouth was inverted into a deep frown. The skin of her cheeks was trailed with tears, and there was a small crease of tension between her eyebrows. Kim fell back into sleep almost immediately, emotionally exhausted.

William hadn't thought much about Angelica since he and Kim exchanged introductions...but now some of the memories of his two encounters with the strange little woman began to pop into his mind like flashbulbs. Her energetic, optimistic personality. the quick pace of her voice, with that Kirstie-Alley crack. The insistence of her motions - how she always had acted as if "no" wasn't in her vocabulary.

"Hiya William, I'm Angelica. Angelica Guardia. Are ya sure you're okay?"

The spontaneous irreverance of her humor.

"Why...what's Sunday?" "The day after Saturday and the day before Monday."

"What are ya looking in THERE for? I'm not THAT desperate!"

The ever-present, almost inescapable warmth of her handshake, which she used as if it were a bond, a link during conversation. Her uncanny ability to have information that she had never been offered, knowing about William's "secret wish."

"Ya ever seen or met a Celler, William?"

William remembered the odd mix of conflicting points which seemed to cloud Angelica's true orgins...dressed in the garb of a homeless person, yet showing none of the signs that would suggest living on the streets. A person with perfect teeth - wearing an old Army jacket and 100,000-mile tennis shoes. Handwriting that would make commercial printers envious - on a grocery bag.

A light afternoon breeze from the Mediterranean licked at William's hair as he sat at a small table on a balcony. France in the spring always held a beckoning. The Eden Hotel overlooked the Bay of Angels in Nice, and was just close enough that one could catch a whiff of the ocean, accentuating the expansive view of the Med.

William sipped at his espresso, wondering about a slight uneasiness in his stomach. He dismissed it as acid in the beverage, and the fact that he hadn't ordered lunch yet. A waiter lightly touched William on the shoulder. "Vous avez un invité, Monsieur," the waiter said.

A guest? I hadn't really expected anyone, thought William. "Oui, s'il vous plaît. Merci."

A small woman walked past William's shoulder. She was in a long v-cut dress of silver satin...her blonde hair parted on the side, swept behind her ears, the front arching down across her forehead. She reached for his hand as she sat.

"Hiya William!"

Angelica.

William returned her grasp; then went to pinch himself with his free hand.

"Naahh, don't do that," Angelica said, giggling. "Ya wouldn't feel it whether it was a dream or not."

"Angelica, how--"

"Check out these duds, huh?" said Angelica, tugging on the sleeve of her dress with her free hand. "They don't even sell anything like this at the square. Ya'd have to go uptown to find something this neat!" She then extended her leg, showing those 100,000-mile tennis shoes, and smiling. "Some things are hard to part with, ya know? Even if I got knocked clean out of 'em."

"Angelica..." William stammered. "I don't even understand French, much less speak it."

"Hey, when in Rome - or France in this case," she tittered.

William tried to retain his composure, as well as his manners. "Should I...order you something...?"

Angelica waved her hand. "Nah. I'm not stayin' long. And neither are you, for that matter. So ya'd better finish that fancy coffee, if ya want it. HEY, how about that Kim, huh?? Huh??" she said, patting his hand firmly to punctuate. "Listen, William. I just wanted to tell ya that ye're doing everything exactly right. Ye're just being yerself...but I knew that about ya already. Just like I felt from the beginning, William...ya didn't seem like the kinda person to let someone down, and ya ain't! Ya ain't!"

A million questions crowded William's mind, clamoring to be first to burst forth. The winner was vanilla, but didn't even get a chance out of the gate. Angelica lowered her voice and spoke in a clear tone, just as when she gave him the items for the cross.

"William...this is really hard on Kim, but I don't have to tell you that. You're so attentive...so caring. I know you're trying to help her through this as best you can...and what you're doing is exactly what Kim needs right now, so keep right on doing it. I'll help out there, too. I'll talk to her, same as I'm talking to you."

William opened his mouth to try to speak again.

"Ohh, and William?" She patted his hand again. "I know you're a little scared. But don't be. She needs to know your heart, William - just as you're hoping to know hers. That's a two-way street. And she won't just go 'poof.' Well...you already know what it would take for that to happen...but I think you've both covered that, and dealt with it just beautifully. There's a time for everything - you know that. And sometimes, that time comes before you think you're completely ready for it. It's like a train, William. You can be so worried about making sure you have your ticket, that you miss the train. Do you understand, William?"

He hesitated a moment; then nodded slowly.

"There ya go!" Angelica perked, slapping William's hand lightly. "Remember William - a dove can't fly without both of its wings." She then reached across the table. "Now, TAKE OFF!" she said, thudding the heel of her hand against his forehead.

"An--"

1:14 AM.
"--gelica."

William awoke with a start to the familiar surroundings of his living room. He reached up to feel his forehead - the slightest tenderness, as if he had been struck there. There was also a vague uncomfort in his mid-section - but this time he could explain that.

William eased to a standing position from the couch, sliding his leg from under the edge of the pillow and his arm from under Kim's hand. Kim didn't awaken, but stirred a bit, sliding her left hand near her face, curling her fingers to clutch the pillow slightly.

William padded softly to the bathroom. When he came out, he went into the bedroom. Kim had hung up all her new clothes except for the outfit William had picked out, similar to her "mission clothes." The olive cargo pants were at a corner on the foot of the bed, neatly folded twice, with the black top in a small square on top of them, and the black slippers on top of that. Kim had taken a post-it note from his desk, and scrawled on it - "Cute" - and stuck it to the slippers. It was underlined. It was written neatly in block letters, a faint wisp connecting each of them, as if the pen hadn't been lifted completely from the paper.

William noticed another post-it on the upper corner of his computer monitor, this one in cursive - "email Wade soon (W will make new email account - just for me!); get more stuff on the cross for W." "W" he read again, and smiled. This was obviously written before Kim had gotten the news about Angelica.

William studied her handwriting, which was very neat, but not as printer-perfect as Angelica's. The loops of her letters were very full and rounded, except for her lower-case "L's," which were one straight line with a curve to the right at the bottom, and not connected to the letters on either side. Her "F's" were the same, but extended a bit further downward, with a line through them. He also noticed that the lower loop of her "G" was not closed, but an arc to the left, below the words; and the dot of each "I" and the bottom of the exclamation point were tiny happy faces.

William then turned his attention to the corner of the desk, where Kim had stacked her toiletries on top of the small mirror, which was what he was after. He moved the items and picked up the mirror. Kim should know how the unicorn fit into all this--

"William!??"

Kim's startled voice jumped from the living room.

"William!!"

William rushed out of the bedroom, still holding the mirror. "I'm here, Kim - are you okay?"

Kim was sitting up, one foot on the floor, her hand to her forehead. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you by yelling. I...I woke up, and you weren't here. I thought you had left. I guess I'm...I feel a little vunerable right now. I'm sorry."

William sat back down beside Kim, his hand slowly caressng her back. "Shhhh. You don't have to apologize. I thought you were going to sleep through the night."

"How long did I sleep?"

"Almost four hours. I dropped off a little bit after you did."

"I was sleeping so hard," she said, blinking hard and hanging her head a bit.

"You deserved it."

Kim sat for a moment; then, "I...had a dream about--"

"Yeah...me too." William said, half-interrupting.

"French Riviera?"

"Overlooking a bay in Nice."

They looked at each other.

"She..." started Kim. "Oh man, this is SO weird. She showed me the table where you sat. You didn't finish your espresso."

William's eyes widened. "I was going to pinch myself, to make sure it was a dream. She told me not to...that I wouldn't feel it, dream or not."

Kim then noticed William looking rather closely at her forehead. "What, do you see something?" she asked.

"I was just looking to see if she had thumped you as hard as she thumped me," he replied.

A small smile escaped from Kim's face. "She thumped you?"

"With the heel of her hand. That's when I woke up...and my forehead is a bit tender."

"No way," she said. "Let me see."

"Way." William leaned toward Kim and presented his face. she slowly let her fingers drift over his forehead.

William's breath caught for a second. Her touch, now softer, felt like the gentle breeze of a spring day across his skin.

"There is a little redness," said Kim, a small touch of concern in her voice. She pressed a little on the spot.

"ow..?" said William, half-feigning pain, while realizing that the place she pressed actually felt like he really had been thumped on the forehead.

"Awww," Kim cooed, sliding her hands to either side of his face.

A flush raced through William's body. She's not gonna--

He closed his eyes as she drew near.

Ripples of warmth spread over his face like a pebble dropped into a lucid pond as her lips alit on his forehead. Her kiss was silk.

...what thump?

William could swear he heard "Better?" somewhere in the distance as Kim's hands slipped from his face, seeming to linger there just a bit before leaving. Reality rose to anchor his feet as he opened his eyes. Kim smiled warmly at him.

"...yeah."

"William," said Kim. "I have a little favor to ask." She was now facing him with her feet under her, her hands on her knees.

"Hm?"

"Can you get the stuff that Angelica gave you? Please? I'd like to look at them for a while, and...talk about her, if that's okay with you. I think remembering would help."

"Sure." he said, standing.

"Everything but the vial," she added quickly.

William smiled at her for a couple of seconds, then turned for the bedroom, retrieving the items from the nightstand. He sat again. Kim moved the pillow to lean against his leg again and laid down, pulling an afghan from the back of the couch and spreading it over herself. William put the items on the couch in front of her.

Kim reached to take the mirror from the coffee table. She studied it, her fingers drifting over the winged unicorn painted on it, and the logo above it, in gold script, "Bound Dreams." There were also words under the image - "Give Your Wishes Wings."

"That's a bookstore in the market square near here," William explained. "That's where I first ran into Angelica - literally. It was right after I had bought, umm, 'your' books."

"Bueno Nacho and The New Ron."

"Yeah."

They both uttered the same phrase spontaneously - "Goooood little naked mole raaaat." - which caused them both to laugh softly.

"I get it," Kim said, continuing to look at the mirror. "That's how Angelica was. She intertwined everything into a 'theme' when she contacted Fleshers for a Cross. Every little bit of it had some relevance. She picked you, William - and she picked that bookstore, just for the logo." She then tilted the mirror until he saw her face. "Hi there," she smiled. William returned a smile.

"She knew things about me before we had even talked. She guessed my name."

"Oh, she would research for weeks before approaching a Flesher. She wanted to be absolutely sure of everything before she made first contact with them."

"There were things about her ," said William. "I mean...she was dressed like a street person...but there wasn't anything about her herself that suggested that. She was very...clean."

"Well...would you have accepted her more readily if she had appeared to you out of nowhere, dressed in a flowing gown? You probably would have freaked."

"Yeah...probably," he nodded.

Kim placed the mirror back on the table and picked up the box, opening it. She let her fingers drift over the satin cloth inside. "Angelica sure loves-- loved...the color silver," she said, closing the box and turning it slowly in her hands. "Untying the string and opening the box during the ritual is meant to stand for...unraveling the mystery of her gift." Kim then shifted to her side, her back against the couch. "Angelica was big on pomp and dramatics. The whole thing was like a production for her."

Pomp and dramatics.

"That's exactly what I thought," he said. "I thought the vial was cologne, at first."

Kim gently set the box back on the couch, and picked up the candle. "Funny you mention cologne," she said. She then brought the candle under her nose and inhaled, slowly and deeply. "I'm sure you've noticed the fragrance of vanilla by now."

"Yes, the candle...I've even smelled it on you."

Kim raised her arm over her head, offering it to William. He cradled the back of her hand in his, and brought her forearm to his nose, hovering over her skin...taking in her essence. He dared to brush his lips ever-so-lightly against the inside of her wrist. He felt her fingers curl around his thumb in response. He let her arm slip back down.

"It's another part of the 'theme'," she continued. "Each Celler gets to choose one fragrance. You like?"

"Mm-hm."

"I almost picked jasmine...but that's a little, umm...strong when it's concentrated. I wanted a soft, warm scent for me."

Good call, he thought. "It almost reminds me of French toast," he said.

"Yeah! That's what I thought, too!" Kim replied, tilting her head to look back at him.

Kim set the candle down and opened the scroll, reading it. "God, I love this. Could she write or what?" she said. She pointed to the third line of the incantation. "This part gives me goosebumps every time I read it...'The Candle falls before the Wind; The Mirror falls behind you; The Reflections of Reality tear asunder twice-dimensioned views;'." Her voice floated William back to Sunday night. She then looked over the scroll as a whole. "Her penmanship was so way perfect."

"Is the incantation always the same?" asked William.

"So not," said Kim. "You know, there are hundreds and hundreds of Cellers - and Angelica wrote a different incantion for every single one. Each is unique, so it brings only that specific Celler through the Cross when it's read."

"Will...anything happen if you read the entire incantation aloud? After the Cross, I mean."

"No. The only way it can have an effect is if all the other conditions are set up as per The Rules," she said. "You could shout this in the street, and nothing would happen."

William felt like shouting in the street, alright - but not the incantation. "She wrote it on an old grocery bag," he said - then stood slowly, taking a step to the bookcase and leaning to take "Bueno Nacho" from the shelf. He opened the book and unfolded the bookmark, showing the image of herself to Kim. "She gave me this the night we met. Feels like it was done on a grocery bag, too," he said.

She rubbed the paper between her thumb and forefinger. "That's part of the acceptance thing," she said. "She could have done this on the most luxurious paper you've ever seen, and written everything in gold leaf, if she wanted to. But this way, it fits in with the 'street person' she tried to present herself as...and not making it feel like some fairy tale."

Kim rerolled the scroll and placed it and the other items on the table. Then she sat up and faced William, wrapping the afghan around her. She looked down a bit, her eyes less red now. Her expression softened somewhat.

"William...?"

"Yes?"

She lifted her eyes to his, speaking softly. "William...I have to say this, because it's what I feel right now. A lot of times to a Flesher, the Cross is...well, kind of like that fairy tale atmosphere - and when we cross, we're looked at with that whole 'ooh and ahh' thing...you know? Those are the crosses that never last too long." He nodded as she continued. "They're not all like that...but...this feels...different. With you...I don't know...I feel less like a 'wonderment', and more like a guest. You've welcomed me almost as if you were kind of expecting me. And all the clothes and stuff...you've treated me like I walked through your front door instead of through your mirror. William...I guess what I'm trying to say is that I feel...special here. Like I actually belong here." She leaned to him, bringing the afghan over them both, slipping her arms around him and laying her head on his chest. William felt the ripples again, and folded his arms around her.

Kim continued. "When you told me about Angelica...it hit me so hard. I just...lost it. I'm sorry."

"Please don't apologize," said William, brushing a lock of her hair up from her eyes. "You don't have anything to be sorry for. If anyone, it should be me who's sorry, for breaking the news to you like that. I never want to make you feel like that again, Kim."

"No, William," said Kim. "Don't be sorry. I would have found out eventually, from someone. But when I came apart like that...you felt that I was hurting. You were here for me. That's never happened before. Ever."

Kim slid her arms further around William and settled her head a little more into his chest, moving her shoulder closer. William stroked her hair slowly. "I am here, Kim," he said softly.

"I am here too, William," she said, wiping a small tear from her cheek - but instead of a pained expression, this tear was accompanied by a soft smile. "And the more time that passes...the more happy I am of that. Thank you William...thank you." She drifted to sleep in his arms.

Thank you, Angelica, William thought to himself. As he slipped into sleep himself, William thought he heard the far-off whistle of an approaching train, rounding that last long bend...slowing as it prepared to pull into the station. He patted the ticket in his vest pocket.

3:38 AM.
to be continued...