Fallen Elements (36 page)

“They had me in the trunk of their car.” Leah
crossed her arms over her chest and shivered. “So I’m not
sure.”

A fresh wave of disgust and disbelief with
her family washed over Ryan as she realized Leah had been in the
trunk of the Lincoln when she had driven past the parked vehicle
near Leah’s house. Pushing past the almost overwhelming desire to
go fetal, Ryan walked quickly toward Lucy’s body.

Turning the lifeless woman over, Ryan began
going through the woman’s pockets. Leah walked up behind her. “What
are you doing?”

“My phone is dead, and I don’t suppose they
let you keep yours.” Ryan pulled her aunt’s iPhone from the back
pocket of her slacks. “First, let’s use the GPS on her phone to
figure out where we’re at, and then we can go from there.”

Ryan stood up, and powered the phone on.
“Crap.”

Leah stepped next to her, peering at the
illuminated screen. “What?”

“It’s password protected.” Ryan’s hands
dropped to her sides in defeat.

“You have no idea what it might be?” Leah
took the phone from Ryan’s hand.

Ryan started to say no, but then a thought, a
memory popped into her mind. She took the phone back from Leah, and
tapped the screen. “Got it.”

“What – how did you know?” Leah asked in
amazement.

Ryan shrugged. “I know my aunt, and more
importantly I know what my aunt values – valued.” Ryan frowned at
the past tense. “Allerton – all caps.”

Leah wrapped her arm around Ryan’s waist,
looking over the younger woman’s shoulder as she navigated to the
map application.

“We’re in Patapsco Valley State Park; so not
quite as close to your house as I had thought.” Ryan held the phone
up so Leah could better see the screen. “So about four miles north
of Oella.” Ryan studied the map closely, committing the route they
needed to get back to Leah’s house to memory. Kneeling next to
Lucy’s body, Ryan slipped the phone back into the woman’s
pocket.

“Now what?” Leah shivered. Even though it was
May, she was in a thin t-shirt and shorts, and the cold was getting
to her.

Ryan pulled Leah close, and rubbed her hands
up and down the woman’s back in an effort to warm her. “As she did,
she felt heat begin to radiate off of Leah’s body. “Are you okay?”
Ryan held Leah at arm’s length while looking her up and down.

“I can self-regulate my body temperature.”
Leah shrugged. “Comes in handy every once in a while.”

Ryan’s eyes widened. “That’s a neat trick,
but do you know where the car is?”

Leah chuckled. “About thirty yards through
the trees. They must have left the main road, and driven down one
of the dirt service roads.”

Ryan nodded. “We need to get all of them back
into the car.”

Leah pulled away from Ryan, a shocked
expression on her dirt streaked face. “Why?!”

“We can’t just leave them out here. Whatever
people think happened to them, it has to look like an accident, and
there can be no ties to you or me.” Ryan felt a wave of grief crash
over her, and she struggled to stay focused on what needed to be
done. She grieved for her family, and her heart broke for Carol,
who had lost her parents and her brother in one horrific night –
and didn’t even know it.

Leah hung her head, crossing her arms over
her chest. “You can’t do this. You can’t protect me.”

Ryan grabbed Leah by the upper arms. Her
words were quick and breathless as she spoke. “Listen to me! I
don’t want to keep having this debate with you while I have to
stage a car accident so people think my family died while
sightseeing in Maryland.” Ryan didn’t realize it until she paused
to take a breath that she was crying. “So I need you to help me,
not keep straying back to the guilt.” Ryan released Leah. “I won’t
lose you on top of everything else.”

Leah’s eyes were wide as Ryan’s words slammed
into her. “I – how can you – why would you –”

Ryan took a step back from Leah, and using
the sleeve of her dirtied and tattered blouse, wiped at her face.
“I love you.”

Sniffling, Ryan looked up at the clear night
sky, taking a deep breath. “My mother, my aunt, uncle, cousin –
Carol. There’s been too many sacrifices for the sanctity of the
Myers family causes.” Ryan leveled her gaze on Leah, a sudden and
unexpected calm wrapping around her. “I won’t sacrifice you
too.”

Leah stood speechless. The dimming light of
the fire was making it difficult for Ryan to see her expression,
but Leah didn’t run screaming. Instead Leah walked over to the
fire, and with a slow wave of her hand over the flames, the
clearing was plunged into relative darkness.

“We should move the men first, they’re the
heaviest.” Leah said flatly as she walked toward Andrew’s body.

Chapter 17

Ryan and Leah walked into Leah’s house a
little after three in the morning. Both women were exhausted. After
putting Lucy, Derek and Andrew’s bodies into the Lincoln, they had
driven the car back onto the Baltimore National Pike, the state
park’s main road.

Based on the map Ryan had seen, she navigated
the car to the Miller Run Bridge. While Leah waited on the side of
the road, Ryan, sitting half in and half out of the car with
Derek’s body leaning against her, managed to get the vehicle into
drive. She jumped clear of the Lincoln before it went off the road,
careened over the retaining wall, and landed upside down at the
point where Miller Run Creek merged with the Patapsco River.

Ryan had watched countless films where a car
was sent over a cliff or off a bridge, the driver diving from the
vehicle at the last minute. The actual act was far less lavish. The
late hour and the relative remoteness of the bridge, had left the
night eerily quiet. The silence had been broken by the low hum of
the car’s engine, and its subsequent crash through the guardrail
and into the river bed below.

The true cinematics had come as Leah had
stepped to the bridge railing. Holding her hands out in front of
her, Leah heated the air around the vehicle and the water in the
creek bed until the car’s gas tank exploded, and the car was
engulfed in flames.

Leah and Ryan had taken off in a full sprint
from the bridge, neither sure how much attention the explosion
would draw. Leah’s bare feet had made a faint slapping sound as
they hit the dark concrete, both women breathing heavy as they ran
for nearly a half mile.

Ryan and Leah then jogged and walked the
remaining four miles back to Leah’s house in silence, neither
having any small talk in reserve for what had been a horrific and
unreal night.

“Do you want to take a shower?” Leah asked.
Standing in her kitchen, she handed Ryan a bottled water.

Ryan drank the entire bottle in one long gulp
before answering. “Yes. Do you have clothes I can borrow?”

Leah nodded. “Sure.”

The two women went into Leah’s bedroom, and
Leah pulled a pair of black sweat pants and an Orioles t-shirt from
the bottom drawer of her dresser. She turned to hand Ryan the
clothes, but then hesitated. “Ryan, you know the police will be
able to tell they didn’t die from the car wreck.”

Ryan took the clothes from Leah. “I know, but
let the police try to sort the discrepancies out. The fire will
help mask some of the injuries.” Ryan started toward the bathroom,
and then stopped. “Are you going to be okay?”

Leah looked up at Ryan. “I should be asking
you that question, considering what I just did.”

Ryan tossed the clothes on the bed, and took
Leah’s hands in hers. “Please stop. I don’t blame you.”

Leah squeezed Ryan’s hands gently. “Don’t you
see? I have to live with it either way.”

Ryan wrapped her arms around Leah, and it
seemed no matter how close she held her, it was not enough to take
the pain they both felt away. “I love you so much.”

Leah lifted her head from Ryan’s shoulder,
and kissed Ryan softly on the lips. “I love you.”

Ryan led Leah into the bathroom. Though the
house itself was small, the master bathroom was sizable with a
large walk-in shower that boasted wall to wall mounted showerheads.
The tile throughout the space was slate gray, with deep blue accent
tiles throughout.

Leah turned the shower on. She pulled the
torn and muddied t-shirt over her head, and threw it directly in
the small stainless steel trash can next to the toilet. Pulling her
shorts off, she paused to find Ryan looking at her with an
unreadable expression.

“What is it?” Leah asked, her voice a whisper
mingled with the sound of running water.

Ryan hadn’t realized she’d been staring. She
was surprised in spite of the evening, and the utter exhaustion
that threatened to consume her at any moment, the telltale heat of
desire still stirred in her as she looked at a very beautiful and
naked Leah.

“I – you’re beautiful, and I can’t even put
it into words.” Ryan rubbed her eyes. “I’m so tired.”

Leah tossed her shorts into the trash can,
and reached for Ryan. Pulling her closer, Leah unbuttoned Ryan’s
blouse, and pulled it off her shoulders. “Trash can, and then
everything in the fire pit in the morning?”

Ryan nodded. “I like that shirt.” She watched
as Leah unceremoniously threw it away. “I bought that when I was
interviewing.” Ryan wasn’t sure why she was talking about this, as
there seemed so many more important things to talk about. She
chalked the nonsensical chatter about her attire up to being tired,
and in the last pangs of shock.

Leah pointed down at Ryan’s waist.
“Pants.”

Without a word, Ryan peeled the muddied and
torn slacks off, and folding them, walked over and pushed them down
into the trash can. Ryan unhooked her bra and removed her
underwear, regretfully tossing them into the trash.

In the light of the bathroom, Ryan leaned
over and looked at the cut near Leah’s hairline. “At least that’s
stopped bleeding.” Ryan opened the medicine cabinet over the sink,
and caught a glimpse of herself in the cabinet’s mirror. She
stifled a gasp at the cuts across her face, and the puckering welts
along her jawline. “Do you have some iodine or peroxide?”

Ryan felt Leah’s warm hand move along the
small of her back. “You have bruises already.”

Ryan shifted, and meant to twist so she could
see her back in the mirror, but thought better of it when a sharp
pain shot up her left side.

Seeing Ryan flinch, Leah slowly turned the
woman around. They both stepped into the shower stall. The heat of
the water soothed Ryan’s back, and she could feel the muscles
relaxing.

Leah moved Ryan back until she was standing
under one of the shower heads. Ryan tilted her head back, the water
turning a light brown as it washed the mud and blood out of her
hair and off her body. Ryan stepped forward, and Leah moved around
her until she was under the water. As she let the water run over
her, Ryan poured liquid bath soap onto a wash cloth and cleaned
around Leah’s ears and neck.

Leah did the same for Ryan, and then the two
women washed each other’s hair before they rinsed off, turned the
water off, and toweled off.

“Will you stay with me tonight?” Leah asked
as they stood in the bathroom wrapped in towels.

“Yes.” Ryan smiled, and taking the towel off,
hung it on the hook next to the door before walking into the
bedroom.

Leah followed, and standing on either side of
the bed, each woman pulled their side of the quilt back. Ryan
folded the quilt over, and noticing the inlaid blues and golds of
the floret pattern, wondered if one of the residents at St.
Martin’s had made it for Leah.

Slipping under the sheet and blanket, Leah
turned to Ryan, and the two women wrapped themselves in each
other’s arms. Ryan was exhausted, but unable to sleep. Her mind
raced through the events of the night, uncertain what it meant for
her and Leah’s future.

“Leah, are you still awake?” Ryan whispered
the words into the top of Leah’s still damp hair.

“Yes.” Leah said, her voice sounding thick
with sleep.

“What were your parents like?” Ryan wasn’t
sure if she should ask the question, but it occurred to her that
Leah knew so much about her family, and Ryan knew so little about
hers.

“They were good parents. Henry and Cecilia. I
loved them.” Leah shifted, and brought her leg up to rest on Ryan’s
bare thigh.

“Did they both have your abilities?” Ryan’s
body responded to the nearness of Leah, and she shifted, drawing
the woman even closer to her.

“No. Men can pass the abilities on, but they
never have them.” Leah said plainly.

“Your mother then?” Ryan breathed deep. Leah
smelled of vanilla and soap that filled Ryan’s senses.

“She controlled fire.”

“Like Abigail?”

Ryan felt Leah smile against her shoulder.
“Yes, like Abigail.”

After several minutes, Ryan could feel Leah’s
breathing slow, and she knew the woman was asleep. The house was
quiet except for the sound of that ticking clock. It occurred to
Ryan she had never actually seen the clock, only heard it. It
struck her as odd that she should hear something she had never
seen.

A quiet calmness began to spread through
Ryan. It was born of exhaustion, but also the confidence that she
and Leah would survive this. She had to believe they hadn’t gone
through hell to only stall and then fade away to nothing.

They would be that much stronger for the
storms they had weathered. Ryan would not fall victim to her
family’s choices. She would not lose Leah because she was bound to
the crimes and selfishness of the past. The two of them deserved
their own future.

Ryan turned over, and a thousand sharp stabs
of pain rippled down her back and along her side. “Shit.” She
grabbed at her lower back trying to stem the pain, only to have her
head begin throbbing as she sat up.