Few Are Angels (32 page)
Authors: Inger Iversen
“I’m not leaving tonight.” I needed more time to decide how to leave. “First, I have to call Alex and fill him in on me leaving. Then I have to make sure Kale will stay here just in case Laurent’s men find out I lived here and try to use that against me.”
Jace agreed with me about that, but he had a better idea. “The Council will send people here for that reason. They will stay until Laurent is no longer a threat.”
I liked the idea, I wanted Kale, too. I trusted him, and I didn't want him to think he was no longer needed. “We’ve devised a system where they are watched around the clock. We have techs who will set up a surveillance system within Council headquarters so you can check in on them to see how they’re doing. It will ease your mind and make your choice easier to handle.”
I hoped Jace was right because I was going to leave Cedar soon.
“The surveillance system will be set up for me?”
“For you and the Council.”
I nodded without saying goodbye and headed toward the door. Once I was in my room, I called Alex. It was late, and I knew that he’d be sleeping, but I wanted to do this before Kale or Jace tried to talk me out of it. Plus, once I arrived at the Council facility, there was no telling when I would be able to call him. Alex picked up on the second ring.
“Ella?” Alex said groggily. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. Well, I need to talk to you about something.” I heard the rustling of sheets as Alex probably sat up in bed. “There is some stuff going on, and I need your help. You’re not going to want to do it, but if—” I wanted to say if you cared about me, but that would be a low blow. He had been willing to leave his school of choice for me, and that was proof enough that he cared.
I didn't know what to say, so I told the truth. “There are these people and they are looking for me. They want to hurt me, and I think they will hurt your family in order to get to me.”
Alex was quiet on the other end, and I knew he was weighing his options. He could either call his mother and tell her I was delusional, or he could believe me. At that point, I thought I had made a mistake. I hadn’t found a way to leave yet, and Alex could tip off Sarah and Dr. Lithe, resulting in my return to Ocean Trace.
Alex took a deep breath before he spoke. “Ella, if this is about my return home, please stop. I won’t even be staying at the house. Brett and I are going to rent an apartment in Talvs. Mia told me about your boyfriend, and I’m not coming back to be in the way.”
“Boyfriend?” I repeated. “I don’t have a boyfriend. Kale and I are… I don’t know what we are, but we aren’t together.” I did not want to approach that subject. “Listen, Alex, this is serious. I know I have been through a lot in the past year, and because of that, people think that I’m not all there. But I swear on our friendship what I am telling you is the truth. Please believe me!” We had been through enough together that I knew he would at least try to understand me. It was hard to believe someone who has been dubbed bipolar.
Alex was silent once again, and then I heard him whispering, probably to his roommate.
“Ella, I’ll be back in two weeks. We can talk about this then, okay?”
“No, I won’t be here. That’s why I’m calling you. I need you to make sure your parents don’t come looking for me.” I felt the conversation swerving out of control, but I wasn’t sure how to fix it. I should have waited for Kale or Jace to help me.
“Ella, look,” Alex began.
The conversation wasn’t going the way I’d planned, and I realized just how strained our friendship was. “Jeez, Alex, I’m leaving here soon. I guess I really called to say goodbye.” That was what our conversation was, but I couldn't hang up until he understood.
“God, girl, you are going to be the death of me,” Alex said with a sigh. “This isn’t goodbye. I’m not saying I completely believe you, but I am not saying I don’t, either.”
I moved to the window and looked out. Jace was nowhere in sight, but I knew he was there, watching and waiting.
“Just wait two weeks. I’ll be there, and we can sort this entire situation out.”
“No, Alex! I won’t be here, and this is a serious matter. You mean a lot to me, and I just want you to know I’m leaving and I’m not sure when or if I’ll be back.” I was aggravated by Alex and his inability to trust me, but I understood how farfetched my story sounded. There was only one thing I could do.
“I’ll prove it to you.” Unsure of how to do it, but more than willing to try, I continued. “Come home soon. I’ll wait for you and prove it.”
“What? What are you talking about? I can’t leave now. I need to finish here. Even if I could, Ella, I don’t think that—”
I didn't let him finish. “You have two days to get here before I’m gone, and I can’t tell you when you’ll see me again. If that’s not serious to you, then I’m not sure what is.”
“Fine.”
I could hear the defeat in Alex’s voice, but I didn't let it bother me. I needed my best friend because leaving without seeing him and explaining things to him would kill me.
After I spoke with Alex, I called Kale. So much for giving him some time to calm down. He didn’t answer, so I left a voicemail. I was positive Kale would call back because of what happened in the mall. He would probably be worried if I continued to call, and there was no need to worry him unnecessarily—at least, that’s what I told myself. I didn't want to think he purposely ignored my call.
I changed for bed and lay down on the bed. My mind was still a buzz from the day’s events, and falling asleep wasn’t going to happen any time soon. I headed to the bathroom and decided to take a hot shower. I washed and deep conditioned my hair. I stayed in the shower until the hot water started to turn cold, then I stood in front of the mirror and noticed my face wasn’t as pale as it had been, and my eyes seemed a bit brighter. Hot water seemed to be the cure to my ghostly complexion. Even though I felt more relaxed, I still wasn’t ready for bed. I sat in front of my laptop, opened the browser, and typed in the word prophetic. The first link displayed the definition:
The next link had the word soothsayer, which I’d read in a book. Its definition:
A person who professes to foretell events.
I hadn’t had a vision in a while, but I remembered Kale had said there would be an Arc who could see the future. I couldn’t remember ever seeing the future. I typed in the word Arc, but nothing of relevance came. I continued to search for any understanding or way to explain to Alex want I was dealing with. I already knew about past lives, but I needed to understand that soothsayer thing. I worked through the night, stifling yawns and almost face planting onto the computer table. I was still going to need Kale and Jace’s help when it came to explaining to Alex what I was, and I was going to need one of them to make me recall a memory so Alex could get his proof. The only problem was I only had two days to convince Jace and Kale to help.
Chapter 31
I see you.
I smell you. You are ash and smoke a figment of my imagination.
Friday was my last day at Knope’s and though Mr. Knope was sad to see me go, he didn’t ask any questions. He assumed that because I was in school again, I needed to quit, and I didn’t correct his assumption. Mia, on the other hand, was not buying it, and she spent most of Friday afternoon questioning me. It didn’t help that I had to have her pick me up for work since Kale was a no-show.
“I’m still confused,” Mia said as she stocked some chips and dip. “You said you weren’t ready to go to school full-time and were only taking two classes. How can work possibly be in the way of two online classes?”
Great. She and someone—most likely Alex--had been talking about me. It was annoying that she had nothing better to do than talk about me when I wasn’t around. I stocked a few more bags at the register to buy a bit of time. My excuse for quitting was supposed to be that I was transferring to a different college, but I’d forgotten I’d told Mia something completely different not even two weeks ago.
“Mia, it’s complicated and personal, okay?” I didn’t have to explain anything to her.
“Does it have anything to do with the hunk missing in action?” Mia stopped stocking the shelf and looked over at me.
I shook my head and continued to work. Maybe ignoring her would work.
“Hmm, I’ll take your silence as a yes.” She continued to work until Mr. Knope emerged from the back and asked her to stay an extra hour.
“Charlie, you know I have things to do today!” Mia squeaked. “Why? Where is Helen?”
Mr. Knope rubbed his head where beads of sweat had gathered.
“She will be running a little late, that’s all.”
Reluctantly, Mia agreed to stay. That meant that I could either stay also and ride home with her, or leave early and have Jace walk me to the mausoleum to check on Kale. Since he hadn’t called me back, I chose the latter and headed to the bathroom to text Jace, but Mr. Knope called me over and handed me an envelope.
“Here, Ella. I know you won’t be here for Christmas, but I want you to have this.”
I looked in the envelope to see two hundred-dollar bills alongside my final paycheck. It seemed he was giving me my Christmas bonus, but I hadn’t been here long enough to deserve that much.
“Oh, Mr. Knope, you didn’t have to do this. I appreciate it, I do, but—”
“Then just take it. You’ve done some good work here, and I appreciate it.” He headed back to the office.
Mia left the chips and walked over to me. She pulled the envelope out of my hand and opened it. “Wow, you got the Christmas bonus early.” She handed the envelope back. “Listen, I know something is going on with you. I know something spooked you at the mall. What I don’t know is what spooked you so much that you’re leaving Knope’s. And now Kale is nowhere in sight.” Mia placed her hand on her hip and cocked her head.
I could see the ideas and assumptions bouncing around in her head, and it wasn’t a pretty sight.
“Listen, I think that it goes without saying that none of this is any of your business,” I started.
Mia rolled her eyes and sighed.
“There are things going on that I can’t explain, and I don’t want to have to. Since you and Alex are so close, maybe he will tell you about it like he tells you everything else.” I didn’t want to be rude, but Mia just needed to understand that everything Ella was not her business.
Mia’s attitude deflated and she stood in front of me, quietly playing to my sense of guilt. “Whatever. I was going to call you last night and ask if you were spooked because of a Peeping Tom, but I didn’t ‘cause you were being all secretive with Kale. I figured I’d try to get it out of you today, but since you’re being a major bit—”
“A what?” I asked, interrupting her little tirade. “A Peeping Tom?” I wondered if it was Jace or Kale checking in on her. “What did he look like?”
Mia closed her eyes and recalled the mystery voyeur, but it was neither Kale nor Jace.
“He had a suit on; it was black with a green silk shirt underneath. He was handsome, and I wondered what a cutie like that was doing peeping in windows. Oh! And he had this large tattoo on his chest of a circle or something.”
Mia didn’t seem too alarmed by someone staring at her through her window. Even though she didn’t know he was a Chorý, she should still have been alarmed. There was still a killer on the loose that she should have been worried about.
“Crap,” I whispered. “Did he say anything to you?” He hadn’t hurt her because she stood unscathed in front of me, but he could have followed her or something.
Mia frowned. “That’s the weird thing. He looked at me and winked, then freaking disappeared. I mean I was on the second floor, and he just disappeared. I thought he’d fallen, but I didn’t go and check.”
“You should’ve called the police.” Had that happened to me, I would have called any government agency that would have listened. “Have you seen him again since last night?”
Mia shook her head, and I walked to the front doors to see if there were any cars in the parking lot that I didn’t recognize.
Mia followed suit and looked around. “What are you looking for?”
“Do you recognize all of these cars in the parking lot?” I asked her. There was no one in the store—as usual—but quite a few cars parked outside.
Mia looked at all of the cars, scanning them thoroughly, then she pointed at a grey sedan. “I don’t recognize most of the cars because I don’t live in Cedar, but that one seems odd.”
I followed her finger to the grey car. “Why?” I asked. I looked at the car again and realized what Mia meant.
“It’s a seventy-thousand-dollar car with no plates and tinted windows. How often do you see that in Cedar?”
I quickly pulled out my phone and dialed Kale’s number, which went straight to voicemail. It was ridiculous he wouldn’t even answer his phone for me. If I needed Kale, he was supposed to be there for me—not hiding away. I dialed Jace and he picked up on the second ring.
“Yes, Ella?” His voice was smooth and calming.
“I think there is someone watching us at the store.” I said, in a bit of a panic.
Mia stood beside me, pale and still staring at the car.
“Where are you?” My nerves were getting the better of me.
“Ella, calm down,” Jace urged. “I’m right outside. In fact, you and your friend are looking right at me.”
I stared at the car for another moment and turned to Mia, relieved by the revelation.
“It’s okay, it’s Jace. He is a friend of Kale’s.”
Jace disagreed, but I ignored his annoyed grumble. I could tell Mia was relieved, and so was I. I wondered why Jace hadn’t told me about the car. I told Jace what Mia said had happened. He was convinced it was time for us to leave, but we had to wait until Alex’s flight arrived later that night. I was worried Alex wouldn’t take the news well. And then there was Mia.
“Ella, what is going on?” she demanded. “Who is in the car, where is Kale, and who was the man outside of my window?”