In This Skin (15 page)

    A blaze of light exploded in her face. Beyond the tongue of flame that created it, a pair of eyes stared into hers.

    Now the scream did burst from her lips.

    ”Robyn… Robyn!”

    Noel's shout sounded too far away She must have wandered away in the dark.

    Behind the flame a mouth opened. ”Ss-sss…”

    She blundered back, trying to move away from the figure with the light.

    The back of her legs hit the armchair and she knew she could retreat no further.

    

    

    ”Sss-ssss…”came the hiss. ”Sorry, I didn't mean to fffrighten you.”

    The figure lowered the flame. Robyn met the eyes of a man about her own age. Faint bruises marked the side of his face. His right eyebrow was parted vertically by what had been a cruel cut.

    Noel lunged out of the darkness. ”What the hell were you playing at, you creep?”

    ”N-noth-nothing… I'm not p-playing.”

    ”Shit, man.” Noel stopped short of punching him out, but he came close. ”You were playing some weird fucking game.”

    ”No… no… I… ah…” The words lodged in the stranger's throat. He blinked and bobbed his head.

    Robyn noticed the sheer effort on the man's face as he tried to speak.

    ”I didn't… Ah, I-I dee…” He gave up on the sentence as if it knotted his vocal cords. Instead he switched to what seemed a passably practiced statement of fact. ”Hmm-my name's Ellery.”He sighed, relieved at getting at least those words out.

    ”Ellery;' Robyn echoed. She tilted her head to look at his face in the light of the cigarette lighter he held. That face… there was something familiar about it… familiar… so incredibly familiar it sent a rush of shivers down her spine. I've seen him somewhere.

    ”I don't give a fuck what your name is. I should rip your head off for trying to scare the crap out of us. Now go away!”

    ”Light…”He gestured at the flashlight in Noel's hand. The batteries were in Noel's other hand. ”You nneed…” His head bobbed while a look of pained frustration returned to his face, as the word failed to find form on his lips.

    ”He's right,”Robyn told Noel. ”That thing won't help us, will it?”

    ”Shit.”Noel spat the word. Then grudgingly, ”OK. Will you hold the lighter so I can see to put these back?”He slipped the batteries into the cylinder, then screwed back the cap. He thumbed the switch. Light blazed instantly from the bulb.

    ”Thanks, Ellery!”Robyn flashed the man a smile. He was certainly not the monster she'd seen back in the dressing room. In fact, there was delicate beauty here. The bone structure of his face had the lightness and fragility of a bird's.

    ”Yeah, thanks,”Noel muttered, looking at his watch. ”Robyn. Nearly midnight. We need to be making tracks.”

    Robyn flashed Ellery a bright smile. ”Thanks again.”She turned to follow Noel, but then Ellery's first words struck home. ”Wait a minute, Noel.”She looked back at the teenager who stood there holding the cigarette lighter. ”You said we could stay here? What do you mean?”

    Ellery's face broke into a smile. ”F-ff… follow me.”

    He turned to walk toward the doors that led to the lobby. Robyn went, too; the lighthearted skip returned to her step.

    Behind her, she could hear Noel's voice rise in disbelief as she carelessly followed the stranger. ”Robyn?”

    

    

    Noel's voice came as a hiss of disbelief. ”I can't believe you're doing this.”

    ”Wait and see what he has to show us.”

    They followed Ellery through the doors by the glass walled ticket booth, to a door painted the same color as the walls. In its top panel, a fan pattern of frosted glass radiated from a sign that ordered: no admittance. Ellery pulled a key from his pocket, then unlocked the door.

    ”I overheard y-you… you were looking for somewhere to st-stay… I can help.”

    ”Help us?”Noel still shook his head in disbelief. ”Believe me, buddy, we're not planning on snoozing in a derelict building.”

    ”It's not derelict, Noel,”Robyn answered. ”Look, it's clean.”

    ”Its a dump.”

    ”It's just been mothballed, that's all.”

    ”Thar… thar… that's right.”The stranger looked back at them with large soulful eyes. ”It's… hibernating. That's all. Hibernating.”He held out a hand, inviting them through the door.

    ”You first.”Suspicion hardened Noel's voice.

    Does he wonder if Ellery's leading us into a trap, Robyn asked herself.

    No. Ellery has an aura of childlike innocence. The stutter crucifies him, but he's not bitter or cruel.

    Ellery led the way up a flight of carpeted stairs. ”I found the keys in the box office. They… they'd been overlooked by who… whoever… giss…”He shook his head when he couldn't finish the sentence and left it at that.

    Noel walked in front of Robyn, lighting the way. She heard him mutter, ”This is still madness.”

    ”You… you can stay he-here if you like. No one will know”

    ”Where?”Noel sounded short on patience.

    Ellery turned the key in a lock, then pushed open the door. ”Here.”

    Robyn hung back no longer. She walked between Ellery and Noel into the hallway of an apartment. The place was a sixties time capsule with wallpaper screaming out in wild purple swirls. ”Eye-catching.” She pushed open a door to a small guest bedroom piled with redundant furniture, including a child's crib.

    ”Please…”Ellery dipped his head and smiled shyly, while pointing to a door with frosted glass.

    Eager now, she opened the door to a pleasant living room. The air smelled fresh. No cobwebs or dust bunnies in sight. Again that flower-power sixties look. The sofa and armchairs were covered with a nylon fabric that boasted a hell of a vibrant paisley pattern in shades of delirious green. She looked around, liking what she saw. My God, this is all in fashion again. What goes around comes around. Those drapes with the noonday sun design on a brown background were totally hip-chic stores were charging fortunes for them downtown.

    ”Some place you've got here, Ellery”

    ”It… it's not m-mine.”

    She smiled. ”You just woke it from hibernation?”

    Ellery smiled back, nodding. He looked pleased, as if she understood him.

    Noel became uncomfortable. ”We're trespassing.”

    ”Like who'd know?”she asked.

    Ellery indicated a set of glass shelves. ”Candles. Matches. G-gas. I found the main's lever.”

    ”Electricity?”

    He shook his head.

    She sighed regretfully in the direction of an antique TV. ”I'll catch up on my books.”She looked back at Ellery. From his hopeful expression, he longed for them to like the apartment. ”It's wonderful, Ellery. We'll take it.”

    ”Robyn?”Noel didn't believe his ears. ”Live here? You can't be serious.”

    ”I am. Deadly serious.”She spoke to Ellery, ”Are you sure we wouldn't be in your way?”

    ”Oh? No, no… I'm… I live…”He pointed through the window at some point across town. ”Th-this is yours… private. I live with my f-f-family”

    Robyn scrunched her shoulders apologetically. ”I'm afraid I don't have much money…”

    ”No, it's not… not for me to charge anything. Ss… yours.”

    In less than two minutes Robyn had examined the apartment. Ellery had been right. The stove worked. The heating, too. They ran on gas. Even though there was no electricity, there were plenty of candles. The place was clean. Ellery had been thorough. It's almost as if he knew a pair of young runaways would show up needing somewhere to stay she thought. Well, the guy had certainly saved the day.

    When they'd checked out the last room she held out her hand to Ellery Shyly, he looked at it, then reached out to shake it. Robyn's eyes widened in surprise. A tingle ran through her fingers and along her palm. She must be overtired, but it seemed as if a surreal energy had crackled through that handshake.

    ”I'm Robyn, by the way, and this is Noel.”

    For a moment she thought there'd be an awkward moment when Ellery offered his hand to Noel. Noel looked at the man's slender hand with its evenly trimmed nails. But hesitation was negligible. Noel shook Ellery's hand. ”Thanks for helping us out, Ellery”

    ”No problem. I… I'll leave you to make yourss… selves at home.”

    ”Thank you.”

    He handed Robyn the keys. ”Only keys… you'll have com-complete privacy”

    When Robyn said good night to Ellery it shared the same sensation of saying farewell to an old friend from a place she'd lived in for years.

    After he'd gone, she sang brightly. ”Home sweet home.”

    Noel shook his head. Despite his natural caution he was smiling. ”I can't believe I'm doing this… camping out in a derelict dance hall.”

    ”It's not derelict, it's-”

    ”I know. Hibernating.”He put his arm around her shoulders and hugged her tight. ”Hell of a day, kid?”

    ”You can say that again.”She kissed his lips.

    He glanced at his watch. ”It's late.”

    She yawned, enjoying a warm glow inside. ”We'll make an early start tomorrow”

    ”How early?”

    ”We need to make this place properly habitable. We'll buy food, towels, bed sheets, cleaning materials. You name it.”The glow spread through her entire body. She wanted to hug herself, she felt so happy. ”This is our great adventure, isn't it?”

    

    

    Ellery Hann caught the late bus home. Beyond the window most of the houses were in darkness. In the distance he caught glimpses of skyscrapers that still bore a dusting of silver lights against the night sky. Every so often he allowed the focus of his eyes to shift so he looked at his reflection in the window. The moment he'd seen the couple of runaways talking in the Luxor he knew that they were meant to be there. What's more, he knew with a conviction that hummed in his bones that they'd agree to stay in the apartment.

    At times it puzzled him why he'd cleaned the rooms so thoroughly after he'd found the key. Because there was a purpose, he told himself.

    There's more to the Luxor than meets the eye. It's more than a refuge where I can go dream of other worlds. The Luxor is waking from its ten-year hibernation. He knew in his heart of hearts that things were going to happen soon-amazing things, miraculous things-but what?

    And the girl, Robyn? A shock had run through his body when he first saw her, a lightning bolt of energy that raised the hairs on the back of his neck. He was sure he'd seen her somewhere before. But when? She was more than just a familiar face. She seemed significant to his life somehow.

    Ellery watched as houses gave way to apartment blocks. A stolen car burned brightly on wasteground down near the railroad track. It was just another night in this low part of town. Most of its inhabitants lived in fear. Even now they'd be lying in bed praying that those raised voices in the street wouldn't draw close to their door. Or that when they woke in the morning their TV would still be in the living room or their car still parked in the street where they'd left it. This was the kind of place that crushed hope under the heel of a boot. Miracles died at birth. But just a little distance away in an old dance hall called the Luxor, everything was different.

    Ellery gazed at his reflection in the glass. Miracles in the 'burbs of Chicago were scarce… but not impossible. He angled his face to see faint bruises on his cheek and jaw. Three days ago his old compatriots from school had deployed their fists and feet as vicious weapons. His face had been blackened, the skin grazed, bloodied; his eyebrow had split when his face had been smashed against the sidewalk. In less than seventy-two hours the wounds looked a month old. Who ever said there was no magic left in the Luxor Dance Hall?

    

    

    Benedict West sat in the car beneath the overhanging fringe of branches.

    He chewed gum, listened to the radio at low volume. Every few seconds another black feather from the crows in the trees floated down onto the car. By this time the pale hood was spotted with feathers, a Dalmatian pattern that crawled across the metal every time a breath of night air disturbed them. At a little after midnight Benedict had seen a figure emerge from the rear of the Luxor. The owner of the car?

    Nope… now there's a mystery He watched the figure of a young man run across the parking lot away from the building and the parked car. So where's the driver?

    The man had turned right to follow the industrial service road back to the highway. Just for a second, Benedict had caught sight of the face beneath a streetlight. It was too far away to be sure, but…

    ”Good God, it's the guy I saw on Friday night,”he breathed out loud.

    ”Ellery… what was the name?”He brought to mind the library card in the wallet. ”Ellery Hann.”The same guy with the savagely beaten face who'd appeared at his apartment door just hours later with only the faintest of bruises. So tell me, how does anyone heal that fast?

    Moments later, Ellery Hann had vanished into the shadows as he headed for the distant highway. Either he'd not noticed Benedicts car parked beneath the crow-laden trees or he'd chosen to ignore it. Benedict returned to his vigil. Maybe the driver would appear next; then Benedict could search the Luxor, maybe track down that elusive videotape. And yet for all he knew there might be an all-night party going on in there.

    Promising himself to give the occupants of the parked car another hour to leave, he settled back into the driver's seat. The glow from the radio lent a green tint to his hands as he drummed his fingers on the wheel. The numerals on the dash clock had just flicked to 12:37 when Benedict noticed a stillness extend its dead hand over the trees.