She Lies Twisted (21 page)

“
Do you like baseball?” He asked me. I turned to him with a raised eyebrow. He was back to his anxious babbling. I smiled softly. Of all the types of nervous ticks to have…At least I could get some information out of him.

“
Do I look like the kind of person that enjoys competitive sports?” James tried to smile, bless his little, black heart, he really did, but it came out more as a grimace. I tried to lighten the mood. “I like chess. Oh, and origami. Paper cranes are my secret love interests. You?” James slammed on the brakes, sending us both straining against the confines of our seat belts. When I looked up, I saw that we had turned out of the alley and were at a stoplight. The light was still yellow.

“
Baseball's okay, I guess,” he continued, as if nothing had happened. I doubted that he was really conscious of what he was saying. His eyes told me he was thinking about one thing and one thing only. Sydney. “I don't really know much about it but my friends were all into it so I've seen some games.” I smiled back and tried not to think of Jessica and the baseball player she'd dated right before she died. This wasn't her time. This was mine and James' and then it was going to be James' and Sydney's. Later, I would dig deeper and try to uncover the landmine she'd placed inside my heart. Right now, it was dormant. “But you know what’s really great?” He asked, his tone unbelievably upbeat. It was a good act but still, that’s all it was. An act. “Figure skating. Figure skating has got to be my favorite Olympic sport.”

“
James,” I interrupted. I didn’t want to be rude but I was starting to get worried. The more he talked, the lighter his tone became and the more his hands tightened around the steering wheel. I tried to keep my tone light but I wanted him to know I was serious. “Are you going to be okay? Because if you're not, I'm not letting you go. Do you understand?” Silence reigned king for a moment. I reached into the center console and pulled out a pack of gum. I tried to hand him a piece but he waved it away.

“
I'm ready,” he whispered slowly as the trees outside the window cast shadows across his pale face. “And I know she's more than ready. That's what counts.” I nodded and we drove the rest of the way without speaking again. I wondered if I'd made a mistake but I felt in my heart that I had to ask. Sydney deserved better. I'd needed James to help me with Jessica. Today, I would help him.

After a twisting maze of side streets and a dirt road that led to nowhere, we came to a stop outside of a rusted fence with a missing gate and a busted padlock hanging from a hole in the chain link. Nethel circled, like a massive eagle honing in on her pray, and landed on the ground next to the car. I opened my door tentatively as James set the emergency brake and was glad that I still had the pocketknife in my boot. This looked like the kind of area where thugs were more of a worry than demons. Looking around, I had no clue where we were at. I tried to ask Nethel but her gaze was directed elsewhere.

“
I must attend to Ehferea,” she replied cryptically, in a voice devoid of emotion. “I will return.” She folded her wings behind her and paused, glancing at James who was gazing past the fence and down a trail. Her face tightened for a brief moment with worry. She leaned in and brushed her strange, yellow lips across my ear. “He must do this. It is absolutely vital to the healing of his soul.” When she stood back up, her face was clean, like a whiteboard, erased. James turned back around, his eyes partially glazed over. Nethel didn’t even need to whisper. He wouldn’t have heard her anyway. She smiled at him briefly, tenderness evident in her gaze, and left in a swirl of dust. James blinked like he was coming out of a trance and tried to smile at me.

“
Ready?” He said and I could only wonder if he were asking me or himself. I watched his face for signs of distress or regret but there was only sadness. I decided to keep him in my field of vision at all times. Talking was one thing, doing was another.

Without any further clues from the harpies, we were left to wander the area alone. There wasn’t much to find though, just an abandoned house that was really more like a shack and lots and lots of garbage. People had apparently been using this area as a dumping ground for mattresses, TVs, barbeques and a whole lot of refrigerator parts. White doors lay on top of old washers and dryers and made it hard for me to see the demon sleeping among them. James spotted her first.

“
There she is,” he whispered as my hand touched the bag with my harp for reassurance. It was comforting to know it was there even if I knew it wouldn't help in this situation. I pulled the strap from my shoulder and threaded it through my belt loop and then back through itself to make a knot. Things had gotten messy before. They were bound to be messy again. I didn’t want to lose the harp this time. I tugged on the bag to make sure it was secure and nodded at James to continue. I hadn’t shown him the harp yet but I would, after this was all over.

“
How do we get to her?” I asked, examining the minefield of garbage. There was no way I was crawling over all of that. Sydney would hear us, if she hadn’t already, and I’d be helpless, mired in trash. At the warehouse, she’d acted as if she were ready to move on but then, she was a demon. I didn’t want to take any chances. I reached down and grasped James’ shaking hand. He squeezed mine back so hard it hurt. I had to make this as painless as possible for him. No heroics, no acrobatics, no drama. I took a deep breath and pulled him around the pit, searching the landscape and my own brain for an idea.

The fact that Jessica was still running around out there somewhere, gunning for me, made my hands itch. Reflexively, I reached towards my back pocket for the imaginary Glock. I couldn’t wait until I was old enough to buy a real one. I released James’ hand and knelt down, looking for something to throw. I was going to have to wake Sydney up and get her to come over to us. It seemed like the most logical option.

“
Neil,” James choked out. I glanced up and found that Sydney was already awake. She was watching us with dark eyes, like endless pools. Again, I was struck with that connection between us. Sydney understood me. She was watching me with expectance and a high level of intelligence that belied what I already knew about demons. Sydney knew we were there to help. I rose slowly, trying not to startle either her or James.

“
Sydney,” I called out. My voice rang across the emptiness and echoed back at me.
Sydney, Sydney, Sydney.
“Are you ready?” She rose to her feet, her hooves catching on the mattress she’d been sleeping on, and stumbled. James tried to rush forward and I held him back. His body stiffened but he complied. Just like I’d known to listen to him with Jessica, he understood that I knew best in this situation. “Are you going to let me do it this time?” I asked him, the stitch in my forehead twinging in remembrance. James grunted but didn’t speak. His eyes were all for her.

Sydney crawled through the dump at an agonizing pace and I had to wonder why she’d gone out there in the first place when I noticed the blood on her back leg. The mattress had been so stained that I hadn’t thought to connect the pink tinge to the demon. That’s why she was stumbling. James noticed it too and I felt his mental distress rain down on me like a thunderstorm.

I grabbed his hand and pulled him around the pit so that I could get a better look. Sydney’s leg injury looked an awful lot like Nethel’s back wound. I choked on my saliva and had to cough several times before I could catch my breath.

Jessica.

“
Wait!” I called out but Sydney wasn’t listening. She was pulling against a rusted car door that had tangled in her raven hair, bucking and slashing her antlers through the air in distress.

There was something out there. I hadn’t noticed before but now I could feel it. Eyes. There were eyes boring into my spine like needles. I turned to James. He was so focused on Sydney that I had to shake him to get his attention.

“
Try and stop her,” I said as his face registered confusion. “Just trust me,” I added, using the words he’d thrown at me when he’d told me to touch the red demon. “I’ll explain later.” I checked the harp once more to make sure that I’d have easy access to it and ran towards the trees. It might not have been the smartest thing to do. Maybe I was wrong, maybe the demon I was after wasn’t Jessica and I was going to get myself mauled. I decided to trust my gut and vaulted over an old bicycle and into the darkness of the forest.

Trash littered the ground here, too. There were so many old cars, wrapped in ivy, that at first, I thought they were a series of small hills. I kicked a headlight out of my way and kept my eyes open, my fingers poised on the strings of the harp. I thought about playing it, just in case, but I didn’t want to blow my cover. Jessica didn’t know about the harp yet. Once she did, she would be more cautious. I had to catch her off guard.

“
Jessie?” I called, using her childhood nickname. She’d hated it as much as I’d hated Tattle but I thought it was worth a try. I wanted her attention directed at me, not Sydney. She was trying to get back at James. I just knew it.

“
You’re choosing him over me?!”

I cringed at the memory and tried not to feel guilty. I hadn’t done anything wrong. Jessica had. She’d left me alone with no one when she’d killed herself. She’d taken my life, selfishly, and now, she was trying to do it again, to take my soul and bind it with her flute. She was the one who needed a good, old fashioned guilt trip. I swallowed and tried again. “Jessie?”

A low rumble reverberated through the trees. I stepped back and looked up, trying to find the source of the noise. All I could see were the tangled limbs of trees and little blocks of sunshine streaming through the foliage and dappling the dirty cars and black garbage bags with beautiful light.

“
Jessica?” Another crash sounded behind me and I jumped, spinning around and expecting to find a lion or a girl, someone with my sister’s eyes. Instead, it was Ehferea, dark and beautiful, like a crumpled raven. I stumbled over an abandoned computer tower and knelt at her side. The symbolism of finding her, warm but unmoving, just like the crow, wasn’t lost on me. I swallowed and tilted her sharp chin towards me. Her eyes were open and blazing. I tried to jerk back but she grabbed my wrist with her sharp nails, black talons digging into my skin and making me bleed.

“
She is here, tread carefully.” And then she was standing and loading her bow like nothing had happened. But I could see blood now, on her wings, in her hair, it glittered like rubies against the blackness of her feathers. She lifted the glowing bow, the dark and silver flame of her arrow highlighting the deep curves of her cheekbones, and shot, I thought, blindly into the trees.

There was a screech, like that of a dying falcon, and the yellow beak-less bird smashed through the foliage, feathers exploding outwards like a sun burst, and crashed right through the roof of a rusted orange sedan.

“
Please, do not approach it. She requires a transitioner’s touch.” Ehferea turned away and started back towards the garbage dump. I chased after her, my eyes tracking the movements of the bird demon. It was flailing and screaming, wings bursting through the windows of the car, while blood leaked down the rusted metal and sank into the dirt. I glanced away, at Ehferea’s back.

“
Where is she?” I asked, struggling to catch up. Ehferea paused and turned back towards me.

“
I cannot track her precise location. She has stolen several artifacts from the Library. One of these is known as the soul tracker. Ironically, it actually interferes with my ability to locate Ms. O’Neil.” I raised an eyebrow. If I wasn’t mistaken, the stoic harpy had just used sarcasm. “Please be careful,” she said, reaching out and brushing her nails over my cheek. It was a light touch, almost affectionate. “She also has possession of a weapon that is able to wound my immortal flesh. I am afraid I cannot be as helpful to you as I would like.”

“
Who are you?” I asked suddenly. I still knew almost nothing about the harpies. Ehferea smiled sardonically and turned away. I chased her into the clearing but couldn’t force another question past my lips. What I saw nearly broke my heart.

Sydney was lying on her side in the dirt. James hadn’t been able to stop her from climbing out of the pit but they were okay with Nethel standing guard over them. He was crying, softly, like only adults can. It was one of those sad, soft sobs that I recognized from my own experiences. He held her head in his lap, his hands tangled in her mess of dark hair, one hand stroking along her face, comforting her. There was blood everywhere, all over her white fur and pooling around her like a black mirror. She had strained herself climbing out of the dump and I had to choke back my own tears. I had to be strong for James. I couldn’t blame myself for Jessica’s actions.

“
James?” I approached him carefully and slid my arms around his neck before kneeling down and pressing myself along his back. Comfort. Friendship. He needed it now more than ever. “Are you ready?” He didn’t respond, just kept stroking Sydney’s face and whispering a million things he was going to have to repeat when she came back from the Library. She didn’t understand what he was saying. She was smart, for a demon, and in some way, she recognized him but he was wasting his beautiful words. “James?”

“
I didn’t mean to leave like that. That morning, I just…” He rubbed his arm across his face and knelt down, planting a kiss on her forehead, between her antlers. “I was just confused. If I could go back, I’d do it different. I’d do everything right by you, Sydney. I’d take back the hurt and the pain. I love you, Sydney, and I’m so sorry. I am so fucking sorry…”

“
He must hurry,” Ehferea whispered, her eyes scanning the tree line. “I believe your sister is coming.”