Authors: Rhodi Hawk

A Twisted Ladder (79 page)

“But where will we go?”

“I don’t know.” Patrice took her sister’s hand and led her to the stool. She took a wide-toothed comb and brushed the little one’s hair, tying it back from her face.

Patrice said, “We’ll go somewhere we can disappear, that’s all. There are all kinds of places out there. Cocodrie, Bayou Black, Big Hellhole Lake.”

Marie-Rose closed her eyes and relaxed into her older sister’s gentle touch.

Patrice cast a tentative smile toward Ferrar. “There’s even a place called Bayou Bouillon, where the water boils.”

“But Maman has ways of finding,” Marie-Rose said.

“Then we’ll go where it’s too far for her to get to us very easily. We’ll go all the way to Paris if we have to. That’s where Papa’s family came from.”

“I can hide you,” Ferrar said. “If you need anything, you come to me. I will help you.”

Patrice thanked him, though she would never dare accept his offer. A man like Ferrar, with the hated golden shimmer and vast ocean of stillness inside, would never be safe around the children of the bramble.

Epilogue

NEW ORLEANS, 2010

H
E WAS AWARE THAT
she was entering the room. His eyes were closed, but he knew. And he could sense Chloe, too. He tried once again, as he had countless times before, but failed to open his eyes.

“You can see with your eyes closed, you know,” Josh said.

And when Zenon tried, he found that Josh was right. There. He saw Madeleine. Tall, slender, blue-eyed, her black curls tied back from her face. She’d brought along a quilt which she was unfolding, and a riot of shapes and colors glared into the room. The patterns made his head throb. He closed off the circuit that had allowed him to see.

“Come on, don’t be a wuss,” Josh said.

But then he sensed Madeleine floating the quilt over him. The wind from it chilled his already cold body even further, but the captured air caressed him with such softness that it brought anguish to his throat. The quilt settled over him, and he felt warm. He opened the circuit again and could see once more. Madeleine was talking with Chloe.

To Madeleine, he was probably lying there in complete oblivion. After all, his eyes were closed, and he did not move. But he was far from oblivious. And neither was Josh.

“Ain’t that sweet,” Josh said. “She sends some thug over to kill you and now she tucks you in for beddie-bye.”

“I didn’t exactly leave her a choice,” Zenon said, wishing his words could break through the barrier of his own mind and actually form on his lips.

And then Madeleine murmured, “I wish things had been different.”

Zenon watched closely, but it seemed apparent that Madeleine hadn’t overheard them. She was just speaking from her heart.

The two women were talking. Chloe spoke about her children, of the strange paths where their lives led. Alienation. Zenon knew a thing or two about that. And now all he could do was lie in this bed, mute and motionless.

Then, to his surprise, Madeleine flipped the quilt and smoothed it over him. He once again felt the caress of air, and also her touch. But now the quilt’s crisp white underbelly showed and the dizzying patterns lay hidden.

“Yeah, she’s my sister all right,” Zenon said.

“Don’t be foolin yourself over Madeleine, now,” Josh said.

“Those two women standing there are the only ones who know me.”

Josh folded his arms. “Bullshit. I know you. And unlike them,
I
can hear every word you say. Don’t you see this is the best thing that could’ve happened?”

“What’re you talking about?”

“Before, you weren’t listening to me. You’d do what I told you, then you’d haul off and go your own way. Watching Madeleine. Keeping souvenirs. The way things were heading, it was sure to end in disaster.”

“It did.”

“Quit feeling sorry for yourself, and listen up.” Josh glanced at Chloe, then turned back to Zenon. “This time you need to listen, and do exactly what I tell you.”

“Do what? I can’t do anything but hole up in this goddamned bed!”

“That ain’t so. You can still use the trick.”

Zenon looked at Madeleine and Chloe. From Chloe he could learn. And Madeleine, how he would love to guide her. To have one more chance to hone her into a trained warrior. Together, they could shape the path of human kind.

Josh said, “You know she and her beau are talking about fixing up the old plantation house, Terrefleurs?”

“What?”

“Yeah, ain’t that the sweetest? Funny that you gave her that place. Maybe she’ll screw him ragged on over there.”

Zenon listened, and felt as though a ball of molten tar was bubbling beneath his rib cage. Faithless. He should have gotten rid of her and that smirking rich sonofabitch when he’d had half a chance. Josh’s face was hard.

“There now. You done wallowing yet? You ready to get serious and take things to the next level? We can start with the trick you already know.”

“What good’s the trick when I’m stuck in this bed? What the hell’m I supposed to do?”

“With my help?” Josh leaned in, and though his brow was furrowed, his lips formed a slow smile. “Plenty.”

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

A TWISTED LADDER

A Forge Book
Published by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC
175 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10010

www.tor-forge.com

Forge
^®is a registered trademark of Tom Doherty Associates, LLC.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Hawk, Rhodi.

A twisted ladder / Rhodi Hawk.—1st ed.

p. cm.

“A Tom Doherty Associates book.”

eISBN: 978-1-4299-5207-1

Date of eBook conversion: 07/17/2010

1. Women psychologists—Fiction. 2. Family secrets—Fiction.
3. Domestic fiction. I. Title.