Paranormalcy (14 page)

Y
our
mom?” I asked. I turned back to the pond, looking for a house of some sort, but there was nothing. Lend picked up a rock and, giving it an expert flick with his wrist, skipped it across the top of the water. Another thing he could do that I always wanted to. The others were watching the water expectantly, so I did the same.

The middle of the pond moved, shifting as though there was a sudden change of current. It turned toward us, the water building up and moving of its own accord, creating a small wake. I'll admit I was nervous. Most of my experience with paranormals involved things that could kill me. It
was all I could do not to take a step back as the wave came closer, flowing faster and rising above the level of the pond.

When it got within feet of the shore, the water shot up, spraying high into the air. Little droplets, freezing cold, showered down on my head. The water settled to reveal a woman standing there. Well, standing being relative, considering she was still on the water and made of it, too. The light reflected off her rippling form; she was absolutely amazing. Her top half was well-formed, right down to a hauntingly beautiful face and cascading hair. She held out slender arms toward us. After her waist the water dropped down, forming a sort of dress shape where it connected back to the pond.

“Hi, Mom.” Lend waved cheerfully.

She laughed. It blew my mind. I had always thought Reth had the most beautiful voice and laughter, but she put him to shame. It made you feel like you were lying next to a stream on a warm day, letting it run over your fingers as you lost every care in the world except the cool, cleansing sensation. It bubbled with clear music notes.

“Hello, my darling,” she said. Her features rippled into a smile as she looked at Lend. I could see right through her to the other side, but the way her face manipulated the water and reflected light you could see her expressions. It was like Lend in his normal form, only much less stable. I noticed something else, too. Her heart, or where her heart would have been, seemed to generate light—like she glowed from
inside. This must be a normal thing for paranormals. Why had I not noticed before?

“Cresseda,” Lend's dad said. He looked happy and sad at the same time, watching her. It made me wonder what the family history was.

“David.”

“He got home safely.”

She laughed again. “I told you he would. And he found the answer.” She fixed her eyes on me. I didn't know what to do, so I raised one hand in an awkward wave.

Lend looked down, shaking his head. “No, I'm sorry. I didn't find anything. I saw what was doing this, but I don't have any answers.”

Cresseda shook her head, water droplets raining down in front of her. “You have the answer with you.” She smiled, and her eyes, insubstantial as they were, seemed to bore straight through me. “What a lovely balance. Lend shows whatever he wants the world to see and you see through whatever the world wants to show you.”

“What do you mean?” Arianna interrupted.

Cresseda shimmered like she was about to lose her form. “Lend found what he was meant to find.”

David frowned. “You mean—Did you send him?” He turned to Lend. “Is that why you went? Did she ask you to?”

Lend shook his head. “No, I went because I heard you guys talking. Didn't you get that info from a banshee?”

“Yeah, but I—”

“Things are not as they should be. Now they may return. Or they may be lost entirely,” Cresseda said thoughtfully. And really unhelpfully, too. She wasn't much good in the whole making-sense department. Of course, Lend had been talented at the whole vague, random-answer thing while he was in the Center. It was obvious now where he'd learned it. “Change is coming. ‘Eyes like streams of melting snow.'” She smiled at me again.

I shrugged, uncomfortable. “That's not about me.”

She shook her head. I didn't know whether she was agreeing with me or telling me I was wrong. “The waters are emptier now.” Her voice was tinged with sorrow. “I am sorry about Alisha. You will set it right?”

“How did you know about Lish?” I asked, my voice catching.

“She was part of the waters. Return her to us?”

I shook my head, tearing up again. “I can't; she's dead.”

“Cresseda,” David said, his voice gentle and leading, like he was trying to get her to focus. “We know a little more about the thing that's doing this. We were hoping you could help us.”

She waved one hand dismissively. “This is not a matter of the waters—it is a matter of fire and spirit. The path is not mine and I cannot see it.” Lend's shoulders slumped. Everyone in the group looked disappointed. “And, Lend? Stand up straight, stop slouching. My beautiful boy.”

I almost laughed. I guess she really was a mom, after all. She beamed and the light reflecting from her grew brighter, then the water that formed her let go, dropping back to the pond with a loud splash.

“Bye, Mom,” Lend said softly.

Arianna folded her arms petulantly. “Well, that was a bloody waste of time.”

“I don't know,” an all-too familiar voice mused behind us. “I found it rather entertaining.” I turned around, terror bleeding from my stomach outward until even my fingers trembled.

Everyone else seemed equally shocked, although only Lend looked scared. Reth stood in the middle of the path like some sort of beautiful Victorian dandy. He even had a walking stick—clearly freedom agreed with him and he'd stepped up his fashion. If he weren't so breathtaking, he would have looked ridiculous. On him it worked, and somehow made him creepier.

“What do you want?” David asked, his voice even and cautious.

“I've come to collect what's mine.” He smiled at me. It was over. Without his new name, I was powerless. I didn't even have any weapons. He would take me and there was nothing anyone could do.

“Don't touch her!” Lend jumped in front of me, planting his feet and holding out his arms. If I weren't so scared it would have been adorable—Lend thinking he could fight
off a faerie. I wanted to cry. I'd never see him again and it broke my heart.

Reth frowned. “You are getting very tiresome.”

I put my hand on Lend's back. “Lend, no!” He had to get out of here. He knew what Reth could do, what Reth
would
do.

David, hands in his pockets, stepped closer to the faerie. “I'm sorry, I don't believe we've met. I'm David. What's your interest in Evie?”

Reth didn't even glance at him. “Time we were off.” He held out his hand. My mind raced as I tried to think of a way out that didn't end up with anyone dead.

Arianna stood her ground, spitting on the path in front of him. “She's not going anywhere with you.”

Reth raised an eyebrow. “What charming company you keep, my love.” He flicked a hand lazily and Arianna went flying into a tree.

The sun glinted off something on David's knuckles as he swung at Reth's face. What good did he think that would do? His fist connected, and Reth fell backward, clutching at his face with an inhuman shriek. My jaw dropped as David turned toward us. “Let's go, now.”

He turned his back too soon. From the ground Reth raised his hand and whispered something.

I shrieked as my wrist burned and I was dragged forward. I dug my heels into the dirt, but the pull was too strong and I fell forward, knocking Lend out of the way.
There was nothing to hold on to. I clutched at my wrist like I could somehow tear away the fire.

Lend jumped on top of me, grabbing me around the waist and bracing us both with his feet. We slowed. Reth raised his other hand and the fire flared, pulling from my heart now, too. I screamed in agony. It hurt so bad I couldn't breathe, I couldn't think. A door melted into place behind Reth. A few more feet and I'd be his forever.

“No!” Lend squeezed me even tighter. David spun to hit Reth again, forcing the faerie to move one of his hands; I gasped with relief as my heart was released. He froze David on the spot.

Reth dusted himself off, maintaining his pull on my wrist. “Barbaric race, really. Now then.” He glared at Lend and raised a hand.

“No, don't hurt him, I'll come, I'll come!” I sobbed. At least then the pain would be over and Lend would be safe.

“No!” Lend yanked me backward, gaining a few feet on Reth.

Smiling, Reth opened his mouth. He was going to kill Lend.

Water, foaming and flecked with bits of ice, shot past us, whipping my hair forward with the force of its motion. Before hitting Reth, the water curved, turning back on itself and swirling around us. The fire in my wrist died, the invisible threads cut. Lend and I sat safe in the middle of the vortex, watching Reth's image ripple through the water.

“Really now,” Reth snapped, looking past us. “I would hope that you, of all things, would understand. You know what she means to us.
All
of us.”

“That is my son.”

Reth's nose wrinkled in distaste. “I see. Very well, he's of no import to me. I'll take Evelyn and be on my merry way.”

“She is under my protection as well.”

“She's no thing of yours. The waters have no claim.”

“Neither does the air.”

“We made her!”

My blood froze. What did he mean?

“Creation is not claim,” Cresseda said.

“And yet you claim the boy,” Reth sneered.

“Leave.” Cresseda's voice had gone from bubbling brook to roaring waterfall; it was power, eternal and unassailable.

Reth straightened his waistcoat and picked up his walking stick. “Very well. I'm not the only one who will come looking, though. Until next time, my love.” He waved his cane at me and stepped back through the door.

A
rianna
wasn't dead. Or dead
er
, I guess. I never thought I'd be so relieved about a vamp, but the girl had guts. Back at the house, David patched up her ribs while Stacey and Luke holed themselves in upstairs, avoiding me after hearing what had happened. I didn't blame them. I was like a plague: where I came, bad things followed.

“How did you hurt Reth?” I asked as David finished checking Arianna's ribs. I realized Reth had a new name, but had no idea what.

David stuck his hand in his pocket and pulled something out. It looked like brass knuckles but the wrong color. Iron.
Brilliant. “Designed them myself.”

Was he cool or what? “Can I get a set?” Lend and I asked at the same time.

David laughed. “I'll see what I can do.”

“What if Reth comes back?” Lend asked.

“There's a reason he didn't come to the house. We're not very faerie friendly here. But I wouldn't underestimate your mom's power. Now that he knows the water elementals are protecting Evie, I don't think he'll try anything. Soon he'll forget he was ever interested in her.”

I hoped that was true, but I seriously doubted it. It sounded too dismissive, too like Raquel. I wasn't just some pretty thing Reth wanted to dance with—his interest in me ran far deeper. There was some sinister purpose behind it all. Still, David was obviously faerie savvy, and with Cresseda's protection, maybe I really would be safe. Until I had to leave here, of course.

“There are a few other tricks,” David said, walking to the counter. He grabbed a loaf of bread, took out two slices, and handed them to us. “Keep a bit of stale bread in your pockets all the time.”

“Okay,” I said, frowning dubiously at the bread.

He laughed. “It works. Faeries don't like things that tie them to our earth. Bread is the staff of life for humans—they won't touch it. Same thing with iron; it binds them here, rings too sharply of imprisonment. That's why it hurts them.”

“Cool!” Bread, at least, I could take with me every
where. “Can I have my taser back, too?” Tasey wasn't much good against faeries, but I felt kind of naked without her.

Frowning thoughtfully, he finally nodded and gave it to me. I had to restrain myself from stroking the pink grip.

Arianna fixed her clothes, glaring at me. “Why's the faerie so obsessed with you anyway? You're not
that
cute.”

David cleared his throat loudly. “Lend, why don't you take Evie into town, get her some clothes and things?”

My heart leaped in my chest. That sounded promising. “I can stay?” I had been waiting for him to kick me out since we got here. I figured it was a sure thing now with the added Reth threat. I wouldn't want me around, either.

“Of course.” He smiled at me. “You brought my son back. You're always welcome.” I wouldn't cry, not again, but that one sentence meant the world to me. Maybe I wasn't totally alone, after all.

Lend frowned. “You're trying to get rid of us so you can talk about all this, aren't you?”

“Yes.”

“Fine.” Lend held out his hand. “Keys? And a credit card?”

David pulled a card out of his wallet and handed it over with the car keys. “Be back before dark. You're still grounded.”

“I promise not to have any fun,” Lend said solemnly.

“Get out of here, you bum,” his dad said, shaking his head.

We climbed into a plain silver sedan. Maybe I'm weird, but watching Lend drive was sexy.

“So,” he said, “I'm guessing you have some questions?”

“Just one: what's the limit on that card?” He looked shocked until I started laughing. “Kidding. I'm not going to push my luck, don't worry. I would, however, like to get pants that aren't yours, no offense. And I do have a few questions—real questions.”

He smiled. “I figured. How about I start at the beginning?”

“A very good place to start.”

“You already know my dad was APCA. Some of the things they were doing really bothered him. The imprisonment, regulations, forced sterilizations, tracking—”

“Whoa, hold on—forced sterilizations?”

He glanced at me. “You didn't know? They were worried about what would happen if a werewolf got pregnant by another werewolf. Had this whole panic, ethics debate, so on and so forth, then made any paranormal-human hybrid breeding with another paranormal or human totally illegal, and, umm, made it so no werewolves they caught could ever reproduce.”

All those neutering jokes I had made—they weren't jokes. “Oh,” I whispered, horrified. “I had no idea.” I thought about all the werewolves I knew, Charlotte especially. She had always been so sweet and attentive. She would have made a great mom. And IPCA took that away
from her after everything else she had already lost. “I think that's the worst thing I've ever heard.” Then it really hit me—would they have done that to me? Would I have been seen as a breeding risk? Even the term, “paranormal breeding.” They really thought of all paranormals as animals. What else did IPCA do that I didn't know about?

“Anyway, he was on an extended assignment trying to track down evidence of nymphs or sprites. He found my mom.”

“What is she, exactly?”

“Kind of the equivalent of a nymph. She's a water spirit, an elemental. She thought he was funny and kept showing up to talk to him. And my dad fell in love with her.” He smiled. “That was all it took to convince him that he was done with APCA. They weren't about to let someone who knew as many secrets as him quit, so he faked his own death by drowning. They lost a lot of operatives in those days and it wasn't a hard sell.”

“So did your mom and dad—” I stopped, suddenly aware of what awkward territory I was heading into.

“She's made of water. If you tried to touch her, your hand would go right through.” This was so not adding up, and I didn't want to try to come up with an explanation. Fortunately, he continued. “But all elementals have the gift of choice. My mom decided that, after all the ages she'd been around, she'd like to see what really being alive, being human, was like. So she took on a mortal form and
lived with my dad as husband and wife. But she couldn't leave the water—she didn't want to. She didn't tell him, but she took on mortality for only one year. That was long enough to make me.” He smiled and blushed. “And at the end of the year, she gave my dad a son and went back to the water.”

I looked at him in amazement. He was incredible. My original idea of him as water come to life was exactly right. I wondered what Lish would have thought, since she was a water paranormal, too. It stung, knowing that my best friend had never met this boy I was crazy about. They would have loved each other.

“So you really are one of a kind, aren't you?”

He shrugged. “Guess so. It was hard for my dad when I was little. I changed form constantly; it was like a game. I had to be homeschooled until I was old enough to understand that it would be really dangerous if people found out about me. Plus, you met my mom—she wasn't exactly the most helpful parent.” He glanced at me warily, as though he expected me to laugh. “So…that's where I came from.”

I smiled, shaking my head. “You are so freaking awesome.”

He laughed, obviously relieved. I was way too happy. Part of it was Lend opening up to me, part was knowing I had a place with his family. But besides that, I hadn't been in a car in like six years. I eyed him in the driver's seat with undisguised envy.

“Tell you what,” he said, noticing my stare. “I know you can't get a license, but I might be able to do something better.”

“What?”

He smiled. “How would you like to come to school with me tomorrow and see a real, live locker?”

I'm pretty sure I squealed.

 

After our shopping was done (I was so eager to get out of Lend's clothes, I changed in the store bathroom), we got back into the car. I was pretty sure he had checked me out a few times. I hoped so, at least. Goodness knows I was doing my fair share of sneaky staring. “You hungry?” he asked, pulling out.

“Oh, my gosh, I'm starving,” I said, just now realizing it. I looked at the clock on the dashboard. It was three in the afternoon.

“Let's get something to eat, then.”

“Aren't you grounded?” I teased.

“My dad said be back by dark. It's not dark yet.”

We drove a couple of blocks to a small diner. I had never been on the East Coast before except for a few late night jobs, so I enjoyed looking around. Lots of trees, hinting at buds. We walked into the diner and my jaw dropped.

Every single person in there was a paranormal.

“Umm, you do know this whole place is filled with werewolves, vamps, and a couple of other things I've never
seen before, right?” I whispered. Lend laughed, sitting down in a booth.

“Well, yeah. My dad owns it.”

“Oh.”

“After Mom went back to the water, he was left with a very paranormal son. He knew how bad things were with the government agencies, so he decided to do something about it. He runs sort of an underground railroad for paranormals, shielding them from IPCA, giving them jobs, helping them control the nastier sides of themselves.”

“What about the vamps? Does he let them suck someone dry every now and then?”

“There are lots of other sources of blood. They all know that if they break the rules, he won't help them anymore. Most of them are young vamps, too. They still remember what it was like to be human and don't really relish the thought of killing. Plus they're helpful with the whole mind control thing.”

I felt kind of bad. I had never even considered giving vamps the benefit of the doubt. “Do you have any hags?”

Lend laughed. “We're accepting, not suicidal.”

I sighed in relief. “Okay then. That's pretty cool, I guess.” Truth was, the whole thing made me more than a little nervous. The sentiment was great, but expecting all these creatures to control their natural instincts? Sounded dangerous. How many lives were worth risking to give a handful of vampires more freedom?

A waitress came to take our orders, interrupting my thoughts. She knew Lend and was drop-dead gorgeous, with blond hair, blue eyes, and these absolutely luscious lips. Her non-glamour face was just as beautiful, although it was mottled brown and gray. We both ordered and she turned around. My jaw dropped. Underneath her glamour her back was hollow like an old tree, and she had a tail. “What is she?” I whispered.

“Nona? Oh, she's a huldra. Tree spirit.”

Watching her and the other paranormals in there, things shifted for me. They were vibrant, happy, not hurting anyone. This was a good place.

I used to think that IPCA was some noble organization, protecting humans. But I thought it helped paranormals, too. The werewolves and vamps had jobs, and all paranormals had protected status. However, this recent information gave me a new perspective. IPCA acted on absolutes, and I was increasingly realizing that nothing was absolute in this world.

Lend's dad wasn't totally right, but he was probably more right than my former employers.

I thought of something else. “With all the stuff you know about IPCA, how were you so calm while we—they—were holding you? I would have been freaking out.”

He laughed. “Oh, trust me, I was terrified. Beyond terrified. I kept waiting for them to cut me open or something. Lucky for me they were distracted with the
dead paranormals, otherwise I don't even want to think about it.”

“Man, I thought you were like some supercool operative and knew exactly what you were doing. Now I find out you weren't even supposed to be there in the first place.”

“I've got a lot of practice acting. I do it every waking hour, after all.” He had a point—he acted with his whole appearance.

“Well, I guess I still think you're pretty cool.”

“Thank goodness.” He shook his head in mock relief. “Of course, I can't really act in front of you.” He gave me a small, shy smile. It must have been so weird for him that I could see him like no one else. I kinda liked it.

“You don't need to act for me,” I answered, then blushed. Wow, was that dorky or what? Pretty soon I would tell him how dreamy I thought his real eyes were, and how much I'd like him to hold my hand in a non-the-world-is-ending-and-I'm-being-nice sort of way. He smiled bigger and we both went back to our food. Good thing too, because I was probably one step away from blurting out hey, wanna be my boyfriend?

When we left, half the restaurant waved cheerily to Lend, most of them giving me curious looks. I figured it was a good thing they didn't know who I was. I tried not to stare at anyone, pretending like I couldn't see what they really were. Besides the tree spirit waitress, there was a woman who had fins underneath her glamour legs, several
werewolves, a couple of vamps, and I was pretty sure I had seen two gnomes working in the back. This place was even weirder than the Center.

Remembering my old home made me feel more pangs of guilt. I didn't even know if Raquel was okay, and I was sure she'd be really worried about me. But there was so much she never told me, so much she hid, it was easier to push down the guilt in favor of anger. And Lish I tried not to think about at all. If I were still in the Center, her absence would be like a hole in my heart. Here I was so removed from my previous life that it made it a little easier. I could pretend she was still there in her tank, waving her hands around and making the computer say bleep.

 

When we got back to his house, Lend sighed. “I'd better call some friends and find out how far behind I am in my classes.” He pulled out his phone.

“Lend?” David called.

“Yup,” Lend answered. “We're back, we already ate.”

“I know, Nona called and told me you were there.”