101 - Before it’s too Late
101 - Before it’s too Late
Nick
“Stop squeezing me as if I’m going to disappear, because I’m not taking off alone. You’re coming with me and we’re leaving right now, before it’s too late...”
Her words shake me like an earthquake. Sure, she’s been proving her unpredictable nature every single day since we first met, but this one… Let’s just say I didn’t see it coming. My initial reaction would be something like ‘you can’t be serious’, or ‘it’s not safe, we should think about it some more’, but given the way her eyes are burning holes on my chest, stubbornly refusing to meet mine again, I know she’s more serious than ever and has thought about it a lot before bringing it to me. Thank Goddess, I blocked this intuitive answer before it left my mouth, or chaos would erupt on a completely different subject from what we’re supposed to discuss now.
She’s looking at me with an unsaid ‘say something’ in her eyes. For a split moment, the woman in front of me isn’t the almighty hybrid or whatever she is that’s getting unstable, but the broken, little rogue who hesitated to show she was grateful for the food I ordered for her on our first night out of the penthouse.
“I won’t pretend to understand your reasons, so tell me the facts, or I can’t offer a proper answer to that.”
Her glance lights up at my statement. Her hands fly to my nape, pulling me down for a deep kiss, where she pushes all her relief and excitement.
“Thank you!”
“For what?”
“For not questioning my words. It’s probably the first time you stand next to me with no reservation,” she says with a tinge of bitterness, and I collect her in my arms once more.
Beads of salty water still slide down her body. Oh, how I wish to just worship her and lick all of them dry… But now’s not the time. It’ll have to wait.. again…
“Please don’t call me crazy. The night of the ambush, we’d have run right where they were expecting us. Imagine this kind of spell works like the projector at the movies. There’s a specific area of focus where it performs to its maximum. As we were driving, a voice in my mind urged me to change our route. We caught them off guard, and that’s how we could take down the one present and send the rest back to their bodies.”
She’s squirming in anxiety with her feet buried in the fine white pebbles. With a quick, agile move, she collects a flat round stone and sends it hopping six times on the calm surface of the sea before it sinks.
“Go on…”
“The same voice has been screaming in my mind that I must leave before it’s too late. Shortly after I woke up after the sniper’s attack…”
My eyes widen at her words. Didn’t she wake up right after the attack? How long was she out for? We hardly had any chance to sit down and talk things through. Just how much did I allow them to hurt her? Why does she even stand here with me and doesn’t simply break me by rejecting me as I shattered her soul and body so many times since we first met?
“Okay, forget that. We’ll have plenty of occasions for small talk. For now, focus on my words. Anyway, some time ago, Linda summoned my mother’s spirit. She warned me about the people who seem to know a lot about her, my dad and me. It made me sceptical towards almost everyone. I could be wrong, but I assume the voice belongs to her, and she’s watching over me.”
“So basically, you’re taking me with you because I failed my exams on pack history and swallowed the lie of your mum’s murder back then?” I ask her.
This conversation is too awkward. Her mind is on overdrive and her million faces are alternating too fast for me to catch up with. One moment she’s the devastated little girl, next the fierce rogue, then the mystical queen, the adventurer, the sweetheart, the scared kitten, the undecided teenager…
She takes a step back and recollects her resolve, raising her glance to meet mine with no fear or doubt. It’s weird how, despite the all so familiar features and face, it’s like seeing her for the first time. There’s something sharp and clear about her state of mind mirrored in her eyes.
“Honestly?” she finally says.
It takes some seconds to understand she’s answering my earlier question, or better said mockery, and give her a nod.
“I’m taking you with me because I need the flashy thingy hanging from your neck and I doubt it would come with me on its own free will if you’re not wearing it. Plus, I wish to prevent them from destroying the coven in Eastport.”
I follow the direction her finger is pointing and see my pendant. For an old relic I never paid any heed to, it sure gets a lot of attention lately.
“Are you with me or not?” she urges.
I trap her in my arms again, refusing to let her free herself.
“It took me too long to realize where my place really is, but it’s impossible to go back now. You’re even crazier than I ever thought you’d be, but there’s no way I’m letting you flee on such a dangerous mission on your own. Let’s hope you’re right, and I can use the pendant to help you.”
“It seems to stabilize my energy levels. Therefore, it should make it more difficult for them to trace me relying on that. To be honest, I can’t think of any other way they got to me.”
“So where to? Northam?” I ask, turning to reach for my backpack and get dressed.
She dries herself fastly and then brings out a book and a map of the country with some strange pencil marks on.
“I’ve done some homework and spotted some potential routes here, avoiding known magical resources spots. It’s too dangerous to return to Northam. They seem to have discovered my connection with the city. I’d be putting beloved ones in danger.”
“Not if you go to a place that none of your people can connect you with…”
She turns to peer at me, not understanding my point. It would be foolish to embark on such a journey without resources. I don’t even have my credit card on me. Even in our wolves’ form, we’d have to travel for many days till we reach Southville. At least, that’s where I assume we’ll be heading. We need more clothes, money and a car. And I can grant us all this with no risk if we drop by Northam first.
“I had an apartment ready for you there. Remember?” I say, and it’s her turn to look stupefied.
“Well, even though I recognize you’re not impressed by my wealth, I truly wished to pamper you a bit. To make you feel like a princess. Greg keeps calling you that, you know? Anyway, if we reach there, we can find everything we need to set off safely.”
Her eyes glisten with unshed tears. It was merely my choice to hold back, but right now, I wish we had completed the bond. This way she wouldn’t be able to hide what’s going on in that sweet head of hers. As quick as it came, the vulnerability disappears, and she’s back to her adamant facade.
“I’ve got some snacks packed. Let’s eat and get the hell out of here before they get a hint of my intentions,” she says.
“Is it Linda’s coven you’re running from? You think your mum was, in a way, warning you to run from them?”
“Well, in fact, she said that Linda and the girls will help me find out more about me. But since Linda was the one who summoned her, she was operating as a vessel. This means she would watch our entire interaction, unable to offer us some privacy. I don’t know, okay? Right now I’m clueless. All I realize is that for some reason, we need to reach Southville without getting spotted. After that, I have no idea. Maybe we’ll figure it out reading this on our way there.”
“What’s this?”
“A book that belonged to my grandma. I had found it hidden under the wooden floor in my room when I was a teenager. Back then, I believed it was some crazy old inhabitant’s creation and kept it as my little secret. I’ve read it hundreds of times, but it made no sense. It’s quite discomforting that now every word fills in a gap of my existing knowledge. It gives the answers to the questions I never realized I had…”
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Our wolves reached close to the outskirts of Northam around sunset. That was good because we could shift back with little danger of getting spotted, but it was also bad, because it limited our options about how we’d retrieve the key to the residence. The office would be closed by now and it would arouse too much attention if I called the security to grab it for me. The easiest way out that I could find was for Mayra to inform the concierge to open the apartment for Nel, under the excuse that she lost her key and I had left and was too far away to bring the spare one myself. Nel hated the idea as it included my assistant knowing about her presence here, but she was from the beginning the one in contact, both with the contractor and the building management company, therefore the one they’d all recognize. Truth is, I wasn’t a hundred percent certain about her loyalty either, but even if she did something reckless, we’d already be at a safe distance in an undefined destination by then.
Hidden in the shadows that dusk offered me, I watched as she waited with nervousness and unconcealed anger for Mayra to confirm her identity to the concierge. I would even laugh when she had to politely thank her for her help, if the situation wasn’t so grave. Soon afterwards, she sent me the signal that the field was clear and now here I am, on the way to the apartment she never got to use as I wanted, but proved more useful than I thought.
“Care to explain what these are supposed to be doing in a wardrobe meant for me?” she says, waiting for me at the threshold with a pair of fluffy pink handcuffs hanging from her index finger and her foot patting on the floor in fury.
“You never know when a pair of handcuffs may come in handy.”
I grab them as I pass next to her to enter the not so big, but very well organized space, giving her my widest grin and a wink that forces her to follow suit after me, slamming the door closed. I can tell she wants to shout a hell lot of profanities to me, but holds herself back, still fuming.
With no further delay, I stroll to the other part of the wardrobe and pick some clothes to place in the extra suitcase under the bed. She’s right behind me and stares with an amazed expression on.
“I thought you hadn’t been here before,” she says.
“I haven’t, but I planned every little detail myself. Come on, hurry up with the packing. We should leave as soon as possible. I’m afraid there won’t be many useful items in the fridge. I was hoping to do that together. Anyway, this means we’ll have to stop somewhere with civilization for dinner. When you’re done, there’s a card and some cash in the upper drawer of the entrance accent cabinet. Take both to be more secure. I’ll go grab the car and wait for you downstairs. Just don’t stick around too long, okay?”
Her expression is priceless as I turn towards the exit. Maybe for the first time since we met, before me stands the real Eleanor, original and undisguised with no facade whatsoever…
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This will be the last Nick/Nel POV for a while. Next on we'll catch up with their surroundings, inc a new person working backstage... Sorry for the summer delays! Thank u for staying tuned!