Boreal and John Grey Season 1 (26 page)

“Ella, we think... I think.” He coughed. “You may be able to find John Grey.”

“Come again?” She scuffed her shoe on the concrete and looked at Finn who had folded his arms across his chest and waited, obviously listening in the conversation.
Lurker
.

“It’s possible you can See more than a voyant can; more than the Shades and the creatures of the Veil. That you can See behind the Veil, into
Aelfheim
.”

Ella drew the phone away from her ear and gave it a suspicious look. Was it malfunctioning? Her heart started to pound. She brought it to her ear again. “I don’t think the notes say anything like that.”

“Just read the damn printout,” Dave said. “We’ll talk.”

Chapter Four

Silence

Mike intercepted them before they reached the apartment door. He’d been lounging in the corridor, dressed in jogging pants and a t-shirt. He’d gone running, and sweat stuck the cloth to his chest. He looked good, short dark hair slicked back.

Not as good as Finn, though.

And yeah, time to throttle this sort of thoughts and concentrate on what was important. Like why Dave thought she had any clue where to find John Grey, and why Mike was waiting for them.

“Hey.” Mike’s grin was strained, showing too many teeth. “Hey, Finn, my man.” He waved.

Finn glowered.

“He won’t bite you,” Ella told Mike and that seemed to make him even more jumpy. “For heaven’s sake, nothing has changed since we last talked. He’s still Finn.”

That seemed to do the trick. Mike lost the scary grin and nodded. “You said to tell you if I heard anything interesting.”

“Spill.”

“I heard...” He glanced at Finn, then down. “Nothing.”

Ella blinked. “Mike, you can tell us, we won’t—”

“You don’t understand.” The fear intensified, widening his eyes. “I hear
nothing
. After months of endless blabbing. Since the Shade attack, it’s been silent as a grave.”

Ella shared a look with Finn. Worry darkened his eyes. Any change at this point should be taken as a bad sign.

She turned toward her apartment door.

“Oh, and there’s someone here to see you.” Sheepish, Mike gestured at his own half-open door, and a woman stepped out, as if she’d been listening there all along.

Of course she had.

“Mom.” Ella huffed, her mind still on the unexpected silence of the Shades. “What the hell are you doing here?”

“Well, nice to see you too, Ella.” Her mother sidled out into the corridor, her high heels clacking on the linoleum. With her hair blond and permed, curling around her made-up face, and her tight skirt and shirt, she looked like a parody of a fifties movie star, a Marilyn wannabe.

Sometimes Ella couldn’t believe she was related to Linda Harris-Benson. “What do you want?”

“Now I need to file a request to see my own daughter?”

“A phone call from time to time might have been nice. You know, to check if I’m alive or dead.”

She caught Finn’s wide eyes and snapped her mouth shut. After the horror story he’d told her about his childhood, she’d half expected him to draw his gun and tell her mother, all mothers for that matter, to fuck off. But he only looked curious and kind of...wistful? 

“Excuse me for a moment,” Ella muttered. “Need to call my boss.”

It wasn’t a trick to avoid her mother for another five minutes. Honestly. She was a tough secret agent battling Shades; she could handle this.

She walked a ways down the corridor, sighing in relief, and called Dave. Waiting for the tone, she observed her mother stalking toward Finn with a predatory light in her eyes. Finn took a step back, then leaned against the wall and put his hand on his holstered gun. Ella grinned.

“What is it?” Dave sounded out of breath. “Where are you?”

 “I’m okay,” Ella said. “Just wanted to tell you that Mike reported total silence from beyond the Veil, ever since the attack.”

“Attack? What attack?” Dave grunted something else that might have been a curse.

“Shades in our apartment, about an hour before you called us to the scene of the bloody snake.”

“In your apartment?” Dave’s voice rose. “What did I tell you about protection—”

“Protection was on, but didn’t help.” Her mother didn’t seem to notice Finn’s wariness and went to lean next to him, a hand on hip. She was asking him about himself. Finn’s curious look was giving way to his usual glare. “Any ideas?”

“Working on it.” Dave made a soft sound like a rattle. Was he cracking his knuckles? “We may have another situation downtown. I’ll call you later.”

Before she had a chance to reply, the line went flat. Biting back a curse, she shoved the phone in her pants pocket, fished her keys from the other and unlocked her door. “Mom, look, this is a really bad time for—”

“I won’t stay long.” She tried to grab hold of Finn’s arm to pull him inside, but he jerked out of her reach and gave her a look that could bore through steel. “I heard your apartment burned down and I wanted to make sure my little girl was okay.”

Making a face, Ella threw her door open and entered. As a matter of fact, she wanted to ask her mother a couple of things about the past.

Half-drawing her gun, Ella crossed the living room and checked the kitchen, bedrooms and bathroom for any sign of human or other life. She turned and found Finn right behind her, which scared the bejesus out of her.

“Dammit. Don’t sneak up on me like that.”

Finn shot her an undecipherable look and began checking everything she’d already checked — locks, charms, carved symbols.
Obsessive much?
Then again, he’d been the target of the last Shade attack.

“Ella?” Her mother’s voice rang from the living room. She sounded annoyed.

With a heart-felt sigh, Ella holstered her gun. “Coming!”

To her surprise, Finn followed at her heels, instead of taking the opportunity to shut himself in his room or the bathroom with the pretext of cleaning his weapons. “You don’t have to meet with her,” she whispered to him. “Really, it’s cool.”

Finn only shrugged.

“She’s a pain in the ass,” Ella muttered.

“She’s your mother.”

Ella rolled her eyes. “Precisely.”

Finn scowled and of course said nothing more. Together they stepped into the living room where Ella’s mother had made herself comfortable on the old sofa. She smiled widely when she saw them.

“So, when were you going to introduce me to your handsome boyfriend?”

“Not my boyfriend. Want tea?”

“No, sweetling, thank you, just had my espresso downtown before I came here. Alfred dropped me off on his way to a business meeting.”

“Alfred? What happened to George?”

Her mother flapped her hand as if that didn’t matter. Maybe it didn’t, although George had stayed for — what was it? Two years now? A record.

“He’s taking me to the theater later tonight, they have a lovely show. Ionesco’s The Rhinoceros. Deep.”

Ella dropped in an armchair and propped her booted feet on the coffee table. “You don’t say.”

“I know you don’t care for art, honey,” Mom said. “A great pity. You used to like literature.”

“The world is falling apart, Mom. A dragon burned down my apartment, yeah? Maybe Ionesco is not high on my priority list right now.”

“A dragon. You believe whatever flight of fancy takes journalists who are trying to make the front page.”

“I saw it, Mom. I was there.”

“Sure, honey.” Her mother wrinkled her nose and waved a manicured hand with red nails at her. “Just take your feet off the table, this isn’t proper behavior. And your fiancé is watching.” She giggled behind her hand. “Oh, god, he’s looking at me. Tell him to stop flirting.”

Flirting?
Ella glanced at Finn who stared at her mother as if she had grown horns.
Right, flirting
. “Ignore her, Finn. That’s her warped sense of humor. Nothing to do with you, she does this with everyone.” It was the sad truth.

“Oh, dear, listen to yourself.” Her mother fanned herself with her hand. “Saying such awful things to your boyfriend, and he’s so charming. So shy.” She beamed at Finn who tilted his head to the side as if trying to figure out some complex equation.

“Finn isn’t shy, Mom. He’s just very busy, because we’re not a couple, we work together — and this is the middle of a working day.” She took a deep breath. “Besides, I said he’s not my boyfriend.”

“Mike, such a nice boy, he said you live together, you and Finn. Surely that—”

“Sharing a rent isn’t the same as sharing a bed, Mom. You should know that better than anyone. You lived with dad for years under the same roof, and didn’t fool anyone, now, did you?”

She hadn’t quite meant to snap the last words, but what the hell. It felt good to have the final word. Ella leaned back in her chair, breathing hard.

Her mother’s face reddened with anger. “That’s no way to talk to your mother. Is this how I taught you to behave?”

All right, that had hardly been the last word. “You never taught me anything good anyway.”

“Ella. I just wanted to know how you’re doing.”

“So why don’t you just ask me instead of insulting me?”

Her mother gaped at her, and Ella turned her sullen gaze aside, only to find Finn gaping at her as well.

What, was she being unreasonable? She didn’t think so.

“Well, I see nothing has changed,” her mother said, rising and smoothing down her skirt. Her tights had a run in them. She lifted her chin and pressed her red lips together. “Look at the time. I think I should be on my way.”

“Wait, Mom.” Ella struggled to swallow her anger. She dropped her legs from the table and leaned forward. “I need to ask you something.”

“Oh, now you need my help?”

Dammit
. “It’s important. Listen, did anyone in particular monitor me when I was little? A man called Simon Esterhase?” A long shot, but you never knew.

“Monitoring? We paid thousands of dollars to experts. You were monitored by several people at a time. How can I remember their names after all this time?”

Ella got up and grabbed her backpack. From her wallet, she withdrew a photo. Herself and Simon, raising their glasses to the photographer a few months ago. Her throat constricted at the sight of the familiar smile.
Why, Simon?
“Did this guy visit me when I was little? Do you recognize him?”

“Is this a joke?” Her mother shook her head. “He’s sitting with you. He looks your age. How can you think he visited you as a child?”

Yep, the question of the week
. “So you don’t know him?”

“As I said, I can’t remember all—”

“Jeez, can you just answer the question?” Ella gritted her teeth. “You know what? Never mind.”

“Well, I’ll be going. I can’t stand all this negative energy. And I see all my worries were unfounded. You’re perfectly fine.” Her mother smiled at Finn and for a brief, heart-wrenching moment Ella wished she was the recipient of that smile. “My daughter never appreciates my concern.”

“Oh, come on, Mom, be honest for once,” Ella snapped. “You never really worried about me, so spare me the theatrics.”

Her mother’s dark eyes, so like her own, flashed at her, filled with such annoyance and hurt Ella regretted her last words.

Shame filled her. How had she reverted to a whiny child when the world was ending? Shouldn’t she be mending their relationship? “Mom...”

Opening her handbag, her mother fished out a few photos and waved them at Ella. “Here. I found them in an old box and I thought you may want to have them. It’s your grandma when she was young, and you, and...” She walked over to Ella who had sat up and pressed them into her hand. “Anyhow. Go on saving the world and whatever else it is you’re doing.”

Turning on her heel, she walked out of the apartment. Ella stared after her, absently clutching the photos in her lap, boots smearing mud on the carpet. For some strange reason, her eyes stung. “Mom, wait...”

The door clicked shut.

Ella stared at its scratched white surface for a few seconds, then threw the photos on the coffee table and smashed her fist into the wood. She bent her head, breathing through her nose, trying to find a measure of calm. “Damn you.”

“You’re angry,” Finn astutely observed.

“My mom... brings out the worst in me.”

“Why?”

Ella shrugged. “How the hell should I know? Dad says it’s because we’re too similar.”

“Similar.” Finn arched a brow.

Right
. Wasn’t obvious at first. But the mulish stubbornness and impulsiveness ran deeper than hair style and nail polish. Unfortunately. She often wished she could scrape the similarities off, shed the anger that always burned beneath the surface. But the hurt of her parents’ separation and the insults and rows and all the violence unleashed around her during their divorce fueled it with every scrap of memory.