The Dragon Guard (18 page)

 

Bailey felt very alone after she took Trent back, but there was no changing it, so she caught up on homework and cleaned Lacey's cage, and then her room, making time till her mother got off work. The stalker seemed to be gone, and she tried not to look out the window or the door peephole more than six million times to check. Nothing and no one, and even Lacey had settled down, although nighttime was her active time. They played chase the cookie which was one of the pack rat's favorite games, although she preferred chase the sparkly barrette more. Tomaz who trained her in animal senses thought it funny a creature would prefer a colorful yet inedible treasure to food. It went against the grain of survival needs, he'd explained.

Bailey tickled the little rodent's chest. Lacey seemed quite plump, so she guessed she wasn't missing any meals! Lacey's tufted tail twitched as if she read Bailey's thought, and the pack rat gave a tiny
chuffing
sound. Bailey laughed. The little kangaroo rat sounded almost like Isabella on the Council when she got irritated!

A faint warmth and purr seemed to flow out of the amethyst Bailey wore and she touched her crystal in answer. Ting's face and voice sprang into her mind as she did so. “Bailey!” A smile spread over her features, erasing what looked to have been a worried expression. “I've been trying all day to reach you. I have to leave tomorrow morning. I was so afraid I wouldn't get a chance to talk to you.”

“So soon?”

“I know, I'm going to miss Jason's game and, and, well, everything. But Mom has everything set up.”

Focused exclusively on her crystal, Bailey stepped into that plane where Ting was and just wasn't, and hugged her. “You won't be that far away.”

It was like hugging a ghost. Something was almost there and yet not, for both of them, and Bailey tried not to shiver. Ting brushed a long strand of shimmering coal-dark hair from her temple. “It's the worst possible time for me to go.”

“There's never a good time,” Bailey said. “I know it seems worse, because of Jennifer and Eleanora, and stuff, but there's never a good time to say good-bye to friends. At least we have a way of staying really close. Lots of people don't have that.”

“I know.” Ting put her hand out, palm up, and touched it to Bailey's matching hand, briefly. The bracelet on her ankle shimmered. “Oh! I made you something. Father said he'd mail it for me.”

“What is it?”

Ting grinned. “I can't tell you, it's a surprise!”

“You know I can't wait for a surprise.”

“You're going to have to,” teased Ting gently. “All right then . . . one hint. Keep it away from Lacey.”

“Oh, you made me some jewelry!” Bailey gave a little bounce.

“I hope you like it.”

“I know I will. I'll Crystal to you soon as I get it.”

“All right.” Ting frowned again. “Grandmother went into the hospital yesterday for her treatment and felt so ill they kept her overnight.”

“You see? She needs you.”

“I know she does. I know. But, Bailey . . .” Ting's voice trailed off.

Bailey looked at her, and saw her friend's lower lip quivering a little as if she couldn't get the words out. “What if she's dying?” Bailey said for her.

Ting nodded.

“First of all, she's not. Not yet. She's got years, even as sick as she is. And second, well, she's got Magick, too, and that's a gift the two of you can share with each other. It'll mean a lot, and probably give her strength right now.”

“You think so?”

“Well. I can't promise it, but yeah, I think so!”

Ting smiled. “I guess that's good enough for me.”

“Half a cookie is better than none, as my grandma always used to say. And twice as good as a bundt cake.”

“Oh, Bailey!” Ting broke into laughter then. They hugged again, and then Bailey let her concentration on her crystal go, and both of them faded back into their own realities.

Bailey tucked her legs under her and curled up, one shoulder next to Lacey's cage. She turned the TV on, clicking the remote over and over. It wasn't fair that Ting had such awful things to worry about, and Bailey didn't dare tell her about any of the strange things she'd been experiencing. That would have been asking too much of Ting's gentle nature. Bailey finally settled on the Discovery Channel, with one of its wildlife programs, and she sat watching until a key rattled in the apartment door lock and her mother finally walked in the door.

“Why such a long face?”

“Ting's leaving tomorrow. She's going to miss Jason's game, and everything.”

“Ah.” She gathered Bailey into a warm hug. She smelled of the office, faintly of cigarettes, and coffee, and ink from the copying machine, and she sounded tired. But her arms felt strong around Bailey, and she whispered into Bailey's ear, “I received two free movie passes today, and I thought we could go tonight . . . if you want to.”

“What movie?”

“
Kiss Me Again, Kate.
It's a remake of an old musical. Should be funny, with lots of good singing and dancing.” Rebecca Landau fished out two colorful pieces of cardboard and waved them through the air as proof.

“That would be great!” And welcome. Anything to get her mind off things. “Are we eating there?”

“We can grab a sandwich across the way at that tea shop, okay?”

“And popcorn?”

“Definitely popcorn. And . . . Junior Mints.”

“Wahoo!” Bailey ran to get her jacket. Lacey made a lot of rattling noises in her cage, and Rebecca stuck her finger in, and stroked the animal's side softly. “You get her all day, don't fuss at me.”

Lacey dove headfirst into her pile of shredded tissue and wood chips, jerking her tufted tail in after as if insulted. Her mother stifled a laugh as Bailey dashed back in, carrying two jackets.

“Ready?”

“Am I!” Bailey bolted to the front door, and her mother followed after, still chuckling.

For dinner, they split a meatball sandwich with melted mozzarella that hung in strings from their mouths no matter how daintily they tried to eat, and an iced tea that came with two cherries and a slice of orange on a toothpick floating on the top.

“
Two
cherries,” beamed Bailey and promptedly claimed one of the maraschinos as her own. “How did they know?”

“How indeed,” Rebecca answered, and winked at the girl who had set the sandwich down in front of them.

The movie unfolded in marvelous color and song and dance and costume, and the two of them sat enchanted for nearly two hours till it was over, and Bailey slumped back in her comfortable movie seat and hid a yawn. Rebecca tried to hide her own, but couldn't. She leaned over and kissed the top of Bailey's head.

“One of the best Saturday night dates I've had in a long time. But I think the best thing now would be to go home and snuggle into bed.”

Bailey yawned a second time. “I second that,” she said. Then, “Any Junior Mints left?”

“Enough for you to have one on your pillow.”

“Ew. They were getting kinda warm and gooey.”

Rebecca Landau broke into laughter as they strode through the theater lobby and out into the cold, brisk early spring night. Car headlights blinded both of them slightly as they rounded the corner to the theater parking garage. Bailey thought she saw something, a shadow, behind them, but when she turned to look, another car cruised past and she could barely see anything beyond it, except the brilliant neon marquee for the multiplex.

Rebecca reached down and caught her hand. “Just think if everyone sang everything.” She cleared her throat. “Baaaaailey. Where do you think we parked the car-aaar?”

Bailey turned two shades of red as other moviegoers passed them by, but she sang back, “Motheeer. I believe it's over heeere!”

They rushed the car and got inside it before anyone else could think them crazy, laughing so much they could hardly get their seat belts buckled. The car eased out of the garage, its engine chugging away and its heater soon pumping in warmed air. Bailey hunched into her jacket, feeling the cheer bubble over her, most of the past week's worries gone away.

They parked in their reserved spot at the apartment building, and Bailey bounced out first, calling dibs on the last of the Junior Mints.

“Not fair!”

“All's fair in candy and war!” Bailey informed her mother. She grinned mischievously over the car at Rebecca.

“Don't I get even one?”

“Oh, all riiiiight, most excellent motheeer,” sang Bailey. “Just one!” Bailey did a little pirouette for emphasis. She stopped, gasping, rooted to the ground, as a dark, lanky figure reared out of the shadows. Her breath stuck in her throat as the man reached for her, and then she jarred her voice loose. “Run, Mom! RUN!!!”

The stalker was there, right there, closing on her. Bailey couldn't get another word out, couldn't breathe, as his hand stabbed through the air after her.

Rebecca Landau stood in shock. “Bailey—”

She dodged from the man at the last possible second, slamming her hip into the car fender. The pain wrenched her voice loose. “It's the stalker, Mom!
Run!”

Rebecca Landau's face sank into fear and worry. “That's not a stalker, hon. That's . . . your father.”

S
HE ought to learn to listen first and use her crystal later, Bailey thought a moment too late, as she grabbed her mother's hand, rubbed her amethyst, and suddenly the two of them landed in the hallway outside their apartment door. Sometimes there just wasn't time to think like that! But she had to have been wrong, that couldn't have been her father. Her father wouldn't have
stalked
them.

Her mother paled. “Bailey . . . what on Earth just happened. . . .” She looked around in disbelief, nearly stumbling back a step.

“You blinked.”

“I blinked?”

“You blinked and missed it. We ran for it.” Bailey let go of her mother's suddenly cold hand and dug through her jeans to fetch her key out. The door key seemed to have a mind of its own, much like her little pack rat, and kept disappearing into deeper and deeper folds in her pocket. Finally she curled fingers around it stubbornly and got it out and in the lock. There it resisted her even more and managed to jam once or twice before turning smoothly and clicking the lock chambers into place.

Bailey put her hand on the door to push it open.

“Stop right there!”

Bailey froze, her heart bouncing inside her chest as if it were jumping rope.

“I don't know what's going on here,” came a harried voice from behind them. The stalker slid to a stop in the hallway, polished floorboards squeaking under the soles of his shoes, and he pointed a shaking hand at Rebecca. “What have you done to her?” He paused to catch his breath. He must have taken the stairs in two-at-a-time leaps.

Bailey could almost see her father in the stranger. But she heard him clearly in the voice, loud, unhappy, accusing. She shrank back against the apartment door.

“Get inside, Bailey,” her mother said tightly.

“Witch! You've made a damn witch out of her!” The shaking hand settled into a point, aimed right at Bailey's forehead.

“What are you talking about?”

“I don't know what else to call it.”

“Inside,” Rebecca ordered her firmly.

“Not without you.”

“This isn't a democracy. I'm your mother, now go.”

Bailey set her chin, and shook her head. The apartment door began to swing in anyway, creaking open behind her.

“I'm taking her back,” Jerry Landau told them. “Before it's too late. I don't know—I can't explain what I've seen—but you've made a witch out of her.”

Her mother looked down at Bailey, one eyebrow quirking in an unasked question.

“I'm not a witch. I'm . . . I . . . I . . . I . . .” Bailey's throat locked up. She couldn't get another word out, and she clenched one hand in fierce frustration. The Vow of Silence! She couldn't tell even loved ones, let alone enemies, what she was! She had no defense.

Rebecca put her hand around Bailey's. The crystal in her palm flared slightly with renewed warmth, and that made Bailey jump slightly in surprise. Her mother and father stared at each other from across the apartment building hallway, but Bailey had the feeling it might as well be across the world's deepest chasm. She'd never seen them fight when they were still a family, but she'd seen many nights of her mother crying, alone, after he'd stormed out. “I have a restraining order,” Rebecca told him. “I want you to leave.”

“I have an order in process to take custody,” he answered. “I've had her watched, followed, and I've seen it myself as well. She leaves here at all times of the day and night, while you're at work, while you're sleeping. Do you even know where she goes? She goes to hang out with boys, several of them. And I've seen her disappear into thin air. Not once but a number of times.” Her father narrowed his eyes at her. “I don't know what you've been teaching her, or maybe it's those friends of hers, but she'll be better off with me, before it's too late.”

“Too late for what?”

“To be a decent person. She's a freak, Rebecca, like you.”

Bailey started to lunge forward, but her mother's hold stopped her, but couldn't contain the words tumbling out of her throat. “Don't talk to her like that! She's the best mom in the world. We don't need you here, we don't want you here!”