Burning for You (Blackwater) (35 page)

“It’s a gift,” I tell him. 

He nods and then shrugs.  “I have
no idea, Leah.  Probably file for divorce.  But I need to find her first.  I’m
not a divorce lawyer, so I don’t know the ins and outs when your spouse has
taken off and is nowhere to be found.  I’ll need to contact a colleague.”

“There’s no way your marriage can
be saved, right?” I want to know.  He shakes his head, much to my relief.  I
would never want Heidi to be forgiven by Jack.  What she’s done is completely
unforgivable.  “What about your political career?” I ask him.  “Weren’t you
considering running for mayor?  Don’t things like broken marriages affect
that?”

Jack sighs.  “I think I kissed that
goodbye the moment I told Bill off today.”

“I’m sorry,” I tell him, looking at
him.  His face is unreadable.  “I still think you should run.  Get things
straightened out.”  Take the power from the Order away, is what I really mean.

“I have a lot to think about,” Jack
replies.  “Politics is the last thing on my mind right now.”

“I know,” I say.  We are silent for
a bit longer, and I start to notice all of the things that indicate we are almost
at Normandy.  We stop at the gates and Jack presses some buttons, and they
swing open.  “You know the code?”

“Theo gave one to me,” Jack
admits.  “I’m pretty sure they’re smart enough to change it after I leave, or
kill me.”

I smile, relieved that Jack is
still joking after all of this.  We drive down the road and up toward the
house.  Normandy comes into view, looking large and menacing against the grey
sky.  Not many cars are outside today, but I see Theo’s Renault.  I search for
Ash’s black SUV out of habit, but of course it’s not there. 

Jack and I step out of the Land
Rover and James opens the front door immediately, without us having to knock. 
“Miss Holt and Mr. Bellamy,” James says, as though he’s announcing us to the
lions outside of the door.  Jack is holding my suitcase and James takes it from
him.  “Please come inside.  Mr. Theo is waiting.”  I notice James doesn’t refer
to Theo as “Mr. Lavanne” because there are, like, nineteen of those in the
house.  “Please follow me,” James says once we are inside.

“James,” I hear a husky female
voice say.  I see Olivia sauntering down the staircase, draped in an ivory
gown, as though she is about to attend a formal dinner party.  “Take Mr.
Bellamy to the dining room and let him have something to eat.  I will bring
Miss Holt to Theo.”  James nods and he and Jack walk off toward the dining
room. 

I stand at the foot of the stairs,
nervously anticipating why Olivia wants me alone.  I watch her slowly walk
toward me, and I can’t read the expression on her face at all.  Her signature
black lipstick is on and her hair is long and loose down her back, cascading
down to her waist. 

“Hi Olivia,” I say tentatively.  I
have no idea what her attitude is toward me, but I feel it isn’t good. 

She completes her flow down the
stairs and comes up next to me, linking her arm with mine.  “Walk with me,” she
says.  We walk toward the other side of the stairs and down a hallway until the
end.  She opens the door and I see we’re in a sort of parlor, with a piano and
walls of books with ladders reaching up to make available the books up toward
the ceiling.  Olivia sits on a chaise, the picture of elegance, making me feel
awkward in my jeans and sweatshirt I’d thrown on first thing in the morning. 
She tucks her bare feet up and stretches her arms.  “I thought about hating
you,” she finally begins.  “But it doesn’t make sense,” she adds.

“Oh no?” I ask, wondering what her
logic is and where she’s going with this.

She shakes her head.  “You didn’t
ask for this any more than I asked to be linked to my brother for life,” she
explains.  “I’m doomed to a life of celibacy because of how the world has made
me.  I can’t hate any particular person for that.  I can only hate my own life. 
I’ll always be numb because I’ve taught myself it’s better than feeling what I
should be feeling.”

“I suppose that’s true,” I tell her,
feeling saddened by her words.  “I didn’t want to step between you and Theo,” I
start to say, but she interrupts me with a wave of her hand.

“I’m glad Theo is happy with you,”
she says.  “He’s always been as miserable as I am because we’re catalysts.”

“What if you had another one?” I
suggest.  “Then you could be happy with them.”

She laughs.  “It won’t happen,
Leah.  I’ve tried.  I can’t even look at another man who isn’t Theo.  Isn’t
that pathetic?  That’s my life.  I might as well be a nun or something, but
Maman wouldn’t approve of my hanging out with Catholics.”

My lips twitch into a smile.  “No,
I suppose she wouldn’t,” I agree.

Olivia smiles.  “So I want to be
your friend, and I want to offer my protection when you’re away.”

“Protection?” I repeat.  “I don’t
even know where I’m going.”

“Someplace you’ll need my
protection,” she says.  “You think Blackwater is dangerous?  You have no idea
what you’re in for.”

I sit down, feeling a little bit
dizzy.  “I thought I was going to escape whatever dangers are lurking here.”

Olivia nods.  “That’s true,
but…well, I don’t want to say too much.  I’ll let Theo tell you where you’re
going.  I wouldn’t want to ruin any surprises.”  She sits up and takes something
off from around her neck and saunters over to me.  She slips the necklace over
my head and I pull it forward to look at it.  It’s a single pearl, larger than
I’ve ever seen, with a wavy line carved into it with a straight line below. 
“The drowning symbol,” she tells me, and I nod.  “It will give you a strong
sense of your water elemental.  I don’t need it here.  I’m just going to sit
around Normandy and rot away until I’m officially an old spinster.”

“It’s beautiful,” I tell her, and I
mean it.  The pearl is about the circumference of a quarter and has a rosy
sheen to it.  “Thank you.”

She nods and then walks over to the
window in the parlor and pulls the curtains back.  I gasp to see a helicopter
on the back lawn.  “Your chariot awaits,” Olivia says, laughing.

“Oh god, you can’t be serious,” I
say.  “A helicopter?”

“There’s no better way to get to
the private airfield,” Olivia says.

I shoot her a freaked out look. 
“Just where am I going?”

“Let’s go out and talk to Theo,”
she says.  She leads me out of the parlor and around to the back door, the same
one I followed Ash out of a few nights ago.  Olivia doesn’t bother with shoes
or a coat, and I wonder if it’s a Lavanne trait to never feel the cold.  It’s
about twenty degrees and it’s not even Thanksgiving yet.  She doesn’t even
shiver when she’s outside, as though she’s actually as physically numb as she
indicated she is emotionally.

Theo steps out from the helicopter,
complete with a brown leather jacket, Ray Bans, large headphones and a pair of tight
jeans that make my loins squeeze just a little bit.  “Livvy, go inside, it’s
freezing,” he shouts over the whirl of the helicopter blades in the
background. 

Olivia ignores him, though, and
accepts his kiss on her cheek.  She turns to me and takes my hands in hers and
pulls me close to her so she can speak into my ear over the chopping sound that
invades our hearing.  “As long as Theo is with you, so am I,” she tells me. 
“Protect him while you’re there, and give Ash my love.”  She gives me a quick
kiss and turns to walk back to the house.  The skirt of her gown whips through
the wind and swirls around her legs as she walks away and inside.

“Ash?” I repeat.  I turn to Theo. 
“Where are we going?” I shout.

“To the airport,” he shouts back,
handing me a pair of headphones like his.  “And then to France.  Why don’t you
get in and I’ll explain?”

I look at the helicopter and then
back toward Normandy.  “Sure,” I shout back.  “What have I got to lose?”  I let
Theo pull me inside of the helicopter, and I see someone else is driving,
thankfully.  I place the headphones on my ears and notice a mouthpiece so I can
talk to Theo.  He helps me to belt in, the straps similar to what I’ve seen
children wear in car seats, and I think of Heidi as I’m harnessed in. 

“You good?” Theo asks.  I can hear
him clearly through the headphones. 

I nod.  “Is Ash in France?” I blurt
out.  I feel my stomach drop as the helicopter is lifted in the air.  I can’t
help but watch out the side as Normandy looms in the distance, growing smaller
and further away.

“He found your father,” Theo tells
me.  His voice is strangely distant but clear in my ears, as though we’re
speaking over the phone.  “And I’m not sure, but I think Heidi and Gabe took
off for France, too.  Something is about to blow up over there, and so I’m
taking you away from the trouble you’re in here in Blackwater and sending you
into a whole other mess overseas.”

“Sending me?” I ask.  “You’re not
coming with me?”

Theo shrugs.  “I’m taking you there,
and I’ll help you find Ash, but once you’re with him, he won’t want me around.”

“Theo, you’re my catalyst too.  We
need to work this out,” I say. “I can’t pretend that you don’t exist when I’m
with Ash, or that Ash doesn’t exist when I’m with you.”

“I agree,” Theo says, pulling my
leg over toward him so it’s crossed over his own.  “But Ash isn’t taking the
whole situation well, Leah.  He was never happy until he found you, and when he
did, he thought everything was perfect.  Then I came along, and now everything
is turned around for him.”

“I know,” I say softly, not really
for Theo to hear.  “So why don’t you stay in France and help us?”  Then it
dawns on me.  “Olivia?”

Theo nods.  “That too.  We have a
whole international trip to talk about everything, though.  Right now let’s
focus on getting you out of Blackwater.”

Ironic, since only a few weeks ago
I was focused on coming home to Blackwater.  And twelve years ago I was focused
on leaving Blackwater to find my dad.  Now it seems like I might find my dad outside
of Blackwater, but I had to come back to find him.

Home
in the darkness

Home
on the highway

Home
isn’t my way

Home
will never be.

Blue
Oyster Cult “Burning for You”

Lila Veen is a
crazy cat lady living in the Chicagoland area with her husband, two kids, four
cats and two dogs.  When she isn’t picking pet hair off of her black clothes
she’s eating, reading, writing, singing karaoke, dancing or watching bad
television.  If you’d like to contact her, she is sporadically on Twitter
@lilaveen, or check her Facebook page or just email her if you’d like to get
personal at
[email protected]
.