Falling From Grace (52 page)

A gasp erupted among the crowd, and I didn’t know if it was because of what I had done to Lark, or because of how my hand looked.
 
I looked at her face, trying to see if this was completely normal.
 
She was stoic, inspecting my hand with surgical precision, turning it by minute degrees, her eyes moving so quickly I felt dizzy just watching her.
 
I shook my head and knew that if my hand didn’t hurt, and if she wasn’t shocked by the way it looked, then the crowd that had now surrounded us were doing so because I had probably committed some heinous crime and were about to descend upon me like some angelic plague.

I heard a loud woosh, and in one astounding moment, the crowd of people that had seemed so heavenly and menacing at the same time parted, ironically, like the red sea.
 
But they soon gathered once again, converging upon me like a swarm of beautiful bees.
 
Only when they were close could I see that it wasn’t anger or fear that they were feeling, but rather curiosity.
 
Of course they were curious.
 
I was the oddity, after all.

I really was a superfreak.
 
I had just punched someone who could kill me before anyone would have noticed.
 
“Oh, I’m such an idiot.”
 
I mumbled, resting my head in my free hand.

“You’re not an idiot, Grace,” the soft voice that I had wanted to hear
—
but at the same time didn’t
—
whispered in my ear.
 
He brushed my hair out of my face, and forced me to look at him.
 
“Your human instincts might be a novelty to some of those who are here in normal situations, but knowing what you know, and yet seeing that you still did…
that—
it is very interesting to them, especially the electus patronus who would never dream of doing such a thing.”

He took my hand away from Lark, who was still examining the myriad of hues ranging from one shade of blue to the deepest purple.
 
“The pattern is interesting, isn’t it?
 
Like a honeycomb.
 
Fascinating…”

He nodded, and splayed my fingers, wincing as he did so.
  
Robert’s head jerked up as his face turned towards me.
 
“You didn’t scream,” he gasped.
 
The crowd surrounding us murmured their shock.

I stared at him.
 
“Was I supposed to?
 
I will if it’ll make you feel better.”
 
I opened my mouth, practicing the motions I would use to produce one.

A pair of identical creases formed at the corners of his eyebrows, framing a deeper indentation between them.
 
“With bruising like this, you should be experiencing extreme pain, Grace.
 
Look at your hand.”
 
He dangled my hand in front of me like a carrot, waiting for the horse of shock to lead me forward towards recognition.

“It doesn’t hurt,” I said simply.

His mouth took on the shape of a beautiful grimace.
 
He groaned when he heard my thoughts.
 
And he groaned when he realized that I knew he wasn’t pleased.
 
Well, it did look beautiful!

“Grace, do you understand how seriously strange this is?” Robert snapped.
 

The tone in his voice caused me to shrink back a bit, pulling my hand with me.
 
“Strange is a relative term, don’t you think?
 
I mean, I’m standing in the middle of a wedding party for people who work for mythical creatures that aren’t even supposed to exist.
 
I’ve been hit by a car and left for dead, yet here I am, alive and well-”

“With a purple hand,” Robert held my wrist back up, as if to emphasize his point.

I snatched it back and continued, “-
alive and well
and in a dress.
 
In my world, that last fact is the epitome of strange.
 
It beats a purple hand any day of the week, so no, I don’t understand how strange that is because right now, the only thing that seems strange to
me
is why you’re just staring at it instead of healing it.”

I heard a few murmurs of approval in the audience that surrounded us, and I waited, dangling my hand in his face this time.
 
“Are you going to help me out, or do I have to ask your Mom to do it?
 
I know she can heal a little, and if I’m not screaming in pain, it can’t be that bad.”

“Maybe he forgot how?” a voice I recognized as Sam’s said quietly.

Perhaps it was because it was Sam that had said it, perhaps it was because it was said in front of so many people, but I began to feel quite guilty in making Robert the object of ridicule when it was my own foolishness that had caused me to be in this mess in the first place.
 
I looked up at him, not wanting to see embarrassment, or hurt in his eyes
—
or worse…nothing at all.
 
Instead, they were liquid, flowing, and he was smiling.

I snap at you and you’re concerned about how I’m feeling.
 
I don’t think I deserve to have you in my life, Grace, but I’m ever grateful for it.

I held my hand out to him, nicely this time.
 
“Could you fix my hand, please?”
 
I held my breath as he kissed it, starting at the tips of my fingers, and moving to the grape-like objects that could only be my knuckles.
 
He turned my hand over and blew into my palm.
 
His warm breath caused me to shiver, and I thought that to be a strange reaction.
 
Strange indeed.

He closed my hand, and I watched amazed as the colors seemed to wash away, like paint, from my hand.
 
It was like looking at a kaleidoscope, the changing shapes, patterns, and colors swirling beneath my skin.
 
When the last of the purple had finally faded away, an eruption of applause surrounded us.
 
The grins and praise from everyone around us were a testament to the gift that he possessed.

I looked at Robert, sure that he’d be pleased with the reaction of the crowd, but instead, he looked upset.
 
Panicky even.
 
“Robert, what’s wrong?”

He pulled me to him, and dragged me towards something.
 
Or was it someone?
 
No.
 
It was both.
 
It was a wheelchair.
 

“Ellie, Grace and I have to leave now.
 
I came to tell you goodbye, but before that, I wanted to tell you that you have impacted my life in so many ways.
 
You were my first true human friend.
 
You have given me something that I couldn’t have been able to gain on my own, and I will always be grateful to have known an incredible person like you.”

He got down on both knees, leaned in and kissed her.
 
I turned away, the moment being too private for me to witness.
 
He was saying goodbye to her, and I knew what that meant.
 
Whatever it was that they needed to share now, I couldn’t take that away from them with my feelings of jealousy or inadequacy.
 
I would have hated myself for it.

It was only when I felt Robert’s hand squeeze mine did I turn around to say my own farewell.
 
And the tears that I did not know were there, did not expect, suddenly started to spill over.
 
“Thank you, Ellie, for taking care of Robert all this time.”
 
I didn’t know what else to say.

She reached her arms up for me, and I went into them, allowing her to embrace me, comfort me.
 
If I did not know that she was looking forward to her fate, I would have found the situation to be quite ironic, but I knew better.
 
Instead, I felt the selfish sadness that I would never get to hear the thousands of stories of her time with Robert that I knew she had stored in her sharp mind.

“Thank you, Grace, for ensuring me that Robert has finally found his home,” she whispered into my ear, her voice so soft, I strained to hear it, but knew that even if I had not, each word had somehow burned itself into my mind, the imprint of the first memory as she had called it.

She kissed my forehead, like a grandmother would, and then let me go.
 
She looked at Robert, who was still kneeling on the ground, and smiled, “So Sam’s taking me home?”

He nodded, smiling sadly.
 
“Yes.
 
You don’t have anything to worry about tonight.”

She nodded, her face peaceful.
 
“That’s good.
 
I’m done with worrying.
 
Especially about you.
 
You be happy, Robbie.
 
And you take care of this one.
 
She’s special.
 
I can tell just by looking at her.”

When she winked at me, I couldn’t help but smile and wink back.
 
It was exactly what she wanted, and she beamed at me, her blue eyes twinkling like sapphire stars in her face.
 
“Goodbye, Grace.
 
May life always bring you unexpected happiness.”

Puzzled, I asked her why.

She waved as Robert pulled me away, her voice trailing behind me, “Because that’s exactly what love is dear.”

I continued to stare back at her, even as Robert pulled me away, until I could no longer see her face among the crowd.
 
I wanted to yank my hand free and run back to her, to ask her more questions, to be there when her time came…to do something other than walk away knowing that I would never see her again.

As we approached the gravel parking lot, Robert’s pace slowed.
 
He searched among the cars for the one that had brought us here, and, finding it, tapped on the glass.
 
A movement could be seen in the front cab, and I realized that the driver had fallen asleep.

“Why didn’t he come and join the party?” I asked, shocked that he could have been left out intentionally.

Robert smiled knowingly, “Because he used to date Hannah, and that would have been quite awkward, don’t you think?”

I nodded my head.
 
“Quite.”

The driver, who I later learned was named Thomas, emerged from the driver’s side door and opened the rear passenger side door for us.
 
I thanked him and slid in, muttering to myself about how unnecessary it was, having someone else open the door for you when you had two
—
no
—
four perfectly useful hands that could have done it themselves.

As soon as the door was shut and the driver was inside, we were moving, leaving.
 
To me, it felt like we were running away.
 
I didn’t like that.
 
I had been doing that for too long now, and I knew that the problems only followed you where you went.

“Robert, why did we have to leave?”
 
I looked at the clock on the dashboard console, noticing that it read fifteen minutes after ten.
 
“We still have over an hour…”

His face looked so composed, I thought I’d get some feedback that would have helped to lead the way to answering some of the remaining questions that I had.
 
Instead, what I got was, “Thank you for your input, Captain Obvious.”

I looked at him, annoyed at his lame attempt at sarcasm.
 
So annoyed, I didn’t even stop myself as the reflex response I was so used to uttering whenever Graham had attempted the same thing simply came out.

“You’re quite welcome, General No Shit.”

Judging by the intake of his breath, I knew that was the last thing he had been expecting of me, which meant that my mind had blocked itself off again, leaving him in the lurch.
 
Either that or he was in some corner with the mangled remains of some other thoughts that I hadn’t really been concentrating on too much.
 
I was in the winning corner.
 
And I wasn’t backing down.

“I don’t think that’s very ladylike language,” he said, his voice flat, his eyes cold steel.

I folded my arms across my chest, ready for this match.
 
“I don’t care if it’s ladylike or not.
 
I was provoked by someone who isn’t acting like a gentleman so I don’t think it’s necessary for me to act like a lady.”

“I am indeed a gentleman!”

“It’s certainly not gentlemanly to drag your date out of a wedding reception before she’s had a chance to say goodbye to the bride and groom.
 
It’s also rude
 
and just plain selfish, so I suggest you correct your own behavior before you start chastising me about mine.
 
And another thing, it’s not angelic behavior either,” I huffed, and folded my arms across my chest, angry and hurt that he had cut my evening short without explaining why.

He glared at me, his eyes turning harder with each breath that passed between us.
 
“What you know about what is and isn’t angelic behavior wouldn’t even fill one chapter of an encyclopedia that expands the entire history of this world.”