River: A Novel (26 page)

 Gwen was at
my side, her eyes fiery and vibrant as she spoke. “Elodie, this is very exciting—I
knew you were the one who would help us. The missing piece we’ve been waiting
all these years for.”

 Chills flickered
up and down my spine as she flipped over the first card. The picture was one I
had seen before, somewhere.

 There was nothing
but a three-dimensional bottomless cave—I could
see
into the card. Then
she fanned all five cards in front of me with a flourish. The second card
displayed a drawing of a man and a woman submerged underwater, embracing. Next,
a woman with a sword was battling storm clouds, her reflection within the
clouds merely observing. The fourth was the most mysterious: moving white fog,
the opposite of the first card, an eternal mist. Finally, the last was an
ancient globe surrounded by a snake eating its tail. The images were beautiful
up close, black and sepia etchings surrounded by an antique serrated border.

 “I don’t
understand.” I was starting to shake a little. This was very familiar in an odd
way. Like déjà-vu, but stronger. A memory. But it was not… mine.

 “It means,”
she placed the cards back on the table and grabbed my hands. “Two people in
love will save us all.”

 Asher
snorted quietly in the background.

 Gwen glared
at him with unyielding eyes. “I told you Elodie worked with Dan and was going
to help us. You need to pay closer attention, Asher.” 

 I gaped at
her before staring at the cards. Was she talking about me? I just had a bit
part in this thing. I didn’t matter; surely they could get someone else to
dance in my place.

 “You’ve had
your little show, Gwendolyn. If Elodie wants to leave so badly, then we should
go now. It’s getting late.”

 I couldn’t
tear my gaze from the cards sitting a few feet away. I felt strange. They were
wrong about me—I wasn’t anyone’s hero. I was a mouse. And a chicken. I was most
likely going to lose all composure tomorrow and run away before the
performance. Anyone could easily predict
that
in my future.

 “Yes,
Elodie.” Gwen shook my hands a little. “You should go home and rest. Tomorrow
is the day we will all become free.” 

 Gwendolyn
ran off then to retrieve Colin, and I just stared dumbfounded at the door for a
minute after she’d left. I didn’t really know what to think about the cards she’d
shown me. All I knew was that they couldn’t put all their hopes on my brilliant
performance tomorrow. I was going to let them down. 

 Asher
cleared his throat. “Do you still want to leave?” he asked in an even tone,
leaning against the doorway, his expression as flat as his voice.

 I could
only nod, confused as to if he was asking about leaving the Underground or
leaving River. Nerves and shock had replaced the bravado I’d flaunted earlier. I
did want to leave, though not necessarily to go back to the apartment. Numbly
passing him, I walked out the door and stepped into the hall. Without knowing
which way to go, I would have to follow him through the darkness.

 Asher
didn’t say another word as he brushed by and headed the opposite way we‘d come.
I followed silently, lost in my jumbled thoughts before suddenly becoming horribly
nervous about the performance I was supposed to give in less than twenty-four
hours. Hundreds of people were banking on my ability to hold the Speakers’
attention for at least thirty minutes. The performance was longer than that,
and I wouldn’t be dancing that entire time, but in intervals with the rest of
the dancers. I had no idea of anything else except that I was going to choke, ruining
the whole plan.

 I began
gnawing on my thumbnail while staring ahead into the corridor. The way began to
incline slightly, and then I could finally see a small flicker of light, a
pinpoint. Asher stopped abruptly, and I nearly stumbled into him. He peered
down at me, probably making sure I was still there and not making a break for
it. I shook my head in disbelief.
Where does he think I am going to go?

 Sighing, he
pulled open another door to yet another black passageway. In return, my
eyebrows shot up.

 “You
carried me all this way?” My question echoed, though I’d spoken softly.

 He
shrugged. “I was more or less holding you up to appear as if we were walking
arm and arm, trying not to draw attention to us. It was my fault you were… incapacitated.
I wasn’t about to leave you there to run back to your Speaker friends as soon
as you woke up.”

 This time I
snorted. “I wouldn’t know one of them from one of you.”  The anger welled up
again, turning my skin hot. 

 Afraid of
destroying any peace between us, I changed the subject. “You know, I’m not
really tired. When we get out of here, can you point me to Danny’s? I want to
check on him.” I was still worried. If something had happened while we were
down here, if the Speakers had found out about him… I shook my head, unable to
think of it.

 “I assure
you, Dan is fine.” He spoke to me as if I were a child and turned around a
blind corner.

 “Well,
unless you can give me a one-hundred percent guarantee—I’d like to see for
myself.  Please.” Because my frustration was barely concealed, I couldn’t
believe I wasn’t shaking.

 We walked
on, and I gave up on hearing any reply. In some places it was so dark that all
I could see was his white collar, a bit of fabric to follow. I wasn’t quite as nervous
anymore, though. I was too angry. How could he still think I wasn’t on their
side?

 Finally, we
reached another pinpoint of light. Trying to calm down, I had been taking deep
breaths when I heard him chuckle. Hearing that, I had to start all over again. My
ears were scorching by the time we reached the next door. 

 When he
opened it, a wintery blast washed over us. The air suddenly stripped away my aggravation,
bringing with it a new set of fears. Speakers could be anywhere. I shivered and
clamped my lips together.

Asher swept
me into the cold, closing the door in the same motion. Apparently, I had been
standing still a beat too long, and he was afraid I would give away the hiding
spot of the secret entrance, which upon a glance was the wall to a nondescript
building. I stumbled out and caught up with him. He was already crossing the
tram line, and I wasn’t sure where we were. Skeletal trees and scrubby bushes
decorated the landscape. It was beyond freezing. My teeth began chattering
before we’d walked five minutes. I hunched into myself and shoved my hands deep
into the pockets of my coat. All feelings of the warm room where Gwen had sung
were replaced with icy lungs and shooting pain when I breathed. 

 Asher
walked fast, and I tried to keep up. After a short time, I looked around, wincing
from the stiffness in my neck. We were not in the area where River Elodie lived.
This was on the other side of town, Dan’s neighborhood. Asher had actually
listened to me and complied. I was surprised to say the least. 

 A short
time later, we stood across from Dan’s apartment, in the shadows, of course. The
usual doorman was gone; replaced by another I didn’t recognize. This didn’t
really concern me, but Asher became rigid and tense. 

 I waited impatiently,
and did not understand what was going on. In becoming wound up tight from the
mixture of stress, confusion, and the cold, my whole body ached. I stared at
the back of Asher’s neck, psychically willing him to turn around. Hiding behind
him, the darkest place to be, I could just see Dan’s windows over his shoulder.
A light flashed, and I involuntarily grabbed Asher’s coat. I released the
fabric just as quickly, though he hadn’t acknowledged my gaffe. 

 Dan was
pacing from room to room—turning lights on and off. Panicking that he’d gone
completely mental, I suddenly saw through the haze of strain and worry that
there were patterns to his madness. He was coding.

 I
concentrated on the light show. Danny seemed to be deliberately not looking
outside his windows. Just when I thought my neck muscles would pull themselves
taut and tear… I got the first word.

 D-O-O-R-M-A-N

 Asher
hadn’t moved at all. When he finally turned to face me, I lost focus. Fervently,
I nodded toward the building. Dan needed us. I was ready to go and help. Kick
and claw at whomever. Do whatever was needed to get my friend out of there. Before
I was able to move, Asher grabbed both my arms with his gloved hands, and I
forgot the cold for a microsecond. He shook his head once and stole us into the
night.

 As he led
me through a passage smaller than an alley, I stopped resisting. Evidently, Asher
knew something I didn’t. After a couple of blocks, he stopped and peered out to
the street ahead. He’d let go of my arm almost immediately when we’d first set
out, but hooked my elbow lightly before we entered the sidewalk. Though the
street was nearly empty of people, he seemed to be overly cautious. Then, very
casually, he let his arm drape over my shoulders. I gaped at him while secretly
grateful for the added warmth. Looking down at my shocked face, Asher smiled cordially,
visibly becoming a completely different person. My head tilted to the side as I
squinted at him. What the hell was he doing? 

 He impatiently
raised both his eyebrows, as if to give me a hint.
Oh
. It dawned on me
just then that we were pretending.
Well, I can do this
, I thought,
expert
at duplicity I have become
. I grinned shyly and cast a coy glance down
through my eyelashes, as though bashful because he’d just given me a huge
compliment and was anticipating a goodnight kiss. 

 Only, I
suddenly imagined what Asher would have really said to me if he were able:
Thanks
for getting
me into this, Elodie. Thanks a lot. You
will be the
end of us all tomorrow
if you don’t go
tattle
to the
Speakers first
.

 I felt my faux
smile turn bitter.

 But if he
didn’t trust me, why was he trying to save me? Unless he wasn’t. It occurred to
me that I wasn’t exactly sure where we were. I looked around without trying to
make myself obvious. Our surroundings were slightly familiar. After having been
here a week, I had come to know the main streets well enough. Then I saw low
lighting ahead and noticed the music playing louder. Whatever it was, it was
beautiful as usual, reminiscent of Mozart. The gallery displaying Asher’s
paintings came into focus. He was taking me to River Elodie’s apartment. What
he thought was my home.

 I felt a
tiny bit warmer.

 We continued
play acting a couple for the next three blocks, and I devised a story as to how
we’d arrived here at this late hour…  

 Asher had
taken me out on our first date to a concert that had ended hours ago. Then we
went to dinner at a small romantic restaurant, plenty of food and lulled music
to make us lose track of time, closing the eatery. This neighborhood was where
the galleries and restaurants were, so my anecdote wasn’t too much of a
stretch. We’d seen a couple of workers going home for the night, and they’d
barely glanced at us. It was too cold for gawking or thinking of anything other
than the warmth of indoors. We were on our first date though, so the night
wasn’t cold to us. It was sparkling and new. I even nudged him a little when
we’d walked past his painting. He probably didn’t feel it, but it was something
that I imagined Petra would’ve done to one of her dates. I closed the thought
before thinking of her further and concentrated on my part. This game kept me
from feeling the terror of the reason for our act: being tracked by Speakers.

 We stopped
in front of my building. The lights were bright in the entrance, and Asher
grabbed my hand to help me off the curb to cross the tramway. I froze with a
plastered smile, my blood pulsating from a jolt of fear a second before that. Whether
it was from his hand grabbing mine or from what I saw in the window… I couldn’t
say.

 Not George
was missing from the front desk. I didn’t know who the doorman was.

 I shook my
head a little and tugged Asher’s arm. He looked back at me as if he were seeing
me for the first time, having been focused so intently on getting us to the building
that he’d barely noticed my presence. I pursed my lips into a tight line, shaking
my head minutely. Couldn’t he see I had something to tell him? I started to
code with my frost-bit index finger, but the trembling made it confusing for
both of us. Clearly exasperated, he leaned in abruptly, taking me into his arms.
And then he pressed his lightly stubbled cheek against mine, his lips at my ear
hidden by my hair.

 “What is it,
Elodie? We have to get into the building.” His warm whisper was deadly calm.

 I covered
my mouth by placing my hand on the side of his face; he didn’t cringe at my icy
fingers. Trembling uncontrollably, I barely moved my lips, fearing that my
breath would cause a telling mist in the sub-zero air. “That’s not the doorman
I recognize,” I said with shaky undertones, afraid of my own voice.

 Asher
stiffened and put his gloved hand over mine, stopping the tremors that had probably
irritated him. It seemed he was buying us time, formulating a plan. We couldn’t
go back to the Underground now; I was sure the new doorman had seen us. We were
maybe ten feet from the huge windows. They were frosted over, but not
completely.