Time's Daughter (10 page)

“
What the—” Felix’s features widened
at the wound. My boss was a little more lucid than his brother.
“There’s a first aid kit in the back. Let me see if there are any
bandages in there.”

Was he going to avoid the doctors too?

“
He’s gonna need stitches, Felix,” I
said. He disappeared into the back. I called out at a volume I knew
he’d hear. “You need to take him to the hospital.”

Trey continued to curse and stomp his feet from the
pain.

Felix returned with the kit. “I’ll take it from
here.”

I didn’t agree but there was no point in trying to
argue with them. “All right. I’ll see you Tuesday.”

“
Aeon,” Guy said, surprising me.
“Whatever attacked him is still out here. It knocked me down. It
isn’t safe even with a camera.”

He was right. If Alex had been brave enough to
attack Trey in front of a camera then he might be brave enough to
attack the cameraman himself or even me. But what choice did we
have?

“
You can’t call the cops,” Trey
moaned. “They’ll arrest us for being high and then they
might—”

Felix shushed him quickly. “We’ll go out back. I’ll
give you a ride home on our way to the hospital.”

“
But Felix—” Felix pinched Trey,
cutting his argument short.

“
That works for me,” Guy said for us
both.

It was silly to go in the direction the assailant
had gone but it was the best idea we had. We filed through the
storage room, between the boxes and to the loading dock door.
Felix’s Escalade was parked almost on top of us. I forced Guy to
get in first, glanced around for a sign that the coast was clear
and then got in myself.

Felix drove like an old man through downtown. It
took almost as long to get home as it would have if we’d walked but
I was thankful that we’d arrived in one piece considering his
impaired state.

While Felix and Trey looked on, I hurried to the
side porch and Guy walked to his car in the light cast by the
headlights. I watched through the blinds in the living room, making
sure he made it safely inside the vehicle.

“
What?” my mother asked in concern
when I didn’t immediately greet her.

“
Nothing,” I lied. “I just wanted to
make sure the camera guy got to his car.”

Her eyebrows knit in confusion.

I nodded toward the bathroom. “I want to show you
this new shade of lipstick I bought.”

It was code. Mom knew I never wore lipstick and that
I wouldn’t buy anything so frivolous as make-up. She also knew even
if I had, I wouldn’t feel the need to show her.

“
What’s going on?” she demanded once
we were closed off from the cameras in the small room with the
overhead fan going on full blast.

“
Felix gave me a bonus but it was
under the table.” I lowered my voice. “You know—tax free? So I
couldn’t let the cameras see it or he’d get in trouble with the
IRS.” At least that was the assumption I was going on.

I pulled the money from the bottom of my backpack
and set it in her hands.

Mom cast me several suspicious glances as she
counted it. “How did you get this?”

“
I told you. Felix gave me a
bonus.”

She tilted her head to the left. “You’re sure?”

“
How else would I get a hundred and
twenty dollars while being videotaped twenty four hours a day? It’s
not like I can sell drugs or work the streets, Mom.”

“
Don’t take that tone with
me.”

I cast my eyes down to the throw rug at my feet.
“I’m sorry.”

She handed me one of the bills. “Here, take twenty
of it.”

“
No, it’s okay.”

My mother shoved it into my pocket anyway. “You
earned it all. You should be able to keep at least twenty dollars.
Get yourself something nice.”

“
Right now all I want is food. I’m
starving.”

“
Let’s get pizza,” she said
brightly.

“
Mom—”

“
Oh hush. We can get pizza once in a
while. We’re not poor. We’re just in debt.”

It seemed like the same thing to me but I didn’t
argue.

* * * *

Two hours later I’d
finally soothed my stomach by stuffing my face with pepperoni pizza
and a can of sugary soda. I’d be awake later than usual but I knew
I could sleep in the following morning to make up for
it.

My mother excused herself to bed at midnight. I
turned out all of the lights in the apartment, retreated to the
bedroom and waited several minutes. I waited until snores came from
her room before I tiptoed to the front door, pulled it open as
quietly as I could manage and then raced outside. On the darkened
sidewalk I waited. Long enough passed that I slid into a crouch
atop the cement and eventually sat.

Alex slowly emerged from the darkness. I got to my
feet and eyed him warily. The only adjective I could think of to
describe his movement was “predatory”. My breath quickened.

He stopped several feet in front of me but said
nothing, hands in the pockets of his black jeans and his shoulders
hunched slightly forward.

I inhaled for bravery. “Why did you do that?”

“
He was accosting you.”

“
No, he wasn’t.”

“
He was going to,” he said in a
lower voice.

“
How do you know?”

“
Call it a hunch.”

“
What did you do to him?”

“
Just gave him a little scratch.”
His shrug was far too flippant give the
blood
I’d
seen.

“
A
little scratch
? You almost
cut his arm in four pieces! How did you even manage
that?”

Alex mutely stared at me in the dim light of the
street.

“
You’re not normal either, are you,”
I blurted out.

He slowly shook his head.

I couldn’t breathe for a few seconds. When I could I
whispered, “Are you a witch?”

His nose crinkled in obvious distaste.
“
No
.”

“
Are you like me?”

“
I don’t know what you are,” he said
in a dark voice.

I didn’t know what he was.
He
didn’t know
what I was. And he’d
hurt
someone. Yet I didn’t feel like
he’d hurt me. If I had, I wouldn’t have come outside.

“
The people you say will investigate
me, are they like you?”

“
They are,” he said.

“
Why do they want to know about me
so badly?”

“
Because you aren’t normal and that
makes you potentially dangerous.”

My stomach flipped. They thought
I
was
dangerous? “Until a few months ago I didn’t know there was anything
abnormal about the world. Two nights ago I finally believed it. And
tonight I know I’m not alone. How am I dangerous when I know so
little?”

“
I don’t think you’re dangerous,
Aeon.” He paused a beat then amended, “At least not to us. But
until we know exactly what you are and where you got this power, we
can’t be sure.” His tone went soft and urging. “I’ve stalled them
as long as I could. Please, tell me the answers. It’s the only way
I can protect you from them.”

There was no way I was going to come clean with my
secrets. He’d given me no reason to. Whatever Alex Chattan was
seemed far more dangerous than what I was.

I let out a hollow laugh. “I’m supposed to trust you
when you just attacked someone in front of me?”

“
I attacked him to protect you.” His
words were rapid as if he were defensive.

“
So it’s okay for you to grab me and
shove me against walls but it’s not okay for my co-worker to put a
hand on my shoulder?”

Alex exhaled noisily through his nose. “No. Neither
is okay.” He was silent for a long moment. “I’m sorry I grabbed you
like that. I was angry,” he said in a hard tone that was at odds
with his words.

I folded my arms in front of me. “Well, I’m angry
right now but you don’t see me manhandling you.”

“
We believed Junction Hill was free
of witches. To learn we were wrong upset me. And the fact that it
was you…” He lowered his gaze. This time he was remorseful, voice
softening as he said, “I’m sorry. I won’t do it again.”

“
If I’m so dangerous then why are
you trying to protect me at all?”

Alex’s pretty steel blue eyes lifted again. “Because
I believe you know nothing of the supernatural things around you.
That makes you an innocent and when I’m able, I protect any
innocent.” His attention snapped to the left as though he’d heard
something. “I have to go and you need to go inside,” he said in
distraction before darting away.

That dart was
unreal
. It was far faster than
a normal human could run. I’d barely believed his speed the first
time I’d seen it. Now… I didn’t know what to believe.

I went inside like he’d said, tiptoed into the
bedroom and then sat staring sightlessly at the wall.

What was Alex Chattan? More importantly, what were
the things he was supposedly protecting me from?

Did I want to know?

No. I didn’t. I would be happy to never learn the
answer.

CHAPTER
EIGHT

“
They’re going to
come for you.”

I looked up from the tray of developing solution and
found Alex standing beside me in the darkroom. His low voice sent
my heart into a rapid pace.

“
Tonight,” he said. “I couldn’t
convince them to let me try a little longer.”

My lungs stilled. I didn’t know what to say.

“
If you care about the safety of
your cameraman you’ll ditch him before it gets dark.” He turned as
though to leave me but paused. “Please, Aeon, tell them the truth
when they ask you. Don’t lie like you did to me. They’ll
know.”

He was gone seconds later.

I stared mindlessly at the dim red light in the dark
room until the bell rang. The print I’d been making had been ruined
because I never pulled it out of the developing solution. I used
the tongs to fish it out so I could throw it away.

Like the shambling dead I walked to the next class.
When the bell rang at the end of seventh period I looked down and
found I’d done nothing at all in class. A flush heated my cheeks.
But no one had noticed my failure.

Alex avoided me during our game of flag football as
he’d done for days. I didn’t understand why he would follow me
after school and speak to me outside my house at midnight but
wouldn’t so much as look at me during class. It was as if he
couldn’t be seen speaking to me on camera.

The trip to the library after school was a quick
one. I checked out five books on my history topic so that I could
do the research at home. Lugging them to the apartment was no
picnic.

“
I’m going to be working on homework
all night,” I told Guy after I’d set the books on the top stair
inside the side porch so I could rummage for my keys. “So you get
another night off.”

“
Okay. See you tomorrow,” he
murmured as he drew the camera down off his shoulder.

I waved limply and hoped he was right.

* * * *

I tried to skim the books for excerpts about my
topic. It was impossible to concentrate with the sense of impending
doom hanging over me. I flipped the television off and tried again
without the distraction the flickering light posed. It hadn’t
helped. After stowing the books beside my bed, I returned to the
living room for some mindless entertainment.

As the sun set outside I wrote a note to my mom
letting her know I was going to be out late studying at the library
and not to wait up for me. I’d probably signed my death warrant.
But if Mom thought something had happened to me she would try to
find me. She needed to stay safely inside the apartment.

There was a loud bang on the door. My heart jumped
into my throat. On silent feet I walked to the peephole. No one
stood on the other side.

I turned, meaning to walk back to the television.
Another loud knock halted my progress. I whirled to the door.
Still, no one appeared in sight.

This was the part in the horror movies where the
stupid girl dared to open her door and the monster got her. But the
monster had already attacked one person because of me. I didn’t
want them to hurt anyone else.

I flipped the television off, took a deep breath for
courage and then I took hold of the knob. Nothing was in the
stairwell exactly as I’d seen. They were going to make me go
outside, away from the cameras. It made sense really. Still
terrified of what I’d find but concerned for everyone else, I made
myself step onto the landing. I closed the door behind me and went
down the stairs.

I stepped off the side porch’s final cement step.
Something large hit me from behind. I careened forward, letting out
a startled yelp. Before I could think to struggle my limbs were
yanked back and my attacker bound them behind me. Yet another
person blindfolded me and gagged me.

Someone hoisted me across the sidewalk. Moments
later I was dropped onto a frigid metal floor within something that
had an idling engine. A rolling door shut beside me and the engine
gunned.

If there were others with me I couldn’t tell. No one
spoke, coughed or so much as moved. There were no sounds other than
that of a moving vehicle and my heart pounding in my ears.

I prayed to someone, anyone, to keep me alive
through this. Only the thought that if they’d wanted me dead they
wouldn’t have taken the trouble of tying me up gave me hope that
I’d live to see tomorrow.