CHAPTER 16

"Lena, I'm going out with Nick tonight."

"Uh-huh," I answered, distracted.

"I was wondering if you want to join us."

I didn't look up. "No, thanks."

"Hey, I'm talking to you. What are you drawing, anyway?"

Jamie's face hovered, casting a shadow on my sketch. I huffed, irritated. "Jamie, look. I don't want to be a third wheel, okay?"

She stared at me.

I sighed, setting down my pencil and book. "Sorry. I'm a bit snappy today."

"How's the hot date."

I shut my eyes. I didn't want to share that with anyone, not even Jamie. "Best moment of my life so far."

"Huh. What's up with your drawing, anyway?" She pointed at my sketchbook. "I'd never seen you that furious before when you draw. You acted like a half-mad artist."

I glance at my own sketch. The meadow. The lake. The honeydew rain. I was close now.

The night before, I'd dreamt again. The dream was very vivid.

Duane had never sent me off to the other village as he had promised to do. It had been my choice to stay with him. I didn't want another life like the one I'd had for fifteen years—being scorned for being different, struggling to fit into communities I didn't belong in, all alone in a village that must have surely heard of stories from their neighbor village. I wanted to live a life for real.

He had let me stay with him.

For the first few seasons, we had only spent our time as nothing more than two persons coexisting together, sometimes a girl and a wolf. My first winter in the forest had been a hard time for food. Duane had had no trouble hunting for himself, but he always had to hunt for more to feed two mouths. In gratitude I tried to find some herbs and essence to cook a humane meal for us, but sometimes days it had been so cold that the clothes I had brought with me—which weren't a lot at all—couldn't even warm me up. At the freezing nights I would curl up with Duane in his wolf form to share his heat.

I remembered everything so vividly, that if I had felt I was just dreaming some tale before, I was definitely living in the tale then. Every flashes of our time together, every walks we took, every sunrise and dusks—all the forgotten memories unraveled themselves to me like pages of a book.

And I also remembered how it had happened. How we first realized it.

I had tried making up for my stay by finding some fishes in the lake. The harsh winter hadn't frozen up the water, but the water had been very cold. When Duane went out hunting in the forest as a wolf, I would spend my time on the lakeside, trying to bait the fishes with some leftover piece of meat. I had never gone further than the lakeside, for I wasn't able to swim.

And then, one afternoon in the second winter, I lost my footing on the slippery ice and fell into the cold lake water.

The lake didn't have a current, and I was still near the side enough to grab on the edge, but the ice slipped from my fingers, and I fell deeper. I had kicked, flailed my arms in desperate attempt to hold onto something. Black spots had covered the edges of my vision, and I had almost let myself surrender.

And then I was carried off to the land.

Everything had been so numb, so cold. My eyelids felt so heavy, as if they had been sewn shut. From my clogged ears, I had heard someone saying my name—it felt like I was still underwater.

Suddenly I could breathe again. I opened my eyes, gasping hard. Duane's face hovered over me. He was soaked with water, and some drops clung to his face like tears.

"You are wet," I had rasped in English. He had taught me some of it, in return of my perfecting his written Japanese.

Duane let out a strangled laugh. "I am wet? If only you can take a look at yourself!" There was an odd look in his face I had never seen before. It made the wolf look almost vulnerable. But before I could comment on it, he had pulled me tight against him, wrapping me in the warmth of his arms. "Don't," he whispered in my ear, "ever do that again."

And then he kissed me on the lips.

And the dream ended.

Years of my life with him, flashes of my childhood memories that I thought didn't exist, the bitter times I'd had as the scorned orphan, the man who had raised me in the burned house, Duane—I knew all that when I woke up this morning. It was Sunday. I'd thought of going to Armand's again to tell Duane, but my fingers found the pencil first, and some part of me was afraid of losing my grasp on the memories and forgot again.

I am Eiko. I didn't want to forget that. I didn't even know how I could ever forget that.

"Elena? Elena? Earth to Elena."

I blinked, brought back to present by Jamie's concerned face. "Not Elena," I said. "Eiko. Elena is just my temporary name."

I saw brief flash of expression crossing her face. "You're still convinced that guy Duane is your soul mate from the past, or whatever?"

Soul mate. "It's not even about him anymore." How could I even tell her that I grew up in Japan a just right post-WWII and had my first kiss in '60s?

"Elena..."

I smiled at Jamie and close my sketchbook. "You know what? I think I'd go with you and Nick, after all."

Because I couldn't tell you who I was. Who I'd been. Not yet.

Curfew was ten today, because we had school tomorrow. Jamie wanted to spend more time out, so we headed out at five. Which meant dinner outside Ollie's for us and a few hours of shift cut for me.

Nick arrived on time. He greeted Jamie with a passionate kiss and me with what must be a glare under the black sunglasses he wore.

And so hour one of my weekly third wheel trips began. It's no wonder, really, why Nick hated me so much.

First hour was spent driving around looking for dinner. Jamie hated eating at Ollie's. She said it made her feel so 'local'. She always found reasons to eat out, or even better, eat out with her parents. But Mr. and Mrs. Cadwell both liked to be 'local'.

I had no problem with Ollie's food—there were reasons the restaurant was almost always busy, after all—but Jamie never got tired of convincing me to try as many fast foods as she could stuff me.

So we ended up at McD's.

I bit into my extra large triple cheeseburger, averting my eyes from Jamie and Nick's seemingly intimate discussion. The taste was wonderful. Rich. Cheesy. Jamie had picked it for me, even though I'd insisted that it was too large for me.

"Don't be such a hypocrite," she'd shot back. "The only girl in the world who can stay skinny with all the stuffs you eat is only you."

Well, I've got fast metabolism. But she made it sound like I ate two persons' meal all the time.

I watched as a couple of guys went through the door. Not a lot of people in our town wanted to eat at McD's. Most of them just went through the drive-thru and eat their meals at home. These guys looked about our age, probably a bit older. In our small town, we almost knew everybody, with the few schools we had. Most people went to the same school.

I had never seen them before—but then I'd just been around for less than three years. That was part of the reason why I ignored it when my hackles rose. The animosity I felt towards them was just irrational. Maybe it was because they looked like school jocks. Bullies.

The other reason was the girl I'd missed when she entered, and was now walking towards us.

"Hi, Sylvie!" Jamie greeted her.

"Hi!"

I waved at her a bit feebly, conscious of how beautiful she looked and how ridiculous I looked with ketchup and mustard all over my mouth. I wasn't always a vain person, but being around a girl like Sylvie made me feel that I should be more girly.

"Can I join you?"

We nodded. Sylvie went to sit beside me.

"You're here alone?" I asked her.

"Yeah. Amy and the girls ditched me. I was going for a takeout, but I saw you guys."

Jamie, still half-sitting on Nick's lap, said, "Hey, do you want to order something?"

"The triple cheeseburger is heaven," I told Sylvie.

"I'd love that, but I'm on a diet. I'll have something fishy, if there's one. Fish has less calories than beef."

She went to order and came back with something fried and flat with potatoes.

"What's that?"

"Fish fillet," she answered.

Jamie wriggled out of Nick's arms and leaned forward. "So, Sylvie, you said fish has less calories than beef?"

"Yes, of course. Even less if it's not fried."

"But the smell, I mean..."

Their chat went on. Jamie had always been obsessed with her weight. Anything that screamed out low-fat would go straight to her ears and stomach.

I noticed that the guys who had gone in just now were gone. I hadn't even seen them order anything—but that's okay. I felt so much more relaxed after they left.

Sylvie asked us what we were doing after dinner. We were going to watch a new Marvel film. She asked to join.

"Sure!" I said, perking up immediately. If she was with us, then I'd have a fourth-wheel friend.

"This is going to be so great!" Sylvie said, clapping her hands together.

If she saw the dark look Nick sent her, she ignored him completely. Poor Nicky.

The rocking beat and the night breeze were a perfect hit.

My fingers drummed on my lap as the music blared in my ears, blocking out the voices of Nick and Jamie kissing just two feet away from me. I looked away to the window, wishing that Sylvie would come up with a conversation or something. The sight of them together always evoked a kick in my gut that resonated to my chest.

It made me long for the kind of thing they had.

A tap on my shoulder drew my attention to Jamie, who shot me a sheepish look and gestured to my earphones.

I unplugged them.

"We're ready," she said.

"I'm sure you both are," I replied dryly.

She flushed as we got out of Nick's car. Nick had an arm around her as we walked toward the cinema. Sylvie and I followed them within three feet distance behind. Nick whispered something to her, and she giggled.

I plugged my earphones back. Oasis blared to life.

Nick went to get the tickets. I unplugged the earphones and shoved them into my pocket. Jamie's eyes followed his back and she sighed.

"He's like a dream," she said almost dreamily. "Half the time I spend with him I can't believe he's even real."

I rolled my eyes.

Halfway on Dr. Strange, I decided that they must have given it a wrong title. It should have been Dr. Sexy. God. I swore Jamie almost gave up Jensen Ackles when she saw the guy in action.

"Jamie," I whispered.

"I know, right!" she whispered back. "He's soo ho—"

"Yeah, yeah. I was going to say that I need to go to the restroom. You wanna go?"

"You want to go, like, now? This is the good part!"

"Too much orange juice," I said.

"I'll go with you," Sylvie said from my left. "I need to check my hair anyway."

Her hair? As if all those shiny blonde waves could hold any flaw.

But she really was fussing with her hair when I got out from the toilet. She saw me coming out and said, "Done?"

"Yeah."

We went out. The air was cold. I wanted to make it back to the movies fast. But on the corridor where the movie studio was, a group of men blocked the entrance. I was confused. We hadn't had to pass a security check before.

And then I recognize them. They were the guys at McD's earlier.

I tensed.

Sylvie stepped forward. "You reek of dead fishes," she said.

Startled, I tugged the hem of her shirt in warning. I wasn't sure it was a good idea to taunt the guys. We hadn't even known their intentions yet. But then I saw her face—she knew them.

"We're only here to pass a message, whore."

"Hey!" I interjected. "What's going on here?"

One of the guys sneered. I saw the flash of metal before Sylvie did. A sense of déjà vu passed in the split of second. I pushed Sylvie aside and caught the handle of the knife when it flew past us. I stared at it in disbelief. Had I just caught a knife flying mid-air?

They used the surprise against me. The other guys moved into action all at once. Bullets, knives, matches. It was like they appeared out of nowhere and started flying towards us. Unbelievable pain struck me as the knives grazed my skin. I buckled down. In the haze of pain I saw their faces shifting—ears longer, eyes wider, skin darker and wrinkled. And then suddenly one of them crumpled to the floor, followed by the others.

Sylvie's urgent face swam in my gaze. "Hold on," she demanded.

She poured something to my skin. I tried to bite back the scream climbing up my throat. I was lucky no one else was around, because I almost failed. And then suddenly all the pain vanished, and the haze in my mind cleared.

"What did you do to me?" I asked her.

"Edelweiss essence," she said, holding up something that looked like a vial. It was tied to a silver string around her neck. "It heals magical wounds. Deadly to the Unseelie, though."

"Unseelie?"

"Fae."

"You're...one of the Vigil?"

Sylvie laughed, holding out a hand as she helped me up. "No. I'm one of the Fae."

"Like—" I glanced back involuntarily at the guys on the floor. I wasn't sure I could call them 'guys' anymore. They looked so inhuman. More like goblins, which they probably were. "—them?"

"No. They're elves. Disposable cockroaches from the Unseelie Court. I'm from the Seelie Court."

"Oh."

She sighed. "I was afraid this would happen."

I blinked. "You followed me today, didn't you?"

"Yep, that's me. Bodyguard of the day. Armand asked me to do the job."

Of course. Armand. She'd do anything for him.

"Why haven't you told me what you are before?"

"Because you haven't remem—"

"But I do now! In fact, I just remembered almost everything last night."

"Still, knowledge is a sign of power." She smiled. "Eiko."

"Hey, that's not fair—wait. Sylvie mustn't be your real name."

"Ah, we Fae do not give out our real name. But I'm known as Melusina."

She had an expectant look.

"You know?" she said. "Lurer to deaths?"

I stared at her, tilting my head.

"Siren calls?"

I put the pieces together. Sylvie was beautiful. Inhumanly beautiful, if I squinted further as I had with the elves. While I had seen wrinkled dark skin on the elves, what I saw on Sylvie was the same long blonde hair, same perfect body. But now I also saw the sharpened tips on her ears, and her skin seemed inhumanly fair. The most distinguishing feature was her eyes—they were sea-green. Not just the irises, but the whole eyeballs.

They blinked.

I blinked.

She is a—

"Wait. Mermaid is Fae?"

She smiled. "Ditto."

"How old are you? I'm sorry that must have sounded rude. It's just—Duane said—"

"In human years? Give or take, seven hundred."

Seven hundred years?

I opened my mouth to comment on that, but out of the corner of my eyes, I saw a movement.

Before I knew it, an elf had fallen to the cold cinema tiles, impaled by a set of claws.

Claws. I stared at them as I pulled out of his abdomen. A set of claws, complete with hairy fur drenched in the elf's blood.

"Wh—What's this?" Even as I stammered the words, the fur was dissolving into my skin and the sharp ends were going back into fingers. A hand, drenched in blood of the an elf I'd just killed.

I'd just killed someone.

I didn't really know what went on after that. Sylvie said something to me. I nodded. And then we were back in the restroom, and the water from the tap was flowing out into my hand, washing the blood away. I stared the red fluid as it went down the drain. It looked darker than human blood, but it was still blood. A life force. I'd taken that life away.

Somehow we ended up in the parking lot. Sylvie was shaking me.

I looked up. "Huh?"

"We're taking you home. I've texted Jamie that you didn't feel well."

"The bodies..."

"I'd put an illusion on them. They're just a small garbage can in the corner for now until they're taken care of. I made calls already."

"Okay."

"Well, goodbye."

Something snapped me out of my daze. "Wait! You said you're taking me home."

She looked back at me over her shoulder. "I did. And your ride has arrived. I'm taking off for now. See you tomorrow, Eiko."

She walked into the shadows and dissolved into the night.

I shivered. I didn't see any cabs around—what had she meant by my ride?

"Eiko."

I turned. Duane gathered me into his arms.

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