Mona Lisa Blossoming m-2 Page 14

  "They learn it from you," Tersa said.

  "Maybe that's not such a good thing."

  "But it is," Tersa returned, her voice a low, gentle, sure sound. "It's a good thing not to fear."

  The awareness of a new heartbeat and the sense of a presence had me turning to my left. Wiley loped into the forest, disappearing as Miguel appeared.

  "Wiley," Tersa shouted after him.

  "Let him go," I said. "We know he'll come back now."

  "Casio," Miguel said gently, "your mother sent me to find you. Who was that boy you were playing with?"

  "Wiley," Casio said.

  "And who is Wiley?" he patiently asked her.

  "A friend."

  Miguel lifted his head to look askance at me.

  "A Mixed Blood," I explained. "He grew up wild and isn't used to men."

  "Then he is dangerous," Miguel said quietly.

  "No," Casio cried.

  "Casio is safe with him. He would not hurt her," I said, and mentally chided myself. I was as bad as Jamie. But I knew with certainty that Wiley would not harm a child. It was just men he had a problem with.

  "Come," Miguel said, holding his hand out to Casio, "your mother misses you."

  We all trudged back toward the house.

  "Who came up with the name Wiley?" I asked.

  "Your brother did," Tersa said. "It sounds like what you called him, Wild Boy. Though he said something about a coyote and a cartoon that I did not quite understand."

  "Wile E. Coyote," I muttered, smiling. Not quite the same thing as a wolf, but close. And Wild Boy did have a way of dashing off rather quickly like the cartoon character. My brother had a sly sense of humor, it seemed. "Wiley's as good a name as any, I guess."

  I made a note to buy some new clothes for Wiley, clothes that fit him better. The way the boy was using them up, my brother was going to run out of clothes soon if I didn't.

  Speaking of my brother, I heard a car pull up the long driveway. They had returned, just in time for dinner.

  I waited by the front door and watched my men climb out of the Suburban. "Where's Horace?" I asked.

  "We sent the good steward on his merry way," Gryphon said.

  "We have some of the coolest businesses, Mona Lisa," Thaddeus said, his eyes dancing, his usually calm face alive with excitement.

  "Yeah? You'll have to tell me about them later," I said, smiling at his eagerness.

  Gryphon scrutinized me carefully with his sharp falcon eyes as he climbed the sweeping steps, the others behind him. "You are well?"

  It took me a heartbeat to realize he was asking about my injuries. "Oh, yes," I said, stepping back, letting them all enter through the door. "Janelle healed me up as good as new. It was amazing. And she said she was going to teach me and Casio how to do what she did."

  "We will at least begin the process," Janelle said, coming down the front hallway, Prince Halcyon a golden presence beside her. "I have been sent to call you all to dinner." She gazed curiously at Thaddeus, and I realized that they had never met.

  "This is my brother, Thaddeus," I said, introducing them. "Thaddeus, this is Healer Janelle and Prince Halcyon, High Council members. We are honored to have them as our guests."

  Like the polite boy he had been raised to be, Thaddeus stepped forward and shook Halcyon's hand. Though Thaddeus glanced curiously at the long nails, there was no fear on his face. With the briefest pause, Halcyon carefully shook my brother's hand and released it, a slight smile on his face, and I realized it was the first time I'd seen any of them do that. Shaking hands seemed to be a human tradition, not a Monèrian one. Made sense among a people that had the casual strength to rip one another apart with their bare hands.

  "A pleasure to meet you, sir," Thaddeus said.

  "Likewise," Halcyon murmured.

  "Your brother," Janelle said wonderingly. "You found him."

  "Yes," I said. "I found him."

  The healer held out a hand to my brother. But when Thaddeus reached out and grasped it, instead of shaking it, Janelle just held his hand in both of hers, a distant inward look in her eyes.

  "Ah," she exclaimed softly, her eyes widening with surprise. "You also have the gift for healing. How rare in a male."

  "I do?" Thaddeus said. His power flared out briefly as it did whenever he was frightened or threatened, and all present felt it.

  And I knew what Thaddeus feared, what he was threatened by, because it was my fear as well. Whether or not Councilwoman Janelle could sense his other even more rarer ability: Basking.

  Gently, I pulled Thaddeus away from the healer, and she released his hand.

  "How blessed we are," Janelle said, pleasure lighting her eyes. "Three new healing talents discovered in such a short span of time."

  "How many do you usually discover a year?" Thaddeus asked curiously.

  "One or two with the potential every ten cycles, if we are fortunate."

  Ten cycles meaning ten years.

  "That rarely!" I exclaimed. "So does that mean it will be hard to find a healer to come to our territory?"

  "Healers are few and valued enough that they can pick and choose where they serve," Janelle said, confirming my suspicions. Which explained why my mother, Mona Sera, considered one of the worst Queens among the Monère, had not had a healer.

  "I won't be able to get my hands on one, will I?" I said bluntly. Janelle smiled, as if my quaint human phrasing seemed to amuse her. "If that means to lure a healer to your service, then no, not for the next several seasons, in all likelihood."

  "Because I'm a Mixed Blood Queen," I said flatly.

  "Yes," Janelle agreed gently. "You are an unknown. They will wait to see how you rule. You must prove yourself strong, stable, and prosperous first."

  "To everyone, it seems," I muttered.

  "In the meanwhile, the best you can do is to develop all your potential talent and you are richly blessed in that. You must allow me to instruct your brother as well."

  "It seems we have no other choice," I said wryly. "How long does it take to learn to do what you did to me?"

  "It varies greatly, but half a cycle of ten is most common."

  "Five years?" I groaned. Which also meant that Janelle wasn't sure I'd be able to get my hands on a healer even a year from now. "How long can you stay?"

  "No longer than a fortnight, I'm afraid. But we can continue our lessons thereafter every second new moon when you come to the High Council meetings."

  I smiled grimly at Thaddeus. "Well, little brother, I hope one of us learns fast."

  "So do I," he said, gazing down at my recently healed calf. "So do I."

  Chapter Twelve

  The next morning ended up being a continuation of my long, long night. The plan was to enroll Thaddeus in the parish's local high school. Then I was hitting my bed. We were in a good school district, living as we were in the seat of old wealth. The other houses we drove past, while not mansions, carried the weight of their years with well-maintained dignity and expensively groomed lawns.

  Thaddeus was in the back. Halcyon sat in the front passenger seat, looking as tired as I felt. The big SUV actually felt empty with just us three in it. Gryphon had been surprisingly agreeable when I had suggested that Halcyon accompany us to the school. In fact, Gryphon had been amazingly cordial and calm about Halcyon's presence thus far. But maybe that wasn't so surprising. Gryphon had asked for help, after all, and Halcyon had come to our aid, healer in tow. He seemed willing to entrust our safety into the Demon Prince's hands, satisfied that my brother's presence would be adequate chaperone.

  I'd asked Halcyon to come along because, of the three men able to withstand daylight, Halcyon would actually blend in the most. Amber was too strikingly big and Gryphon was just too damn beautiful. They would attract a lot of attention and curiosity, which I wanted to avoid. Prince Halcyon, the High Prince of Hell, actually wouldn't draw much human attention, believe it or not. He blended wonderfully, except for his long nails.

 
"Just keep your hands in your pocket or behind your back," I reminded him once again.

  Halcyon just smiled and nodded.

  "I said that before, didn't I?" I said, nervously tapping the steering wheel.

  "Only four or five times," Thaddeus muttered.

  "All will be well," Halcyon reassured me.

  "I'm sorry," I said. "I don't know why I'm so nervous."

  Thaddeus, looking curiously at the school grounds we were entering, obviously wasn't.

  I pulled into an empty parking space in front of the three-storied brick building. Two long rectangular wings flared back at forty-five degree angles from either side of the structure so that it looked like a giant brick bird about to take flight.

  "Don't worry," Thaddeus said, getting out of the car, "I'm not even starting school yet."

  It was the last Friday before Christmas break. Our timing was almost perfect, as if we had planned it, which, let me assure you, we had not. It had just luckily worked out that way, like sometimes things did. School would be out for the next three weeks and the administration had decided that it would be best if Thaddeus started classes after the holidays. We were just here to register him and tour the school. Butterflies, however, still fluttered in my stomach as we stepped through the white double doors. The sight of long corridors, rows of lockers, and closed classroom doors brought back a wave of memories, many of them unpleasant. No matter where you are, schools smelled the same the world over, like waxed floors and disinfectant, the sweat of young bodies, still sweet, not yet pungent with maturity, the faint stench of gym socks, the whiff of old textbooks and new notebooks, girls' floral perfume, and the scent of forbidden bubblegum, chewed in hidden silence.

  The registrar's office was to our right. A lady with tanned, wrinkled skin and obviously brown, dyed hair sized us up in one encompassing glance, peering over the rim of reading glasses perched low on her nose with sharp, no-nonsense eyes. A veritable dragon.

  I self-consciously smoothed the skirt of my dark blue dress under that piercing stare. It was the only short dress I owned. I'd bought it and worn it only once before, for my job interview at St. Vincent's Hospital. Tersa, acting like my lady in waiting, had French-braided my hair neatly back away from my face, and had even applied some makeup with a surprisingly deft hand. When she was done, I almost didn't recognize myself. I looked older, more sophisticated. Pretty.

  Now, I just had to act the part, which was easier said than done. Speaking slowly, calmly, I introduced myself. "Hello, I'm Lisa Hamilton. I'm here to register my brother, Thaddeus Schiffer, for next quarter. He's transferring schools."

  The dragon's glance slid over me and moved on to Thaddeus, who was dressed neatly in brown corduroys and an oxford shirt. Then she looked pointedly at Halcyon; a woman who knew how to let silence speak for her.

  "This is Albert Smith, my friend," I said, answering her unasked question.

  Halcyon smiled charmingly back at her, his hands casually hidden in his front pockets.

  "We've been expecting you," she said crisply and introduced herself as Mrs. Boudoin. She disappeared into the adjoining office for a moment. When she returned, she waved us in. "Mr. Camden will see you now."

  Mr. Camden was a pleasant-looking man in his thirties who smiled warmly at us in welcome, shook both Thaddeus's hand and mine and gestured for us to take the two seats in front of his desk. He nodded congenially to Halcyon, who remained standing deliberately back against the door.

  "Your school has already forwarded your records and SAT scores to us, Thaddeus. Both of which are very impressive. And you are just—" He glanced down at the opened file on his desktop. " — sixteen. Two years younger than the rest of our seniors." And looking even younger, more like fourteen. Social suicide in high school. I did not envy my brother.

  "Thank you, sir," Thaddeus said. "I started kindergarten early and Hawthorne Academy was kind enough to arrange a curriculum allowing me to complete high school in three years instead of four."

  Mr. Camden smiled. "The heavier course load does not seem to have affected you adversely in any way."

  "No, sir."

  "Well, we can certainly accommodate you here as well," the smiling Mr. Camden said, looking at both Thaddeus and I. "You only have one extra course per quarter to fit into your schedule, which we should be able to do quite easily."

  "We appreciate that," I said, and smiled for the first time at him. He seemed stunned for a moment. Then his smile became even warmer, and his eyes dipped down to gaze at my bare left hand.

  My smile disappeared.

  "It's unusual for students to transfer in the middle of their senior year. May I ask what precipitated this change?" Mr. Camden asked.

  "His parents were just killed in a car accident. My brother has only recently come to live with me," I explained.

  Mr. Camden murmured his condolences. "Do you have any plans for college, Thaddeus?"

  "I've been accepted into Harvard and Yale, sir."

  Mr. Camden smiled. "Congratulations. But not so surprising with your scores."

  "However," Thaddeus continued, "I have decided to attend one of the local universities instead."

  Mr. Camden's brows rose with interest. "I have a friend who works in admissions at Tulane. You would be someone they would most definitely be interested in." He wrote down his friend's name and number and handed it to me with another warm smile. Then he got down to business and showed us the busy schedule he had tentatively worked out. With only a few minor changes Thaddeus suggested, the courses for the rest of his school year were finalized, and a locker assigned to him.

  The assistant principal, a Ms. Emma Thornton, took us on a brief tour of the school. She was handsome rather than beautiful, a tall, elegant woman who seemed to smile with special interest at Halcyon. Made one wonder if the entire faculty here was unmarried.

  Thaddeus's textbooks in hand, we left the building just before noon, finally sucking in air that didn't smell recycled. The sun—hot yellow ball hovering straight overhead—shot fiercely down upon us as we walked to the car.

  Only in the car did Halcyon finally remove his hands from his pockets. "So that is a school. So many children," he murmured. "Over a thousand beating hearts I sensed in there."

  "You've never been to a school before?" I asked, starting the car.

  "The Monère do not have such a thing. Nor enough children to warrant such an institution," Halcyon said, a tinge of sadness in his voice.

  "Are you feeling well, Prince Halcyon?" Thaddeus asked from the backseat.

  My brother's question made me turn and look at Halcyon. Really look. And what I saw alarmed me. He looked haggard, sallow beneath the golden hue of his skin.

  "What's wrong?" I asked sharply. Concern flared even greater when he dropped his head tiredly back against his seat. He'd never displayed any weakness before. Heck, he'd never been weak before, and seeing a crack in that great strength now rattled me completely.

  "The sun bothers me," he admitted quietly.

  "The sun?" I said, leveling him a hard look. "Halcyon, you were walking in daylight when I first met you. The sun was shining brightly down upon you then and it didn't seem to bother you."

  "I remember feeling as if something in the woods was calling me," he said, smiling weakly in remembrance. "It had been so long since I had walked the earth beneath the sun's rays."

  My knuckles tightened around the steering wheel until they were white. "Shit, Halcyon. You told me when we first met that the sun doesn't bother you."

  He closed his eyes. "Not in short doses. Even these lengthy hours today I could have withstood at my full strength, but I have been long away from home." Home being Hell, which I wasn't exactly sure if Thaddeus knew just yet.

  "I had already tarried seven days at High Court before Gryphon called us here," Halcyon said.

  "You should have told me that." I was angry and frightened, my voice harsh. "I would never have asked you to accompany us if I had known."

  "
I wished to come," he said simply. "I wanted to see what a human school was like."

  "Jesus Christ, Halcyon." I felt like smacking him for taking such a foolish risk. "Are you going to burn or melt or anything like that?"

  Again that weak smile. "No, just bring me back to the house. I will rest, then depart for High Court tonight, and return back home. I will be fine once I am back in my own realm."

  "I noticed that you hardly ate anything last night, sir," Thaddeus said.

  "You are most observant, Thaddeus. I did not eat at all, actually."

  I was getting an ugly suspicion here. "Let me guess. You cut up your steak and moved it around."

  Halcyon sighed and admitted, "Foolish pride again."

  "Why would you do that, sir?" Thaddeus asked politely.

  "Because he doesn't eat food. Am I right, Halcyon?" I asked, spearing him a hard glance.

  "Meat is not what I require," he said, closing his eyes.

  "So this is even more my fault." But no one had told me. Still, I should have asked or at least guessed. Tersa and Jamie had been absent from dinner last night and now I knew why. Their mother had kept them hidden from Halcyon. She hadn't wanted them being served up as blood donors to the High Prince of Hell. Regret and guilt flooded me. "Halcyon, I would have provided what you needed, had I known."

  He opened his eyes to gaze at me. "Would you have?"

  "Yes." I reached out, touched the back of his hand. "And I would have trusted you to keep it clean, no hanky-panky while I did it."

  "That I could not have promised to do," Halcyon said, smiling, turning his hand until his palm met mine. Carefully he closed his hand around mine, his long nails resting lightly against my skin.

  -

  "The fault is mine and of those under me," I said softly. Because they had known and hadn't told me, and I hadn't asked. "Forgive me. I will do my best to make amends for my breach in hospitality."

  "There is nothing to forgive. The fault lies with my foolish pride," Halcyon murmured, his eyes a dark caress.

  "What does he need, Mona Lisa?" Thaddeus asked.

  I looked at my brother through the rearview mirror. "Blood," I said, and saw his eyes widen slightly.