Chapter 139: Send Off
It wasn't long before I realized someone was crying. Not me for once, what a miracle. I followed the sound out my door and down the hall to Meira's room. We hadn't spent much time together since the whole demon thing went down. Like everyone else in the family, my little sister seemed to be avoiding me. Considering how close we'd always been, it hurt me almost as much as losing Quaid had.
I knocked softly, hearing heavy snuffling from behind her door. "Meems? Are you okay?"
Silence. No more crying at least. I hated being ignored.
"Meira, what's wrong?" I tried to turn the knob, but she'd either locked it or was using magic to keep me out.
"Go away!" Something soft but solid impacted the other side of the door. I'd thrown enough objects at my own door that it was easy to identify the sound of a pillow hitting its mark.
Fine. Whatever. Be that way. I turned to go back to my room, temperature rising as my frustration turned to anger. She had no right to be mad at me. None. It wasn't my fault!
Any other time I would have made her open the door and tickled her until she told me what was wrong, but after what I'd seen Pain go through, I just didn't have the energy.
I was just closing my door when Sassy bounded in. His tail flicked out of the way as I slammed the thing as hard as I could.
"What do you want?" Not nice, I know. And not his fault, either.
For once, instead of being offended, he stood up on his hind legs and pawed at my jeans, climbing my body until he was in my arms.
"Syd," he said, eyes full of sadness. It was all he needed to say.
I hugged him, burying my face in his fur, feeling his desperate purr vibrate all the way through me.
"Sorry, Sassy." I set him down, but he wasn't done.
"Please don't give up on her this way." His tail thrashed once hard against the carpet. "You have to talk to your sister."
"I tried." I shrugged and sat down on the end of my bed. He jumped up beside me and rubbed his body against mine, but not out of happiness. He practically leaked sorrow.
"She's so afraid for you," he said. "Please, Syd."
I sighed in a huff, but didn't really mean it. I stood up and followed him back to Meira's door.
It was open a crack, probably from when he left. I pushed it open without giving Meira the chance to stop me and walked into her room.
At first I didn't see her, it was so gloomy. She had her shade pulled down and only her night-light was on. I finally spotted her in the middle of her bed, buried under pillows and her shiny pink quilt.
That wasn't the most shocking part. The open suitcase on the end of her bed hit me way harder.
I sat next to her, feeling the impact as Sassy landed next to me. He pawed at the covers, pulling them back to expose my sister.
Here I thought she didn't want to be around me anymore because I was normal. The first few nights she'd been there for me, her and Sassy, keeping me company while I cried myself to sleep. But once I managed to pull myself together and not be a blubbering idiot every moment, she grew distant.
I knew the moment she finally met my eyes, for the first time in a very long month and a half, that I was totally wrong about Meira's feelings. That my guesses as to why she avoided me, ran from me, hid herself away even, had nothing and everything to do with me losing my demon, just not in the way I expected.
She didn't blame me after all, or hate me. It was written clearly in her amber eyes, rimmed with red and bloodshot from all the crying she'd been doing, yelled at me to pay attention from the pinched and frightened look on her face.
Meira tried to look away, but I didn't let her.
"It's going to be okay, Meems."
She sobbed once and flung herself at me, hugging me so hard around the neck I had trouble breathing. But there was no way I was asking her to let go.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry," she whispered over and over again.
"For what?" I hugged her back, rocking her a little.
"I want you to be okay!" The last came out in a wail like a lost and wounded animal looking for her mother. "I don't want you to go and I don't want to go either and I want your demon back and I want the stupid Sidhe to leave us alone." She spoke between sobs, and by the time she reached the end I had to shake her a little so she could catch her breath.
"I'm sorry, too," I said. "I should have talked to you before."
"I didn't want you to feel bad." She snuffled and hiccupped. "You wanted to be a regular person and you were one and I thought you didn't love me anymore." The wail was back, but sharper this time. More like a needle right through my aching heart. "So I stayed out of your way and I tried to not worry. But Syd... I'm so afraid." Her lower lip trembled, more tears falling.
She had to run out eventually, didn't she? If she cried much more she'd die of dehydration.
"Meems," I said, "of course I love you." I felt fiercely protective all of a sudden and squeezed her hands. "And I'll get my magic back. I promise."
"But Mom." She wiped at her nose with a corner of one fluffy pillow. "She gave you an order to go."
I nodded, grim. "I'll be here when she needs me," I said.
"But I need you now!" She collapsed onto me again. "Please don't go. They're sending me away too! If you stay, maybe they'll let me."
That's what she was afraid of. As much as I was afraid of the same thing. How could Mom and Dad send us both away knowing it might be the last time we ever saw them? They weren't exactly giving us a choice in the matter.
It also meant there was no way I was going to the lake house. I had to go with my sister. Witch or not, powerless or not, I had to protect her. I knew the coven would object. She'd probably be going with the weakest members as protection. I'd just have to convince them.
Rather than telling her so and getting her hopes up, I tried to offer what comfort I could. "Sassy will be with you," I stroked his fur as he snuggled up to her, "no matter what. Right, Sass?"
He didn't say anything, just fixed me with those amber eyes. In that moment, I knew after what she had been through with Nicholas and the Chosen, he would give his life to protect my sister.
That was when it hit me. Of course she was terrified. She probably still hadn't recovered from being kidnapped and held by the evil vampire clan. Was Mom even aware?
She had to be. I was the only selfish one in this house, turned out.
I hugged her again. "It's going to be okay," I whispered, glaring at Sassy to stay quiet. "I promise."
She finally let me go. "Pinky swear?"
We locked little fingers in the age-old dealmaker of siblings and best friends.
"Pinky swear." I got up, headed for the door. Turned to see two sets of glowing amber eyes staring at me from the gloom.
It was very, very hard to close her door behind me.
Back in my room, I went straight for my computer. No messages from Quaid. What a shocker. I was beginning to lose hope, that he'd forgotten about me. I fired off an email I edited about ten times before I managed to write all my anger out of it.
Seconds later, I had mail. All that was in it were two letters: IM.
I opened my instant messenger.
Anything?
I could see him typing. Not yet. But getting closer.
Yeah, right. It was hard to tell if he was handing me a line or not. He must have known what I was thinking because he followed it up with, Sunny isn't giving up. And neither am I.
Okay. That made me feel a little better.
I filled him in on what happened with Pain and my weird dreams.
What do you think it means? Maybe he could give me some insight.
There was a long pause before he started typing again. Not sure. But the whole Wild Hunt situation may be part of it. Have you thought of that?
I hadn't. What could I possibly have to do with the Wild?
It's much more likely whoever did this to me also did the same thing to Pain. That made way more sense to me.
He paused again and I realized he was probably talking it over with Sunny. I felt the sudden urge to cry. I missed them both.
Quaid started typing again before I could dissolve into a follow up act to Meira.
Whatever the cause, if your mom is right about Pain's walls coming down when she turns eighteen, it could be messy. Miriam knows that, right?
Naturally. She says she can't interfere. Coven law.
Right. He paused one last time. Just keep an eye on her if you can. Sunny says she has another lead she wants to check out.
Be careful. I hugged myself as he answered.
You too.
I almost typed something I shouldn't, involving the word love and him. Before I could, the connection icon winked out. He was gone.
Why did that feel so personal?
***
