A Nightingale's Tale

Chapter Nineteen

Lydia tossed and turned on her cot for only a few moments before she decided to get back up. The morning was only a few hours away. Her mind was not going to let her sleep anytime soon. She opened her clenched fist, which had been that way since they left the club, and read the word ‘Tybalt’ which was scratched in black across the napkin Wendy had given her. She had no idea what that could possibly mean but she wasn’t getting any sleep until she found out.

She snuck from her tent and saw Lyon and Killian arguing by the last fire. They began making their way to Lyon’s tent. She began to sneak around the tents toward the truck until she heard Killian say her name. She quietly crept the opposite direction and to the side of the tent that was across from them to hear them better.

“I mean you don’t even really know her!” Lyon said.

“She’s helped a lot of people here.”

“As you keep reminding me and keep leaving out Larid.”

“I explained to you what happened with Larid.”

“How can you be so enveloped with her after only knowing her a few days?”

“I’m not…it’s not..”

“You put yourself in-between a demon and her.”

Killian didn’t speak, instead, Lyon kept on, “Killian, what are you going to do? She can’t stay here. She has a coven coming after her soon enough and she has a demon following her. If we somehow managed to keep away the coven then we would have to worry about being followed by a demon. As long as she’s here, these people won’t be safe.”

Lydia felt anger and guilt bubble in her stomach like a cheap tonic. Lydia didn’t want to listen to Lyon speak the truth anymore. She went only by the moonlight to the truck. The keys were in the truck, as they always were. The truck lurched and stalled as she tried to recreate what she had seen Kilian and Lyon do. It finally began to move forward slowly. The truck died often but she eventually made it to the dirt road. By the time she saw the first house, she as driving steadily but slowly. She wished she had paid better attention to how they had gone to the city. Luckily, the dirt roads didn’t diverge much and once she got to real streets there were many signs that pointed her to New Orleans. When she finally got to the city she wasn’t much relieved. The sun was only a few hours away from rising and she still had no idea what Tybalt meant, nor did she know how to get to the warehouse where Wendy was. She had already been driving around the city for a while with no real clue as to where to go.

“What the hell was I thinking?” she said to an empty truck cab.

She turned down an alley to head back to camp when she saw it. She immediately thought of a spell she had learned in class as a child. There was a wrinkled map on the floor of the truck. Now, she needed a candle. A graveyard was off the street to her right where she had seen candles burning earlier. She pulled in and grabbed the first candle she saw. She spread the map out in the bed of the truck and burned the wick of the candle with her praecant. She burned the paper Wendy had given her and poured the wax onto every corner of the map. The wax all found a central location and pooled together. She looked around for street names and found her coordinates. As she began walking and the wax began to move. It snaked through streets and alleys as she followed until all the wax stopped at the same place. She stood in front of a building that was vacant but to the side was an alley. At the end of the alley was a red neon light above a door that read “Tybalt.” She didn’t take her eyes off the sign in case it was a hallucination and would disappear. Fear crept up her throat as she got closer to the door. There was no going back as she opened the door and entered the basement club. A thick cloud of smoke hung around the roof of the club. She had hoped that Wendy had been wrong, that this was not the kind of place he would be. And yet, in the center of the club, lounged on a torn leather couch with a glass of whiskey in his hand, was Onyx. He was reading a book as a woman approached him, she didn’t sit but instead refilled his glass. When she walked away, Lydia had a better view him again. There he is, she thought, just as he’s always been. The same man that had held onto her and taught her how to play board games. The same man cradled her and took care of her when no one else had. A sting of guilt moved in her throat.

“Onyx,” Lydia said.

He looked up at her and her heart sang.

“I heard you may be looking for me,” he pulled the sleeve of his suit up over his elbows as he leaned into the couch to get more comfortable. Lydia saw a black and green rune on his arm. She recognized it immediately. In battle, magicians would protect themselves from other forms of attack, psychological attacks or illness, with runes.

“Did Wendy tell you that?” she said returning to the problem at hand.

“I know some friends of hers,” he said with a smile.

Lydia thought about the two men that were at Wendy’s, ‘the thieves’ Killian had called them.

“What did they say?” she asked.

“They?”

“The brothers who were there today.”

“You should stay away from them.”

“Like you’re any safer to be around.”

He raised an eyebrow at her, “You think I’m unsafe to be around, considering who you’ve been living with recently?”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“Sit me with,” he said and motioned her to sit close to him.

She didn’t move, instead she spoke again as if he hadn’t heard her, “What is that supposed to mean?”

“Lyon has quite the reputation. Killian isn’t spoken as highly of. The Lafitte brothers are infamous thieves so anyone they would know of must be as equally renowned.”

“No, that isn’t true. Killian wouldn’t…”

“What do you really know about him?”

“I know more about him than I do about you. You’ve been lying to me from the beginning.”

“And, he hasn’t been lying to you, in fact, all of them haven’t?”

“All of them?”

“The degenerates that you’ve been squatting with.”

“Excuse me?”

He laughed, “Your fellow campers. How do you think they all know each other? What do they all have in common?”

“They’re running…”

“Exactly, they’re running, hiding. But, do you know why they are running or are you just trusting what they told you?”

“Their homes were destroyed.”

“Is that what they say?”

“Of course.”

“How about I tell you the truth? They’re running from imprisonment or death because they are all criminals. He didn’t mention that did he?”

“That’s not true.”

“But it is, you see the Lafitte brothers told me everything and Lyon has an impressive background. As well as, all the degenerates in the camp. They range from petty thieves to murders, a real motley crew.”

Lydia watched his facial expression, hoping to see signs of falsehood but she couldn’t see it. However, he had been lying to her for months and she had never known. He was hard to read, impossibly hard. He sipped his whiskey again until the ice slid forward onto his face. The woman came back over and refilled his glass. She shot Onyx a pretty, toothy smile. Onyx thanked her, and she sauntered away with an exaggerated dip in the waist.

“Why would I trust what you have to say?” Lydia said.

“There’s no reason for you too but you came here anyway. I did want to tell you if it’s any consolation.”

The corner of his mouth curled into a sideways smile and she felt her heart skip a beat.

“We didn’t just meet by chance, did we? You knew who I was all along.”

“Come sit with me.” She hadn’t moved an inch from the beginning of their conversation. She had been frozen the moment she saw him. She moved closer but didn’t sit. She stood across the table from him. She could smell him now, fire wood and cloves. It instantly warmed her as her muscle memory relaxed her shoulders.

“Why didn’t you tell me? Why didn’t you tell me anything? You knew everything all this time?” She continued.

“I knew who you were the first time I met you,” he said flatly.

Lydia hadn’t thought she would feel such an intense kind of pain like an illness. She felt betrayed and heartbroken. She pulled herself together, masking her pain like a nesting doll.

“Edna? How did you trick her?” she asked.

“It’s easy to fool humans. I made her see Williams face when she looked at me.”

He didn’t even seem to care that he had been boldly lying to her for months.

“What do you want?”

“I don’t want anything.”

“Then why did you come into my life, at all?”

“That’s for another day.”

“No! I want to know now.”

“I will tell you but not now, not here.”

He motioned around the bar at the other patrons.

“f**k you!” She was shaking with anger and pain.

“Lydia,” Onyx said slowly.

“Then tell me!”

“I said no.” The veins in his neck were raised with increasing annoyance.

“I wouldn’t believe you anyway. Everything you’ve ever said is a lie. Killian is not what you say he is. He’s a better man than you. I’m glad I found him instead of you when I came to shore.”

She regretted the words as soon as she said them. He stood up from the couch and slammed his glass down on the table. Lydia jumped back.

“You have only known him for a few days and yet hid behind him like I was the army of angry magicians searching for you! If he was so honorable he wouldn’t have you staying only a few miles from Covet. And, now you find out him and everyone else there have been lying to you, and you have the audacity to even compare the two of us?” He pushed the table aside to get closer to her. “After all, I’ve done for you,” he continued getting closer to her as he spoke. His tone turned harsher. For the first time, she was slightly afraid of him.

She wouldn’t let anyone intimate her, “Done for me? You haven’t done anything for me!” She moved closer.

“You don’t know anything. If I hadn’t…” He showed another crooked smile. “I’ve done more to protect you than you could possibly imagine. Think about that next time you cower behind that pitiful excuse of a magician.”

“Don’t talk about him like that.”

“Oh?”

“I searched for you! You were gone. You were who I was coming to. I needed you and you weren’t there and now I’m glad you weren’t there. Now I know the truth about what you are.”

He was right in her face before she had time to say another word.

“And what exactly is that?”

For the first time, she felt as if she saw him as others did. His face was paler, more sunken in like he hadn’t been eating. His eyes were unmoving, they stayed fixated on her like he had latched onto a piece of her soul and refused to let go. He pushed a stray hair off her shoulder and brushed her cheek with his thumb. He began to lean into her. She couldn’t comprehend his audacity and slapped him. She brought her hands up to her mouth in surprise. When he turned his face back to her she regretted her impulsive decision. He grabbed her by the shoulder hard. She said a quick spell and he flew back to the couch. It wasn’t perfect, but it did its purpose. Her stomach dropped, she had just done magic in front of humans on a highly upset a demon.

She ran for the door before he had time to come at her again, if he decided to. She ran down the streets frantically looking for the truck. Every noise she heard, she was sure it was Onyx coming after her. When she finally found the truck, she flung herself into the cab. She was shaking with rage and terror as she tried to put the keys in the ignition. She drove the truck erratically, as she wiped tears from her cheeks and tried to steady her hands on the wheel, which caused her to swerve on the road a few times. Every shadow that flew over ahead make her sink down with fear. She knew he was coming for her.

Panicked relief swept through her when she pulled onto the dirt road that led to the camp. Killian was standing, alone, in the empty field when she pulled up.

“Where were you?” He yelled.

She didn’t feel like getting interrogated anymore. “I had to.”

“Had to what?”

“I had to see Onyx.”

He looked at her unmoved. He had known where she was going but hoped he had been wrong.

“Well, go on. Tell me about how stupid I am for not being able to see what he was from the beginning!”

“It’s not your fault you didn’t recognize what he was,” Killian said much calmer than he seemed, “That’s what they do. They manipulate people for their own gain.”

Irritation shot through her, at both herself and at Killian. How can he know? He didn’t know Onyx, he didn’t know anything about either of them. She had only known him for an extremely short amount of time. She couldn’t believe she had let herself get so distracted from her original goal.

“I just need to focus on why I came here in the first place and that’s Ara.” She said as she walked past him toward camp.

“So, that’s it now? That’s all you care about, after all of this?”

“What else is it supposed to be? She’s why I came here in the first place.”

“Is she all you’re here for now?”

He was poking and prodding at her emotions and she could barely take it anymore.

“It has to be. I can’t put any more people I love in danger. I just can’t…”

“Love?”

She stopped speaking, she hadn’t realized she had said love, but there it as.

“Lydia, I love…”

“Killian!” Sofia said as he ran through the field to where they were standing. The sun was rising fast, everyone in the camp would be waking up. Lydia released the breath she had been holding in. Killian didn’t take his eyes of Lydia.

“Killian!” Sofia yelled again as she got closer.

“What?!” Killian yelled back, anger oozed from him.

“There’s a fire!”

“What?” he said as he turned to face her.

“There’s a huge fire a few miles away. I think it’s that old house out near the beach.”

“Edna!” Lydia yelled and began running.

Her heart pounded as she flew by the camp, she felt as if her feet didn’t touch the ground. Everyone was up and talking amongst themselves in groups. She knocked over tables and chairs as she ran the shortest path towards Edna. There, in the clearing of the camp, she could see the high, billowing cloud of black smoke. She ran faster. She berated herself for not going back sooner. Her sight and speed were in perfect synchronization due to her adrenaline and magic. She dogged trees, jumped over roots, and ran faster than she ever had.

When she got into Edna’s yard, the first thing she noticed was the sheets ling everywhere. Then, she saw the house. The back half of the house was engulfed in flames. Simon, Lyon, and Camille were near the back of the house. Lydia didn’t care what they were doing, she ran right into the billowing smoke that tumbled out of every door and window. She didn’t hesitate, she ran into the front door of the burning house. The front half of the house was still intact but filling with smoke rapidly. She couldn’t see much in front of her but began searching each room for Edna. As the smoke grew thicker, she covered her face with her shirt. She ran to Edna’s bedroom and there she was, unmoved, just as Lydia had left her to finish her soup. Lydia noticed the soup had been untouched other than the gnats that floated on the top. Edna was stiff and cold to the touch. Lydia coughed as smoke began to fill the room. She pulled the covers over Edna and began to pull her body off the bed, Edna made a hard thud as she hit the ground. Lydia was checking Edna over and over as if the woman was still alive. The smoke had filled the ceiling like water in a glass and she began to cough uncontrollably. She pulled Edna by her ankles into the hallway.

“Lydia!” Killian yelled as he ran into the house with Lyon behind him. They both came to her aid and helped her pull the woman out of the house. They laid her in the lawn on top of one of the fallen sheets. Lydia couldn’t see orange flames any longer, only a suffocating, thick smoke.

“I think it’s out for good this time,” Sofia said a she ran toward them.

Lydia wiped the sweat and soot off her forehead which left long gray streaks across her face. Lydia checked Edna for wounds. She hadn’t been burned, in fact, it seemed as if she had been dead long before the fire started. Lydia held onto Edna’s shoulders and head and rocked back and forth on her heels. She held onto the woman who had been the closest thing to a mother she ever had, including when her own mother was alive. Lydia felt like she was losing her grip on life. Everything was failing, everyone she loved was gone. What was the point? She could just lay there with Edna and never leave. Lydia noticed something clutched in Edna’s hand. It was a picture of her and her husband on their wedding day.

“You can be with him now,” Lydia said and kissed the woman’s hand.

“Lydia,” Killian bent down next to her and reached a hand toward Edna’s.

“Don’t!” she yelled sobbing.

Killian jumped back.

“Just leave us! You don’t know her. None of you do!” she yelled. She didn’t have any real reason to say what she did, however she was in pain and had no other way of getting it out.

“Come on. Give her some time,” Sofia said to Killian. Lyon had already started walking off. Killian paused and watched her cry into the grey hairs on top of Edna’s head, then he slowly turned and walked away.

Lydia cradled Edna in her arms for a long time even though it didn’t seem like it to her. When she was unable to produce any more tears, she went and found a shovel in the back of the house and dug a grave by Edna’s husband's. She worked for hours digging then dragging Edna to the back yard. By the time she was finished she no longer thought being put in the ground was a decent burial. She searched the property for the perfect stone, she found one that looked like a heart, and she placed it on the freshly dug dirt. She stood by Edna’s grave and looked at the house. The back was completely gutted and charred. Smoke was still rising from the ashes as she walked through, what used to be, the kitchen door. The front of the house was intact but smelled strongly of smoke and had black streaks on the walls, ceiling, and floor. She laid on the living room floor and closed her eyes.

She hadn’t truly fallen asleep, but she felt better when she finally sat up and walked out the front door. She walked the familiar path she had for so long from Edna’s house to the beach. She sat on the shore and watched the horizon, where Covet was. She could swim back, she thought, take the punishment and go home.

“Lydia,” Killian said.

She didn’t speak, she was imagining the life she lived for seventeen years. She had been happy, it wasn’t perfect, but she had been happy. Happiness was momentary now. She didn’t think she would feel consistent joy ever again.

“I’m sorry. I know how much she meant to you,” he said sitting beside her.

“I first saw Edna from outside my window. She was pacing back and forth on the beach. She did it every day for hours. I got used to seeing her every day. I couldn’t figure out what she was doing out there, so I began making up stories for her life. Some days she was a queen waiting for her king to return and other days she was a pirate, marooned on a beach far from home. Making up different scenarios for her life, and what brought her to that beach every day, occupied my thoughts long enough to grieve for my mother. The woman on the beach became such a big part of my life. The stories I made up about her got me out of bed most days. Then one day she wasn’t there. Days and days passed, and she wasn’t there. I felt that weight of sadness pulling me back under. Curiosity overcame dread and that was the first time I climbed out of my window and came to the mainland. I suppose the dangerousness of it helped, it was nice feeling an emotion stronger than sadness. I found the house and met Edna that night. I told her who I was and where I came from, surprisingly she believed me, a young girl. She never questioned what I told her about Covet. She then told me her real story and it was much more wonderful than any fanciful tale I could come up with. She met her husband when she was as teenager and they moved out here to keep up the house. They stayed in this house their whole lives. She never wanted to travel or explore the world, all she wanted was right next to her planting tulips. She found a real love that not everyone gets to experience. They walked on the beach everyday together for exercise. When he passed away she kept up the tradition and would tell him about her day during their walks on the beach. Of all the books I’ve read, their love story was my favorite.”

“You don’t have to go through this alone,” he said, placing a hand on her shoulder.

“But I am alone. My whole life has vanished in a few days. Edna’s dead, I still don’t know where Ara is. Onyx is a demon. I can never go back home. Everything I worked so hard for, for so long, doesn’t matter. I don’t recognize myself or my thoughts anymore. Lydia died, and I don’t know who this new person is. I feel as if my body has been going through the motions to survive but I’m not really here. I don’t think I can do this anymore.”

“Lydia didn’t die, a part of your life is no longer. That doesn’t mean that everything good and bad that you’ve experienced doesn’t matter. You don’t have to feel ashamed for caring about people that weren’t who they made themselves seem to be. No matter what, that is a part of you, and anything that is a part of you is a wonderful thing. You can't stop. Ara needs you, everyone at camp needs you, I need you.”

She thought back to what Onyx had told her. she had been planning on confronting Killian immediately about it, but she just couldn’t. She couldn’t fight anymore. She was in a daze of melancholy and at least there, she felt nothing, no sadness, no happiness, nothing.

Killian pulled her into him, “You’ll never be alone again.”

He spoke to her as they walked back to camp, but she didn’t hear a word he said. Her mind was a blank canvas. It was as if she were asleep but still moving. She heard him say, “How about a warm bath?” and that was the only thing she heard.

She was covered in dirt, soot, other bodily fluids from Edna’s corpse, and desperately needed a bath. He took her to the only tub in camp. It was mainly for heating large quantities of water for cleaning, but she didn’t care. She threw in a few heating stones and got in the steaming water immediately. The scorching water distracted her mind with a different kind of pain. She stayed in the bath until the heat had dissipated.