In the House of the Fae

Chapter Five: Leon

I wrapped a thick towel around myself and stepped out of the shower, pushing aside the curtain—and came face to face with a young man standing on the other side.

Too startled even to scream, I staggered backward, clutching the shower curtain for support.

The man’s eyes widened as he took in my hardly decent state and he quickly averted his gaze.

“I am so sorry,” he stammered, stepping back. “I didn’t realize that…I’ll just step outside.” In one swift movement he was gone, the door swinging shut behind him.

When I could move again, I dashed to the door, snatching my mother’s bathrobe from the back and wrapping it securely around myself. Anger was beginning to outweigh the terror in my mind; despite this intruder’s strange “courtesy”, I knew he was dangerous. The buzz in my head confirmed it, but this time I wasn’t going to rely on my capricious gift to save me. I grabbed one of Erika’s evil-looking steel nail files from the medicine cabinet and yanked open the door.

He was standing with his back to me, but turned as I stepped into the hall. “My apologies, again. I didn’t expect--”

I didn’t wait for him to finish. “What are you doing here?” I hissed, jabbing the nail file at his face. “What do you want?” I tried to keep my voice down; the last thing I wanted was for my mother to come up and investigate. The longer this man was ignorant of her presence, the better.

“I expected to surprise you, but I didn’t expect such hostility,” he said, a mixture of perplexity and amusement on his face as he gazed at the metal file I held. “You’re Evangeline Ward?”

“How do you know my name? Who are you?” I persisted, thrusting my weapon closer.

“That I can answer fairly easily,” he replied. “But first--” he plucked the file from my hand, “I’m rather fond of my eyes; I would hate to lose one.” Slipping my makeshift dagger into his pocket, he turned back to me and looked me up and down.

“I can wait while you dress, if you like,” he said politely. “I’m sure you’ll feel more comfortable.”

“Not a chance,” I snarled. “I want to know who you are and why there have been others like you coming after me.”

He looked taken aback at this. “There have been others contacting you?” His brow furrowed in thought. “This is not good,” he murmured, seemingly to himself.

While he was momentarily distracted, I took a slow step backward, then another. If I could just get into the bathroom, and lock the door…

Before I could take more than two steps, however, he turned back to me. “I’m sorry; I haven’t answered a single one of your questions. My name is Leon Nolan and I know yours because I’ve been sent here to find you. I have a pretty good idea of who’s been after you and why, and I promise you I’m not in league with them. I need you to come with me though, for safety’s sake. Everything will be better explained when we’re somewhere more secure.”

“Oh, so that’s it, then?” I scoffed, a trifle hysterically. “I’m just supposed to follow you out into God-only-knows-where, because you say it’s safe? I still don’t even know who you are! And I can’t think straight with this noise!” The humming had become more and more acute as I grew more panicked; it was now hardly endurable. I pressed one hand against my forehead, fighting not to pass out.

“Evangeline? Are you alright?” Leon said concernedly, stepping towards me. I lifted my other hand, hoping to somehow force him back the way I had the other intruder. Before I could make any attempt, however, I felt warm fingers wrap around my own and the humming immediately stopped.

Shocked, I glanced from our entwined fingers up into Leon’s face. I noted absently that his eyes were a deep gray. “You made it stop. How?”

He looked baffled. “Made what stop? Are you sure you’re all right? You look pale; perhaps you should sit down.”

“No, I’m fine now. I just--” I hesitated, wondering how much I should reveal. I decided to see if I could get more information out of him first. “Could you please tell me why you’ve been sent to find me? And how do you know who’s been after me?”

Leon looked as though he still had misgivings about the state of my health, but he nodded. “Yes, I can tell you that much. I’ve been sent for you because it has recently come to the attention of my…group that you possess certain abilities. Abilities which have made you the target of another group; a malevolent one. I’ve come to offer you protection and assistance. I hope you’ll take it; you’ll need it before long.”

I thought about his words for a moment, weighing them carefully. They seemed to ring true, but they weren’t what had me suddenly convinced; instead I remembered the sudden absence of humming when Leon touched my hand. Somehow I didn’t believe that the same thing would have happened if he had meant to hurt me. And he had yet to make any attempt to incapacitate me or carry me off; if he was a kidnapper, he was doing a pretty bad job.

Suddenly, I was very conscious of the fact that I was wearing only a bathrobe. “Would you mind waiting a minute while I, um, get dressed?”

“Of course not,” he said, courteously.

“Oh, and my mother is home. She might find the fact that there’s a strange man in the house a little bit… alarming.”

“I’ll be discreet,” Leon promised, moving into the bathroom and concealing himself behind the half-open door.

I hurried down the hall to my room, closing and locking the door firmly behind me. Dressing rapidly, I tried to suppress my remaining nervousness about Leon Nolan and his sudden appearance. My head was still devoid of any buzzing, but after the events of the past few days I was nevertheless wary. Twisting my wet hair into a long plait, I decided to reserve judgment until I could find out more about this mysterious man.

When I came back out of my room, Leon was standing in the hallway, seemingly having an argument with a small, clear stone in the palm of his hand.

“No, Eli,” he said in a hushed whisper, voice tinged with annoyance. “Stay where you are; we can’t afford one of them getting in now. I don’t care what Riordan said, no one could possibly get past the gate.” He looked up and spotted me. “I have to go; keep patrolling and ignore any other orders.”

Slipping the stone back into his pocket, Leon smiled at me as though nothing out of the ordinary had just happened. “Are you ready to go?”

“Go where?” I asked warily.

“I thought you wanted better answers to your questions. And I do recall saying that you’re not safe here alone and that I need to get you somewhere more protected, at least for the time being.”

“All right,” I sighed. “But I need to make sure my mother’s not going to notice I’m gone and start panicking.”

I led Leon downstairs and into the kitchen, motioning for him to wait as I approached my mother’s studio. Pushing the door open a c***k, I peered inside.

Erika was, as I had hoped, absorbed in a painting. Her face barely two inches from the canvas, she was using a variety of brilliant reds, oranges, and pinks to depict a sunset over the lake. I knew she would be there for at least two hours more, working to get the sky just the right shades.

Closing the door again, I walked back into the kitchen, where Leon was waiting. He followed me out the front door and into the bright sunshine.

“All right, where to now?” I asked, shading my eyes with my hand. I figured it couldn’t be too far; after all, Leon hadn’t brought a car.