Chapter 30
Chapter Thirty
Wind whipped down the street, ruffling her collar so that it tapped her cheek. Trying to get her attention.
Eliana turned around. She was standing on the white line in the center of the street. Traffic passed on both sides. Ruffling her hair. Her clothes.
A horn honked, and she chased the vehicle with her gaze until she turned all the way around to face the other direction.
And saw her.
The woman stood facing her, far enough away that they couldn’t yell loud enough to hear each other. Lydia Rosenberg lifted her hands to her cheeks.
And screamed.
Eliana gasped, sitting up on her couch. Breathing hard. Hand to her chest. Still in her clothes from this morning. She must have fallen asleep here after she’d come home, following that conversation with Keri Herbohn and Tony’s vow to keep her safe.
Night had fallen outside her apartment while she’d been sleeping, but that incessant rain from the storm hammered on her window still. It seemed like it would never stop until the whole world was drenched and drowning.
She sat forward, forearms on her knees, and breathed as the memories—the images—of her dream dissipated. But she could clearly recall the street and the woman.
Lydia Rosenberg.
She was definitely the woman from Eliana’s dreams, the one with the blue coat who chased her through the woods. But that didn’t make any sense when the dream was a memory morphed into a nightmare.
She’d first had the nightmare the day she’d gone to find adventure in the woods.
That was the earliest she could recall the woman in the coat, chasing her and Cabot through the trees.
Now, after all these years, it had grown and changed as she did.
Almost to the point where it had taken on a life of its own.
Her tablet, on the coffee table, chimed.
Eliana grabbed her phone instead and swiped up.
She saw a weather notification and a couple of messages from Tony asking how she was doing.
Carlos was on shift tonight. The Shrine was doing whatever they were going to do next—investigating Lydia Rosenberg now that she’d given them the name.
Hopefully, they’d found Carolena, wherever she was.
Eliana unlocked the screen, which opened to the resignation letter she was writing to Sylvia. Giving up her job and everything she’d come to Chicago for.
She should call Maizie. Call her mom—if they had signal wherever they were on the road now.
But part of her hesitated doing either of those when she still had so many questions and no answers to satisfy them.
She wasn’t leaving Chicago anytime soon, no matter how her family felt about Lydia.
If she quit her job, she could double down on looking for Luci.
Even if Lydia Rosenberg had some plan or wanted Dominatus secrets, it didn’t have anything to do with Eliana. But she was going to carry her knife just in case.
Her family must have talked about her over the years when Eliana was able to hear them, and she’d subconsciously taken the fear of this woman on board. Turned her into a scary figure in her dreams who just happened to live here in Chicago.
Eliana downed a glass of water, pulled her hair back in a ponytail, and went to Patience’s apartment. She knocked but used her key also, just so that Patience wouldn’t worry about who was making their way into her apartment.
“…do it, please.”
Eliana called out, “It’s just me.”
“Okay, dear,” was the reply. The tone was markedly different, lighter than the tone she’d had during whatever Eliana had interrupted.
When Eliana stepped into the living area from the entryway, Patience had her phone in her lap. “Am I disturbing a call?”
Patience shook her head. She wore pressed navy slacks and matching slippers, a lavender sweater, and a simple necklace. “One of my daughters. She needed some guidance.”
“The one that lives local, or the daughter out in California?”
“California.” Patience’s smile took on a look Eliana had seen on her mother’s face. “Why she moved out there, I’ll never know.”
“I hear it’s warm.” Eliana chuckled. “Ready for dinner?”
“Yes, thank you,” Patience said. “You’re a good girl. How has your day been?”
“I went to work for a bit, then came home and took a big nap.” She shot a smile over her shoulder at Patience, but the older woman had her phone open again. “Naps are good.” Usually they were, anyway. When she didn’t have disturbing dreams.
“Sometimes I think I nap too much, but the pills they have me on for my blood pressure make me sleepy.”
“Maybe you can talk to your doctor about adjusting the dose, or getting you something else?” Eliana grabbed two meals she’d prepped out of the freezer.
Pretty soon, she would need to restock both their cupboards and spend a day prepping food. Maybe Carlos would help her do that. With two people, it would go a lot faster.
She peered at the frost under the clear lid of the container. “This looks like chili.”
“Chili sounds good.”
Eliana jumped and spun around to find Patience right behind her. The older woman said, “Did I startle you? I was just getting more water. It’s good for me to stretch my legs.”
Eliana nodded. “Right. Yes, it is.” She shook her head and sighed. “That nap did a number on me. I think I woke up with no idea what universe I was in.”
Patience filled her glass at the sink and went to the little table, pulling out a chair, a gentle smile on her face. “I’ll keep you company.”
“Thanks.” Eliana glanced over at her.
“I’m thinking you have a few things you need to give to the Lord right now.”
Eliana eased the wedge of chili from both containers into a pot and turned the heat on low, because she much preferred the stove to the microwave.
“My friend who works with me at the Shrine is missing. No one has seen her, and she’s not at work or at home.
Then there’s Carlos’s sister, Luci. She still hasn’t been found, either. Things are a bit of a mess.”
There was more than that, but how did she dump all her problems on this older woman who didn’t need the stress?
She could end up giving Patience some kind of medical emergency when there had been far too much of that with Carlos being affected by Elysium and people getting out of control.
She didn’t know who to trust or which way was up, but here with Patience she at least knew they both believed God was ultimately in control.
He would be glorified in the end.
“That’s so worrying, two of your friends missing now.” Patience shook her head. “Have there been…disappearances across the city? I haven’t seen anything on my news app.”
Eliana had nearly been one of those missing women. She would’ve been if not for Maizie pinging her phone—and those men in the apartment resetting her security settings.
She turned and leaned her hips back against the counter, her arms crossed. “There haven’t been other disappearances that I’m aware of. Carolena isn’t the religious type, so it’s not like she got caught up in the same thing as Luci. But the truth is, I have no idea.”
“People can surprise you.” Patience sipped from her glass. “Do we really know everything about the people we’re friends with, or even our family?”
“Or the organization we work for.”
“The shine has worn off at the museum?”
Eliana nodded. “You could say that.” She slid her hands over her pockets and felt the knife in the right side of her cargo pants. “Things there aren’t what I thought they were. But it isn’t a surprise. Maybe I’m more surprised at myself that I ever thought it wouldn’t end up this way.”
She might get the answers she’d come to Chicago seeking, but she knew now that the price of that knowledge would be far more than she ever wanted to pay.
In order to know everything about Dominatus, she would need to be all-in with their way of doing things, completely on board.
Only then, they’d always have leverage over her.
Eliana wasn’t sure she was prepared to do that.
“Didn’t you say that you wanted to go on an adventure?”
Eliana laughed, turning to stir the chili, which was bubbling now.
“I did say that.” She shook her head, tapping the spoon on the side of the pot.
“Sometimes I think what my head thinks sounds exciting and what my heart is terrified of are the same thing. Like I can’t decide if I’m adventurous… or scared to death.”
She grabbed two bowls from the cupboard and dished up as she continued. “I end up stalled in indecision with no idea what to do next because I can’t beat the fear and do it, or I’m wondering if the fear is prudence in disguise and I should stay home.”
She took the bowls to the table and sat with Patience. “Maybe you could say a prayer.”
They bowed their heads, and Patience prayed over the meal, asking God to give Eliana wisdom for the journey. Eliana let the words soak into her fearful heart, bringing the warmth of God’s peace to her soul.
“Amen.” Eliana took a bite and when she’d swallowed, said, “Thank you so much.”
Patience patted her hand. “It’s what I’m here for, dear.”
The loud bang of a door slamming echoed into the apartment from the hallway.
Eliana frowned for a second, but nothing else happened. She took another bite, resting in the simple peace of a meal shared with a friend.
A second later, someone hammered on the door. Not a simple knock, it continued for a minute.
“Expecting someone?” Eliana reached to check she had the knife, as if that would help her in any situation she might find herself in.
She had left her phone in her apartment, but she could borrow Patience’s phone and call Carlos.
Only, he was on shift. Calling 911 would be a lot faster—if it came to that.
“No, dear.”
The knocking continued.
“I’ll go see who it is.” Eliana glanced over. “You have your phone, in case we need it?”
Patience slid it from her pocket and put it on the table.
Eliana left her spoon in the bowl and went to the door, where whoever on the other side of it was still pounding. She whipped it open, opting for surprise, and tried to sound stern when she said, “Yes?”
The Dreamer woman from across the hall rushed into the apartment, pushing Eliana back as she walked. “You did this! You’re the one who killed him!”
Eliana stumbled back, reflexively grabbing the woman. She didn’t weigh more than Eliana, so she would never be able to completely overpower her. The Dreamer woman had the slender frame of a longtime addict and a dark haze in her eyes. “Whoa, easy.”
“No!” She shoved Eliana, who stumbled back some more.
But that only meant she was now inside the apartment.
“Patience, call 911!”
“That old bag! She’s not calling the police on me!” The woman swept by her.
Eliana grabbed the woman’s arm and planted her weight steady, dragging her back to the door. The woman couldn’t fight it. Not when Eliana used her momentum against her. Eliana moved to stand between the woman and the apartment, blocking the hall.
“You aren’t coming in here. And you aren’t harassing Patience.” Eliana wasn’t going to budge. “Say what you wanna say, then get out.”
“He’s dead because of you!” The woman screamed the words at her, a crazed look entering her expression.
For a second, Eliana wondered if this was the influence of Elysium, but there was something about the woman’s demeanor that told her she wasn’t currently high. Maybe she was even detoxing.
“Your hookup is dead.” Eliana kept her tone measured, just in case it helped the woman calm a little. “I can see how things are hard for you right now. You’re grieving, and we all say things when we’re grieving that we don’t mean.”
“Yeah? Thing is, I mean it.” The woman shifted her stance, her body language tense like a spring coiled and ready to explode. “He’s dead because of you.”
“I didn’t have anything to do with it.” Eliana shook her head. “I wasn’t there.” She turned her head slightly. “Patience, did you call 911?”
The older woman didn’t reply.
Ms. Dreamer from across the hall pounced, nails first. Coming at her with lethal intent faster than Eliana could blink. In a second, her back hit the floor.
Eliana expelled a breath that contained all the air in her lungs. She sucked in air, and the Dreamer grabbed her neck. Thin fingers squeezed her throat, pushing against the already bruised skin.
No.
Eliana pushed her away, but crazed energy lit the woman’s eyes. All she could see was that fiery gaze above her. The gritted teeth, a mess from the drugs she lived on. The sour odor of the other woman’s exhale.
She couldn’t breathe.
Eliana kicked her legs, trying to dislodge the woman. She gave up pushing, white spots flashing at the edge of her awareness. This woman was going to kill her, and she couldn’t even call out to Patience to…
Her hand found the bulge in her pants pocket. Eliana dragged the knife from its sheath and cut the fabric of her pocket in the process. She brought the knife up between them and pressed the tip to the woman’s neck, under her throat. Immediately, blood beaded on the Dreamer’s skin.
The woman screamed and her fingers loosened enough for Eliana to drag in a lungful of air—the breath that probably saved her life.
“Let me go.” Eliana grabbed the woman’s hair in her fist with one hand and held the knife against her neck with the other.
She prayed for the kind of control she needed to not kill this woman. Her life didn’t need to end right now. This woman didn’t deserve to die just because Eliana felt threatened.
She gritted her teeth. “You’re going to let me go.”
With one jerk of her hand, she tugged the woman away from her using the grip she had on the woman’s hair. The Dreamer swung backward, her arms coming up. Eliana’s knife left her throat, and the woman grabbed for it.
Eliana swung the knife out of reach, and the tip swiped across the front of the woman’s bicep in the process, just a fleshy limb with bone beneath the skin and not much else.
The woman screamed and fell back. Her legs tangled with Eliana’s, and she clutched her arm. Blood seeped through her grimy fingers.
Eliana yelled, “Patience!” and turned to see the older woman was closer than expected. Holding her phone, her eyes wide on the scene in front of her. Two women on the floor. “Did you call 911?”
“They’re on the way, dear.” Patience thankfully didn’t sound shaky. Maybe she thought Eliana had all this under control.
“Get me something to stop the bleeding, please.”
Patience brought her a hand towel.
After returning the knife to its sheath, Eliana crawled over to the other woman, still trying to fully inhale with each breath.
She’d done it. She had actually cut this Dreamer—could have killed her.
She nearly took a life today, because the Shrine Board of Governors had given her a knife and she’d actually used it.
Was that who she wanted to become?