Chapter 4
I dream of our shared childhood. I dream of the first night we met, of later, when I was a little older, searching for Dae in the forest.
Laughter, danger, sharp cheeks, and tall, devilish horns flash through my mind. I dream of the day I asked him to be my guardian angel. I’d hoped if I had one, I wouldn’t die at twenty.
“I could try to be one,” he’d said.
“Okay.”
“Okay… I will.”
I dream of later still, of my mad plan with the art when we were twelve.
“Oh, guardian angel,” I’d cooed into the forest, swiping my knees, scattering sticks and branches to the ground.
When I didn’t get a response, I’d hollered, “Come out, guardian angel, I know you’re there!”
“Hello, Elysia,” Dae said gently from a nearby tree. I spun around to face him.
“Hey.”
“You look different,” Dae said, his eyes trailing my body with a smirk.
“I know, I know, the clothes,” I agreed quickly, “but forget all that. I have something serious to talk to you about.”
Dae swiftly stood to attention.
“What do you know about money?” I fumbled around in my bag, pulling out the notepad and pen I’d brought.
“Huh?” Dae scrunched up his face.
“Money,” I said slowly. “I need to know about money.”
“Sorry, never heard of the stuff.”
“You’re joking?”
Dae shrugged, and I flung my arms up, turning to walk back the way I’d come.
“Well, why don’t you tell me what it is and why you’re asking? Then maybe I can help,” he called after me.
I stopped and smiled quickly to myself, warmth spreading through my chest. I schooled my face before turning back to Dae and sitting on the floor near Dae.
He distractedly clasped my ankles as he joined me on the floor, crossing and uncrossing them until they lined up at a perfect ninety-degree angle. I tried to ignore the numbness tearing through my left leg as it rebelled against its new position.
“Okay. So, money is this thing you can swap for stuff. You use it to get games, painting supplies, and to pay for TV shows. And everyone needs it, otherwise, you wouldn’t have any food and you’d die. How do you get food if it’s not with money?”
“People just bring me food when I’m hungry. What do you need to know about money? Sounds like you already know everything.”
“I need to know how to get some,” I elaborated, then paused. Dae waited patiently. “Okay, so, I finally got invited to go to a sleepover at someone’s house…”
“Congrats,” Dae interrupted, his eyes narrowing in scrutiny. “Does that have anything to do with you choosing to dress in more than one colour now?”
I blushed, my numb leg demanding more attention. I held the position as Dae’s lips curved up. “Yes, among other things, but…”
“I liked the monochrome outfits.”
“Pay attention, Dae! During the sleepover, I overheard Mrs. Jenkins and Mrs. Cummington talking, and apparently, my Mum doesn’t have any money. They said that’s why the school has to pay for my lunches and school trips.”
“What’s a school trip?” Dae interjected.
“Like a half-day holiday, but you have to go with the kids from school, even if they don’t like you. Anyway, they said she was very irresponsible when she was young, and she just travelled around and didn’t go to university, so now she doesn’t have any qualifications. And that’s why she doesn’t have any money, because she’s so irresponsible. They said that several times,” I clarified. “But then they said she has that SUV, and someone must have given her that, and she should go get more where that came from. Then they laughed.”
“Well, can’t your father give her more SUVs, then?”
“No, she won’t let him get her anything else. But they don’t know that. Anyway, they said if she was smart, she would get herself a rich man to marry because she’s still so pretty. But that soon she won’t be, so she needs to hurry up and bag a husband quickly before she’s stuck cleaning people’s houses forever.”
“What other things do humans do if not clean up and serve?” I raised an eyebrow. My guardian angel could sometimes be very strange. “Since your Dad got her the car, can’t he marry her?” Dae asked before I had a chance to answer his previous question. His eyes darkened a little, even as he made the suggestion, as though the thought of my father marrying anyone was very troubling to him.
“No, he asked her once, but his job means he has to live very far away. Mum doesn’t want to live where he lives, and more importantly, she doesn’t want me to live there.”
“Why?” Dae asked, tugging a loose piece of fabric from my skirt and flattening out the wrinkles.
“She said they’re weird.”
“Can’t he just move here?” The words rushed from Dae’s mouth.
“No, his job is really serious, he can’t leave. He’s actually a very important person, apparently.”
His face freezes, as though he’s trying to stop himself from rolling his eyes. “Okay, then find someone else with an SUV and she can marry them,” Dae proposed cleverly.
“The car isn’t the defining feature of a good marriage, Dae. The money is. But that’s the whole problem I’m trying to avoid. If there’s another guy living with us, Dad will never come to see us anymore. And I don’t want to never see Dad again, so I need to figure out how to get money so that Mum won’t have to keep cleaning people’s houses or marry some boring idiot.”
I took a long, deep, steadying breath, Dae’s signature scent of lavender and bergamot filling my nose.
He leaped up, jumping around on the balls of his feet. “That sounds reasonable,” he confirmed, and I let out a shaky, relieved laugh. “How much do you need? I’ll go get you some.”
“No, I have to get it myself. Mum says not to let boys give you things.”
“That’s stupid. I’ll get you anything you want.”
I shook my head. Dae frowned, his cold eyes hardening as he sat back down. “What if you make something other people want, and you get them to give you their money in exchange, instead of the other way around?”
I scrunched up my forehead and pursed my lips. “That’s actually an exceptional idea. Well done, guardian angel.”
Dae’s eye twitched, his lip curving up in a smirk. “What can you make that people might want?”
I sorted through the many hobbies I had picked up and put down. It took a good five minutes to settle on… “Painting,” I suggested in a high-pitched voice. “When we’re in London, I always see people in the streets selling paintings. I could do that.”
“I want a painting too.”
“But you don’t have any money?”
“Not yet. I’ll go take some off someone else and bring it to you.”
“You can’t do that, it’s called stealing.”
“That’s why you’re not allowed to do it. I’m allowed to do anything I want. Now go on.” Dae jerked his chin towards my house on the edge of the forest. “Go get your Mum what she needs. And don’t forget to save me the best painting.”
I stood up when he disappeared from view, shaking out my almost-dead leg and ruffling up my skirt.
Then my dream skips ahead, to later, when the plan had already gone terribly wrong.
“Finally,” Dae moaned, his hands clasped tight as I dragged a five-foot-high canvas through the forest. “A month, Elly! A whole month! What the Hell happened?”
“Sorry, sorry. Mum wouldn’t take her eyes off me.” I finished hauling the canvas and deposited it in front of Dae. His face lit up. “It all went terribly, and I got in loads of trouble. The police caught me before I even got to London, so I didn’t get to sell anything. Apparently, it’s not my problem to worry about money, and I was being very naughty sticking my nose into Mum’s business. And I should trust that my Mum knows how to look after herself, and me. And that Dad won’t leave us.” I rolled my eyes.
“Anyway,” I continued, “she has hung up all the other paintings, and she does smile every time she passes one, and she has been hugging me extra tight ever since the police brought me home. So I suppose she must like them. I bet I would have made loads of money if I’d made it to London. This one was hidden under my bed, so she didn’t see it.”
I pointed down at the painting, though I needn’t have bothered. Dae was already staring, utterly enamoured.
“I love it, Elysia. It’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.” Dae fished a wad of crumpled cash out from his pocket and thrust it towards me without looking. “Here, payment for your services.”
The cash scraped against my palm as he pressed the wad firmly into my hands.
“There’s almost a thousand pounds in here!” My eyes widened. I’d never held this much money in my life. I was pretty sure Mum hadn’t either.
My heart pounded. Maybe Mum could take two weeks off with this much money. Two whole weeks. We could hang out together all day and watch films and nap. I just had to figure out a way to give Mum the money without getting my guardian angel in trouble. Under her pillow, that’s where I’d hide it. I thanked God quickly for making me such a fast thinker.
“How did you get all this money?”
Dae waggled his eyebrows. “Giving me things I want makes other people very happy.”
A moment of comfortable silence fell as Dae admired his painting, and I admired him.
“Dae?”
“Yes, Elysia?”
“It’s not fair I only get to see you at night. I want to see you all the time,” I admitted, glancing down at the gloomy forest floor. I blushed as mist gathered around my ankles. “Let me come with you, just for a little bit.”
Dae’s soulless eyes bore into me from under dark brows. “You can’t come yet, love. You’re too young,” he said, his voice clipped, his words slow. The tips of Dae’s fingers restlessly tapped against the side of his leg.
I rubbed my hands against my arms to fight off the suddenly glacial weather. “But we’re the same age… Fine. When, then?”
A word danced on the edge of his tongue, ready to slip off at any moment. I could almost reach out and catch it.
His tapping became more frantic, his shaking hand rattling about of its own accord. Sometimes, he reminded me of a snake caught in a trap, ready to bite at any moment.
Dae closed his mouth and grasped both hands behind his back. He stood up tall and smiled like a cat.
“A few years. Thanks for the painting, Elly. Don’t make me wait a month to see you again.”
“Thanks for the money, guardian angel,” I called out to him as he walked off, earning myself a derisive scoff.