Chapter 7
elaine
I woke up in the morning wrapped around Vera, and it startled me awake as soon as I’d opened my eyes.
The nightmares… Vera coming in to check on me.
And me pulling her into bed and refusing to let go.
The dreams had been softer and easier after that—still turbulent and confusing, but I rode through them with the sense that nothing was going to hurt me.
What had gotten into me?
I blushed, pulling my hands away from her, and I tried to move quietly, but she stirred anyway, turning back to look at me.
“Awake?” she said, and I swallowed.
“I-I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to… wake you up.”
“I was already up.” She sat up, and she kept her hands pointedly away from me, actively avoiding touching me. I shouldn’t have felt conflicted about it. “Feeling better?” she said, and I sat up, hugging myself tightly.
“I am… sorry about last night.”
“Don’t worry about it.” Her voice was clipped, and she wouldn’t look at me.
I sighed, but I brightened when a small shape stirred in the sheets—the kitten, who had seemingly fallen asleep on Vera and trotted sleepily over to me, where she nuzzled my knee before flopping onto the sheets.
I scooped her up, cradling her close and feeling her heartbeat. Stronger and steadier today.
“Thank you,” I said. “For keeping both of us safe.”
She smiled a little at me. “You planning on carrying that thing around with you?”
“She’s not that thing.”
“Well, if you don’t give her a name, she will be that thing.”
I stroked the scruffy hair on the top of her head back. “What do you think we should call her?”
“We?” She scoffed. “Do I look like the type to rear a kitten?”
I pouted. “She was sleeping on you.”
Vera looked away. “Yeah, yeah… God knows why.” She shrugged. “Clara.”
“Clara?”
“Like Clara Schumann. I’m partial to her work.”
I cocked my head. “The… composer?”
She turned back to me, eyebrows raised. “You know Clara Schumann?”
“I studied a lot of history.”
“Well, well. I guess you are the librarian.”
I felt a cold flush come on.
The library.
What time was it? There was no sunlight in here. God only knew how long I’d been sleeping.
“The library,” I blurted. “I need to get to work.”
She scoffed. “You can call out today.”
Call out? The thought of missing work made my head spin. “But I—”
“It tends to be bad for a library if assassins show up.”
I winced. Was that what I was now? A beacon for danger wherever I went?
All because of this damn South Yard. I didn’t want it. A granduncle I’d never known, pawning it off to me specifically because I was forgettable…
Vera stood up. “We need to move,” she said. “Petra’s set the trail to lead the Whitecliffs away, so we can get out of the city now. I have a safe place for us to land.”
“But—what will happen to my family? Everyone else?” I stood up with her, clutching Clara to my chest. “Are the assassins going to go after them?”
“Not when they’re trying to be subtle. Disappearing one person goes away in a couple weeks. Disappearing a whole family? We prefer to avoid that in our line of work if we can help it.”
I couldn’t believe I was a part of this world now. I heaved a heavy sigh. “I can’t just walk away from my family, though. They… they need me.”
Something flickered over Vera’s face as she looked down. At length, she said, “What do they need?”
“My mother. She needs me close by to help. She can’t raise my siblings all by herself, and I have to pitch in for the bills, but there was a situation at work and I had to pay out of my own pocket, so I didn’t have the full amount for my mother yesterday—”
“Your siblings,” she said. “How old are they?”
“They’re… eighteen and twenty.” I shifted nervously. “Caitlyn’s disabled. And Matt needs help with tuition. And Mom hasn’t been able to hold down a regular job because of the unemployment situation and Caitlyn’s disability allowance…”
Vera’s eyes darkened. “So she’s just making you work for her and give her all your money, too.”
I hugged myself, pressing Clara into my chest, where she mewed quietly. “She’s my mother,” I said. “I have to help.”
“Your mother’s taking advantage of you, Elaine.”
“She’s… she’s my mother,” I repeated, small and broken this time.
“She’ll figure things out without your help.”
“But I can’t…” I crumpled, looking down at the floor. “I just don’t want her to hate me…”
Vera stared at me before she sighed, raking her hand back through her hair. “You can’t pay someone to love you, Elaine. Love that isn’t freely given is no love at all.”
My eyes stung, and my voice wavered as I spoke.
“I can’t leave without at least seeing them…
to explain…” I wiped my eyes. “I never followed up with them. I don’t know how Mom might have acted the rest of the night when I didn’t give her the full amount and then left her drinking… if she took it out on Caitlyn…”
Vera rolled her eyes, turning away. “I’ll prepare food. You can call them.”
I grabbed my phone as soon as Vera left the room, letting Clara down to trot after Vera towards the kitchen, and I already had a text from Caitlyn.
CAITLYN
I heard on the news there was something happening on your side of town, a big car chase starting from right where your apartment is, are you okay?
I clutched the phone tightly. It was just like her to be worrying about me instead. I couldn’t tell her the truth…
ELAINE
I’m okay, it just kept me up late last night with all the noise. I don’t know what happened.
Is everything okay back at the house?
Has Mom been okay?
CAITLYN
I’m okay
Don’t worry about me
My stomach dropped. Caitlyn only talked like that when something terrible was happening.
I texted Matt instead.
ELAINE
Has Mom been okay since I was there?
MATT
She got drunk last night and was yelling at Cait
I don’t know what she was yelling about, but I know she said something about how Cait would see tomorrow…
It’s tomorrow now and I’m worried about it, but I had early classes so I don’t know what’s going on back at home
“Vera,” I called, slipping through the safehouse to find her picking out cans from the pantry. “I think my sister is in trouble.”
“You’re in trouble. With a gang of assassins.”
“They’re my family, Vera.”
She pushed out a short, angry sigh, turning away and tossing the can in her hand onto the counter. Clara panicked at the sound and darted behind a table leg, and Vera pinched the bridge of her nose before she knelt and scooped up the kitten, stroking her fur back to calm her.
“Fine,” she said, finally. “We’ll go together.”
“Together? But—”
“If I let you go alone, Whitecliff will be all over you.”
I got a shiver. The memory of the three assassins around me, their guns out… thinking of them not just after me, but my whole family?
“But how do I explain…”
She smirked. “Simple,” she said. “I’m your wife.”