The Rose Ransom (Girls Wearing Black: Book Three) Page 14

  Nicky reached for him, but Falkon wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her away.

  “I would like you to sit,” Falkon said.

  “Ryan!” she yelled. “Ryan, it’s me, Nicky!”

  “I will ask you one more time to sit down, Nicky Bloom. You and I haven’t finished our conversation.”

  “What more do you want me to tell you!” Nicky snapped. “You drug me. You lock me in a cage! Get out of my way! Let me see him!”

  As Falkon pulled Nicky away he spoke softly to Ryan.

  “Ryan I would like you to imagine a pain in your skull,” he said.

  “What are you doing?” Nicky begged. “Please stop.”

  “It hurts, doesn’t it, Ryan? Your skull feels like it’s going to explode.”

  Behind Falkon, Ryan’s face contorted in a look of agony. He yanked his hands free of the servant’s grip and put them on both sides of his head.

  “Stop it! What are you doing?”

  “The pain is excruciating,” Falkon said. “Worst you have ever felt.”

  Ryan cried out, his whole body collapsing to the floor.

  “I can kill him this way, you know,” said Falkon. “The mind is that powerful. There isn’t a thing wrong with him, but his mind is sending pain signals to his nerves that are so strong he might go into shock.”

  “Please stop! I’ll tell you everything. Just stop doing this to him!”

  Falkon raised his hand and snapped his fingers. Ryan’s moaning stopped. He lay on the floor, breathing hard, and shivering.

  “Here is our arrangement, Nicky. You tell me the truth, and I make Ryan forget all the misery he’s been through. You lie to me again, I make him feel pain worse than anything you can imagine.”

  “I’ll tell you everything,” Nicky said. “I promise.”

  “Good. Now please sit at the table so we may have a civilized conversation.”

  Nicky went back to the table, adjusting her chair so she could see Ryan, who was still sprawled on the floor.

  “Don’t worry about him,” said Falkon. “He’s happier right now than he’s been all week. And if I’m pleased with our conversation, I will say a few words and turn him back into the boy you brought here.”

  “What do you want to know?”

  “Let’s start with why you came to Italy.”

  “I’ve had visions in my sleep,” Nicky said. “I’ve seen people. Sick people with gray faces.”

  “And these visions led you here?”

  “Someone told me I would find what I was looking for in the Italian Alps.”

  “Who?”

  Nicky looked at Ryan as she spoke.

  “Sergio Alonzo,” she said.

  “Sergio Alonzo!” Falkon said. He leaned back in his chair and folded his hands. “See? I knew there was something interesting about you. Sergio Alonzo. That’s a name I never would have guessed you to speak. Truly fascinating. But how did Sergio come to know of your visions? It’s been many years since I’ve spoken with him, but what I remember is that he isn’t the most sociable vampire.”

  “We danced at the Homecoming Masquerade,” Nicky said.

  “You spoke with him while you danced?”

  “No. He…did something to me. Being near him—I never had these visions until we danced.”

  “He got in your mind?”

  “In a way, yes,” said Nicky.

  “But I cannot get in your mind. Renata cannot get in your mind. Even the great Melissa Mayhew couldn’t get in your mind!”

  “Sergio is different. I can’t explain it. I’ve been around him twice now. Both times, we’ve made some sort of connection. He can see in my mind, and…”

  “Go on, finish what you were going to say.”

  “It’s not important.”

  “It is to me. And if you care about your friend on the floor over there--”

  “I can see in his mind too! Or at least, I did, the last time we spoke.”

  A smile came over Falkon’s face. “Oh, Nicky. This is most interesting. Most interesting indeed. But let’s get back to your vision. It opened in your mind when you danced with Sergio.”

  “Yes, and then, a month later, he found me and told me the visions I saw were in the Italian Alps.”

  “So he sent you here.”

  “He said I have a memory that was so painful I’ve hidden it away, and now it’s trying to come out.”

  “At last we arrive at your purpose,” Falkon said. “You are here because you want to make peace with your past.”

  “I don’t know what I want. I was on the plane with Ryan, we needed to go somewhere for our date, and I just felt like I needed to come to Italy.”

  “And here you are,” Falkon said. “In the worst stroke of luck imaginable, you found the exact place you were looking for.”

  “You’re going to kill us, aren’t you?”

  “Me? Oh no. That isn’t my intent at all. Renata, however, may have other plans.”

  He raised his hands and snapped his fingers.

  “Stand up, Ryan,” he commanded.

  Groaning, Ryan pushed himself up from the floor. Falkon walked over to him and looked in his eyes.

  “The agony you have experienced has passed,” Falkon said. “You are through the storm.”

  The change in Ryan was instant. His face brightened. His shoulders straightened. Even his skin tone was affected, going from deathly pale back to its normal color.

  “Ryan, I am going to put you in my guest room,” Falkon continued. “I believe you will find it to be the most comfortable bed you have ever slept in, so comfortable, in fact, that when your head hits the pillow, you will instantly fall into a deep, restful sleep. You will remain asleep until I tell you to awaken, and while you rest, you will have the most pleasant dreams your mind can create for you. The fondest desires of your heart will be yours while you sleep. As ugly and frightening as the past few days have been for you, that is how lovely and pleasant your sleep will be. Do you understand?”

  “I understand.”

  “Say goodnight to Nicky now.”

  “Good night, Nicky.”

  She looked at him, wondering if this was the last time she would ever see him. I’m so sorry, Ryan, she thought.

  “Good night,” she said.

  After the servant took Ryan away, Falkon said, “See how easy it is when we’re friends?”

  Nicky kept her eyes down, determined to hold back her tears.

  “Well, now that I know why you came, perhaps I can help you find what you seek. Come with me. I’ll show you some things that might jog your memory.”

  A minute later, they were standing in the courtyard of Nicky’s nightmare.

  The silver sphere, the building, the mountainside—it was all here. Nicky had come to Italy to find this very place. To face her memory and learn the truth about it.

  She had so many questions. What was the memory all about? Why were there different versions of it in her mind? Why was her mother in the memory?

  But more important than any of those, the first question that came to her mind and out of her lips was, “Why am I here?”

  Falkon laughed. “You don’t waste any time, do you?” he said. “You are your mother’s daughter, no doubt about it! Celeste Allen was a woman who could cut through the surface and instantly get at the root of the problem, and she knew that the best way to do that wasn’t to ask what, or how, or even who, but why.”

  Nicky walked up to the silver sphere, approaching slowly, allowing the real object in front of her to reconcile itself to the version in her dream.

  There were some important differences.

  In her dream, she was looking up at the sphere. Now, she was looking down.

  In the dream, the sphere loomed large before her, an entire world in which she could lose herself as she gazed at its surface. Now, as she crouched down before it to look at its face, the sphere seemed small. It was barely large enough to see her reflection at all.

  In the dre
am, the silver bars that protruded from the sphere were minor and distant. But on the real thing, on the sculpture she looked at now, the eight bars coming out in all directions were the dominant element.

  “It’s a strange bit of irony, isn’t it?” said Falkon. “A creature of the night whose symbol is the sun. You always liked that sculpture, Nicky. Many times I found you out here inspecting it. What were you looking at?”

  “My own reflection,” she said. “In my dream, I can see it clearly.”

  Falkon walked over to her.

  “A nobleman needs an insignia,” he said. “I wanted mine to be a spider. But the engraver who made it for me did a poor job. Everyone thought my spider was the sun. I became so associated with a picture of the sun that I learned to accept it. It’s ridiculous, isn’t it?”

  “Why was I here?” Nicky said. “Tell me about my mother.”

  “One thing at a time,” said Falkon. “We are talking about your memory in this courtyard. You were looking at your own reflection in the sphere. Tell me more.”

  “There was snow on the ground,” Nicky said.

  “And a full moon in the sky,” said Falkon.

  “Yes! And my mother…”

  Nicky approached the brick building, moving slowly towards the familiar plate of glass in its center.

  “The dream has changed since I got here,” Nicky said. “At first, I always saw my mother standing behind the glass. She is sick, like those people you are holding inside.”

  “Those aren’t people in there,” said Falkon. “Not anymore.”

  “But what are they? What have you done to them? What is this place?”

  “This place is where your mother and I set out to change the world,” said Falkon. “It was your childhood home, Nicky.”

  A cold wind blew across the mountain, sending a violent shiver through Nicky’s body.

  “Lately, the dream has been different,” she said. “Now my mother is standing over there.” She pointed at the far side of the building, imagining her mother running up the hill. “Those sick people are pouring out of the building and she’s yelling at me to run.”

  “Is your father in this version?”

  “Yes!” Nicky said. “He appears right beside me. He takes my hand.”

  “And you run together into the forest,” Falkon said. “While your mother is left behind.”

  “What does it mean?” Nicky said. “What am I seeing?”

  “Ah-tut-tut,” Falkon said, clicking his tongue and wagging his finger. “I liked your first question better. Not what, Nicky. Why.”

  “Why, what, who cares? Just tell me!”

  Falkon approached her and put his arm over her shoulders. There was a warmth to his touch that shielded her from the biting cold in the air. With his other hand, he pointed up at a terrace cut into the mountain above them. There was a small cottage on the terrace, hidden among the pine trees.

  “Do you see that house?” Falkon said.

  “Yes.”

  “Do you recognize it?”

  Nicky stared at it for a moment. There was something very familiar about the house.

  “You are curious about it,” Falkon said. “Go on. I’m not stopping you.”

  As soon as Nicky stepped onto the road towards the house a wave of nostalgia came over her. The slope of the road, the smell of the air, even the sound of the wind took her back somehow. When she came to the front door the feeling that she had been here before was overwhelming.

  “It’s open,” Falkon called from below. “Have a look.”

  Nicky knew the full layout of the place as soon as she stepped into the front room. The bedrooms were to her right, the kitchen to her left. There was a fireplace on the far wall that lay dormant at the moment, but in Nicky’s mind it was a vibrant hearth where a family gathered to read books and tell stories. She could see a Christmas tree parked next to the fireplace. She could smell a hundred different meals that had been laid on the dining room table.

  “What do you think?” Falkon said. He was standing in the entryway, smiling at her. “Do you recognize the place?”

  Yes, she thought. This is my childhood home.

  “What do you want from me, Falkon?” she said.

  “I want what you want. I want to know why you’re here.”

  “I’ve told you why. I was dancing with Sergio.”

  “But why, Nicky? Why were you dancing with Sergio?”

  “I am a senior at Thorndike. I am one of the girls wearing black.”

  Falkon laughed. “You can’t help yourself, can you? You know I can see through your lies, but still you try and tell them. Shall we go wake your friend? Shall we remove Mr. Jenson from his peaceful sleep and return him to his prison cell?”

  “I’m not lying, Falkon. I came to the Homecoming Masquerade in a black dress. I am on my way to becoming the next member of the Samarin clan.”

  “Oh, the bluster, the lies, Nicky! Tell me the truth!”

  “I am telling the truth! Ask Renata! I am one of the girls wearing black!”

  “You are not! You are transparent to me, Nicky! I know your heart! You may have worn a black dress to your school dance, but you are not one of the girls wearing black. You have no more interest in becoming immortal than I have in becoming human. Speak truthfully to me or I will bring pain and suffering to your friend the likes of which you cannot fathom! Why were you dancing with Sergio? Why did you lure Melissa Mayhew into your house and try to kill her? Who are you really?”

  As Nicky looked in Falkon’s eyes, she thought about her friends back home. The last words she heard from them came in a text message from Jill. Code Orange. Whatever happened here and now, the mission at home was already finished.

  “I am in the Network,” she said. “I came to Thorndike to kill Sergio.”

  Falkon’s mouth opened wide in surprise. His eyes glinted with excitement. Then he let out a single laugh and clapped his hands together.

  “Oh, what fun!” he shouted. “What fun! What fun! You joined the resistance. Of course you did! What choice did you have? You and your father were living off the grid, knowing well that I had people scouring the globe to find you. You spent your youth in the underworld, and somebody figured out you had a special talent. You, like your mother, have a will so strong not even a vampire can change it. You came to Thorndike to hunt Sergio Alonzo, but found yourself swayed by his charms instead!”

  “I’m not swayed by anything.”

  “But you let him in, Nicky. You held off attacks on your mind from three other vampires, but you allowed Sergio to come inside.”

  “I didn’t allow it. What happened wasn’t my choice.”

  “You don’t realize it, do you? You are completely unaware of what is happening. Oh, this is brilliant. Utterly brilliant!”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “I’m talking about why, Nicky Bloom! I’m talking about the path fate has carved out for both of us. Connections!” Falkon held his hands up, touching his fingertips to one another. “When you get to be as old as me, you see patterns begin to emerge. You see one event invariably leading to another. You see conclusions years in advance of when they actually come about. And you start to understand why.”

  “Well I am not as old as you and I see none of that,” said Nicky. “I asked you why I was here and now I’m begging you to tell me. Why do I recognize this house? How did you know my mother? Why am I dreaming about that courtyard?”

  “I think we are finished, Nicky. I believe I understand everything now. Come, we will go back to your cell.”

  Falkon grabbed onto her arm.

  “No!” Nicky yelled. “But what about my mother? What about--”

  “Your mother cost me twelve years of work,” Falkon said. “She nearly ruined everything. And you are just like her. I really should kill you now. But we need you for Renata’s silly Ransom game. Come with me.”

  Nicky struggled to break free from his grip, but it was no use. Falkon’s hands were lo
cked on her arm like a vise. With one hand, as if she weighed no more than a feather, he picked her up and threw her over his shoulder. Then he moved so quickly Nicky’s head spun from the motion. In seconds, they were back in the dark prison. Falkon opened the door to her cell and threw her inside.

  “What about Ryan?” Nicky said. “You’re not putting him back in here, are you?”

  Falkon grinned. “It’s sweet the way you care for that boy. And no, I’m not putting him back in his pen. This place nearly killed him, and we need both of you alive and well until December.”

  Alive until December? What was he talking about?

  “Good night, Nicky. See you in a few months.”

  The glass door slammed shut and Falkon walked away, leaving Nicky alone in the darkness.

  Chapter 17

  Jill was surprised that no one from the Network tried to contact her about the SOS she had broadcast from her phone. An entire conversation with a vampire, recorded and sent to every operative in the field, and no one responded. If nothing else, she thought she might get some acknowledgment of her grace under pressure, having withstood a confrontation with Bernadette Paiz.

  When Monday came and went without a peep from anyone, she typed up a report of what she witnessed at school and emailed it to the strategists at the Network.

  I know Code Orange has been called, but there is still work I need to do before I leave town, and, as you heard from my SOS broadcast yesterday, I have withstood the attempts of a vampire trying to interrogate me. That encounter makes me believe I am safe to stay on assignment. I will continue attending Thorndike and will report anything notable I see.

  She sent that report to the Network before she went to bed that night. When she woke up on Tuesday morning, she was sad to see she hadn’t received a response.

  On Tuesday night she sent another report of the goings-on at school.

  Major unrest at school among Kim’s faction. Realization beginning to dawn on them that Nicky is way out in front. Annika and I find ourselves the most popular people on campus, with many of Kim’s supporters trying to cozy up to us in advance of Nicky’s expected return. I’m thinking I may try and corral all this support and aim it at Mary or Samantha once it becomes clear that Nicky isn’t coming back. We still have the ring on Karmela’s finger, which means we’re still going to win the Rose Ransom. It would be good if that prize money went to Mary or Samantha. Wouldn’t it be nice if the Renwicks were knocked off their perch?