Flicker (4 page)

Then she saw him, and in that moment, Lee knew everything. There wasn’t a thing in the universe that she didn’t understand, because all of the answers to every question she’d ever had were reflected in his eyes. Everything narrowed to him, the only thing in the world.

He was lying on his back in the gras
s, eyes half-closed
, dressed in a loose-fitting
peasant
shirt and trousers
. The young woman with wings
was
stroking
his
dark hair affectionately, speaking softly to him
. He
angled his head
toward
Lee
,
and she
leaned
forward
almost
involuntarily,
her breath leaving her, drawn in by his gravity.
Rivers flowed behind his eyes, smoldering with
dark
green l
ight,
filled with precious, forgotten things. His
warm brown
skin glowed faintly, as if he were lit from somewhere inside, and Lee could feel warmth radiating from him.

He smiled at Lee, and stars exploded in front of her eyes. Words fell from his perfect mouth, and Lee knew nothing but the way the first pink rays of morning played over his face.

Lee’s wrist turned, and her hand with it, and the brush was suddenly dipped in paint and sliding over the canvas. It was as natural and easy as drawing breath.

Somewhere in the east, dawn was reclaiming the sky.

In the distance, there was music.

Chapter Two:

Rarefied

Filo
shouldered his way through the
crowd,
low chatter buzzing in his ears as he worked
his way down into the train station. He had work to do, and this wasn’t exactly an official stop, so he had no time to lose.

The grimy
station
was lit
like a supermarket. The ground was littered with trash and covered in brown, splotchy stains. The whole place smelled of stale breath.

“Dammit,” Filo muttered
, scanning the crowd
.
He was already running late.
He didn’t have time for these pit stops. If Alice wanted to live like this, it wasn’t his problem.

Swearing under his breath, Filo glanced around
once more
, just to be sure.

Alice was dozing
on a bench
, her head resting on an overstuffed backpack. Men and women
bustled past
, never glancing at her
, like she wasn’t there at all.

Filo perched on
the bench beside her, gently
shaking her shoulder
. “Alice,” he beckoned. “Alice, wake up.”

Alice bolted upright, seizing her backpack with both hands. Her hazel eyes were wide and startled
—then she recognized him and let out a slow breath. Sh
e’d cut her hair since he’d last seen her. Alice’s light brown h
air had been shoulder-length;
now
it
bobbed around her ears
.

“Filo?” Alice squinted at him. “What’re you doing here? You scared me.”

“I’m not sorry,” Filo replied. “You shouldn’t be sleeping here.”

Alice shrugged. “So, you’re still
…
with them
?”

“Ye
s.”

“You’ll change your mind sometime,” Alice said, drawing her knee
s up to her chest
. “I did. Nasser did. Tha
t’s why we all left.
Why can’t you understand?”

Filo didn’t answer
her
. Instead, he reached
into his pocket
, drawing out a few crumpled
twenty-dollar
bills and pressing them into Alice’s hand. It was real money, not the
enchanted scraps of paper Filo usually
used when dealing with other humans. “Here.”

Alice counted out the bills. “I can’t take this from you,” she said firmly, trying to hand the money back.

“Don’t. Consider it a gift, courtesy of
Neman
and
Morgan
.”

“That isn’t fair,” she mumbled, “using
that
against me.” Even s
o
, she stuffed the money into a zippered pocket in her backpack
. “Thanks, Filo.”

He
smiled a little
. Then he glanced at his watch and stood
. “I’ve
gotta go.
I’ll bring you some more next time, okay?”

“I’ve got money of my own,” Alice said wearily. “I work, Filo. I do all right, you know?”

Filo shook his head. He turned
toward the stairs leading up to the street.

“Filo
…
” Alice began, grabbing her backpack and scrambling to her feet. He stopped, but didn’t look back at her. He didn’t want to see her face.

“Just come back, Alice,” he pleaded softly.
“
Come home with me.
It’ll be fine.
I won’t let them hurt you.
I promise.”

Alice didn’t say anything, but Filo could imagine that she was shaking her head. He ascended the
stairs
without another word.

* * *

It was as good a morning as there ever was in Bridgestone City. It was cool out, the autumn breezes chasing
each other
up and down the sidewalk. The
sunlight was cold and bright
, and there were hardly any people about.

Nasser continued along the sidewalk, his mind occupied by
swirling, frenzied thoughts.
His feet moved automatically;
he’d come this way so many times before that
he was barely conscious of his feet moving beneath him and the world passing in front of his eyes.

Nasser rounded
a
co
rner and slammed into another person walking the opposite direction
.
He
stumbled
backward, then blinked in surprise. “Filo?”

The other boy stared for a moment, then scowled as he realized who was standing before him. “Watch it,” Filo hissed,
moving
to step around Nasser
.

“Wait.” Nasser’s tone was urgent.
“Have you seen Jason? We—
we had a fight last night and he took off. Again.”

Filo shook his head impatiently. “I don’t have time for this.” He tried to step around Nasser again, but Nasser grabbed his arm and drew him close.

“Have you seen him, Filo?” Nasser insisted, slowly and clearly.

“No.” Filo jerked his arm away from Nasser. “I haven’t seen your brother, okay? Maybe you should keep a better eye on him.”

“Do you
know
where he might—” Nasser started
.

“I told you, I don’t have time for this!” Filo snapped. He glanced upward at the cloudy sky
, his blue eyes hard
. “I have to go.”

Nasser let him pass this time, but followed him down the sidewalk. Filo quickened his pace, but Nasser had no difficulty keeping up. Filo was about six feet tall and an exceedingly fast runner, but Nasser was a good four inches taller, and his strides were long and easy.

“I’ve been looking everywhere,”
Nasser
said. “Since last night. I stopped by Flicker this morning, but you were already gone.”

“Yeah,
I
started work
early,” Filo said, unmoved
, “so
I
could look for some
hob downtown
. So unless you want to help hunt it down, I think we’re done here.”

“
Filo
, I’m serious
. I don’t know where he is.”

“I haven’t seen Jason since last week
.
I ran into him at Snapdrag
ons, but he
didn’t mention anything about taking off.”
Filo
p
aused, then added, “
Look,
I’ll
keep an eye out
, okay?
”

“Thanks.”

A short pause, then Filo said, a lit
tle cautiously, “
I could
probably
ask
Neman
and
Morgan
, if you want.”

“Oh, no,” Nasser said, the words feeling too qu
ick in his mouth. T
his was probably the most kindness that Filo would ever show him after what
had
happened, but he couldn’t accept it. He couldn’t let Filo give him anything, because he would never be able to pay him back. “I couldn’t ask you to do that.”

Filo nodded vaguely. When he spoke, his voice was hardened. “Whatever.
Neman
and
Morgan
wouldn’t go for it anyway. We both know how they feel about
you
these days.”

They walked
on
in silence.

A loud squawking broke into Nasser’s increasingly wo
rried thoughts
. A large
hooded
crow
, its breast
an
ash-gray that contrasted with the black of its head and wings, was circling overhead.
Nasser shivered. He recognized that crow. He’d seen it a
thousand
times before, too many times to forget the
exact
shape and size and color of it. He knew that crow, and he hated it.

Following Nasser’s gaze, Filo
grimac
ed. He
looked at his watch. “Crap
,” he muttered.
“
I gotta go, Nasser.
I’m really late.”

With that, h
e took off running down th
e sidewalk, messenger bag thumping against his hip, but
Nasser didn’t follow him.
He
shoved his hands into his pockets and started to turn
away
, when Filo skidded back into view. He lingered near the corner, looking anxious.

“Jason
knows some people at Chimeric, right—that club downtown?” Filo asked
.
Nasser nodded
.
“
Well,
I was dropping off a package th
ere last night, and
I heard some talk of a bunch of half-breeds head
ing
up to the Summer Court revel in
Bluewood
. Jason might be there.”

“I thought they’d already moved on from
Bluewood
,” Nasser said.

“Not yet. The Summer fey usually wait until the first snow to leave.
And you know how Jason likes to hang out with the half-breeds—they’re the only musicians good enough to play with him. They probably have even better music in the revel.
” Somewhere out of sight, the crow squawked again. Filo glanced nervously over his shoulder. “I’ve really got to go. I’ll see you.”

Before Nasser had tim
e to reply, Filo had
dashed around the corner.

* * *

Neman
wasn’t
really
angry—at least, she didn’t look it. Her arms were crossed, her
black
wings were folded stiffly across her back, and her mouth was turned down a little at the corners, but Filo knew she couldn’t have been
too
upset with him. If she were truly angry, or if she were
Morgan
, she would’ve hit him already.

“You mustn’t dally
,”
Neman
said
in that Irish lilt of hers
.
They were conferring in an alleyway behind a small Italian restaurant, just out of sight of the street—that way, no passing normals would catch a glimpse of
Neman
’s black wings and talons
and get curious
.
“There is work to be done.”

“I know that,” Filo said. “I had to make a pit stop.”

“A pit stop,”
Neman
echoed. “You are wasting time
.”

Filo frowned.
Neman
could be so irritating. With her visions, she’d probably known he was going to
see
A
lice days ago, before he knew
himself. “If you knew what I was going to do, why didn’t you stop me?”