The shattered violin rested in the center of Vex’s
living-room-cum-kitchen table. The heavy faux oak-finish had seen its
share of strange artifacts; its surface pitted and scarred by countless
experiments and observations. Here, a jagged line that matched an aluminum foil
tin, which CLR and other caustic substances had sloshed over; there a few fine
white dots revealed holes that seared nearly through the wood where a
particularly nasty magickal bug had been slagged into magnesium embers. The
tabletop served as a roadmap to many of Vex’s successes and failures at
divining the meaning and purpose behind the use of many varied items.
The legs straddled the line between living-room carpet and
kitchen tiles; one semicircle over white, the other over black. A homage to a
domestic yin-yang, suggesting balance. Runes inscribed along the very edge of
the table contained, sigils painted onto the bottom focused, and the very
surface had been painstakingly mirrored with oils and sealants to create an
unwavering reflection.
The broken violin refused to give up its secrets—assuming
it had any to reveal.
“Fists first, words after,” Alex said as she applied a
cold compress to Vex’s knuckles. “I think you bruised a rib. Nothing serious.
You can pull your shirt back down again. Those are going to be some ugly
bruises come sunrise.”
Vex nodded.
“That’ll be a fun police report,” Patrick said. He sat on
the couch, thumbing through a book he’d grabbed from a shelf. “Yes, officer,
she was wearing dark clothing and black eye-liner. The woman who caused this
ruckus.”
Everyone chuckled. Things had been very tense on the way
out of the Bash on Ash after Vex had hit the wall. Pulling the fire alarm did
create the desired effect—it got those people the hell out of Dodge—but it also
had the added benefit of summoning the fire department and hot on their wheels,
the Tempe PD. Six squad cars. Like they had nothing better to do.
“Lucky for ya’ll,” Alex said, “the cops seem to totally
ignore taxi cabs.”
She drove—against Nathan’s protestations—and it went
exactly so. The squad cars rushing to the scene raced past the cab without notice.
“Don’t I know it,” Nathan said. He sat nearby. Trying to
stay near Vex in case Alex needed extra help, without appearing to act so.
Offers which she had refused multiple times.
Nathan had always been a wuss about injured people,
especially Vex. Unless, of course, it was a bully suddenly on the receiving end
of one of her less gentle gestures. No stranger to bruised knuckles, she took
the cold compress and Alex’s well-meaning admonition in stride.
“Just last a week someone robbed the bank on Mill. The newspaper
said he arrived in a cab and, after doing the robbery, he climbed into another
and made his escape. They still haven’t caught him,” he said.
“Glad it wasn’t my cab,” Vex said.
Alex’s fingers pressed along her spine in an
almost-massage and she let her head roll back a little, eyes closed. “I
understand…with how much you hate the cops, hun.”
“You hate the cops?” Megan asked, her first words since
the incident at the club. She sat on the couch next to Patrick, clutching her
kitty-cat backpack and staring at nothing.
“If Friday is any indication,” Patrick said, “I think she
has a history.”
“They get in the way—ow!” Vex jerked her arm away
from Alex.
“Let me see that shoulder.”
“Are you going to hurt it again?”
“If you don’t let me see it.”
“The security guard at our school didn’t like her very
much,” Nathan added. “As you might guess, Vex kinda stood out. She got a lot
more of her fair share of attention… Getting in fights. Not just with students,
but also him and the janitors.
“I can’t say that I blame her. The cops haven’t ever done
right by either her nor I ever in our lives… However,” he looked at her
directly, “I think you put way too much blame on anyone who is a cop for the
bad acts of a few. But that’s just my opinion.”
“Gee, thanks… Nathan.” Words breathed through clenched
teeth.
“There,” Alex said. “How does it feel now?”
Vex looked up at the girl warily, cradling that arm. She
moved her shoulder around in the socket a few rotations and then nodded.
“Thanks.”
A hush fell over the group. The night’s events had been
rough on everyone. Especially her. Patrick seemed excited and disappointed at
the same time—she hoped he didn’t think she was upset that the date was ruined.
Although, in a way, it wasn’t. Transcending humanity and picking fistfights with
musical sorcerers could stand in for a trip to Castles & Coasters anytime.
“What about the violin?” Nathan asked, anticipating Vex’s
thoughts. “You’ve been staring at it for almost an hour now. Anything?”
The violin, now crushed and torn, lay helplessly ruined on
the table. The neck had been shattered at the body, white splinters frayed from
dark stained wood; and the body itself had been caved in, bits of the belly
board were missing, opening gaping wounds where the f-holes would have been.
Strings curled like fingers grasping in death-rigors, twitching morosely
whenever someone at the table shifted. The instrument once had been beautiful,
possibly handcrafted; now it was the wreckage of poetry.
“It’s a normal, mundane violin,” she said. “The only thing
special about it is that the missing girl, Darlene, was playing it.”
“Wait,” Patrick said. “Darlene? I saw Madeline, my
ex-girlfriend…she tried to kill me with a knife.”
“Hanna,” Alex said. “Except she’s either dead or in Europe.
Thank goodness. And she can’t play the violin.”
“I also saw someone I knew,” Nathan said.
Vex paused.
“That certainly explains some things I experienced,” she
said. “Everyone saw a woman or a girl?” Nods all around. “And they had some
sort of relationship with you? Darlene for me because I’m looking for her.
Patrick’s ex because she tried to kill him…” More nods. “An illusion. This gets
us exactly nowhere.”
“We know that Darlene does play the violin,” Megan said.
Patrick and Nathan nodded together.
“But it doesn’t necessarily mean it was actually her,”
Patrick said.
“You know what?” Megan said. “Yesterday, I had a long
phone call with Tom, a friend of mine. He was all butt-hurt that he didn’t get
to see Rasputina when they were in town. The club they would be playing at
cancelled an earlier show and then shut down for the day. I didn’t think much
of it at the time.”
“I want to know more about what bands have cancelled.” Vex
chewed on the idea as she spoke. Obviously this meant it wasn’t an isolated
incident. Darlene, after all, had vanished from a violin recital on Mill
Ave—taken into the unknown right on Vex’s own watch. Violins or music in
general had something to with what was happening.
“I can help there,” Alex said. “I have a lot of friends in
the scene.”
“Me too,” Megan added.
“Good. I’m grateful for your help, you two,” Vex said.
“Meanwhile. I’ll be chasing my own demons on this matter. I have some errands
to run tomorrow.”
“Are we going to see the voodoo guy again?” Megan asked,
her eyes sparkled with anticipation.
“No,” Vex said. She slid her gaze to the book she’d bought
from Those Were the Days. It lay quiet on the shelf, waiting to be opened. The
memory of the specter of her mother still echoed in her mind, words suggesting
explanations. Explanations she carefully set aside to pursue other paths.
“We’re tired. We should call it a night.”
“But things were just getting exciting!” Megan said.
The little gathering dissolved quickly after that. Patrick
excused himself to take Nathan home, and make a brief stop at a convenience store.
Alex offered to give Megan a lift back to her house—a gesture which Vex
appreciated because it gave her a little more time alone with Patrick—but
first, Alex drew Vex away into her room for a brief meeting.
“Nightmares,” she said. “We didn’t get a chance to talk on
Saturday. I don’t think we can let that slip much longer. My clients—well, the
four I’ve seen since then… It’s been getting worse. I need you to tell me about
yours.”
Vex took a deep breath and let it go slowly.
“Well,” she said. “They’re not my usual kind. Most of my
dreams involve them in one way or another. Even with all the wards
layered through the walls, I just cannot get rid of their voices…”
“What are they about?”
“Any of your clients dreaming about the end of the world?”
Alex nodded. “And worse. Being devoured alive by bugs,
darkness, chased through the wreckage of their apartment complexes, the places
that they work. I would guess this was just hysteria if I didn’t know better.
Especially because it’s not just one or two, it’s almost all of my clients. And
they’re not sick. I’d know.”
Vex leaned back into a shadow and thought silently for a
moment.
“Tell me about your dream.”
“I always wake up in the same place. In the middle of a
crater, right outside of ASU. You know where Mill turns around and becomes
Apache? Everything is blackened and smoldering and it’s midnight. I can see stars through the smoke. The few buildings that I can see are blasted out,
charcoal ruins. Sometimes I feel like there are other people with me,
watching—except that I’m not sure it’s people watching me. It’s like the stars
have eyes. Or the smoke.
“In fact, this Sunday I saw something that reminded me of
the nightmares. A dark thing living in the bleak afterimage of a dead girl’s
life… It was almost déjà vu. I haven’t had the nightmare again since
then—Patrick’s been keeping me company at night.”
A corner of Alex’s mouth turned up in a smile. “I told you
he should be your boyfriend.”
“He is now.”
“I’m glad that he’s doing good for you,” she said and
reached out to touch Vex’s hand. “You kinda need it, you know? You’ve been
alone for too long.” Her black manicured fingertips lingered for a moment. “It
hasn’t been good for your psyche. So, how is he in bed?”
“Hey now!” Vex said. “I’m not going to kiss and tell.”
“Oooh,” Alex mouthed, winking “Must be love. You’ve
always been forthcoming about that before.”
“He’s different.”
“Howso?”
“He’s…” Vex paused a moment, letting her voice soften.
“Innocent. Not from our little incestuous world of drama and one night stands.
I’m trying to take it a little slower.”
“Good for you,” Alex said. “How are you holding up?”
“I’m okay.”
“I’m sure I don’t need to tell you, whatever’s going on,
it’s getting worse. There isn’t much else I can do here… This sort of gig is
your shtick, as you’d say.”
Vex could tell where this little conversation was going.
“People are already leaving. I wouldn’t blame you if you wanted to take a
vacation.”
“I have family in Boston. I might be going to see them
soon.”
“Stay safe out there.”
“You stay safe out here.”
“Oh yeah, there’s something you need to ask Megan about.”
Vex said. “She’s been seeing things in mirrors. I haven’t had time to introduce
her to the dangerous side of her talents. Could you?”
Keys jingled in Alex’s hands. “I think I can do that. Enjoy
your evening.”
They embraced. She watched the smaller girl open the
bedroom door, slip through and close it behind her. Quiet and alone, Vex sat on
the edge of her bed, smiling in the dark.
Megan found Alex’s car a little bit cramped after the leggy space
of the front seat of the taxi. The girl obviously did very well for herself
being a dancer, she noted as she glanced around the cozy, but lush interior;
indigo readouts came on all across the dash as Alex opened her door and slid
across the leather into her seat. A brand new stormy blue mica Mazda Miata. The
top down, a warm, dry wind blew down from the open blackness of the star filled
sky, pawing through Alex’s hair as she turned the key in the ignition.
“Your car is gorgeous,” Megan said.
“Pull the dragon’s tail right off, this baby can.” Alex
patted the dash. “Two years of savings and—” She winked slyly as the car
reversed out of the parking spot. “—a close friend in the business.”
The scent of desert air filled the road and only the stars
remained stationary, yet even they danced merrily to the whispered rhythm of
the wheels. Streetlights whisked stretched paintbrush lines of light across the
curves of the car. Megan held tighter to her backpack with one hand and reached
the other gingerly over her head. The sensation of the air rushing through her
fingers felt amazing. She could understand why Alex wanted a car like this.
“How are you doing?” she asked. The sound of the wind
roared at the edges of Megan’s hearing, but Alex didn’t have to raise her voice
much to be heard.
“It’s been a weird few days,” Megan said.
“Vex tells me that you’ve been suffering the odd
visitations since your experience with the houngan,” Alex said. “Stuff in
mirrors?”
“Yeah…”
“Like what?”
Megan paused a moment, thinking back to finally talking to
her mirror-haunt in the bathroom. The experience put a shiver through her. The
woman in the mirror happened to be a real person. With actual fears and
desires, and she even went to ASU. They had classes in common earlier that
year. Tiffany asked Megan to keep her a secret a little longer until she could
tell her whole story.
Megan couldn’t refuse her that.
“Birds,” she said. “Sometimes people.”
“I know, it’s really scary having some sort of talent,”
Alex said. “Yours is the worst. You’re a seer, right? The witches of old often
had that. You have to be really careful with it. Mirrors are a sort of portal
into other worlds.”
“I get that,” Megan said. “But…my visions don’t come
through mirrors. I just see things that aren’t there. Like a bird out of place
or a face, a person. What’s the big deal?”
“Things can come through.”
“What kind of things?”
“Bad things. Trust me. Vex and I have had to deal with the
stuff behind mirrors before, and it’s not pretty. You be careful with mirrors.”
Alex took her eyes off the road to cast a significant look in Megan’s
direction.
“I’ll be careful,” Megan said.
“I have an amulet in the car I can give you,” Alex said.
“It should close up any mirror you set it near. You can use it until you get
stronger.”
“Thanks.”
They sat quiet for as the car slipped onto the freeway and
Alex pressed the gas on. The wind keened.
“I noticed you didn’t say exactly who you saw on the stage
tonight,” Alex said. “Who was it?”
“My mom,” Megan said.
Megan looked up into the rear-view mirror and saw the
image of dead Tiffany sitting between her and Alex; the image stared back with
a quizzical expression.
“You know that wasn’t your mother you saw up there,”
she said. “It was me.”
Megan turned in her seat. “Do you mind if I stand up?”
“Not at all,” Alex said. “Did that the first day I got
this baby. Go for it!”
Megan unbuckled her seatbelt, and stood up, keeping one
hand tightly on the back of the seat.
The wind rushed caressing fingers through her hair and she
closed her eyes, inhaling the night. This had to be what independence felt
like—wind, motion, and the empty road easing into the lonely night.
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