Page 71 of Starve
“When she wants to be,” Elijah puts in. He raises his hands in surrender when Agatha glances his way, though I don’t see anything cruel or threatening in her look. “All right, all right. I’m gone. Just…” He turns back to Cairo, a look of concern etched into his features. “Be careful, you hear me? You’re too soft, and he knows it. Otherwise,shewouldn’t be here.” He nods at me. “And she wouldn’t be here likethat.”
“Like…” I trail off, as the answer to my unfinished question hits me in the face.
I wouldn’t be here as ahuman.
Elijah disappears just as quietly and quickly as Cairo can, which leaves me with the two of them, feeling like a child caught staying up past their bedtime as Cairo gives me thelookfrom his narrowed eyes.
“I can’t even be surprised,” he admits, rolling his shoulders wearily. “Not when you’re so interested in making this yourbusiness.Bothof you,” he amends. Though his next words are all for Agatha as he adds, “I don’t suppose you’d like to step in to solve this problem?”
“Not at all,” she assures him. “I’m tired of playing babysitter. It’s someone else’s turn for a while.” Again I wonder just how long Agatha has been around, but I file the question away to ask Cairo later.
“What are you going to do?” I ask, striding the rest of the way to Cairo, who reaches up to cup my face in his hands. His claws brush my skin, and he leans forward with a soft purr to brush his lips against mine affectionately and easily.
“I’m going to end Tyler’s game. It’s gone on long enough.”
“Too long,” Agatha remarks. “You’ve let him get away with too much.” There’s a note of something in her voice that might be concern, but if it is, then Cairo ignores it. He just shrugs, barely looking at her before giving me his full attention once again.
“I’m going right now, and I’ll be home by morning. Okay?” His purr meets my ears, and when he kisses me again, I clutch the front of his shirt to drag him against me.
“Do you promise?” I murmur, feeling dread coil in the first signs of a knot in my stomach. This doesn’t feel right. It feels like it won’t be okay, though I don’t know why.
“Yeah, little bird.” Cairo chuckles, nipping softly at my lower lip. “I promise. I just need you to stay home, where I know you’re safe. Wait for me, all right? Twelve hours. That’s all I need.”
“Twelve hours,” I repeat, letting him step away. It still doesn’t feel right. I want to stay with him. “Wait, no—Cairo. Can I stay, please? Let me go with you?—”
“And do what?” he cuts me off, his voice sharp. “What can you do to help me, Fern?” The plaintive meaning in his words makes me flinch, and he looks away. “You’re human. He would rip you apart just to spite me.”
Some part of me has the audacity to think that maybe he’s wrong. Maybe Icouldhelp him, if only he’d let me. But he must see that on my face, because Cairo’s quick to reach out, and he tips my chin up so I meet his gaze. “I’m fine, okay?” he murmurs, and his eyes find mine in the moonlight, in the courtyard of the mental hospital where all of this began.
“I’ll be home tomorrow.Waitfor me.” He gives Agatha a look as well, like he’s trying to warn her off more of her help, and without another look, he disappears into Bluebone Ridge, fading into the shadows with an unnatural amount of stealth.
“He’s right, you know,” Agatha remarks, once he’s gone and the moon is back behind the clouds, no longer out now that the show is over. It’s stupid to think that the moon is its own kind of audience, but as the breeze in the courtyard blows my hair around my face and I shiver, it’s the only thing I can think of with the timing of it.
Agatha tucks my hair behind my ear companionably, jerking her head toward the side of the building. “You wouldn’t be able to help him as you are. You’d just get in his way, and he’d probably die having to protect you.” The matter of fact nature of her words isn’t helpful, and I flinch from them.
“But he’ll be okay, right?” I ask, footsteps crunching on gravel. “Tyler can’t really hurt him?”
She doesn’t answer until we’re at the front parking lot, and she stops to stare upward at the clouded sky while I dig my phone out of my pocket, figuring now it doesn’t matter if the others know I’m here.
“Go home, little bird,” Agatha tells me, and her voice is a mixture of so many others, yet nothing at all. “Go home to your safe, warm bed, and try not to think about problems that can’t be solved by humans.”
Chapter 28
Despite the manypromises I made to myself about staying awake all night on the whole ride home, they are put to shame pretty quickly. I barely make it through letting Moro outside, giving her a hot dog, before collapsing in my bed with my hoodie still on and my leggings somewhere half on the floor. Moro snuggles up with me, finally feeling a little bit better after her brush with Tyler yesterday and no longer so sedated from the vet.
“I’m sorry,” I murmur against her fur, feeling like I owe her the apology. She only wiggles closer, and I wrap an arm over her before passing out into a deep, dreamless sleep.
I figure I won’t sleep that long. But even if I do, surely Cairo will wake me up in ten hours, since that’s when he promised to be home by. All I have to do is sleep, and wait, and try not to worry about him.
The phone vibrating against my face is what does it, though. I jerk upward, sitting straight up in bed and bothering Moro enough that she hops down to the floor. It’s bright outside and with a glance at the phone’s screen, I’m horrified to see I’ve slept forelevenhours.
“Fuck,” I mumble, running my fingers through my hair. The call is from Dr. Radley, and I have no intention of answering it. “Cairo?” Surely he has to be home by now. But no one answers, and when I pick up my still-vibrating phone to walk through the house, I don’t see any signs of him being here. Just my empty living room and my kitchen, and an empty hot dog wrapper still on my counter, crumpled up, with gross hot dog juice on the fake granite that I need to wipe up.
On a whim I open the back door, though it was still locked, and Moro trots out of the house to walk around the yard while my eyes search the trees for any sign of something that doesn’t belong. I don’t know why he’d be out here lurking instead of in my house or better yet—in my bed. But I’m not willing to rule anything out.
Not only that, but I figure that if Moro could smell or hear him, she’d be acting more excited, instead of just doing her normal circles around the yard in a patrol pattern clearly meant to keep away strange cursed and unwelcome squirrels. She comes back to me with a slowly wagging tail and I let her in, closing the door and setting my phone down on the table. It stops ringing after Dr. Radley’s second call, but I can see that she’s in the middle of leaving a message.
A petty, vindictive part of me wants to hit the red X that would stop her from doing so. But I’m an adult, and I don’t want to give her any reason to think I’m not okay. Though, I’m sure I’ve given her enough of that already. To busy myself, I go to clean up the hot dog remains, tossing the package and paper towels in the trash when I’m done.
