Page 3 of Ryld's Shadows
“Get. In. The. Truck. Ryld.”
“But…”
“Now!”
The drow cut his eyes away. He made some odd gestures but sat back down and closed his door. Even from behind the windshield Hank could pick out how unnaturally blue his eyes were. He’d only ever seen drow with red eyes or white.
“Are you all right?” the blond elf asked again.
Hank pulled in a slow breath, then two more. The rising nausea settled, and he leaned a hand against the lamppost on the corner. “Fine. I’m fine. You stopped in time.”
The elf stared at him, maybe thinking Hank owed him a thank you for not ploughing over him. Finally, he gave a sharp nod. “Okay. Good.”
That was it. He climbed back into the truck, shut the door, said something sharp to the drow and drove off.
Weird. That was…weird. Though maybe theterabinhad made the whole interaction so strange. Maybe there hadn’t been any blue-eyed drow insisting on road rules. Hank shook himself, hurried across the street and reached his apartment building without any further bizarre incidents.
He’d go to AURA in the morning. To job placement. He hated doing it since it always felt like such a failure. He should be able to find work on his own. Make his way without the help of bureaucratic agencies. But rent would be due soon. Hecouldstop paying the utilities for a bit. He’d done it before.
No. That’s going backward. Not going back to scraping by day to day. Just no. Go to placement. See what they can find. Job hunting while you have a job is always better.
* * * *
A human doctor had told Ryld that human and elven physiology was similar in many ways, but they had important differences in metabolism and biochemistry. In the years since the first Event had brought elvenkind into the human world, the lessons in those differences had been steep and painful. Many compounds that were medicine to humans were poison to elves, and vice versa.
Ryld added a small white tablet that same doctor had prescribed for him to the bowl of a mortar and crushed it with the smooth blunt end of the pestle until it was powder. He tipped the powder into a waiting mug of hot tea. Swallowing the tablet left a chalky bitter residue in his mouth so repellent he gagged the moment it touched his tongue. Putting it in his tea with a generous amount of honey helped disguise the bitter flavor.
Cress sat on his sofa, oilcloth in hand, cleaning a sharp curved blade. The light caught the bright edge and sparkled. Deadly. Dangerous. Beautiful.Sharp sharp sharp.Ryld closed his eyes, squeezing them tight for a moment while he took a gulp of the tea. It was hot and scalded his tongue, making him gasp, then choke and cough.
Cress sighed. He rested the tip of the blade on the edge of the table where a mark in the wood was etched from the same blade resting in the same spot many times. “Do you need help?”
Ryld shook his head, coughed again, then got his breath back. “No.” He took another sip, careful this time. The honey helped but couldn’t completely disguise the bitterness of the medication. A human medication. One not toxic to his kind. The human medical doctor had explained in great detail how it worked with human body chemistry in the brain to limit hallucinations and psychosis.
He had explained that he did not suffer from hallucinations, but the doctor asked, very nicely, if he would take the drug anyway. As an experiment. He did not remember what followed, but sometime later he found himself in the counseling chamber at AURA with no recollection how he got there or how long he had been there. Still, he had apparently agreed to take the medication because he was sent home with a bottle of the tablets.
Violet had been his minder then. She had been very kind to him but had been unable to stay with him after one of the creatures had nearly suffocated her.
“Ryld. Ryld…”
Ryld looked up, forcing himself to focus. Cress had that tone of voice that told him he’d called his name more times than he’d heard. His mug was empty. Had he drunk it all, or…? He glanced at the sink. No signs of splashed tea in the sink. He must have drunk it. He set the mug down carefully.
“Is it daylight yet?” Ryld asked.
Cress pointed with the blade at the window. The sky was still dark, but a shade that told him the sun was just below the horizon.Time to sleep.
“You have an appointment this afternoon. There are a few things I need to do that may take me longer than your appointment.”
“Of course. I am able to get by on my own. I’ll return here…”
Cress shook his head. “No. I’d like you to stay at AURA until I return.”
Ryld cut his eyes away, forgetting not to look down. Flustered, he forced himself to look up again but couldn’t speak when he met Cress’ eyes. He shifted his gaze to the window. Not black. The softest gray outside. “I…I am able…”
“No. Stay at AURA until I return for you. Okay?”
The darkness that should be only outside the window crept along the edge, seeping in like a fine mist. Ryld licked his lips. “All right.”
He agreed. He didn’t want to agree. There were so many things he found fascinating here. So many things he didn’t want to be pulled away from. Alone, he could do what he wished, without having to think of anyone lurking behind him, looming over his shoulder. He turned toward the hallway that led to his bedroom and stopped.Social necessities.“Good night.”
