Winter's Blade (Last)
Em twisted around in her seat, looking out through the back window.
"I don't think they're following us."
Alex noticed that Em's dress was torn down the front.
He checked the mirror; he didn't see anything that looked like a cookie truck back there. He slowed down to a semi-legal speed.
"What the hell were those things?!" he shouted.
"I don't know," Em said, sitting back down. She was still breathing hard. "We have to call 9-1-1."
Em was right -- there was an apartment building on fire.
"Hold on," he said. He jammed the brakes; Em's hands hit the dashboard as she was thrown forward, then tossed sideways against Alex as he yanked the wheel hard right, then bounced to the ceiling as they bumped up into a gas station, then back to the dashboard as the car hauled itself to a stop.
"Sorry," Alex said before jumping out of the car.
He was in luck -- the payphone worked. He looked back in the direction they'd come as he waited for an answer.
"9-1-1, please state the nature of the Emergency."
"There's an apartment building on fire! On International, north of, um, um, 19th! We just drove past it!"
"Okay sir, can I--"
Alex dropped the phone.
A stubby delivery truck was bounding down the street.
He ran back to the car.
Em was miffed. "You know, you could have warned--"
"Buckle up," Alex said as he did so himself. He jammed the car into reverse; the tires hopped as they lurched the car around. Alex left it pointed diagonally, right at the gas station's price sign.
"What the hell is..." Em started, then trailed off when she saw the truck. She scrambled for her seat belt. "Go, go go!" she shouted as she yanked the belt, so hard it locked halfway out. "Just go!"
"Wait." There was an entrance on either side of the sign. Once the truck committed to either the main entrance or the side street, they could squirt out the other way. Unless the truck went kamikaze...
The truck reached the intersection and veered suddenly to the right. It was heading right for them! Then the mechanical pachyderm veered again, tires chattering and engine bellowing through a fast right turn onto the side street, thundering off into the darkness.
Alex remembered to breathe.
"Whew!" Em sighed. "That was close."
Alex turned the car toward the main drag.
Em asked, "Where are we going?"
"Away from here," he said.
Alex put them on the freeway at the next on-ramp. The pit-tap pit-tap pit-tap of the expansion joints was calming.
Alex looked at Em. If he was freaked out, he could only imagine what she was going through. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah." She just stared off into space.
Alex shrugged off his coat. "Here." It took her a moment to realize what he was doing. She reached over and pulled it out from under him, but it was a long coat and it took her three tries to get it free. She drew her feet up on the seat and draped the coat over herself like a blanket.
"They knew where I lived," Em said softly. "They were gonna kill me. If you hadn't come back..."
Alex reached out and found Em's hand. "You're safe now."
"I know." She squeezed his hand appreciatively.
He wanted to ask her about her attackers -- he couldn't get their faceless stares out of his head -- but he didn't know if she'd seen them, and right now he didn't want to do anything to make things worse for her. He figured they could just drive for a while. Driving helped him think, helped him figure things out.
They'd gone almost ten miles when Em spoke.
"Elves."
Did Alex hear that right? "What?"
"Elves," Em repeated. "Daddy wasn't feeling guilty, he was trying to warn me." She started digging through Alex's coat. "Where's your phone?"
"I never got it back from you after the accident."
"I need to call Granddad. I need to warn him."
"I'll get off at the next exit; I think there's a Denny's -- they should have a payphone."
"Okay."
"So... how did your dad warn you?"
"He sent me a text message the day before Uncle Nick's funeral. L-V-S. I thought he was saying he loves me -- he leaves me messages when he's feeling guilty about sleeping with a woman. But it wasn't 'loves,' it was 'elves.' He probably didn't even mean to send it to me, it was probably supposed to go to Granddad or Uncle Nick, but that's what it was."
"You *knew* about those things?"
"No, of course not! I mean, I remember now, Granddad's stories, they sometimes had these elves. Little men made of... little men with gray skin and no faces. They were always trying to steal things..." Em shuddered. "I had a nightmare once; Grams made Granddad tell me they weren't real. But they are real."
"Maybe they're just masks. Maybe it's makeup." But Alex didn't believe that; he'd tried to rip one's face off; the memory made him shake his hand violently and wipe it on his pants.
"Whatever it is, Grams will know what to do."
Alex had found the Denny's; Em wiggled into Alex's coat as they pulled up. Alex looked around -- he didn't see any cookie trucks. But that didn't exactly make him feel safe. "What else did your grandfather tell you stories about?"
"I don't really remember."
"I don't think I'd want to."
Alex got out; Em was still slipping on her shoes when he opened her door. "You okay?"
"Yeah." She stood up. His coat looked huge on her, like she was hiding under a tarp.
"We'll have to find you some clothes."
She reached for his hand and squeezed it tightly.
The phone was in the back, next to the bathrooms. Alex gave Em a phone card -- he'd remembered Tony made him carry a couple, "in case you meet a girl, you know, you give her an Ocean Telecom phone card, write your number on the back, it's practical, unique, she'll *have* to call you." Alex had thought it was about the tackiest pick-up trick ever, but Tony *did* always have women calling him... And now here Alex was, giving a woman an Ocean Telecom phone card.
Thanks, Tony.
Alex stood guard behind Em, eyes narrowed, carefully checking out every Denny's patron. There was a rather ugly boy in the corner, but he definitely had eyes -- huge bulging eyes that were fixed on the mammoth ice cream sundae in front of him. His parents and everyone else there had eyes too, and aside from the occasional "what the hell are you looking at?" none seemed interested in Emmeline.
But that did nothing to ease Alex's grip on his Mag-Lite.
It took Em three tries to get the right number.
The machine answered. It took forever to get to the beep.
"Hello, Grams? Granddad? It's Em, if you're there, *please* pick up, it's an emer--"
"Emmeline! I just called your number, but the machine didn't answer."
"I had to get out of there -- *elves* were there, they were all over me--"
"Now, Em, you know your Granddad doesn't like it when you call them that."
"What?" Em remembered that she used to derisively refer to Granddad's green-jumpered mechanics and shipment handlers as 'elves.' "No! They busted in, they were gonna-- They took the axe."
"I'm sorry dear; he never should have asked you to do it in the first place."
"Daddy tried to warn me -- he sent me a message about the elves. I think maybe he's in trouble. And you and Granddad--"
"In trouble?" Grams inhaled sharply. "Oh dear, your Granddad didn't tell you?"
"Tell me what? My cell phone died this morning; I haven't heard from him."
"What do you mean you haven't heard from him? He should have been there by now."
"Granddad? Why? Because of the elves?"
"No, not because of--" She was suddenly quiet. Then: "Oh dear. Oh, no." Em heard the tremor in her voice.
"Grams, what's going on? Did you hear from Daddy? Where's Granddad?"
The old woman's voice became urgent. "We need to get you somewhere safe." Em heard drawers opening in the background.
"Grams, it's okay. I'm with--" Em turned around. Alex had his back to her; feet planted, hands at his sides, ready. Guarding her. "I'm with a friend. --What's going on? What are you not telling me?"
"Do you have a car?"
"Grams--"
"I'm going to give you an address. Someone will be waiting there for you; he'll get you to safety. It's 399 Franklin Street -- can you find it?"
"Grams, what's happening?"
"Dammit, Em!" the old woman shrieked. "Can you find it?" She was close to tears.
Em was stunned; her Grams had never yelled at her like this. It scared her. "I'll check."
Em turned around and tapped Alex on the shoulder. "Yeah?" He looked back for only a moment.
"Do you know where 399 Franklin Street is?"
"Franklin... yeah, the waterfront district."
"Yeah, Grams, I can get there." Em felt dread grip her by the neck, but she had to know. "Now tell me what's going on."
"Oh, Emmeline..." she sobbed. "I'm so sorry. We didn't know... when they found Nicky, we thought it was just his time, and you know your father would always go off for a few days before the..." she trailed off, sniffling. "They found your father last night."
Em felt the world tilt; she gripped the side of the phone. "No..."
"They said it was a mugging gone wrong, that these things happen all too often there, but I should have known. The Smiths said there were no signs, that this wasn't their time, and when Nicholas said it would be better to tell you in person, I didn't... I was just so angry at him, for letting Chris go to Tbilisi alone, for getting you involved, for telling me I should stay behind, I... I said some things, and... I didn't think anything of it when he didn't call... But now... Emmie, if the elves came after you, if he's not there, I..."
"Who are they?" Em asked, her voice cracking. "Is it the Smiths? Is it because of the delivery? What's supposed to happen tonight? Who would do this? Why would anyone..." She staggered against the wall; the world seemed to press in on her.
Em heard her Grams take a deep breath. "That doesn't matter right now. The package is gone; we can't help that. What matters now is--"
"Of course it matters! They killed my uncle, my Daddy, Granddad... they tried to kill me! People can't just get away with that!" Em felt her throat tighten. "We can't let them!"
"Listen to me now. What your Daddy would want more than anything in the world is for you to be safe. That's what they'd all want. I know you don't understand -- and you will soon, I promise -- but what matters now is protecting you. We can't lose you, Emmeline. You're the last Winter."