Inbetween

Chapter 20

Finn At times like this I thanked God I couldn’t feel. November wind rushed through me, knocking the last of the leaves from the trees around me as I waited outside Emma’s school for the bell to ring.

There’d been no sign of Maeve for almost a week. As much as I didn’t want to be away from Emma, I couldn’t stand the monotony of going through her classes with her anymore. Maeve’s silence was the perfect opportunity to get away from the useless information being pumped into my head. I’d never been great in school. While the other kids had their noses diligently shoved into books, I was somewhere else all together, staring out the window, my head in the clouds that I would eventually die in. I guess that’s why I jumped at the chance to actually fly in them. I could still hear Mama as she slammed the dishes around in the metal sink so hard I thought they might shatter.

“Finn, you can’t go. They can’t make you. You’re still a child. You haven’t even finished school.”

She was crying, tears flowing down the crevices that years of worry and hard work had already carved into her cheeks.

“For the last time, they aren’t makin’ me, Mama. I want to go. It’s what’s right.” I’d never sounded so uncertain. I was like a dog with its tail between its legs, afraid of being scolded. But then again Mama could drive the fear of God into the toughest of men, so I shouldn’t have expected to be any different. “And I’m not a kid anymore. I’m eighteen.”

“What about the farm? You know your daddy’s getting too sick to do it alone. He needs you.”

I looked away. “Henry can help. He’s sixteen now. He’s old enough.”

“You can’t wait to get out of this place, can you; away from us. Just be a man and admit it. You don’t want to end up a poor hick farmer like your daddy.” Her words trickled through me, burning holes as they went, until every emotion was draining from me like water through one of Mama’s metal strainers she used for noodles.

“I am being a man. When I come home a war hero, you’ll be proud of me. You’ll see.” I was trying to swallow back the useless tears, but they refused to be quieted. Instead of finishing the speech I had prepared, I walked over to her and placed my hands on her shoulders, smoothing out the wrinkles in her sunflower-print dress. “I love you, Mama. I’m sorry.” I placed a kiss into the brown curls that were fastened behind her ears and walked away, only stopping long enough to grab my duffel bag, which carried everything I owned in the world.

It was the last time I saw her. It was the last thing we’d said to each other.

I shook off the last of the memory that was eating me from the inside out when the bell rang. It always took Emma a few minutes to grab her books and pry herself away from the crush of students, so when I heard my name I knew it wasn’t her. I tensed when I felt it. The cold crawling up my spine.

The breath of death prickling my senses. I didn’t even have to turn around to know it was her. Maeve.

“Whatcha doing out here, Finny?” Maeve danced around me, pirouetting like she was part of the wind. She was a shimmery pixie with silver and red hair blazing like fire around her pale face, a complete contradiction to the cold that surrounded her. “Shouldn’t you be inside?”

I crossed my arms over my chest, feeling the anger blaze through me like a flame. After last night…after I’d had to fight her off, and bait her to get her away from Emma. She was getting ruthless. I didn’t know what to do anymore.

“Oh, come on. I’m here to play nice.” She stopped dancing to stand in front of me, her red hair blocking out the sun behind her.

“What do you want this time?”

“Besides the obvious?” She glanced back and grinned when she saw Emma walking out of the school. The wind immediately picked up her blond hair and tossed it into her face. “You know, that wasn’t very nice of you last week. Spoiling my fun like that.”

“You think it was fun for her?” I snapped.

“Though I have to say it was entertaining. Did she actually think her little chant and some burned leaves would be enough to get rid of me?”

“Get to the point, Maeve.”

“Relax, it’s not like she can see me. Or you for that matter.” When I tensed she stopped looking back and forth from Emma to me. “She can’t see you, right Finn?”

I clenched my jaw, wanting to take back my reaction. This would definitely piss her off. The fact that I’d found some kind of happiness. It was going to send Maeve’s madness into overdrive, and I’d just thrown fuel on the fire. Panic started a slow burn in my chest.

To my surprise, she visibly calmed herself. “Well, isn’t that nice. Regardless, we can call a truce for now. I’m too busy working on something to bother with your screwed-up love affair.”

“On what? What kind of game are you playing this time?” Emma was almost here, swinging her bag as she hurried across the crowded parking lot. The fear of having them this close to each other twisted me into knots.

“Who said it was a game?”

“It’s always a game with you, Maeve.”

“Have you spoken with Scout lately?” she asked a little too innocently.

I shot Maeve a look that could have cut through steel. “Why? Have you?”

Emma stopped by my side and gave me a wide smile. “You’re here.”

Maeve’s form vibrated with the blackness of her rage. “You really want to be with her? In the flesh?” she asked, her voice shaking. “Go see Scout. He’s got a really interesting operation going on.

You might even find it useful yourself.” A cruel grin on her face, she blinked out of existence.

“Hey, pretty girl.” I tried to smile at Emma, tried to feel the warmth of her presence. But no amount of Emma’s warmth could cast off the cloud of worry that had settled over me. What had Scout gotten himself into? If Maeve had anything to do with it, it couldn’t be good.