Arrival of the Traveler (Waldgrave Book 1) Read online

  “Is this where you live?”

  David glared at her. “Go sit on the bed.”

  Lena stared as he climbed up a ladder into what must have been the hay loft, rummaged for a moment, then reappeared, climbing back down. He had what appeared to be a picture frame in his hands.

  “I said sit!”

  Lena hurried over and sat on the bed as David pulled the stool up in front of her and seated himself. Taking a deep breath, he began.

  “How much do you know?”

  “About what?”

  “About…your mother’s side?” David was suddenly very serious, and Lena wasn’t having as much fun as she had thought she would. She had never snuck out of a house before, but knew from television that it was supposed to be fun.

  “Are you going to tell me what’s going on, or what?”

  “Just answer the question!” He was getting angry again.

  “Okay, fine! Um…well, my mom died shortly after I was born and I’ve never seen any pictures. I thought I met my maternal grandmother, but it turned out she was a dirty rotten liar like my uncle, who says my mom’s side sucked anyway. The end.”

  “Great. That’s just great.” He tapped the picture in his hand.

  “Can I see—“

  “Not yet. Do you ever have strange dreams, princess?”

  “Would you please stop calling me that?”

  David smiled wryly. “Sure. Right after you stop acting like one. Strange dreams?”

  She stared at him. Didn’t everybody, at some point or other? “Can I borrow your coat now?”

  He opened the chest at the foot of the bed and threw a heavy winter coat at her. It smelled sweaty and dusty, but she put it on anyways.

  “I used to.” Lena shrugged, diverting her gaze around the barn. “But I talked about them with my dad, and he said they were just silly nightmares. He told me to forget them, and I guess I had, until now. I don’t dream anymore.”

  “Tell me about them.”

  “I don’t want to.” She immediately flinched, expecting him to be angry, but when she looked over, he was smiling.

  “Princess, they weren’t just silly nightmares…”

  He handed her the portrait he’d been holding. It was Lena, but it wasn’t. This woman…she was older. Same face, same body…they even had the same hair color, and wore it in much the same fashion…

  “You got your father’s eyes, I’m told, but I don’t have a picture of him to prove it.”

  She was wearing a red dress. It was the exact same one that Lena had worn to dinner just a few days ago. That’s why it fit so well.

  “Turn it over.” David said in softer tone.

  On the back of the frame, there was a short note written in a serpentine crawl of black ink: Princess Avalon Daray, September 3rd, 1987.

  “Princess?” Lena mouthed the word, unable to speak.

  “That’s what he doesn’t want you to know. You’re royalty.”

  Lena stood up very quickly. She smiled and thrust the portrait back at David. He had a look in his eyes that was confusing; reverence mixed with his frustration of her ignorance.

  “I’m sorry David, but you’re crazy. I’ve got to go now.”

  He lightly touched her shoulder as she walked past him, and she felt…something. A warmth ran through her. She looked back.

  “If you stay a little longer, and I’ll tell you who the man in the attic is.”

  “Who are you?” She stepped back, but he made no effort to stop her leaving. He already had her, and he knew it. His eyes were as dark as ever, but there was a new interest in them. They were alive with a force of passion. Possibly even obsession. “David?”

  “I’m here because your grandfather asked me to be. That’s the man in the attic. Your mother’s father.” He sat down on the bed, and continued to talk.

  “That’s what I meant by coming here to get an education. Your grandfather, the true Master of Waldgrave, has taken me on as an apprentice. But you can’t tell Howard. Howard is the enemy.”

  Lena and David stared at each other. Understandably, she was having some trouble taking him seriously.

  “Well, if he’s trying to teach you to be a crazy hermit, you’re both doing a great job.”

  David stood up and took several quick steps toward her. He certainly knew how to intimidate. “It’s an honored position, and I won’t let you speak of him that way again.” He’d gone serious again.

  Lena sat down next to the wall and held her face in her hands. I don’t know why I let him bring me here…

  “You let me bring you here because you wanted to know. And now you do.”

  Lena looked up. “What?”

  “We’re a race of very ancient people, Lena. And we’re dying off. Some, like Howard, prefer it that way.”

  “David—you’re crazy!”

  “If I’m crazy, then how do I know what you’re thinking?”

  Lucky guess.

  “It wasn’t. It isn’t.”

  “Oh my God…”

  “Let me teach you, Lena,” He crouched down on the floor in front of her, pushing her hair out of her face and raising her chin so that she was looking at him. “You will learn these things, whether you are a willing student or not. You’ve been shown the truth, and it’s only a matter of time before things start happening on their own. I suggest you take my offer…Master Daray won’t be so kind as to give you the option.”

  What the hell does that mean? I don’t believe this…

  “Then ask your mother tomorrow at breakfast,” he looked in the direction of Waldgrave, “Anyway, I suggest you find your way back before it gets too cold out.”

  There was a cramp growing in the middle of her stomach… her mother? At breakfast? Lena scrambled to her feet, dropped the odorous jacket, and ran out the door and away from David as quickly as she could. The pain in her abdomen grew with every step she took toward Waldgrave; icy tears were streaming down her face and sweat collected on her brow. Ten feet from the front door Lena collapsed in a heap, only to be discovered the next morning covered in a light dusting of snow and running a high fever.

  *****

  CHAPTER 4

  “Out here! Out here! Howard, quickly!” Ava Daray had returned to her father’s house. The past eighteen years of her life had not met anyone’s expectations. “Howard!”

  Howard took the stairs at a run as he raced to the front door. Rosaleen had raised the alarm early that morning, before Howard had risen, and his bathrobe trailed behind him like a powder blue cape. “Well how the hell did she get out here?! Rosaleen, call a doctor!”

  “No! No doctors…” Ava knelt and held a hand to her daughter’s forehead. “She’s got a fever. We need to get her inside, but I don’t think the weather’s done her any harm.” She looked around at the snow that had fallen over night, and then smiled into Howard’s frowning face.

  Howard picked up Lena and carried her up to her bedroom. Her mother sat with her for several hours, watching her beautiful child up close for the first time in more than ten years. She stroked her hair and knew that the coming days were going to be difficult for both of them. Around lunch time, David came looking for her.

  Ava didn’t move her eyes from her daughter’s face as the door opened, closed, and footsteps slowly approached her side.

  “What did you tell her?”

  Only silence met her question, and Ava turned to face David.

  “What in God’s name did you tell her?!” She said in a deadly hiss.

  “Only the truth.” David sat down on the foot of the bed.

  “Did she ask you to—“

  “No. That’s why I told her. Your father needed to know.” His eyes rested uneasily on Lena’s sleeping form. If he’d known the results would have been this detrimental, he might not have done it.

  “You should have waited for her to ask…”

  “Your daughter’s not the sharpest knife in the drawer. I had to give her something to go on, or she wouldn’t h
ave figured it out on her own. Not with Howard going out of his way to hide everything from her.” He stood up and strode to the door, pausing, only for a moment, to look back over his shoulder before closing the door behind him.

  When dinner time rolled around, Mrs. Ralston came in with a plate for Ava. The two didn’t speak, and Ava never touched the food. The hours were beginning to wear on Ava, and around ten, she fell asleep in her chair. Time passed as it always did.

  Sometime later, Lena’s eyes fluttered. She had been dreaming again, very strange dreams…they weren’t nightmares, like they used to be, but somewhere in her being she feared them just as much. Her eyes opened. She had to still be sleeping... There she was, asleep in a chair. Lena was watching herself sleep. What strange dreams…

  Her eyes—well, those of the Lena asleep in the chair—opened very suddenly. Lena jumped. The other Lena smiled…

  “Who are… Mom?” Her voice cracked. Her throat was dry, and a monstrous headache was starting to grow. Her gut still hurt like someone had punched her.

  Ava nodded and reached her hand out to touch Lena’s cheek. Had Lena been more aware and less unwell, she would have pulled away.

  “Oh, Lena…” The woman who looked like her hugged her. A few moments passed as Lena gained control of the situation and her spinning head. She gently pushed the woman away.

  “Dad told me you were…Why are you here? What’s going on?” Her brow furrowed, and tears were starting to slide down her cheeks. Her mother had a look of compassion and frustration; Lena was confused and tired. It was too much for her to deal with.

  “I’m afraid you’ll have to be a little more specific.” Ava said, leaning forward to rest her chin on her propped up fist.

  “What?” Lena shook her head and sat up, and then bent over and held her head in her hands. “What do you mean? Specific?”

  “Sweetie, I know this must be strange to you, but you have to ask me very specifically...”

  Lena stared down at the sheets. The nuisance of the past week came back to her very slowly—like paint drying…

  “Why do I have to be specific?!” She said it more forcefully than she had intended to; but then, here was a woman she didn’t remember, who claimed to be her mother, and everyone was lying to her, and David was crazy, and there were so many dead people in her life, and…

  “That’s as good a place as any to start, I guess. I just have to warn you, it’s unsafe for me to tell you anything you’re not ready to hear. It could hurt you…like David hurt you.”

  “David didn’t hurt me, I just—“

  “Well, yes he did,” Ava looked away, and then quickly looked back, “That’s very, very important.”

  “Why? You believe him?” Lena stared at the older copy of herself. She already knew that they had very little in common, and probably wouldn’t get along well.

  “I know you’ve got no reason to trust me just yet, so look at it this way: Howard’s been lying to you. I’ll try my hardest not to do that. I’ll even keep your secrets for you. I know things that Howard doesn’t, and you can keep those secrets from him.” The idea of having a secret, and keeping it against Howard and Ralston, was very pleasing. But there was something wrong with the whole situation, and it was very bothersome.

  “What’s wrong with me?” Lena asked.

  “David told you more than you were ready to hear,” She reached toward the nightstand, opened a drawer, and tossed a box of tissues onto the bed. She waited for Lena to finish wiping her face and blowing her nose before continuing. “And he apparently saw fit to leave you out in the snow and unconscious for several hours.”

  “Why would he do that to me?” Lena felt a pang of disbelief run through her; David could be cruel, but he wasn’t dangerous. She had trouble believing he would leave her to hypothermia.

  Ava looked down at the sleeping gown she had been wearing since that morning, using her palm to smooth it against her thigh. “If he had told people you were out there, it would have raised questions. Howard can’t know that he’s the one who told you, Lena, or he’ll be in a lot of trouble. As things currently stand, no one knows why you were outside, and you don’t remember, either.”

  “Why?” Lena asked. “I could have died…”

  Ava smiled pathetically. “Because Howard would make him leave. And while your immune system hasn’t quite developed yet, a little cold hasn’t hurt you. Some extra durability comes with the territory of the…changes, I guess, that you’ll be experiencing. The information you received was actually far more worrisome to your health.”

  “The information?” Lena repeated.

  “Your mind wasn’t ready for everything you were told, and it made you very sick. What were you told, Lena?” Sitting forward in her chair, Ava looked more concerned than she had at any previous moment.

  “By who?” Lena rolled her eyes. It seemed everyone currently residing on the Waldgrave property had their own version of things. Her head was pounding.

  “I see. I know you’ve been getting some mixed messages here, and probably some straight lies,” Ava pursed her lips and took a deep breath, “All I can do is say I’m sorry. I’m sorry I didn’t get here sooner. I’m sorry for everything, and I promise that I will never lie to you. I’ve lost a lot of time with you, and I want to make it up to you—“

  We’ll see about that, won’t we?

  Ava stopped speaking immediately and a troubled look spread across her face; Lena’s eyes went wide as she realized the yard boy wasn’t the only one reading minds anymore.

  “I—I’m sorry. It just sort of… I can’t believe anyone here. Everyone lies to me, and nobody cares.” A significant pile of used tissues had grown in her lap, but the tears were finally fading. Both mother and child were silent until Lena remembered she was supposed to be answering a question.

  “He told me that you were alive, and that Howard was hiding the fact that I’m a member of some sort of secret royalty, or something like that. Um… My grandfather lives in the attic; and David can read minds, and he’s lying to Howard about why he’s really here.” Lena watched her mother’s face as she said all this. Ava’s worry seemed to weigh against her outrage for a moment, but the former won out.

  “At least you have questions, then?”

  “Is it all true?”

  “Yes. I think the term ‘royalty’ is overstating it, but according to your grandfather, yes—you are descended of a noble lineage.”

  “What’s your name?”

  “Avalon Daray.”

  “It says Sarah Collins on my birth certificate.” Lena had regained her footing. She wanted control of this conversation, and was going to get the answers she needed now that she had been offered the opportunity.

  “It wouldn’t surprise me if you haven’t actually seen your real birth certificate; at that time though, I was going under the name Sarah Collins.” Ava was tired; it was going on eleven, and she had been up early that day searching for a missing person.

  “Why were you going under a fake name?”

  “That’s a very complicated question, and as I’ve said before, I’m afraid of giving you more than you’re ready for. The simple answer is that I was hiding, and I didn’t want to be found. Trust me when I say the rest will make you sick. For now, get some sleep, and we’ll sort it all out tomorrow. Do you need anything? Water, or an aspirin?”

  Lena shook her head. She still wasn’t sure if she trusted her mother, and even though she had spent most of the day sleeping, she was exhausted. She could get her own water.

  “Well, if you need anything, I’m in the room just across the hall.” Ava rose, walked to the door, and then turned around.

  “I love you, Lena.”

  “Okay. Thank you.” It was the first time she’d heard those words since Egypt. She felt her eyes tearing up again, but bit her lip hard to keep them in.

  “Goodnight.”

  “Goodnight.” The door clicked shut, and Lena cried herself to sleep, just as she had that ni
ght in the hospital.

  By the next morning, Lena had almost fully recovered. She was groggy, and ached all over, but she seemed to have back her capacity to control her emotional states. She woke up late, wondering why no one had bothered to get her for breakfast, which would have already started. She was too bleary to get dressed and entirely ready without missing breakfast, but realizing that she was still in the blue dress she’d worn down to David’s two days earlier, she elected to put on some pajamas and a bathrobe and just let it go. As she wandered down to the dining room, she remarked how different the house had become now that Howard had been forced out of his lies. Walking to her seat, she received a smile from her mother, but Howard had a look of remorse.

  Sitting down at the table, she forged on.

  “I see you decided to put those pictures back after all.” She put her napkin in her lap and picked up her fork. Ava looked confused.

  “Yes…they’re back.” Howard didn’t look up.

  Ava looked questioningly at both of them; it was Lena who spoke, because Howard didn’t look up to it.

  “Well, when I got here, I noticed there was some light bleaching around the places where the pictures used to be. Howard said they were removed just before I got here.” Lena watched Howard slowly put down his utensils and sit in a purgatorial manner. “He had the hall painted blue, and I was told that they wouldn’t be returning.”

  Ava glanced over at Howard, who let out a long sigh, and then she started to laugh.

  “I was told you were going to great lengths, but you’ve really put yourself out!” She continued laughing, Howard’s discomfort turned almost to indignation, and while Lena smiled politely, she had no clue what was going on until Ava calmed down. Remembering their conversation from the night before, Lena realized she was expected to press the issue over waiting for an explanation.

  “What was going on with the pictures that’s so funny?”