Stealing Phoenix by Joss Stirling
He removed his bag from my shoulder and chucked it out of my reach. This wasn’t good. This smacked of police and prison. I lay still, defeated for the moment. Grimly, I realized that as I’d not done what I’d been told, I wouldn’t last long in a cell in any case. Probably be dead by the end of tomorrow if I couldn’t drink.
‘Please let me steal something from you.’ That sounded pathetic, but I was reduced to begging.
‘We’ll get to that later.’ Yves placed a hand on my head, cupping it gently. He was showing far more presence of mind than I was at this moment. ‘Who would think my soulfinder would turn out to be a thief?’
I went very still. Soulfinder? He had to be joking. That was a fairytale.
‘You know what that means, then?’ He brushed my neck, sending shivers down my spine. My body recognized him though my mind was still shrieking that I had to get the hell out of here. ‘I thought, maybe, you didn’t. My brother’s soulfinder didn’t know. You’re a Savant?’
I could hear sounds out in the corridor as the rest of the seminar group went in search of the two errant members. I nodded.
Someone was approaching our room. ‘If I let you up, shall we tell them it was a joke?’
I nodded again, planning to dive out of the window as soon as he eased off me.
‘But you have to promise not to do anything stupid like try to escape me.’
Damn. ‘OK.’ At least, if we could pass this off as a trick, I bought myself a bit more time.
He slid his hand down to take mine, encountering my bandage.
‘I did this?’
I didn’t answer.
‘Sorry. I couldn’t let you take that stuff—it wasn’t mine for you to steal. But I admit I lost control. I have to keep a lid on my emotions or my gift gets out of hand. You really pissed me off yesterday.’
And he hadn’t been enjoying setting fire to me much? I’d seen his mind-patterns; I knew he’d liked outwitting the sly thief.
Taking my elbow, he helped me to my feet just as the door banged open.
‘What’s going on here?’ Dr Sharma stood in the entrance looking exasperated.
Yves stepped in front of me protectively. ‘Please accept our apologies, doctor. Wendy and I are old friends and have this deal going where she teases me by taking my bag.’ He shrugged. ‘Started with stealing Twinkies at grade school, now progressed to whole backpacks. Really juvenile, I know.’
‘I’m disappointed in the pair of you. This conference is not for children but young adults—act your age.’
Feeling me weave on my feet, Yves moved his hand to my waist, holding me up. ‘Absolutely. We hear you loud and clear. Please accept our apologies.’
‘Then get back in the seminar so we can do some work.’ She flounced away with a waft of her loose-cut turquoise jacket.
‘I can’t go back in there,’ I hissed as Yves propelled me along.
‘Yes, you can. There’s a break at twelve; we can sort everything out then.’
‘I know nothing about that stuff you’re doing.’
He smirked, clearly finding the whole situation delightful rather than the nightmare I was experiencing. ‘Yes, I guessed, Miss Geoscience.’
Black edges appeared to my vision. I shook my head.
‘You OK?’
No, I wasn’t. Thief. Soulfinder. Mess. I was so thirsty I couldn’t think straight. I licked my parched lips.
Yves marched me back into the seminar room, laughing off the comments about his abrupt departure. He distributed apologies like a benevolent lord scattering gold coins to the masses—generous handfuls. He pulled me into the seat next to him, not releasing his hold on my arm.
‘Got any handcuffs?’ he muttered under his breath, expecting me to share the joke.
I put my head on the desk as Dr Sharma resumed teaching. Fortunately, she’d abandoned the idea of a table round after that disturbing display of high spirits.
A bottle of water appeared in front of my nose. Drink.
Can’t.
Why not? I haven’t even opened it.
Please let me steal something from you.
Keeping his eyes on mine, Yves put the water back in his bag and then nodded to me. That’s my water. Whatever you do, don’t take it from me.
I reached down and snagged the bottle. Twisting the lid, I took a gulp. It felt wonderful, so good I drained the whole thing.
Watching the pantomime, Yves shook his head. You’re strange.
I crushed the empty bottle. And you’re not?
Yves did not get up at the end of the seminar when everyone else left so I stayed in my place too. Dr Sharma departed first, calling out something about the panini in the canteen not being bad if you got there early. We sat there silently, watching the rest crowd through the door, their thoughts on lunch.
So were mine. Underneath everything else I was hungry. And tired, so very, very tired. I had just discovered that the fairytale was true. Soulfinders existed—and this one was mine. I’d always imagined the discovery would give me an amazing lift, like winning the National Lottery, but instead I just felt empty and sad. I knew that I couldn’t have him even if I wanted him more than anything I’d wanted in my life before. I was the kid with no money in her pocket with her nose pressed up against the sweetshop window. Face the facts: I was a criminal who had never been to school; he was top of his class, everything about him wholesome and squeaky clean. He lived in the States and I lived in a forgettable succession of squats. He was decent and had a future; I had ties back at the Community, ones that would be hard to break, and a newly discovered sort-of-father who had his claws in me. The Seer had this way of knowing things; it was no simple matter of saying ‘I quit’. Tony may have told me I could disappear but I didn’t have the first clue how to go about doing it. Staying anywhere near the last target I had been told to hit would be incredibly stupid. Anyone looking for me would start with my last known job and that would lead the Seer right to Yves.
I just didn’t deserve him and couldn’t drag him into my troubles.
‘Shall we start with our names?’ Yves asked softly. He took my bandaged right hand in his. ‘I’m Yves Benedict. I come from Wrickenridge in Colorado.’ He paused but I didn’t fill the gap. ‘That’s in America. In the Rockies.’ Still nothing. ‘I’ve seven brothers and I’m number six. My younger brother, Zed, found his soulfinder a few months ago.’
That sounded nice. A big family. Brothers. He had a good life. I was happy for him. He could go back to that.
‘And what about you? Is Wendy your real name?’
I tugged the badge off. Not much point in my disguise any more. I couldn’t see the words I’d printed as my eyes were swimming.
‘Hey, hey, what’s the matter?’ He pulled my head to rest on his shoulder—it felt so good. ‘Finding you is the best thing that’s ever happened to me, don’t you understand? Aren’t you pleased that it’s me, not even a tiny bit?’
Sweet of him to think that I was upset because my soul-finder had turned out to be the kindest, best-looking guy I’d ever seen. I liked the fact that he didn’t realize just how attractive he was to girls, didn’t take it for granted that I’d find him perfect. This wouldn’t be so painful if he had turned out to be a spotty-faced wimp with the personality of a postage stamp.
‘Look, I know it’s a lot to take in, but give it time. I realize I come across a bit geeky—you know, correcting you about petroleum extraction and everything.’
As if that even mattered. I didn’t care about him making fun of me—I deserved that for pretending to be like him and the other students.
His hand rubbed the back of my neck. ‘We didn’t get off to the best start, I admit.’
I gave a choking laugh at that. ‘You mean because I stole your stuff?’
He didn’t stop running his hand over the sensitive skin of my nape. ‘Well, yes, but I also hurt you when I blew up my gear. I’m really sorry about that. What did the doctor say?’
I couldn??
He pulled my wrist towards him and spotted the cling film. ‘You didn’t go to a doctor, did you?’ His tone darkened; his mental pattern was whirling back into reds and oranges, my melted tote spinning in the flames like a kebab over a barbecue, flickering swear words, ones he was too polite ever to say out loud.
‘People like me don’t go to doctors.’ I tried to retrieve my hand.
‘They do now.’ He got up, dragging me with him. Unluckily for my escape plans, his shyness and uncertainty about girls disappeared when he had a rescue mission to run. ‘Come on, I’ll find out where the nearest emergency room is. I’ll never forgive myself if that scars.’
‘I’m not going. I can’t.’
He turned to face me, a muscle in his jaw twitching as he tried to control his temper. It made me wonder if he was going to set something on fire; he’d warned me his gift could get away from him when angry. ‘Wendy, don’t make a mistake. I’m ready to forgive you for trying to steal from me—twice, wasn’t it?—but if you won’t get yourself medical attention then I’ll have no choice but to turn you in to the police and let them make sure you’re seen by a qualifi ed practitioner.’
Just listen to him! Didn’t he have a mouth full of long words, all declaring that he was better educated than me? I pushed my chair back roughly. ‘Get the hell away from me. You don’t know the first thing about me and my life and already you’re ordering me around!’
He tapped the centre of my chest, looming over me, six feet of angry male. I should have felt scared but gut instinct told me that he wouldn’t hurt me. Something might get singed but it wouldn’t be my hand this time. ‘You’re completely wrong. I do know the first thing about you: you’re my soulfinder. That fact now takes first, second, and third place in my life. What about in yours?’
I covered my face with my hands, wanting to scream with frustration. ‘Just … just go away!’
I must have really riled him because his temper was escaping him like steam from an overheated car radiator. A pile of papers on the desk beside his right hand began to smoulder. ‘I can’t go away. You’re being foolish—reckless with your own health.’ He noticed the fire and quickly smothered it with a book from his bag. ‘Goddamn it, look what you made me do!’
‘Me? The fire thing is your business, not mine.’
He took a deep breath, clearly deciding a slanging match would be unproductive right now. ‘Look, I’ve got to stick with you—that’s the deal with soulfinders, you know that. Do you think I’m pleased to find mine is a thief—a sneak who uses her gift to rip people off?’ I flinched but he didn’t see, too busy parading his disappointment in his fate. ‘Hell no! I’d dreamed about this moment—but it involved, I don’t know, moonlight and roses or something, not a kick in the stomach and a thousand dollars of property up in smoke! So the least you can do is see to that burn if I tell you you should!’
I didn’t need a marching band to blare it out, or even him shouting at me. Of course he would despise me. I despised myself. I should never have let his kindness fool me into thinking anything else.
Gathering my shredded dignity, I stood up.
‘I’ve seen to my injury as best I can. You needn’t worry about it.’
My tone was flat as my brain moved on to what was going to happen next. I’d say goodbye, slip away somehow, and go back to the Community to report that the target only had a bottle of water on him, his valuables having met with a freak accident. That would go down well. I’d face my next punishment and then … and then … My imagination failed at that point. The Seer would either kill me or hand me over to one of his supporters in some kind of arranged marriage. I’d not protest, not say anything. That way no one would ever suspect I’d found my soulfinder; it was the only way to protect him. Yves could get back on his plane and go and be a successful scientist or whatever, perhaps not as happy as he would’ve been if I had turned out to be a gazelle rather than a scavenging rat, but at least he’d have a life worth living.
He folded his arms, standing between me and the door. ‘Not good enough, Wendy. I made my gear explode, and that hurt you, so I am responsible for clean-up.’
‘Not this time. I’m not your mess to clean up.’
He smiled grimly. ‘That’s exactly what you are.’
I changed my mind. He wasn’t kind; he was a dick. ‘Well, thanks for that. Nice meeting you. Really must be going.’ I headed for the exit.
‘You can’t leave.’
I stood staring at the fire notice on the back of the door. ‘What are you going to do? Wrestle me to the floor? Oh, I forgot, you did that already.’
The door opened before I could reach it. I took a step back. Jo and Ingrid put their heads round the gap.
‘Yves, what’s keeping you?’ asked Jo. Her expression soured when she saw me. ‘Oh hi, sorry, did we interrupt something?’
Yves picked up his bag and hooked it over his shoulder. ‘Wendy’s burned her hand. I was just offering to take her to a doctor to get it dressed properly.’
Ingrid wrinkled her nose at my do-it-yourself job. ‘That looks painful. The poor thing. Do you want us to come?’ In her mental patterns, I could see that my presence was about as welcome as a third dog in a fight over a bone.
Yves wouldn’t let me even open my mouth to answer before he swooped in. ‘No need, just let the conference organizers know where we’ve gone if they ask. See you later.’ Yves took my arm and marched me away. He was really annoying me now: it was as if my protests were nothing more than snowflakes melting in his ocean of certainty. I was hurt—he knew the cure. I was his soulfinder—he demanded I obey him. Were all his family arrogant jerks or had I just pulled the short straw?
We reached the reception. I only went with him because he was finally taking me nearer the exit. Already I was plotting my escape.
‘Excuse me.’ Yves turned his devastating, earnest smile on the lady with the folders. ‘My friend here burned herself yesterday and I really think she needs to get it looked at by a doctor. Is there a hospital nearby?’
The lady—way too old for him so really should have known better—fluttered and preened until she found her emergency list. ‘The Royal London, Whitechapel Road. A stop on the tube—that’s the subway to you.’ She giggled—she actually giggled. ‘Or you can walk if she is well enough to do so.’ She drew a big circle on the handout map; I wouldn’t have been surprised if she had scribbled her phone number on the reverse.
He blushed, disturbed by her overeager response to him. ‘Thanks. We’ll jump in a cab.’ He continued to frogmarch me off the premises.
Waiting until we were outside, I shoved him away from me. ‘That’s enough. What part of “I’m not going to hospital” don’t you understand?’
‘The “not” part.’ He bit down on a smile that I had no intention of joining in. ‘Look, Wendy, what harm can a little trip to the ER do you? You guys don’t even have to pay, so it can’t be the money or insurance problems.’
I gazed longingly at the traffic streaming east, out of town, away from him. So close. ‘It’s not that I’m stupid. I just can’t.’
He shoved a hand through his hair in frustration. ‘Wendy, why do I get the impression that you are about to sprinkle your fairy dust and fly away from me?’
I shook my head, folding my arms around my waist. He was wrong; he was the one offering fairy dust, Peter Pan volunteering to carry me off to the Neverland of soulfinders and happily ever after. But he was too late. Last night, I had had to grow up and I now knew that such dreams did not exist; real life was more like living with Captain Hook’s mercenary pirates than playing happy families in a treehouse.
A finger under my chin tipped my head up. ‘Wendy, talk to me. Let me help you. I’m sorry I said that stuff inside, but I was angry. I act like an idiot when my gift gets loose—just ask my
I nodded, not wanting to respond to his coaxing tone but unable to help myself. Everything inside me was yearning to reach out to this guy despite the warning from my common sense.
‘Wendy, I can’t bear to see you in pain when we can do something about it.’
And I couldn’t bear to have him calling me by that fake name any longer. ‘Phee. My name’s Phee.’
He smiled, brown eyes warming for the first time since we quit the classroom. ‘Just Phee?’
‘Short for Phoenix.’
‘Any other names?’
I never used it, but I supposed I should take my mother’s surname. I didn’t want to sound so shabby as not even to have a proper name. ‘Corrigan.’
‘So, Phoenix Corrigan, you have an allergy to hospitals?’ He shifted his weight on to his other leg, waiting for an answer.
It was a good enough explanation. I nodded.
‘Doctor’s clinic?’
‘Same deal.’ Was he really backing down? All it had taken was one little concession from me and he suddenly became more reasonable?
He took out his phone. ‘I’ve an idea. Don’t move.’ Selecting a contact from the home screen, he lifted it to his ear. I tensed, ready to bolt if necessary. ‘Hey, Xav, got a minute? Where are you? I’ve got a bit of a situation here. Can you meet me back at the apartment in half an hour? OK. Yeah, I know, I’m a pain in the butt. Tell her you’ll call her later. Uh-huh. But trust me, you’ll want to be part of this.’ He ended the call and grinned. ‘Problem solved.’
‘Who were you just talking to?’ I rubbed my forearms, feeling the prickle of suspicion that I was being watched. Glancing around, I couldn’t see anyone but there were lots of places to hide, doorways, bus shelters … Tony? He’d be worried I wouldn’t come through with my part of the deal. Unicorn or Dragon, checking up on me? I hadn’t earned the Seer’s trust with my failure yesterday so I wouldn’t put it past him to have me under guard today.