Arrival of the Traveler (Waldgrave Book 1) (12 page)

“It was…Mom, what’s wrong? It was in a photo album I found upstairs.”

Ava walked slowly into the dining room and sat down. She held the birth certificate with both hands, as if she were afraid it would break if she dropped it. She just stared at it. Lena went to sit with her, and not too long after Howard appeared at one of the other dining room doors.

“Is everything okay in here?” He walked over toward them, and Ava held the certificate out at him. She got up and walked to a window at the other end of the room. She stared listlessly out across the yard, toward a small clump of trees further out on the property, as Howard started to talk.

“You’re…sure? You don’t want to do this yourself, Ava?”

Ava nodded.

“Uncle Howard, what’s wrong?” Lena looked frantically from her mother to her uncle. “If I’d known it was such a big deal, I wouldn’t have…”

“What do you know about this?” His voice was more gentle than accusing. Lena slowly took the birth certificate back.

“It says my parents’ names, and my birthday…but everything else is blank. Was my name changed, or something?”

“Lena, this is…this is not your birth certificate.”

“But it has my birthday—the right year, and everything!”

Howard looked uneasily back over towards Ava, who still stared firmly out the window. “This belonged to someone else, who lived here a long time ago.”

Something was starting to come together in Lena’s mind. The reason her mother was so anxious about her safety.

“Who used to live here?”

Howard took another deep breath and set the birth certificate on the table. “Your brother. You had a brother.”

She’d 
had
 a brother. From the window, Ava let out a quieted sob.

“He came to live here a long time ago, after your parents split up. Your father took you, and your mother took Thomas.”

Thomas…

“He died. When he was five, and because he was with your mother, I guess your dad just didn’t…didn’t want…” Howard’s voice broke, and he looked purposely away from the piece of paper in his hands, trying to collect himself.

“He never told me the truth about anything, did he?” Lena’s eyes were tearing up, but she wasn’t sure it was out of sadness. It was shocking. Somehow, she’d made peace with the fact that her dad hadn’t wanted her to know her mother. But to hide a sibling? His own child? Her brother, the one person in the world that would have understood her predicament, the friend that she had so desperately wanted, so many times, when she’d never stayed long enough as a child to form any real friendships. Everyone that was her friend was dead, leaving her with her psychotic mother, the deceptive Howard, and the horrible man in the attic. She was living in a personal hell, and part of her wanted it to just be over. She wanted to be with the family she belonged with…the dead family. She got up from the table, and started to walk away; Howard reached out and touched her arm. She shook him off and started into a run.

“Lena!” Ava screamed. “Stop!”

Out of the dining room, out of the house, out of the orderly green yard, and farther. She ran until her lungs burned, and finally collapsed under a large cottonwood tree. She sat with her back to the tree, and stared in a direction that was anywhere but towards Waldgrave. She looked at the mountains, and the sun hovering just above them.

Her brother, father, grandmother…everyone was dead. Everyone dies, after all. Why did she care? She didn’t know. It was all pointless anyway, wasn’t it? So what if her parents had never loved one another—or if she’d never gotten the chance to meet her own brother? So what if her grandfather was…the way he was? Her father wasn’t the person he had claimed to be—by far. But the more she tried to justify it to herself, the harder it was to understand. She had cried a lot lately, and now her head just hurt. Her whole life and being hurt.

Everything was so perfect before…

“It’s not that bad.” Lena twisted around. She was surprised to see Howard. “I mean, it could really be a lot worse. Trust me.”

Lena stared at him as he sat down by her.

“What?” Howard looked concerned.

“It’s just…I think this is the first time I’ve ever really seen you outside.”

Howard laughed a little, and Lena smiled.

“I guess I need to get out more.”

They sat silently. Lena tried to get a grip on what she had just learned; she had a brother. Part of her wanted to know what she could about him, because they’d never had the chance to get to know one another. Maybe she would be able to find a picture in one of her albums now that she knew; she wondered if they looked anything alike. Her lungs were still burning, and her eyes still stung. Lena was happy that Howard was looking out toward the mountains and not at her; she wondered if he’d read her mind to figure out she didn’t like when people watched her being upset.

“How did he die?” Lena looked over at Howard, who picked a tall piece of grass from the ground and started to fidget with it. He stayed focused on it while he spoke.

“He went out to walk his dog, and we don’t know what happened.” Howard’s voice cracked; Lena had always found this to be a little disturbing. She’d never seen her father cry, and seeing adults cry in general made her worry. “He liked to walk his dog, and he went out every night an hour before dinner. That time he just never came back. He was five.”

“He never came home? Isn’t it possible he’s still…out there, somewhere?” Lena asked hopefully.

“No…We found a body. Bodies. Both him and the dog. We started looking when he didn’t turn up that night, and we found them early the next morning. He was always so happy to go out with that dog, it’s hard to believe that someone could…at least they were together. It’s good that he wasn’t alone.”

“You let a five-year-old go wandering off by himself?”

Howard allowed himself a pause. “I wasn’t living here then. He’s one of the reasons why I’m here now. But I did know him—I was his uncle, after all. Rosaleen and I were visiting when it happened, though. But Waldgrave wasn’t always the way it is now. It used to be a much safer place, before it happened.”

“How did he die?”

“I’m not going to tell you that, because frankly I don’t like to think about it. It’s not something I want you to think about. He was murdered.”

That certainly got her attention. In the back of her mind, a sleeping memory stirred; a sort of déja vu feeling crept under her skin. Lena almost felt bad for having such a morbid curiosity, but she had never actually known her brother. If he had been anything like her, she was sure he would understand.

“Who killed him?”

Howard took a deep breath and then slowly exhaled it. “We don’t know.” He looked out at the setting sun. It was halfway behind the mountains. Lena let it go. It was clearly upsetting to Howard. Her brother’s killer was still loose somewhere. But then Howard continued.

“Lena, I know you know I’ve lied to you. I’ve had to, and you deserve to know why. I’m here because your brother’s death was…political in nature. We’re not a united front, people like us…”

“The Silenti?”

“Yes. Not everyone thinks like your grandfather, thank God, but our situation is so…extremely divided…that you’re in danger. Just for being born. No one deserves the life you have in front of you. No one.” Howard looked over at Lena for the first time since he’d sat down. Seeing that he had a captive and attentive audience, he thought it would be best to get it all out at once. “In the past, the Silenti were led by a monarchy, but not too far back they started to lose power as the world advanced. To make a long and bloody story short, those who followed the Darays wanted complete segregation from humans to keep the Silenti abilities and blood ‘pure,’ while the opposing party wanted more integration.

“Well, one night someone from the opposing party set fire to the Daray house while they slept, hoping to end the issue by killing all members of the royal family. Your grandfather and your mother, who was only a little girl, were the only ones who got out alive. The Daray supporters retaliated with a series of murders aimed at integrated Silenti families, and it’s escalated from there ever since. The monarchy has always been led by a male figurehead, and when Thomas was brought to Waldgrave, fears ran high that the monarchy would reestablish itself. And, well…” Howard settled his head into his hands. Lena could see he was trying not to cry. How could someone kill a little kid? “Lena, you need to understand that to some people in our little world, you present such a threat yourself. Please forgive me, I’ve only been allowed to tell you what the Council—part of our governing system—has told me I’m allowed to. If I’d have broken that rule, they would have removed me and stuck you with someone else. I honestly don’t know who I can trust anymore, and since your grandmother’s death, you’re the only family I have left.” He buried his eyes into his palms. For several long minutes they sat there, two people being alone together.

“You know, you really shouldn’t be so hard on your father.” Howard kept his head in his hands.

“He lied to me. You hardly know me, but you know I don’t like liars.” Her voice was barely a whisper, but she was surprised at the anger and sadness it held. She felt bad for Howard because she knew what it was like to feel alone, but at the same time it wasn’t fair that this had been dumped on her all at once—and her father had to know it was going to happen eventually.

“He had his reasons.”

“Yeah? Like what?”

“Have you been paying attention to anything over the last few months? Can you really blame him for trying to keep you out of all of this?” Howard wiped his eyes and stood up. “We need to get back before it’s dark.”

Howard reached out to her. Lena took his hand and he pulled her up. “I guess.”      

“He was a good man, Lena. He loved you more than you can ever know.”

“I guess.”

“You’re as stubborn as he was.”

Lena looked over at Howard. He hadn’t meant it as a compliment, but she took it as one.

“He was stubborn as a mule when he was your age.” Howard said with a reminiscent smile. “Willful, and adventurous, and selfless. He did it all for you, and you shouldn’t remember him badly for it.”

“Yeah?”

They walked slowly back towards Waldgrave, neither speaking, as if allowing for a moment of silence after everything that had just been said. Lena would never be able to think about her life, or her future, the same way again.

“I remember one time he ran off to Australia because one of his friends needed help—his wife had recently passed on, and he had a small child. Aaron was always a giver. He never thought of himself…gave his life savings to that little boy’s college fund.” Howard laughed a little. “Our mom almost killed him. Dad just thought it was really funny.”

“Why?”

“Well, he was just under sixteen at the time.” They both laughed.

“How did a fifteen-year-old get all the way to Australia?”

Howard related the whole ridiculous tale, which involved a series of fake identities and a lot of bribery, as they walked back to the house, and it was only later that night that Lena wondered if it was all really true. Knowing her father, it could have been.

The next morning, breakfast was a breath of fresh air. Howard made an announcement that brightened Lena’s outlook more than anything up to this point had.      

“Lena, I’m sorry I haven’t told you before, it wasn’t supposed to be until September.” He glanced over at Ava, whose eyes were still somewhat puffy from the day before. “There’s going to be a sort of get together here next week.”

“A get together?” Lena took a bite of toast.

“It’s a tradition. A sort of planning holiday; I guess we’ll probably have the one in September too, but the important thing is that starting next Monday, a lot of people are going to be visiting.”

“Okay. One—will I have to give up my room, and two—how long are they staying?”

“No, and one or two months, maybe. Some longer than others.”

“Months?!” Lena exclaimed; it wasn’t that she was opposed to the idea, but the length of the stay seemed unusually long.

“Calm down.” Howard smiled at her enthusiasm. “You’ve been out of the world for a while now, and I think you’ll enjoy the company. It’s a sort of party, really. We get together, discuss issues, and try to enjoy ourselves. It’s a time when we don’t have to censor ourselves for fear of humans overhearing.”

“So… Everyone there is going to be a Silenti?”

Ava smiled at her daughter. “See? I told you you’d figure that word out for yourself…”

“Oh…” Lena smiled cautiously at her mother, “Of course. Mom, you were so right! Thanks.”

Ava smiled.

“In answer to your question, mostly. They’re all Silenti, except for some of the integrated families. Your dad always came to them, even though he was human. But mostly they’ll be Silenti…the family Representatives need to figure out what to do about your…situation.”

Lena smiled. She wasn’t too sure how great partying with Howard’s business buddies would be, but the event did mean she’d have more people to talk to. More people who would be able to tell her about who she was.

“Oh—and on a side note, Mrs. Ralston is going to start tutoring you.”