Call of Water (Madame Tan's Freakshow #1) - Marina Simcoe Page 0,58
wanted to see me again. Everything he said and did during the time we spent together and the way he looked at me when we said goodbye told me that the date was important to him, just as it was to me.
I had spent so much time convincing myself he didn’t show up because he didn’t want to. Could the truth be that he really couldn’t?
“Zeph.” I strengthened next to him. “I know for a fact that some of Madame’s bracks were in Paris that day. There is a possibility that you might have been taken then.”
The realization filled me with dread and regret.
“I should’ve gone to Le Loup Solitaire right away,” I muttered, seeing that day in a new light. “I should have talked to Lero, maybe he could’ve stopped them? Gotten you back before she stuck you in that tank?”
“It might have put Lero and you in danger, too.”
Lero...
The image of the lone dark figure by the wall with a cigarette between his fingers rose in my mind.
“Listen,” I said. “I know you trust Lero, but could there be any chance at all that he could’ve been in it with Madame? Ghata, I mean?”
“Lero? Never.” Zeph shook his head resolutely.
“Where does he get his cigarettes from? Those are womora leaves he smokes, aren’t they?”
“Right.” A frown settled over his face again. “That doesn’t mean he helped Ghata in any way. Lero is the one who has been warning me about her and the bracks for as long as I can remember—” He rubbed his forehead, his frown deepening. “Which is not that long right now, I have to admit.”
“Womora leaves come from Nerifir, right?”
He nodded.
“And bracks are the only ones who can cross into Nerifir and back. All bracks are under Madame’s power, why would they supply Lero with anything? And why does he need to smoke that stuff, in the first place? If womora is harmful to Fae?”
Questions kept piling in my head. It felt as if my brain was about to explode.
“Lero says the leaves help him to calm down, stop him from turning violent.”
“Violent?” I sat back, blinking at him. “In what way?”
“When I was little, we had a cage in the basement of our townhouse—for as long as I remember it, at least. Every now and then, Lero would lock himself in it. I was not allowed to go in the basement on those nights. He locked the basement door, too. But I saw the cage with its door open on the days when he wasn’t using it. I even played inside it sometimes.”
“Just how violent could one turn to need a cage to contain them? What kind of monster is Lero?” I thought back to the exhibits in Madame’s menagerie. “A werewolf?”
“I don’t know. I’ve never actually seen him turn into anything. He made sure I didn’t. Not as a child, anyway.”
“So, you have no memories from being an adult, at all?”
“Not many. Only those while I was in the tank. I also remember everything that happened after I broke free.”
His crestfallen expression filled me with compassion.
“It’s all right, Zeph,” I tried to comfort him. “It must be the smoke. Madame might have added something else to the womora leaves to not only deprive you of your power but also to jumble your mind. She was probably making sure you wouldn’t try to escape. There may still be some traces of the smoke in your system. You’ll remember when all of that wears off.”
I had no idea if what I was saying was true, but I longed to believe it was. I had no clue if I managed to convince him, either. He shifted in his spot, his chest rose with a sigh.
“We need to get some rest,” he said flatly. The lack of emotion in his voice could have been from exhaustion. It was late into the night by now. I was having a hard time keeping my eyes open as the adrenaline wore off.
“Okay, I’ll try.” I nestled into his side. “We’ll talk more tomorrow. We’ll need to find a way to get to Oakville, too...”
“Good night, Ivy.” He wrapped his arm around me again, leaning back against the wall.
I could no longer worry about things. Being relatively warm and comfortable next to him, sleep claimed me fast.
Chapter 20
ZEPH
The sound of a car engine starting in the distance woke him up.
He drew in a lungful of air, cool and poison-free, remembering with relief that he was no longer in a tank.