who was smitten with you at one time, I am my father’s daughter.”
David’s face froze. It showed no emotion to betray his feelings. Brania was right: She was like him and it was all his fault because he had raised her in his image.
Vaughan, however, could place the blame elsewhere. This is not my son, he thought. He may look like me, but he wasn’t raised by me, he doesn’t share my principles, and now he’s one of Them. Even if I wanted to bridge the gap, what would it matter? “So what really brings you here, Michael, in the middle of a school day,” Vaughan said, anxious to get back to business that he could handle.
Well, Michael, you came here to get some answers, so you might as well start by asking some questions. “I, um, remembered some things that Mom said, and, well . . .” Focus, focus on why you’re here and what you need to say and just say it. “Why would Mom say that she was ashamed of you? What did you do to her?” There, that wasn’t so difficult. If that was true, why was his heart beating so quickly? For that matter, why was Vaughan’s?
A few short strides and Vaughan was back behind his desk, in his comfort zone, confronting business issues, not personal ones. “There are things between a man and a woman, personal things, that you wouldn’t understand, Michael.”
What?! How can he say something like that? Just because I’m gay, he doesn’t think I can understand what goes on between a man and a woman? “I understand about relationships, you know!” Michael shouted. “You may not want to accept it, but I’m in one!”
Breaking the pencil in half that he was twirling between his fingers, Vaughan tossed the pieces across the room, “I don’t want to hear about that.”
“You know what I am, don’t you?!”
Oh, Michael, I know more than you think I know, but I don’t want to talk about it. “Don’t say it!”
The venom in Vaughan’s voice was palpable. Michael could feel it reach out and wrap itself around his throat, tighten and pull, until he could hardly breathe. His father didn’t even want to hear the truth about him, didn’t even want him to say the words, but Michael refused to remain silent even though it was his father’s wish. “I knew one of my parents was ashamed of me because I’m different, because I’m gay!” he said, proud that there were no tears welling up in his eyes. “I just thought it was the wrong one.”
Vaughan couldn’t look up from his desk, he couldn’t look at his son, but he couldn’t continue the conversation either. “I think you should go.”
“If you have nothing else to say,” David declared, “I think it’s time for you to go.”
Rising from her chair, Brania walked toward the door, looking as obedient and willing as the child she had been so many centuries ago, but she wasn’t leaving the room. She was merely locking the door to give her and her father more privacy. “Oh, I do have a few more things on my mind that I’d like to express,” Brania said, sauntering along the perimeter of the room until she got to the window behind her father. Once there, she stopped moving, which forced David to turn around in his chair to face her, an act of submission that he was willing to perform if it meant his solitude was once again within reach. “Why do we need Vaughan? And why do you want his relationship with Michael to mend?”
Unused to being questioned so directly, David felt a mixture of pride and hatred as he looked at his daughter, her auburn hair softened by the sunlight. “You know how I loathe manual labor. For that reason alone, Vaughan’s factory is vital to our future.”
“And how does Michael fit into all of this?”
Ah, Michael, the young man who holds the other key to their future. “I need the boy to feel at ease. I know he and Ronan are a loving couple, but it would be helpful if he had a more harmonious relationship with his father. A child needs a parent, Brania,” David said. “You of all people should know that.”
Brania knew that, but Michael didn’t.
“Remember one thing, Dad,” Michael spat, “I survived for years without you. It won’t be hard for me to learn to live without you again!”
A few seconds after the front door slammed shut, the closet door opened. Smug, Amir shook his head. “I could’ve taken him, you know!”
Whirling around, it was all Vaughan could do not to grab the punk and hurl him across the room. “Shut your mouth!” From under his desk he pulled out a box and tossed it to Amir. “All you need to do is take this package to David!”
“I know what’s expected of me.” Yell at me all you want, old man, Amir thought, his skinny arms wrapped around the box protectively. Headmaster isn’t going to be happy to know you still can’t get along with your kid.
“Vaughan will not let me down,” David declared. “Once Michael is persuaded that all aspects of his life are moving toward a common, more sanguine goal, he and Ronan will become complacent, stop looking over their shoulders, and unwittingly lead us to The Well.”
“And we’re certain that thing even exists?” Brania questioned.
Such discouragement from my own offspring, truly disappointing. “Yes, I am certain, and when I find it I will have it destroyed, ending their life force, ridding the planet of their race, and, most important, restoring Archangel Academy to its former glory,” David explained calmly. “In fact, I’m planning a celebration to commemorate the event.”
Inches from her father, Brania was struck by just how pompous he truly was. “Don’t you think that’s a bit premature?”
Before this moment, David had never realized how insignificant his daughter truly was. “Broaden your vision. Several months from now, we will celebrate the arrival of the Black Sun, pay homage to the solar eclipse, when darkness conquers light.”
Intrigued, Brania wanted to hear more, but when her father swung his chair around and picked up the phone, she knew it was time for her to leave. David, however, had one more thing to say. “When that time comes, I expect you to sit on my left side.”
While David dialed, she was compelled to ask, “And who will sit on your right?” More interested in placing his phone call than responding to Brania’s question, David ignored her.
Outside, Michael and Brania were each wandering aimlessly across campus, lost in their own thoughts, their own private conversations with the fathers they had just left. Fists clenched, his heels hitting the ground harder with each step, Michael was too angry and furious to notice Brania. All he wanted to do was get home, see Ronan, and forget about the miserable day he had had.
Brania wished she could forget, forget about her conversation, forget about her past, forget about the fear that was growing inside her heart. Something was not right, something was not the way it was supposed to be. But when she heard Imogene singing in the distance, heard that glorious, angelic voice, it was as if all her pain was washed away. Instinctively, hopefully, she reached up to hold her father’s hand, but it wasn’t there. Standing alone at the edge of The Forest, Brania allowed the voice to comfort her, and for the first time in over a century, she allowed herself to cry.
chapter 13
Michael didn’t even feel Ronan’s mouth on his neck. The softness of his lips, the tentative sweep of his tongue, all unnoticed. There were just too many thoughts racing through his mind pulling him away from the present, away from Ronan.
“Someone lied to me,” Michael announced.
Ronan sighed. He didn’t want to talk, he wanted to use his mouth and lips to communicate in a completely different way, silently, but it was clear that Michael had a different objective. He was preoccupied, worried about something, and whatever it was, Ronan knew from experience that it needed to be dealt with or else Michael
