Neither (The Noctalis Chronicles 3)

“Why are you telling us this?” I say.

She blinks. “Why wouldn't I?”

“Because we're complete strangers who may or may not want to use said information to destroy your sister?”

“Ava,” Peter says, as if I said something scandalous.

“Please, she's not a moron. Why else would she have come?” Tex says, joining my team. We're not very stealthy with our information gathering.

“You're right, I'm not a moron. Why am I here? Now that's the question,” Helena says.

“And the answer?” Tex asks.

Helena blinks again. She may act human, but she is still a noctalis. “My parents asked me to come. I know that sounds silly, but they asked if I wanted to see Maine, and I haven't been out of India in ages, so I came. They didn't tell me why, but I figured it out.”

“So you're not going to try and destroy us?” I say. No hidden motive? No nefarious plans?

She throws her hair over her shoulder. “Nope. I'm more of a make love not war kind of girl.”

I wait for someone else to say something, but it looks like I've been appointed spokesperson. “Are you going to help us?”

She stills. Aha.

“How about convincing her to not hate me and want me to burn in hell, and releasing these boys from their binds?” I jerk my thumb at Peter and Viktor. We also filled her in on all the drama so far.

She beams, showing dimples. She's like Shirley Temple, the vampire. “That, I can help with.”

“For real?” It can't be this easy.

“Sure thing!” She chirps, like I've just asked her to get pizza with us.

We have a little hope after all.

Peter

Ava and I agree via hand-squeezing that we need some time alone to discuss what we learned about Helena and Di, and what our plan will be. Her shock radiates through me and stirs up mine. Di never told me she had a sister.

I pick her up and fly her to a secluded part of the Sussex beach, setting her down on a patch of sand that is seaweed-free. A seagull cries at us, angry we are disturbing him, or hoping we have food.

Ava turns to me. “Can I just say, wow? Like, for real. Holy shit.”

“I agree.” Her shock mirrors mine. I do not remember being shocked, but this must be it.

“How did you not know?” She is not accusing me of not knowing, simply in awe that I would not know. I am in awe that Di was able to hide it.

“Di never spoke of her father, her family. She always said that the future belonged to those who took it, and the past was behind us.” Her sayings remind me of Claire and her proverbs.

“What a charmer,” she says, taking her shoes off and digging her feet into the sand. I do the same, shoving some in her direction. She laughs and shoves it back toward me, covering my feet.

“What did she talk about?”

I usually try to avoid talking about her, but ignoring her isn’t going to make her go away. We have to learn everything we can about her to destroy her.

“She talked about her love for us. Di is a wonderful storyteller.”

“I never really had time to notice,” she says with a little laugh. “She was always trying to kill me.”

“There were good times with her.”

“And bad times?” she adds.

“There are always both,” I say. You cannot have the good without the bad.

“Tell me about the bad times.”

I have to think for a moment. “Di brought out the worst in my nature. Or maybe she just enhanced it. I killed many people when I was with her.”

“That's not your fault. She was controlling you.”

Always looking for the good in me, my Ava.

“Sometimes yes. Sometimes no.”

She smiles. “More or less?”

“Yes.”

“Do you think it would work? That Helena can convince Di to leave us alone?” She wants to believe that it can happen, but doesn't think that it will.

“I do not know, Ava. The only thing I do know is that if we can do this, if Helena can do this, it would be best for all involved.”

“Then we could be together,” she says. “Maybe we could make our own bind.”

“No. I would never do that to you.”

“What if I asked you to?”

“No.”

She opens her mouth to argue, but sighs and looks out at the ocean instead. Her anger dissolves, the argument pushed aside for more important matters.

“Helena explained a lot. About Di and who she is,” I say.

“She got stuck in the friend zone. All of this,” she says, swirling her hands around to indicate our present situation, “because she got jilted by someone she loved. All of this because of one little promise.”

I am not so sure about that. Texas as a noctalis is a frightening image. She would be even more of a force of nature.

“Do you trust her?” she says, scooping some sand up and letting it run through her fingers.

“I have no reason not to,” I say.

“I can't even wrap my head around this right now. I think I need to go home and decompress.”

“Do you want me to come with you?”

“Yeah, why don't you come over and help me with my homework. You can just grab one of the textbooks and pretend. We'll have a human afternoon.” Her mood brightens, and I feel better as well.

“I would like that.”

She traces a heart in the sand, writing A + P. I smile as she traces a heart around it. I can't say the words, I can't even begin to think them, but I can draw a heart. If I had one, it would be hers.

Ava

“So where are you going to stay?” I ask Helena when Peter and I go back to the cemetery. Kamir and Rasha are also back. I know noctali don't sleep, but she didn't seem like the kind of girl or whatever who would want to be alone.

“Duh, with me,” Tex says, as if it's a given. I'm shocked. I didn't think she'd want anyone intruding on her precious time with Viktor.

“I can?” Helena jumps up and down, clapping her hands as if she just got asked to the prom.

“Absolutely!” Tex and Helena would have been twins in another lifetime. I also notice that when Helena gets excited, her accent comes out, just a touch. I've gotten good at hearing tones in voices ever since I met Peter.

“You good with that, Viktor?” I don't expect much of an answer, and I just get a blink.

“There are worse ways to spend an evening, I should think.”

“Your parents are going to notice there are three of you in that room, and if they don't, Coby will,” I say.