Artemis: Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fourteen: Cruel Undertones


“Oh come on Nancy, you know I tell you everything,” Charlie made a gesture to Drake, “and I tell him even more.”

Nancy looked down at her plate of scrambled eggs and fried potatoes; her stomach was already full from the food she had eaten with Van Dean but attempted to eat the contents of her plate as best she could. They were sitting in a booth that day, a small family had taken their usual table for the day that had come much earlier than Drake and Charlie had.

The couple sat opposite Nancy, scarves piled in the corner of the booth, Drake with an arm around the back of Charlie’s side of the bench, holding a cup of coffee with only a slice of toast left on his plate. Charlie had been slower in eating his pancakes, playing with his food as he ate.

Charlie told Drake everything; it was an understatement. Often times, it was the reason why Nancy would hold onto the details of her personal life for the simple fact that Drake had a distinct father-attitude about him, and he seemed to be an expert at disapproving glares. While it was a nice complement to Charlie’s over-enthused childlike energy, and the more serious counterpart was a good break for Nancy, she felt that she could do without yet another person coddling her like a mother hen.

“Victor Covington is living at your apartment,” Drake said incredulously.

Nancy pursed her lips, “sleeping on my couch.”

“Not when I was there,” Charlie sung.

Nancy glared at Charlie, and then looked down at her fried potatoes, her eggs, looking at anything to avoid the glare that Drake was now giving her.

Drake’s eyes were open wide, “Nancy.”

“Nothing happened.” Nancy grumbled.

Charlie smiled and sipped his cocoa, “no, of course not, I just poked my head over the couch and saw you two downing vodka and then making out.”

Nancy blanched.

“Next thing I know he’s crashing with her.”

“You know, he could have been on the floor in my room,” Nancy growled.

“Not with the way you’re blushing.”

“Okay,” Drake said simply as she leaned back in the booth and picked up his coffee, “I could do this.”

Nancy looked at him in confusion.

“Nancy and Victor babies, anything happens you let us know.”

She groaned.

Charlie smiled, “exactly!”

Nancy stifled the urge to drop her head into her food, “I am not having any kids.”

“Keep his number around for later, those genes would be nice.”

“Jealous, headstrong, and cold.” Nancy put her elbow on the table and leaned her head on her hand, “you want those traits?”

“I’ll take the physical ones, as long as we can keep the ambition, the others we can shape.”

Charlie bounced in his seat once, “and make it a little girl, we want a princess.”

Nancy sighed and poked the potatoes around on her plate with her fork. There was no use in arguing that she could not pick and choose what traits a baby would have, the idea of her surrogating for Drake and Charlie had gone too far.

“So,” Drake raised an eyebrow, “he’s jealous?”

Nancy’s eyes widened.

“Who else is there?”

“There’s another one? Why didn’t you say anything?” Charlie rolled his pancake.

“Remember that guy at the club? Cassie?” Nancy said slowly.

“You’re kidding.”

She shook her head, “I had sixty white roses at the apartment the next morning, and an invitation for lunch.”

“That’s where all the flowers came from.”

“I was there Saturday, then I went again on Sunday and I kind of…stayed the night.”

Drake’s coffee mug hit the table with a clang, “you work fast.”

Nancy shook her head, “it was an accident, he had this wine with dinner that was really good, but it turned out to be really strong.” She groaned, “and then I got into an argument on the phone with Vic and he didn’t want me to leave and just drink more at my place so I ended up staying over.”

“And?”

“Nothing happened.” She glared at Drake, “he was really nice about everything, and then he made this crazy gorgeous breakfast.”

“Which is why you’re not inhaling your food now,” Charlie blinked, “that good?”

“Food porn,” Nancy smiled wryly, “I really don’t know how to react to this weekend, this week, this month.”

The couple across from her in the booth blinked.

“I’m getting evicted,” Nancy said quietly.

“What?” Charlie’s eyes widened in shock, “When?”

“I have to be out next Monday.”

“Why the hell didn’t you tell us?”

“I thought I could find a place in time, but I’m not having any luck. I figured if it came down to it I could take Amy up on her offer and move in.”

“Have you talked to her about it?”

“Not yet,” she pursed her lips, “Cassie wants me to move in with him, and Vic wants me to leave the country with him.”

There was no response to Nancy, her friends only sat and stared at her.

“Geez, don’t offer me all your input at once.”

“This is,” Charlie started slowly, “kind of a dream come true.”

“No, it’s a fiasco,” Nancy said flatly. “Victor hates Cassie, I’m pretty sure the feeling is mutual so I don’t talk about Vic with Cassie, he might even be the one that Vic is in trouble with, and I don’t know either of them well enough to take any offer.”

“This escalated quickly,” Charlie took a moment to process what Nancy had said. “Do they know you have to move?”

She shook her head, “I haven’t told anyone.”

Drake blinked, “talk to Amy, and don’t choose either of them. Just let them stew until you have a better idea.”

Nancy smiled weakly, “Vic is on the run.”

“What?”

“He’s apparently gotten himself into trouble with someone and is laying low; Amy has no idea where he is.”

“He needs to talk to her.”

“I agree, but he keeps saying she’d be in trouble if he did.” She sighed, “he’s been kind of…homeless for the past few weeks, and if I go to Amy’s he’s going to be homeless again.”

“He’s got no choice; he has to talk to her. He can hide out in her basement, can’t he?”

Nancy wrinkled her nose; Kamen would not like that idea.

“I think the better point here,” Charlie started, his brow furrowed intently, “is that there are two guys, definitely interested in her, and she hasn’t fucked either of them.”

Nancy hit her face with her palm.

While it felt good to get the eviction off her chest, the breakfast date had become an interrogation session.



---



It was just after noon when Nancy escaped the diner; breakfast had started late, and ran late. A rigorous string of questions, both Charlie and Drake wanting to meet Van Dean to ask his intentions, and Drake skeptical of Kamen, had elongated the date.

She silently chided herself on the matter; she should have known that they would have interrogated her. Nancy smiled at their concern.

The street was becoming more and more crowded. There was a small parade for Christmas taking place that day.

Her thoughts focused on the events of the past month. She had watched Henry for Amy, and she could not help but conclude that she would have met Kamen regardless of the circumstances. Whether it would have been Amy introducing Victor to Nancy, or Kamen showing up at her doorstep late at night, the two would have met.

The absence of her headache was troubling; it should not have been, but its abrupt exit left Nancy feeling uneasy.

“Nancy?” Van Dean had been calling her name for a few moments by the time she looked up at him, startled by how she could have missed him on the street. “You should be careful when walking by yourself; a wolf might just snatch you up.”

The expression brought a smile to her face, “well, I guess it’s a good thing that I’m not on my way to see my grandmother.”

“I always preferred the pre-Perrault, but I was quite pleased with his rendition.” He smiled, both hand in his gray coat pockets, “I must be lucky to have run into you, did you come for the parade?”

She shook her head, “no, I’m on my way home.”

“Walking?”

“The car is in the lot down the street.” She smiled, “are you here for the parade?”

Van Dean’s laugh was full as he shook his head, “I have no real interest in such things. If something as small as this can keep the masses at bay, then so be it.”

The way he referred to the crowd seemed to be on par with the way one would talk about an animal. There was an uneasy feeling settling in her stomach and it sent a shiver down her spine. She wondered if he had spoken like this before and she had been too dazzled by him to notice.

She thought she was stronger than that.

She knew she was stronger than that.

Nancy pushed the grim thought out of her head, “you were out with Pandomé?”

“I was.” He smiled and pointed to a shop on the crowded street, “I was going to have a cup of tea, would you join me?”

“Is that all you think about?”

“Tea?” He shrugged, “I’ve picked up stranger habits.”

“Do tell,” she started walking with him in the direction of the tea salon without noticing.

“Like meeting girls in clubs.” She gave him a sideways glare and he stifled a laugh as he held the door open for her, “you’re the first.”

Nancy had only been to this particular tea café once, but that day her stomach itself seemed to groan at the thought of her eating anything more. There were very few times when she felt reluctant to eat, but that day certainly qualified. Large, leafy potted plants divided the room into small dining spaces, scores of tea varieties served in stoneware artesian mugs, and very small cakes lined the counter.

Van Dean ordered for the both of them quickly, he removed his gray coat and white scarf and draped them over the back of his chair, smiling as Nancy followed suit with her black pea coat and mustard scarf.

She smiled at him awkwardly as she sat down.

Did people run into each other this often?

There was a sinking feeling in her stomach as logic and reason told her, no, no they did not.

“You left a good impression on Pandomé,” Van Dean smiled.

“She was nice, she works for you?” Nancy attempted to push her unease away.

“She’s a general of sorts; I tend to give her the more delicate assignments.”

“You do?”

He nodded once, “because of the way the government in Dalia works, the king doubles as commander-in-chief, it’s a foolproof way to avoid a military coup.”

Nancy blinked. It was too much power for one person. It was too much power for one person who was off in another realm doing his damnedest to beguile her with stories and tricks to convince her to leave everything she knew.

Kamen had been firm, warning, but how many times had he pushed Nancy as Van Dean had? He had been reluctant to speak of Clovis, seemingly wanting a more personal connection than anything else, but with Van Dean, it was Dalia and Artemis constantly.

If Kamen’s assignment was to bring Nancy back, as he had said it was, then why was he not pushing harder?

The desire to trust Van Dean was there, the unfounded instinct, but Nancy now understood the difference between the two men.

The tea was at the table in the hands of an older woman dressed in black with a blue apron, the smell wafted off the spout of the teapot and Van Dean thanked her before she left them.

Nancy smelled the steam from the tea as Van Dean poured it for her, “darjeeling?”

“Personally, I prefer it served with muscat grapes,” he smiled and took a sip from his cup. “Artemis and I would have them for breakfast.”

“Thank you for earlier. I’ve never had anything that looked that good.”

“I’m glad you enjoyed it, “he smiled slowly. “There would be more of it. If you consented. I don’t mean to pressure you, I miss your companionship. I’ve been quite happy these past few days, and I’d like for that to continue.”

Nancy shook her head and looked down at her reflection in the cup. Van Dean had once again shifted the conversation to push her for a decision.

She looked back up to him, “I’m not your dead fiancée.”

He froze, stoneware mug in his hand, he sat at her staring wide-eyed.

Had he been so convinced the entire time? Obsessed over the idea that she was Artemis, and unwilling to treat her as her own person? Had he always been this arrogant?

She gaped at him incredulously, “this is wrong.”

“You’re everything I loved about her, everything I lost.”

“Her. Not me.” She glanced out the large picture window at the front of the café, the parade had started and the crowd had thickened.

Nancy understood that she had heard him talk coldly, she had simply been too nervous around him to take note of it. When his previous bouts of a stern demeanor ran themselves through her head they managed to make her blood run cold, and she no longer wanted to be in his presence.

She looked down at her untouched tea and took a slow breath, “I don’t really care much for darjeeling. At first I did. At first, I thought that it was one of my favorites. Then I decided that even though I liked it, I didn’t like it as much as earl gray. The more I drank earl gray, the less I liked darjeeling.” She stood from the table and offered an apologetic smile, “I’m sorry, I really do want to get home.”

Van Dean had frozen in his chair when the door shut behind Nancy; her rejection had brought back memories that he had no wish to revive.

Pandomé emerged from the shadows on the wall; before sitting in the vacant seat opposite Van Dean, pressing down her red coat before looking up at him, “What happened?” She swallowed; unnerved by his sudden arctic stare directed to the door, “do you want me to follow?”

A second or two passed before he opened his mouth, “no. Not yet.”

Pandomé took a slow breath, his hard look made her feel as if she should not have been so quick to sit down, “Are you angry?”

The cup of tea was no longer appealing to him and he pushed it to the middle of the table, “those words came from Nancy, not Artemis.”

“Are you angry?”

Van Dean glanced at the corner of the table to Pandomé’s left before letting his old smile return to him. He looked up at her with heated eyes, speaking simply, “livid.”


---


The instant the door had shut behind Nancy, she felt as if she had just crossed the devil. The crowd had become thick in the short time that she had spent in the small shop. She forced her legs to move to carry her to the lot where her car was parked, and she was worried at how they almost appeared to be frozen from fear.

The strangest sensation was that, despite the fact that she had only met the man who called himself Van Dean only a little over two days prior, she could almost swear that he had said something about the ‘masses’ being ‘disposable’, but she knew the words had never fallen on her ears.

She was, however, certain that she had heard him say something to Pandomé about Nancy and Artemis not being able to exist at the same time. It was the most logical explanation. Artemis would re-emerge and Nancy would disappear. The company of someone who was trying to speed up a process that would take her out of the world in the blink of an eye was something that she could do without.

She picked up her pace, glancing around her without thinking. Subconsciously looking for the one who was supposed to be by her side at all times, but she could not find him anywhere in the crowd.

Run.

The word was clear in her head and she did not question the order. She could almost hear the footsteps following her, eerily keeping in step with her. She checked the street around her once more, still wishing for Kamen to appear before she picked up speed, starting at a brisk pace and darting through the crowd, not willing to know if she was simply being paranoid.

Walking faster and faster until she was running at full speed, the steps were still precise behind her until they seemed to fade from her ears. Taking this as her chance to catch her breath she ducked into the alley and leaned against the building.

“You forgot this.”

Nancy would have screamed if she had the breath to do so. Her head shot to him so quickly that she was almost too dizzy to realize that Van Dean was holding her cell phone out to her. Nancy accepted her phone from him, looking at him warily, and she watched him as he calmly walked past her. His knowing smile had found its usual place on his face and he looked back in the direction she had run from before glancing at her, amused at her disbelief, “You know where to find me. Should you need me.”

It was impossible.

There was no way that he could have gotten past her without cutting over the building that she was leaning against now. She took a quick look up and shook her head.

Five stories.

There was no way that he could have gotten to the other side of her, unless he had simply flown down next to her.

She rolled her eyes at her own thoughts.