The Vaticinator

27. A Lullaby By A Dreadful Night

Neal and I are silent as we sit in the back seat of the cab.

Neal is sitting calmly, our bag in his lap, his hands lying limp upon the straps. He is staring out of the window, blinking at the intermittent street lights that shine in the darkened sky. He looks calm, almost serene. I usually don’t prefer a quiet Neal, and this situation comes no different in that respect. But looking at how steady and unruffled he looks, almost in peace; I swallow down the million conversation starters stilling at the tip of my tongue. I am nervous, to say the least. I don’t want to rub off my anxiousness on him by spilling my worrisome thoughts.

So, I settle on fidgeting.

That turns out to be extremely annoying because my right arm is still in a sling. So I end up moving my left hand about the space, sometimes tapping my feet, other times straightening the t-shirt I am wearing. The majority of times I turn my head towards the left side and watch Neal observing the lights outside. Seeing him this calm makes me more skittish.

I scratch my pant leg, biting my inner cheek; wondering what on earth are we doing going back to the mansion? I wish we could continue our journey on the cruise forever; even though I don’t really like ships. But anything is better than what we are moving towards. Anything will be better than the vacillating fate that awaits us. Anything-

Neal moves his right hand from the bag and wraps it around my fidgeting left wrist. He is still looking outside, hardly acknowledging his movements. I don’t get to ponder over it though. Instantly calmness washes over me, accompanying the ever exultant feelings. My mind turning to mush, I let my hand fall limp in Neal’s and lean my head back, resting it on the back of the seat. The time passes quickly after that. Too quickly than I would like.

Neal’s aura is almost lulling me to sleep when we reach the gates of the Head Realm’s colony. He nudges me, silently encouraging that I get off the cab. He lets go of my hand and climbs out. I follow suit. As Neal pays to the cab driver, I warily look around the dark street in the distance. There is hardly anybody out. That is understandable, considering its already past ten at night.

If Neal is correct about the Occultist visiting the Realm at midnight then we have less than couple of hours to be ready for the showdown. Though there is nothing to get ‘ready’ for. The only thing that I’ll be facing in these two hours will be scalding berating from my father. He will not be happy about our presence. Mikhail will only contribute to the rebuke. He may be even more obvious about his anger than father.

Now Neal’s hands are busy holding the bag and paying the cab driver, away from me; therefore these negative thoughts flow in a rush. Again, I wonder why we are here. I have a strong feeling that I shouldn’t be here; that my decision to agree with Neal is going to be a mistake. But I keep my mouth shut as we walk to the gates. Neal takes out the entry card and swipes it through the card holder. The gates cling as they open up.

“Calm down, Lichinsky.” Neal says monotonously as we start walking, “It’s going to be fine.”

I quietly sigh in disappointment that he is settling on comforting me with words than physical contact. I don’t say anything. I instead start rubbing the back of my neck as we decrease the distance between us and the mansion. From the corner of my eyes I notice Neal glancing at me with narrowed eyes. But he doesn’t say anything either.

It’s strange that the whole street leading up to the mansion is sequestered. I sense some therians and humans in the houses we pass by, but no one is out. That is a little strange. This whole colony is fenced up and considered one of the safest places in Krasnoyarsk. People taking night walks in this area is not rare because of the sense of security. But I see no one as we follow down the road. For all I know, people are ensuring to remain locked up in their houses. I cannot help but blame the appointment with the Occultists tonight for that.