station outside the next town. He filled the tank halfway, watching Violet tapping her feet as she hugged her knees. There was scarcely enough cash left to find a motel for the night. Violet stayed in the car, keeping her hair in her face and hiding as best she could from anyone who might pass by. Nate couldn’t stand to see her so ashamed of herself.
The clerk at the front desk, a rough looking man with bony fingers, wasn’t impressed by Nate’s lack of a charge card. He had his licence, that was it. The man took the cash in exchange for a key, and this only felt like a small victory to Nate.
Violet kept her head down as Nate got her and their things into their room. He locked up behind himself, drawing the curtains closed.
‘It’s okay. We’ll be safe here, I promise.’
‘You don’t know this,’ she muttered.
Violet wouldn’t be anywhere near him while she still believed she was a demon. Her denial of him was intense enough for Nate to see his fingers start to disappear.
The harrowing sensation of realising her love was tied to his actual existence mortified him. If he disappeared forever, she would be on her own without anyone to protect her, and he didn't want to die. Not like this. He knew they had to fight.
‘Violet, don’t do this. Please.’ Nate watched his hands slowly fade away. ‘Don’t shut me out. You’re not a demon. I swear to you, that’s not what I see.’
She was curled up on the farthest bed with her back to him. ‘You’re lying to appease me.’
Both his arms were almost gone now. ‘Violet!’
She spun back, seeing his distress and clambering off the bed to hold him. Her touch instantly brought him back.
‘I’m sorry,’ she whimpered. ‘Nathaniel, I’m sorry.’
Lying down with her granted him to a state of peace. Hiding there for days was the perfect solution, but Nate only had enough money for one more night. He was picturing himself stealing, just as Violet had done. Every solution he came up with had an immediate problem.
Then he realised his ability could help him. Nate had been desperate not to use it but he had no choice now. As Violet was sleeping, he sat in front of the mirror and concentrated on controlling his power. He picked up objects and put his energy into turning them invisible as well. He could render anything in his hand invisible for up to thirty seconds now as long as his focus was sharp. Dropping it rendered it solid again. He tucked a pen in his clothes and it seemed to stay hidden longer, but it eventually reappeared. At the start, the most he could do was retain his own invisibility for maybe five minutes, and he was slow to re-materialise after that. He spent another hour practising until he could stay that way for more than twenty minutes.
Confident he could pull off a small robbery, Nate woke Violet and told her what he was planning.
‘Please don’t get caught, Nate.’
‘I won’t, but I better go now while it’s dark. Will you be okay if I leave you here?’
‘Try not to take too long.’ Violet’s fear was immovable. No amount of locks and chains on the door would help her believe she was safe. He gave her a gentle kiss to settle her, telling he wouldn’t be gone longer than half an hour. He was going to knock four times when he came back so she knew it was him.
The seven-eleven down the block was still open and Nate thought the clerk probably wouldn’t leave the counter for him to swipe any money. He stayed across the street, breathing deeply and slowly until his heart rate dropped, well aware his panic would screw him over.
As he walked to the entrance, Nate disappeared. The kids in the parking lot didn't see him vanish. He couldn’t even trip the automatic doors, he had to wait for someone to go in and sneak in being them. The moment he was inside, he checked the security mirror to make sure he wasn’t in it. Quick as he could, Nate took a couple of bags of candy and a bottle of water, reminding himself he really needed some cash.
A woman was standing ahead of him, her handbag tucked behind her arm as she browsed the shelves. Nate saw her purse protruding from the handbag. He couldn’t waste time with hesitation. Creeping up to her, he slowly slid the purse out then shoved it into his jacket. His heart hammered away as he walked briskly out the exit and ran back across the street, seeing his feet slowly return as they hit the pavement.
The purse had another two hundred bucks and a credit card. A bank would easily track the card and he didn’t have the pin to withdraw money so he couldn’t take it with him. He grabbed the money and dumped the purse, figuring his guilt would probably hit him after the angst disappeared.
Violet let Nate back in when he knocked. She locked the door again immediately, doing up the chain with her trembling fingers.
‘It worked,’ he said. ‘I’ll have to do it again, but we have enough for now.’
He gave her a bag of candy and she opened it, tipping out the coloured chocolate pebbles into her palm. Nate sat away from her.
‘I’m so sorry, Violet. You waited centuries to come back and now you’re worse off than before.’
‘I cannot hold that against you, Nate. You’re here now to protect me. It’s your life I’ve damaged with my selfishness. Perhaps my fate was to stay a kelesnae forever and I’ve gone against the wishes of God by returning. This must be my punishment.’
Nate was losing his patience with her reasoning. ‘Violet, there is no God. And the one I’ve heard of wouldn’t do something like this to someone like you.’ Nate never got into theological arguments with anyone, he’d kept his atheistic stance to himself until now.
‘I don’t remember being an awful person,’ she said. ‘I did one awful thing my entire life. I was chaste and kind and pure of thought… for the most part. At least, I thought I was.’
‘No one is completely good or bad,’ he told her. ‘The things I’ve done, I’ve broken a lot of rules, do you think that makes me a bad person?’
She shook her head, still solemn. He picked up a red candy and put it to her lips, trying to make her smile. She bit it from his fingertips then picked up a green one and fed it to him. He’d not had anything this innocent with a girl before, he liked that it wasn’t about anything else but their affection. Why couldn’t he just have that? The consequences were so unfair given Violet was the victim from the very start.
Violet fell asleep in his arms that night, and Nate’s eyes stayed open for hours, keeping watch. He couldn’t trust someone wasn’t going to barge in and take her, or that something malignant and otherworldly would intrude and hurt them both. He had to keep his phone off to save the battery, he didn’t have a charger with him and he was too scared to call Jacqueline from a payphone. If Violet wasn’t around anyone long enough, he was hoping her effect on people would cease.
Whether he’d get to keep her in his life after that was an entirely different problem he couldn’t afford to dwell on then.
The Enorahts invaded her dreams again. Violet was running through the woods unbound and trying to escape them. They taunted her, flashing past and blocking whichever path she took to get away from them. Soon they made a gigantic circle around her that closed in rapidly. She saw herself torn apart by them, unable to wake herself to end the vision.
She finally sat up in a state of shock, her hand to her chest as she breathed.
‘They’re here…’ she whispered frantically.
Someone stirred beside her. She turned to see Nate rouse himself. ‘Who?’
Blinking rapidly, Violet got her bearings and remembered where they really were. ‘Oh… I was dreaming.’
‘Sounded like a nightmare.’
‘I thought the Enorahts were here to take me again.’
‘What if I can’t see them, Violet?’
‘Then run when I tell you to. But I’m sure they’ll still catch us. They’re nothing but light.’
‘I wish we knew more about them. Is there any way you can call on the kelesnae? That’s if there are any left at all.’
‘Pastor Joseph only gave praise and thanks to the Enorahts, he said nothi
ng of any other creatures. The kelesnae could’ve been the souls of the many children the Enorahts killed, not just those of my village who were sacrificed. But if these children knew nothing of the world if they were only infants when they died, what reason would they have to be human again?’ She sighed bitterly. ‘And what reason would they have to help us now? I do not know enough to fix this.’
‘Violet, I can’t keep you here, I’ll run out of money too fast. I might be able to keep stealing for a few more weeks but we have to come up with some kind of plan in case people won’t see ever see you the same again.’
‘I’m so tired, Nate. I feel as though I’ve not slept at all. I cannot think of what else to do now. If you’re done with me, then leave me. I’ll make my own way.’
‘Violet, stop doing that. I’m not leaving you.’ He rubbed his head, feeling a headache coming on. ‘We’re not far from the campsite where you found me. Maybe if we drive there… We’ll have to sleep in the car. It’s better than nothing. There should be a blanket in the back.’
‘Should we go there now?’
‘Not until you’re ready.’
Violet felt so horribly guilty when she was alone in the bathroom. She quickly washed her hair, not wanting to keep him waiting. Nate was doing everything for her and she’d nothing to give in return. Her love hardly seemed enough now in light of his suffering. How was she supposed to repay all this generosity? And would it ever be enough to alleviate her