Chapter Forty-Four
“THANK GOODNESS you weren’t caught up in the violence,” Nicola Rivers said over the phone to her younger son.
“Is there any way that you can speak to the Vice Chancellor and get him to take this threat seriously?” Elliot asked.
She smiled at the very idea that she might champion the cause of a couple of Neans and then forced a serious expression onto her face, not wanting her son to pick up on her reaction. “I’ll think the matter over. What about this boy who started all the trouble?”
“I gather that he’s been expelled.”
“Tell me exactly what he did.” She listened intently as he recounted a story of ill-used magic and the way he and Farlden Trilema had used their magic together to uncover the boy’s real identity, scribbling down some notes as he spoke. She could make use of this. Also, as disturbing as it was to think of her baby spending time with dangerous Neans, the information about how their magic worked was valuable to her. She would need to learn a lot more about it, but she could begin a report to the Prime Minister giving him this example of the threat the Neans posed.
This was the first time that she had had something concrete against the species, she realised with a sense of exhilaration. She had known from an early age that Sapiens couldn’t share this planet with Neans. History books had shown her that attempts to wipe out an entire population of Neans had always failed, the Neans escaping by unknown means. They had a way to defend themselves and were devious enough to keep it hidden, but every defence had a weakness. Slavery was no longer enough – she needed to give her people the means to destroy every Nean alive.
She ended the call, leaving her son with the vaguest response possible as her mind whirred with strategies. She pressed another button on the phone and her secretary said, “Yes, ma’am?”
“Have my driver bring the car to the front of the house. I’ll be travelling to London.”
* * *
“That looks amazing.”
Fal turned round from his painting, startled, and found Elliot standing behind him, then belatedly noticed that the last couple of students here were packing up to leave. Elliot had insisted on carrying on giving him and Barve lifts to and from the smaller campus, saying it wasn’t safe for them to be alone at the moment and, fearing for his brother’s safety, Fal had agreed. It was three days since Elliot had kissed him and Fal hadn’t been able to get the experience out of his mind. They hadn’t talked of it but he could tell from the way Elliot looked at him that he hadn’t given up on the thought of them getting together. Stubborn bugger. Barve had spoken to him about it, insisting once again that Fal and Elliot should date, making Fal start to wonder if he had been making too many assumptions about what Barve could cope with. And Elliot had said that he loved Fal.
Belatedly responding to Elliot and not having any idea how to behave around him, he said, “Didn’t mean to keep you waiting.”
“I’m not in a hurry,” Elliot said and sat down on a desk, putting his briefcase on the floor, “and Barve is working in the library, so I told him we’d meet him there. Is that a particular place?” He indicated the painting.
Fal looked it over and picked up his paintbrush again, painting a darker shade of red below the roof to represent a shaded area. “That’s where me an’ Barve grew up. That’s home.”
Elliot leaned forward to look more closely at it, eyes moving from the grey street to the small terraced houses. “Do you get along with your family?”
“Yeah. They don’t always think about things the same way as me or know why I do certain things, but all they ever want is for us to be happy. After the past, the... slavery, I think every moment of freedom is precious to them. I get that. I do. But I get angry ‘cos I know that it could still be taken away from us.” The words didn’t come easily to him – he had always been better at painting his moods than talking about them – but it seemed important that Elliot understand this.
“We won’t let that happen.”
Elliot sounded sincere and Fal wished he could believe it was as easy as saying it. “How will we do that?”
“Together.”
He turned round and Elliot slid off the desk and took the three steps that brought him close to Fal. Elliot leaned towards him and Fal closed his eyes, drinking in the burst of feeling that flooded through him as their lips touched. They needed to talk before doing anything like this, but Fal’s mind emptied of words as the kiss deepened. His hands slipped around Elliot’s narrow waist and back as one of Elliot’s hands settled against the curly blond hair and sensitive skin at the top of Fal’s neck.
Fal had never known anything could feel so good. He could almost believe that the two of them could achieve anything together.
The rest of the world had faded from his mind as they kissed, but it returned to focus harshly as a voice said, “Guys, come and see the disgusting Nean scum making out with his queer friend.”
He and Elliot pulled apart, although Elliot took his hand, the gesture giving Fal a strength that made his sudden sense of vulnerability fade.
Standing in the doorway was a spiky-haired Sapiens boy who had made racist comments in the past. The teenager normally hung out with... Yeah, here they were: half a dozen other boys who all looked at Fal and Elliot with scowls and curled lips. There was no way out of the room, Fal saw, except to go past them. Or through them.
“We don’t want any trouble,” Elliot said. He grabbed his bag, not letting go of Fal’s hand. “Why don’t we all just go in different directions and enjoy our evenings?”
Fal grabbed his backpack and slung it over his back, so his other hand was free in case of an attack. He followed Elliot in a slow, careful walk towards the door, their palms warm where they were pressed together and grip on each other tight. The boys just watched them and, for a moment as he looked into the corridor beyond, Fal thought he and Elliot would actually get away safely.
It was the spiky-haired boy who moved, fast as a snake, the others following his lead as he tore Fal and Elliot apart with a punch that sent Elliot toppling to the floor. Fal tried to go and help him but two others punched him, one blow landing on top of his bruised rib and making his vision go black.
Fal gasped in a breath, then another and straightened. He’d had it with the bullies in this university: there was no way he was letting them harm Elliot. He lowered his head slightly and used his upper body strength to bulldoze into the Sapiens boys. They might be taller than him but the move scattered them, sending them staggering back. Fal grabbed Elliot’s hand again, hauling him to his feet. Elliot’s left eye was swollen but, as the spiky-haired boy came at him again, Elliot swung his briefcase which thudded against the boy’s torso with a satisfyingly loud thump.
“Run!” Fal said as the three other boys moved back towards them, fists raised.
He and Elliot took off, out into the corridor, hand in hand once more and heard the teenagers behind them, trying to reach them again. Fal pulled them in the direction of the front door, not the library, not wanting Barve to get caught up in the fight. There might still be a librarian there and a few other students, so Barve would be safe as long as he didn’t leave. They ran into the darkness outside, while Fal hoped desperately that his brother wouldn’t come looking for them. They kept going past Elliot’s car and into the small wooded area beyond.
They both breathed heavily, leaning against each other, as they stood in the shadows and watched the four boys run into the doorway and then pause, peering out into the lamp-lit night. If the teenagers came outside they would quickly find he and Elliot.
Fal could see them speaking to each other and scanning the area as best as they could. They began to move forwards, towards where Fal and Elliot were hiding, and Fal swallowed and tensed for another fight.
He looked around, wondering if they would be better off to keep running, but getting lost on such a bitterly cold night could be just as dangerous as anything the teenagers would do to them.
Elliot’s hand tightened around his as the teenagers got nearer but, as they watched, the boys all headed for a couple of cars.
He let out a shaky sigh, hardly believing in the reprieve, as the teenagers got into the vehicles. Elliot pulled him back behind a tree just in time to stop him being illuminated by the car lights and then the engines growled to life and the cars took off, speeding away down the drive.
Fal closed his eyes for a second and then said, “Let’s go and get Barve.”
Instead Elliot pulled Fal towards him, arms moving around his back and neck to hold him close. Fal let himself relax into the hug, leaning his head against Elliot’s shoulder and drinking in the feel of him, this moment together making everything right. They then headed back into the university building, never letting go of each other’s hands.