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At your service,
E.J. Edwards.
Holy hell. I scramble for a pen and paper to write down the flight details he’s attached. That’s when I see that the email was sent yesterday, which means he’s arriving today. I glance at the clock to see it’s already eight-thirty. He’ll be here in one hour! Why did this have to happen when nobody else is around?
Rita, Gabriel, Alvie and Noreen have been gone all day to a top secret magic market outside the city and they won’t be back until late. Finn and Ira are on babysitting duty. If I don’t want to meet this stranger alone I’m going to have to do what I dread and call over to Ethan’s. Perhaps Delilah will be around and I can ask her to come with me.
As frazzled as I can possibly get, I throw on a coat, grab my phone, keys and wallet and head out the front door. I walk over to the house that now belongs to Ethan. It’s a little bit bigger than Finn’s place. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like there’s anyone inside. I knock lightly three times and get a surprise when I hear footsteps sounding down the staircase. A moment later the door swings open, revealing Ethan topless, messy haired and looking like he just pulled on a pair of jeans. The button above the fly is still undone. The V at his hips goes down, down, down. I swallow and pull my eyes up to his face.
“What are you doing here?” he asks, curious. I’d forgotten that the vampires would normally only be waking up around now.
I let out a nervous cough. “Um, I’m looking for Delilah. Is she here?”
“No. She and Lucas got up early and went out to attend to some business.”
“Oh. What kind of business?”
“None of your business kind of business,” he replies, all snappy.
I stare at him suspiciously and cross my arms, which actually solicits an eye roll from him. Have I ever seen Ethan roll his eyes before? I don’t think so, that’s usually my territory. It makes him seem to young. What a joke.
“If you must know, they are seeing to a few tedious financial tasks I requested they take care of for me. When Whitfield exiled us we didn’t have very much time to arrange things. Since he seized my business and my home it’s been difficult for me to access my money, but we’re working it out.”
“That does sound tedious,” I say, not sure what to do now. If Delilah’s not here then my only option is to ask Ethan to come with me, and I’m not too keen on spending any time alone with him.
“What did you need Delilah for?” he asks, his voice sounding gentler now. He must sense the air of nervousness about me.
“Do you know what happened to my dad?” I ask, tucking my hands into my pockets because it’s cold.
“Yes, Delilah informed me.”
“Well, I’ve been searching for ways to bring him back and I found this guy who might know how to do it. He’s a physics professor from Oxford called E.J. Edwards who wrote a book about other dimensions. The thing is, he’s going to be arriving at the airport in an hour’s time and I don’t want to meet him alone in case he turns out to be a lunatic.”
“If he’s an Oxford professor I doubt he’ll be a lunatic, Tegan. They don’t just hand out those positions to anyone.”
“I don’t know about that, overly clever people are always a touch mad. Their minds know too much.”
If I’m not mistaken, Ethan smirks at that. “True. Aren’t any of your little friends around to accompany you?”
I shake my head.
“Fine. I will go with you then.”
“No that’s okay. I wouldn’t want to put you out.” I don’t mean for that last sentence to sound so touchy, but it does.
“You aren’t going alone. Give me a few minutes and I’ll take you,” he states with finality, not taking no for an answer.
I step inside the hallway, trying to look anywhere but at his bare torso. He silently closes the door and then goes upstairs to find some clothes. When he comes back down he’s wearing the same jeans as before, with the addition of a t-shirt, jacket and boots.
“What terminal does his flight arrive at?” he asks, pulling out his car keys and pressing the button to unlock the door. I notice he managed to get away with his Cadillac. Whitfield must not have gotten the chance to seize it.
“Um,” I say, biting my lip and rummaging in my pocket for the details I’d written down. “Terminal 3 at nine twenty-five.”
“We should just about make it then,” says Ethan, as we strap ourselves in and he pulls away from the drive. There isn’t a single word exchanged between us for a good fifteen minutes. Can you say awkward? I fidget with the piece of paper in my pocket.
Finally, Ethan breaks the silence when he begins, “You should tell me the story of how you found yourself back in Tribane and working for the DOH.” He shrugs casually. “You know, to pass the time.”
I cast him a sideways glance. “Are you serious?”
