The Last Corvus (completed)

Ch. 11 Isadora

Chapter 11

Isadora

After checking out, we get back in the car and turn right at the light. Wasn't the zoo a left turn? I shiver slightly, suddenly filled with an ominous feeling. Linden sees me shiver and turns down the air conditioner, even though that's not the problem. "Aren't we going to the zoo?" I ask as we gradually get even farther away.

"No. We're going in the back entrance. People would notice if we made a lot of trips with boxes into the nocturnal house."

I wonder how much farther the "back entrance" is? Before I can really think about it, we make a sharp left turn and end up surrounded by abandoned warehouses. Huh?

We pull up in front of one of the warehouses' loading bay, he puts Peony in idle and then jumps out to open the rusty bay doors. Driving through, he parks in front of the elevator and runs back to close the door behind us.

We get out, walk to the elevator, open it, and return to the car. He smiles and shoots me a look that says 'you don't have to follow me around like a puppy.'

Well how was I supposed to know? I have no idea what's going on, what we're doing, or where we are!

He starts unstrapping the boxes from the roof and I grab them before they fall, stacking them beside me.

After we load all the boxes into the elevator, he hits the down button and it gets stuck sideways. Pressing it again, he gets it unstuck and presses again... to the same effect. At this point there's steam coming from his ears and I'm afraid he's going to punch it to smithereens. I grab his arm and pull him behind me while I examine the button board.

I try the up button and still nothing happens. There's only two buttons on the whole wall... and a little plastic lid covering the EMERGENCY STOP button. Flicking the lid off, the button coming off with it, I reveal what appears to be a thumb scanner. Stepping to the left, I let Linden see my discovery.

He groans loudly and I chuckle. Clearly he hasn't used this entrance in quite a while. Pressing his thumb to the scanner, the elevator gives a reluctant shudder and we start our descent.

Reaching the bottom sooner than I expected, I look around while we unload. The elevator door faces a long, narrow hallway that I can't even see the end of... until he flicks the light switch, revealing a hall even longer than I thought.

His pocket buzzes and I turn to see him pull a pager from his pocket. "Oh, good. Phillipe's coming." He sees my somewhat confused expression and continues, "he's nice, I think you'll like him. He's going to help us move the boxes. Don't try to talk to him much; he only speaks French. Try to ease him into the whole..." He gestures from his forehead to mine and back. I get it; don't mind-speak to him.

After about five minutes, Linden leaning against the wall and me sitting on a box, I see someone at the end of the hall. Clearing my throat, Linden looks over and waves at the man jogging towards us. He soon reaches us, not even in the least out of breath. Turning to Linden, he says something in French and shrugs.

"What?" I ask, only understanding a few words of French and having no idea what he just said. Phillipe looks at me, confused, and asks Linden something, to which he nods.

"He said he was sorry he was late; he'd gotten lost. He never usually comes to this side of the Complex. He heard you ask me. You need to learn how to channel your thoughts."

"Oh, sorry," Phillipe's eyes get big and I know he heard me again. Linden rolls his eyes and grabs a stack of boxes. I go to follow him but am stopped when Phillipe grabs my hand. I step back from him and he smiles, revealing normal human teeth.

Smiling back, I show him my un-retractable fangs, causing him to look even more confused than he did when I "spoke" to him. He says something in French that sounds like something about a coma, an apple, and two. "He asked what your name is," Linden fills in after I blankly stare at him for a few seconds.

"Isa..." I begin.

"...Bella," he interjects before I can say Dora. Isn't that Italian?

"Um, merci. But no. Isadora." I can feel myself starting to blush. Phillipe's pretty cute, okay, practically gorgeous. What with his choppy bottom-of-ear length white hair with blue streaks randomly interspersed. He has a killer deep golden tan that only shows off his chiseled arms, the rest of him hidden beneath an over-sized tee advertising some sort of French soda. And, can't forget, he has red eyes.

Linden says something to him, in French of course, and he nods. "Ah, tres bien." Okay, I know that means very good. Looking over at Linden, he catches my plaintive glance and shrugs.

Oh, wealth of information, thy name is Linden!

I give Phillipe a tentative "oui" and he kisses my hand. That's the second time that's happened in two days; keep this up and I'm going to have to start moisturizing!

Grabbing a stack of boxes, I follow Lin down the hall and soon hear Phillipe do the same. After what feels like an eternity we reach the end of the hall and turn left.

As we're walking down another hall not quite but nearly as long as the first, Lin stops in front of a woman standing next to one of the doors. He smiles at her and she returns it warmly. Setting his load of boxes down, he goes back for the last few.

After he leaves things get awkward; Phillipe stares shyly at his feet, the woman and I both nod to each other and then watch for Linden.

When he does return he introduces us. "Isadora, you've already met Phillipe." He gestures to him and we nod at each other. He gives a flourish toward the woman, "I'd like to introduce you to Winnamine Jones. Mrs. Jones, I'd like to introduce you to Isadora Corvus."

After hearing who I am, her face lights up like Broadway and she grasps my hand. Please don't let her kiss it.