The Chamber of Ten by Christopher Golden Read Free Book Online Page B

shudder against her neck as he came inside her. Never again argue with him about who was the greatest painter or sculptor.
    She pulled the curtain aside and stepped into the bath. Nico still had his back to her, face turned up into the overhead shower and hands both clasping a tablet of soap. He was rubbing at his shoulders and chest, and his breath came in short gasps.
    She stepped forward and reached around to his stomach.
    Nico jumped and spun around, almost sending her sprawling. The shower reached her, and it was scalding hot across her face, shoulders, and chest. She gasped.
    “I just can’t get myself clean,” he said, and for the first time since she had met him, he sounded like a child.
    “I’ll help you,” she said. He nodded and smiled gratefully, and for the next half an hour as she scrubbed hisskin pink, he projected only an unfamiliar, heartrending vulnerability.
    Domenic returned mid-morning with a doctor, and although Nico protested, he let the doctor look him over. There were no injuries and no obvious indications of any head trauma. He sat through the whole examination looking vaguely befuddled, and when the doctor stood to leave, Nico walked him to the door.
    “How is he?” Domenic whispered.
    “I don’t know,” Geena said. “It’s like he’s been away a lot longer.”
    “How do you mean?”
    She shrugged. How could she communicate to Domenic the subtle differences, the awkwardness between them that had never been there before? So instead she changed the subject.
Divert your mind and sometimes the answers will creep up on you
, her father used to tell her. He’d never given her a piece of advice that had failed her yet.
    “Is Dr. Schiavo angry that we’re not at the site?” she asked.
    “Of course not. You two have had quite a trauma—”
    Geena frowned. “Not more than anyone else who was down there when the wall gave way.”
    “Not true,” Domenic said. “I didn’t explain to Dr. Schiavo what had happened with you and Nico—that’s not my business to explain to him—but I told him you’d both had a close call. Ramus is site manager and he’s been there all day, talking with the city engineers about shoring up the canal wall, getting pumps in, all of it. You let us worry about all of that for today.”
    “Have you looked at the film yet?” she asked.
    “No, but your BBC friend is all over us.” Domenic rolled his eyes.
    “Let’s have a viewing here. Finch can come, too.”
    “You’re sure?” He looked around uncertainly, and at first she thought he was still worried about Nico. But then she realized the source of his discomfort and smiled.
    “Sure. I don’t think we can pretend that Nico and I are a secret anymore, can we?”
    “I suppose not,” Domenic said, returning her smile. “I’ll call the others and get them here for … two o’clock?”
    “What’s at two o’clock?” Nico said, entering from the hallway.
    “We’re going to watch the footage Sabrina shot,” Geena said.
    “Of course!” he said, and his eagerness was troubling. He pushed past them with a vague smile and started picking up books and magazines, clearing the sofa, tidying Geena’s room in preparation for visitors. She watched him, wondering why she was unsettled, and it was only when Domenic touched her shoulder that it clicked.
    “Geena? I said, do you want me to pick up some food?”
    “Oh, yeah,” she said, and she went into the kitchen to fetch her purse.
He still smells of the canal
, she thought. As Nico had passed her by, she’d caught a whiff of Venice’s old, dirty water, even after all that scrubbing.
    As if it were as ingrained in his skin as it was in the foundations of the city itself.
    Domenic brought pizza and Finch arrived with two bottles of cheap wine, wearing a bemused expression atactually being invited. Geena welcomed him in and chatted inconsequentialities, and when he saw Nico standing by her living room window he nodded once.
    “Glad to see you’re