A Girl's Guide to Guns and Monsters - Martin Harry Greenberg [40]
Helen winced at the thought of a blood sacrifice. “Sounds like a party,” she said.
“The Christians didn’t think so,” Leis said, with a dark smile. “They replaced the whole festival with one honoring one of their saints instead. Valentine, the patron saint of lovers. People would pull the names of a saint out of a box and spend the next year trying to follow it like some sort of role model.”
“So that’s why we used to build boxes for cards on Valentine’s Day in grade school?” Helen asked.
Leis nodded. “We’ve more or less put the kibosh on the whole saint emulation thing, but that’s it in a nut-shell.” She stopped and looked up at the building in front of them. “We’re here.”
Helen stopped beside her, looking up too. She knew the place well, even without its upper windows lit up red in the shape of a giant heart. Where else was one expected to go on Valentine’s Day in New York City but the Empire State Building?
Security used to be tight at all the landmark buildings right after 9/11, Helen thought, but so many years later? Not so much. Not that Helen had been worrying about getting herself in, but she had already seen Leis’ crossbow in action. Who knew what else lay inside the folds of her cloak? Helen needn’t have worried. When the guard saw two cute twentysomething NYU students flash their IDs, he waved them toward the bank of elevators without a second glance. A rush of people crowded in after them, pushing them both up against the back wall of the tiny space.
Helen felt her stomach drop as the tremendous speed of the express elevator pulled at her.
“We going to see if Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr are up here?” Helen asked.
“I was thinking more of Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan,” Leis said with a smile. Her face grew more and more grim the higher they went, and by the time the elevator slowed to a stop and the doors opened, Leis looked dark and focused. Her expression actually frightened Helen.
After the elevator emptied, Leis rushed out of the doors, leaving Helen to jump out before the elevator doors closed. “Hey!” Helen called. “What the hell do you want me to do?”
Leis spun around, her cloak twirling around her in a perfect circle. Her alert eyes darted about as she replied, “Just act nonchalant. Enjoy the view or something.”
Before Helen could respond, Leis whirled around again and ran out onto the observation deck just on the other side of the small, enclosed art deco lobby. Not sure of what to do, Helen walked off in the opposite direction and headed through the nearest set of doors.
The wind at the top of the Empire State Building made it significantly chillier here than on the street, making her wish she had worn a heavy cloak too. Couples were packed around the entire deck arm in arm, hand in hand, almost all of them staring lovingly off at the setting sun. Helen found an open spot along the high ornate fence surrounding the deck and stared out over the city, impressed as always with the wonder that was Manhattan.
After a few moments of drinking it all in, Helen turned and leaned back against the fence, taking in the crowd. Not everyone was a couple. A few hopeful romantics, both male and female, seemed to be here by themselves. Helen watched as Leis nearly bowled one of them over in a purposeful patrol around the deck’s perimeter. The man swerved to avoid her, nearly crashing into Helen.
“Easy,” Helen said, patting him on the shoulder. “Sorry about my friend.”
The man smiled, revealing quiet confidence in what Helen discovered were a gorgeous set of deep blue eyes. “Your friend seems a little crazed there,” he said, shoving his hands back into his coat pockets.
Something in his smile felt contagious, and Helen couldn’t help but smile back at him. “Yeah, she can get a little