Sixty-Seven Salamanders

by Jeffary Joseph

Talk about pressure. I did a soldier's salute. "I'll try not to let you down."

  He smiled. "You won't."

  I left Dean Dexter's office with my new saviors tucked safely in my back pocket. Even though it was only temporary, I'd be able to stop the virus; it was one less thing to worry about.

  Chapter 19 - Date

  That night of sleep was another sporadic one as I drifted in and out of consciousness until morning. It was the first time in a while I had nothing to do, so decided to be a bum and stay in bed for the day. Time crawled by as I laid unmoving and wasn’t sure how much time had passed but didn't really care, finally in a peaceful state and one with being lazy. Well, until my doorknob started rattling, causing me to catapult out of bed. Man, I’m even starting to act like a spy.

  The door opened a moment later, and Candace stepped through. "If I knew I was gonna get a show, I would've brought dollar bills." She eyed me up and down; I was only wearing boxers while she had on a frilly dress.

  When I saw her like that, my brain registered that she was actually a female and not just my best friend. "You know, I could report you for sexual harassment."

  "You know you like it." Candace grinned from ear to ear.

  I rolled my eyes and grabbed some sweatpants from my dresser. "You look nice today. What's the occasion?" I hadn't seen much of Candace in the past week with her busy with student council stuff.

  "The secret, duh." She looked at me like I was the crazy one for not knowing what she was talking about.

  I put my hand to my chin. "The secret?"

  "Yes." Her eyes opened up expectantly.

  "No clue what you're talking about."

  She sighed heavily and moved over to start rummaging through my closet. "Remember the text I sent you last week? I'm here to take you on a special date."

  It was just like Candace to expect you to remember details even if they were insignificant. "Candace, I was planning to -”

  She abruptly twirled around and threw my towel at me. "Hurry and get ready."

  I sighed myself and put it over my shoulder. There went my day of imitating a homeless man. "Can I at least get my toothbrush?"

  She took it out my bag and tossed it to me. "There you go, pal."

  With the necessary items, I exited the room but only made it a few feet before hearing Candace’s voice.

  "Don't forget to wash behind your ears!"

  "Aw, isn't that cute." Bianca was coming down the stairs.

  "Yeah, it’s something." I responded, embarrassed. "Did you know she was here?"

  "Mhm, she told me she'd be coming over to take you out."

  "You guys really are close, aren't you?" Candace didn't have many friends. In fact, she didn't like people, in general, all that much, so the fact she told Bianca anything spoke volumes.

  She laughed and slung her arm around my shoulder. "Don't worry; you'll always be numero uno in her book."

  “Phew. I was worried for a sec.” I grinned and resumed towards the stairs. Back in my room I was deciding what to wear and went for a plain, black shirt but stopped. Candace was in a beautiful dress, so I should’ve at least make the attempt to look presentable. After getting dressed, I walked back to the closet and reached for the top shelf on my tippy toes, grabbing the small box there and put it in my pocket. I doubted I would need it, but like my mom always said, it was better to be safe than sorry.

  Downstairs, Candace and Bianca were sitting on one of the sofas and laughing. Their personalities couldn't be any more different, but they seemed to get along well.

  "Ready?" I reached them.

  Bianca whistled. "You clean up nice, Mr. Anderson."

  I twirled around. "You sure it doesn't make me look too fat?"

  Bianca giggled. "Nope, you're perfect. Right, Candace?"

  She put a hand on her chin and examined me. "Hm..."

  I felt a bit self-conscious as she studied me. The last person in the world I had to impress was my childhood friend, but for some reason always felt the need to.

  She got up from the couch and approached me, then adjusted the collar on my shirt. "There, now you're perfect." She gave me a warm smile.

  It was hard to be mad or annoyed with Candace when she smiled at me like that. I guess it was the magic powers girls had over us guys. Girls rule; boys drool as the saying went.

  Bianca giggled again, staring at us both with googly eyes.

  Our cue to get out of here. I grabbed Candace’s hand. "Let's go."

  "Adin, wait -”

  "No time to waste, big day of fun and all that." I dragged her away.

  "Have fun guys!" Bianca yelled before the door shut behind us.

  "Adin?"

  "Hm?"

  "I’m gonna need my hand eventually."

  I peeked down to see mine still holding her’s captive and let go immediately. “Sorry about that.”

  She smiled. “It’s okay.”

  We walked through Addison's campus in silence until she spoke again. “How’s training going?”

  I still remembered our last conversation about me becoming an agent and the disagreement that followed. She hadn’t brought it up since and neither had I. “Uh… good.”

  “I heard about what happened the other day.”

  I continued to walk facing forward but could still see her from the corner of my eye. “Yeah?”

  “I know Noir's on your team, but be careful… She’s dangerous.”

  “I know.” I decided to change the subject. “So, where are you taking me? “

  “Oh! I never told you, did I? We’re going to Time Square.”

  After a short Uber ride, we stepped onto a busy sidewalk where a symphony of noises immediately hit, forcing me to cover my ears. “Is it always this loud?”

  Candace laughed to the right of me. “I know, it takes some getting used to.”

  “What about that smell? What the heck is that?” I couldn't put my finger on it, but there was a pungent smell assaulting my nose.

  “That’s... well, maybe it's better if you didn't know.”

  Great. I was starting to wonder what people found so tantalizing about New York, more specifically, Time Square until peering up at the giant screens and billboards with flashing, bright lights. A few people bumped into me since my feet had stopped moving without my realizing. Wherever you turned, there was basically a person already occupying that spot. How did people get around?

  “Adin!”

  I gazed out towards the voice to see a slender arm sticking out of a cluster of people some feet away and maneuvered there where Candace was.

  “This is definitely different from Maple Hills.” I raised my voice over all the noise and chatter.

  “I know, but isn't it exciting?” She grinned.

  Time Square was loud, there was a strong odor difficult to make out, and the lack of space was a little suffocating, but there was also a certain charm to it. A million things were going on at once; people buzzing around like bees; it was like a giant parade. “It is.” I returned her smile.

  From there, we sifted through the infinite amount of people surrounding us and wandered around for the better part of two hours before eventually tapping out and taking a break.

  “This place is like a zoo.” I commented to Candace; we were standing side-to-side on a sidewalk away from all the commotion, well as much as we could be. “It’s making me hungry.”

  “I saw a hotdog cart not too far from here.”

  “Shouldn’t you be watching your figure or something?”

  She smiled and put both hands on her hips. “A beautiful girl such as myself doesn’t need to watch her weight.”

  “My apologies. Lead the way, madam.” I laughed, then followed her.

  “Funny, I swore I saw it here.” She looked around when we reached the area.

  “Maybe it just moved?”

  “Hm, I guess.” She was still searching for the vanishing cart.

  “Come on, let’s just look for another one.” I turned my
head in the opposite direction.

  “Oh, look, Adin!” Candace pointed at a purple tent to the far right. “It’s a fortune teller!”

  I followed her line of sight and frowned. “Are they going to predict where we can find food?”

  “Come on! It’ll be fun, and we can get food right after.” She was practically skipping towards the fortune teller's tent.

  I sighed with no choice but to follow. There was barely any light inside and a little further in to the left was a statue that appeared to have the head and body of a lion, but also birdwings and the tail of a snake. For a moment, its eyes seemed to flash over, giving me the willies and forcing my gaze to the right where there was a giant painting of a forest. It depicted trees that bent in different directions that were engulfed in black fire.

  I didn’t really believe much in magic or any of that fortunetelling crap but had to admit the place did have an eerie vibe to it. Trying not to shiver, I started towards Candace who had already taken a seat at the round table near the back of the tent. On the opposite side of her was a person with a violet hood, shrouding her face. I guess they were really pushing for the whole creepy fortuneteller thing.

  My best friend turned halfway in her chair when she heard me approaching. “Come on, slowpoke.”

  I took a seat next to her. “You could’ve waited for oh, two seconds.”

  “Welcome, young ones.” The person suddenly spoke. Upon closer inspection, it appeared to be an old woman with a long nose that made Pinocchio look like Honest Abe. And she resembled the witch in every children’s book, ever.

  I felt it would be a great injustice not to comment on the situation, so shifted a bit to Candace. “Candace, are you hot? Because I’m melting, I’m melting.”

  She put one hand over her mouth, trying her best not to laugh, but was ultimately losing the battle.

  “You. What’s your name, handsome?” The woman smiled, showing she had barely any teeth.

  “Uh… Adin, ma’am.”

  “Ah, a powerful name, it suits you.”

  “Oh, thank you.” Now I felt a little bad for making fun of her.

  “Do you believe in something bigger than yourself, Adin?”

  I glanced at Candace. “Something bigger than myself?”

  “Yes, divine will, destiny, the threads of fate.” The fortuneteller leaned forward.

  Did I? I liked to think you made your own decisions in life and had to live with the consequences whether they were good or bad. “I don’t know.”

  She laughed loudly. “Not only handsome but honest, too.” Then, she reached into her robe and produced a stack of cards she placed on the table.

  They didn’t look like any playing cards I’d ever seen. They were all faced down and on the back were identical designs of brown and black swirls, similar to a carpet.

  “What are those?” Candace lowered her head to them.

  “They, my lovely lady are the Arcana.” The stranger looked at her.

  “Arcana?” I had no clue what she was talking about.

  She frowned at me now. “Tarot cards.”

  Why didn’t she just say that in the first place? I actually knew what they were; each card had a different character and meaning that was supposed to determine the direction of your life.

  The old woman spread the cards out over the table and pointed at me. “Choose a card.”

  “Oh, I’m sure Candace would rather have her fortune read.” I put a hand on her shoulder.

  The fortuneteller slowly put her finger back down. “No, it has to be you.”

  Candace and I quickly exchanged glances. “Why me?”

  The fortuneteller’s eyelids lowered. “The fates want what the fates want, who am I to question them?”

  Candace grabbed my arm. “Just do it, Adin. Don’t you want to know what your fortune is?”

  I sighed. “Okay, what do I do?”

  The lady waved her hands over the table. “Just choose a card.”

  I reached out and let my hand hover over them and was just going to wing it at first, but for some reason, the last card on the left called out to me, so I turned it over.

  She picked it up and paused for a moment before she started cackling like a true witch.

  It made the hairs on the back of my neck shoot up, and me jump up. “I think we should probably go.”

  Candace mimicked me and stood up. “Good idea!”

  We then hurriedly exited the tent with the mad cackles of the old woman still behind us.

  Chapter 20 - Peace

  “Okay, what the heck was that?” I asked breathlessly, with my hands on my knees once we were back on the street outside.

  Candace was just as out of breath. “I don’t know, but that was beyond creepy.” She suddenly started laughing, but it ended up as a wheeze.

  “I’m glad you’re having fun.” What I saw still bothered me.

  Candace noticed my mood. “What’s wrong?”

  “The card...” I answered glumly.

  “Oh yeah, I couldn’t tell which one you chose, what was it?”

  I stared at the ground. “Death.”

  “Whoa, now I’m really creeped out.”

  It was all fake anyway, but then why did it bother me so much? Maybe because my new world clearly involved death. I tried to play it off with a fake smile. “No biggie, I don’t plan on dying anytime soon.”

  “You shouldn’t joke about that.” She frowned.

  I guess she still wasn’t happy with me joining the organization, even if she didn’t outwardly object to it anymore. “Sorry.”

  She frowned a little more, then finally smiled. “Okay, let’s find you some food, buddy.” She slapped my back.

  After a while of hard searching, Candace and I finally discovered a pretzel cart.

  “Thank you, food gods. I thought I wasn’t gonna make it.” I reached for my wallet.

  But Candace stopped me and held out her purse. “Don’t worry; I got it.”

  She knew I barely had any money left after sending most of it back home. “It's cool, Candace. I can at least pay for some pretzels.”

  She bumped me out the way with her hip. “I know you can, Adin. Can’t I treat my best friend anymore?”

  Or maybe she was just being nice. “Thanks.” I smiled.

  She returned my smile and began to go through her purse when it disappeared, or rather was stolen to be more accurate.

  A figure in a blue hoodie had emerged from nowhere and was gone before anybody could react.

  I frantically looked to my left and right. Nobody moved, all just staring bug-eyed at her and where the purse-snatcher had vanished into the crowd.

  “I can’t believe this!” Candace stomped her foot.

  Coming to a quick decision, I sprinted towards the direction of the thief.

  “Adin, what are you doing!?” Candace yelled behind.

  What kind of operative agent would I be if I couldn’t even protect my own friend, let alone the people that may count on me in the future? People complained as I forcibly squeezed passed but I had completely lost sight of the target. A sudden flash of movement caught my attention to the right; it was the thief veering off into a quiet area behind a building covered with dust and grime.

  Once rounding the corner of the dirty building myself, I watched them run into a rusty fence and curse in frustration, then turn as they heard my footsteps approaching, Candace’s purse swaying back and forth in their hand.

  “Stay back!” The man’s face was revealed, showing bags under his eyes; from the looks of him, he hadn’t slept in days.

  “Calm down; I just want my friend’s purse.” I pointed to it.

  Abrupt movement made us both look to the left. A homeless man emerged from a cardboard box that was on the ground and lazily looked at both of us for a moment before returning. I used the distraction to inch closer to the thief but unfortunately didn’t get too far before he noticed.

  “Are you deaf? I said stay back!” He was fidget
ing and twitching periodically.

  I examined him to see if he had any weapons, but to my great relief it didn’t seem like he did, not knowing what I’d do if he had a gun or something. “What’s your name?” I tried applying one of the tactics learned from my classes.

  He looked at the fence behind him then back at me. “What?”

  I put my hand on my chest. “My name is Adin. What’s your name?”

  He eyed me suspiciously. “Ben...”

  “Good, that’s good. I had a hamster named Ben.”

  He scowled. “Do I look like a damn hamster to you?”

  Hm, maybe that wasn’t the smartest thing to say. But I was able to get within arm’s reach of him while he’d been talking. “No, I’m sorry, it’s just that I…” I lunged at him the moment I saw a chance.

  He ducked out of the way, which twisted me around, but when I turned to face him, he wasn’t even looking at me. Following his gaze to the handgun that lay on the ground between us, we traded glances before both of us dove after it. The thief and I hit the pavement hard and were momentarily stunned, but immediately scrambled for the firearm once recovered. Bits of debris and gravel scraped against my arms as I slid across the ground.

  Unfortunately, he was closer so was able to reach the lethal weapon before me and hurriedly rose to his feet, me doing the same to see it was pointed a mere foot from my face. I wanted to scream with fear, but my vocal cords weren’t working.

  He shook the gun at me. “I warned you, man!”

  “I just wanted my friend’s purse back.” I tried speaking calmly when I regained my voice, but it came out cracked.

  He reached down and touched it. “No… it’s mine.”

  “Just put the gun down, please. I can tell you don’t really want to hurt anybody.” My vision was focused on it.

  “I’m tired of people telling me what to do!”

  The way he tensed up told me all I needed to know; he was clearly losing it. Without warning, I spun around and did my best imitation of a roundhouse kick.

  The thief dropped to the ground along with the gun, then clutched his hand. “Goddammit, my hand!”

  I took a step and unexpectedly stumbled forward. Huh? My right arm was numb, and there was a small hole in the middle of the blue square pattern on my plaid shirt. Great. It was my most expensive one. Losing balance, I fell to one knee. Funny, I thought being shot would hurt more as it had in Kei’s simulation.