by Lisa Beeson
“It’s alright, Al,” his dad assured him, as he followed slowly behind the rest of the group. There was an almost empty beer bottle in his hand. “Come on out and say hello.”
“But…but I-” Alvaro sputtered, as his dad walked out the front door.
It was no use. Nobody was listening to him, per usual. Grabbing the new pocket sized sketchbook Jamie had given him, he quickly wrote down what he had heard Ari’s voice say, then dated it and put one tally mark.
Once that was done, he stood up and went out to the now brightly lit front porch. He was just in time to see a woman get out of a tan Corolla, and Cass run down the steps to greet her with a tight hug.
“Welcome, sister,” Cass said before they drew apart.
Ruby St. Claire was shorter and looked older than Cass, but they had the same bright smile.
“It was a long, round-a-bout journey, but I don’t believe we were followed,” Ruby said with the same southern accent as Cass.
Wait a minute… “we”…?
A guy and a girl about college age, slowly got out of the car, as if they were unsure of the situation. White surgical masks covered half of their faces, the kind that had been popular in Japan for decades. Americans had started wearing them ever since the rapid spread of the Red Death virus. Vendors were making a pretty penny selling cheap masks, touting their superior ability to protect wearers from the virus. When in reality they did little to no good. Alvaro’s dad had said that in times of crisis, people tend to forgo logic in favor of pretty lies to ease anxiety.
Ruby turned back towards the car. “Y’all can take those off now, we’re safe here.”
They shared an uneasy look before reluctantly pulling off their masks.
Hector and Sadie?
Alvaro recognized them from past visions of Ari, back when she was still Kira. What are they doing here? They’re supposed to think that Ari is dead.
A golden retriever jumped out of the same door as Sadie and sat obediently next to her. Smelling the air, it let its tongue flop out of its mouth with a lopsided grin while its tail beat happily against the ground.
Alvaro looked to his dad and the other adults. They were curious, but didn’t seem surprised by the extra arrivals. Not even Noah’s mom, Lanette, who’d only just gotten there a couple days earlier, or Joshua, who was only a couple years older than he was. What the heck? Nobody ever tells me anything.
Once Cass and Ruby stepped apart, Jamie eagerly pushed her way past Hugo and Noah and practically jumped down the steps towards the sisters. She grabbed Ruby’s hands, while a myriad of emotions ran across her face. “Cass said that you actually saw them. You saw my brother and Jean-Baptiste and…,” she nervously glanced over at Hector and Sadie still by the car, “…and Ari. Was it…was it as awful as I…” She couldn’t bring herself to ask the question fully.
Alvaro was glad that he hadn’t had the obviously distressing vision she was referring to. He knew that they’d been using the remnants of a sculpture Jamie said she couldn’t fight the impulse to make, but didn’t want to keep, for projects around the property. It had looked as though she had taken a sledgehammer to it, and with what he had learned of Jamie, that was most likely what had happened.
Instead of shrinking back from the tall woman’s impassioned non-greeting, Ruby looked at her with understanding. “I saw them,” she said nodding. The memory of it seemed to etch pain and sorrow across her face. “And yes… it was horrible. But, you must understand that even possessed by all that darkness, even with all that power at her disposal, she still asked for my guidance – she practically pleaded for it. The girl we know and love was still in there. Adam and Jean-Baptiste went into this having full trust in her. They believed that she could save them, and so do I.”
Jamie nodded as tears leaked from her eyes. “I mean, Adam’s been in dangerous situations before, but it’s never felt like this. I’ve never seen anything like what I saw…” She took a deep breath. “He’s the only family I have left. I can’t lose him.”
“They will come back to us,” Ruby assured her with a squeeze of her hands.
Hector and Sadie seemed uneasy, looking to each other over the top of the car and having a silent conversation using only shrugs and exaggerated facial expressions.
Alvaro was shocked to hear the sound of another car and see headlight beams coming down the long driveway towards them. He looked to everyone else, and again no one seemed surprised.
Seriously, he thought with an exaggerated flap of his arms.
“It was a last minute thing,” his dad leaned over and whispered to him, noticing his displeasure at being left out of the loop. “Cass didn’t tell us about it until about an hour or so ago. You were sleeping.”
The yeasty smell of beer on his breath brought Alvaro back to the days after his mother had died. Finding out that Marin was loyal to the Reinholds and Anaximander had hit his dad hard. It wasn’t as bad as it had been before coming to Scion’s Keep – Cass and the rest made sure he didn’t go over two beers on a bad day – but it still worried Alvaro a bit.
As the vehicle came closer, Alvaro saw that it was a van with temporary plates. Once it pulled up next to Ruby’s car and stopped, Hector jogged over and opened up the back. An older couple got out of the front, looking just as uneasy and shell shocked as the other two had been. Ruby told them to take off their masks as well.
Phil and Tess…? They looked much older than they had in the last vision Alvaro had of them. I guess believing that your child was murdered will do that to you…
Hector came from the back pushing a wheelchair, and he and a girl in her late twenties helped a redheaded guy out of his seat and into it. Phil told them that it was okay to take off their masks.
Jack…
Ruby beckoned them all closer.
“Everyone,” Cass said to those on the porch. “I’d like to introduce y’all to Phil and Tess Riley and their children,” she gestured to each in turn, “Hector, Sadie, and Jack.” Cass then gestured to the other girl from the van, who was now standing behind Jack’s wheelchair and putting her hands on his shoulders. “And this is Jack’s fiancée, Stacy Tran.” Jack put his hands on hers and squeezed.
They all had nodded or waved as Cass introduced them, but Alvaro could tell that they were wondering how she seemed to already know them so well. He didn’t know how much Ruby told them yet, but they were probably still getting used the idea that seers and oracles were a real thing – let alone everything else on top of that.
Alvaro had first thought that Stacy had been comforting Jack, but as he looked closer, he saw that it was actually her gleaning comfort from him. There was a sadness in her eyes. A sadness he remembered well. She had just lost someone. Maybe her family wasn’t so lucky in avoiding the virus. Maybe that was why she was here instead of with them. It wasn’t as if she and Jack were married yet.
“Welcome to Paradise Glades,” Noah said, taking over the role of host, since it apparently hadn’t occurred to Jamie to do so. He walked over to shake Phil and Tess’s hands, while deftly guiding Jamie over with him. “We’re glad that you’re here. There is obviously much to talk about.”
“I heard her,” Alvaro said, feeling a sudden and inexplicable need to speak up, surprising even himself.
Everyone turned to him. Now that he finally had everyone’s attention Alvaro wanted to shrink and run away from it, but he could feel that it was important to let them all know. “I…I heard Ari’s voice…just a moment ago. On the couch…” He gestured over his shoulder with his thumbs towards the living room windows for clarification. He instantly realized that it was an unnecessary gesture, and felt hopelessly stupid.
“What did she say?” Cass asked, urging him on and mercifully taking the focus away from his social awkwardness.
He opened his sketchbook to the page where he had written it down, even though he already knew it by heart. “Her voice sounded kinda far away and uh…languid, I guess, but she said, ‘Have faith in my chosen…�
��”
Cass and Ruby glanced at each other with knowing smiles. Cass turned back to him with that beautiful confidence he had come to appreciate in her. “Then that is what we all shall do.”
*****
9:47pm
Ellie let out a gusty dispirited sigh as she lounged on one of the rec room couches going through the pictures on her tablet of all the places she would never get to go with a mournful wistfulness: Milan, Paris, London, Rome…
It’s not fair… she sulked.
It was as if the world was conspiring to keep her from leaving Scion’s Keep. The Red Death virus, the threat of Anaximander’s men, and especially her parents, they were all in league together – all trying to kill her dreams and stifle her artistic spirit.
Angst and discontent were filling her chest like a caustic balloon. If the pressure wasn’t released soon, she was going to explode.
She sighed again.
“Ugh, enough already, Ellie,” Claudia said from the other couch, looking up from one of her boring medical textbooks. “I can’t think over all that broody sighing. I get it. We all get it. You’re mad that you can’t go on some stupid fashion tour of Europe. There are more important things going on right now, if you haven’t noticed.”
Ellie was shocked into silence at Claudia’s snarky outburst. She tried not to take it too personally. Claudia had been in a salty mood ever since Cam broke up with her right before everything had gone completely insane.
And Ellie knew that it wasn’t very practical at the moment to travel through Europe to further her fashion education. She was aware that people were dying from the Red Death virus, and that it was all super serious. It was just that she was so tired of the restless wanderlust that had been consuming her the past month or so. She didn’t know why her previously complacent attitude towards staying at Scion’s Keep had suddenly changed, she only knew that she had to get out or she’d go crazy. Especially now that she wasn’t even allowed to work at the café anymore. She could understand why Val snuck away as much as she did. This place had become a prison. And she was constantly worried for Ari, Val, and Soren, wondering where they were, and what was happening to them. But, it wasn’t as if she could do anything about all that. Her complete ineptitude to help her friends was beyond disheartening.
“Thank you!” Taika said from the side alcove where he was playing some stupid, ultra-violent assassin game, which he was so not allowed to play. “I’m glad somebody other than me finally called her out for being so freakin’ annoying.”
“Shut up, Tai!” Ellie shouted, sitting up to glare at him, focusing all her angst and frustration on her little brother. No one could push her buttons like he could. “I’m gonna tell Mom and Dad that you’re playing that.”
“Shut up, Tai,” he mocked in a dopey, high-pitched voice. “I’m gonna tell Mom and Dad, because my name’s Ellie, and I’m a gloomy derp-face who only thinks about myself. Derpy derp durrr…le sigh.”
Ellie grabbed one of the pillows on the couch and launched it at him. Unfortunately, it missed and he laughed at the pathetic attempt. Just as she was about to unleash a hellacious tirade on him, Claudia’s S.K.I.N. cuff pinged with a message. After a brief glance at the message, Claudia quickly slammed her book shut and tossed it aside as she stood up to leave.
“What’s up?” Ellie asked, hoping for a bit of excitement. “Where are you going?”
“Don’t worry about it,” Claudia said in a dismissive tone as she walked towards the door.
“Are you seriously mad at me or something?” Ellie asked. She absolutely hated the panicky feeling she got when she thought someone was angry with her.
“Not everything is about you, Ellie. Grow the hell up,” Claudia said, before leaving the room with a purposeful stride.
Ouch.
Even though there was a two and a half year age difference between the two of them, Claudia had never talked down to her like that before.
Taika let out an incredulous low whistle. “Ever since Cam dumped her, Claudia’s become a real bit–”
“Tai!” Ellie shouted, cutting him off before he could finish the statement. Their parents hated curse words, and it had become a habit to correct him.
“What? It’s the truth,” he said as his fingers furiously clicked the buttons of the game controller.
“Yeah well…, keep your truth to yourself,” she said slumping down dejectedly onto the couch. Even if it was the absolute truth, her brother needed to learn some tact and not say everything that came into his brain.
She glanced at her cuff to see that there was still a little time before curfew, but not enough to really do anything.
God, it is soooo boring with everyone gone…
Before she could let out another sigh, her cuff began emitting a high-pitched screech. Her whole body tensed at the sudden abrasive sound. Her cuff had never made that kind of noise before.
Sitting back up, she realized that Taika’s cuff was doing the same thing as hers. The border around the screen began blinking bright red, and a message appeared in bold black letters: SCION’S KEEP IS A LIE! Gordon, Asa, Marin, and Claudia cannot to be trusted. Anaximander’s men are coming! Take evasive action!
Ellie barely registered Taika saying her name amidst the cacophonous noise. It felt as if her brain was malfunctioning. She couldn’t move. She could barely breathe.
Scion’s Keep is a lie? Anaximander’s men are coming here? …Now?
“Ellie!” Taika screamed as loudly as he could, finally gaining her attention.
“What!” she bellowed back, but then she saw that his eyes were wide with fear. He wasn’t trying to be a brat, he was terrified and looking to her, his big sister, for guidance.
My little brother needs me. The thought quashed her own fear and confusion, and a protective fierceness took over, allowing her to move again.
“Come on,” she shouted over the noise. “We need to find Mom and Dad!”
He vaulted over the back of his chair towards her. Once he was close enough she took off his cuff, then did the same with hers and tossed them both onto the couch. She couldn’t stand hearing that incessant noise anymore, it was making it hard to think. Grabbing Taika’s hand, she led him out of the rec room.
Away from the sound, her thoughts began to clear. She figured her parents would be in their apartment by this time, so she headed towards the elevator.
Taika clung to her hand tightly and stuck by her side, just as he used to do when he was little. He had been such a cute and cuddly little kid before he turned into an infuriating pre-teen. She missed little Taika.
Halfway to the glass elevator, Taika jerked her down hard by the arm, put his hand over her mouth, and practically dragged her to the cover of some potted topiaries at the edge of the smaller inner courtyard.
She was about to question him when he let go of her hand and put his finger to his mouth to silently shush her. When she stopped trying to speak, he pointed up past the iron balustrade of the second level, where Marin was meeting up with Asa and Claudia in front of Gordon’s office door.
Gordon, Asa, Marin, and Claudia can’t be trusted…
She had a hard time believing it, but it was best to be safe just in case.
Ellie nodded to let Taika know that she understood and he slowly took his hand from her mouth. The alarm had abruptly cut off, and if they made a sound now, Marin would certainly hear them.
“Who sent that message?” Marin demanded, her voice echoing in the cavernous atrium.
“I assume it’s the same terrorists that have Gordon’s boys,” Asa said. “They’ve somehow hacked into our security systems. All the cameras are down.”
Terrorists! We’re being attacked by terrorists too!
“Where’s Gordon?” Marin asked.
“He’s on the roof with Skylar and Enzo. We were just about to join him. Have you taken care of Maia?” Asa asked.
“Not yet. I was just on my way.”
“What about the Tahanas?”
>
“I was just about to talk with them when they saw the message and I was forced to put them down. But the children weren’t in the apartment.”
Ellie and Taika glanced at each other with frightened eyes, clutching their hands in an effort to stay silent.
Put them down? What is happening?
“They were in the rec room last I saw them,” Claudia said with a cold detachment.
Ellie couldn’t believe how easily her best friend had just sold her out like that. What a freaking narc!
“Don’t bother with the children,” Asa said. “They will go wherever we take their parents. Maia, on the other hand, will be much more difficult to convince and we don’t have enough time. Our transports will be here any minute. She must be taken care of.”
Marin nodded, and they went their separate ways – Asa and Claudia going up to the roof, and Marin going towards the lab where Maia worked stubbornly day and night. Even though Mara the Ice Queen had said that her people were already onto finding a cure for the Red Death virus, Maia evidently felt an urgent need to stay in the lab and keep working.
As soon as Ellie and Taika were both completely sure Marin wouldn’t hear them, they shot out from their hiding place and sprinted towards the stairs since they were closer. They only had to go up one flight to the second level, anyway.
Ellie refused to think of anything besides how much she hated running or she knew that she would break down. She had to stay strong for Taika.
They skidded to a halt outside their apartment door. Both of them just standing there panting, trying to catch their breaths.
Ellie couldn’t move again, her muscles frozen in trepidation. Once they opened that door, their lives could be changed forever.
“Ellie…?” Taika whispered, grabbing her hand and clasping it tight again.
She glanced over at him and saw that he was thinking the same thing she was: their parents’ dead bodies might be on the other side of that door.