by M. J. Sewall
“Hello,” said her mother, warming just a little. “We have to go now, Katie. Nice to meet you, Cody.”
“Okay. Later. Nice to meet you,” said Cody, returning to the other players.
Mother and daughter walked out, and luckily for Katie, her mom didn’t ask any questions about Cody. She couldn’t explain that he’d also been the guy rushing past her, stopping the German making the earthquake. Or, how they had fabricated a story together. Luckily the scene had been too crazy, and no authorities questioned them.
Her mom started talking as soon as they got in the car, “I hate to ask, especially after all we’ve been through tonight, but will you be okay on your own for a few hours? Megan and Jason…”
“Of course, Mom. That’s fine,” Katie said as she stared out the window. She felt a familiar pang. The same one that hit her when Megan came first. But it wasn’t as sharp as usual; Megan’s healing was all that mattered now.
“We know you’ve been through a lot too,” Mom put a hand on Katie’s leg, like she did when she was younger. “Jason and I were just scared. We didn’t know where you were. You said you’d get a ride, then all the cell lines were jammed.”
“It just took a while to get there because of traffic.” Katie asked, “The radio said no one died, right?”
“Miracle of miracles, no. But a lot of people were hurt. They moved some to Madeline Medical and Hope Hospital down the coast. It must have been terrifying.”
“It was pretty scary.”
“The weird thing was that no other buildings were damaged. Well, that’s what they say tonight. I’m sure they’ll find damage tomorrow,” her mom insisted.
Katie secretly doubted it.
Her mom squeezed her leg, “I’m just glad you’re okay. Jason is too. I’ll pick up a few things and get back to the hospital. You sure you’ll be okay on your own?”
“Yeah, Mom. I’ll be fine.” Katie nearly smiled. She felt like a kid again, her mom’s total focus on her for the moment.
Once Katie was home by herself, she immediately got on her laptop, cruising the local news website. Over a hundred and fifty people were hurt. They estimated that nearly two thousand people were in the stands. The news was everywhere, even national news sites, Twitter, Instagram, everywhere. She jumped to Facebook, which has also ablaze with the news.
She went to the wall of each of the other four “special” kids she’d met tonight. She smiled at the thought of the other freaks, but then she thought of Megan. Not a time for smiling. They had all just met officially a few hours ago, so no one had any cell numbers. She made friend requests of them all, so they could exchange numbers by private message later. Then she got out her cell phone and texted the person she most wanted to talk to.
There were already three messages from Derek.
Are you OK Katie?
I know you need to be with family now. Text when you can.
I have so much more to tell you.
A blank, generic cartoon face was next to the name Derek. Apparently, he liked being anonymous online. When you knew people that could cause earthquakes, she reasoned that was a safer way to live.
Katie wondered why she’d even taken the ride from them. She felt a strange pull to Derek, but his brother had hurt her family. The German gave his excuses in the car, but he hadn’t apologized. But, they were the ones that had explained things, and they felt true. Katie was a confused swirl of emotions.
Katie: Your brother hurt(she thought about typing step-sister, but changed her mind)my SISTER. Not ok.
Derek: I am very angry at him too. I’m so sorry. It was not supposed to happen that way. He is very sorry.
Katie: How’s is the Nazi, anyway?
Derek: LOL. He does sound like a Nazi, doesn’t he? He’s resting. Takes a lot out of him.
Katie noticed he hadn’t answered her question about how they could be brothers. There was a lot he hadn’t explained. She changed the subject.
Katie: Who was the guy with the sword?
Derek: Ugh. The bad guy of our story. Bad guy who thinks he’s a good guy. Too much to text. I’ll explain more next time we meet. Remember: DELETE THESE TEXTS. You don’t want your parents finding texts with words like Nazi or sword. The NSA has probably already flagged us both.
Katie: Seriously?
Derek: LOL. No. The government is run by idiots. Just delete them, all will be fine.
Katie: If I decide to forgive you and your “brother” for the earthquake, what’s next?
Derek: I’ll let you know soon. Stay safe, girly girl. Derek out.
She smiled at the girly girl line. The last few text chains, he’d been ending with that. It seemed old fashioned, but strangely adorable. So much had happened and Katie was exhausted. What is it about him, anyway? You’re probably being stupid. He just seems so… familiar. She stretched out on her bed, and fell asleep thinking of Derek.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN - REPORT
In the rented house, Derek smiled to himself, “Well, the girl still seems to be with us. You should have apologized in the car.”
“MMMM,” groaned Ehrhardt.
“How’s the head?” asked Derek.
“MMMMM.”
“I see,” said Derek, “the healing spell seems to have fixed your nose. Any pain there?”
“HMMMMM.”
“He’ll be calling soon.”
“HMMMMMM!”
Ehrhardt’s phone rang. He lifted the wet towel from his eyes and handed the ringing cell to Derek.
Derek steeled himself and answered, “Earthquakes R Us. How may I help you? Yes, Elder Zamma. I know you don’t think me funny. I just… no, no, he’s resting. He had a busy night. Yes, we’ve been watching the news.” Derek shook his head at Ehrhardt as he observed the conversation, “Do you really think that’s… yes, of course our bathroom has a mirror. Give us a few minutes.”
Ehrhardt’s groan turned into a growl, “You’re not serious! He wants a visual report?”
“This night just keeps getting better,” said Derek.
Ehrhardt slowly rose from the bed, wincing in pain, and held the washcloth to his forehead.
Derek ignored his foul mood, “Are the candles in your suitcase?”
“HMMM,” growled Ehrhardt.
“Ok to get them?” Derek asked, “I know how you feel about me touching your stuff.”
“I’ll get them,” grumbled Ehrhardt.
They set up the three candles in front of the bathroom mirror. The brothers brought two chairs in and sat in front of the mirror. They held hands and began the incantation: “Pamje izgled gweld.” They repeated the phrase three times. The elder on the other side was doing the real work, the brothers were just tuning into the more powerful spell of Elder Zamma. They both opened their eyes and stared at the mirror that now contained the image of their elder.
“What happened?” asked Elder Zamma.
They both bowed to their Elder.
“We’ve probably turned one, so far, a girl,” said Ehrhardt, grimacing. Even the candlelight was hurting his eyes, “But we had to take drastic action when we were attacked.”
Zamma was skeptical, “How many attacked you?”
Derek shifted in his chair, “Well, umm, one. Technically. But one of the boys is nearly activated. He’s an ancient.”
“Which ancient? Have we encountered him before?” asked Zamma.
Derek lied, “Don’t know yet. The football boy tackled old Caron here. They had help. One of the Amartus showed up. I’m pretty sure it was Pentoss. He’s still very handy with a sword. He’s black this time, if you care. Caron shot him in the back.”
Zamma thought of his last personal encounter with Pentoss. “Did you kill him?”
“Not sure. We went different directions,” said Derek.
“And the earthquake? Why, Caron?” He did not wait for an answer and looked back to Derek, “Your talents are more discreet, Sazzo. You should have taken the lead. This is all over the news. Now, all the American netwo
rks are covering that little town. We work better in the dark, you both know that.”
Ehrhardt seethed, “An earthquake in California? Not much of a story. We’ll get you some recruits. And if the rest won’t come, a convenient aftershock will make a good way to end the problem.”
“It was careless.” Zamma stared at him. “You’re supposed to be the responsible one. I’m very disappointed. How long until the Witness finds them again?”
Derek began, “About that…”
“Pentoss took the Witness,” said Ehrhardt.
There was a long silence.
“I assume you’re not joking,” said the elder, “When?”
Ehrhardt replied, “It happened last night.” He stared defiantly at his elder, saying nothing else.
“We thought it best to find him again before we mentioned it to you,” Derek hastened to add.
The candles on the old man’s side of the mirror flared, “And how will you find him? He’s the one that finds people. How dare you not report this!”
“Enough!” Ehrhardt shouted. “How dare you send only we two, to root out five of them? We cannot produce miracles. You always expect too much, and give us nothing when we do your bidding. I’m sick of your empty orders. Come out of your little room and help us.”
The elder stared. The candles in front of him shrunk back to their ordinary flicker. He stood, and leaned closer. The candles lit his face from below, and his face got larger, filling their mirror. Slowly, their mirror began to bow out toward them, just slightly at first, then more pronounced. Elder Zamma’s eyes burned into Ehrhardt. “I will ignore your insolence for this night alone. Do not fail me again.”
The mirror began to crack, the glass bending out much farther than was natural, and the elder’s face was a mask of lines and cracks, a mosaic of rage. Ehrhardt and Derek shrank back in their chairs, their elder surprising them with yet a new trick to intimidate them.
Then the mirror exploded in a thousand shards. Derek and Ehrhardt shielded their eyes, but they both felt the shards cut their hands and faces. The candles blew out. Stale air rushed out of the void that used to be a mirror. Slowly, Derek got up. His shoes crunched on mirror shards until he found the light switch.
Derek was thankful that no glass went into his eyes, as he pulled a small shard from his cheek. He dropped it to the shards littering the floor.
“Well, that went well.” Derek grabbed two white towels and threw one at his brother. Both had cuts on their faces, the white linen instantly streaked with blood as they carefully wiped.
“I’ll get the healing spell,” said Derek as he went to his bag.
Ehrhardt left the bathroom, and whispered to himself, “I will find a way to kill you, old man.”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN - FAMILY
Zacke shouldered his backpack, ready for class.
“Come on Zacke, got no time for your big brother?” shouted Zacke’s shirtless brother Deke, walking off the sunny basketball court.
Zacke answered, “Sorry, Deke. Didn’t see you. I got places to be. No time for hoops.”
“Come on. Hold up,” Deke said as he jogged to the fence.
He put his pack over the logo on his t-shirt as Deke made it to the fence. “What’s up, bro?”
Deke asked, “Dude, were you at that game last night?”
“Yeah. Crazy, right?” Zacke said, hoping he wouldn’t be asked too many questions. Then again, it wasn’t like he was close with his brother anymore. “Where were you?”
“I was up in Santa Nina, hanging with some friends. Crazy night for me too, partying, etcetera,” said Deke, offering no details. “Does Dad even know you were there?”
Zacke shrugged, “He’s still in bed. He was passed out in his chair by the time I got home. Must have crawled into bed in the middle of the night.”
“And I bet you put a nice little blanket on him and picked up all the beer cans and put them in the recycle,” said Deke.
Zacke shrugged again.
“Dumb old drunk. He needs to move on from mom, already. She’s the one that left.” Deke changed subjects, “Anyway, come shoot hoops. I haven’t seen you on a court for like a year.”
There’s a reason for that. “Nah. I gotta go. My ride’s almost here.”
“Alright. Hey, can you spot me a twenty until Tuesday?” asked Deke, “I want to contribute to the party tonight.”
“Another party?” Zacke said, smiling, but without humor. He was about to point out the similarities between his partying and their dad’s drinking, but didn’t.
Deke got the hint anyway, “Don’t judge, bro.”
Zacke dropped it, pulled his backpack off his shoulder, fishing for the twenty.
Deke shook his head, “Seriously, Zacke? You still doing that?”
Zacke realized his brother had seen the “SV Explorers” logo on his shirt. He pulled the twenty from his zip pouch and passed it through the chain link fence. “Don’t judge, bro.”
That brought out a smile. “Yeah. Right. Just don’t let my friends see that junior Po Po shirt.”
“Whatever man. See ya.” Zacke said, swinging the backpack over his shoulder again, covering the large logo on the back of his shirt. He made it around the corner to catch his ride.
The small white car was waiting.
“You’ll call me for a ride, but you don’t answer my texts?” Victoria said, leaning against her car.
“Yeah. Sorry about that. I figure I’d fill you in face to face.”
Victoria rolled her eyes, “Get in, then, Mr. Zacke with an ‘e’.”
They pulled away from the curb, headed for the Police and Fire Academy. It was a huge complex set back from the highway at the entrance to their town. Atop a hill that looked out over Sea Valley, it was a state of the art training facility, one of only five in that half of the country.
On the way up the hill, Victoria asked, “So, why pick you up by a park? I know your address from your paperwork. Ashamed of where you live?”
“Yes,” Zacke confirmed, “And who I live with.”
“Wow, okay. Deep secrets. Alright, I’ll drop that for now. But you never explained who those guys were, when I rescued you the other night. You also didn’t answer my texts about whether you were dead under some bleachers.” she poked him in the ribs. “Were you at the game last night?”
Zacke hesitated. “Yeah. I was there. Sorry. Things have just been crazy lately. I got home really late last night, but I wasn’t hurt or anything.”
“And those guys at work?” asked Victoria, “They looked dangerous.”
“I really don’t know who they are.” Zacke didn’t like lying. “Maybe they were trying to rob me or something.”
“Hmmm. You are a bad liar, kid,” Victoria said, glancing sideways at Zacke, “If you want my taxi service, you’re going to have to do better than that.”
Zacke rubbed his head. Where would I start? “You wouldn’t believe all the stuff that’s been going on. It’s probably better if you don’t know everything.”
“Hmm. More mysteries,” Victoria narrowed her eyes, “I saw your paperwork, so I know you’re 16. Which makes me a cougar at 18. You can’t have that many mysteries, kid.”
“Lately, they’re piling up.”
They pulled up to the curb of the Police and Fire Academy. “You want to be a cop or fireman?”
“Cop. Probably,” Zacke admitted, “I don’t know. I’m just taking some Saturday Explorer classes right now. Took them all summer. I got the job to pay for it. My brother is really pissed I’m doing this.”
Victoria smiled, “I see. It that one of the reasons you’re doing it?”
Zacke shrugged and smiled.
“Alright. I’ll be back at three. Don’t forget you work tonight,” Victoria added, “But the most important question is why haven’t you asked me out yet?”
Zacke stuttered, “Um. Because you’re my boss, and I…” he smiled, “I’ve never dated a cougar before.”
“Okay, that was a go
od line. And I’m just a shift supervisor. No conflict there,” Victoria added, “Better hurry, though. You don’t ask me out soon, I will ask you. See you soon.”
Victoria drove off leaving Zacke smiling.
***
“Is Ariana home?” Lucas said, feeling dwarfed by the large muscular boy standing in front of him. Lucas figured he must be about nineteen.
Ariana’s brother eyed Lucas suspiciously, then gave him a baffled shake of his head. “Yeah. Hold on.”
Lucas could hear the boy shouting Ariana’s name through the house, and heard a muffled reply.
Her brother shouted louder, “Some white kid at the door for you. I don’t know. He’s waiting.”
By that time, a few younger kids had peeked around the corner, and a woman floated by the open door suspiciously. Ariana came to the front door, her family literally at her back.
Ariana rolled her eyes at her family. “Stop staring. He’s just a boy from school.”
“Kinda cute,” said her mother.
“Mami!”
Ariana closed the door behind her, leaving her family inside, and whispered to Lucas, “What are you doing here?”
“I didn’t have your number,” explained Lucas, “We need to talk about last night. You’re the only one whose address I knew.”
Eyes were peeking out from behind curtains. Ariana saw them. “Seriously?” she grabbed Lucas’s arm and pulled him off the porch. “Sorry, my family is everywhere.” She walked them away from the house.
Lucas asked, “Do you want to meet John, the guy with the sword?”
“I guess…” Ariana decided with a deep breath. “Yes. If he can tell me what’s going on without an earthquake happening.”
Lucas pointed back to the house, “Okay. Do you need to tell your family?”
Ariana yelled, “I’m going walking for a while!”
Her mom Josie popped out the door, “Okay mija, just keep your cell phone on.” Josie smiled at Lucas, but he also detected a clear warning in her eyes.
Ariana and Lucas left to meet John. They walked to the old TV repair shop, furiously talking about what had happened the night before. Pete let them in, and led them to the convalescing John in the basement.