Catalyst (Connectivity Book 2)

by Whitney Cannon

  Catalyst

  Copyright © 2018 by Whitney Cannon

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

  No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or in any means – by electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise – without prior written permission, except in the case of the brief quotations embodied in the critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. Please purchase only authorized electronic or print editions and do not participate in or encourage the electronic piracy of copyrighted material. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.

  Published by Whitney Cannon

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

  All products and/or brand names mentioned are registered trademarks of their respective holders/companies.

  First Edition, December 2018

  -Table of Contents-

  -I-

  -II-

  -III-

  -IV-

  -V-

  -VI-

  -VII-

  -VIII-

  -IX-

  -X-

  -XI-

  -XII-

  -XIII-

  -XIV-

  -XV-

  -XVI-

  -About the Author-

  -More Books by Whitney Cannon-

  -I-

  “Hey, Mama,” Travis said as he walked in the door.

  “Hey, baby. How was work?” his mom asked as she stirred a large pot of something delicious smelling on the stove. Travis walked over and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

  “It was alright. I talked to Steve about getting more hours since I’ve graduated. He said he’d look at the schedule to see what he could do.” His mom gave him a look while he grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge. “What? I’m perfectly capable of working more hours now, and since I’m going to be staying here this fall, I’m going to need to start paying my own way. You guys don’t need to do it all anymore. I’ll figure out how to work and take classes that will fit around my schedule. It’ll be fine, Mama.”

  His mother didn’t seem convinced based on the look she still held, but she didn’t say anything more on the subject.

  “Where are the kids?” he asked, thinking the house seemed far too quiet.

  “It’s only Nina and Matthew left. They’re in back with Jasmine. You want cornbread with the chili tonight?” she asked, grabbing a bowl from the cupboard.

  Travis smiled at her. “You know you don’t need to ask. I always love cornbread with chili. You want me to stay and help?”

  She was already shooing him out with a dish towel. “You know I don't need your help and I know you want to go see those kids.” She laughed at his sheepish grin. “I know my baby. Get on out there. Say hi to your daddy on the way, he’s in his office.”

  “Thanks, Mama,” he said, heading down the hallway. Of course his dad was in the office. If he wasn’t in the kitchen with his mother, there was only one other place he would be.

  His dad’s office was located in the center of their house. They’d done a pretty heavy remodel when his parents bought the place to make sure his dad and mom were able to move around easily without feeling any effects of their Connectivity. The centrally located workspace for his dad allowed his mom to access the kitchen and nursery, while still working herself.

  Travis’s parents had found their Connection when his mom had been thirty and his dad twenty-seven.

  His mother had been an early childhood teacher and worked at a daycare since they gave her reduced tuition for his brother, who had been four at the time. His mother had been single and needed all the help she could get raising and affording things on her own with Ruben. She’d gone to school for a couple of semesters to earn her teaching degree but had to leave due to family issues. So she’d moved back home to help her aging parents and she’d never gone back to school.

  His dad had been working as a radiologist after slowly accumulating several different certificates of various kinds in the health field. Travis’s grandparents hadn’t had a lot of money and his dad had needed to pay his own way, but he’d still wanted to be around the medical field in hopes of finding his Complement. He’d taken night classes and started working as a receptionist at the hospital almost out of high school, and at twenty-seven, when he’d found Beverly, Travis’s mom, he was still young enough to leave and start a new career with her from home.

  Together, his parents had gone through the certification and permitting process to start an in-home daycare, and his dad had been able to pursue his love for writing. They were both able to work from home and had developed a love for children with special needs.

  Travis stopped at a large wooden door and knocked. When he heard a muffled reply he pushed the door open and stepped in to greet the smiling face of his father.

  “Hey, Trav. Done for the day?” his father asked, looking up from his computer.

  “Yup. Steve said he’s going to look into getting me some more hours now that school’s out.”

  “That’ll be good. Something to keep you busy for the summer.” His dad stretched his back and stood from his desk chair. “You headed back to see the kids?”

  Travis nodded, a smile forming on his face. “Wanna come?”

  “Of course. Let me check in with your mom and let her know I’m heading back. Meet you in a few.” He patted Travis on the shoulder and they left the room separately.

  Passing the bathroom and his and Olivia’s bedrooms, he turned the corner and stopped outside the nursery door. He could hear giggling, clapping, and the sound of blocks tumbling down. He smiled.

  The top of the dutch door was closed slightly, but he pushed it open to see who was causing the commotion. Olivia, his younger sister, was picking up blocks from the floor and restacking them on the small blue table in the corner, while Matthew, one of the kids they watched in their daycare, clapped his hands in delight. Jasmine, his older sister, knelt behind him, supporting him in case the clapping caused his crutches to give way. Being only four years old with Cerebral Palsy, Matthew was still figuring out how to navigate his world on two feet and with crutches.

  The motion of the door moving must have caught Olivia’s eye because she squealed and abruptly left her task to come greet him, as he pushed the door open and entered the room.

  The large space had been converted years ago into what they called the nursery, but was really just a great room, for his mother’s daycare. The walls were brightly painted with murals done by Travis’s younger brother, where two walls featured a desert scene and the other two walls were claimed by the sea. After they’d realized Edgar’s artistic talents, their parents helped him plan out the murals for the space and his mother had coordinated some new decor items to match the new themes.

  Along one wall were cupboards and cabinets and a counter with a sink and drinking fountain. There was a small bathroom in the corner, and just like everything else in the house, it was wheelchair accessible. The rest of the room was laid out with typical childhood amusements, with the exception being that everything was geared toward special needs children.

  Olivia came over and wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug which he gladly returned and proceeded to turn into a tickle session. Olivia giggled and attempted to tickle him back.

  “Oh, no,” he said, feigning surprise. “She’s attacking me. Somebody help.” He tried to break free and ended up falling to the floor. Olivia hollered with joy, and Matthew laughed as well, as he approached the activity. Jasmi
ne smiled at him as he looked up from the floor.

  Sneaking a peek over toward the window seat, he noticed Nina had her eyes focused on the floor near them, and even though she wasn’t smiling, she wasn’t humming either. Travis considered their little giggling party a win and with one last effort, he gasped out a gurgled breath and died, right there on the floor.

  Matthew hooted his approval and wiggled his little body in excitement. Olivia clapped and cheered while Jasmine just shook her head and smiled.

  “No wonder all the kids like you best, Trav. How am I supposed to compete if you put on such a dramatic performance every time you come home?” Jasmine pouted with a smile on her face.

  “Sorry, Jazzy. I can’t help it if everyone likes me best. I’m just more fun than you are, I guess. You’re getting so serious in your old age,” he teased. The kids laughed at his grumpy old man voice as he sat up on the floor then reached out to pretend to tickle Matthew, who giggled and wobbled a bit on his crutches.

  Jasmine reached out quickly to steady him and shot Travis an accusatory look.

  “Sorry, Jazz. Too much, I know. Just trying to have some fun.” Standing up fully he hugged Olivia once more, and she scampered off to play. After ruffling Matthew’s hair as well, he watched the boy grin and turn to follow his sister. “How’s Nina today?” he asked Jasmine as they both looked over at the quiet child who sat staring out the window.

  “She’s good. She had a quiet day and only needed the blanket once.”

  Travis nodded. Nina was seven and autistic and didn’t like changes in her routine or the people she interacted with. Having Jasmine around again, since she was off for summer break from college, had upset Nina for almost a week. Travis was glad to see she was calming down and becoming more comfortable with his sister.

  “That’s really good to hear. I know it’s hard for her to accept new people, but maybe she remembers you a little bit from before you left.”

  Jasmine nodded in agreement and headed over to put the blocks back in their bin.

  His mom and dad both came in then, and his mom went right over to Nina, slowly explaining that it was time to start getting her ready to head home for the night. Depending on the day she’d had, Nina would either continue to stare out the window or without looking at anyone, would quietly comply and begin the process without extra help. Today looked like a good day as Nina looked over his mom’s shoulder and nodded along with what she was saying.

  Clapping him on the shoulder, his dad nicked his chin toward the door. “Why don’t you go say hi to Edgar. I’ll help wrap things up in here. Matthew should be headed home any minute as well and I know Edgar would be glad to see you. He has something he wants you to see.”

  “Yeah?” Travis questioned. “More eyes this time or something new?”

  “I’m not going to spoil it for him by giving away any hints. You go see what he’s up to,” his dad said.

  Travis grinned and nodded his head. His brother was always drawing or painting something. Lately, he’d been fascinated with drawing eyes. Human eyes, animal eyes, even some zombie eyes had been thrown in the mix.

  “I’ll see you tomorrow, Matthew. Bye, Nina,” he called out with a wave as he backed out of the room. Nina turned her head his direction and Matthew grunted out a happy sound, lifting one hand to wave quickly before replacing it on his crutch.

  Down the hall, Travis stopped outside Edgar’s room. The door was cracked open but Travis went ahead and pushed the door notification button to let his brother know he was there.

  Edgar had only been living with them for a little over a year and a half, but he’d come such a long way in that short amount of time. Edgar had been born deaf due to some illness his birth mother had passed on to him while she’d been pregnant. He’d been neglected for years, and finally, when he was four, he’d been taken from his mother and put into foster care. Unfortunately, he’d been passed around for years to people with the best of intentions to help him cope with his disability, but he’d never been as happy as he’d been since joining Travis’s family when they’d agreed to adopt him.

  Travis’s parents had each had a basic knowledge of sign language acquired over the years from other children they’d cared for, and when they’d considered adopting Edgar, they’d signed the whole family up for ASL classes so they’d all be able to communicate with him better and help him with his own acclimation to family life.

  In the nineteen or so months that Edgar had been living with them, he’d definitely grown into his own.

  Through the cracked door, Travis could see light flashing, indicating to his brother that someone was knocking. Some shuffling sounded from inside the room and a moment later the door opened.

  “Hey, Brother,” Travis signed using his two hands to make the sign for brother, and he smiled pulling Edgar into a hug. “How are you?”

  “Fine.” Edgar smiled. “Done with work?”

  Travis nodded. “What’s up? Dad said you wanted to show me something.”

  Edgar nodded and motioned him into the room. Travis followed and watched as Edgar picked up a large, stiff piece of paper and turned it over, handing it to him. Looking down, Travis was stunned to see two faces he recognized staring back at him. Josh and Cory’s smiling faces looked up at him from the page and Travis looked up at his brother.

  “For your friends.” He indicated to the drawing.

  Setting the drawing down, Travis asked, “Why? How?”

  “A gift for their wedding.”

  Travis smiled a huge smile and pulled his brother into a tight hug. “Thank you, Edgar. This is amazing. They’re going to love it.”

  “You’re welcome.” Edgar smiled in a bashful way, not really liking much attention placed on himself.

  Josh and Cory were two of Travis’s friends, who’d recently gotten engaged and were set to be married in two days. Travis had been friends with Cory for years through school and baseball. But Cory had recently found out that he was a Connective Complement to Josh, and they’d become engaged only weeks after finding one another.

  Travis had formed a pretty tight bond with the couple, and they’d since asked him to be Cory’s best man at their wedding.

  He still marveled at the fact that Josh and Cory were a Connective couple. He hadn’t out-right asked for details of how their Connection had happened or really even blatantly said anything about it. He’d only dropped the occasional hint that he knew what was up and that their secret was safe with him. But their meeting seemed seriously fated to him.

  Travis, and Josh, apparently, both shared the Connectivity gene that was passed down through individual family bloodlines. It was sort of like a rare gene for soulmates. As the one born with the gene, you would be called the Catalyst and your soulmate, the person you would spend your life searching for, would be called the Complement. Being part of a Connective couple was like the absolute epitome of couple goals. Your partner was literally chosen for you by fate and designed perfectly to complement you in the best possible way.

  The one major drawback to being a Connective couple, if you even thought of it that way, was that you could, literally, never be apart from each other. If the Catalyst were ever to get too far away, physically, from the Complement, the Complement would lose consciousness and remain unconscious until the Catalyst returned to within their Connective threshold. That was the acceptable space range or physical distance you could be from your partner. Travis’s parents had only been able to be about forty feet apart during their bonding period before his mother would fall asleep and his father would suffer physically debilitating anxiety and discomfort. Of course, the Connective threshold doubled after the initial bonding period of a few months, but still, it didn’t leave too much wiggle room for a newly Connected couple.

  All that being said, however, should you ever be lucky enough to find the Connection that fate had chosen for you, you would value that Connection above all else. There would be no other person that would ever suit you quite as perfectly
as your Connective Counterpart. They were, quite simply, the other half of your soul.

  The precursor to any Connective pairing, the thing that would trigger the Connection, however, unfortunately affected the Complement. If there ever came a time that the Complement might become injured or rendered unconscious, they would, quite simply, never wake up again until their Catalyst found them.

  Travis had heard stories of Complements being taken off life support measures, or if family members thought their loved one would never wake up again, they would choose to donate that person’s useful organs to people waiting on transplant lists, all without ever realizing their loved one simply needed their Catalyst to wake them up.

  What Travis knew about Cory and Josh’s situation was that Cory had been knocked out during one of their baseball games and had been hospitalized for a few days. Next thing anyone knew, he was toting around a new boyfriend. Travis hadn’t thought much of it upon first hearing about Cory and Josh, but then the pair showed up at his store looking for a used dresser for Josh. Fast forward a couple weeks and Travis recognized almost immediately what had been happening to the pair when they’d unwillingly been separated at their school’s senior prom. Of all the stories his parents had ever shared about Connective couples becoming separated from each other, Travis had never thought he’d stumble upon a couple going through an isolation episode, let alone two of his good friends, at his prom.

  He’d done his best during those moments to help the pair reconnect and he’d made sure they were undisturbed, standing a safe distance away so as not to intrude on the couples private and most intimate reunification, but he’d also needed to make sure the man responsible for separating them, Cory’s best friend and their baseball team captain, had been dealt with.

  Over the years, Travis had heard some rather unpleasant stories about purposeful separation and forced isolation of Connective couples from people who had found out about a Connective pairing that didn’t suit their desires. Travis was sure what had happened to Josh and Cory had only been an accident, but he’d needed to make sure they were safe and undisturbed, nonetheless.