by W A Rowland
Liam furrowed his brow again. “Mr. Cork? He’s the only one except for the security guard who saw me in Jacob’s office. And he saw which drawer I had open…” Liam’s thoughts trailed off and he immediately looked for Rich and Kat. He saw them sitting on the remarkably unbroken barstools in the kitchen and walked over.
“Guys, was Mr. Cork acting unusual today?” He said in a conspiratorial tone, intentionally waiting for the cops to be on the other side of the room where he couldn’t be overheard. The last thing he needed was the police going and saying he’d implicated his old boss in the break-in.
“No more than his usual cheery demeanor,” Rich said. “Why?”
Liam paused and considered. He couldn’t tell them about the stone. Not yet at least, but he needed an out now that he’d planted the idea. “I was just wondering if I may have a chance of getting my job back. Kind of hoping he was just having a bad day today. I am going to need the money after all of this especially,” Liam said.
A STROLL THROUGH THE PARK
After a couple hours of gathering evidence and information from Liam and his friends, the police finally packed up their gear and left a business card in case Liam needed to get in touch with them. Liam, Kat, and Rich sat on the floor up against the fridge, as the cushions on his couch had been de-cushioned.
“So, what are you gonna do, man?” Rich asked. “Not like you can stay here. No bed, no couch.”
“No money for a hotel either,” Liam added.
“What if you stay on Rich’s couch?” Kat suggested.
“I wouldn’t want to put him out,” Liam responded.
“Besides, I already have someone sleeping on my couch,” Rich said.
“Who?” Liam asked.
“Me,” Rich answered bluntly.
“Rich, why are you sleeping on your couch?” Kat asked suspiciously.
“Beeeecause I don’t have a bed currently,” Rich said evasively.
“And why don’t you have a bed?” Liam said, curious now as well due to Rich’s evasive answers. New girlfriend maybe?
“I may have fallen asleep while eating dinner in bed a few nights ago….” Rich waffled.
“And?” Kat pushed. Liam stifled a laugh, seeing where this was going.
“And spilled a beer and a large bowl of clam chowder all over the bed,” Rich admitted.
“Soooo. Why not change the sheets?” Liam asked. Still holding back his laughter.
“I may have not noticed it till I woke up the next morning.” Rich winced.
“That’s why you smelled like fish on Wednesday!” Kat announced proudly, starting to laugh uproariously. Liam joined Kat in laughing at their friend’s predicament.
“Yeah Yeah, haha. Very funny guys. But have you ever tried to sleep in a bed that smells like spoiled seafood! Besides, what’s wrong with your couch, Kat?! Why can’t he sleep there?” Rich prodded, desperate to move the conversation away from his own shenanigans.
Kat continued to laugh for a few more seconds, tears glistening on her cheeks. “Ohh, he’s welcome to sleep at my place, except I don’t have a couch,” she said.
“Wait… you what?” Rich piqued.
“I told you last week, I got rid of the couch and got floor cushions. You know, like in those fancy Japanese restaurants,” Kat said in an annoyed tone at him obviously not having paid attention to her.
Rich bit his lip for minute, now with his own suspicions. “Why?”
Kat hummed to herself for a moment. “Probably because my ex bought that couch and I always hated it. Also, cushions are better for your posture,” she added as nonchalantly as if she was ordering coffee.
Liam finished chuckling at the exchange. They were definitely a sorry bunch, baggage and quirks and all. “It’s ok, guys, really. I’ll figure something out, but I would be grateful for somewhere with a locking door to take a shower at least.”
“It’s not like the locks here ever worked anyway,” Kat added while looking at Rich.
Rich looked away pointedly examining something on the kitchen floor.
“You broke your shower too?” Kat said deadpan.
“umm...”
“Do we even want to know?” Liam asked.
“No, you really don’t,” Rich responded dejectedly.
“Fine, Liam, grab what you need, you can use my shower tonight,” Kat added with a chuckle. “And this weekend, we’re cleaning up your freaking apartment ya slob!” she said, playfully slapping Rich’s shoulder.
Liam smelled citrus and mint as he entered Kat’s apartment. Along with being a bit of a health nut, he knew she had also gotten into a lot of the herbal aromatherapy fads and the like since her ex left. As he set his bag down in the living room, he couldn’t help but be a bit jealous of how well appointed her apartment was. Were we making the same amount?
Lily popped into his head. “Yeah, she just doesn’t spend all her money on frivolities.”
“Frivolities? Like what? Food and water?” Liam made sure to respond internally rather than freak out Kat who had walked into the kitchen of her apartment.
“No. Loans and bills… duh,” she replied.
“How do you know that?!” Liam said incredulously.
“You really don’t know how active your subconscious is when you’re talking to folks. I’ve been able to glean all sorts of stuff about your friends. Some of it apparently you don’t even remember hearing,” she said smugly. “Kat told you three weeks ago that she got through school entirely on scholarships and has a trust fund from her grandpa that pays her living expenses till she’s 25, then reverts to liquid assets that she gets. You friend is gonna be loaded in a couple of years.”
“Huh, I vaguely remember some of that now that you mention it,” Liam said, tilting his head a bit.
“You really should pay better attention to the people around you,” Lily said.
“Speaking of that, did you feel an energy draw when Kat hugged us earlier? My skin felt kinda tingly,” Liam asked.
“Are you sure that wasn’t just you being hugged by an attractive woman after a few weeks of zero intimate contact?” Lily quipped. “You thinking of putting a ring on it now that you know she’s gonna be rich?”
“Har har, and no. I can’t see Kat like that. She’s more like the older sister I never had. The energy felt like before with Sharon, the receptionist. Kind of like a buzz, and I suddenly had more energy. Just not nearly as extreme an effect.”
Lily pondered it for a moment. “I suppose you could have been drawing off of her aura a little bit. She was exuding a whole lot of emotion after all. Maybe you siphoned a little bit of it.”
“Isn’t that what we’re supposed to do though? Siphon auras and turn them into power?”
“More or less, yes, but you shouldn’t be able to siphon off of relief or joy. Not close enough to my scope of influence,” Lily replied.
“And just what is your scope of influence?” Liam prodded.
“I’m not really sure, but I know it isn’t joy or relief. Well, not specifically at least. Maybe something in Joy we react with?” Lily answered. “Human emotions are complicated, your minds jump from one thing to the next so quickly that it could even be a mix of things that we react with. “
“Great, still at step one.” Liam grumped.
“Not really. Whatever it was that Sharon was emitting reacted really well with us. It’s gotta be something within my area.”
Liam brought his awareness back to his body and noticed that he had, at some point, sat on a floor pillow and had been staring off into nothing as he conversed with Lily. He’d been so engrossed so much in their conversation that he didn’t hear when Kat entered the living room.
“Hey! Liam!” her fingers snapped in front of his nose.
He jumped briefly at the sudden motion in front of him. “Sorry. Zoned out there for a minute. What was that?”
“Do. You. Want. Tea?” Kat said slowly like she was talking to an exceptionally sluggish turtle.
“Oh. Yes, please,�
� Liam said.
“Great, the shower is through there, towels are in the closet, and tea will be done when you get out,” Kat said as she motioned towards a hallway.
Even though Liam had never been in Kat’s apartment before, he found the bathroom easily enough. Like the rest of the apartment, Liam smelled some kind of herbal-floral mixture in the bathroom that instantly made him relax a bit. His apartment had never smelled this good, even when Anna had been living there.
He started pulling one of his few remaining changes of clothing out of his bag after his quick shower, when his phone began to buzz. Answering, he was met with a familiar baritone.
“Liam, it’s Steven. Are you ok?”
“Steven, yeah, someone broke into my place and trashed it. Completely ruined everything I had,” Liam said. “How do you have my number?”
“Are you somewhere safe now?” Steven asked, ignoring the second question.
“I’m at a friend’s place,” Liam replied.
“Ok, this is bad, Liam. Very bad. You don’t have control over your powers yet, and you’ve got some bad folks after you. Listen, I need you to meet me by the city museum in two hours, on the side with the island. Can you do that?” Steven said, a little hurriedly.
“Should I bring anyt—”
Steven cut Liam off, “Just be there, okay? I’ve gotta go.” And then Steven hung up.
Liam sat down on the lidded toilet and stared at the wall for a while as he thought. It was extremely convenient that Steven had found him at the building. Like he’d been looking for him. And at just the same time that his apartment was getting broken into. And now he calls out of the blue with Liam never having given him his number and wants him to meet him in a fairly easy location for someone to disappear from.
“No matter how you swing it, he knows something he isn’t telling me. But if he’s after my core, why heal me up? Let me head back on my own?” Liam mused, the facts not adding up yet for Steven to be the one after him.
“Guess we should go find out,” Lily pointed out.
Kat knocked on the door then, as he and Lily came to a consensus.
“Are you almost done in there?” she said. “Your tea is getting cold.”
“Just a minute,” he said putting everything back in his bag and dressing quickly. He exited the bathroom back into the mint and citrus scented apartment. Outside in the living room area, Kat sat on her cushions in what he assumed were her pajamas, sipping tea from a cup that looked like it would break if Liam squeezed too hard, and reading something on her phone. She looked up and smiled at him as he walked into the room.
“Took you long enough. Leave me any hot water?” she asked jokingly, raising one eyebrow.
“Yeah, sorry. I got a call from the cops; they need me to come down to the station for some more questions. I need to go,” he said, not ready to tell her that he’d actually been called by a demigod and that some crazy people were apparently looking for him.
She’ll be safer if she doesn’t know. Right? he thought to himself.
“Would she believe you if you told her the truth?” Lily responded
“Probably not,” Liam concluded.
“…down to the precinct?” Kat was finishing saying when Liam zoned back into their conversation.
“Sorry, what?” he said quickly.
“Are you sure you’re ok, Liam? I mean, you just had a really bad day and you seem barely fazed by it. A little distracted sure, but hell, if I lost my job and had someone trash my apartment in one day, I’d be a sobbing wreck,” she pointed out.
I did lose my job today, didn’t I? Liam thought. And she doesn’t even know the half of it.
“You could always tell her. Do a little levitating to prove it. I bet she’d be impressed,” Lily said mischievously.
No, if things get worse, I don’t want her or Rich involved, Liam thought.
“See! You’re doing it again!” Kat said. “Every few minutes, you just zone out. Talk to me, Liam, you’ve obviously got a lot going on up there. It’s not really like you to faze like that,” she finished, looking concerned.
“Sorry, I’m not really up to talk about it yet. I appreciate it though, I really do. You and Rich, y’all are the best friends I’ve ever had. I promise, you’ll be the first ones I call when I can talk. Ok?” he said, trying to placate the mother-bear part of Kat’s personality.
“Fine, but if I find out you talked to Rich first, I’m putting hot sauce in your milk,” she said huffing, then gave an evil smile. “So, which precinct do you need to go to? I’ll drop you off.”
“Central, downtown apparently,” Liam said, calculating that the central precinct was just five blocks away from the city museum where he needed to meet Steven; he could walk the rest of the way.
“Let me grab my keys and we can head out then,” she said, getting up and walking into the other room.
They will be safer not knowing. They have to be, Liam thought
“Kay! Let’s go!” Kat said walking out the front door, still in her Pjs.
Liam smirked and followed.
* * *
Liam waited in a small park next to the city museum. Kat had dropped him off at the station and it had taken several minutes of convincing to keep her from staying and waiting for him. He was touched by his friend’s concern, but he didn’t want her getting involved. Street lamps lit the walkways and roads around him. There were very few people nearby and he felt exposed sitting by himself downtown. Mug me! kept playing inside of his head.
“Just relax, Liam. Steven will be here soon and he seemed to know what’s going on,” Lily said encouragingly.
“How can you know that?” Liam fussed.
“Call it a gut feeling, ok, I just know that we can trust Steven,” she responded.
“You don’t have a gut,” he said nervously.
Liam continued to sit, counting down the minutes till the appointed time. As he watched, several men and women began making their way through his section of the park. He sunk down into his bench and attempted to look unassuming. He thought he’d succeeded until one of the men stopped in front of him and looked down.
“Hey friend, got a light?”
Liam continued looking down at the pavement. “No, sorry,” Liam said.
“Too bad.”
A hand suddenly grabbed Liam by the throat and he felt himself being lifted bodily off of the ground. When he brought his eyes up, he was met with a black aura swirling around the man. The man’s expression was one of abject rage, and Liam could swear his eyes were turning to slits instead of circles. The man drew back one of his hands, and jaguar-like claws appeared from his fingers. Spotted fur covered the back of his hand and arm. Liam tried to scream, but his windpipe was cut off. He tried to reach for anything that he could use to break free, but nothing was in reach. The man now had both the hands and face of a jaguar, and seemed to be laughing.
“Any last words, little demigod?” he said, about to strike. Liam reached out with his mind and tried to grab the bench he’d been sitting on. He felt the tug of something on his consciousness and he yanked. And a small tree branch hit the jaguar’s face. The confused and annoyed look on the jaguar’s face was quickly replaced once again with rage as he started to bring his clawed hand forward.
He was mid-swing when a blur passed by, and suddenly there was no more hand. The creature holding Liam looked confused for a moment, and then his head was missing. Liam dropped to the ground, sputtering and coughing, his lungs finally able to bring in air again. The rest of the group, about eight in all it seemed, had transformed into various big cat forms, and were hissing and snarling at the unseen assailant. A big were-lion charged at Liam, but was intercepted by a shot from a high-powered rifle. Liam crawled backwards on his hands and feet, watching with fearful eyes as a second shot rang out and struck the were-lion in the head. The creature howled with pain and collapsed, silver veins bulging as it reverted to its human form.
Liam then heard a familiar voice
calling him from the street, “Liam! Over here! Run!” It was Steven. Liam picked himself up as best he could and started to run. The pack of were-creatures was temporarily distracted by their unseen attackers. Liam heard several more yowls and screeches as well as the thud of a silenced rifle as the fight continued, but he kept on running towards Steven.
Once he reached him, Steven pressed a silver barreled pistol into Liam’s hand and started to push him up the street. “Here, take this in case one of them catches up to you. Go north, I’ll follow in a second.” Liam looked up the street and then back to Steven, but the man was gone.
What the hell! Liam thought as he started to run.
“Don’t question it, you’ll only make yourself confused” Lily quipped unconcerned with their current predicament, and oddly inattentive to Liam’s resulting questions. Was she distracted? At a time like this?!
Liam ran along the road, concealing the pistol inside his jacket pocket as he went. He ran several blocks, and then came to a T-intersection. Where to now?! he thought furiously at Lily.
“Wait till Steven shows up,” she said confidently.
Liam looked back over his shoulder, and could just make out several angry looking people running along the road after him. “Nope, bad idea,” he said and ran right at the intersection. Liam ducked into a small alleyway and down some basement stairs. He crouched at the bottom and attempted to control his breathing. He heard footsteps running by the alley entrance then off in another direction. He breathed a sigh of relief, and then was promptly grabbed from behind by a set of hands coming out of the basement door.
Liam started to kick and struggle against the hands, grabbing ineffectually for the gun in his pocket. Then he heard Steven’s now familiar baritone voice. “Liam, hey, relax, it’s me.” Liam calmed and stopped trying to hit the person behind him. He turned and found Steven along with several other people. Next to the tall black man, he saw a short 15ish-year-old Caucasian girl with shoulder-length blonde hair, a big bald,Samoan man, who Liam would guess to be in his twenties, and a slim Asian man who might be around 18 or 19, wearing skinny jeans and a graphic t-shirt for a band Liam had never heard of before.