Sleight

by Tom Twitchel

  Who would do that, and why? “And that was it? They just dropped you off? No contact since?”

  The tears and the rubbing had smeared away most of her mascara. She looked even more like her old self. Her chin trembled a bit and her mouth twisted. “No. Kayla said that I was out of it when I showed up at her house. It wasn’t until I’d been there a few days that I felt anywhere close to normal. I guess I was lucky her parents were out of town. That would have been a huge mess.”

  Reaching out a hand I stroked her shoulder. “You need to meet someone. He’s a friend of the man that owns this shop. He knows a lot about what you and I are going through, but there’s something you need to do first.” I held back telling her more because if she was having a hard time swallowing what she had already heard and seen I was positive that the big picture Kenwoode had shared with me would tip her over.

  Placing her hand over mine she nodded. “Get in touch with my parents.” As overwhelmed as she obviously was, she was still the highly intelligent girl I knew from school.

  “Yeah, but I have a confession to make.” I took my hand away and drew in a deep breath. “I did something dumb with two thugs who were chasing me. I let them follow me. They were the ones that took you and me.”

  Still looking numb she nodded. “Yeah?”

  “I screwed up and what I was trying to do didn’t work. They’re still out there. And the worst part is that a detective showed up that had been investigating our kidnapping.” I was having trouble spitting it out. I wasn’t sure how she would react.

  Uh, huh,” she said, looking down at her hands.

  I rolled my chair closer to her. “Look, I messed up. I don’t want you to be mad at me.” She lifted her head. “I told him you were back. He was going over to Kayla’s to see for himself.”

  Narrowing her eyes and tilting her head to one side, she asked, “Why would you do that?”

  Sighing I said, “Part of it because I was worried about you, but mostly because if it came out later that I’d known you were back and didn’t tell anyone I’d be in hot water. Your parents, especially your mom, have been pushing hard on the theory that I was involved in your disappearance. When they found me I wasn’t tied to a chair anymore, you were gone and I was the last person to see you.”

  She frowned. “My mother—I should be mad at you.” She shivered. “But I can’t be. I know how she is. I guess I need to warn Kayla though so she doesn’t get into trouble.”

  “I don’t think that’s going to be a big deal once you tell your story.” A thought occurred to me. “You’d said that you were trying to figure out what to tell your parents. Why would you tell them anything different than what you just told me?”

  A tired smile played over her lips. “Really? With everything you know about my mother you have to ask? How do you see that going? She’s going to want all of the Seattle Tacoma area turned upside down looking for that clinic. It would be a circus and I’d be right in the middle of it. I was trying to figure out how I could stay with Kayla’s family for a while.”

  I groaned. “And my caving in with the police pooched that for you.”

  “Yeah, you’re going to owe me.” She leaned forward and kissed my cheek. I felt my face flush. Her affectionate behavior was unsettling but I couldn’t bring myself to tell her to stop.

  “Justine, I’m so sorry that I’ve been reacting the way I have. My history with Sonja, the crap at school, you showing up unexpectedly, I let it all spook me. I should have been a better friend from the start.”

  She gave me a small smile. “I forgive you. So what does this thing you say I have mean?”

  That was the question, but I didn’t have an answer. The clinic, and whatever they’d done to her there might have triggered her knack, but it didn’t explain her new image and edgy attitude. Or did it? “I don’t really know, but Kenwoode, that’s the guy I was talking about, he implied that it didn’t have to be a bad thing. I think maybe Sonja turned the way she did because of who she was or the fact that she didn’t have anyone to explain to her what was happening.”

  “Well, that’s something I guess.” She looked at me, one eyebrow arched. “What else can you do?”

  I held back. “That’s it. Illusion, telekinesis.”

  “So that guy that got up in your face at The Cup, he totally knew what he was talking about. ‘masked boy magician’ or something, right?”

  “Yeah, he recognized me.”

  “And when you pushed him away from you, that was your...thing...your knack? You’re amazing. How have you stayed out of social media and the news?”

  I shrugged. “The mask for one. No phone videos allowed when I do my thing. No advertising, no social media page. I just don’t want the attention. It’s a hobby, not me trying to be famous.”

  “That’s up to you I guess. It seems like it would be fun though. You could be on TV and make bank,” she said.

  “No, I don’t want that. Too many people trying to own me.” Not to mention Dennis tracking me down.

  The bell at the front of the store jangled. I looked through the two-way mirror that gave a clear view of the front door, and saw Kenwoode walk into the shop.

  Justine looked at me. “Company?”

  “It’s the guy I told you about. Kenwoode. You up for this?” I asked, standing up.

  She stood up too, and arched her back. “Yeah, but I need to text Kayla first.”

  NINETEEN: HURRY UP AND WAIT

  A FEW HOURS LATER I was back in my own apartment, getting cleaned up and ready for bed.

  Kenwoode had been caught off guard by Justine’s presence but he had smoothly shifted gears and adapted. We had all made the trip upstairs and had headed to the library to talk. It had been funny to watch Justine’s reaction to Mr. Goodturn’s home. I’d caught her gawking with her mouth open more than once. Breno had poked his head into the library while we were talking. He’d bobbed his head shyly, glancing at Justine, and then gone off down the hall to his bedroom.

  Kenwoode had listened quietly while we took turns filling him in. He frowned at me when I told him about trying to lure Tank and Dell into a trap. There was no doubt that I was going to have to answer to him on that later. When Justine had shared her experience at the mysterious clinic he had just nodded. After we finished he assured Justine that he would try to help her but that it would have to wait until he had a little more information from an associate. He had warned her about discussing her knack with her parents to which Justine had nodded, winking at me. There was no way she would disclose any of the details to her mother.

  She’d borrowed Kayla’s car so she had her own way back. While we were riding the elevator down I suggested making a phone call to Danton. He had probably been ticked off that she hadn’t been at the Greenberg’s when he’d headed there earlier. I convinced Justine that calling him and giving him the opportunity to take credit for finding her would take some heat off of Kayla. And it would put her and me in his good graces. She agreed with no argument and called him. Watching her while she was talking with him was both amusing and nerve wracking but in the end he agreed to meet her at her folk’s house. I walked her to the car and she gave me a long hug. I was feeling better about things in general, especially my relationship with her, as I headed back up to Mr. Goodturn’s apartment suite.

  I had the weekend to get my act together before returning to school. That would have to include an email from my mother to the admin secretary letting the staff know that I’d be back on Monday morning. It’s complicated when you not only have to take care of your own stuff, but cover all of the parental business too. While making money was still important, it was less pressing than normal because I wasn’t paying rent. At least I didn’t have to worry about performing in the park on top of everything else.

  In addition to getting my schoolwork in order, I would have to plan the details of corralling Baffle, helping out Trey and putting the finishing touches on my academic plan. Then there was the little matter of protecting
myself from Sonja’s hunters, and finding out where she was hiding. It had sounded like she might be living right out in the open, under an alias. I’d lived in fear of her for a long time and I had decided when I’d stumbled upon Dell and Tank that I was going to go on the offensive. Her knack was lethal and not to be considered lightly, but she was still just a person. I’d managed to escape from, or avoid her, a handful of times. It seemed smarter to turn the tables and look for her instead.

  After a shower I spent some time doing the research Kenwoode had suggested. What I found online was actually scary. There were photos of oil paintings that had been created during the renaissance period that looked exactly like Mr. Goodturn, only younger. The resemblance was too close to be coincidental. It meant that he was at least four hundred and fifty years old. I was stunned. Why would he keep that a secret from me? Then again, I had kept a few secrets to myself and they weren’t nearly as insane as being older than the United States. I decided to do more research, and get some help from another source, rather than ask Kenwoode anymore questions along those lines.

  I was going to have to start making my own luck. I was getting ready to call it a night, but before I hit the bed I decided to text Justine to see if she was alright.

  u okay?

  It took a few minutes for her to respond.

  Y. PLOMS

  Parents-looking-over-my-shoulder. I kept my response brief.

  have ur back

  A two second delay, then:

  TY

  With her parents watching her there wasn’t an opportunity to discuss much other than making sure she was okay. My number was blocked so her mom wouldn’t have been able to tell who was texting her. I couldn’t imagine the hell she was going through with her mother dogging her ev ery moment. There had been a time when I would have been wistful, envying the love and overprotected-ness of parents; but I’d become accustomed to not having to answer to anyone and wouldn’t give it up willingly. I hadn’t thought of my little brother Billy much since Mr. Goodturn had been hurt, and my father even less. When I did think about Dennis it created a twisting knot of worry in my gut. There was going to come a time when I would have to go back and figure out my family issues.

  When they did enter my thoughts it always led to thinking about my mother. Not the fictional mother that I had created in my Seattle life, the flesh and blood, loving but flawed woman that had raised me. I wondered for the thousandth time why she had left without me and Billy. And I could never come up with a good answer. She’d managed to save herself, leaving me and Billy adrift. Why she had asked my dad to take us to Aunt Barbara instead of doing it herself had never made sense to me. Leaving it in a note had been even more confusing. Why do we make the choices we do?

  While I was torturing myself with that thought my phone trembled.

  u awake?

  yes

  thanks for checking on me my parents were like right on top of me when you texted

  just wanted to make sure you were okay hard day for you

  yeah but you made it better I’m looking forward to Mr K helping me will you be there with me?

  if you want me to and if okay with him

  thanks

  get some rest tomorrow might be rough I hope your parents let you breathe

  OMG. Yes!

  night

  bye and thanks for being there for me

  That exchange lifted my spirits in a way that I hadn’t experienced in a long time. It was just a few weeks before Christmas and I’d been feeling definitely un-Christmassy because of all my issues. It felt like things were starting to break my way. My phone jittered again.

  Guess who! I told u I’d come visit as soon as I could! We’re driving up next week! Better clear ur schedule cuz ur all mine!

  Maddy.

  Oh geez.

  TWENTY: TIMING

  THE NEXT MORNING I woke feeling anxious and didn’t know why.

  Then I remembered Maddy’s text.

  And then I remembered why.

  Missing her had been killing me and having her coming back for a visit should have been the best news I could have received.

  It’s all about timing.

  If she was in town I was going to be juggling time between hanging out with her and trying to help Justine. I had a bunch of other stuff going on, none of which I wanted Maddy in the middle of because a) I didn’t want her to get hurt and b) her parents already had me and the craziness in my life on their parental radar. Plus, and this was the biggest issue, Maddy and Justine didn’t like each other.

  I had Saturday and Sunday to ‘get my ducks in a row’ (thank you mom for that helpful hint) before I had to worry about Justine, and maybe longer because I couldn’t see her parents letting her go back to school right away. Maddy and her folks were rolling into town on Thursday and had invited me over for dinner.

  Great, except that it wouldn’t be if my personal house of cards came tumbling down.

  Before Maddy had left town I’d opened up to her about everything. She’d been super mad about my ‘protecting’ her from Baffle’s bomb threat. She was going to be more than irritated that I’d been screwing with Dell and Tank. Explaining about Justine and what that was all about would go over like the proverbial lead balloon. I decided I could put off worrying about that for at least a day.

  So instead I started worrying about Sonja. I had a pretty good idea what area of town she was living in. My problem was that the cops might too. I didn’t want to run into them while I was playing detective. I had one advantage. While they had a description of Sonja, I knew exactly what she looked like.

  Last year I’d been squeamish about Mr. Goodturn doing something permanent to her. I didn’t have any such qualms now. She’d screwed him up, and almost killed me and Breno. God only knew what she had done to Justine. I was more and more convinced that she had been the one who had snagged Justine and possibly done something to her that had caused her knack to manifest. It might be only a matter of time before she tried to use Justine in some way.

  Probably, possibly, might and maybe.

  It was all guessing, but I had more knowledge about who and what she was than the police did and I thought I was the only one, beside Kenwoode, who might be able to do anything about her.

  I had to come up with a way to take her out and make sure that it would prevent her from trying to hurt anyone ever again. I was wrestling with that thought when someone started banging on the door to my room. That could only be one of two people.

  Opening the door I greeted Kenwoode, curious as to what would pry him away from the library. “Mr. Kenwoode? Is everything all right?”

  He’d been waiting in the hall with his hands clasped behind his back. Even at this early hour he was dressed in a suit. Stepping over the threshold he nodded at me and waited until I closed the door. For a dramatic touch I closed it with my knack. His expression didn’t change. Not impressed I guess.

  “Good morning Benjamin.” He stood quietly, his eyes travelling over the interior of the bedroom. An eyebrow arched in what I took as a surprised note of respect that the place didn’t look like a teenager was sleeping there.

  “Good morning. What’s up?”

  Cocking his head to one side he raised his eyebrows. He walked over to a straight-backed chair tucked into a corner by the windows.

  Once he’d seated himself I took a seat on the bed. I had a pretty good idea as to why he had come looking for me.

  “Benjamin, I think we need to speak very directly about the risks you took yesterday,” he said, backlit by the early morning sunlight coming in through the window behind him.

  Bingo. “Yeah. It didn’t work out, but no harm no foul. Right?”

  Lifting his chin he stared hard at me with his ice blue eyes. “No. That is not right. That is the mind of a very young man not giving enough consideration to the distinct possibility that events could have unfolded much differently.”

  Getting confronted this way didn’t feel good and I
frowned too. “I don’t remember asking your permission.”

  “That is also the response of the immature mind,” He grated, matching my intensity.

  “You want to be my guardian now? You’ve been here for almost a month and this is the first time you’ve shown any interest. What gives you the right—”

  “I will not banter back and forth in an emotional tug of war. You sought out my help for your friend Justine. You have come to me seeking answers about your attributes. There is a cost. My support for you is conditional. I insist that you comport yourself in a manner that does not compromise my position or interests.”

  That took the wind out of my sails but it didn’t put out the fire I was feeling inside. I tried to take control of my mouth.

  “I’ll apologize for what I just said, but not for what I did yesterday. Those two clowns were a threat to me and Breno and even though it didn’t work out the way I wanted, I think I handled it pretty well.”

  His jaw muscles flexed. “Not acceptable. Yes, the end result wasn’t a negative. Your resourcefulness, something I respect about you, was impressive but there were a number of variables that you allowed to be uncontrolled.”

  Being verbally spanked and complimented in the same breath didn’t appeal to me. It left me feeling off balance. “What? Would you have helped me if I’d asked?”

  “Yes.”

  Not anywhere close to what I thought he was going to say. “You would?”

  “Do you require me to say it twice to give it validity?” He asked tersely. “I think not. I’m not Harald. I’ve lived a normal life span and don’t have his capacity for patience. I explained to you how important he is and how important you might be. You already know the sacrifices that have to be made to live the way you do.” He noted my look of surprise. “Oh come now. You can’t think that your charade would stand up to close scrutiny. No. You know more than most your age. You can do more than anyone your age, anyone that I am aware of. You have to accept Benjamin, that being able to command the differences that you possess demands more than the self-indulgent life of a child. You are more important than these four walls. And you can positively impact and protect thousands of others.”