by Tim Sabados
“Lying is bad,” Aryssa agreed. “But still, the tooth fairy? Would you believe your friend if she told you that?”
Mackenzie shrugged. “Maybe.” She paused. “You never said that you weren’t.”
“Yeah, you never said that,” Zoe agreed. She held up the tooth. “You even have this.”
“But, I’m not…” The edges of Aryssa’s voice rippled with doubt. She hesitated. Whispered to herself as if something from her past exposed itself. “Could it be true? Am I really…?”
Zoe set the tooth on the table, but kept it pinched between her fingers. “If you give me the money now, I promise even more not to tell anyone.”
“Zoe!” Mackenzie yelled. “It’s not nice to ask for money.”
“Why not? She’s the tooth fairy and she has my tooth.”
“It doesn’t matter. It’s not polite. Mom would say the same thing, too.”
Zoe braced her elbows on the table. “How do you know what Mom would say?”
“Because I know.”
“Girls,” Aryssa intruded firmly. “Please, stop arguing.”
“See Zoe,” Mackenzie whispered accusingly. “Look what you did.”
“Me?” Zoe slid her arms off the table. “All I wanted was to put the money in this.” She plopped her fuzzy bear on the table. “You’re the one who had to make a big deal of it all.”
Something tingled deep inside Charlie. The faint electric-like current circled his spine and zipped into his extremities. Somehow the charge grew stronger. More powerful. Numbed the tips of his fingers. Could it be coming from that bear? He studied it. It was nothing more than a toy. Still, there was something about it. Something that snared his attention and made his body tingle. “Where’d you get that?”
“I bought it,” Zoe answered. “Mackenzie bought one too.”
Mackenzie set her fuzzy dog onto the table. “See.”
The current inside Charlie waned. In fact, his internal voltage meter practically read zero. What was it about the bear? “Your own money?”
“Yep,” Zoe answered proudly.
“Me too,” Mackenzie interjected.
“Where did you buy it?”
Zoe shrugged. “A gas station.”
Aryssa perked up. “Which gas station?
“I don’t know. A gas station,” Zoe said. “Mom needed to get gas.”
“I get that.” Aryssa moved toward the table. “What did it look like?”
“There were gas pumps,” Zoe answered.
“We went inside the building with Mom.” Mackenzie hugged her dog. “That’s when we saw the worker putting these on the shelf.”
“He wasn’t very happy,” Zoe informed.
“Not happy?” Charlie questioned.
“Yeah,” Mackenzie said. “More like bored. Like he didn’t want to be doing stuff.” She petted her toy. “He pulled this out of the box and handed it to me.”
“I got mine off the shelf,” Zoe stated.
Mackenzie scratched her dog’s ear. “He told Mom that she should put money in them for our college.”
Charlie leaned forward. “Why would he say that?”
Mackenzie blinked absently. The weight of bewilderment drooped her cheeks. “Because they’re banks.”
Zoe eyed Mackenzie. “And that’s why I wanted the money. So I can finally put some in it.”
Charlie slid his hands closer to the bear. The vibration in his fingers intensified. “Are you sure that there’s nothing inside it already?”
“Pretty sure.” Zoe shook the bear. “It’s a little heavier than Mackenzie’s.”
The tink of metal on metal was faint. Barely audible. The fragile sound was practically devoured by the apartment’s stagnant air. Charlie did his best to make his tone seem as friendly as possible. “Can I hold it?”
Zoe pulled the bear into her chest and protectively wrapped her arms around it. “How do I know that you’re not going to hurt it?”
“I won’t. I promise.” Charlie crisscrossed his finger over his heart.
“What is it, Charlie?” Aryssa asked curiously.
Charlie scratched his head. “I’m not sure. I…I just want to look at it.”
“It’s a fuzzy toy,” Aryssa said dismissively. “What could possibly be…?”
“I don’t know,” Charlie responded. “There…there might be something inside it.”
Aryssa tapped her chin as if debating how to respond. “It’s okay, honey. I trust him.”
Zoe clung to the bear. “You do?”
Aryssa nodded reassuringly. “I do. I promise he won’t hurt it.”
Zoe stared at the table, thinking about what she should do. She eventually nodded ever so slightly. Slowly pushed the bear toward Charlie.
Charlie gently grabbed it. The current was even more intense. It vibrated through his fingers, up his arms and sped along his nerves.
He turned the bear around. Spotted the slot on the top of its head. Charlie then flipped it upside-down, right side up and then back over again. He could feel a slight shift of something inside. Heard the faint but distinctive tink. Ran his fingers across the fuzz on the underside of the bear. Felt that tiny rubber notch buried beneath the fur. Was something really inside?
Charlie held the bear several inches above the table. Zoe and Mackenzie were clearly curious. So too was Aryssa who hovered over Charlie’s shoulder. He picked at the notch until it broke free.
Cloth-wrapped disks poured onto the table like coins falling out of a slot machine. Mackenzie gasped. Zoe’s mouth fell open.
“What the hell?” Aryssa spoke absentmindedly.
A jolt of shock caused Charlie’s heart to skip a beat. Could it be? He grabbed one of the circular objects and unfolded the cloth.
The coin shimmered in the apartment’s dull light. Charlie now understood why he had felt that sensation. He tossed the coin onto the pile of what he assumed were more wrapped coins. “I don’t believe it.”
16
The polished coin shackled Aryssa’s attention and left her mesmerized. She wanted to say something, anything, but somehow she couldn’t string together any of her fleeting thoughts.
Mackenzie broke the lengthy silence. “How’d you know those were in there?”
Zoe grabbed one of the coins and spread open the cloth. The twinkle in her eye brightened even more. “They’re so shiny.”
Aryssa grabbed one, too. “What are these, Charlie?”
Charlie leaned back in his chair and stared blankly at the pile. “They’re coins.”
“I can see that,” Aryssa stated the obvious. She peeled the cloth off the coin in her hand. Sucked in an awe-filled breath. “I’ve never seen anything like this.” A pause. “How’d you know?”
Charlie shrugged. “I just did.”
Aryssa flipped the coin over. It was noticeably thinner than a dime and nearly the size of a quarter. “What are they used for?”
“Payment.”
“Payment?” Aryssa asked.
“Yeah, payment.” Charlie ran his hand over his hair. “It’s how I get paid.”
Aryssa cocked her head. “To use your boat.”
“More for the ride.”
“People pay you with these?” Mackenzie questioned with curiosity. “They must be worth a lot of money.”
“Depends,” Charlie said. “Some more than others.”
Aryssa ran her finger over the strange markings on the coin. She held it up for Charlie to see. “What does that mean?”
Charlie squinted. “I have no idea. I think it’s part of the Phoenician alphabet or something.” He paused to watch Zoe unwrap another coin. “I do know that they’re very old.”
One the flip side of the coin Aryssa noticed the worn image of a female head. Her stoic stare made the coin look like something that belonged in a museum. “These have to be ancient.”
“Most likely ancient Greece.” Charlie reiterated.
“Really?” Mackenzie gasped. “We learned about that in school.” S
he studied the coin she held in her fingers. “This must be like super old.”
Were these things really ancient? “If people are giving these as payment, then where are they getting them from?” Aryssa gingerly held the coin. “It’s not like you can pop into any store and buy them.”
“No, you can’t,” Charlie responded. He looked down at the table as if he were trying to decide what he wanted to say next. “In all honesty, I don’t know how people get them.” He tapped his chin. “Maybe a pawn shop or a coin dealer. That’s how I get my money.”
“You sell these things?” Aryssa questioned.
“How else am I going to pay the rent, buy food or fix my boat?”
The warmth of embarrassment wafted off Aryssa’s skin. “You’ve got a point.” She tried to cool her body with a lengthy sigh. “I guess it’s hard to believe that people pay you with these strange-looking coins so they can go on a simple boat ride.”
Charlie folded his arms over his chest. “It’s something more than a simple sightseeing tour.”
Aryssa delicately ran her hand over Charlie’s shoulder. “Sorry. I’m not trying to downplay what you do. It’s just that they could pay you with, you know, regular money.” She motioned toward the pile on the table. “Instead of those. It would make things a whole lot easier.”
“It probably would,” Charlie agreed. “But it’s not how things are done.” He slouched in his chair. “This is what’s expected if I’m going to drop them off on the other side of the river. It’s always been, and as far as I know, will always be like that.”
“Drop them off?” Confusion clung to Aryssa’s tone. “You mean they don’t come back with you?”
“There’s no coming back once they get over there,” Charlie answered. “That’s how things work.”
Aryssa gazed at the coin. The strange markings. The face. The way the metal shimmered. There was something unique about it. She spun it in her fingers and they instantly grew warm. Tingled ever so slightly. A faint, nearly imperceptible, energy seemed buried deep within the metal object—an energy that spoke of those who had once possessed it. Energy that seemed to be fueled by a drop of their very soul.
It whispered of a long-forgotten history. Spoke about something so ancient that only a select few would understand. A secret shared by those who had been tasked to keep it, even though it had openly existed right under the nose of humanity. For a brief moment she closed her eyes to listen. There was a voice. Distant. Cryptic. Words filtered through its cobwebbed larynx, but she couldn’t make any sense of them. What was it saying?
Aryssa tried to connect the dots. Coins. Charlie’s boat. The river. People being dropped off on the other side, to never come back. She couldn’t pull any of it together. None of it made sense. The frigid chill of Death’s hand fingered its way up her spine. She shivered. What the hell was going on?
Mackenzie yawned. “I’m tired. Can I lie down?”
Slumber’s heaviness weighed on Zoe’s lids. “I am, too. Can I have my bear?”
“Of course,” Charlie answered in a tone filled with parental concern. He slid the animal across the table.
“It’s late for both of you,” Aryssa said. “Why don’t you go over to the couch.”
The two girls nodded their agreement.
Aryssa led them into the room off the kitchen. She fluffed one of the small pillows for Mackenzie and another for Zoe on the other side of the couch, then gave each of them one of the throws that were draped over the sofa. With their arms wrapped around their animal banks, they were both fast asleep within minutes.
Aryssa gazed longingly at Mackenzie and Zoe. A warm, maternal energy swirled outward from deep in her core. She desperately wanted to give each of them a hug, a kiss on the cheek, but instead held back. The girls weren’t hers. In fact, she barely knew them. Still, she had been tasked, whether by fate or accident, with their protection. There was no way she was going to let anything happen to them.
She shut off a nearby lamp and took a seat at the kitchen table. Charlie had his finger on one of the coins and absentmindedly slid it in a circle. “What are you thinking about?”
Charlie thrust the coin across the table and watched it crash into the pile. “Those.”
Aryssa sighed. She opened her mouth to say something about the coins, but hesitated. None of this made sense and it appeared to be bothering Charlie, too. She bit her lip with uncertainty. Did she dare explore this further? Before her mind could process a meaningful response, her tongue expressed its impatience. “I…” she paused, “I guess I don’t understand why people give you these. I mean, who are these people?”
Charlie shrugged. “I don’t know. It’s not like I talk to them.”
“Why not?” Aryssa cocked her head with doubt. “You’re with them for the duration of the ride. How could you not talk to them?”
“It’s not how things are done.” Charlie braced his elbows on the table. “I don’t ask their names and I really don’t want to know about their day. My only task is to drop them off on the other side of the river.”
“Where, though? Where do you drop them off?”
Charlie hesitated. His voice dropped several decibels, as if to express his reluctance to share the answer. “A cave.” He traced his finger over the table. “There’s an outlet tucked off the side of the river. Very easy to miss unless you know what you’re looking for. I follow it for nearly a mile, then I maneuver through this network of caves.”
“Caves?” Aryssa tapped her temple. “You drop them off in a cave?”
Charlie nodded his answer.
“Then what?” Aryssa paused. “I mean, what happens next?”
“They follow the dock that leads them to a path that takes them deeper into the cave.”
“That’s it?” Aryssa questioned. She needed more. “Where do they go?”
“They’re following the path they’ve chosen,” Charlie answered vaguely.
Aryssa frustratingly sighed. “I don’t understand. It’s like you’re talking in riddles.”
“Look, it’s my job to get them there.” Charlie gestured with his hand. “That’s what I’m paid to do. Plain and simple. I’m not paid to make small talk, give advice or follow them into that place.”
“But…but aren’t you the least bit curious about where they’re going?”
“Not at all,” Charlie said firmly. “Maybe one day I will be, but not now.” He sipped the water Aryssa had given him earlier. “They’ve lived out their time on this side of the river. When I take them across they move on.”
“Move on?” A jolt of awareness startled Aryssa. “Are you saying that…?” Did she understand it correctly? “You’re not taking people across the river, you’re…you’re taking their souls.” A quick breath. “Is that why you’re paid with those coins?”
Charlie slowly slid his hand over the top of his head. A long exhale. “Something like that.” He was quiet for several seconds. Appeared to be finished answering questions. He motioned at the tooth lying on the table. “You have some explaining to do, too.”
“Yeah, that.” How was she going to explain it? “It’s something I’ve done for as long as I can remember. If you ask me why, all I can say is that I don’t know.” She grabbed the bottle of bourbon and slid it close. Hungrily watched the tantalizing amber liquid slosh against the bottle’s walls. Thought about taking a long gulp and letting the warmth numb her mind. A brief glance at the two sisters asleep on the couch. She resisted and pushed the bottle away. “Never been taught what to do. I’ve always just known.” A pause. “It’s why I dance. Easy money to get what I need. It makes me happy and I believe I make the kids happy, too.” She looped the yellow cord of the Crown Royal bag around her finger. “I happen to put them in here, just like you put those coins in that bank.”
“I don’t know why they were crammed in there,” Charlie stated. “I didn’t do that.”
“Then who…?” Aryssa sat up straight with alarm. Bits and pieces of the conversatio
n she had overheard outside the dressing room peeked through the fog of her recollection.
Charlie curiously tilted his head.
“I think I may know who did.”
“You do?”
Aryssa nodded. “Sammy and Ariek.”
Charlie’s brows crinkled. “Who?”
“Sammy and Ariek,” Aryssa repeated. “Ariek owns the club and Sammy,” she looked over at the sleeping sisters, “he owns a gas station. It could be the same one the girls were talking about.”
“How can you be so sure?” Charlie questioned.
Aryssa dropped her voice to a near whisper. “I overheard them talking when I was taking a break.” She tapped her forehead, as if she were trying to dislodge a piece of her memory. “I remember Sammy saying something about money in a toy bank.” She closed her eyes in search of an image. “They argued over Ariek blaming Sammy for allowing them to be sold at his station. And Sammy hinted at something about his nephew being the one.” She hesitated. “Then they went on and on about needing the money for some kind of shipment.”
“A shipment of what?”
“I don’t know,” Aryssa responded. “They were worried, though. More like fearful for their lives.” A moan of frustration. “I wish I knew what the hell they were talking about.”
“Try not to think about it,” Charlie advised. He kept quiet for a few seconds. “I wonder if these coins were the payment.”
“Maybe.” Aryssa shifted in her chair. Ripples of unease washed against her sensibility. Something wasn’t right. She glanced at the girls, then back at Charlie. A jolt of realization zipped through her. She gasped.
“What is it?”
“Sammy said something about sending the brothers to take care of it.” Aryssa gestured wildly toward the sisters. “I bet those were the two men who snuck into the house. They weren’t trying to kidnap the girls; they were after the banks.”
Charlie’s voice became taut. Protective. “Did they see you?”
Aryssa slowly nodded. Dread swam through her veins. “I helped their mother fend them off.” Held her head in her hands. “I’m to blame for that fire.”
“You keep mentioning a fire.” Charlie spoke with a cautious tone. “How are you to blame?”