by Paula Mabbel
“What did you say, boy?” One of the men turned and looked at Toby. His eyes were full of rage, red-hot rage that burned into Toby’s soul and made him fear that the timer for his life was quickly running out.
It didn’t matter though. It didn’t matter that Toby could feel his heart beating frantically in his chest. It didn’t matter that the man standing in front of him had murder in his eyes. All that mattered was that he’d managed to pull one of them off of the boy. “You can’t keep doing this to us.” Toby’s voice was shaky as he spoke, but he held his head up high, so that at least he was facing his fear.
“You should have kept your mouth shut, boy.”
The three men left the quivering and badly beaten younger boy on the floor as they came at Toby. He quickly glanced around the room. He was hoping that an escape route would show itself to him, but he’d checked the room out far too many times for any true hope. The three men grabbed him and pulled him out of the room. He felt a sharp pain to the side of his head and then everything went black. It stayed black, a comfortable blackness that held nothing within it. For what seemed like an endless moment he was safe, and then cold. Everything went cold.
Toby’s eyes flew open and he found his clothes sticking to his body with wet. The man who had turned and spoken to him in the dining hall was standing in front of him. He was smiling cruelly. His beady green eyes were glowing with a sick sense of pleasure. “You’re going to regret ever opening your mouth, boy,” he said gruffly as he started to bring his fists into Toby’s stomach.
Toby passed out and woke up more times than he could count. He didn’t even know how long he’d been in the dark, dank room that they’d locked him in. He was sure, though, that it had been much longer than a day. He’d tried to remember the position of the sun whenever he came around or was close to being knocked out, so that he could at least have a sense of how much time had passed, but his brain was growing foggy.
His entire body ached. His shirt was stuck to his back in clumps of scabs that had come from the beltings. He could barely move. He was certain he was going to die. He was almost happy to accept his fate at this point. He didn’t want to go on. He didn’t want to have to suffer anymore. He could hear a strange crackling noise raging in his ears, but he was sure that it was just blood.
The heavy door opened, and his heart sank as he realized that more pain was about to be inflicted. Footsteps got closer, but Toby didn’t turn around to face his attacker. He couldn’t.
“I need you to get up. We don’t have much time,” a young boy’s voice said, as arms reached underneath Toby’s body and forced him to move.
*******
10 Years later
Winter in New York is often a romanticized thing, but Jenson couldn’t understand where that concept had first been born. New York to him was a cold and merciless place. The homeless sat outside freezing. The trees seemed to die. The people became ruder as they pushed past in a desperate attempt to escape the cold. Winter in New York was often a romanticized thing, but to Jenson it was nothing more than the cruelest time of year.
He was happy, though, at least that finally enough time had passed for him to return. Ten years had gone by, in fact, since the night of the fire at Southside, more than enough time to assume that anybody who had worked on the night of the fire would have long since moved on. Jenson had heard that Southside orphanage had been totally rebuilt. An exposé had revealed the true horrors of what was actually happening there when the fire had killed almost all of the staff, leaving the children free to actually tell the truth.
Jenson didn’t need to speak to anybody who had been there, though. He just needed to look in the records. He’d gone to Southside in search of his brother. He’d thought at first that he’d found him, when a boy with blazing orange eyes had stepped up to defend Jenson, but he’d been wrong. That boy had magic, that much was certain, but he wasn’t a full shifter.
Jenson was sure that his older brother Jacob had stayed at Southside, though. He’d seen proof of his transfer papers. If it hadn’t been for the fire, he would have searched the records when he’d been there as a child. He couldn’t have left Toby to his fate, though. He couldn’t leave Toby to die when he’d stood up and defended Jenson. That wouldn’t have been right.
Jenson looked around the small room that he had been renting at the back of a cheap motel. The whole place smelled damp, and the wallpaper was peeling away from the walls, but he’d been staying there for years and, as dingy as it might have been, it felt like home to him.
He had very few possessions because he had very little need for them. He had no interest in comfort. His only interest was in tracking down his brother. Jacob was the key to everything. He pulled out an old leather duffle bag that had started to wear thin and unzipped it. It was empty, but that was about to change. He pulled together the few belongings he’d kept over the years.
He looked over the small collection that he’d acquired during his life. He doubted that there was any worth in the pile to anybody but him. There was an old movie stub from George and the Dragon, a shoelace that he’d been given by a girl from one of the homes he’d live in and a whole bunch of other useless stuff that marked out the steady passing of his days.
He filled the bag and walked out of the room without giving it a backwards glance. He couldn’t afford to be sentimental. He’d been sitting on a dormant mission, but all of that was about to change. He could feel his sense of purpose coming back to him in waves with each step he took forward, and when he’d finished signing out he felt lighter, almost.
The journey back to Southside was going to be a long one. He’d used the little money that he earned from bar work to pay for his lodgings and food, so he’d be taking the many miles by foot, but that didn’t matter. Every step he took had purpose, every mile he crossed was taking him closer to his brother, and that was all he needed.
Early evening was spreading across the tops of the trees at Southside, when a dark figure showed up at the end of its driveway. Jenson slowed down his walk and stepped with care so that he could avoid slipping against the loose gravel that had been poured down in abundance. Southside looked different, but the air still felt the same. It was almost as though all of the fear and misery had gotten stuck in the atmosphere, the trees and the grounds of the orphanage, a permanent scar in the fabric of the world that would make you pay attention to the horror that had taken place there, even if you didn’t want to.
The building at least looked more welcoming. The dark purple, peeling paint was gone. The old sagging roof had been replaced, and a long extension had been fitted to the side. It looked modern almost. Jenson stopped on the whitewashed porch and breathed in the tainted air before he brought his hand down onto the solid wooden door. He could feel it wavering under his touch, as it vibrated and screamed out a stern knock that couldn’t be ignored. A shuffling of feet from behind the door told him that he would soon need to explain why he had shown up without so much as a call ahead, and he tried in the few seconds he had to mentally prepare himself.
The door opened and a stern-looking man gazed at Jenson with a bitter disgust that seemed uncalled for considering their level of familiarity up to this point.
“I’m Jenson. I’ve been in search of my brother for a while now and records have led me to believe he once stayed here. I was hoping I might be able to find out where he moved on to?”
“Do you realize that this is an orphanage full of kids? Do you realize that the smaller ones are getting sent to bed at the moment, but they’re now refusing to go in case they miss their chance of getting adopted? You don’t just show up at an orphanage unannounced.”
“I’m sorry that I’ve caused a disturbance,” Jenson said quickly. He could feel soft lines starting to burrow into his forehead as he frowned. “I’ve just been looking for my brother for so long.”
“Well, you better come inside then.”
******
Toby pulled the collar of his coat further
up, so that the icy nip in the air couldn’t touch his bare skin. It was cold. It was so cold that plumes of his breath hung in the air in front of his face as he walked quickly down the dark side streets of the city. He was on his way to a very important meeting, a meeting that was held once a month in a dingy little bar on the outskirts of town. He turned the corner in front of him and scanned a half broken-up wall that looked as though it was being held together by old posters.
He was there, and he was glad for it. He had never been a fan of the cold, and winter in New York was terrible for icy winds and snowy paths. He shuddered as he briskly knocked on a door that looked like it had been boarded up from the outside.
“Password,” a voice croaked from the other side.
“Lemons.”
Toby stepped back as the door slowly opened, revealing the dark room that was hidden on the other side. His eyes strained as he walked in and tried to get used to the sudden change in lighting. He could hear the soft buzzing of conversation coming from down in the corner of the room, and he followed it almost blindly, until he had reached his friends.
“It’s good to see you, Toby,” a blonde-haired witch said as he sat down on a stool next to her.
“And you,” he replied with a friendly smile.
“Well, now that the group is all together we can begin,” a sober-looking man with a beard said from the front of the group.
Toby turned to focus his attention on the speaker, who he knew as David.
“I’ve got some big news tonight. I got a phone call earlier today from Southside. A man with bright orange eyes turned up there.” He paused, so that the audience could quickly and excitedly discuss what he’d just told them. “Now, I don’t need to tell you what this means for us all,” he started up again. “That doesn’t mean to say, though, that we should all go rushing up there. We need to be smart about this. We need to plan how exactly we are going to capture it.”
“Excuse me,” Toby said, as he cleared his throat, so the group would divert their attention to him. “I don’t mean to sound funny, but why are we capturing him? He’s good.”
David frowned as though he was disappointed with Toby. “No dragon is good, Toby. It’s just that some are less evil than others.” David’s eyes were filled with pity, and Toby could feel a small fire start to ignite in his stomach at his detest over being talked down to.
“I think you’re wrong,” Toby said defiantly.
“And what exactly do you know?” David asked Toby sharply.
Toby looked around at the small crowd, who were all focusing on him. He felt like a spotlight had been pointed directly at him. He could almost feel the heat from the imaginary bulb as he shifted awkwardly in his seat. “Well, I’ve met him, so probably more than you,” he muttered.
The group came alive with muted whispers over what they had just heard. Toby had been coming to the meeting for some time now, but he’d always been very quiet. The group’s members weren’t even sure if he actually had powers. All they knew was that somehow he knew about the magical world.
There had been suspicions about him at first. His glowing orange eyes hadn’t helped matters, especially considering the fact that orange eyes were known to be an identifying feature of dragon shifters, but they had quickly come to realize that whatever he was, he certainly wasn’t a danger to them.
“I’m sorry, did you say you’ve met the dragon?” The blonde-haired witch asked him with a somewhat skeptical look.
“Sure, I mean it was about ten years ago now, but he helped me out. In fact, I’m playing it down, he saved my life. If it wasn’t for him I wouldn’t be here, so I’m going to need somebody to explain to me why you are planning on capturing him as though he is some kind of animal?”
“It is not up to you to question our methods. You either get on board or you leave,” David said with firm, unmoving eyes.
“That’s fine,” Toby said as he stood up and walked away from the group. He’d only joined them so that he had a chance of finding the boy with orange eyes who had saved him. Now that they’d done that, he had no use for them anymore.
He walked quickly out of the bar and back onto the sidewalk, where the wind was still unrelenting in its mission to spread its icy fingers over everything in reach. Toby walked quickly. The meeting with the group was playing on his mind. He could feel a sense of urgency wash over him.He would need to find the man before they did.
The sharp grasp of anxiety ran across his chest as he realized that finding him would mean going back. It had been ten long years since he’d faced Southside, but avoiding his past was no longer an option.
*******
Jenson walked away from Southside feeling confused and deflated. He’d found his brother’s papers. He’d been right about him being there, but there had been nothing to indicate where he had gone next. In fact, there was nothing to indicate that he’d ever left. The thought of how Southside used to be pulled at his mind, and for a brief moment he considered the fact that his brother might never have made it out of there alive.
He quickly shook that idea off, though. His brother must have run away. It would have been impossible for the humans who used to run the place to have harmed him. He was a shifter. His strength was parallel to none.
Jenson stopped at the end of the driveway and listened out into the darkness. There was something to the air that didn’t feel right, a movement from a noise that shouldn’t have been there. He tried to focus in on the sound that was making his gut turn over. He found a car driving in his direction that was still a few miles away and realized that was it. No one would be driving this way so late at night without a reason, and he couldn’t shake the feeling that he was that reason.
He took off back towards Southside, but then turned at the building and headed into the dark woods. He’d spent most of his time in the woods when he’d been staying at Southside. He could still remember the layout pretty well, and he didn’t waste any time in heading back towards the city. He crossed the passing car a mile or so into his journey, but the driver didn’t see him creeping in the shadows.
Jenson looked up at the sky. He wasn’t happy with the bright stars twinkling above him. Being able to see them meant that the forest was running out and he’d soon be visible to any person who might be trying to find him. There was nothing he could do, though. His lead had been a dead end and now he didn’t know what he was going to do, other than go and try to get his old room back at the motel.
He stepped out of the overgrown bushes and headed back to the roadside. There wasn’t enough coverage from the trees to make it worth his while anymore. His ankles were sore with cuts and grazes he’d suffered from tearing through the overgrowth, but he ignored the burning sting that he could feel emitting from them.
“Stop! You have to stop,” a voice called from behind Jenson. Whoever was calling out to him sounded panicked, and he couldn’t help but listen to the demand.
He stopped and turned around so that he could see who was approaching him. He felt his eyebrows rise up quickly in surprise, as he took in the orange-eyed man standing in front of him. “I’ve seen you before,” he said as he tried to place the face. “Southside?”
“Yes, you saved me the night of the fire, and now I’m going to repay the favor.” Toby’s eyes looked wild, almost savage in his panic.
“I don’t understand.”
“You don’t need to. Just come with me, now.”
Jenson looked at the man who he’d known as a boy. He could see the panic and fear in his eyes, but he didn’t sense any danger. “Okay,” Jenson said with a quick nod, and then he gestured for Toby to lead the way.
They walked in silence for some time. The late night sky was slowly turning into a pink haze above their heads. The cold winds of yesterday had calmed their passions. Jenson tried to work out where they were going, but Toby’s constant turns and twists made it impossible. They finally stopped, though, when they’d reached the edge of the city and they’d walked down a sidewalk
that was trimmed with what looked like derelict buildings.
“We’re here,” Toby said in barely a whisper. He turned and walked up some crumbling steps that looked as though they were ready to totally give up and collapse.
Jenson sighed as he followed him into the dark and dangerous-looking building. “Are you going to explain what’s going on now?” he asked when he’d closed the door, or he’d closed the door the best he could considering it no longer had hinges.
“I know this is going to sound crazy, but there is a group trying to capture you. They believe that you’re evil. I know this because I was one of them, except I’ve never thought that you were evil. I just joined them because I wanted to meet you again. I wanted a chance to say thank you for saving my life all those years ago, but then I heard about you being back in town and what they were going to do, and I knew it was my responsibility to help you.”
None of what Toby had said made any sense. How had Toby’s group found out about him? What had made them think he was evil? Why were they trying to capture him? He thought about asking Toby all the questions that had risen up in his mind, but he knew that the answers would only lead to more questions, and he didn’t have time for that. Instead, he asked the only question that truly mattered to him: “Have they ever caught a dragon before?”
“I’m not sure,” Toby stuttered. “They seem organized though, so it wouldn’t surprise me.”
Could it be? Was his brother being held captive against his will? “How long had your group been around?” he asked as he tried to fit the pieces of the puzzle together.
“I’m not sure,” Toby said quickly.
“A rough idea?”
“I’m not sure, but, I mean, at least fifteen years.”
That was all Jenson needed to hear. It had to be them. They had to be the reason that his brother had disappeared from Southside never to be heard of again. “I’m going to need you to get back into their good books,” Jenson said as he started to stitch together a plan in his mind.