by J. A. Giunta
Even though she was artificial, her upbeat attitude was contagious.
“Anna?” Lee didn’t wait for her reply. “I like you.”
“I knew you would!” she said and giggled. “That’s why I picked you.”
He glanced over at the TV.
“Hey, is there anything on the news about what’s happening?”
“Sorry,” she said in frustration, “but I’m not allowed to show any live media.”
“What about my sister?” he asked. “Is she doing okay?”
“Oh! Why don’t you ask her?”
An image of Ember popped up on the screen. She was laughing, on a bed and in a cell just like his, wearing the familiar white clothes. He saw her from the same vantage of the screen on his wall. Is that how Anna was watching him?
“Ember?” he asked.
It was weird to see her laugh so freely like that, especially with how angry and upset she’d been when he last saw her.
She narrowed her eyes at his sudden appearance, and the smile faded.
“Hey.” Oh right, she was mostly upset with him. In a tone that made him feel like he was intruding, she asked, “You need something?”
Thankfully, Anna stayed quiet. It was a calculated show of respect, pretending not to listen, but Lee was all too aware they had no privacy in this place.
“I just wanted to see if you were all right,” he said. “See any aliens on the way down?”
“They don’t keep those here,” Ember said with a straight look. After a moment of silence and a slowly raised brow from Lee, she shook her head but didn’t smile. “You’re such a dork.”
Lee smirked. “And you’re hilarious.”
“It is strange, though,” she said. “This place is so haunted, like really haunted, but the spirits won’t talk to me. They just watch, like they work here or something.”
“Wait, what?” He knew ghosts were real. He’d seen one at the house, but... “You can talk to ghosts?”
“Uhh, yeah.” She hugged her knees to her chest. “There’s wards up here and there, to keep the spirits out, but otherwise they just roam all around.”
“Wards,” Lee said, his thoughts racing, “like spells of protection. You don’t act like you’ve been here before. Did mom and the others cast them?”
Ember looked up sharply.
“I don’t know,” she said, a warning in her voice.
“Then what,” he asked, “Cerberus has its own coven? Guess they don’t need you guys anymore.”
“Even if they did,” she said, eyes hard, voice low and with a single shake of her head, “it’s not that big a deal.”
She’d practically hit him over the head, but Lee got the message. It was a big deal. Of course, he had no idea why, since his family was full of secretive jerks who thought it was a good idea to physically alter him before he was even born and then exclude him from being a part of their witchy ways.
No, he wasn’t bitter about that at all.
“What about you?” she asked. “See anything? Or did Mister Deputy Director say anything worth sharing?”
Lee thought but didn’t say, You mean like shooting that girl in the brain, so she could be completely retrained as a superhuman agent of Cerberus? Ember was already freaked out enough by everything that’d happened. How would she react if she knew about the Bullet Squad?
“No, I,” he began, “after I healed that girl, Samantha, they brought me here. This place is pretty huge, I can tell you that much.”
“Thanks for the great insight.” She seemed to study him for a moment. “I know you’re hiding something. I just don’t know why. If you want to keep secrets, that’s fair, I suppose. But I’m not mom, and I’m not aunt Gwen. I didn’t make those choices.”
“You chose to go along with them,” Lee pointed out.
Ember sighed. “Don’t you get it? There was never a choice. Not for me. A witch’s oath is a physical bond. I couldn’t tell you, no matter how much I wanted to.”
“You could have chosen not to take it.”
“I was seven!” she shouted, had finally lost her cool. “And you don’t know aunt Gwen, not the way I do. You think she’s just some mean old bitch who’s been riding you your whole life. Trust me, she’s so much worse than that, and in ways I wish I didn’t know.”
You could’ve told me, was all Lee thought, unable to wrap his head around a promise that physically couldn’t be broken.
“I’m tired,” he said instead. To Anna he added, “Turn it off.”
The screen disappeared into white. Lee settled down on his side, facing the wall, and tried to sleep.
- Ember -
“Hello, Ember.” This was a new voice, smooth with a rich timbre. Ember couldn’t tell if it was male or female, but like the earlier voice, it came from everywhere and nowhere. Ember took an instant dislike to this latest disembodied spy.
“How about we skip the intros and get to the part where you tell me when to eat and where to sleep?” She gazed around the empty room. “As long as the sleeping doesn’t take place on the floor.” She slouched against one of the walls. “And the eating doesn’t either,” she mumbled the last under her breath, not wanting to give anyone any disgusting ideas.
The ghost that flickered in through the corner of the cell eyed Ember with open curiosity, but slipped out quickly in reaction to her angry, piercing look.
“Fine with me,” the voice said. “Put these on.” In the far corner, a section of the floor dropped away and reappeared with a plastic bag on it filled with what looked like clothing.
“What are you, some kind of perv? I have no idea who you are or who else is watching me and, while I’ve done my share of unclad rituals, I’m not interested in having my posterior used as a screensaver on some creep’s computer.”
“FYI, I’m not watching you.”
“Riiight.” Ember held up her hand and stuck out her middle finger.
Dusky laughter filled the room. “I can tell we’re going to get along just fine,” the voice said. “I can’t actually see you the way you think. Sensors in the walls are monitoring your physiology, heartbeat, temperature, breathing, etc. So, what I’m seeing is your overall physical presence, not your image.”
“And I should believe that because?”
“Do or don’t, but since we’ve been assigned to work together, it would be easier for both of us if you did.”
“I thought Taylor said teams wouldn’t be assigned until after we went through some kind of testing.”
“Score one for the girl who was paying attention.” The snarkiness of the statement reminded Ember of Allison and she almost smiled.
“So, then how is it we’ve been teamed up?”
“I’m not your teammate. I’m your handler.”
“Oh. Great.” Ember walked over to the pile of clothes and held up what looked like a pair of white yoga pants and a long-sleeved t-shirt. There was also a white t-shirt bra, panties and socks. “Ugh,” Ember said. “How about something in black?”
“No can do. These are regulation intake and training garments. You don’t have to like them. You just have to wear them. But I understand the team uniforms will be mostly black.”
Ember waved the clothes at the ceiling. “Can you manipulate the rest of the room like you did the floor? Give a girl at least some semblance of privacy?”
The glass door became translucent. “Best I can do.”
“Sure.” Ember put one hand out and leaned against the wall as she kicked off her boots.
“This might help.” The floor beside Ember reshaped itself into a sort of chair.
“Gee, thanks.” Ember sat down and pulled off her black socks with the gray skulls woven into the sides.
“Nice choice,” the voice snarked.
“Hey! I thought you said you couldn’t see me.�
�� Ember stopped undressing.
“Just messing. What? Are they ‘My Little Pony’ socks or something?” Laughter filled the room. “No, wait. ‘Rainbow Brite!’”
“Are you kidding?” Ember huffed. “And so what if they are?”
“To each his own,” the voice said, sarcasm dripping.
Maybe this person couldn’t see her after all, but then again. “What’s your name, anyway?”
“Thought you’d never ask. You can call me Zeta.”
“Is that a name, or a designation?” Ember asked, thinking it sounded like a woman’s name. Although, the voice was ambiguous.
“Does it matter?”
“Zeta what?”
“Just Zeta.”
“Fine,” Ember gave up worrying about it. She stood up and shimmied out of her clothes, and pulled on the white wear. The clothes were soft and stretchy. A pair of white gym shoes to top things off. Nothing like Ember’s torn Jeans and scuff-toed work boots. “It’s not a fashion show,” she mumbled.
“Do you always talk to yourself?” Zeta asked.
“Only when there’s no one more interesting around.”
“Ha ha. Place your clothes and the rest of your belongings in the plastic bag and drop it on the floor in the corner.”
Ember looked at her rings and the leather bracelets circling her left wrist. The rings she could live without, but the bracelets were all spelled. Minor stuff really, simple negative energy wards and an early warning braid, but she never took them off. Not even in the shower. She’d feel more naked without them than standing in a white room being spied on by a disembodied voice could ever make her feel.
Maybe it was time to test whether or not she was really being watched. She removed her rings and shoved them into her jeans pocket before stuffing her clothes and shoes into the bag. At the same time, she tucked the leather bands inside her sleeve, then dropped the bag in the corner.
“Hang on,” Zeta said. “Something’s off.”
Not able to see me my ass, Ember thought. “What?”
“Sorry,” Zeta said. “Nothing. Just thought I was having one of those damned glitches.” The floor where the plastic bag sat dropped away, then returned empty. “It’s all good.”
Ember pushed her hair back. “So, handler, huh?” She paced the room, stopping at the corner to examine the floor. There was no sign it had ever moved, much less reshaped enough to transport clothes in and out.
“Yes.”
“What does that mean, exactly?”
“It means, I’m the one that has your back.” Zeta’s voice was firm and sincere. “Always.”
Ember went back over and sat in the chair. “Okay, then. How about you fill me in on the way things work around here?”
“You hungry?”
The realization hit Ember that it had been a long, difficult day and she’d had almost nothing. “I could eat,” she admitted.
“Good. How about a protein shake?”
“Can you make it chocolate salted caramel flavored?”
“That I can do. But you’ll need to drink up.” A table appeared out of the floor and a section of the wall opened up to reveal a small compartment. Inside sat a large glass filled with a frosty liquid that smelled delicious. “You have blood work in the morning, but I’ll wait and schedule your test once you’ve finished.”
If they wanted to poison her, Ember thought, they could just fill the room with deadly gas. She took a sip of the shake. The cold liquid hit her tongue. Sweet and salty. Just the way she liked it. “Thanks, Zeta.” She gulped the rest of the shake, feeling the nourishing protein and sugar hit her system in a rush. When she finished, she set the empty cup down and eyed the door. “Zeta?”
“Ember?” her handler replied in a stuffy tone.
“Nice.” Ember stood and walked over to the door, touching her fingertips to the frosted glass. “What if I need to...get out?”
A section of the room shifted and a shower, sink and toilet appeared. “Everything you need. Right here. Whenever you need it.” Zeta’s tone skirted the edge of boredom. Across the way, a bed-sized slab shifted into the room.
“Yeah. That’s really great,” Ember said, wandering across the room to sit on the bed. “What I mean is, what if I...needed to get out in an emergency.” She glanced around the white empty space and pressed her hand into the bed, expecting it to be hard like everything else in the room, but it gave enough to suggest it might actually be comfortable. “Or if I wanted to see my brother?”
“Speak of the devil. Incoming call,” Zeta’s voice took on a computer-like tone. “Video conference or audio only?”
“Lee?” Ember said. “I’d rather—”
“Video, it is.”
A screen appeared on the wall, showing a full-color close up of a nose so huge Ember could see the individual pores.
“Geez,” Ember hissed. “Dial it back.”
“Too much brotherly mug for you?” Zeta snorted.
Ember laughed.
The image panned out. Lee was sitting in a white room, wearing a white outfit like hers.
“Ember?” Lee said.
“Hey.” She frowned at him, the laughter dying away as she recalled the last 24 hours. “What?”
“I just wanted to make sure you were, you know, okay,” he said. “See any aliens on the way down?”
“Not the place for that,” Ember said, making her face go blank.
He gave her a querulous look.
“You’re such a dork.”
Lee smirked. “And you’re a riot.”
“One odd thing,” Ember told him. “The whole place is haunted. Like seriously, off the charts—might as well be built on an ancient burial ground—haunted.” She glanced over her shoulder at a wisp of something that hovered just inside the cell. “Only, none of them are talking. Just watching. Like they’re taking notes. It’s seriously creepy.”
“Wait. What?” His eyes grew round in surprise. “You can talk to ghosts?”
“Well, yeah.” She wrapped her arms around her knees. “The place is warded in places, but other than that they seem to be constantly roaming the floors.” She stopped, wondering if there might be a pattern to their movements, but that wouldn’t make sense. Spirits weren’t generally that cooperative. Or that focused. At least, not that she’d ever experienced.
“Wards?” He went quiet, but Ember could see his mind working. “You mean protective spells.” He leaped to the answer before she could open her mouth to offer it up. “But...you haven’t been here before.” It was a statement, but Ember heard the suspicion in his voice. “Did Mom...?”
Ember started. Now her mind was rushing to process what that meant. “I don’t know.” She let her words trail out, trying to get him to stop thinking out loud.
“Then what?” he asked. “Cerberus has its own coven? Does that mean they don’t need you and the Clan anymore?”
She tried to look disinterested and gave him a quick shake of her head. “So? No biggie.” What the hell? Was his brain on slo-mo? She gave him a steely eye, hoping he’d catch on.
Lee started to say something else, then stopped. His mouth twisted in a bitter half-smile.
“What about you?” she said, changing the subject abruptly. “You get a look at anything besides white walls and empty halls? Or did your new buddy, Mister Deputy Director, say anything worth sharing?”
Lee’s face went white, and his jaw worked. “No. After I healed that girl, Samantha, he dropped me off here.” He gestured at his surroundings. “I can tell you this facility is huge.”
“Thanks. That’s informative.” She stared at him, wondering what he wasn’t saying. “I’m not sure what you’re hiding, and I get that you’re pissed at me for keeping the family secrets from you. But I’m not Mom. Or Aunt Gwen. It wasn’t my decision.”
“Y
ou went along with it,” Lee accused.
“You really don’t get it.” She shot back. “There was never a choice. I told you, a witch’s oath is a physical bond. I couldn’t tell you, no matter how much I wanted to.” Or how many times I tried to find a way around it.
“You could have chosen not to take that oath.” He glared at her.
“I was seven.” Ember jumped to her feet. “And you don’t know Aunt Gwen, not the way I do.” She plopped back down onto the bed. “You think she’s just some mean old bitch who takes joy in making you miserable.” She let out a small laugh and stared at her fingernails. “Trust me, she’s so much worse, and in ways I wish I didn’t know.”
“I’m tired,” Lee said suddenly. “Turn it off.”
“Wait—” The screen disappeared.
“Call ended.” Zeta said in that stupid robotic voice.
“No kidding.” Ember pulled her knees up and hugged them to her, glaring at the ghost that had just floated into her room.
Ten
Thu, Aug 25, 6:00am
- Lee -
Anna woke him early the next morning. There was no clock in the room, but he knew it was six. He seemed to have an innate ability to keep track of time, as if an internal counter had been ticking down since the Rumbling had stopped.
He wasn’t all that tired but would have stayed in bed longer, if it hadn’t started to disappear back into the wall. He wasn’t sure if that was Cerberus procedure or if Anna had a sense of humor.
She said, “Good morning, sleepyhead.” A section of floor by the door opened, and a white block rose up to waist level. There was an earbud on top. “I had this made for you,” Anna explained. “Please keep it in at all times. We’ll be able to talk to each other wherever you go from now on.”
Lee picked it up. It was light, spongier than expected and barely half the size of his thumbnail. It slid so deep into his right ear he doubted anyone could even see it. He began to wonder how he was going to get the damn thing back out, when the glass door slid sideways open, and a woman appeared.
She wore blue slacks, a gray blouse and a white lab coat. He guessed her age around early thirties, found her mildly attractive, but could tell at a glance she wasn’t making a social visit.