Relics and Runes Anthology

by Heather Marie Adkins

  “Amber, I’m going to run some test on the samples of blood and as soon as I know anything I will call you.”

  On that note, she took one more bite of her scrambled eggs and stood up to leave. She had forgotten already that she wanted to go to Kelly’s old house to see if she could find any leads.

  “Dad, I have to run, but thanks for breakfast and all of your help,” she said, kissing his cheek and running out of the door.

  It was nice that Kelly only lived a block away. Amber ate the last of her bacon during her short drive down Lancaster Street to Kensington Street, which intersected it. She parallel parked, turned off her engine, and started to open her car door when she picked up a conversation, with her enhanced hearing, from Kelly’s house. It wasn’t the voices of Kelly or her parents. Much to her disappointment, Amber would have to find another way to track down Kelly. Although what did she expect? Of course Kelly's dad would have sold the house. How could he have afforded two mortgages? It was wishful thinking—wanting to hear Kelly’s voice—but Amber was also hoping to pick something up if she had a chance to physically be in the house. Maybe tap into that psychic energy.

  Amber waited patiently in her car for the new homeowners to leave for the day. An hour and twenty minutes later a middle aged couple emerged from the house. A chill danced across her skin, lifting the hair on her arms as she approached the porch.

  “Can I help you?” questioned a woman in the house next door as she opened her living room window. She had dark raven hair, hazel eyes, and was probably in her mid-thirties.

  Great, Amber thought annoyed that she had almost been caught in flagrante breaking into someone’s house. Amber didn’t even notice her.

  “Oh, hello there,” Amber said startled, “I was actually looking for an old friend. Her name is Kelly Stowe.”

  “Well you won’t find her here; they moved several years ago. It’s probably for the best.”

  “For the best?”

  “Oh, trust me, they were good people and I hold nothing against them. I was even sorry to see them go, but I can’t say I miss the experiments. There was always so much noise coming from the basement. I couldn’t take it anymore.

  “It was that noisy?”

  “Oh, yeah. Mr. Stowe conducted most of his experiments at home and I had the misfortune of listening to them for years. I’m talking explosions or at least that’s what it sounded like to me. I’m sure his home insurance premium was through the roof with all the damage.”

  “I didn’t realize they were that bad. Do you know what he was working on?”

  “I don’t know; he wouldn’t give me details about his work because of the confidentiality clause.”

  “Thank you, Miss…”

  “It’s Cordelia Morgan and you are?”

  “Amber Khalid.”

  “Well, it’s nice meeting you, Amber. I’m sure that you will find what you are searching for. Just be patient and embrace who you are,” Cordelia said, shutting the window, bringing their conversation to an abrupt ending.

  “Okay, sure…” That was strange. Why did this perfect stranger go into all of that? It felt like an after-school special. Embrace who you are. What the hell did she mean by that?

  She decided to let it go for now, because she didn’t have time to investigate Kelly’s eccentric neighbors. Although it wasn’t much information, it was enough to determine that Kelly’s dad was somehow connected to all of this. Amber hopped back into her car and raced down the back roads. Speed limits be damned, she needed answers like yesterday. Thirty minutes later she arrived home. When she unlocked the door, Eric was lounging on the sofa.

  “Babe, did you see the news?”

  “Yes, I saw it. My dad actually thought that I was behind it until I explained everything to him.”

  “Seriously? Are you okay?”

  “Yes, everything is fine. He’s actually running tests on my blood, as we speak.”

  “What are you going to do about this golden chick?”

  “I don’t know, she’s fast. What if I can’t stop her?”

  “You’ve got this, babe.”

  That’s all it took: four words. His confidence in her always empowered her. Amber smiled as she sat down at their computer desk and pulled up Kelly’s high school’s system in Milwaukee. She toggled down to Kelly Stowe’s file and double clicked her mouse to open it.

  Kelly’s grades didn’t surprise her, but her SAT score did. 1570. Who knew? Kelly had always asked Amber for help her with homework and projects. But Amber never excelled in school, either. She got by with B’s and the occasional C.

  The total number of absences stood out on Kelly’s transcript and Amber wondered why Kelly missed so many days of school. She wasn’t prone to catching colds and she seldom missed a day of school. Well, except for that time they’d both gotten sick from the dessert they’d eaten. But that aside, Kelly hardly fell ill. It was possible that she may have feigned illness at her new school, but it was hard to fathom Mr. Stowe letting that slide. Even though he was rarely home, he was kind of a hard ass and he definitely would have called Kelly out on it.

  Amber printed the transcript and studied it for a few moments longer. It was signed by Kelly’s guidance counselor, C. Morgan, and in the comments, it described an incident in which Kelly was suspended for fighting. Who was this girl? Sure, Kelly was no pushover, but she didn't go around inciting fights, either. What happened to you, Kelly? What am I missing?

  9

  May 15, 2008

  Since Kelly’s transcript listed Mr. Stowe’s employment as Prime Technologies, Amber figured that was a good place to start. She typed Prime Technologies into the internet’s search engine and looked up James Stowe. The search brought her to the main page, describing the company’s history and overview. “Prime Technologies strives to be the most innovative in their scientific research and discoveries. Our area of interest is life on other planets and we work closely with a talented group of scientists to examine various specimens submitted to us from an affiliate agency.” Wow, she was completely unaware of the nature of his work at Prime Technologies up until now. She clicked on the Meet Our Scientists link, which redirected her to another page. James Stowe was still employed there and was stationed at the Connecticut location. Amber didn’t know he was back in Connecticut. So maybe Kelly was in Connecticut, too.

  She and Kelly really had grown apart. How could Kelly not tell her she was back in Connecticut? Somberly, Amber logged off of her laptop.

  “I’m thinking Chinese food, are you up for that?” Eric shouted from the living room

  She wasn’t, but she really did need to refuel. She skipped lunch. “Sounds like heaven, let’s go!”

  So the two headed down to their car and drove into the city towards Lin Cho’s Restaurant. Amber’s mouth was already starting to water as she anticipated eating the delicious General’s Tso chicken. Large chunks of plaster and brick was falling from the building two buildings down from the restaurant when they arrived.

  “I should go take a look.”

  He nodded in agreement and she jogged to the building. On the door read “BankTrust” and she grumbled in aggravation, realizing that the assailant could be the golden-masked woman reported on the news last night. She walked to the side of the building where she changed into her costume and quickly climbed up the building. Once she was on top of the building she saw the mysterious golden-masked woman kicking and punching two guards. The golden-masked woman’s powers seemed to mirror her powers exactly. Amber advanced on the woman and grabbed the woman’s wrist, preventing her from punching the men again. To her surprise, the woman was much stronger than anticipated. The woman shrugged Amber off without much effort and pushed her to the other side of the building. Then motioned with one hand and left Amber suspended three feet in the air.

  “We haven’t been formally introduced. I’m Diem and you are?”

  Amber gurgled.

  “Yikes, I didn’t catch that. Speak up, sugar.” Diem
loosened her telekinetic hold just enough for Amber to say her name.

  “Hope.” It was a name Amber had decided to use while in costume. A name that would stay with those she saved, giving them peace of mind that someone was looking out for them.

  “Hope? Really? Why not Grace while you’re at it or Charity? No, wait. I’ve got it. Mercy.” Diem punched Amber in the stomach, knocking her from suspension. “Not that I’m going to show you any.”

  Diem then pounded on her back with one powerful strike. “They say we’re the same and yet you haven’t been able to land one punch. You’re not special. In fact, you’re bordering on mediocre here. Correct me if I’m wrong, Hope.”

  Diem put a hand to her ear. “What’s that? Sugar, you really should enunciate. Anyway, you rest for a while, you seem tuckered out.”

  Diem paced the rooftop, gazing at the city lights for a moment. “I do have one question, Hope. Did you think you were the only one?”

  Amber curled up on the ground, writhing in agony. She had become so accustomed to not feeling pain that she had forgotten how excruciating it could be. She stayed in the fetal position, listening to Diem go on and on about how her power was greater than Amber’s. She wasn’t wrong, but boasting about it was in poor taste, and proved one weakness. It was her vanity, something that could be used against her as a distraction. If Amber acted quickly, she could see the monster behind the mask. So Amber reached up and snatched Diem’s mask off.

  Diem punched her in the face and Amber dropped back down to the ground.

  “Kelly?” Amber muttered.

  “No, it’s Diem. Who’s Kelly?” Diem demanded, perturbed.

  Amber responded to her question with several groans.

  “It doesn’t matter,” Diem said, kicking Hope in the face, “someone needed to take you down a few notches.”

  Diem flung her clenched fists back in an effort to land another blow, but stopped abruptly. Amber looked up at Diem and found that her eyes had glazed over and started to glow a neon green. Diem had fallen into a trance and began to recite some sort of message.

  “A nation will quell in a wave of deviation from disproportionate convention. Balance shall be restored within an abode of harmony.”

  Diem’s eyes returned back to normal and she continued to beat Amber as if she were never interrupted. She picked up Amber and held her over her head.

  “I want to be perfectly clear. I don’t want to see you again. It’s simple, stay out of my way or I will destroy you.” With that being said, she hurled Amber’s body over the bank. Amber fell two stories and hit the pavement hard. This time she felt an enormous amount of pain and it was nothing like what she had experienced in her dreams. She attempted to get up, but collapsed. She mumbled something incoherent before slipping into unconsciousness. Diem glanced down at Amber’s motionless, bloody body and then sped off with a golden light gleaming behind her.

  Amber had been drained of an enormous amount of energy. She could no longer sustain the costume and a faint flicker of light surrounded her briefly before her normal clothes took form over her body again. Eric raced to be by her side and gathered her up in his arms. He had to get her out of sight before someone noticed her. His tires screeched as he slammed down on the gas pedal.

  “Stay with me, Amber, I’m going to get you out of here.” When they arrived home Eric used the back door entrance since he didn’t want to bump into any neighbors. He carried her up the stairs as swiftly as he could, praying that no one saw them. He quickly unlocked their door upon reaching it and gently laid Amber on the sofa. He noticed that she wasn’t healing and he feared for her life.

  “Amber, honey, please wake up. You need to open your eyes…” He begged through a strained voice. He laid his head down on her chest and closed his eyes. He whispered, “I can’t lose you; I’m not letting you go.” Eric stood up again and pulled out their first aid kit. He cleaned and dressed her wounds, placed a throw pillow underneath her head, and covered her with a fleece blanket. Then sat down on a recliner near her and he stayed up all night watching over her.

  Meanwhile Amber was as still as a corpse, but she wasn’t gone. She was actually dreaming. She was sitting in a coffee shop, watching thousands of people running in a race. They were all wearing red.

  Amber stood up and went outside to get a closer look, but once outside she noticed that half of the runners had already disappeared. They were vanishing right in front of her and she wondered what was going on. She locked eyes with one of the few men left.

  The man stalked towards her in a manner which made her feel as though he meant to harm her. With nowhere to go, she covered her face, and braced herself for the assault. Instead, she felt a firm hand on her wrist. He was so close she could feel the heat emanating from his body.

  His proximity unnerved her, making her take some cautious steps back. No matter how hard she tried to put some distance in between them, he kept reaching for her, urging her to heed his words. Only no sound escaped his lips. His lips kept forming the same words over and over again. A warning: they’re coming.

  He let go of her and like the others he vanished. Amber stood there in confusion, trying to make sense of what the man told her. A pulse of wind forced her to look up. Off in the distance the remaining runners were vaporized by an enormous orb of bright light, obliterating everyone in its path. She tried to outrun the orb, but failed to escape the blast.

  10

  May 16, 2008

  Amber scowled, crying out in distress as she opened her eyes. It took a few minutes to reconcile that it was only a dream. Once fully awake, she assessed her injuries and got to work on them with a concerted effort focused on healing, rather than maiming. She placed a hand on her broken arm and healed it. It took longer than usual to heal, but she succeeded in healing her arm and her other wounds. Eric heard her cries and jumped up to be by her side.

  “Oh, thank God, you’re okay! He held her closely to him and she was happy to return his affection. “What the hell happened back there, Amber? You looked like you were dying?”

  “She was so strong and fast—too fast. It was like we had the same powers, only she actually knew what she was doing. I couldn’t stop her.” She clutched Eric’s hand, and said, “I’m almost positive that was Kelly, but she kept saying her name was Diem.”

  “It was Kelly? No, Kelly loved you. Why would she want to hurt you? What happened to her?”

  Amber’s head was spinning. What next? She never felt bad tossing around criminals, but now she had to hurt her own best friend. She ran to the bathroom to vomit. Purging herself had offered some clarity—maybe Kelly was sick. It was true that both had consumed the flan, but Kelly was an amnesiac, almost like her body was having an allergic reaction, rejecting the powers. Sure, Amber had no control over her powers, but her mind was intact, which indicated she was compatible. There was much to be questioned, but since a civilized conversation between friends wasn’t optional, Amber would have to find Kelly’s dad to fill in the blanks, like where was Kelly? Did the amnesia fit the timeline of the onset of powers? What had Kelly been up to for the last eleven years? Had she changed at all?

  Splashing some cold water on her face, Amber was convinced that the flan was the one common thread, because Kelly had also missed school the following day, claiming she was ill, but she later told Amber she had slept nearly the whole day. So in a sense, she had also lost a day.

  Amber booted up her laptop once more, wanting to look up James Stowe again and typed Prime Technologies into the search engine. This time she took down their main telephone number and dialed it on her cellphone. The telephone rang twice before a receptionist answered with a standard company greeting.

  “Good morning, Prime Technologies, how can I help you?”

  “Hi my name is Jillian and I’m starting an internship with Mr. James Stowe, but I misplaced his contact information.” Amber was becoming quite the liar, but she could think of no other way to obtain the information she needed without lea
ving a trail.

  “Ma’am, Mr. James Stowe is at the Pinnacle Heights building in East Carrington on the fifth floor and his telephone number is (203) 670-3537.”

  “Excellent, you’ve been so helpful,” Amber said, scribbling down the information on a piece of yellow legal paper.

  Amber’s phone buzzed, indicating that she had a voicemail. She dialed her voicemail and entered her password. It was her dad.

  “Amber, honey, I looked at the samples again and it’s strange. I’m your biological father, but there’s an impenetrable encasement around your cells. I think it might have something to do with your ability to heal. I need more time to study the samples, but I can assure you that you didn’t inherit this from your mother or me. You must have been exposed to a substance that changed you. I wish I could give you some solid information, but whatever this is…I’m not going anywhere. I love you.”

  Amber was disappointed hearing this news, because he didn’t tell her anything that she hadn’t already figured out herself. But she wasn’t going to let this stop her. She would never be able to move on with her life without knowing what was happening to her.

  She drove to the Pinnacle Heights location, parked in the visitor’s parking section, used the main entrance, and headed for the elevator when the front desk security stopped her.

  “Ma’am, you have to check in first.”

  “Sure, no problem,” she complied, writing ‘Jessica Norton’ under name and ‘visiting my uncle’ under reason for visit.

  “Thank you, ma’am.” The security guard handed her a visitor’s badge and gave her brief directions to the office.

  Amber exhaled deeply as she walked away. She took the elevator to the fifth floor as instructed and looked for an office with Mr. Stowe’s name on the door. She walked slowly down the hall until she found his office and knocked on the door. Standing there awaiting his answer, she realized there was small chance that he might not be happy to see her, but it was too late to change her mind. The door opened and Kelly’s dad smiled and hugged Amber.