Seducer Fey

by Cullyn Royson

  CHAPTER 12

  FISHING FOR INFORMATION

  TABAN FINISHED STRAPPING the small surfing kayak to his car. He clambered into the driver’s seat and threw the two broken fins under his seat with the other fin from Daisuke’s wave ski. Convincing him to surf Martinique Beach had been a snap:

  After leaving Abigail the day before, Taban tracked down May Savali’s son. He figured Daisuke was his best way to access information about what his mother knew about the Roman officer’s journal. Though he had found Daisuke’s sexuality listed on his MeSite, Taban decided not to use seduction in case Abigail discovered his affair. Using Daisuke’s interest in trying surf kayaking to his advantage, Taban applied a few smiles and enthusiastic anecdotes to persuade him. He attempted to cover as many interests Daisuke might have as possible. “In fact, I’m headed to the beach tomorrow. Perhaps we’ll meet up?”

  Sure enough, he encountered Daisuke in the parking lot the next morning. He concocted a story about losing a sentimental item. When Daisuke started to comb the beach for it, Taban inspected his kayak. He removed the center fin and carefully sliced into the other two. Though Taban had never tried surf kayaking, he knew the fins enhanced the stability of the boat. He also reversed the release mechanism on the straps, so Daisuke would have more difficulty getting out of the boat.

  “I’ve surfed before.” Taban remembered Daisuke explaining. “Why do all the instructional videos for wave skiing suggest all this safety gear?”

  “Yeah, I never wear a helmet surfing,” Taban had agreed. He stalled Daisuke until he saw Mrs. Reyes’ car enter the parking lot, then encouraged him to surf.

  For a while, Taban had worried that Danny and Cassidy wouldn’t show, due to the miserable weather. Honking, a car zoomed past him. Brought back to the present, he glanced in his rearview mirror and saw a line of cars tailgating him. He increased to the speed limit and the cars fell back to a safer distance. As he made a right hand turn onto Pleasant Street, a glint of red caught his attention. Looking at the passenger seat he noticed a crimson thread. He picked it off the seat and rolled it into a ball between his thumb and index finger, feeling the familiar cotton fabric of Cassidy’s trench coat. She seemed responsive to his flirtations, but very reserved, so she probably did not trust him enough yet to follow his advice. The more people involved in this the messier it’s going to get when Abby and May get ahold of that journal. There’s no hope for Danny, but at least I can get rid of this girl, Taban thought angrily. Cassidy was supposed to see me be all heroic and save him. I was trying to get a two-for-one deal. Who even does a water sport in the freezing cold that requires so much gear? Those girls are frickin’ crazy.

  “Ea, why did you have to drag her into this?” he asked the open road. “Are you really that desperate for allies? She has no business being here. She’s just an extra person I have to work around.”

  As he drove toward Dalhousie, Taban tried to clear his mind by humming a beat that resembled the drumming of the ocean. When that failed, he shouted to his car. “Instruction: play recent song.” The bouncing music of Knots of Avernus boomed from the speakers. “Instruction: turn up volume to five.” The music increased to a deafening cacophony, into which he plunged his mind, to purge his thoughts.

  ***

  Taban made his way through the crowded Life Science Centre on the Dalhousie campus. At the end of the hall, he swiped his Ogham across the scanner and entered the reserved room. He froze in the doorway. The light from Abigail’s tablet highlighted the outline of her figure in black under her white lab coat. Tugging on the plastic cap covering her hair, she hunched over hundreds of miniature test tubes containing cheek samples.

  “Oh, hello.” She turned around. “I didn’t know you were coming in today.”

  I didn’t know you were going to be here. I need to run a sample of Danny’s hair, but I can’t do it with you in the room, Taban thought. “Nice to see you,” he said, taking a lab coat out of the closet and pulling it on over his clothes, “How is the survey working?”

  “Savali’s lecture brought in tons of samples from people whose genomes weren’t sequenced at birth. Even more people submitted their documented genomes,” Abigail said excitedly. “Best of all, Savali finally cleared me to put the lecture online.”

  “People really want to know about themselves.” Taban picked up a new tray of samples and placed them on the lab table next to Abigail.

  “Yes, they do. All the better for us.” Abigail smiled. “Unfortunately, nothing seems to be matching the usual genes I found in people who live to over 120. I hope Savali’s right about the journal. If I knew for sure, I could get a grant to test people in Scotland and Ireland. Even though lots of people have emigrated and immigrated, that area would be the best place to locate those genes. Honestly, it’s like finding a needle in a haystack right now.”

  “At least the technology is good enough that you can work in bulk.”

  “Yeah thank goodness I can run nuclear and mitochondrial DNA simultaneously in minutes for each sample. But I just wish …”

  “Wish what?” Taban asked preparing the enzyme to copy the DNA.

  “I don’t have any funding. I need support from gene therapy organizations. I can taste the discovery. I’m just not quite there yet.” Removing her gloves, she walked to the other side of the room. “Can you double check this?” She indicated a mounted tablet. “The software we use to check for specific gene sequences in the submitted genomes had an upgrade, but it seems to be running slower.”

  “Sure,” Taban agreed, though he didn’t know more than she did about the software. She’s such a lab rat. How am I going to get her out of here? he wondered.

  While he inspected the software, she removed his cap and tried to untangle his curls. “Your beautiful hair’s a mess. Did you take a dip in the ocean earlier?” She tugged on one of his salt laid curls. “You’re like Elatha.”

  “Who?”

  “Oh, nothing. May Savali has been teaching me more about Celtic mythology. Probably wouldn’t interest you.”

  “Actually, it would. Please, tell me more.”

  “Elatha was a Formorian prince who was handsome, unlike the other Formorians. He was more like an Each Uisge, really.”

  “And?”

  “Well, he was a sea god. So he probably swam like you do and most accounts of him describe him as blond.” She cheerfully ran her fingers through his forelock.

  Frustrated with the software and still fuming over Cassidy’s impressive rescue, Taban snapped at her. “What is it with you and blond hair?”

  She looked at the ground in a way that reminded him of a small child. “When the other kids teased me for studying all the time, there was this one boy who was nice to me. He just happened to have platinum-blond hair, so it makes me happy when I see it.” Abigail glared up at him. “You don’t understand what it’s like to feel like you only have one thing you’re good at. I may be a science prodigy, but I didn’t have any friends growing up. I spent my life in a lab because it’s easier.”

  “I’m sorry,” he said with true sincerity. “I didn’t know. Look, I’ll run the next set of samples to make it up to you. You can go to a bar or something and have fun.”

  “It’s okay. I’m fine now.” She put on new gloves and handed him another plastic cap. “Besides, I’m supposed to supervise and I’m no good with people.”

  “You’re great with me and I’m a person.” Taban touched his chest to remind himself of that fact. “I love you,” he tried, but her expression didn’t improve. What would Eadowen say? Taban wondered. “You look tired.” He faked a yawn to inspire one from her. “You know taking care of your mental health is incredibly important. You should do something nice for yourself that makes you feel good; social or otherwise.” He escorted her to the door. Yay! I’m becoming fluent in Eadowen, Taban thought. It’s gotten more and more difficult to control her. Maybe my abilities diminish with a long-term relationship.

  “No! I need to do more wor
k,” she said.

  “Well, I suppose we could do it right here to save time. That’ll help you feel better.” With a suggestive smirk, Taban glanced at an empty lab table.

  “That’s not sanitary and there are security cameras.” Abigail waved her arms in embarrassment. “Alright, alright. I’ll go. You’re very sweet to do extra work for me.”

  “That’s right. You aren’t going to make any discoveries without being in your best health.” Taban kissed her and took her lab coat. “I’ll take care of everything.” As soon as the door clicked shut, Taban rushed over to the samples. Hurriedly, he set a new gel and took a vial out of a small pocket on his duffel bag. With his gloved hand, he carefully laid out the hairs he’d collected from Danny. He noticed enough follicles on the ends of the hair to run a tissue test similar to the cheek sample. Under a microscope, he removed the follicles and placed them into test tubes for replication. Capping the tubes, he balanced each in the centrifuge. After obtaining the extracted DNA he applied it to the polyacrylamide gel to separate the DNA. When the electrophoresis process finished, he ran a photograph of the results through the software. While he waited for the results, he set the rest of Abigail’s samples on another tablet and tidied the laboratory.

  “Data complete,” the tablet informed him.

  “Run an ancestry on both mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and nuclear DNA for sample ‘Danny,’ ” Taban commanded. He read the screen. So, Edana Reyes has roots of Aztec origin that follows with her father being Mexican. There’s the Pict and the Scythian that goes with the GF theory. Huh, she’s got some Indonesian in there too. It looks like she has some genetic material from the ancient people of Flores. He laughed to himself. It’d be funny if she got some special abilities from that.

  Taban touched his Ogham to bring up a hidden file containing DNA samples from the Tolymie family. He compared the chromosomes that contained genes for longevity Abigail had marked. Ugh. I wish genetics was like it is in comic books: one magic gene. There are tons of these little things on different chromosomes. “Mark longevity genes on sample ‘Danny.’” After studious inspection, he concluded that Danny’s marked genes most closely matched Aydan’s. None of the four samples had inherited the exact same set of genes. This is good. It means only someone with a high percentage of these genes will show up on Abigail’s radar.

  Connecting his Ogham to the tablet, Taban commanded: “Transfer data to connected Ogham.” He removed his Ogham. “Delete all data related to sample ‘Danny.’” Taban verified several times that the software erased the data, and then he checked through the system to make sure there wasn’t any evidence of his work. Then he loaded the program with samples from Abigail’s set. As he finished cleaning the room, another idea struck him.

  Online, he found the old research Abigail had published on charisma. There’s a gene on the fourth chromosome that she only found in two people out of the thousands of samples she has gathered, Taban thought as he read through her notes. One of the people was a highly successful actor and the other a Fortune 500 business woman. I wish Abigail didn’t have to keep their identities anonymous. The gene they possessed seemed to be linked to facial movement control. Taban swabbed his cheek and prepared his own DNA sample. This time he marked the gene listed in her work. Recalling Eadowen’s assertion that he too had inherited capacities similar to Taban’s own, Taban reconnected his Ogham to the tablet and marked Eadowen’s genome. Taban read the screen and sighed. Well Ea, it appears we have at least one thing in common. He checked Donovan and Aydan, neither yielded the gene. It’s just us, Ea. Taban wiped his eyes on a strap under his lab coat. He had to find out how close May Savali was to locating the journal. With any luck, she hadn’t yet connected to the characteristic to the Tolymies, but if she did, she could claim it as a historical artifact. Then she and Abigail would have the evidence they needed to get backing from the major gene therapy financial contributors. Seeing his disheveled reflection in the laboratory window, Taban decided he needed to clean up before plying Daisuke for information. He locked up the room and headed to the gym to shower. The problem with being a swimmer is you spend half your life in the pool and the other half in the shower.

  ***

  A freshened Taban entered the Queen Elizabeth Health Sciences Centre. Based on the head injury Daisuke received, Taban trusted the staff would keep him for at least most of the day.

  “May I help you, sir?” the receptionist asked.

  “Good afternoon, Jake,” Taban read off of the name tag. “I rescued a guy earlier today and I’d like to make sure he’s okay. I’m so worried about him.” In the shower Taban had avoided scrubbing his face, so that his tear stains remained visible.

  The receptionist’s brow furrowed with concern. “We heard about that, but we don’t usually—”

  “Would you be so kind as to go in and ask him if he’ll take a visitor?” Taban begged. “It’d mean the world to me.”

  “Yes, I think I can get someone to do that,” he said. “May I see your identification?”

  “Yeah.” Taban touched his Ogham and held it out. “I appreciate it so much,” Taban gushed as the receptionist scanned it.

  A few minutes later a nurse went to speak with Daisuke at the request of the receptionist. Taban settled into one of the hospital chairs, prepared to wait awhile for a response, but the nurse returned almost immediately. “Mr. Savali says he can see you now,” he reported.

  Taban followed the nurse down the hallway to Daisuke’s room. An IV in his arm, Daisuke reclined on the sterile hospital bed, watching a documentary about heavy artillery. “Hi there,” Taban said. “I’m really sorry,” he added when he saw the bloody bandages around Daisuke’s head.

  “Don’t be sorry.” Daisuke muted the sound on the film. “It’s not your fault. Thanks for helping to rescue me.”

  “I brought your kayak-thing. I’ll put it on your car when I leave,” Taban offered. “How’re you doing?”

  “I have a concussion and needed a few stitches. You want to sit down?”

  “I’m so sorry.” Taban grabbed a chair to sit next to the bed. “Good thing you’re tough.”

  “It’s no big. They won’t let me leave though, because they don’t want me to fall asleep,” Daisuke grumbled. “The doctor lady told me that I might have drowned if that girl hadn’t pulled me out and given me CPR. Where’s she? I’d like to thank her too.”

  “I can give you her contact information. How’s your memory?”

  “I’m fine, really.” Daisuke touched his matted raven hair and winced. “I remember talking to you about my mom’s research and everything. You’re really into that stuff. Guess it makes sense since you’re Dr. Crane’s lab aid or something.”

  “Since I’ve been working with Abby—Dr. Crane, I’ve gotten really good at keeping stuff confidential. I’m dying to know what your mom learned about that journal. I won’t even tell Ab—Dr. Crane.”

  “Ha. You bugged me about that before. I don’t get why it’s such a big deal. All I know is that my mom figured out which family line probably brought part of the journal over from Ireland. She says they live in the area too,” Daisuke mused. “Oh, and something about the other half being in Scotland. She’s planning a research trip soon.”

  “Yeah, you’re right, that’s not really all that interesting,” Taban said as nonchalantly as he could while internally panicking. Dr. Savali already knows it’s with the Tolymies. Does she know where their house is? And she knows where the other half is …

  “Hey buddy, you look like you’re the one who needs medical attention.”

  “Oh, I’m just prone to migraines.” Taban lied.

  To his relief, Daisuke laughed. “Should I call that nurse in for you?”

  “Nah,” Taban said. “We can’t all be made of iron like you and a certain giant lacrosse defender I know.”

  “Is the defender cute?”

  “Gorgeous, actually. You two could totally bond over benching Shetland ponies.” Taban combed his f
ingers through his own hair. “By the way, the straps on the kayak were gone when I got it to shore.”

  “I couldn’t undo them, so I just ripped them out. Then I hit my head on a rock and blacked out.”

  It irked Taban that Daisuke and Cassidy had managed to thwart him without even trying. “Anything I can do for you before I head out?” Taban said bitterly.

  “No. I’m well taken care of,” Daisuke replied, clapping Taban on the back hard enough to make him lurch. “Would you give me that girl’s information though? She gave me CPR on a wave ski. That’s badass.”

  “Her name’s Cassidy. Here’s her basic contact. I don’t think she’ll mind if I give that to you. She’s headed out tomorrow morning.”

  “Too bad I won’t be able to thank her in person.” Daisuke accepted Cassidy’s contact information with his Ogham. “Maybe see you around?” he asked.

  “Yeah. Sure. I’ll be in touch.” Taban waved as he left Daisuke’s room. He nodded to the receptionist and headed to the parking lot.

  Once safely in his car, Taban peeled back a lid on a can of sardines. He crushed the little salty fish in between his molars, as he read about the Each Uisge Abigail had mentioned. If the Tuatha de Danann have descendants, the Each Uisges might as well, Taban thought. “The Each Uisge would seduce its prey then the victim would get attached to its skin. The beast would drag the prey into its home in the ocean and eat him or her alive, except for the liver,” Taban read aloud to himself. “That’s disgusting.” He found several artist interpretations of the Each Uisge that depicted the beast as a man with a horse head. And the wrong part of the body part is like a horse, he concluded. I really hope that thing isn’t my ancestor. Why couldn’t my genetics give me laser eye beams or make me a vampire? In no mood to return home, Taban pulled the lever to recline his seat. Reasoning that he must be tired if he couldn’t fool Daisuke about his reaction to the news about the journal, Taban prepared his alarm clock; a timer on his tablet connected to a squirt bottle. Since he could only wake up naturally or on contact with water, he had created a miniature Rube Goldberg design for occasions when Eadowen couldn’t be bothered to wake him.