“Yes?” Cassidy said.
“I almost killed him … if you and Aydan hadn’t …”
“He isn’t dead,” Cassidy assured her. “You helped us all.”
“But, I might kill someone else someday.”
“I know you’ll learn control.”
“But what if …”
“What if, has yet to be seen,” Cassidy replied, her own frustration deepening her voice.
“What’s wrong?” Danny asked.
“I’m feeling pathetic for not being able to defend myself, and having troubled you all to rescue me.”
“The only thing that’s pathetic is that the expectation of women these days is that they have to be intelligent, wise, strong, ethical, empathetic, and beautiful,” Aydan retorted. “Cassidy, you rescued a drowning man, held your own even after getting drugged, and stood by your friend. If you were any more powerful, I’d be dragging you in to get your genes checked for superpowers. Danny, you are an oddball, but there’s nothing wrong with that. No one is perfect. Even women—but for some reason you’re expected to be.”
“That’s why people have to work together,” Donovan muttered. The rest of the group stared at him. “Yes, I can speak in complete sentences,” he sighed.
“I’ll take care of explaining this mess.” Aydan held onto his brother’s arm. “I recommend you both get cleaned up.”
CHAPTER 21
GO WEST, SHEARED ADONIS
TABAN AWOKE and held his Ogham over his head to read the time: three-seventeen in the afternoon. As usual, he had slept through hundreds of alarm sounds from his Ogham. He hadn’t bothered to set up a way to spray water on his face. Wrapped in the bleached sheets, he oozed from the bed to the scratchy hotel carpet and stared at the dimpled white ceiling. Agonizing pain shot through his chest. After getting treatment at the hospital, he’d flown to Seattle to see his sister. He knew, from browsing her Me-Site, that she was at a modeling gig downtown. Several messages from Abigail showed on his Ogham.
“Request for video chat,” his Ogham said. He accepted it.
“Hi, Taban how are you?” Abigail said.
“I’m alright. Sorry to leave so suddenly,” Taban replied, trying to give her a winning smile, but he seemed to have forgotten how. “Look, I know it’s not my place, but I really think you should do research in something else. I know Savali is desperately searching for the journal, but I don’t think it exists.”
“Savali just contacted me to tell me she thinks she’s searching for a ghost.” Abigail’s voice wavered.
“You have better things to do than chasing fantasies of eternal youth.”
She’s so smart and kind. Her one weakness is that she’s too trusting, which shouldn’t have to be a flaw. She’ll be fine, Taban told himself. “I know it’s frustrating,” he said. “Why don’t you work on cancer research. They’ve made incredible headway, but there’s so much to be done.” He suggested. “And there’s money in it,” he offered, knowing that she’d only really considered research topics from an ethical perspective, and not from a financial one.
“But this is really important to me. I don’t want to get old and ugly.”
“Enjoy what you have while you have it!” Taban felt as though this was the first honest conversation he’d ever had with the scientist. “You’ll age beautifully and you’re so incredibly smart. Take some time off please.”
“Your father would hate that,” she cried. “He really supports the program.”
“Don’t tell him. He won’t know if you take six months or a year off. Just tell him you have another lead. Go look for the journal on a tropical island or something.”
“I’ve always wanted to go to Australia,” she conceded.
“No … not Australia … too many things that can kill you,” Taban said, realizing that his father’s sister might be a bigger threat than his father, Abigail, and Savali combined. The international privacy laws and his father’s ignorance were really the only things protecting the Tolymies. I wish I’d remembered to warn the Tolymies about my aunt, he thought. I forget if she has kids or not.
“I’ll think about it. You’re breaking up with me aren’t you?” Her eyes filled with tears, but she gulped back any sobs.
I wish she’d just punched me, Taban thought. “Yeah. I don’t think I can continue this. I hope you can forgive me.”
“At least I’m not as crazy in love as I was during the first two years of our relationship. My head was in the clouds so much.” She covered her face with her hands. “I met a really handsome guy the other day, we went to lunch, and he told me he’d be my wingman. I guess I should accept his offer.” She lashed out at him with bitterness on her tongue.
Taban let her vent her anger on him. When she hung up, he paid the escort company he’d hired to help her find a suitable companion. Taking long silver shears out of his shoulder bag, he stood in front of the full length mirror. He grabbed a fistful of his blond bangs and sliced it off. The cold metal of the blades hit his scalp as he hacked off waves of hair. Clumps fell around him and scattered across the carpet like straw thrown from a hay-baler. He barely noticed when his reflection transformed into an advertisement for Knots of Avernus. Leaving a large tip for the cleaning service he left the room.
Rain pattered on the sidewalk. His newly-sheared scalp felt every drop. His ribs still throbbed from the imprint Danny had left on him. His whole body ached. Even his soul ached. There was still one more thing to be done before he could disappear from his father’s world. He dragged his feet along the pavement almost passing Lincoln Street where he was supposed to turn. Stopping midway through crossing the street to correct his course, he heard car horns blaring at him. It was time to tell his sister what he had done.
As he rode the elevator to the bottom floor, he looked at himself in the ceiling mirror. Without his blond hair, bright clothes, or gigantic fake grin, Taban barely recognized himself. He touched his emaciated shoulder, then his white T-shirt, to prove the reflection was him. He realized he’d barely eaten in days and still wasn’t hungry. A few blocks down the street, he found the place where his sister was working. He loitered outside for a half hour. When he saw her, he felt sick to his stomach. Her waist had been altered unnaturally; her short hair was stringy from malnutrition; and her dark eyes were blank. To his horror she walked right past him.
“Telyn! It’s me!” He called to her. “Don’t you recognize your big brother?”
She spun around. To his relief a look of recognition showed in the sixteen-year-old’s eyes. Then she feebly punched him in the face.
Okay, does anyone else want to hit me? Taban thought rubbing his cheek. Never mind, I don’t want to know the answer to that.
“Where have you been?! You were the only person, who was there for me. Then you ran off to LA and then Canada! You’re no big brother to me.”
“I wanted to be there for you! I really did, but Dr. Mir … our father … wouldn’t let me.” Taban cried. “I love you.”
A couple of passerbys stared at him. He waited for a crowd of people. “Come with me,” he took his sister by the hand and led her into the Westlake Center. “Walk with me, while we talk.” He draped his arm around her shoulders, so they could speak more closely, with people thinking they were a couple. “What happened to your body? Who did this to you?”
“Corset, rib removal, and laxatives,” she replied after a long silence. “Dad did it, because he didn’t think I was pretty enough to get the jobs he wanted me to get. He’s scheduled me for plastic surgery soon. I’m going to run away. Will you help me?”
“Yes. I will. Is there anything else you want to tell me?”
“I can’t go anywhere without getting attention. Even in middle school everyone acted weird around me. They called me a slut, then they wanted me to come to their birthday parties.”
“You’re a Peach Whisky like me,” Taban explained. “You attract people and your appeal frightens them, even as it lures them. They are jealous of y
ou and they want you.”
“A Peach what?”
Taban searched on his Ogham. “This.” She looked at an image on his Ogham.
“That’s ridiculous. I’m not some dude with a horse head and a name that sounds like a bad-tasting alcoholic beverage.”
“You don’t have to believe me.” He lowered his voice. “I’m going to make your life a lot better by nine-o-clock tonight. Just trust me.”
“Well, I don’t have much choice.”
“Good. Now father is staying with you right?”
“Yes, he’s been visiting a lot lately, saying you’re a disappointment,” she replied, regarding a chocolate shop like a wild animal. Taban took her inside the shop. The young man working at the counter took one look at her and handed her a raspberry truffle the size of Taban’s fist.
“It’s free,” the employee confirmed. “And get her some real food.”
“Where’s mom?” Taban asked as they left the chocolatier.
“She’s been working a lot lately.” The chocolate melted over her fingers. “She probably won’t come home tonight.”
“Listen carefully, I want you to go home and tell Dad I’m coming over, so he’ll wait on having dinner. Oh, and mention I got in a car accident last week, because I kind of look like a mess.”
“Ok.”
“Does mom have security cameras in her apartment?”
“She doesn’t. What are you going to do?”
“If you don’t know, no one can blame you,” he replied. “I’ll come by in a couple of hours,” Taban added with a tight embrace. He released his sister and located a natural food store on his Ogham. Electing to walk instead of ride in a taxi, he made his way up to the small shop. He bribed a homeless man with the promise of beer if he’d purchase a poisonous mushroom, false morels, for him. The rain turned to mist as he exited a drug store with old-fashioned cold medicine in a little red box. He jogged down to Pike Place Market, where he picked up three purple sea urchins and was distracted by fish throwing.
Ingredients in hand, he took a taxi to a location several blocks from his mother and sister’s apartment. From that point, he approached the apartment complex. Inside the glass doors, he saw a large male security guard pacing back and forth. Taban backed behind a building. To his dismay the rain had stopped. He looked around until he found a gutter still draining water, he stepped underneath it, and let the water pour over his body. This is a time when it’s good that I’m not handsome, because men don’t consider me a threat, Taban reminded himself as he carefully stuck his now translucent shirt to the black bruises on his chest. He checked his reflection in a vacant store window. His soaked, emaciated body and uneven haircut reminded him of a stray dog. As the wind picked up, the evening sun started to shine a bright-orange onto the street. With a glance toward the sun, Taban decided the weather in Seattle was crazier than him. He returned to the upscale apartment building, put on a baseball cap, and walked right in through the front doors.
“Where do you think you’re going young man?” The guard asked him. Taban slouched to make himself look as small as possible, but didn’t need to fake his shivering.
“I’m going to visit my mom. I live with my dad,” he gave the guard his best wide-eyed stare. “Didn’t someone sign me in?”
“What happened to you?”
“Got beat up. No idea why.” Taban let his voice crack to give the illusion of a younger age. “Must’ve mistaken me for someone else.”
“What’s your name, kid?”
“Connor,” Taban replied. He had considered using his middle name, Ahern, but thought better of it and used the name of the movie star who had a crush on Eadowen.
“Can I see your I.D?”
With cold fingers, Taban fumbled with his Ogham as though trying to pull up his I.D. Instead, he unclasped his Ogham and let it fall to the ground in such a way that it appeared accidental—a trick he’d perfected to flirt with women. Groaning in real pain, he knelt to retrieve the device and batted it with his hand, so it slid across the floor. He scrambled pathetically to pick it up.
“Just go.” The security guard gestured to the elevator.
Haha. Sucker, Taban thought, wincing as he got to his feet.
He rode the elevator to the fourteenth floor and knocked on room 1405. Telyn let Taban inside and Taban saw his father watching something on his Ogham in the expensively furnished living room.
“What brings you here?” His father said without looking up. “There better be some news about the research that Abigail hasn’t given me.”
“Science is a slow process, father, but we may have a lead,” Taban lied. “Could we order dinner? I’m starved.”
“Go ahead. Order something for all of us.”
“Seafood is your favorite right, Telyn?” Taban said sweetly.
“Yeah!” Telyn jumped happily at the mention of dinner.
“She can’t eat dinner,” his father barked. “No food after five, to keep her weight down.”
“How about sea urchin? One sea urchin only has a couple tablespoons of insides, so very few calories. How about a mushroom risotto for the main course; since she’s allergic to mushrooms, she won’t eat leftovers.”
“Fine,” his father replied.
His sister looked crushed that her brother had taken her father’s side and stormed off to her bedroom. Dr. Mir must have treated her like a spoiled princess until he decided to use her for more money, Taban realized as he gave his father a list of ingredients to send to several delivery vendors.
“I thought you were ordering dinner not ingredients.”
“My roommate at the academy was a really good cook. I picked up some stuff.”
“As long as it gets on the table quickly.”
“Anything good in the wine cabinet?” Taban asked, browsing the bottles.
“Pour me a glass.”
“A good pinot noir should breathe.” Taban selected a bottle, uncorked it, and took it into the kitchen. Once out of sight, he took the cold medicine, ground the tablet between his fingers, and slipped it into the wine. He transferred the groceries he’d concealed in his shoulder bag to the fridge. After he finished the mise en place, Taban crossed the living room and went into the restroom. Placing the cold medicine in the cabinet, he discarded any other pills that would treat similar symptoms. “That should be long enough for the wine,” Taban remarked. He poured two glasses and presented his father with one. After inspecting the wine, Dr. Mir took a long sip. Taban waited until his father had drunk half the glass before he took a sip. To show disgust, Taban wrinkled his nose, “I think it’s corked.” He spat the tangy liquid back into the glass. “Let me get another bottle.” Snatching up another bottle, he uncorked it in the kitchen and poured himself a glass. After pouring the rest down the drain, he transferred the poisoned wine to the other bottle and brought the tainted one back to the living room.
While they waited for the ingredients, Taban fleshed out an involved story of Abigail’s lead with the journal. As he refilled his father’s wine glass, Taban provided tantalizing descriptions of his relations with her to minimize the number of relevant questions his father asked.
The scent of melted butter wafted through the kitchen as Taban followed a mushroom risotto recipe Eadowen had taught him. He started the rice on the oven and set to work chopping the mushrooms. In one pan he sautéed regular morels, in the other he cooked the false morels he’d purchased earlier in the day. While he waited for the rice to cook, Taban cracked open the sea urchins. He ground some of the poisonous sea urchin spines and contaminated two of the open vessels: one for his sister, the other for his father. Scooping the risotto onto two plates, he double-checked to make sure the one containing the false morels would wind up in front of his father. He meticulously washed all of the dishes, destroying the evidence of the separately cooked false morels.
“Come have your sea urchin,” Taban called to Telyn as he set the glass table with the first course. Grudgingly, she joined T
aban and her father at the table adjacent to the kitchen. Her smile melted Taban’s heart as she slurped the gut of the urchin off her spoon. His father seemed to enjoy it as well. Though Taban had no taste for urchin, he swallowed the cold goop anyway.
Next, Taban served his father the risotto. Telyn was thereby banned from the table. The rich creamy taste combined with subtle spice reminded Taban of Eadowen’s cooking, and the relationship they had.
“What’s wrong with you?” Mr. Mir asked in a pointed way that sounded like an accusation.
“Nothing. Ea … I mean, I could’ve done a better job on this meal,” Taban said.
After dinner, Taban endured his father’s slurred questions. Fortunately, his father was no longer in a sufficient mental state to comprehend his responses. No less than an hour after dinner, Telyn ran out of her bedroom and retched in the restroom. Mr. Mir soon followed. Taban didn’t expect the minor food poisoning from the sea urchin to affect his victims very much. After all, that was part of the plan: if Telyn got sick, she would be even less likely to receive any blame.
“Must be a stomach virus that stupid girl gave me,” Mr. Mir gestured to his daughter.
“You should take something for that,” Taban suggested. “I don’t want to get sick.”
As Taban had predicted, his father downed the classic cold medicine without noticing it had been changed out for a newer version. Classic cold medicine has a warning label against consuming alcohol with it, Taban thought. Unlike a lot of medications, it’s not because the company is warning against combining depressants; in this case, a chemical reaction occurs that can destroy a person’s liver.
Green from the urchin spines, his father lay on the sofa, sweating and holding his stomach. Telyn retreated to her room with a stove pot in hand. Taban waited until his father had to return to the restroom, before he crept into Telyn’s room after her. Receiving the brunt end of her glare as she lay on her bed, he bent over her.
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