Drawing Bloodlines

by Steve Bevil

  The room fell quiet as he turned to look at Avery again. Avery solemnly shook his head. Slowly, it appeared that Dr. Colvers tried to connect with the faces scattered around the table. Angela was seated closest to him and when he flashed her the same crooked smile, she appeared to squirm and look uncomfortable. “The impact of this discovery to our field — to science — would be astronomical,” he continued, placing his hands on his hips. He pointed to Sakiya Lee. “We have been studying secret societies for years, trying to prove their existence, their footprint on society. You can’t expect us to keep quiet about this, Avery.”

  Nathan felt a twinge in his stomach, as if the ground had been yanked from underneath him. Is he threatening to expose us? He thought.

  “On the contrary Dr. Colvers, he can,” said the slender man with piercing blue eyes that was seated at the head of the table. He had a stern look on his face and, absent of a pair of dark-rimmed glasses and a sharp-angled nose, looked like an older version of Jonathan. The man with the piercing blue eyes stopped to look at Avery, before dramatically clasping his hands in front of him. “What proof do you have? Your hard drive and your data has been destroyed.” Defiantly, he turned to look at Sakiya Lee. “And the little proof you did have of the Order’s existence — including your research on the Firewalker prophecy — was confiscated by the blonde woman that attacked you in your office.”

  “Avery!” cried Dr. Colvers. His small brown eyes quivered beneath his pointy dark glasses. “You wouldn’t…. You wouldn’t dare shut me out?”

  There was desperation in Dr. Colvers eyes, but it was met with silence. Not a single word was uttered from anyone at the table. “I have dedicated my life to this!” he shouted, slamming his fist on the table. Angela and Alan flinched back and Angela almost toppled from her seat. Avery and Sakiya Lee’s eyes were wide and their mouths gaped open. “I’m sorry,” he said, after a brief moment. He removed his glasses, followed by a slow wipe of his brow. “I’ve lost so much studying these societies. I lost my tenure at Oxford because of this.” He stepped closer to Avery and took a deep breath. “And to think after all this time, you had some insight into at least one of them.” He paused, putting on his glasses and folding his arms. “And don’t think I don’t know what they say about me — my colleagues — my supposed friends. I guess ‘Crazy Colvers’ isn’t so crazy after all.”

  Alan let out a slight snicker and Angela grumbled something while rolling her eyes.

  “Then it must all stop here,” said Avery, assertively, before the man seated at the head of the table could get a word in. Avery nodded, ardently. “Yes, Cletus … everything.” Alan snickered again and Avery cut him a disapproving glare before loudly clearing his throat. “The blogs, the newsletter, everything pertaining to the Order.…”

  “B–but, Avery…” protested Dr. Colvers.

  Suddenly, the side door to the conservatory swung open, causing the glass windows around the room to shake. It looked like the door was connected to an outdoor patio and, to Nathan’s surprise, in stepped Stephen Malick. Malick looked up and quickly put away his cell phone. Who is he texting? Nathan pondered to himself.

  “You saw what happened today Cletus, and to what extent the Order is willing to go,” continued Avery. “This goes beyond scholarly research. This is no longer about academics.” He paused, looking back at Nathan. “You don’t have the experience with that world — the Order — like I do. Believe me, it could have turned out a lot worse.”

  Nathan watched as Malick casually leaned against the small wooden desk that sat not too far away from the conservatory’s side glass door. For a second, Malick’s gaze connected with Nathan. It was short lived, however, because he pulled out his cell phone again.

  “Okay, Avery,” said Dr. Colvers, slowly. He turned to Sakiya Lee and she encouragingly nodded her head. “My newsletter and my blog are dismantled. They are permanently on sabbatical.”

  “That means you too, son,” said the piercing blue-eyed man seated at the head of the table.

  One by one, all eyes fell on Jonathan. “B–but, Dad,” he said. Jonathan had a confused look on his face. “My research says nothing about the Order.…”

  “I’m sorry, son,” he confirmed, genuinely. “For obvious reasons, you know I can’t publish your article about the new Cahokia symbol or about the Legend of the Firewalker.” He paused to look at Nathan. “We can’t risk the Order coming after you again, or Dr. Helmsely.”

  “Gregory is right,” said a familiar voice from behind Nathan. Nathan spun around and then smiled wearily. “We have to do everything possible to get you and the others off their radar — and publishing that article won’t do that. If anything, it might infuriate the Order.”

  “Precisely,” said Gregory Black, grinning back at her.

  Nervously, Nathan rubbed the back of his neck. He had a hard time keeping eye contact with the slender dark-haired woman that stood in front of him. “Hello, Nathan,” she said, firmly. She had a sarcastic look on her face. “Fancy meeting you here. What brings you to London?”

  “Uhh, hi, Amelia,” stumbled Nathan. He cast his gaze to the ground, but regained his confidence. “I really am sorry, but — I can explain.”

  “Don’t be too hard on him, Mom,” said Lafonda, stepping into the room from the main house. She closed the double wood-paneled glass doors behind her and the glass windows around the conservatory rattled again. “It wasn’t all his idea and, besides, we all made the decision to come to London together — to protect us.”

  Angela perked up at the sight of Lafonda, causing her blonde curly hair to bounce freely on her shoulders. She was so happy that Nathan wouldn’t have been surprised if she started to clap. Lafonda smiled at her and then spotted Malick. Malick displayed a huge grin, immediately putting his cell phone away and straightening his posture. Lafonda responded by shaking her head.

  “I don’t care whose idea it was,” grumbled Amelia, tossing her dark hair over her shoulders. Nathan thought her shiny black hair, and radiant brown skin, were almost identical to that of Lafonda. “It was completely reckless — and absolutely irresponsible!”

  “Now, Amelia,” cautioned Avery. “Let’s not lose track of why we’re all here.” He gave both Nathan and Lafonda a stern look. He then allowed his penetrating gaze to connect with Angela and Alan, seated across the table. “Yes, sneaking away in the middle of the night to fly halfway across the world was definitely wrong — for any reason — and we will definitely address that later. But right now, we have a more pressing issue at hand.” He turned to look at Malick. “We need to keep them safe, and when my mother gets here, she’ll take care of the rest.”

  “LaDonda’s coming? Here?” blurted Nathan.

  “So, the mysterious Lady D has finally come out of hiding,” mocked Alan.

  “I’m sure she wasn’t hiding, Alan,” said Angela, rolling her eyes. “She has no reason to be.”

  “Oh, okay,” he mumbled, pausing to turn on his cell phone. “It was quite the convenient disappearing act.”

  “Where is she?” asked Lafonda. She had an impatient look on her face as she unfastened a few of the almond-colored buttons to her dark trench coat.

  “Well, at home,” said Avery, glancing over at Amelia. “In Cahokia Falls. I spoke to her this morning. She said she had a few things she needed to wrap up first, but she will be here by Tuesday.”

  “Tuesday?” said Amelia. The space between her eyebrows had formed frown lines. “I was planning on putting them on the first flight back to Cahokia Falls as soon as possible.”

  “No, not yet,” said Avery. He eyed Nathan and then Lafonda. “Mom was very specific not to do anything until she got here.”

  Lafonda tossed her long shiny black hair over her shoulder and then bit her lip. “Okay,” she said with a nod, glancing at Angela.

  “So,” said Angela, scooting forward in her chair. Energetically, she rested her elbows on the dark wood table. “What shall we do until then?”

 
“I can think of a few things,” said Alan, his head still buried in his cell phone. “And they all involve Burberry’s and Prada.”

  Angela quickly gestured her head toward Lafonda’s father and Lafonda quickly nodded her head. “Dad,” she said, taking a position next to him. “I was talking to Mom about going shopping.…”

  “Absolutely not, Lafonda!” said Avery. He glared at Alan and Angela from above his glasses. “Like I said to your friends earlier, how are we supposed to keep you safe with you guys running around the city?”

  “Dad! But we came all the way here!” said Lafonda, in a whiny little girl’s voice. “And besides, why would we still be on the Orders radar? They don’t know about Jonathan’s phone. And based on the smug look on the blonde’s face that attacked us, she totally thinks she has us beat.”

  Nathan raised his eyebrows and stifled his chuckle. Don’t overdo it Lafonda, he thought to himself. There’s a reason why you didn’t get cast in our high school’s version of High School Musical. A slight chuckle escaped his mouth. Not even as the janitor.

  Avery glanced at Alan and Angela again as Angela nodded eagerly. He took a deep breath and looked helplessly at Amelia. “I know I don’t want them going anywhere near that shop,” she said.

  Slowly, Alan began to raise his hand. “Uhh?” he stuttered and Angela quickly put down his hand.

  “Yes!” Avery said, with nods of affirmation, as he stared at his wife. It was as if he was trying to muster confidence for his decision. “We’re not doing anything, and that includes shopping. At least until LaDonda gets here.”

  “But shouldn’t we be trying to decipher the rest of the prophecy?” asked Dr. Colvers. There was a sudden silence in the room and Dr. Colvers fidgeted with the black buttons to his white shirt. Avery and Dr. Gregory Black stared at him. “I mean, if you really think about it, isn’t the best way to keep all of us safe is to find out why the Order was coming after us in the first place?”

  “I second that idea,” said Jonathan, immediately, adjusting his glasses.

  Dr. Colvers smiled wholeheartedly and Angela appeared to squirm again. “If Jonathan still has the pictures on his phone,” he continued, pointing at him. “Let’s find out why they’re so hell-bent on keeping the legend about the Firewalker a secret.”

  “Oh boy,” said Alan, underneath his breath. “Here we go with the Firewalker prophecy again.” Defiantly, he gawked at Angela. “How about I vote, no,” he said aloud. “And if we’re smart — considering I’m sitting in a room full of Ph.D.’s — we drop that phone in the toilet and then toss it down the river.”

  Jonathan frowned.

  “What?” asked Alan with a dramatic shrug. “It’s not even a smart phone — get over it.”

  “I second that idea,” said Malick, putting away his cell phone again. “The sooner we distance ourselves away from this prophecy stuff, the better.”

  “We do have three archeologists in the room,” said Gregory, ignoring Alan, and Malick. His piercing blue eyes were wide and they had an extra sparkle to them as he caressed his chin.

  I’ve seen that look before, thought Nathan. He glanced over at Jonathan and chuckled.

  “And I bet if you get started now, you could have it finished by morning!” said Angela with a wink.

  Lafonda quickly nodded at Angela and then smiled, placing a hand on her father’s shoulder. “What else are we going to do until my grandmother gets here?”

  “And don’t forget about the smart and lovely assistant,” said Sakiya Lee. There was silence around the table and across the room. “Our femme fatale may have my flash drive, but I’m sure I can still recall my research.”

  “She speaks!” said Alan, his eyes wide open. Angela released a drawn out sigh and then swiftly elbowed him in his side. “Ow, Angela! What? She’s barely said a word this entire time!”

  “And don’t forget about me,” said Jonathan, eagerly raising his hand.

  Avery watched fondly as Gregory Black beamed at his son’s enthusiasm. “So, what do you think, hon?” he asked, looking back at Amelia.

  She leaned against his chair and then gently caressed the top of his head. “I don’t know,” she said, slowly. “But what I do know is that I don’t have a good feeling about this.” She stood upright again and then unbuttoned the top two buttons to her maroon pea coat. “What did LaDonda say?”

  “Nothing,” said Avery. His brow continued to furrow as he adjusted his brown speckled glasses. “When I spoke to her earlier, she really didn’t say much about anything. Just that she was leaving for London soon, but had something very important to do first.”

  Lafonda softly bit her lip and Angela eagerly gestured toward her again. “Uh — well, can you call her?” she asked.

  Dr. Devaro sat in silence. “And what about Roy?” asked Amelia. “What did he have to say?”

  He turned to look at Lafonda and then up at Amelia before nodding his head. “Right,” he said, scooting back his chair before standing up. He took out his cell phone and then gestured at Dr. Black to follow, before heading out the room.

  There was silence in the conservatory again, as Amelia and Lafonda finally took in the room. “Well, isn’t this exciting,” said Angela. Her enthusiasm was met with silence, so she decided to stand up from the table. “It looks like we will finally get to the bottom of this prophecy.”

  “Yeah, and probably die because of it,” mumbled Alan. He looked up at her and then frowned. “I didn’t sign up for this Angela, and I didn’t bring clothes for the funeral.”

  Angela continued to eye Mrs. Devaro as she made her way to one of the windows. “You’re not going to die, Alan,” she said, looking down at him. She turned to look at Amelia again as she looked outside the window.

  “Ha, not my funeral,” he smirked. “I was talking about yours.”

  Angela rolled her eyes, but her attention was quickly drawn to Mrs. Devaro, as it appeared she was heading out of the room. “Excuse me, Mrs. Devaro?” she said, trotting toward her. She placed a few locks of curly blonde hair behind her ear as she forced a short laugh. “Alan and I were talking and we couldn’t help but notice how amazing you look.”

  Amelia appeared amused, but also slightly confused. Alan looked up but just shook his head. “I just love that pea coat you’re wearing,” explained Angela. She pointed to her coat on the back of her chair. “In fact, I have one almost like it, but mine is red.”

  “Well, thank you,” said Amelia, smiling at her. “That was very nice of you.” She turned to leave again.

  “And I just love the brown fur accents around the collar and the bottom of the sleeves,” continued Angela, quickly. “It really compliments your eyes and your skin color. Where did you get it from? Chanel?”

  “Yes,” she said with a smile. She paused to run her fingers through the faux fur on her sleeves. “I found it on sale at this quaint little boutique, not too far off the beaten path, in downtown London.”

  Angela turned to look at Lafonda, but by the look on her face, her thoughts appeared to be elsewhere. “Well now I know where Lafonda gets her good taste from. She’s so lucky to have such a fashion-forward mother. And you probably know where all the good shops are, so it probably doesn’t take you long to shop — in and out!”

  Amelia’s brown eyes now appeared to have an extra sparkle to them. “Well, sometimes,” she said, preparing to leave. She winked. “But sometimes it takes me a little bit longer than I care to admit, at least to Avery anyway.”

  “It was nice chatting with you, Mrs. Devaro,” projected Angela, as the double wood-paneled glass doors closed behind her. Sakiya Lee also exited the room.

  “It’s not going to work,” teased Alan, over the rattling glass.

  “Shut up, Alan!” moaned Angela, as she stomped over to Lafonda. “Hey,” she said, sounding annoyed. Dr. Colvers abruptly looked over at them but then turned his attention back to the struggling, potted fern hanging above the table. He appeared to be examining one of its fallen leaves. �
��What happened to you?” she whispered. “I could have used your help back there. I was trying to get your mom in the mood to go shopping. Your dad is more likely to allow us to go if your mom goes with us.”

  “I’m sorry,” said Lafonda. “I overhead you guys talking and, knowing my mother when it comes to shopping, it shouldn’t take much more prodding.”

  “Okay, what’s going on Lafonda?” asked Nathan. “I know that look, something is definitely bothering you.”

  “I’ll say,” said Malick, joining the conversation. “You’re quieter than usual.” He folded his arms across his chest. “You know, you really shouldn’t get your….”

  “Yeah, yeah,” mocked Lafonda, interrupting him. “Don’t get your pretty face in a knot — or twisted. She flippantly waved her hand at him. “Whatever it is that you say.”

  Malick stood completely still. If his eyes didn’t occasionally blink from time to time, Nathan would have sworn he was frozen. Nathan smirked, looking into Malick’s blank face and then abruptly busted into laughter. Malick shook his head and then frowned. Lafonda glared at the two of them and then softly bit her lip again. Slowly, she began to pace the room. The dark hardwood floor creaked as she moved between Jonathan and the others. “It just doesn’t add up!” she shouted.

  “What doesn’t add up?” asked Nathan.

  “The Order,” she said, stopping abruptly. She looked up at him. “They always seem to be one step ahead of us.” The space between Nathan’s eyebrows frowned inward and he looked confused. “How did they know about Dr. Helmsley and the caves?” she explained. “How did they know about Dr. Colvers?”

  “Probably the newsletter,” said Angela, swiftly turning around. Her curly blonde hair bounced on her shoulders as she smiled at Jonathan.

  Slowly, Jonathan nodded. “Your argument would’ve been quite plausible if Dr. Helmsley actually had a blog or a newsletter,” he said. With his index finger, he pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose as he turned to look at Lafonda. “She doesn’t have either of them.”