by Kai Strand
“I’m sending a couple young men back to the ward. They are here to visit with the patient named Little.” Henrietta stared at Jeff with a moony expression while she curled the phone cord around her finger. “They only need five minutes. It’s really important.”
Set suddenly growled and shifted away from Jeff. Myrtle had pushed her plump body as close to the desk as possible and was compulsively smoothing her wiry hair. Jeff had to suck on the inside of his cheeks to keep from laughing out loud.
Henrietta hung up the phone. “I’ll take you back.”
“Actually,” Jeff said, sliding the deionizer out of his pocket. “We don’t want to interrupt you anymore than we already have. You can just point us in the right direction.”
With slumped shoulders and blinking back tears, Henrietta pointed down the hall and gave them instructions on how to find the ward.
“Thank you for all your help,” Jeff said.
Henrietta looked forlorn and Mrytle fanned herself with a brochure on geriatrics as Set and Jeff left.
“When are you going to learn to control your powers?” Set growled.
Jeff chuckled.
“There’s nothing funny about it.”
“Lighten up, dude,” Jeff said. “That was controlled.”
“You’re such an amateur.”
“Yet, that was exactly why you brought me.”
Set growled, and the fluorescent ceiling lights flickered.
They stopped at a window with a sign above it that read PSYCHOLOGICAL & COSMETIC—OUTPATIENT. A beast of a man sat on the other side of the closed window and Jeff hoped he wouldn’t have to charm him to get into the ward.
The man slid the window open. “You here for Little?”
The boys nodded in unison.
“He’s in room 115. Three doors down on the right.” The guy reached to close the window and then hesitated. “Oh, be sure to close the door when you’re in there.”
Jeff knocked lightly as he pushed the door to the room open. A middle-aged man with glasses and a receding hairline stood in his hospital gown and black socks, staring out the window. He glanced over his shoulder as the door swung open. Surprise arched his thin dark eyebrows over the lenses of his glasses.
Set closed the door behind him after he followed Jeff into the room.
“Can I help you?” the man asked.
The patient’s seemingly normal mental state confused Jeff. He didn’t know what he had expected to find, but it was definitely something more than this man who looked bored out of his skull.
“Mr. Little?” Set asked.
“Yes.” The man only half turned toward the boys as if he didn’t actually care what they’d come for.
“We’d like to ask you a few questions about why you’re here,” Set said.
Jeff glanced at his companion. No introduction. No explanation. Just straight to the point. Would that work?
“And why would I tell you?” Little asked.
Guess not. A small smile touched Jeff’s lips and he glanced at Set. He was surprised to find Set glaring at him. Set nodded discreetly in Little’s direction. “Oh!”
Set rolled his eyes as Jeff slid the deionizer into his pocket and shrugged. Looking at a mildly interested Little, Jeff said. “We’re looking for someone, sir, and we think you’re situation bares a distinct resemblance to her… um… mode of operation.”
Little turned to face Jeff completely and stepped a little closer. “You have a very nice speaking voice.”
At first, Jeff was thrown off by the unexpected change in conversation, and then remembered putting the deon away for this purpose. He donned what he hoped was a charming smile. “Thank you, sir.”
“Call me Lou.”
Lou sidled closer, and Jeff looked down on a slightly oily comb over.
“Lou, was it a young woman that sent you here?” Jeff asked.
“Yes.” When Lou reached for Jeff’s hand Jeff sidestepped him and stuffed his hands into his pockets. “I was just going to invite you to sit!”
“No, thank you.” Jeff said. He wandered to the bedside table and picked up a couple trinkets probably left by family. “Do you know the girl’s name? The one who sent you here?”
“Why are you interested in her?” Lou asked.
Jeff glanced at Lou as he sauntered past the window. He wished the man would just answer the question. Across the room, Set appeared equal parts attracted and entertained. “She might have a friend of ours.”
“Kelly. Her name was Kelly.”
Jeff slid the deon out again as he put some distance between him and Lou. “Maybe it isn’t our girl after all. Can you describe her?”
Lou blinked at Jeff awhile before his expression cleared. “Describe who?”
“Kelly,” Set said.
“Oh,” Lou looked around as if he hoped to find a picture to use as a guide. He settled on staring out the window again. “She was perfect, really. Impossibly tall, taller than me, with legs that never stopped. Smoothest skin I’ve ever touched; it was so soft that I could barely tell my fingers were running along it.”
Jeff grimaced picturing this accountant type, old enough to be her father, running his hands on Mystic.
“Color?” Set asked.
“Her skin?” Lou asked, surprise arching his eyebrows again. “White.”
“Hair?” Set asked.
“Blonde.”
Set cursed. Jeff slammed his fist against a wall.
Lou startled, and the door to his room flew open.
“What’s going on in here?” the nurse from the desk asked. He stood as tall as Jeff, but twice as wide. “It looks like you’ve upset your uncle. I think your five minutes is up.”
Lou frowned. “Uncle?”
Set walked straight toward the muscle nurse. “Yes, we’re sorry to have upset him.”
Jeff followed Set without saying a thing. The nurse stepped out of their way. As they exited the room, they heard Lou say. “I’m not their uncle. I don’t even know those kids.”
The nurse barked, “Hold it, you two.”
“Some charm might be nice right about now,” Set growled over his shoulder.
“That would just make them run after us faster,” Jeff said.
“Hey, stop!” the nurse yelled.
Jeff glanced backward to find the nurse jogging behind them. “Crap, he’s coming.”
Set growled again, making Jeff wonder if he was accompanied by a rabid dog instead of an ex-villain. Suddenly, the nurse let out a string of curses, followed by the telltale slap of skin against tile. When Jeff looked back, he saw that the man had slipped in a puddle caused by the rainstorm Set created.
Jeff’s heart pounded as they hesitated, waiting for the automatic front doors to swing open, before running into the parking lot. He expected a meaty hand to clamp down on his shoulder, and was relieved when he burst into the warming morning air. The car beeped, and its running lights blinked as they approached. Jeff swung into the passenger seat. Set backed up and squealed the tires as he accelerated out of the lot. The nurse stood, panting, outside of the doors, his scrubs dripping onto the sidewalk.
“I had hoped to visit with a couple more of the patients,” Set said in that growling tone.
“Why? It wasn’t even Mystic who put that guy in there.” Anger and disappointment raged through Jeff. They had come all that way for nothing. “This was as pointless as the trips she and I went on looking for…”
Jeff slammed his eyes closed. His head pitched forward into his hands, then his fingers scraped through his hair. A string of curses left his mouth.
“For who?” Set asked, eyeing Jeff sideways.
Jeff let his head fall back against the headrest. “Holy crap. Why didn’t I think of that before?”
“What? What are you talking about?”
“When Mystic and I went down to an academy in Mexico, there was an imprinter guarding their front gate.”
Set slammed his palm on the steering wheel. “You’re
just now remembering this?”
“Yes! Obviously I’m only now remembering this. I realize it would have been helpful to think of this months ago.” Jeff spat.
“Which academy?” Set asked.
Jeff flapped his mouth a couple of times before finally saying, “I don’t know. Mystic made all the arrangements.”
“You are seriously annoying, Polar!”
“Do you know the academies down there?” Jeff asked.
With a deep sigh, Set answered. “No, but I haven’t visited them, either.”
“We had spent the night before in a hotel,” Jeff said, thinking aloud.
Set raised his eyebrows and looked almost hopeful. “You shared a hotel room with Mystic, the queen of psychic sex?”
Jeff curled his lip. “Nothing happened.”
“Too bad,” Set mumbled.
Jeff examined Set’s dejected attitude and was about to ask him why he cared so much, but instead he blurted, “Mexicali!”
He took out his phone and called his dad. “Can you put some more money in my bank account and get my passport to me?”
Set pointed to himself.
“Oh, make that our passports,” Jeff said. “How soon can you get them to us?”
On the other end of the line, Frank said, “Tomorrow. I can send them anywhere you need overnight.”
“We can’t wait that long.”
“Where are you? I might know people who could make it happen.”
Jeff told his dad where they were and heard the telltale clicking of fingers on a keyboard while Frank seemed to look things up. “Mexicali, huh? Strange, but if you get yourself to Salt Lake, I can see that you make it to Mexico. Check in with Querube Airlines and it’ll all be set up for you.”
“Thanks, Dad.”
Set and Jeff found Elko’s miniscule regional airport. Set complained about having to leave his car parked outside in the middle of nowhere. A stroke of luck got them onto a commuter plane leaving for Salt Lake in less than an hour. The plane was so small that Jeff and Set were told to toss their bags into the nose on their way to the stairs, which were wheeled up to the aircraft’s door. When the plane took off, it wobbled back and forth like a little kid running around with his arms held out, making engine noises, pretending to be a plane.
“Can you fly?” Jeff asked Set. He clutched the arms of his seat until his knuckles turned white.
Set’s color had a grayish cast. “No.”
The plane was so old that there was a flip top ashtray in the armrest. Knowing his life was in the care of an aircraft made long before he was born didn’t make Jeff feel any better about the jostling and banging fuselage and tinny whining of the engines. “My dad and my sister can both fly.”
Set had his eyes slammed closed, and his usually marble-like jaw undulated like a serpent as he ground his teeth. “Damn lucky for them.”
Neither of them spoke again until the flight attendant stopped to see if they wanted something to drink. Jeff asked for whiskey and the forty-something attendant giggled like a schoolgirl. With an odd challenge in her eye she purred, “I’d have to see some ID”
From her tone, he wondered if “see some ID” was code talk for “meet me in the bathroom to do the nasty and then we’ll talk about some alcohol.” Jeff smiled nervously. “I’m kidding. I don’t actually drink. Rough ride so far. I’d appreciate a cola though.”
Set asked for the same, and she disappeared into a tiny kitchen at the front of the plane. She came back balancing two cups half filled with ice cubes and two cans of soda. Jeff was pretty sure she intentionally shoved her chest in his face as she reached to put Set’s tray down. Jeff snapped his head sideways and crossed his eyes at Set’s amused look.
The plane continued to bounce and shimmy incessantly, so much so that Jeff kept hold of his cup and the can to keep them from falling off the tray. The soda helped to settle his stomach though, so the erratic movement was only annoying and no longer making Jeff wish he’d done a will and testament before leaving home.
The attendant tried to make small talk with them after she’d finished serving the twenty or so passengers on the plane. She scowled at a frail old lady who asked for a blanket. Set pretended to doze, leaving it to Jeff to figure out how to get rid of the woman. Jeff knew he really wasn’t asleep, because he clutched the arms of his seat tight each time the plane jerked downward or experienced a sudden rise. Luckily, the flight was short. Eventually, the attendant was forced to prepare their wind-up toy and its passengers for landing.
“Polar, why would you indulge her?” Set asked.
Jeff shrugged. “Honestly, it kept my mind off the flight. I’m glad the next leg of our trip is on a larger plane.”
The airplane jostled and bounced just as much as it taxied along the tarmac as it did in the air. They disembarked, grabbed their bags from a luggage handler, and hoofed it to the airport. The smell of fuel and the scream of turbines assaulted Jeff’s frayed nerves. Walking under the wing of a large jet and nearly being run over by a long luggage trolley didn’t help, either. Inside, they stopped at a monitor to look for their gate number. Of course it was in another terminal. As they trudged along the moving sidewalks, Jeff thought the Salt Lake airport might win the award for best view from the terminal. The airport was nestled deep within a ring of Rocky Mountains, providing stunning views out the seemingly never-ending expanse of floor to ceiling windows. They found their gate and checked in for their flight, but had half an hour to wait before boarding.
“Do you ever sleep?” Jeff asked Set after watching him pull his phone out and start reading. Jeff was bone weary and he’d caught a couple catnaps during the drive. Set had been awake the entire time they’d been traveling, and most likely hadn’t slept since the night before they’d left. Jeff rubbed his face, wondering when that had been. Was it just yesterday?
When Set looked up from his phone, Jeff saw shadows under his eyes. “Yeah, I can’t wait to sleep, but I figured I should at least wait until we get on the plane. I think once I’m out, it’ll be hard to wake me.”
While they waited, Jeff struggled to keep his eyes open. Eventually, he had to stand in order to stay awake. He paced back and forth as other waiting passengers eyed him anxiously. All he wanted to do was to sit in his seat and sleep all the way to Mexico.
At last, their flight boarded. Jeff smiled politely at the attendant greeting passengers at the end of the skywalk. He found their seats and stepped aside to let Set slide into the window seat. He hoped the plane wasn’t so full that they’d have another passenger sitting in the seat between them, although, since he planned to be asleep the entire time, it probably didn’t matter.
He was relieved when they closed the door to the jet and the seat between him and Set remained empty. He checked his phone to make sure it was on airplane mode and shoved it back into his pocket. Set appeared to be asleep already. Jeff closed his eyes and felt the exhaustion ooze through his muscles.
“Sir, you’ll have to turn that… device… off.”
Jeff opened his eyes. The flight attendant who’d greeted them when they walked onto the plane had a fake smile aimed down at him.
“What?” Jeff asked.
“That,” she said, gesturing at his belt.
Jeff looked down and panicked. His eyes snapped back up to meet her gaze. “I can’t!”
“I’m afraid you’ll have to or we’ll be forced to make you deplane.” A regretful look, as contrived as her smile, made the tired lines around her eyes etch deeper.
“You don’t understand…” Jeff started, but didn’t know how to continue.
“Sir, turn it off now.”
Jeff clutched his deionizer like it was his lifeline. How quickly would pandemonium strike in a sealed aircraft if he turned it off? He glanced at the businessman sitting across the aisle, the college student in the seat in front. They’d be affected almost as fast as the flight attendant with the snooty composure.
“Geez, Polar, just charm her alrea
dy,” Set mumbled without opening his eyes.
“Oh.” Feeling like a moron because he hadn’t thought of it first, Jeff slid the deon into his pocket.
“I asked you to turn it off,” the attendant said. Her last word fell off into nothing as she raised her gaze to Jeff’s face. Suddenly, she seemed to be devouring him with her eyes.
The sudden change in disposition made Jeff’s stomach curdle, but he forced his expression into the signature half-grin that he’d charmed so many girls and mothers in the past. Adopting a relaxed composure, he was far from feeling he said, “I did. I’m sorry to trouble you.”
“It’s no trouble,” the woman said. Her eyes smoldered as they devoured him from head to toe. “Can I get you something?”
“No, I’m fine.” Jeff’s hand hovered near his pocket. The businessman turned to stare moonily at him. Jeff willed the woman to walk away.
The crackle of the plane’s speaker system preceded a pleasant voice. “Ladies and gentlemen, my name is Myra, I’m your head flight attendant for our trip down to Mexicali.”
The flight attendant blinked rapidly as if just coming out of a trance. Her smile was a cross of warmth and wanton as she laid her hand on his shoulder. “I’ll check with you again after takeoff.”
Jeff mumbled to himself. “I’ll be asleep, thank you.” He slid the deionizer out of his pocket just as the college student turned her head and peered over her glasses at him. Then she blinked, blushed and looked away.
Set still appeared to be asleep next to Jeff, but mumbled, “You are so annoying, Polar.”
Set’s knuckles were white from gripping the armrests of his chair. “You got caught up in that, huh?” Jeff asked.
Set growled and clenched his jaw.
“But you can resist it,” Jeff said.
Set sighed and opened his eyes, giving Jeff a baleful look. “Only because now I know to expect it. Any longer, though, and I would have been fawning all over you, too.” He shuddered.
“Well, thanks for… you know…” Jeff nodded to where the attendant had been standing.
Set rolled his eyes and grimaced, then let his head fall back against the wall of the plane as he prepared to sleep through the flight.
The next thing Jeff knew, he was being shaken gently. “Wake up.”