Halcyon's Hero (Atramento Book 1)

by Nix Whittaker

  He seemed pleased with her prickly nature or was it because he liked her.

  “Well, she said I can fix up some cars in the courtyard and sell them and keep the money.”

  Natasha gave him a look and he said, “She means it if she said it.” So, she was honest about that.

  “I was wondering what we would do with those. I thought maybe scrap them.”

  Misha felt like the place was his. This wasn’t a temporary thing for him.

  “You’ll have to do that with some of them, but even moving them will be expensive. If I can get some of them running, it will be better.”

  Maybe he was really dating the woman even though it was clear he wasn’t sharing her room.

  “Halcyon has the money to move them. Don’t judge her by her cover.”

  “So, your girlfriend is rich.” At his look, she asked, “What? She isn’t rich, or she isn’t your girlfriend.”

  He said, “It’s complicated.”

  Oh, very serious and she laughed. Feeling for the first time it might be all right to be in the city. She had forgotten how much she liked Misha.

  ___

  Misha looked up when he heard the buzzer for the front gate. Halcyon answered before he could get to the screen.

  “What?”

  At least she answered all people like that. He moved so he could see who it was. There were actually a few cameras peppered around the place along with monitors. Halcyon had known he was there that night Waha had knocked on her door and she had asked whether he was alone.

  It was an Asian man Misha knew owned one of the buildings in the neighbourhood. Misha did not have much to do with him as he was a straight arrow businessman and unlikely to ever go to the Centre.

  “Kim Si?”

  “Let me in, Hal.”

  Halcyon buzzed him in even though he was as rude as she was. Maybe they were friends. That amused Misha for a while. They were both business people and both very rude, but other than that they were completely different.

  Kim Si made a lot of noise as he made his way further into the warehouses. Halcyon seemed to forget the man was even there and returned to her work. Misha came over to her and stood behind her. He didn’t think Kim Si had anything to do with Marcus but he wasn’t going to take any chances. Finally, the small businessman stood next to her and tugged on his clothes.

  “What a mess, little one. How do you find anything you need amongst this junk?”

  She snorted and said while working, “You must be annoyed if you are calling this junk.”

  “Mmm.” He looked past her to him and waved Misha forward. “I have heard of your friend with the tattoos.”

  She automatically defended him, which warmed him inside. “I have the atramentos as well, Kim Si. I just use Misha as my guinea pig.”

  She flashed a grin at Misha.

  Halcyon finished what she was doing and set aside the soldering iron.

  “You’ve never been interested in the tattoos before,” she asked as Kim Si looked him over like he was a new car he intended to buy.

  “Is it true?”

  “Is what true?”

  Halcyon packed away her tools. She might have what seemed like junk. She always packed away her things and the workshop was spotless.

  Kim Si exhaled loudly in a rough approximation of a stifled huff. “Do your tattoo things give him superpowers?”

  Halcyon raised her eyebrows. “Depends what you consider superpowers.”

  “I heard it could heal cancer.”

  She frowned and Misha explained. “Ruth. Her kid had leukemia.”

  “Ah, that kid the other day. How do you know them?”

  So much for her keeping secret that her son was cured of cancer. Kim Si twitched his nose as he thought.

  “Ruth lives in my apartment building. She had to give up the apartment to pay for the medical bills, now she has the money and says she doesn’t have to worry about the boy. Then, I remembered when you first moved here and you were also always in the hospital and then not. You and the kid have the same tattoo. So does this man here.”

  Kim Si motioned to the atramento on Misha’s cheek.

  “Um, I don’t want—” She started and shifted uncomfortably on her stool.

  “Some of us were talking. What about those in the neighbourhood who have cancer? They can’t afford the fancy stuff they give to the bigwigs. Work through your boy here or one of us. We can weed out the ones wanting to take advantage of you.”

  She hesitated. “I’m not sure.”

  Misha asked her, “Is it about money?”

  She rubbed a hand through her hair. “I don’t want to take money for the atramentos. I mean, it was by accident I found them and if the rich people got their hands on it, they will try to monopolize it.”

  Kim Si said, “It still costs you and giving away stuff makes people not appreciate it. What does it cost you to make these things?”

  Kim Si waved his hand at her face. She twitched her nose as she thought, mirroring Kim Si’s previous mannerism.

  “Well, the inks and the gear wear out and there are some things in it I find hard to get hold of.”

  Kim Si nodded, taking in her list. “Then have them pay you in trade. Something from your hard-to-get list. That way they will appreciate the gift and you still won’t keep it out of the hands of the poor.”

  Misha cleared his throat. “Send them to me first. I can use some equipment here to tell whether the atramentos will work.”

  Kim Si said, “It won’t work on everyone?”

  Halcyon emphatically tried to explain with her hands. “Oh, no. If the EMF is all over the place, it will be no good.”

  Kim Si frowned as he thought about this. “What would make this EMF be no good?”

  She tapped her lip as she thought. “If the person isn’t centred. Or hasn’t dealt with issues in their life.”

  He waved it off. “Bah, so a good shrink and some meditations.”

  Halcyon smiled and Misha realised Kim Si really was a friend even though they spoke so brusquely with each other.

  “Pretty much. I can have Misha test their EMF before they go looking for the things on my list. Mmmm, I’ll have to think about what I need.”

  Misha smoothed his hand over the hair she had mussed when she had run her hands through it. Kim Si gave him a look and Misha moved closer to her. Kim Si silently accepted his claim with a slight bow of his head.

  “I’ve read the book; I know most of the semi-precious stones. I’ll put those on the list for you. Also, you wanted to replace those things those men broke when Marcus sent them to attack you.”

  Halcyon went still and he wondered what he had said that had upset her.

  “I can’t have Marcus know what I’m doing, otherwise he will pick on those sick people.”

  Kim Si grumbled. “Don’t worry, we will deal with Marcus.”

  Halcyon shook her head and he realised Kim Si was someone she actually cared about. Just because they were both rude to each other had meant that he was safe from Marcus because he would never have thought these two were friends.

  “Kim Si, he is dangerous.”

  He brushed it off easily.

  “Don’t worry about that popinjay. I will bring over the first sick ones to your boyfriend here tomorrow. Will you have the testing thing by then?”

  She chewed on her lip. “Boyfriend?”

  Misha smiled, amused by what she picked up as important. “Not to worry Halcyon, he is only teasing. He doesn’t mean anything by it.”

  She stared at him and asked, “You aren’t insulted?”

  Misha chuckled. “To be associated with you. Never,” he growled the last as it became all too seriously.

  ___

  Whatinga: June 2086

  The buzzer went on the front gate. Misha manned that because lately there had been a few people who Kim Si had sent over.

  Misha rubbed the grease off his hands before he answered. “Yeah.”

  He could only
see a small form and the crown of a head in the camera.

  “Misha is that you?”

  “Ari?”

  His voice trembled in the speakers. “I didn’t know where to go, Misha.”

  Misha buzzed the gate open and met the boy halfway. It was clear he had been crying, his face was puffy with long shed tears. His shoulders were slumped seemingly with the whole world on his shoulders. Ari had grown up rough and he would have learned early to handle his tears. Misha placed a hand on his shoulder and crouched down.

  “What happened?” Misha said in a gentle voice.

  “It’s Jacob. He hasn’t been home in two days. I tried to find him, but—”

  Misha squeezed his shoulder. “Do you have some place to go?”

  Ari bowed his head as he bit his lip. “Mom is all upset. She threw a pot at her boyfriend. She blames him for Jacob getting into—” He sniffed bravely.

  “It is all right, Ari. You go home to your mom and I’ll have a look around.”

  Ari sniffed again. “I knew I could count on you.”

  Misha smiled softly at the blind faith of children, even after all the times they were let down by adults. “Yeah?”

  “Yeah.”

  Ari straightened his shoulders as he tried to be brave. “You’re one of the good guys. Like you see on TV, I mean. Like a hero or something.”

  Misha didn’t want to dispel that thought from the kid though he didn’t want him to get his hopes up too high either.

  “I’m just a person Ari, but I’ll do all that I can.”

  Misha watched Ari as he left. He pulled out his phone and called Waha. “Where are the drug houses for Ambrosia?”

  There was a tense silence on the line. “You think of doing something stupid there, Misha?”

  “Yeah, probably. One of my students has gotten hooked and he hasn’t been seen for a few days.”

  “Young?”

  They were always too young for the darkness that came into their lives.

  “Yeah, he’s twelve.”

  There was another long pause. “I have a few places you can try.”

  ___

  The place appeared like a giant moth ate it. Chunks of the walls were chewed and spit out around the bottom. A stiff breeze would topple this place though there were people inside as there was music which threaded its way from upstairs.

  It was better than some other places he had already checked out. The one on 49th Pier was the worst. The street had once been a lively neighbourhood for rich holidaymakers, but after the water had risen, it had turned the streets into a dystopia Venice. The 49th was where the water had stopped though in high tides the houses often flooded.

  Most people had abandoned the area as it was dangerous with rotten buildings. It was still in the Weather Shield so it was safe enough in that regard. Lately, drug houses and homeless people had moved into the area and it only deteriorated more.

  Misha still had another place to look though he was hoping this was the last place.

  Misha stepped carefully through the rubbish that spilled out of the doorway. His extra heightened sense told him there were people lying in the refuse and he could certainly smell them. Most of the furniture had rotted in place and added a mildew aroma that overlaid everything else.

  The people were mostly homeless people from their smell and their dress. Drugged up they seemed more like dead people and this building was a scene straight out of a massacre.

  Misha crouched next to one and tilted the face up. He was getting the hang of this as this place was the third place Waha had sent him to. The man was too old and had a scraggly beard. He had mistaken him for Jacob because he was so emaciated. He left him and gingerly stepped amongst the others.

  A man stumbled in front of him. He was barely on his feet. Marginally better dressed than the others Misha had seen in the house so far. “Hey, man.”

  Misha didn’t reply. If this was the guy running the place, he would only try to sell him drugs and if he was just one of the participants, he wouldn’t be able to make any coherent conversation. The guy reached out for him.

  “Hey, I was talking to you, man.”

  Misha knew he would have to have a very long hot shower after wading through the mire of the drug houses as his skin crawled with the touch of the man.

  Misha turned his eyes to him. He was angered by what he saw. Didn’t the gangs care they destroyed lives merely for profit? This was the curse of the world before climate change. Companies not caring what they did to the world or to people, merely for money. Look what happened under that business model?

  Misha wiped off the man’s hand and walked away as the addict yelled abuse at him.

  Misha was careful on the stairs as some of them had rotted through. He understood the city was slowly getting rid of places like this, but they couldn’t work fast enough.

  He found Jacob on the third floor. Someone must have looked after him as he lay on a dirty mattress with a couple of bottles of water next to him. There was no one there now though. He was alone in a fairly complete room and there was a little bit of light struggling to come through a dirty window. At least there was still glass so the room wasn’t cold like most of the house.

  Misha crouched down and touched his fingers to the boy’s throat. A thready pulse, so he was still alive. His skin, though, was cold and clammy. He shifted him into his arms and carried him down the stairs.

  The addict’s noise had called the proprietor. Not that you could tell the difference between the two men. The slimy bastard eased over to him.

  “You can’t take him. We look after our clients here.”

  Misha ignored him and headed for the door. Anger burned inside him. How could they call this looking after anyone? When the man tried to stop him, Misha elbowed him in the face. Walking away Misha ignored the whimpers of pain.

  Chapter Seven

  Whatinga: July 2086

  Natasha brought a glass of water to the small queue of people waiting to be tested to see if they could get the healing atramento. Misha was still out dealing with Ari’s brother. He had returned shortly for a shower and some food. Then he had gone to the hospital and she wasn’t sure when he would be back. She had stalled as much as she could with the ill people here to get a atramento. She had no idea though how to use the machine that could check auras even if she knew what she was looking at.

  She looked up when Hal pushed aside the curtain. Hal glared at all of them and went up to the first one waiting in the queue, a woman in her last years. She seemed more like a dried-out old twig than a human being. Natasha hoped she was half as vigorous as that woman when she was her age. She had pushed aside any assistance from the two men that came to support her.

  Hal looked her over with a quick glimpse and nodded her head. “You’ll do, you spry old chicken.”

  With that one phrase, Natasha knew there was going to be trouble. One of the reasons Misha dealt with these people was because of Hal’s honest and abrupt nature.

  The woman smiled back at Hal and said, “I already have some Jasper with me. Dad gave it to me when I was a little girl.”

  She pulled out a pendant that was strung from some waxed string. The waxed string matched its owner and had certainly seen better days. It was white with age and it flaked in places. It was clear the woman didn’t wear the pendant, so using it for something like this, though sentimental, was no great sacrifice.

  Natasha stepped forward and took the pendant and carefully recorded the woman’s name and her contribution. Hal had already gone over the two children and passed quick judgments on them that they would do.

  Natasha had noticed she approved almost all the children. She wondered if it was due to the resilience of children. She would have said Hal had a soft spot for children, except that she was honest. She wouldn’t be surprised if she would hurt some kid’s feelings by telling them they were screwed in their head, according to their aura if that really was the case.

  The last was a man and it was
clear he was in his last stages of his illness. He was crouched over like an old man though he didn’t look older than thirty. He wore thick glasses and squinted at everything. He leaned heavily on a cheap aluminium cane that told Natasha he had visited a hospital.

  Hal looked him up and down and said, “I’m sorry, I can’t help you.”

  He reached out with surprisingly fast reflexes and grabbed Hal’s tee-shirt. “Wait, look again. You don’t understand, this is my last chance. The doctors have already done all they can for me. If you can’t help me, I will be like this for the rest of my life.”

  Hal narrowed her eyes and Natasha put a hand on her arm. When she looked back at her, Natasha gave a quick shake of her head. The last thing they needed was Hal beating up a sick man. Hal sighed, then turned back to the man.

  “I told you that there were no guarantees here?”

  He agreed, desperation sparked in his eyes, magnified by his large glasses.

  “Well, did they explain why?”

  He shook his head, his mouth turning up in the middle with anger. Hal put her hand over his on her tee-shirt. “The reason the atramento won’t work on you and, in fact, if I placed it on you would only speed up your illness, is that your sickness is caused by your EM field. If you want to get philosophical, I would even call it Karma.”

  Her voice was like a pebble in a still pond. “What have you done that you hate yourself so much?”

  He yelled and threw himself at Hal. She merely sidestepped him and he collapsed on the floor. His face twisted up with his anger.

  “You bastards. I couldn’t help myself. I’m sick. Don’t you understand? I’m SICK!”

  Hal crouched down next to him and said, still in that soft voice, “You are sick. You delude yourself, but you still have a choice. There was no reason to touch them.”

  The two men that came with the older woman stepped next to the man. One nodded his head to Hal and then the two of them picked up the man and carried him out. The older woman stayed behind and said, “We’ll make sure he can’t hurt anyone. We know his kind. I’ll be back on Thursday for my cure.”

  She motioned to Hal’s cheek to indicate what she meant.

  Hal nodded in thanks and the woman left while the children and mothers fled.