by S. H. Kolee
Instead of frightening me, I felt a stir of anticipation. It was finally time to face my father and I was more than ready.
“How close is he?” Marie asked, looking less than enthusiastic.
“We still have time, but he’s moving fast. At the rate he’s going, he should be here in about a day.”
“We have to get ready for him,” I said with nervous determination. I turned around to go back into the bedroom to grab the palladium and iridium disk but I froze when I saw the bedside table. My cell phone, along with Simon’s, was still on the table where I had placed it before going to bed, but it was completely void of the palladium and iridium disk. Horror and shock ran through me as I dropped to my knees next to the table, frantically searching the floor and underneath the bed and table in case it had fallen, but it was nowhere to be found. With mounting trepidation, I stood up and made my way back to the living room. I couldn’t keep the accusation from my voice when I spoke.
“The palladium and iridium that was melted down is gone. I put it on the bedside table before I went to bed and now it’s disappeared.” I looked at each of them closely as I spoke. Simon’s jaw tightened when my gaze settled on him and I felt guilty for including him in my accusatory look but I couldn’t help it. After all, he had the easiest access to it while I was sleeping. Maybe he had taken it under the misguided notion that he was protecting me, although his glare told me that he saw my doubt and was angered by it.
Marie was the first one to speak. “Shit. Where could it have gone?” Her gaze strayed to Simon and his expression became even more thunderous. I knew Marie didn’t fully trust Simon since he was a vardoger. It didn’t help when Ryan narrowed his eyes suspiciously as he studied Simon.
“You were the closest one to it,” Ryan said as he stood up. He advanced towards Simon, his expression growing fierce. “You could have easily taken it while she was sleeping.”
I could almost see Simon’s body vibrating with anger as he stepped towards Ryan, his eyes dark with fury. “You’re the unknown factor here. You could have just as easily sneaked into the bedroom while we were asleep and taken it. Why the hell would I have taken it?”
“Why would you have taken it?” Ryan parroted back to Simon as he laughed hollowly, although his expression looked anything but amused. “Because you’re a damned vardoger. Because you’re built for killing and betrayal.”
Simon was about to pounce and I stepped in between them before things could escalate. “Stop.” I turned towards Ryan. “Simon didn’t take it. You accusing him isn’t helping matters.” I felt guilty that I had momentarily suspected Simon as well. I wanted to blame it on the shock of seeing the metal disk missing, but I couldn’t help wondering if it was due to the fact that I hadn’t fully accepted him because he was a vardoger. I pushed the thought aside. I loved Simon. That’s all that mattered.
“You’re blinding yourself to his true nature,” Ryan said to me, but he was still glaring at Simon. “He’s a vardoger. Vardogers aren’t on our side. How does your father know where we are? He probably told him somehow.”
Before I knew what was happening, Simon flew towards Ryan in a murderous rage. He moved so fast that I barely had time to register what was happening as he punched Ryan in the face with enough force that Ryan fell back onto the ground. Blood started gushing out of his nose and I had a flashback to my dream of Ryan lying in a pool of blood. Simon picked him up by the front of his shirt, hauling him up so he was dangling before him, his toes barely touching the ground.
“Say it again,” Simon spat out, his expression enraged. “Say it again and I’ll be happy to finish you off.”
“Stop it!” I yelled, finally finding my voice. I grabbed Simon’s arm, trying to get him to let go of Ryan. “You’re making things worse! Just stop it!”
Simon let go of Ryan, who staggered back as he tried to regain his balance. He cupped his hand around his bleeding nose and Marie got up from the couch and went into the kitchen, coming back quickly with a washcloth. She silently handed it to Ryan who pressed it against his nose. Simon was breathing harshly as his hands opened and clenched into fists, his menacing gaze still fixed on Ryan.
“You son of a bitch,” Ryan finally said, although his voice was muffled by the washcloth. “I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that your first instinct is to become violent.”
I grabbed Simon’s arm when he made a move to approach Ryan again. Ryan, to his credit, stood his ground as he scowled at Simon.
“Stop it,” I said in a low voice, pulling Simon back. When he turned to me, his eyes were full of rage and animosity. Slowly, the fierce intensity faded until his expression was simply bleak.
“You think I took it.” It was a statement, not a question, and I shook my head in protest.
“No, I don’t think you took it,” I said quietly so that the others couldn’t hear. “I know you didn’t.”
Simon’s expression turned grim. “Don’t lie to me. I saw the way you looked at me.”
I bit my lip and debated telling him the truth. I decided I had to since he had already seen right through me. “You’re right. When I first realized it was gone, I was so upset that I wasn’t thinking straight. For a split second I thought maybe you had taken it, but only because of some misguided notion that you were protecting me. I never thought you took it for a malicious reason. But then I came to my senses and realized you wouldn’t do something like that.” I took his hand in mine and squeezed tightly. “I’m sorry.”
Simon’s tensed shoulders slowly relaxed and he nodded, although he still looked grim. I turned back towards Ryan and Marie. Ryan’s nose finally seemed to have stopped bleeding, although the washcloth in his hand was blood-soaked.
“Working under the premise that Simon didn’t take it,” Marie started although she didn’t seem convinced of the fact. “We have to determine who took the palladium and iridium disk.” I saw her give Ryan a sidelong look which didn’t go unnoticed by him.
“I didn’t take it,” he said exasperated.
Marie looked back at me and shrugged. “I didn’t take it either.”
“It didn’t just disappear on its own,” I said in frustration. “Where could it have gone?”
Before anyone could answer, there was a knock at the door. We all froze at the sound. No one besides Sophia knew we were here and I doubted she was coming to visit at five o’clock in the morning. Besides, we hadn’t buzzed anyone through the front door of the apartment building.
The knock sounded again, this time louder.
“Who is it?” Marie called out, not able to hide the quaver in her voice. My trepidation grew when there was no answer to her question except an even louder knock.
“Shit,” Simon said under his breath. He stalked towards the door. “I’m answering it. Move back.”
We all stood frozen in place, not heeding Simon’s warning to move away from the door. Instead of opening it right away, he put his ear against the door to see if he could hear anything. I had to swallow a scream when there was an even louder bang against the door, causing even Simon to jump back.
“Fuck this,” he muttered and swung open the door. I gasped when a woman covered in blood staggered through the door, dropping to her knees as she barely made it through the doorway. Simon caught her from completely collapsing onto the floor.
“Sophia!” Marie exclaimed in horror as she rushed towards the figure. I hadn’t recognized her through all the blood but now I could make out her face and the glazed expression of terror.
Marie pushed back her hair that was stringy with blood. “What happened to you?” she asked, her voice choked with emotion.
Sophia opened her mouth to speak but only a gurgling sound came out. I had to bite back a moan of horror when I saw that her throat had been slashed.
Simon carefully picked her up and placed her on the couch so she was lying down. I tried to not look at the trail of blood she left behind her and instead focused on her face. Her mouth opened again as if she wer
e urgently trying to say something.
“What is it, Sophia?” Marie cried out. “Who did this to you?” She looked up at Ryan. “Call an ambulance!”
Sophia’s mouth worked fervently and finally she was able to emit a slight croak that was unintelligible. We all leaned closer except for Ryan who was scrambling in his bag for his cell phone. Sophia’s mouth started moving again and I was finally able to understand her when she spoke this time.
“Run.”
Before I could even fully register what she had said, I felt a rushing of air behind me. Terror couldn’t fully describe my emotion when I turned and saw a horde of vardogers fighting to get through the door. But they were vardogers unattached to bodies. My mind blanked, not understanding how the vardogers could sustain themselves without their human counterparts. The only person I knew who had the power to allow vardogers to detach from their humans and exist apart from them was Claudia, but she was long gone.
“Get ready!” Ryan yelled, his phone long forgotten. He looked at me with grim determination but I could also see the fear in his eyes. I forced myself to block everything out as I started to funnel my energy together. My powers started gathering and growing into a large burning orb full of anxiety and fear, but just as I was about to throw it out towards the vardogers, they slammed into me with the force of a Mack truck, throwing me against the wall. I could feel them trying to sink inside me as I slid to the floor. I vaguely heard someone cry out my name but I concentrated on gathering my energy again, trying to ignore the searing pain as I felt them trying to invade every corner of my body, pushing against my soul.
It took everything I had not to lose consciousness, to gather my strength and grow my energy into a fury of power. I finally pushed it out with all my might and felt momentary relief as the vardogers attempting to overtake me were destroyed, shimmering in the air until they completely disappeared.
“Fuck! I can’t do anything to stop them because they’re not in bodies!” Simon looked frantic as he kneeled over me, looking terrified and out of control. I saw Ryan and Marie behind him struggling in their own fights with vardogers. I turned back to Simon, to tell him that I was okay, when two more vardogers slammed into me, taking my breath away. I was weaker now, and I struggled to gather my powers as my energy waned. The pain was affecting me more now, making it hard for me to concentrate on funneling my powers. It seemed to take forever but I was finally able to gather enough energy and I shot it out with as much force as I could muster. When the vardogers vaporized and dissipated into the air, I could barely feel relief because I was so weak
I felt Simon’s hands on me and I struggled to prop myself up until I was sitting up straight. “I’m okay, Simon,” I said, although my strained voice belied my statement. I focused on Ryan behind him who had just finished destroying a vardoger. He rested his hands on his knees, breathing heavily as he tried to catch his breath. He looked up after a few moments, his gaze zeroing in on me.
“Are you okay?” His voice was hoarse but still strong. I nodded and then searched the room, confusion settling in.
“Where’s Marie?” I asked. Simon helped me as I stood. I grabbed his arm when I felt how unsteady my knees were.
Ryan’s expression darkened as he straightened. “She ran off.”
“What do you mean she ran off?”
“I don’t know if it was too much for her or if she was scared,” Ryan answered grimly. “One moment she was fighting a vardoger, the next moment she was running out of the apartment.”
“I don’t understand. Why would she just run away?” My head felt clouded and I tried to put my thoughts in order. Marie running away was uncharacteristic of the seer I had come to know. She had taken so many chances helping me that it didn’t seem to make sense that she would just run off because we were being attacked by vardogers. Then again, I knew fear could make a person do things they wouldn’t normally do. Still, it was hard to accept.
Simon guided me to a chair and gently put pressure on my shoulders until I was sitting down. I didn’t protest although I felt my strength starting to return.
“I don’t know,” Ryan said. “It doesn’t seem like something Marie would do, but who knows nowadays.”
My mind was working frantically, trying to make sense of things. A thought kept interjecting itself into my mind, and I kept pushing it away until I could no longer ignore it.
“Do you think she’s the one that stole the palladium and iridium disk? Maybe she ran off because she didn’t want to get caught.”
Simon frowned. “Why would she do that? She’s the one who helped us to find someone to melt it down in the first place.”
“I know, but maybe she was having second thoughts. Or maybe…” I trailed off before continuing. “Maybe she’s not on our side after all. Maybe she’s working for my father.”
There was a grim silence as the idea sunk in. Ryan clenched a hand into a fist, looking angry. “I never would have suspected her of it. But it makes sense.”
Thoughts of Marie vanished as I turned towards the couch. I had completely forgotten about Sophia, who still lay there. “Shit,” I said, rising from the chair. “We need to call 9-1-1.”
Ryan leaned over Sophia and lifted her arm, putting two fingers against her wrist. He shook his head after a few moments. “She’s dead.”
I swallowed the hysteria that was threatening to bubble up inside me. How many more dead bodies would I have to see before my father was stopped? “We can’t be sure. We still need to call an ambulance.”
Ryan shook his head. “We don’t want anyone to know that we were involved, including the police. We need to get out of here right now. If Marie really is a traitor, your father knows exactly where we are. His energy isn’t getting stronger so he’s not any closer, but we can’t take any chances. We’re too weak right now to fight him.”
“We can’t just leave her here!” I was unwilling to leave her battered body alone in the apartment, regardless of whether or not she had already passed. She was still a human being that deserved to be treated like one. “It’s not right.”
“There’s a pay phone outside the apartment building,” Simon said. “I’ll call the police anonymously from there.”
“It’s not a good idea,” Ryan started but Simon interrupted him.
“It’s not your call.” Simon’s steely expression softened when he turned to me. “Let’s hurry and pack our things and I’ll make the call on our way out.”
I went on autopilot as I blindly shoved my things back into my bag. Simon grabbed both our bags and I followed him and Ryan out the door, but I couldn’t help glancing back at Sophia one last time. She had been so scared the last time I had seen her, when she had helped put me under hypnosis, terrified at even the mention of palladium. But she had used her last breath to warn us to run. She was yet another person whose death I vowed to avenge. I just prayed the list didn’t grow any longer.
We quickly ran down the stairs and Ryan and I got into his car while Simon made the call on the pay phone.
“Are you okay?” Ryan asked as we watched Simon through the windshield.
“Yes,” I said quietly, not wanting to talk.
“All the vardogers seemed to go for you. Marie and I didn’t have multiple vardogers attack us. They attacked us one at a time like they were just trying to keep us distracted. But five attacked you at once. I’ve never seen anything like it. Marie told me about Claudia’s powers to sustain vardogers without bodies, but I never would have believed it if I hadn’t just seen it for myself. The fact that your father seems to have found someone else with those powers shows the magnitude of what we’re up against. Yet you’re even more powerful than I thought. I don’t know how you destroyed all those vardogers at once.”
I didn’t answer him. The last thing I wanted to do was talk about Claudia and what had happened in the past. I didn’t want to talk about my great powers and how strong I was. There was a dead person upstairs in the apartment and I hadn’t been able
to do anything to prevent that.
Ryan didn’t say anything more when I didn’t respond. I was relieved when Simon finished the call and walked over to the car. He slid into the backseat and no one commented when I opened the passenger door and climbed in next to him. I needed to be near him right now. I wanted to shudder with relief when he enveloped me in his arms. I didn’t feel safe but I felt loved. It had to be enough for now.
I saw Ryan watching us from the rearview mirror but I couldn’t decipher the look in his eyes. His voice was expressionless when he spoke.
“Where to now?”
“Just drive,” Simon answered. “I don’t know where the hell to go, but we know Caitlin’s father isn’t far behind. We’ll figure out where we’re going on the way there.”
Instead of arguing, Ryan just nodded and pulled the car into the street. We were silent as we drove nowhere. I hoped that we would soon figure out what the hell to do and where to go. Our lives, and everyone else’s, depended on it.
Chapter Twenty
We drove for half an hour before anyone spoke. I was the one to finally break the silence, not able to take the aimlessness of our direction anymore.
“Can you still feel my father’s energy?” I asked Ryan.
“Yes, it’s pretty much the same strength as before, which means he’s tracking us somehow.”
“I think we should stop running,” I said. “We need to face him and end this.”
“Do you feel strong enough?” Simon asked, looking concerned. “You spent a lot of energy destroying those vardogers.”
My strength had returned rapidly and I wanted nothing more than to finally end things with my father. “I feel strong enough to face my father,” I reassured Simon, but I couldn’t help frowning. “I’m just pissed that I don’t have the palladium and iridium disk anymore. It was the key to winning against my father, I’m sure of it. But we can’t wait around until we can find another piece of palladium to melt down. We can’t afford the collateral damage.” I took a deep breath before continuing. “Let’s go to my aunt’s house. I’m sure it’s still vacant and it’s a good enough place as any to wait for my father.”