The Athena Effect

by Anderson, Derrolyn

  The brothers rode their motorcycles across the bridge and into the fog-shrouded city, ending up in an industrial area by the waterfront. The building was a tall concrete monolith that looked completely unremarkable from the outside. There were no windows on the first few floors, and the only entry was a pair of metal gates facing the street with security cameras trained down onto them.

  Calvin and Jarod stashed their bikes between two buildings across the street, watching from the shadows. “Let’s hang back and see who we’re dealing with,” Jarod said, squinting at the building from around a corner. “I don’t wanna get Tased again.”

  Jarod was worried about Cal. He hadn’t seen him this upset since the horrible day he’d had to break the news to him about the accident. That day, he’d sworn to their father that he’d look after his little brother, but there wasn’t much he could do for him now.

  For the past two days Cal wouldn’t rest, and he’d barely eaten a thing; he looked worn out and drawn. Jarod waited by his side for a few hours, but when there was no sign of any comings or goings, he started losing patience.

  “I bet everybody who works here already went home,” he said. “C’mon, let’s go grab a bite and check back later.”

  “Go ahead,” Calvin replied, “I’m not hungry.”

  “Listen bro, it’s not going anywhere…”

  “No,” Calvin said quietly, his hollow eyes filled with grim determination. “She has to be here.”

  Jarod looked up at the darkening gloom, and back at his brother, “I’ll go pick up something to eat.” He headed towards his bike, turning back, “Don’t do anything stupid, okay?”

  Cal nodded without taking his eyes off the building; this was the last lead, and he wasn’t about to give up on his only hope.

  Caledonia was his only hope.

  Like a light at the end of a tunnel, she had signaled a way out of the darkness that had become his life. She’d made him question his shiftless existence and want to be a better person. His grandmother had guessed right, she was the one, and he could never go back to the way he was before she came along.

  He felt like he would die if he couldn’t find her. No amount of money or alcohol or girls would ever be enough to feel the hollow empty ache in his chest. This was his last chance and he knew it.

  “She has to be here,” he repeated out loud.

  He paced back and forth, coming out onto the sidewalk when lights illuminated a pair of windows on the fourth floor. It was getting dark, and he knew that when Jarod got back he wouldn’t want to stay much longer. He had to take a chance. He reached down and picked up a handful of gravel.

  ~

  The professor was pleased with himself, and now that everything seemed to be going his way he felt young again, ready to tackle a whole new round of research. He stood at the head of the table, watching the three teenagers arrive, checking to make sure that they were properly dressed for dinner. He nodded his approval and took a seat.

  “Children,” he said warmly, making Caledonia cringe inside.

  Layla looked at her with trepidation.

  Professor Reed rang the little bell he kept by his side and the same woman as before came in to serve them, moving around the table silently. No wonder she refused to make eye contact, Caledonia thought, imagining the professor directing Layla to manipulate his employees. She looked at the old man with a fresh surge of anger.

  Layla bit her lip fearfully.

  “My dear Caledonia,” The professor beamed, “Are you getting settled in alright?”

  She smiled warmly back at him, showing him only peaceful tranquility, keeping all of her dark anger contained. The twins both watched her performance with fascination.

  She realized that it didn’t even occur to Layla that she could openly defy him. Layla believed that she was powerless against the professor, and never thought to question his authority. She was much more imprisoned than Caledonia could ever be, because her mind had been shackled by his lies.

  Caledonia remembered a story about a baby elephant that had been kept on a small chain, eventually growing into a huge and powerful beast that still believed that the chain binding it was unbreakable. It didn’t even try to escape, because the concept was simply unimaginable.

  She made it a point to show Layla just how easy deceiving Teddy could be, smiling sweetly with a placid smile, “Everything is wonderful… Layla’s room is so pretty! I think I’m going to like it here.”

  “That’s wonderful,” he smiled, pleased that his plans were working out so beautifully. The professor thought that he was smarter than everyone else, and his smug arrogance made him doubly easy to fool.

  Caledonia opened her eyes innocently, “When do I get to meet our tutor?”

  “Soon enough… soon enough,” he smiled again, nodding approvingly at Layla, who flushed bright red. She looked down and started eating to avoid his eyes. When she looked back up Caledonia winked at her, and she nearly choked.

  The professor clasped his hands together, “Now that we’re all on the same page, I have a little announcement to make. As you know, I’ve been conducting my research with primates for years, and while I’ve seen some remarkable success, it’s been nothing on the scale of what I envision. You see… my Athena compound, instead of inducing synesthesia in its subjects, has now been proven to alter their offspring’s DNA.”

  He was beaming with excited pride, “You two girls are my greatest triumph. You’re living proof that I was on the right track, and you’ve inspired me to resume my studies with human subjects!”

  Michael looked down, burning with wounded feelings. Caledonia was absolutely horrified.

  “But… But after what happened with our parents…” her voice trailed off as she looked at him with outrage she wasn’t able to squelch.

  The old man didn’t seem to notice her distress, lost in the excitement of the moment, “It’s a pity that they didn’t live to see what a tremendous success our little experiment was. I think David would have really appreciated the genetic implications…”

  Caledonia gathered herself, her hands shaking under the table with the force of her suppressed emotions. She managed to choke out, “Who… Who will be your new… subjects?”

  Professor Reed practically rubbed his hands together with glee, “Max is handling the logistics as we speak… Just imagine! If I alter the dosage I might be able to actually be able to achieve individuals with telekinesis! Who knows what wonderful things second generations might be capable of… I’ve already begun the process of sequencing your DNA, and comparing it to Layla’s.” He gloried in his triumph, “Once I pinpoint the mutation, I’ll be able to test for it prenatally!”

  Caledonia was shocked and disgusted by the sheer evil of his plans, and she gazed at him, hating him with all of the blackness in her soul. It took every ounce of restraint she could muster to arrange her face into a reflection of what he wanted to see.

  Layla just stared, surprised by Cali’s ability to fool to him so completely. Only she could truly feel the force of Caledonia’s emotions, and fully comprehend just how difficult a feat of self-control she was witnessing.

  She looked back and forth between the two of them incredulously. She’d grown up believing that something terrible would happen if she ever deceived Teddy, and now this amazing girl was making a fool out of the man right before her eyes. Her mind started racing with the possibilities.

  Caledonia swallowed hard. “Teddy? Is that your laboratory downstairs?” she asked with another painfully forced smile, “In the building?”

  “Yes it is,” he said, sipping his tea. “This entire building is devoted to my scientific research. One day I intend to donate it as a museum…” He smiled to himself, imagining his glorious vindication. He couldn’t wait to see the looks on his former colleague’s faces when he was finally published in the medical journals.

  “Wow… I’d like to see it someday,” she looked at him adoringly.

  He was satisfied with himself, rad
iating confidence, “I’ve been making arrangements to start your testing as soon as possible. I’m eager to compare your abilities to Layla’s… I’m so happy to know that you’ll be cooperating.”

  They ate the rest of their meal in silence, each of them lost in their own thoughts. After the last plate was cleared the professor stood up and clapped his hands together.

  “Now it’s off to bed children!” he said cheerfully, a bizarre imitation of a concerned parent. He looked at Caledonia, nodding meaningfully, “Be sure to get plenty of rest. We have lots of work to do.”

  They filed out of the dining room and into the foyer where Max was waiting to escort them back to their room. Unlike the professor, Max didn’t trust Caledonia’s new attitude, and he planned to keep her on a short leash until he was absolutely certain that she didn’t pose a threat to everything he’d been working for.

  Max scowled at the girl from behind his sunglasses, still wary of her. Professor Reed may have bought her little act hook line and sinker, but Max had seen her in action, and judging by the scars she bore on her arm, she was made of much tougher stuff than the doctor could even imagine.

  He watched her following along behind the twins with her head down submissively, but he could see the difference between them. There was something about the way she moved, something in the set of her shoulders… something unmistakably free.

  The girls said goodnight to Michael in the hallway, and they were locked into their respective rooms for the night. It was commonplace ritual for the twins, but Caledonia cringed when she heard the bolts slide on the door. She started pacing around the room anxiously, full of pent-up energy. She finally sat down on the couch with a sigh.

  Layla wanted to talk, eager to find out more about her glamorous new roommate. She asked Caledonia question after question about what it was like to attend classes with other students, curious about everything she’d ever heard or read about high school. She was particularly curious about what the boys were like.

  “I’m not the best person to ask… I didn’t really fit in,” Caledonia said. “It was a little overwhelming for me to be around all those people.”

  Layla dropped her head, disappointed, “Then there would have been no hope for me.”

  “I wouldn’t say that,” Caledonia said, “You grew up around people… with electricity... and fancy clothes… I bet you would have had lots of friends.”

  Layla looked up, and when the girl’s mismatched eyes met they both smiled wryly. Despite their completely different upbringings, again, they were both aware of how similar they really were.

  “I wish I had a blue eye,” Layla said. “I hate my brown eye.”

  Caledonia got a lump in her throat, “Don’t say that. Brown eyes are my favorite.”

  “I’m sorry,” Layla frowned sympathetically, reminding Caledonia that their emotions were an open book to each other. “His eyes are brown… aren’t they?”

  “Yes,” Caledonia nodded, feeling even sadder.

  “Did you kiss him?” Layla asked innocently.

  Caledonia’s blush brightened her cheeks and spread across her chest.

  “I’ll take that as a yes,” Layla laughed, barraging her with questions about Calvin, and what it was like to go on a date.

  Caledonia started talking, reliving all of her powerful emotions as she told Layla about saving Rufus, and the crazy goings on at the biker house. She described their trips to the fair and the museum, and the more she remembered, the more she missed Calvin. She realized that she had been in love with him long before she’d allowed herself to admit it.

  Layla listened raptly as Cali spoke, sharing the feelings that burned bright and true; she could taste the sweetness of her memories, and see the deep purple pain of their separation. She was deeply moved, feeling almost as though she was in love as well. She sighed, full of frustrated longing for a boyfriend of her own that wasn’t only a story in a book.

  “Your life was so exciting. I can’t even imagine how I’ll ever meet a boy, much less date one.” She looked thoughtful, “Maybe if you do really well on jobs for Teddy he’ll let us go shopping together! That would be fun… Maybe we could make him let us pick out our own things...”

  The sharp ping of a pebble bouncing off the windowpane startled them, and Layla stood up, pulling the curtains aside and squinting down to the twilight street, “I think there’s someone out there.”

  Caledonia’s eyes flew open wide, and she sprang up to press her face against the bars, looking down into the swirling foggy night. It was hard to make out the lone figure standing in the gloomy twilight, but when he moved, she knew his walk. “It’s him!” she gasped.

  Calvin saw a cloud of golden hair appear in the window, and his heart skipped a beat. He stood rooted to the spot, holding his breath.

  Layla looked again, turning to Caledonia, “Oh my! Just look at his color… He sees you! He looks like he’s going to explode!”

  Caledonia was wild eyed, “I have to get down to him.” She turned to Layla, “Will you help me?”

  Layla saw her vibrating with the same frantic energy as the boy on the street. Their powerful feelings galvanized something inside of her, giving her the courage to go against years of conditioning.

  “What can I do?”

  “Get me into Michael’s room,” Caledonia said, her voice shaking.

  Layla nodded, thinking she’d never seen anyone so intensely determined. They rushed to the door on the side of the room and entered into a short corridor, rapping on a door at the other end of it. Michael opened his side, and Caledonia brushed past him, racing to his unbarred window. She frantically tried to pry it open, looking down to see Calvin pacing back and forth in the street.

  “You aren’t supposed to be in here… What are you doing?” Michael asked fearfully.

  “Help me get this open!” Caledonia grunted, “Do you have any rope?”

  Michael was stunned, “You can’t get down from here.”

  Caledonia turned to Layla, wild eyed, “I need something to climb down on!”

  “I know!” Layla cried. “We can tie the bedsheets together to make a rope!”

  “That might work!” Caledonia exclaimed.

  She ran to Michael’s bed, tearing it apart and pulling off the sheets.

  “I’ll go get mine!” Layla ran back to her room.

  “Oh my God… You’re not going to…We’ll get in trouble,” Michael said, backing away.

  Caledonia started knotting the corners together as best she could, her hands shaking with adrenalin. When Layla returned and handed her more sheets she looked up with a shaky smile, “What a great idea! You’re a genius!”

  Layla returned her smile and shrugged, “I saw it in a cartoon.”

  “A cartoon?”

  “I think it was Daffy Duck,” Layla admitted.

  Caledonia went back to the window, struggling to slide the heavy casement open. Layla came to help, groaning with exertion by her side as they slowly forced it up.

  Neither one of them noticed that Michael had picked up the phone.

  When the crack was big enough for her to get through, Caledonia popped the screen out and lowered the makeshift rope, tying one end of it to the leg of a nearby desk. She turned back and embraced Layla with tears in her eyes, “Thank you!”

  Michael looked towards the door, “Don’t do it! Max is gonna be here any second.”

  “What?” Layla looked at her brother, horrified. Both of the girls could see the fear and guilt pouring out of him. “What have you done?” she asked.

  The door on the far side of the room swung open, and Caledonia darted for the window, scrambling out of it and dangling from the tied up sheets. She fell a few feet and stopped short with a snap as the desk slammed up against the wall. Clinging on for dear life, she got her bearings, straddling the sheets and using her feet to rappel against the building as she lowered herself hand over hand.

  Calvin stood on the street, shocked to see a makeshift rope dr
op from the window.

  “Oh no,” he said, seeing Caledonia come flying out the window to slam against the side of the building. He raced over to the sidewalk to position himself beneath her, his heart hammering in his chest.

  “You can do it,” he choked out, barely believing what he was seeing. The end of the blanket rope stopped a good ten feet off the ground, and he held his breath, praying with all his might.

  Max burst through the door just in time to see Caledonia dive out of the window. At first he thought she’d jumped, but he raced to the windowsill and looked out to see the little witch nimbly climbing down a line of blankets.

  “Godammit it!” he roared. She’d made it about halfway when he grabbed the end and heaved on it, nearly making Caledonia lose her grip. She started to twist, swinging wildly and bouncing off the building.

  “Hold on!” Watching her struggle, Calvin had never felt so helpless in his entire life.

  Max heaved on the sheets again, enraged, thinking that if he couldn’t reel her up, he would settle for making her fall. He wanted to see her hurt, and he could care less what the old man thought about it.

  “Stop it!” Layla screamed, “Stop it!”

  Max ignored her, stooping to untie the sheet from the desk leg, but having a hard time because it was pulled taut. Layla grabbed at his arms, trying to stop him. He turned around, his face ugly with anger, and backhanded her across the cheek.

  Layla went flying to the floor, gasping for air. She had only slowed him down for a few seconds, but that was all it took. Caledonia shimmied to the end of the line, dangled for a moment, and dropped the last few feet into Calvin’s arms. The line of blankets fell a split second later, puddling in a pool at their feet.

  She wrapped herself around him with a sob, and he hugged her tightly. He could hardly believe what had just happened, and his breathing was ragged with enormous shuddering gasps of relief.