“Close enough.” Now that I knew the truth, I figured Mister Teslowski’s label was more accurate.
The cop considered, and then stepped back. “What the hell. Go ahead. Don’t touch anything.”
I went into Byron’s hospital room. His father and the deputies came after me. “Wait. Please. If it’s okay.”
The deputies exchanged glances again, then escorted Byron’s dad out of the small room.
I closed my eyes, opened my mouth, and sniffed. The hospital air conditioning diluted everything. I hadn’t expected that.
The bed still smelled like Byron, though. Unwashed Byron. What about sponge baths, anyway?
The privacy curtain around the bed was pulled back. I put my nose close to it.
Cigar smoke. In a hospital.
Right.
“Does anyone smoke?”
My mother and Mister Teslowski came in, the deputies between them. The nurse brought up the rear and said, “This is a hospital.”
“Well, somebody was in here either smoking a cigar, or somebody was in here who had cigar smoke on his clothes. And he brushed against the curtain.”
The silent deputy finally spoke. “Kid, you ever think about a career in law enforcement?”
I smiled grimly. “Let me get out of high school first.”
“Fair enough. You got anything else?”
I shook my head. “No. Sorry.”
The first deputy said, “All right. I need everyone out of the room, please.” He looked at his partner. “You wanna call it in?”
~
After we gave our statements to the cops, there was no more reason to be there. I’d talked to police officers more in the last two days than in my whole life.
In the car back home, my mother said, “Were you trying to impress people back there, Nathan?”
I scowled. “I was trying to help.”
I looked away from her, out the window. I didn’t say anything.
Neither did she. We were silent the rest of the way. I felt like the trip home couldn’t be too short.
From The Journal Of Nate Charters – Fifty Four
The phone was ringing when I opened the front door. I jumped on it so I wouldn’t have to talk to my mother.
“Hello?”
“Hello, my friend!”
It was Mel. “Hey. What are you doing right now?”
“Calling you. You want to come over, tell me all about your latest adventures? I haven’t heard from you for days.”
My mother was standing in the kitchen, waiting.
“Yeah, okay. I’ll be right there. Later.”
“Later!”
I hung up. My mother crossed her arms on her chest.
“I think we should talk.”
“I’m going to Mel’s.”
She stepped up to me. “I’m still your mother, Nathan. I expect you to act like it.”
“Likewise.” I walked past her and out the door. I had to struggle not to slam it.
The walk from my house to Mel’s is a short one. I ate the distance with long, angry strides.
I knew I was practically having a tantrum. I was allowing myself to be angry… it was easier than thinking, easier than facing everything that had happened since April eighteenth. Certainly, it was easier than getting over it all.
Mel waited for me on his front step. He stood up when he saw me, concern creasing his face.
“What’s going on?”
“You don’t want to know,” I said. I realized I still didn’t really want to tell him about it. The idea of going through all the details of the last seventy two hours was exhausting. How could he possibly relate?
“Sure I do.” He gestured down the street. “C’mon. I’ll buy you a MegaSip.”
We started walking.
“I’m gonna give you, like, the Reader’s Digest version, all right?”
“Sure, whatever.”
I kept my eyes forward. “All right.”
I pretended to be distracted by a darting sparrow while I gathered it all together.
“So. That Brenhurst guy works for the government, making fake Sovereign. We took Byron up to Kirby Lake to get him away from him. There was a fight. Byron was in the hospital, now he’s gone. Lina had a fucking gun pointed at her head. I saw two people die. My father killed one of them. He’s still alive – my mother’s been lying to me my whole life. I can’t stand to look at her.”
I kept walking, reluctantly replaying the whole thing in my head. It took me a moment to realize Mel wasn’t next to me. I turned around.
He stood about ten feet back, his mouth agape. I couldn’t tell if I was supposed to laugh at the look of total bewilderment on his face. I hoped that’s what it was.
It could have been worse things, like fear, or disgust. He was my best friend, but he hadn’t been there. He was still just a normal person. The experience put space between him and me. Between me and everyone.
Once again, I realized I only felt normal when I was with Lina.
He just stared, and not even at me. I didn’t have the patience for it.
“You gonna wake the fuck up, Mel? Sorry for the dose of real life.”
He shook his head and smiled weakly. “Fucking Christ, Nate. I don’t even know where to begin.”
I looked him in the eye. “Buy me a fucking MegaSip, then, dude.”
He reached out and squeezed my shoulder. “That was the deal, I guess.” We kept walking.
From The Journal Of Nate Charters – Fifty Five
We sat on the sidewalk, our backs against the wall of the convenience store, giant slushy drinks in our hands. I also had a bag of beef jerky, for fuel.
“What did you mean, fake Sovereign?” Mel asked.
I tore into a strip of jerky. “They have a way of changing people’s DNA, or something. Little machines, small enough to go into your blood.”
“So your dad’s, like, one of these fake Sovereign, then?”
“Yeah.” I swallowed the jerky and spit, my phlegm bright red from the syrup in the drink. It made me think of all the blood I'd seen in Kirby Lake. I pushed the images – the smell – way down.
“He fucking volunteered for it, way back. Made him crazy – and I got to inherit his messed up genes.”
“You think you’re gonna go crazy, too?” He said it conversationally, like he was asking if I was going to watch MTV when I got home.
I laughed, bitterly. “Not from that, anyway. He lost it because he couldn’t deal with the changes – the better senses, the speed, the reflexes, all that. I was born that way – or at least a watered-down version of it. So I’m, like, used to it. I guess.”
“And your mother never said anything about it.” Mel shook his head and looked at the ground between his knees. “That’s not right.”
“Totally. I can’t even handle being around her. I can’t even be in the same house. I don’t even want to be.”
Mel sipped his drink. “Why didn’t she tell you?”
I sighed. “She thought it was better. She thought he was a coward for running off on us. Plus, as the years went by, I guess she had to think he was dead for real.”
Mel nodded. “What do you think?”
“About what?”
“You think he was a coward?”
“Back then, I don’t know. I think he knew he’d screwed up. I think he might have been ashamed. Felt guilty.” I could relate to feeling guilty just for being myself. That was twisted and wrong, but there it was.
“But now… I mean, we all know about him, and there’s me, being the way I am.” I frowned. “There’s no more reason to run.”
Mel sighed and shook his head again. He rubbed the back of his neck. “Sorry, man.”
“Yeah.”
Mel started to take a sip of his drink and suddenly stopped. “What about Byron? You think Brenhurst came and got him?”
“I don’t know,” I said. “I haven’t even, like, taken that part in, yet, I guess.” I considered it. “Y’know, I bet Byron took off
on his own.”
“Where would he go? He doesn’t even drive.”
“No, he’s got his learner’s.” I bit off some jerky. “I don’t know. It’s crazy.”
We walked back. A car honked, and Lina’s silver Volkswagen Golf zipped into the bike lane ahead of us.
She popped her head out the window and looked over the roof at us. “Hey, handsome! Hey, Mel.”
Mel said, “It would have killed you to just make that ‘handsomes?’”
“I’m pretty sure it would have,” Lina smiled. “You guys want a ride?”
Mel looked at me. “Nah, you guys go ahead – I’ll solo it the rest of the way.”
“Late, Mel.” I gave my best friend a grateful smile. He threw me a thumbs-up, and I got in the car.
From The Journal Of Nate Charters – Fifty Six
Lina wore a black tee-shirt and her tartan skirt. She had made herself up; pale skin with dark red lips.
I kissed those lips. “You’re all dolled up.”
“I was on my way to see you, big boy.” She touched my cheek, smiled, and wiped lipstick off my mouth before she pulled into traffic.
“I needed an excuse not to go home,” I said. “Good timing.”
“Hm. What’s going on? And where do you want to go?”
“I just… I just can’t stand being there. I can’t stand being around my mother, or in our house, or anything that reminds me I’ve been living with a person who’s been lying to me for the past, like, forever.” I took a deep breath and let it out.
“Right.” She paused. “So, have you, like, talked to her about it?”
“She felt bad about it for, I don’t know, maybe a day?”
“How long do you want her to feel bad about it?”
I was glaring out the window. What she said made me turn and look at her.
“What do you mean?”
Lina kept her eyes on the road.
“Well, she screwed up. She can’t fix it. So, now what?”
“I don’t know..!” I couldn’t tell if Lina was on my side or not. “I just don’t know how things can be like they were. I mean, I don’t, like… I can’t look at her the same way. It’s like she lost some of her Mom privileges.”
Lina nodded. “Yeah, I could see that. She did lie to you.”
“Totally! For, like, ever!”
We were at a red light. She reached over and put her hand on top of mine. “She thought she was doing the right thing, though, right? Does that count for anything?”
Barely. I didn’t want it to count, though. I wanted to be angry.
I wanted to be angry.
I said it out loud.
“I think I want to be angry at someone. And there’s too many choices. My dad’s disappeared again. Brenhurst is out of reach. My mother’s... right here.”
Lina smiled. “Like always.”
Like always.
I gaped at Lina. I probably looked a lot like Mel had, earlier.
She winked at me, the light changed, and we were on our way again.
I shook my head. “How’d you do that?”
“What?”
I laughed. “Cut through all my bullshit. Like that.”
“How? When? We’re just talking.”
“Now!” I jabbed her in the side, and she squeaked. “You know you did, too!”
She smiled. “You know what my dad said to me this morning?”
“'I don’t want you to see that Charters kid anymore?’ ” I smiled.
“After that,” she laughed. “No – he told me if I wanted to go to art school, I could. That I should do what makes me happy, what I was passionate about.”
“Whoa. Why?”
She kept smiling. “He didn’t come right out and say it, but I think it was because of what happened at the cabin.”
I felt a cold tremor of guilt roil my stomach. “You mean almost getting killed.” My voice was sullen with remorse.
She shot me a quick glance. “None of that, now. My choice to get into all that craziness with you, remember?”
“Yeah…”
“Okay.” She nodded firmly. “Anyway, yeah, maybe it was that. I think so, actually.”
“Wow.”
“Yeah. So who knows what’s going to come out of all this? I mean, my dad’s letting me do what I want, you and Byron are friends…”
“Byron’s gone.”
“What? Oh my God!”
“No… I mean, he’s not in the hospital. He disappeared. No one knows where he is. Sorry, I didn’t, like, say that so right.”
“Oh.” She let out a breath. “Okay. Where is he?”
“Nobody saw him leave the hospital,” I said. “But I think he walked out. He heals fast, and the way he can adapt to the situation, maybe he got, like, super-stealthy or something? Who knows what he can do?”
“Wow. That’s crazy.” She frowned. “But where would he have gone?”
“That’s the thing I can’t figure out.”
“Man.” Lina laughed. “It really is a whole new world.”
“Yep.”
We drove in silence for a bit. Lina had been circling around the neighborhood. “So,” she finally said. “Where did you want to go, anyway?”
I sighed and gave her a sheepish smile. “I guess I need to go home, right?”
She smiled. “I am so gonna be a psychologist.” She nodded. “An artist-actress-psychologist.”
“Actress-psychologist, now?”
“Well, now that I’m gathering all these big life experiences to, you know, draw on, and whatever.”
“Draw on. I get it.”
We both laughed. It felt really, really good. I felt like I hadn’t laughed for years. If this is what normal was going to be for me, I could handle it, so long as Lina stuck around.
I kept chuckling, randomly, right up until we pulled up to my house. Right up until I saw my mother in the driveway talking to a man in a dark business suit.
From The Journal Of Nate Charters – Fifty Seven
I saw the dude in the suit, the nondescript car parked on the curb, and I freaked out. I was out the door before the Lina stopped the car.
“Who is this?” I strode up the driveway.
They turned toward me. I glanced at my mother. She was too calm for this to be a Brenhurst / Tyndale Labs situation. I turned my attention to the man.
He wasn’t much taller than me, but much stockier. He carried himself with confidence and strength. He was bald, but his bushy eyebrows were black.
He stuck out a meaty hand.
“My name is Spencer Croy.”
I looked at my mother. She smiled with half her mouth.
I took his hand. He met my eyes steadily as I tested his strength with my grip. He was as strong as I suspected.
“Nate Charters.”
He nodded, once, and disengaged his hand. “Yes, I know. I’ve been talking with your mother. We were hoping you would be by.”
My mother stepped next to me. “Mister Croy is with the Institute, Nathan.”
“Institute?” I automatically stepped back. “What ‘Institute?’ Tyndale? Project: Rancher, maybe?”
Croy’s expression soured for an instant. His head moved back and forth, once. Everything he did seemed to use the absolute minimum amount of motion.
“The Donner Institute,” he said. “Of Sovereign Studies.”
“What?” That was not what I’d been prepared to hear.
My mother said, “That’s the compound in Montana.”
Croy said, “You might call it a research facility and refuge, all in one. It’s the center of the Sovereign nation.”
I sniffed him casually. “Are you a Sovereign?” He smelled like soap and… yes, gun oil. Last week, I wouldn’t have recognized that smell. I tried to figure out where he was carrying the gun.
“I am,” he said levelly.
“Why do you need the gun?”
He squinted at me, and the corners of his mouth twitched. “I am licensed t
o carry a firearm.”
Lina got out of the car. Croy introduced himself. She looked at me uncertainly.
“He's from the Donner Institute,” I told her.
“Whoa.” She took my hand.
My mother said, “Let’s go inside. Mister Croy has some things to tell you.”
We went into the house and sat around the kitchen table. Lina was on my left, my mother on my right, and Croy sat across from me. He declined my mother’s offer of some water.
“Mister Charters, I’m here on behalf of Dr. William Donner.”
I let out a breath that was half gasp, half astounded laugh. “You’re kidding me. Donner knows about me?”
“He does,” Croy said. “We’ve known about Project: Rancher for some time. After Declaration Day, we expected something like your adventure in Kirby Lake to happen.”
My mother said, “The Institute is interested in helping us with the lawsuit.”
“That’s right.”
I said, “There are Sovereign lawyers?” I knew how stupid it sounded, but what can I say? It was all new territory for me. I tried not to study Croy; I couldn’t figure out what his Sovereign ability might be.
That was stupid, too. Byron Teslowski looked as normal as this guy.
Again, Croy flashed the micro-smile. I got the feeling this was a stretch for him. He was trying to be charming.
“There are Sovereign everything,” he said.
Okay…
“What do we have to do?”
“I’ve already given Mrs. Charters the address of our law firm in Los Angeles. We want you to come for a first consultation this week.”
“We have an appointment Monday morning,” my mother said. She held up a business card.
I took the card; read the names like they would mean something to me. Like I was up on the names of all the Sovereign attorneys.
“Wow.” I gave the card to Lina. “That’s, like, great, I guess. Thanks.”
“Your case has the potential to set an early precedent.”
I was jittery, nervous. Lina chewed on her thumb. My mother shifted in her seat every now and then, like anyone would. Croy moved only when necessary. It was like sitting down with one of those animated mannequins at an amusement park.
“That’s not the only reason I came in person,” he said. “I have information.”
The Sovereign Era (Book 1): Brave Men Run Page 21