by C. M. Fenn
“That’s me then?” I ask Angel as I point to the one in central Arizona.
“It is. At least until you move. Do you plan on moving to a base?” she asks me.
“I hope to move with Ember to the L.A. base, but it all depends on whether I can convince my mom or not,” I say, crossing my fingers.
“I’m sure you’d have a good time there, Addy. Well,” she says, indicating the room, “this room has a few purposes. Sam can usually be found in here assessing data, reviewing past missions, and planning new ones. Over here,” she points toward a wall with an expansive floor plan, “is Major Calm. I’ll give you a few minutes to really study this map. You’ll come to find that here in Chaos our minds have a remarkable knack for memory. You should be able to recall this map perfectly after we leave here.”
Excited to really put this to the test, I go over the map extensively. Each room is labeled, so it’s easy to get an idea of what Major Calm is really like. I notice that most of the rooms are grouped off into separate wings. The wing on the west side of the map is labeled “Training Wing.” That’s where we are now, and north of this room is the briefing room from the night before. The other rooms in this area are massive and have various titles like, “Gym,” “Pool,” “Target Practice,” “Obstacle Course A,” “Obstacle Course B,” and “Practice Rooms A,B, and C.”
The north wing is the Living Quarters area, complete with sixteen bedrooms, the library, and the music room.
The east wing is labeled “Laboratories.” Here I see rooms called “Weapons Lab,” “Infirmary,” and “Science and Tech.” The largest room of all is located in the southeast corner of the map and it’s titled “Storage.” Attached to this room is a smaller room labeled “Armory.” In the southwest corner are the garage and a side room attached to it labeled “Garage Shop.” Connecting all the rooms are hallways that lead to a large central area simply labeled “Living Rooms.”
Once I’m pretty certain I’ve got it all down in my head, I turn to Angel. “Okay, I think I’ve got it.”
“Let’s go see the real thing,” she says as she leads the way out the door. As I follow her around Major Calm, she plays tour guide and describes what we’re seeing and what each room is used for. We find Kira in a practice room beating a padded target into submission. I watch her in awe as she flips and darts around the target with skill and ease.
In the Science and Tech Lab, Ben is stooped over an expensive-looking microscope. He looks up and waves at us as we enter. His safety goggles hang around his neck, but they’ve left deep impressions around his eyes and his raccoon-like appearance makes me laugh.
When we get to the living quarters, Angel stops a moment to talk. “One of the first things you should learn is how to create and manipulate the space here in the Calms. In a day or two when things have settled down, I’ll create a bedroom for you more attuned to you and your tastes. You can watch my mind as I do this so that later you can do it yourself.”
“Okay,” I say doubtfully. “But is it really hard? It seems like it would be.”
“It’s not too difficult. You’re a fast learner so I’m confident you’ll do fine.” Angel’s confidence in me is reassuring. Knowing she will be here for me, to walk me through everything, is comforting. I can’t screw up too bad with her helping me, right?
As we’re walking, I notice an odd-looking door. It’s the only door I’ve seen that appears to be made of metal. There’s a large latch on the outside and big heavy bolts around the edges.
“What’s that room?” I ask.
“Oh, I always forget about that room. Thankfully, we never use it.” We walk over to it, and she lifts the latch and heaves open the heavy door. Inside is a small, square room. The walls are cement and there’s a metal bed attached to one of them. There’s also a metal desk and chair in one corner; both are bolted to the floor and immovable.
“Wow. This kinda looks like a jail cell,” I say jokingly.
“It should. It is,” Angel replies lightheartedly.
I look at her, stunned. “Seriously? A jail cell?”
“This is Inner Silence. A place even the strongest Walker couldn’t break out of. The walls, ceiling, floor, and door are all sealed with special wardings that can be removed only with three Walkers simultaneously working together.”
“Why would we need a jail for Walkers?”
“Well, hopefully we never will. This room’s been here for as long anyone can remember. Thankfully, it hasn’t been used in nearly a hundred years. In the Walker Chronicles—a detailed account of our history you can find in the library—there’s a log for Inner Silence. The last Walker to be logged in was back in the nineteen twenties. A man named Wesley Fischer.”
“Whoa. What did he do?” I ask.
“The log doesn’t say. Only that he was held in Inner Silence for a period of two weeks then released.”
“Crazy.” I can’t imagine one of us turning on our own. The thought seems weird and unnatural.
Angel closes the door and leads me down the hallway to finish our tour. I’m completely blown away at the enormity of Major Calm’s storage room. It makes Minor Calm’s storage look like a tool shed.
“I can’t wrap my head around how you manage to have all of this stuff! I mean, you didn’t make it all here in Chaos, did you?”
“It seems mind-boggling at first, but it’s actually very easily explained. Because we’re safe from Shades here in the Calms, we create our OWN tears to Earth realm here within the warehouse. Top-side, we protect the tear sites with wards, the same way we do down here, so no Shades can pass through. Then we ship whatever we need here in the Calms to the protected tear sites top-side and send them through.”
“Whoa,” I say as I contemplate the idea.
“And before you wonder about it, no, we cannot physically pass through the tear ourselves. Nor can we send through any living thing. For some reason, the laws of Chaos won’t allow us to breach the tear,” she explains.
“So Shades can pass through tears, but we can’t?” I ask to clarify.
“That’s right. Must be something in the way that we’re different,” she muses thoughtfully.
When we finish our tour, we head back to the central living area. We sit on a pair of beanbags facing each other in a quiet alcove. She looks lost in thought for a moment. I watch her and wonder if she’s checking up on Sam and the others out in Chaos. I hope they’re all right. And then I wonder, Do I know Sam well enough to sense if he’s in danger? I’d like to think so, but I’ve really only known him a few days.
“Addy,” Angel brings me out of my musings. She hesitates, wearing a worried expression as she tugs a strand of hair. “I need to ask you to do something for me, and I’m afraid you aren’t going to like it at all.”
Chapter 22
Of course I want to help Angel. Her reluctance to ask me to do what she needs, however, makes me pause.
“What do you need, Angel? I’ll help you however I can,” I assure her.
“Well, it’s Simone,” she says quietly. And now I understand why she seemed so hesitant. Already a knot of dread is building in the pit of my stomach.
“Okay, what can I do?”
“Well, I’ve been working with her for quite some time now. I’ve been trying to find some other ability she may have—one that could help us fight the Shades.”
Even though Simone is a stuck-up brat, I feel sorry for her that her only ability is something completely useless here. It’s got to be hard being surrounded by Walkers with amazing abilities. Maybe if I were in her place, I’d be bitter too.
“Okay, so what do you need ME to do?” I ask wondering what I could possibly do that Angel couldn’t.
“I need you to take over for me.”
“What?!” I ask startled.
“I’ve done everything I can to help her, but to no avail. I don’t have the heart to tell her I’ve exhausted my efforts. This means so much to her. I know she may seem harsh,” she says apologetically
, “but she really is a Walker at heart. All she wants to do is help, but I simply have hit a brick wall with her. Maybe bringing some fresh eyes to the situation will help.”
It takes me a minute to process what she’s asking me to do. “So, you want me to … what? Evaluate her? The way you do all the Walkers?”
She nods. “Yes. You really SHOULD start with a full assessment. And after that, if you haven’t found anything promising, keep working with her. Follow your gut. Try to get to know her and how her mind works.”
I think knowing how her minds works is one of the LAST things I want.
“I don’t know, Angel. She really doesn’t seem to like me, and that’s putting it lightly. I doubt she’ll even agree to let me try.”
“Oh, she’ll agree,” Angel says very sternly. The command in her little voice is hard to ignore. “I’ve put in a lot of hours with her and she owes me. Plus, she trusts my judgment, and when I tell her this is her best chance, she’ll listen.”
I resist a sigh of defeat. It looks as if I’m going to be spending a lot of time with my least favorite person.
“Will you teach me how to evaluate? I haven’t the foggiest idea how to begin.”
She smiles gratefully at me. “I knew I could count on you! Of course I’ll explain.”
“There you are!” Ember runs up to us. She’s wearing an earpiece and she looks relieved to have found us. “The guys are back! They want us all together for the debriefing.”
Ember grabs my hand and pulls me up, and the three of us head to the briefing room. I know Sam, Lang, and Timothy must all be safe, but I’m still anxious to see them with my own eyes to be sure.
When we get to the briefing room, everyone’s standing around talking in hushed, excited voices. I scan the group, ignoring all other faces until I find the one I’m looking for. When I see Sam, our eyes meet. Relief washes over me. He holds my gaze for a moment then clears his throat.
“All right, everyone’s here. Have a seat please, guys, and we’ll get started.” We all shuffle to nearby chairs, anxious to find out what’s going on out in Chaos.
Ember and I sit at the table closest to the front of the room where Sam’s standing, leaning back against the podium. I look at him closely for any signs of injuries. He seems to be unscathed.
“Well, I know you’re all on pins and needles,” Sam says in his quiet way, “waiting to hear about our exciting trip, but I’m afraid I’m going to have to disappoint you.” I hear a few confused murmurs around the room.
“Timothy, Lang, and I had a fairly routine trip out into Chaos. No ambush, no Greater Shades, nothing out of the ordinary at all.” He reaches up and rubs the back of his neck. “We even did a little hunting while we were out.”
I look at Ember, confused, only to find her giving me the same expression.
Kira speaks up from the back of the room. “What’s that about?”
“I’m not sure. I have a couple of ideas but none of them could be right. The truth is we don’t know enough about this Greater Shade, how he thinks or what he wants.”
“He probably wants what they all want,” says Doc. “To get top-side.”
Sam nods in agreement. “I’m sure that’s his ultimate goal. But I think there’s more to it. Why get creative with it? Why change up the usual methods? Why does it seem like he’s targeting Adelaide?”
“Too many questions, not enough answers,” Crank says glumly. “So what do we do about it, Boss?”
“Keep doing our job, Crank,” he answers. “Try and be as prepared as we can. Always leave here expecting the worst. Keep finding tears and sealing them. That’s the most important thing we can do. Find weak spots in the fabric of Chaos and strengthen them. We must, at all costs, prevent this Greater Shade from getting to Earth Realm. This is all we can do for now.”
The room is silent for a few moments.
“We could approach this scientifically.” Ember and I turn toward where Ben is sitting with Mel.
“How so, Ben?” Angel asks.
“Well, in science, when there are a number of unknown variables, you perform certain tests or experiments to get you closer to the truth.”
“Okay,” Sam says. “What do you suggest?”
“Well, for starters, we know that the ambush occurred once Adelaide entered Chaos. Today you went into Chaos without Adelaide and there was no ambush. This seems to suggest to me that Adelaide may be the catalyst. To find this out, we simply take Adelaide back out into Chaos and gauge the reaction of the Shades.”
“Absolutely not,” Sam says abruptly before I even get a chance to consider what was said.
“Well now, wait a minute,” Lang-hao puts up a hand to hold off Sam’s objections. “Ben has a point, Sam.”
“I’m not going to allow that,” Sam says adamantly. “She just got here. She’s in no way prepared to go back into Chaos.” His expression alone should be enough to kill the topic then and there, but this is me they’re talking about. Don’t I get an opinion?
“I want to do it,” I say. Despite the death look I’m getting from Sam, I continue. “I’m not saying I want to go out there right NOW. I know I’m not ready yet. Going out there now, I’d only be more of a problem than any kind of help,” I explain. “But soon.”
“You will finish all of your training before you go back out there. Complete training is required from every Walker before they are allowed to fight, and I won’t make any exceptions,” Sam replies.
I open my mouth to argue some more when I hear Angel in my mind.
Let it go, Addy. I agree with you, but let it go for now, and I’ll speak with Sam later.
Unaware of Angel’s thoughts in my head, Sam takes my slight hesitation as acceptance and continues.
“All right, everyone, I think we’re done here. Let’s resume our normal schedule of hunting and sealing.” Sam makes eye contact with each of us as he speaks. “I don’t want any teams with fewer than three Walkers at a time. Remember to be extra careful out there and keep your guard up always.”
Walkers nod their heads in acknowledgement. A few “Yes sirs” are heard here and there.
“Happy hunting.” This must be some cue that the meeting’s over because everyone is either getting up to leave or turning to talk with others around them. I try to see if Sam still looks upset, but I catch only a glimpse of his back as he leaves the room.
“Well, that was interesting,” Ember says with raised eyebrows.
Before I can reply, Angel’s standing next to our table with an annoyed-looking Simone behind her.
“Addy, do you have minute?” Angel asks politely.
Ember takes the hint. “I’ll see you top-side, Addy,” she says as she gets up to leave.
“Bye.” I watch her leaving, silently longing to be leaving with her.
Angel pulls herself up onto the table and sits cross-legged, the way she was the first time I saw her. She motions for Simone to take Ember’s empty seat next to me. Instead, Simone folds her arms and stares at the front wall.
“Please sit, Simone.” I notice a slight edge in Angel’s voice. Surprisingly, Simone sighs dramatically and plops down on the seat next to me.
“Addy, I’ve briefly spoken with Simone about you working with her. I’ve explained to her the importance of her cooperation, and she has agreed to give you FULL access to her mind in hopes of discovering her additional skills and abilities.”
I glance at Simone, who’s still staring straight forward, refusing to acknowledge me. This is the nearest we’ve been to each other, and it’s annoying to find that despite her haughty expression, she’s still the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.
Angel continues, “I suggest the two of you set aside one hour each night to work together, starting tomorrow. Find a time that works best for both of you. And please,” she leans forward and places a tiny hand on each of us, quietly adding, “be patient with one another.” She stares meaningfully into our eyes to emphasize her words. “Be kind. Understand that
each of you only wants what’s best for Chaos.”
Simone’s hardness seems to melt away at Angel’s earnest sincerity. Her shoulders slump in defeat. This earns a big grin from Angel.
“Thank you,” she says to both of us. As this responsibility passes from her to me, I can see more weight lift off her shoulders. “I’m due to wake up top-side very soon, so I’ll say good-bye. Addy, you have a busy day tomorrow. Come prepared to learn.” She smiles and winks before she slides down off the table and practically skips out of the room.
Next to me, Simone sighs again—though less dramatically than before—and looks at me expectantly. The dread creeps back into my stomach.
“So,” I start hesitantly, “I guess we should pick a time.”
“I’m usually awake by seven in the morning, but to be safe, let’s meet for one hour at five a.m. You’ll come to my room,” she says quickly. Before I can comment, she adds, “Now that’s New York time, so you’ll have to do the math.” With that, she stands up and marches out, leaving me alone in the room.
“Fantastic,” I say to the deserted room.
Chapter 23
When I wake up in my bed, Ember’s already dressed for the day.
“Good morning!” she says in a sing-song voice as she shoves clothes into her suitcase. I sit up and rub my eyes. I can’t help but make a sour face as I watch her pack. Seeing me, she laughs.
“Don’t worry, Addy! I’ll be back in a week, remember?”
“I know,” I grumble. “It’s just, I have a feeling this next week in Chaos is going to be insane. I’m gonna miss having someone HERE who understands what I’ll be going through.”
Ember sits down next to me. “You can call me anytime you need to, okay?” She squeezes my hand.
“Thanks.”
I get ready for the day while Ember finishes packing. Once we’re finished, Ember grabs her suitcase and heads out. I intend to follow her, but before I can leave, something catches my eye. I turn and look at my bedside table. Something seems different about it, and then I see it—next to my suspense novel is another book. I pick it up and examine it closely.