by Aaron Slade
Evee didn’t move.
I sprang out of the bed towards my door. Reaching for the brass doorknob, I heard rustling on the other side, followed by heavy footsteps. The noise grew louder, followed by a loud bang from Uncle Jesse’s room. I heard the muffled yelling of several men through the wall. I forced myself to open my door and turned the lights on in the hallway, finding a dozen men dressed in night camouflage and armed with rifles– Military soldiers. My secret was out, and they’d come to kill me. I instinctively backed away. They stormed the living room, crashing and breaking everything they touched. Figures crashed and walls ripped apart like paper. The thunderous struggle in Uncle Jesse’s room ended, followed by a haunting silence.
Evee’s mouth managed to utter one thing. “Oh, no!”
I had to find my parents. I rushed further into the living room and found Mom forced on her stomach. The soldiers maneuvered her arms behind her back, locking her wrists in handcuffs. How did she not speed away? The infantry of men ignored me. Was I not their target?
“WHAT ARE YOU DOING?” I shouted. They blocked me from approaching Mom on the floor.
Some of them looked at me, but none bothered to explain or attack me. The men were making so much noise and shouting orders at each other that it was nearly impossible for me to yell over them. My eyes found my mother’s gaze. The look of panic in her eyes frightened me more than the strangers raiding our house. No aura shined even the slightest as Mom kicked and screamed in ways I’d never heard.
“CASPER, RUN!” Mom thought my secret was out.
Evee phased through the wall. “More of them are coming in!” she screamed. Her freaked out face struggled to make sense of the soldiers’ presence, but her confusion turned to horror when she saw Mom face down on the ground pinned under a soldier’s brawny knee.
If Mom could get on her feet, her speedster abilities could get her to safety, but where was Dad? I tried to gain control of my fears, which saturated my every thought. I hoped Dad had been able to escape. He wasn’t in the living room, and I imagined it would have been easy for him to teleport somewhere else, but I knew he’d never leave his family in this nightmare.
Uncle Jesse’s door opened and four men carried his unconscious body into the living room next to Mom, throwing him down like a sack of garbage. They attacked my family but didn’t seem interested in me at all. I watched as Dad’s unconscious body was placed between Uncle Jesse and Mom, who kept desperately fighting to get away. Unconscious bodies could only mean one thing– the Knight! Mom screamed, unable to resist the added weight of the soldier’s knee as he produced a syringe from a black satchel attached to his belt. I’d never been so petrified, seeing the Knight used on my family.
“House secure, sir!” a soldier near me said into a radio attached to his wrist. The soldier’s cold, camo-painted eyes turned to me. “The human has been left unharmed as you requested, sir.”
They were talking about me, and they still thought I was human. Why were they after my parents? The knight was only meant for murderers and offenders of Military Law.
Evee moved closer to me. “Casper,” she said. The tremble in her voice was like vibrato. “It’s my dad.”
I watched as Colonel Ford and Zana strolled through the unhinged, front door as if they had been invited. They walked between the tables and furniture broken on the floor. Colonel Ford looked different– more grey-haired. Zana’s dark eyebrows rose as she looked at everything around her with contempt and disgust. Her eyes found mine then Evee’s, and she leered in satisfaction at us.
Without a trace of guilt or sorrow, Colonel Ford approached Evee and me. I instinctively positioned myself between him and his daughter, even though neither of us could touch Evee’s phantom body.
“Casper,” Colonel Ford said. “I’m afraid we have to arrest your parents.” He didn’t pay any attention to Evee.
“What?” I gagged on the words, trying to stop myself from throwing up. I’d be alone without my family.
“This man isn’t your uncle,” Colonel Ford added, pointing to Uncle Jesse. “He’s a very dangerous man that your parents have been hiding from the Military. His real name is Kevin Cole. We’ve been after him about twenty years now.”
“That’s not true,” I lied. I knew the story, but how could they know?
“It’s him,” Zana said. She walked over to Uncle Jesse, pulling his face out of the carpet by his long, stringy hair. “It’s a shame that’s he’s already been given the Knight. I would have loved for him to see me again.”
Everything about her was twisted.
“You’ve got the wrong guy,” I said. I sounded desperate, and tried to contain my emotion and fear. “He’s my dad’s brother.”
“Wrong again,” Zana said. She walked towards me. “I guess I should be thanking you, Casper. If you hadn’t been so honest on your registration, we might have never caught him.”
I remembered that I had given them Uncle Jesse’s information– My dad’s brother is a mind-reader. Of course they knew Dad didn’t really have a brother, and I should have known to hide it. I’d been unprepared for the family history questions.
“Our records showed that James Vance is an only child,” Colonel Ford said. “I remember meeting your uncle when your family had me over for dinner. When we went through your father’s records, it didn’t mention anything about a brother. Kevin Cole and your father attended the same university. He went missing from our custody not far from here about twenty years ago.”
“Bastard!” Mom yelled at Colonel Ford. “We’ve done nothing wrong…” Her body went limp as the soldiers pulled the syringe out of her neck.
“Get them out of here,” Colonel Ford ordered. He sounded repulsed to be in the same room as my parents.
“No!” I cried. “Leave them alone!” I tried to fight my way towards them, but Colonel Ford and two other soldiers restrained me. I heard Evee’s soft whimpers behind me. There’d been no trace of my aura since Evee woke me, and no matter how much I struggled, I couldn’t see it. I didn’t know what I could do anyway. Using my ability would blow my human cover.
I watched as the soldiers picked up the comatose bodies of my family. They followed out the door, one by one holding the bodies by the shoulders and feet like objects– not people. I wanted to fight them off my parents, but there was nothing I could do.
“Where are you taking them?” I asked, turning back to Colonel Ford.
He paused before he answered. “To the prison facility in the desert,” he said. He neglected my gaze. “They’ll be serving life sentences there for conspiring against the Military.”
Zana’s smirk remained, and she made it a point to catch eyes with me.
It was no use fighting back the tears. This had always been my biggest fear in some ways. A life without my family to protect me. “You can’t take them away like this,” I said. “They’re the only family I have.”
“Dad!” Evee said. “Why are you doing this?”
Colonel Ford looked at his daughter for the first time since he entered the house. He was surprised to see her, but surely he knew she would find out about this eventually. “What are you doing here, Evee?”
“I didn’t want to be alone.” There were tears in her eyes now too. Even her phantom body could cry.
“Go home, Evee,” he said solemnly.
She shook her head. “No.”
“Do as I say, Evelyn Ford.” Colonel Ford looked mean, as his teeth clenched and an artery throbbed in the side of his neck. It was the side of him that I knew existed, but hadn’t seen until now. “NOW!” he yelled.
I didn’t understand how Evee could cry in her current body, but I could see streams of tears roll down her cheeks. “You’re a monster,” she sobbed.
For a moment, I thought Evee’s words hurt him, but his cruel and ruthless guise returned. Evee’s body faded from existence, and I was left alone in my wrecked house with Colonel Ford and Zana. The two of them cornered me against a wall, and the familiar
helpless feeling of being bullied by Randy or Allen returned. Thick beads of sweat rolled down my face and back. I wished I had a shirt on. My heart raced still and it felt like my skin was on fire. There was no aura or energy that I could sense. I couldn’t feel anyone– the love was gone and I was alone.
“I’m very sorry that we had to do this, Casper,” Colonel Ford said. “But the man you thought was your uncle is a very dangerous man. We had no choice but to arrest your parents too since they were allowing him to take refuge in their house. Since you’re a minor, we spared you.”
“Do you expect me to believe that?” I asked.
Colonel Ford turned his head in a confused way. “What do you mean?”
I pointed at Zana with undeniable conviction. “I know that she kidnapped my uncle and plans to kidnap my best friend so that she has control of their abilities.” I focused on Zana. I had nothing to lose at this point. He had taken everyone I loved away from me. “My uncle isn’t dangerous– you are! The Military’s corrupt. Uncle Jesse just has an ability that you need, so you take him as if he isn’t a person at all. You can’t treat people this way.”
“He knows the truth, Frost,” Zana said. “We should take him too.” Zana let out a maniacal laugh as if she was overjoyed to arrest me.
“No one will believe him,” Colonel Ford said. “He’s human, and when tomorrow’s paper comes out people will know that his parents were harboring a wanted man. There’s no need for us to take him. The people of Fallon won’t have anything to do with him after tonight. He has no way of leaving Fallon, and no one to protect him. He’s destitute and stranded.”
I knew he spoke true. “You are a monster,” I said. “Do you think Evee’s not ashamed of what she knows about you?”
He gave a hard sigh, exhaling a deep breath. “I don’t expect you to understand me, Casper.” He turned and began to head for the door, but it wasn’t over for me.
“Ever since Evee told me the horrific things that you’ve done, I’ve wondered how you could do it all when you must know it hurts her. But now I know… you don’t love her at all.” The man was incapable of love.
Every muscle in his body stiffened, and the air turned icy and bitter. A v-shaped vein bulged in his forehead, curving up to his receding hair line.
“What do you know about love, Casper?” Colonel Ford barked. “You’re a kid! You think just because you have a girlfriend that makes you an expert in all matters of the heart? It doesn’t!”
“I know I love Evee more than you do,” I said. “I would never hurt her like this.”
“I CAN PROTECT HER,” he yelled. “What can you do for her?” He started laughing and I thought he looked crazy like Zana. “Here’s something you don’t know about Evee. I have a team of people that watch the future for me, and earlier this week, they told me that my daughter is going to die.” He waited for my reaction.
My breathing stopped. He knew about Evee’s death, too. It had to be a legitimate threat.
Colonel Ford’s cold, grey eyes found mine. “I have to look after my daughter. You want to be with her, but you could never provide for her the protection she needs. The Military broke into your home tonight, Casper, and what were you able to do about it?”
I paused, looking for my aura, but it was still gone. Cornered against the wall, I tried to take a step away from Colonel Ford, who stepped closer.
“Nothing,” he said. “You’re weak and Evee needs someone that can protect her, and until she finds someone better than me for the job, I’ll do whatever I have to in order to keep her safe and alive.”
“She hates you,” I said. “She knows that innocent people have suffered because of you. She’s sick that so many have died because of you.”
He put his hands on my shoulders and slammed me against the wall. The desire to hurt me was all over his snarling, spitting face, and I felt the back of my skull penetrate the wood wall.
“Let me tell you love’s most important lesson, Casper,” he said, still pinning me against the wall. “Love is fickle– it’s just something you believe in when you’re happy– a word that people use too much, and you can lose it in a second. If Evee wants to hate me, that’s fine. I’m sorry to say that I’ve suffered bigger heartaches than that. I won’t allow her to die, and she will if she stays with you. I’ve seen the future. If you care about her, you’ll let her go.”
The back of my head throbbed, and a thick, warm wetness, probably sweat and blood, covered the back of my neck. “I’m the one who will make sure Evee’s safe,” I argued. “I’m the one who loves her.” I felt pain surge in my arms where he held his grip. It was cold at first, but then began to burn like a wicked fire. I screamed and jerked, trying to free myself from his icy grip, but I was stuck.
“You’re human,” Colonel Ford growled. “You’ll be lucky if you can protect yourself. After the newspaper tomorrow, you’ll be lucky to survive in this town another week.”
The ice on my arm crackled, scorching my skin. “I thought we were all human,” I said through the pain.
He released his solid grip. “You’re more human. And you can’t protect Evee from what’s out there. It’s foolish to pretend that you’re the same as us. You can’t even protect yourself.”
I looked at my arms. Thick sheets of ice covered the balls of my shoulders. I tried to pull them off, but it felt like I would jerk my skin away with them. The sub-zero burn continued even after he let me go. I wondered how deep the freeze went, feeling my muscles and tissues solidify. Cold blood from my arms snaked into the warmer parts of my chest, lowering my temperature.
“Stay away from Evee, Casper!” Colonel Ford said. “You’ll kill her if you don’t.”
He exited the house just as casually as he had entered with Zana by his side. I listened to their moderately paced footsteps on the wood deck and the ignition of their vehicle start.
I was alone, like I’d never felt before. It felt like a bad dream, but I wasn’t waking up from the terror. They junked the house, leaving holes in walls and broken windows. How did this happen? Only hours ago things had been so perfect. Mom. Dad. Uncle Jesse. They wouldn’t be coming back. What was I going to do? I was too afraid to even go to school when I knew Dad wouldn’t be there. I needed to find Adam, but I couldn’t find the energy to move.
The disaster area that was now my family’s living room weighed on my heart. Mom had worked hard to make this room perfect, and those mongrels destroyed it in seconds. The statue of Horace rested on its side with the beak chipped in half. Pictures lay cracked on the floor and bits of broken glass surrounded me from where the windows shattered. The chilled wind blew the flowing curtains into the room.
“Casper?” I heard Evee’s voice. She walked through the wall that I leaned against. I pried at the stuck ice on my shoulders with no luck, squirming in its sting.
“I’m here,” I said. She finally saw me, running towards me, but still unable to touch me.
“Look what he did to you!” she cried. She stood staring helplessly at the shells of ice coating my arms.
“I have to get them off,” I said. “It’s burning bad.” I reached up to try and pull one away from my shoulder, but it was no use. The ice felt fused to my skin. Living in the desert my whole life had never prepared me for this degree of frostbite.
“Does your mom have a hairdryer or anything?” Evee asked.
“In her bathroom,” I said. I concentrated hard on not moving my arms, wishing that Evee was capable of assisting me. Shards of glass covered the carpet and unmade bed in my parents’ room. When I found the hairdryer, I plugged it in and aimed it at my right shoulder. It took ten minutes for me to rid my arms of the ice. When the arctic chunks finally melted off, fair amounts of my skin came with them. My arm was raw, pink, and skinless like a desert sunburn. The brand on my shoulder appeared unrecognizable from the scarring of the ice.
“That looks horrible,” Evee said. She cowered at the sight of my injuries. “I can’t believe my father.”
Dropping the last bit of ice in the sink, I turned to Evee, but spoke as if to no one. “What am I going to do?” I had no options. I felt too afraid to leave Fallon, but staying wasn’t any better. I had nowhere to go anyway, not without my family.
“We have to tell people what the Military is doing,” Evee said. Her voice was full of hope, but the situation moved beyond hope now.
I wanted to think her idea would help, but no one would listen to me– and I didn’t want to drag Evee down with me. Whatever dreams I had of connecting with my classmates would be shattered when tomorrow’s headlines came out.
“Nobody would believe us, Evee,” I said. For the first time in my life, I couldn’t see things getting any better. When I was human, it had been so easy to convince myself that I would graduate, and my life would be fine, but now it felt like the Military ruined my life, and I had no family to help me through it.
“I think I can get people to believe me,” Evee said. “I’m the Colonel’s daughter, so maybe it would make what we’re saying more credible and we...” She seemed to think of something. “We can get your parents back.”
“How?” I asked. “It’s impossible.”
“Casper, a few weeks ago flying was impossible, but you proved that it’s not,” she stated. Her aura slightly returned, but I could barely see it. “We can do it, Casper.” Her smile had lost its affect on me.
I shook my head. I was at a loss for words– all my mind could concentrate on was the absence of my family, the pain in my arms, and the fear of the future. I wanted to remember Evee the way she’d been in my bed earlier– the only girl that ever loved me.
“Why don’t you believe me?” Evee cried. The emotion in her voice was hard for me to bear.
I collapsed against a wall, feeling some kind of shock take over, weakening my knees. I stared up at her. “Why do you believe?”
“Because it’s you I believe in,” she said. “You can do anything, and if you allow fear and hate to control you again then you really won’t be able to help your family.” She helplessly kept her eyes fixed on me.