Splinter Skill

by A C Bell

  “What? Tasers don’t burn people,” I argued stupidly.

  “Do you have any kind of metal implant in your shoulder?”

  I frowned. “No. How bad is it?”

  “Don’t worry, we’ll get you to a doctor. You’ll be fine.”

  Shortly, two infirmary staff rushed in with a stretcher. Nate and his friend moved to lift me onto it, but I swatted their hands irritably.

  “I got it.” I crawled sideways onto it and settled on my stomach, clenching my jaw at the rush of pain in my shoulder. The paramedics strapped me on and lifted the stretcher to roll me out.

  Before I was wheeled out of the gym, I saw Gibbins turn back to the cadettes. “McGee! Apparently, you would like to go next,” he bellowed. McGee grimaced and Hughes laughed and nudged him forward.

  5 The Amaranthine Bookstore

  Nurse Lee finished wrapping gauze around my shoulder and chest and fastened it in place with the little hooks on the end. I’d received second degree electrical burns about three inches in diameter and the cream Lee had applied under the bandage was doing little to soothe my pain. She helped me put a hospital gown on; They’d had to cut off my shirt and sports bra since I wasn’t supposed to move my arm. At least I was allowed to wear pants.

  “The doctor will be back in with your x-rays in a few minutes. Can I get you anything?”

  “No thanks,” I said quietly.

  “Okay,” she said patiently. “I’ll be back with a sling. You’ll need to wear it for at least a week so the deep tissue can heal.”

  Once she’d left, I buried my face in my hand. What a weekend. How would I explain this to my mother? Maybe I could just find excuses not to see her in person until the sling came off.

  When the door opened, I moved my fingers through my hair as if I had just been about to do so and put a smile on my face. Doctor Nunez smiled warmly. “You’re almost done, I promise.” She hooked my x-rays into the lightbox and turned it on. “Luckily, I don’t see any fractures, or any damage at all, to your bones. As you said, you don’t have anything in your skeletal structure such as a metal implant that would explain the burn, so I will be informing the academy that they are using faulty equipment. Since this is an unusual injury not included in the waver you signed, workers comp should cover at least most of the cost of your visit.”

  That, at least, was reassuring. My glance drifted to where it showed my collarbone my breath caught. There was nothing there. The anomaly was gone. Relief eased my tense mind. Nurse Lee came back a few minutes later with my sling. Finally, I shuffled down the hall to the waiting room. I found Nikki and Justin sitting across the way, but they weren’t alone. Mom looked up, as if feeling my eyes on her. Her eyes were red. Given that whoever had called them had undoubtedly told them I was okay, Mom’s distress could only mean one thing. One look at the guilt on Nikki’s face confirmed what I feared.

  Mom stood and crossed the distance between us. The betrayal on her normally light face was hard to look at. “How could you not tell me you were applying?”

  “Not here,” I mumbled. She followed me to the exit.

  Once outside, Mom tried to calm herself with a deep breath. “Are you so determined to be like your father that you—”

  “This isn’t about Dad,” I argued before she could finish. “I can help people! I have it in me.”

  “I never said you were incapable. Your father helped plenty of people. He died helping you! Is this how you plan to honor his sacrifice?”

  “Don’t put that on me!” I shouted. Tears burned my eyes and anger tightened my throat. “I was six years old! I didn’t understand what a robbery was.”

  “So, since I didn’t lose you then, you would rather I lose you now?”

  “Mom, please, I’ve tried to find something else, but I can’t keep ignoring this feeling that this is what I’m supposed to do.”

  We both fell quiet. With nothing left to say, Mom turned on her heel and left. Now that the argument was done, Nikki and Justin pushed the glass door open. Nikki moved to comfort me until I glared at her and stepped away. Sympathy reflected from her hazel eyes.

  “She needed to know.”

  “Really? You’re lecturing me about coming clean?” I snapped. She balked. I turned away from her and she grabbed my hand.

  “Adeline, please talk to me.” Nikki hurried after me.

  “Okay, you wanna talk? What were you and Raiden arguing about the other day?”

  “Raiden?” Justin interrupted.

  The remorse in Nikki’s face twisted into anger. “Did you follow me?”

  “Yes, because I know you’re lying. No one just goes out and buys a gun for no reason.”

  “Adeline!” Her glance flicked in Justin’s direction, but she wouldn’t actually look at him. He had gone sheet white.

  “You bought…” He trailed off.

  Nikki’s hand was trembling when she raked her fingers through her hair. “You had no right--”

  “Neither did you!” I snapped. I spun away from her toward visitors’ parking.

  ✽✽✽

  Nikki bailed on our plans to go to the mall that weekend. I was still too upset, anyway. The change in plans left me alone with nothing to do since Peter had gone back home again. He wouldn’t say why, but he insisted everything was okay.

  I'd tried reading several different books, but my mind kept drifting. I just about jumped out of my skin when several taps sounded on the window, thinking someone was scratching a creepy note into the glass or something. Then I realized it was just starting to rain. With an anxious laugh, I stood and looked around the room. My legs felt tense and restless.

  I needed a distraction from everything. I padded barefoot across the carpet to the desk and sat, pulling my messenger bag onto my lap. To break the silence, I tuned my iPod to some oldies rock and then returned to my backpack. After sifting through each folder, I zipped it shut; I had in fact finished all of my homework. The canvas material sagged sadly as I set the bag against the side of the desk, seeming to deflate in its uselessness to me.

  With a sigh, I started to lean back in the chair, remembering my burn too late. I jolted forward with a wince and pulled my lips in irritably. I pulled out the bottom drawer of my side of the desk. The file jacket on top held old homework that had been graded, so I took it out, set it on the desk, and ignored it. Underneath was the book that had been left at my door. I sat contemplating for a moment. While I'd found the vampire plot tacky, it had been otherwise interesting if you ignored the lousy ending. I'm sorry, “lack of an ending” is more like it.

  I set it on the desk and looked at the cover, fingering the design identical to the ring I wore. It could definitely be a coincidence, but I still wasn't sure I believed that, not since someone had gone out of his way to leave it for me. The small envelope with the coin and the card sat tucked against the binding under the cover. I took it out and looked at the Latin phrase on the back of the card, my curiosity piquing once again. I'd completely forgotten to find out what it meant.

  I booted my laptop and googled translations for “veritas numquam perit”. Each link below translated the phrase to mean “truth never dies” or “truth never perishes”. Even more curious now, I typed the address on the card into the search engine. The address was a commercial space, but I couldn't find what for. I bit my lip, deciding whether I wanted to check it out. I'd wanted a distraction. This seemed like an interesting waste of time.

  ✽✽✽

  “Huh,” I mused to myself. I folded the piece of paper with the directions on it and peered out my window at my destination. The Amaranthine Bookstore. I was noticing an “eternal” theme. I stuffed the leather book and envelope into my bag and jumped out of the car. The bell above the door jangled as I pushed it open, announcing my entrance. A dozen rows of tall cramped bookcases formed a narrow aisle and the shelves were crammed to capacity with used books. There were even piles of books on top of the bookcases. How would someone even reach them? There were only a few
shoppers, each of whom looked up curiously as I passed.

  “Good morning,” a cheery voice called in a Scottish accent. A woman, middle to late forties, sat behind a counter down the central aisle. Her long black hair contrasted her pale skin and fell around her shoulders, almost hiding a pair of glasses hooked onto the collar of her shirt. Wrinkles had begun to form beside her eyes and crinkling when she smiled.

  “Hello,” I grinned as I stepped awkwardly toward the desk. What was I supposed to do now? Just show her the coin? Was she even who I needed to speak to? Why hadn't the ridiculously cryptic note been more specific?

  “What can I help you with?”

  “Um, this might sound weird.” I awkwardly tucked my hair behind my ear and withdrew the little envelope from my bag.

  “Let's see it, then.” A knowing smile cracked the seriousness in her features like window cleaner wiping muck from glass. It was nice of her not to comment when my mouth fell slightly ajar. I held the coin out and her smile broadened. “Alright, follow me.”

  She whisked from behind the counter so fast I barely had time to get the coin back into the envelope before she disappeared into one of the aisles. Hoping there was someone to watch the desk for her, I quickly followed and caught a glimpse of her hair as she zipped around the next corner. I sprinted between the bookshelves and found an empty aisle.

  “What?” I gaped peeking down the closest aisle across the way. Nothing. “Where—?” I began calling out. A laugh drifted out to meet me.

  “This way.”

  I followed her voice and the jangle of keys, finding her at a metal door along the side wall. Once she had the door unlocked she pulled it open to reveal a tiny entryway to an elevator. The elevator doors pulled apart and she ushered me inside. Closing the metal door behind us, she inserted a key into a keyhole where the floor buttons should have been. This opened a little compartment like the ones security shut-off buttons hide behind. Two buttons apparently hid inside this one, the top labeled “1” and the other labeled “B”. A hidden basement? I refrained from asking what was down there. I'd know in a few seconds. As the elevator hummed to life, I shifted on my feet.

  “So,” I began awkwardly. “I'm Adeline.”

  “Alexandra,” the woman said with a smile. When the elevator halted and the doors opened, Alexandra raced out immediately and I sprang out to follow before I lost her again. We were surrounded by more bookshelves. A lot of them.

  “Here,” she said as we neared the left wall. She put one hand on her hip and pointed at the last bookshelf with the other. “The A’s start here and work down alphabetically by subject. These books are not available for purchase, but you are allowed to borrow them. If you find any that interest you, bring them to me at the desk.”

  I nodded and she pulled a second key from the keychain, probably so I could work the lift without her. Without another word, she headed back for the elevator. I turned into an aisle I correctly hoped would hold the C’s. Titles such as Ceffyl Dwr and other Welsh Myths, Chinese Dragons: Extinct or Dormant?, or The Captivating Charms of the Czechoslovakian Cikavac, filled the shelves. I appeared to have stumbled upon some kind of private collection of mythology books. The book lover in me was positively giddy.

  After extensively scouring the titles, however, I found nothing else on Xavier Cahn. Nor did I find anything in the sparse X section. So, I moved to the V's and found a small section on Vjesci. There were three books about Vjesci culture, but nothing on their history. I did, however, find a handwritten genealogy book.

  I pulled it off the shelf and sat on the floor with my back against the bookshelf and cracked the book open in my lap. The family trees illustrated on the yellowing pages were extensive. I stopped rifling through pages when a name caught my attention. “Cahn” was centered at the top of the page in large font. A lot of the family trees all seemed to end around 1523, but not this one. Near the middle of the page I found Xavier Cahn, connected to two names.

  The first, Evangeline, he’d had a daughter with named Kendra. The second name was Amelia Parker. Parker? I touched the ring on my finger again, a sinking feeling in my stomach. I could see where this was going. Below it was Wyatt Parker, the baby that had been mentioned at the end of the journal. Wyatt had named his daughter Amelia after his mother. There was no spouse listed for Amelia, but below her was Adam Parker connected to a Donia Gamal with a baby named Adeline.

  Generations had to have been skipped because there weren’t enough to bridge the gap from then to now. So maybe the names were wrong, too. I didn’t believe that last bit, though. I thumbed my father’s name and glared at the Amelia listed above him. I fumed with anger, loathing the woman I had never met. My grandfather wasn’t listed, but maybe that had something to do with why she had abandoned my father in a Texan diner as an infant. I shut the book and rode the elevator back up to the main floor.

  “This genealogy book,” I said as I set it on Alexandra’s counter. “Is it accurate?”

  Alexandra frowned at the insinuation. “Of course. A relative of one of the members gave it to me.”

  “Can I borrow it?”

  ✽✽✽

  It was my turn to cover closing at work that Sunday. Few people ever came in late to bowl on a Sunday, so I settled in for what would be a long few hours, cracking open Frankenstein. No one else came in. After a while, it started getting cold so I jogged to retrieve my jacket from my locker and painstakingly finagled my way into it with one arm.

  A loud metal song abruptly blasted over the loudspeakers. I covered my ears, or ear since I was wearing a sling, and winced. We certainly didn’t have any music like that here. Strictly family friendly stuff so parents could bring their kids. I also hadn’t even been aware the speakers could go so loud. I hurried back out to the counter and turned it off, surveying the area to see who had turned it on. My mouth fell open. Scrawled across every screen in the room was the same phrase:

  Stop digging or I’ll bury you.

  I heard the door to the alley shut through the kitchen and bolted after the culprit, not bothering to hold my jacket on as it slid over the sling. Cold air bit into my lungs as I pushed the door open into the dark alley and I caught a glimpse of a figure in dark clothing making a break for the street. Based on their height and build, they were probably male. I gave chase and nearly punted a pair of large rats, then veered around the corner after him. He pulled over a trash can as he passed it in an attempt to block my path but I swerved around the mess. I was gaining on him. A spicy cologne filled my nostrils and I willed my legs to move faster. His hoodie was almost in reach.

  At the last minute, he passed a couple of girls about my age and grabbed one of them by the wrist, yanking her behind him into my way. In the split second his head was turned, I caught a glimpse of some kind of Halloween mask with enormous teeth. The girl’s friend complained loudly. I didn’t have time to change course and I had too much momentum to stop, but I tried. The girl’s knee dug into my thigh when she flailed her arms out to catch herself and her loud startled scream made my ears ring painfully, but my leather jacket cushioned some of the blow when I hit the ground. Luckily, I landed on my right arm instead of my left, but I still expected more of a jolt when I landed.

  “I’m so sorry,” I apologized vehemently as I rolled and pushed myself onto my knees.

  Her friend glared at me as she helped the poor girl up. I looked down the street, searching desperately for anyone in dark clothing, but the only person I saw was an elderly man at a bus bench who didn’t seem to have heard the scuffle. I scurried to my feet and began looking in store windows, so focused that I didn’t hear the girls’ curses. Numerous shops were still open and he could have ducked into any of them, hiding behind a shelf. I scooped my hair away from my face and tried to breathe. My frustration bubbled to the surface and I kicked a

  nearby trash can with the side of my foot. A satisfying dent was left in its shiny dark blue surface.

  I surrendered a stomped back to the bowling all
ey. I looked under all the tables and in every crevice, I could find, relieved that I was alone. It had gotten even colder while I’d been away, so I found the control for the air conditioner by the kitchen. This had definitely been a set up. Someone had turned it all the way down so I would go fetch my jacket so the screens and music could be set. I read the words displayed on the screens again, my skin crawling. After debating for a few minutes, I opted to call the police and turned the “Open” light off. Two officers arrived shortly. One was older but still fit and the other was young, like he’d just started on the job. The younger one inspected the area while the older one, Officer Clayton, lingered to talk with me.

  “So, you haven’t moved anything in here?” he asked in a gruff voice.

  “Just the air conditioner. He turned it all the way down. And I turned off the music he put on before I saw the message,” I said. Officer Clayton nodded, jotting my statement down in a small notebook. Then he walked over to the desk to inspect the radio, writing down the station it had been turned to and the message on the screens.

  “I wasn’t sure if I should call the police or not.” I lingered outside the desk, not wanting to be in the way. “I don’t think this technically counts as a break in since we were open.”

  “It’s definitely...” He scrutinized the message. “Something. Is the message for you?”

  I shrugged. It was almost definitely for me, but it could also be a prank. Halloween was in a month and some people like to get into the spooky spirit early. I pictured the mask the guy had been wearing again. If it was a prank, it was a strange one.

  “You’re certain there’s no one who would want to scare you like this?” he asked.

  I wasn’t certain of anything at the moment. Even if I gave him a name, I had no idea whose name I would give. And if cops started sniffing around Nikki, her stalker would undoubtedly notice. Would that put her in danger?

  I shook my head. “There’s no one.”