“When you’re this intensely upset, I can’t block you. Probably doesn’t help that we share near-replica DNA either,” said Ilya.
“I thought you’d had a hard time reading Ivan,” I said. “Wait, I think I know why!” I clapped my hand over my mouth.
“Seriously?” said Ilya.
“I wanted to tell you all at breakfast, but the conversation got hijacked by the North Van plan. I had a dream about Ivan getting possessed. Or infected maybe. My visions are usually pretty literal, but maybe this was symbolic somehow. I think it has to be.”
“Where did it happen? What was he doing?”
“He was visiting ruins with Mom. I think they were in England. He touched a stone and a dark shadow shot up from the ground and into his body. It changed him. The expression on his face changed, hell, even his skin color faded,” I said.
“That might explain why his mind always felt so different, so . . . brutally wild. After the other night . . . I guess we’ll never know. Then again, we should operate on the assumption he’s still alive. We both know how strong he was. Or still is, regardless of how he looked when we left him,” said Ilya quietly. “But, back to my offer to bare my heart and soul, do you want to hear my embarrassing confession?”
“Sure, why not? You’ll still have the advantage, but I’ve got to get used to it at some point.”
Ilya continued staring at the highway ahead, looking as though he was reconsidering. I gave him credit for bravery in my mind, hoping to give him courage.
“Yeah, this is pretty good. At least you’ll probably think so.” He paused again before saying, “I’m still in love with Faith.”
My first thought was, Oh, good luck with that one. The sentiment had already come to fruition in my mind by the time I tried to claw it back.
“Don’t you think I know she’s still got a thing for Jonah? If you can tell, and probably everyone else can tell, what do you think I have to listen to?” Ilya looked over at me briefly with raised eyebrows.
“I didn’t mean to think it. But even setting her feelings for Jonah aside, she is a touchy gal, you’ve got to admit.” I sat on my hands as though it might help me bottle up my thoughts.
“You mean she’s a bitch. Don’t hold back. I know what you think anyway. And she is. I can hear her unfiltered outbursts. She’s an angry woman even when she doesn’t have an axe to grind.” Ilya gripped the steering wheel harder.
“Are you going to do anything? Do you want to tell her?”
“I’d been planning to let you and Jonah get more established before I made a move. I’m not interested in competing with Jonah, even if he’s not in-the-ring so to speak. Of course now that you’re pushing him away–”
“Was he ever in love with her?”
Ilya didn’t answer and I was instantly sorry I’d asked. I didn’t want the answer to be yes.
“Honestly, I don’t know. He and I aren’t that close. I remember he felt an intense attraction to her for a brief time. Keep in mind though, the fleeting things people think and the way they really feel deep down can get muddled together. If interpreting thoughts came easily, if emotions and intentions were so cut and dry, my mind-reading would have kept me and Faith together. She ended it because I hadn’t told her I loved her. I know it was so much more complicated. If you think it’s hard to be friends with someone who knows your every thought, think how hard it would be to date that person. She always waffled between embarrassment and anger around me.”
“I guess if psychic powers aren’t much of a relationship enhancer, mind-reading might not be either.”
Ilya didn’t answer, but increased speed as the urban traffic broke up and the street turned into a highway.
The road to Hope led through Vancouver’s suburbs, through outlying cities, into farmland, and up against rugged mountains. The lush foothills and sharp peaks loomed higher and higher as the valley narrowed.
Ilya pulled off the highway at a sign for Hope’s city center. “According to the map, this pizza place should be across from a park. Can you check your phone again?”
“Turn right past the gas station at the next intersection.” We rounded the corner and saw a large chalkboard tent sign for Riverside Pizza House on the sidewalk.
I noticed the emptiness of my own stomach. “Are you hungry?”
“Sounds like we could both eat. Let’s go see if we can get a lead with our lunch.” Ilya handed me the ID badge I’d found at the warehouse. “Here. For inspiration.”
The interior of the Riverside Pizza House greeted us with sparse retro diner décor. As soon as the scent of fresh bread, herbs, and roasted meat hit me, the aroma made up for the lack of ambiance. We followed a sign instructing us to seat ourselves.
A young family had the best table next to the storefront window. Ilya and I grabbed a table for two nearest to the register. I put my hand in my pocket to feel Dr. Kingston’s ID badge. With my free hand, I plucked a menu out of the spice rack in front of me and the diner disappeared in a whirl of light.
I sat on the passenger side of a pickup truck. Dr. Kingston drove. Two Riverside boxes rested between us on the bench seat. Soft classical music drifted out of the speakers on the dashboard. I looked out the window for landmarks. We were already on a gravel road, so there was no signage. Time crawled as the truck rumbled, all but drowning out the trumpets and violins struggling to come out of the speakers.
We reached a fork in the road. And a sign! We could turn right to access Jewel Lake. Or we could turn left under the sign, Forest Service Road. Dr. Kingston turned left and the drive continued until the forest had practically choked the road out of existence. And then we burst out of the trees into the alien meadow.
I let go of the menu and ID badge simultaneously and snapped back into the Riverside Pizza House. “I know how to get there!”
“Lower your voice. I know you’re excited, but we’re surrounded by rural civilians here.” Ilya pushed his hand down towards the tabletop.
An annoyed teenage girl appeared next to our table. “Can I get you anything?”
“We’ll take a pepperoni and a veggie lover’s, unless you’ve got a better suggestion.” Smiling, Ilya cocked an eyebrow, trying to charm her, but she couldn’t care less. The server finished writing, looked at Ilya, and then at me with a lackluster expression suggesting to me she disliked tourists.
“Hey, that’s actually good. If she thinks we’re lame tourists, she won’t be committing our faces to memory,” said Ilya after she had gone.
“I guess if Ivan had other mind-readers, whoever’s still running The Compendium wouldn’t even have to question people to interrogate them.”
“Exactly. And don’t forget, I still think there’s a fair chance we’ll see our father again,” said Ilya as he pointed a finger at me.
We took our own two pizza boxes back to Cole’s car. Ilya found Jewel Lake on my phone while I related the vision and savored the best slice of pepperoni pizza I’d eaten in years.
Minutes later, we were back on the Trans-Canada Highway looking for a turn off to Jewel Lake.
“We can’t retrace Kingston’s route without the origin. But if you’re right and this lake has a back road access point, we can find the trail from there.” Ilya drove slowly through the lake’s rest-stop parking lot.
A gravel road at the end of the lot was blocked off by a thick chain hanging from two concrete posts. A sign proclaimed, NO ADMITTANCE STAFF ONLY. We both scanned the lot for signs of travelers or park staff. The few cars in the lot were all unoccupied. There were no pedestrians in sight, so I slipped out of the car and lifted the chain off its hook on one of the posts. Ilya drove through and I hooked the chain back in place.
I hopped back in the car and snapped the door closed. “I know this is gravel, but let’s get a move on.”
“T
his is me you’re with, remember. To everyone outside, there is no car.”
“Oh yeah! I keep forgetting about your illusionist side. The mind-reading has a way of drawing my focus, like it did with Rubin, even though he could also influence people. I suppose I should stop comparing you to Rubin.” I looked out the windows all around, unable to shake my concern.
“In every possible way, thank you.”
We reached the fork in the road and the signpost from my vision more quickly than expected. Jewel Lake was more like a large pond. The road past the sign got much rougher than the gravel and went on for longer. As the path narrowed and the trees closed in, we bounced and rattled through a claustrophobic amount of foliage. But like my vision, we burst out of the dense forest trail into an alpine meadow full of exotic trees and ferns. Dr. Kingston was nowhere in sight.
We got out of the car and walked towards the open-air workstation. A portable canvas canopy had been erected overtop to shield occupants from the sun for the few hours it loomed overhead each day. We reached the workstation and found the stack of pizza boxes intact. No notes, files, vials, or specimens were visible. Kingston’s truck was gone.
Letting my curiosity take over, I asked, “Should we collect some samples for ourselves?”
“What would be the point? We’re not looking to do our own testing. We don’t have access to a lab anyway.”
“It seems like a waste. To come here and have nothing to show for it.”
“Hang on!” Ilya walked towards the rows of teal ferns. “That’s not nothing!”
He pointed at a pair of shoes attached to horizontal ankles jutting out from the edge of the ferns.
Chapter 4
“He’s alive!” Ilya said as we closed the gap between us and the body.
“Doctor Kingston?” I cried out. “George Kingston?”
He said nothing as we brushed the ferns back to see his whole body. Kingston looked up at us with a pained expression. Blood dribbled from the corners of his mouth.
“What happened? Who did this to you?” I said.
“You don’t have to talk. I’m a telepath. Think what you want to tell us,” said Ilya.
I waited through the excruciating silence, wringing my hands, hoping Kingston communicated something. “I’m so sorry . . . for everything. We will stop Tatiana, I promise. And Casey and whoever else they’re working with, it’s why we’re here.”
I knelt down and took Kingston’s hand, hoping for a vision of his attack. My focus paid off and the field around me shifted. I saw Kingston look up from pruning a plant. Casey walked towards him with a menacing glare. He flexed his arms snapping them open into four new limbs without breaking stride. Terror seized my heart as Casey closed in, arms ready. I dropped Kingston’s hand to slip back to the present. I took a calming breath as I looked from Kingston’s face to Ilya.
“Do you have a copy of The Compendium Transmuto? Or do you know who does?” I said.
Kingston gingerly reached into his pocket and pulled out a thumb drive.
“He says it’s not The Compendium, but it’s a snapshot. And he says they took the bees. We have to find the bees.” Ilya still held Kingston’s hand.
“Is there anything we can do for you?” I met Ilya’s gaze and he shook his head. “We could take him to a hospital in Hope.”
We sat in silence again for a painfully long moment.
“He’s gone,” said Ilya.
I looked down at Kingston’s large limp body before I glanced over at the workstation and past it to the glass and screen bee habitat I’d seen in my vision. The oil slick bees were gone. The image of a chameleon beetle from the Capitol City Motel flashed through my mind. I’d seen at least two species of insects now. Who knew how many more were created? There could be more plant species too. We needed The Compendium to be sure.
I walked over to the workstation table and punched the stack of pizza boxes. I shouted as the cardboard went flying. I kicked one of the table legs again and again until it snapped up and the table collapsed.
Ilya touched my shoulder. “We should get out of here.”
“Let’s go check on Jonah,” I said.
At the Bella Maria we found Jonah awake, but weak. Ilya insisted on resuming his patrol of the downtown eastside and took Cole for protection. To my surprise, Faith volunteered to join them. Jonah and I were alone at last.
“So you found another Innoviro research site.” Jonah sat up in bed.
“And we found Doctor Kingston,” I said.
“Did he help you?” asked Jonah.
“He did. He gave us a thumb drive with Compendium documents on it before he died of what looked like internal bleeding.” I showed Jonah the small plastic rectangle on my palm.
“I’m so sorry.”
I shook my head. “I’ve seen two people die in the last week. Technically, I also witnessed my parents’ death last month. I don’t think I’m handling it very well.”
“Nobody expects you to watch people die and just bounce back. If you did, there’d be something wrong with you.” Jonah reached a hand towards me, but I shook my head.
“I’ll tell you what I’m never going to see. You are not going to die on my watch.”
“I’m not dying. I overdid it a bit. And then I went for a walk in the sun. I wasn’t being smart.” Jonah smoothed the blanket down on either side of his hips.
“Please, please take it easy. We don’t know when or if we’re going to find a treatment to help you. I know you don’t want to lie in bed while the rest of us investigate, but there’s no choice.”
“I’ll stay in bed if you’ll join me.” Jonah tried to smirk at me, but it wasn’t very convincing.
“I want to stay, but I don’t think it’s a good idea.” I looked at the wall to avoid Jonah’s eyes.
“You never know, I might drain you again and we’d be trading places. Kiss me, Irina and it could be you in this bed.” Jonah cocked his head with another weak smile.
“That’s not funny. We both know that won’t happen. The last time we were together, you didn’t drain me. I think I hurt you. The injections Tatiana and Brad gave me made me stronger in general.” I looked down at the ground.
“You didn’t hurt me.”
“You’re still too weak for us to get close again, Jonah. I won’t risk it.”
“How about we lie together for a while? Nothing heated. We can watch TV. I’ll pull the sheet up between us and if I start to feel weaker, I’ll let you know.” I let my gaze connect with his again. Jonah looked at me intently with those glacial eyes. “I promise.”
I stared back helplessly, grateful Jonah didn’t have a mind-reading gift. We had established that he was attracted to me too, but I couldn’t imagine he felt as strongly about me as I did about him.
I got into bed with him, careful to stay on top of the inner bed sheet. I let him wrap his arms around me. I clicked through television channels until I found an episode of Doctor Who. I burrowed against Jonah’s side. “Here. Let’s have something stranger than us for once.”
Ilya, Cole, and Faith walked in moments after Doctor Who ended. Cole carried grocery bags full of food while Ilya had a whiteboard and Faith had a full cardboard tray of to-go coffee cups.
“Okay.” Ilya propped the empty whiteboard up on top of the dresser. “We need get organized and come up with a plan of attack.”
Cole began shelving groceries. “We’re fumbling around playing catch-up, but you can be damn sure Ivan knew exactly what his next steps were.”
“We’ll never catch up to him, let alone get ahead if we’re roaming and groping in the dark,” said Ilya.
“The first thing I’m going to do is copy everything on this thumb drive to Irina’s laptop.” Faith distributed coffee cups. “From there I’m going to run a s
cript cross-referencing what I pulled off the Innoviro server and plant doc’s files. Any common terms might be important.”
I had to remind myself again of Faith’s high intelligence and why she had been a part of the Innoviro team.
“For now, we’ll have three columns.” Ilya drew lines on the whiteboard with a black dry erase marker. “Facts we know, questions we have, and actions we need to take.”
“This feels like corporate life all over again,” I said, half-joking.
“Until recently that life was all we knew. We have skills and education we should put to use here. Ivan hired us for the same reason,” said Cole.
“My father–our father, sorry, Irina–used variants to further some pretty awful goals. It’s time we made amends and used all our talents to stop him.” Ilya wrote on the whiteboard.
Faith clicked on my laptop. Cole started making a meal.
I suddenly felt proud of my friends. I was a mess, but here they were, fresh from losing their jobs and homes, plunging into a dangerous mission with only their wits and morals to guide them. “I wish I had more skills and knowledge to contribute.”
“Speak for yourself,” said Jonah. “You can still have visions. I’m totally useless as long as I’m bedridden.”
“You guys aren’t useless. We’re all here for a reason,” said Cole.
Did he mean we all had motivation? Or did he think a higher power had brought us together? I didn’t have the energy to probe for an explanation. Ilya and Faith hadn’t looked up, still concentrating on their work.
“I need some air.” I got up out of bed. Being cuddled up to Jonah with Cole in the room had gotten uncomfortable. “I won’t be gone long.” I slipped out of the room.
I ducked into mine and Faith’s room. I put my phone in the front pocket of my backpack and slung one of the straps over my shoulder. I heard the jingle of my 8-ball keychain.
The Compendium Page 3