A giant wood and glass door opened behind two looming roman pillars. My perspective retreated and the building became smaller, stretching behind a long slope of red brick stairs. Dr. Waynesburg walked out through the door and started down the steps with a manila envelope tucked under his arm.
I followed behind him as he walked briskly along a pedestrian corridor dotted with people wearing backpacks and carrying armloads of books. Waynesburg had noticeably less white hair, more of a dark salt-and-pepper look. He walked by a wall enclosing four pay phones.
In the distance, I could see a large patina-green archway. A long castle-like square tower topped with a slim pyramid pierced the sky beside us. We passed a bulletin board titled BERKELEY CAMPUS SERVICES. Waynesburg reached a blue mailbox and promptly dropped the envelope through the slot. He made a 180 degree turn and started walking back towards me. Waynesburg strode mere paces from colliding with me, when suddenly I was back in my tent in the mountains of Oregon.
I whipped off my long sleeved knit shirt and sweatpants, tearing into a T-shirt and jeans. I unzipped my tent door and lunged out into the campsite.
“I just saw Waynesburg on the campus of Berkeley. Where is that?” I shouted to anyone who would listen.
“It’s in California. The university is named after the city.” Nellie pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose.
“It’s also on the eastern side of the San Francisco Bay Area,” said Bruno.
“What was he doing?” asked Faith.
I scanned the campsite. Everyone was up and about except for Jonah. Adelaide cooked bacon and made coffee at the same time, while Ilya hovered next to her with ravenous eyes. His slim frame looked even slighter in his fitted jeans and black T-shirt. Ralph lay curled up in the single patch of sun on the ground. Josh sat in front of the campfire, frowning into his steaming metal mug, already back in his green flak jacket.
“I saw Waynesburg come out of an academic-looking building and mail an envelope. That’s all I saw, but it must mean something. It looked like it might have been a few years ago,” I said earnestly.
Cole’s sandy hair had a glint of gold in the early morning sun. “Berkeley has a research facility called the Northern California Earthquake Data Center. Maybe he was there.”
“From what I saw in Kingston’s documents, Waynesburg is working with fracking contractors, not university research facilities,” said Faith, her words laced with confusion.
“Could be Waynesburg has expertise in both fracking and seismic studies. We should definitely hit the NCEDC before we move on to San Francisco. Actually, we should also see a guy I know in a town called Chico. He works for a fracking contractor. He’s a buddy from U-Vic. He might know something about the fracking scene in California,” said Cole eagerly.
“Does he know about Innoviro? Or more relevantly, is he a variant?” Ilya glanced around the group as he sipped from a steaming cup.
“Not that I know of on either count. But I can visit him without taking the whole group. Which is probably for the best,” said Cole.
“After what happened to the journalist, Wong, we should think carefully before we bring in more civilians,” I said slowly.
“Cole, make absolutely sure your guy understands what Ivan and his buddies are capable of,” said Faith.
“Not only this fracking guy, I mean people at Berkeley too. If the Compendium group is willing to kill a journalist, a few scientists they don’t need won’t give them pause,” I said.
“So what does our route look like now?” said Ilya.
“If we go to Chico, we could pass through Berkeley on our way to San Francisco proper,” said Cole.
“We’re making good time, so I think we should stick around here and train today,” said Ilya.
“Does everyone here know what each other’s abilities are?” I said loudly, addressing the campsite.
Bruno stood up and roared loudly. He took off his shirt and revealed an abnormally hairy chest. He picked up a fallen branch, broke it in half, and peeled the bark off with his fingernails.
“He’s also an excellent programmer. And Ralph has paralytic venom in his teeth.” Nellie stood up and stretched both arms towards the intact half of Bruno’s branch. An electric arc shot out of her copper fingernails and hit the branch with a deafening BANG-CRACK.
“Good thing we’re out in the middle of nowhere,” said Adelaide.
Jonah stumbled out of his tent. “What happened? Are we being attacked?”
“No, we’re getting a pre-training demonstration. We can do a little sparring today if everyone’s up for it,” said Josh. Jonah looked confused, but relieved.
“As much as I want to get back on the road, a bit more practice is probably a good idea,” I said.
“Done deal then. Josh, what do you wanna do?” said Faith. She alternated snapping flame to life with either set of thumbs and middle fingers.
“Let’s start with some of our new friends here. Adelaide and Ralph, then Nellie and Bruno. That should be educational,” said Josh, flashing a rare smile.
“We’re not really fighters,” said Nellie.
“Are you kidding me? Did you see what you just did to that branch? Do we even have to discuss your hubby there?” said Faith.
“Nobody fights who doesn’t want to get their hands dirty.” Cole stood with his hands out in a gesture of putting on brakes.
Faith glared at him through narrowed eyes. “We can’t have people with us who won’t jump in when something goes sideways. We don’t know if or when that’s gonna happen.”
Jonah turned and went back into his tent. I glared at Faith for her insensitivity, but she stared down Cole as though our latest companions had evaporated. I took a step in the direction of Jonah’s tent, but stopped myself. Without Camille in our midst to heal each of us in turn, sparring took on more serious consequences.
“Not everyone is built to fight. It’s a liability to have someone in combat who shouldn’t be. Even as a skilled fighter, you’ll end up trying to engage two people, your opponent and your friend’s opponent. Or you’ll watch helplessly as your friend gets killed while you’re still scrambling to defend yourself,” said Josh.
Faith scowled at Josh, and back at Cole again before she took a seat.
“Everyone, remember that Camille isn’t here to heal anyone, so we need to be careful. Why don’t we take turns doing a demonstration for the group, and then we can practice individually? No hand-to-hand combat required.” I paused to marvel at how far I had come from the streets of PG. If I’d known then, I’d be using the phrase ‘hand-to-hand combat’ in reference to something I planned to participate in, I’d have done a reality check.
“That sounds fair to me. I think Nellie and I have already gone. Ralph?” Bruno called out to his friend still curled peacefully in a patch of sun.
“Yeah, I’ll do it. But I need a volunteer.” Ralph stretched up to a standing position.
“You mean one of us?” I asked.
“I’ll do it,” said Josh.
“You’re a braver man than I am,” said Ilya.
“Everybody gather around here. It’s a pretty subtle thing,” said Ralph.
Jonah must have been listening because he rejoined us. We formed a circle around Ralph and Josh, as the latter extended his forearm. We all peered in as Ralph bent down and opened his jaws wide around Josh’s arm. He held his mouth open barring his teeth. Two slim lime fangs slid down alongside what would have been his eyeteeth in a normal human mouth.
Ralph bit down on Josh’s arm. Ralph glowered momentarily as he met the resistance offered by Josh’s armor-like skin. Ralph repositioned his bite. Josh showed no signs of pain.
Ralph released his mouth and spit into his hand. He sprayed a fine mist at Josh’s face.
Josh’s expression revealed a brief sho
ck and then froze. Paralysis preserved his startled look perfectly. Not even his eyeballs moved. Ralph detached his grip on Josh’s arm and gently pushed his shoulder. Josh fell backwards and hit the ground, stiff as a plank of wood.
“The effects usually last a few hours. Far too long if you’re in a dangerous situation, but totally survivable if you’re safe. It wears off completely.” Ralph looked more pleased with himself than I’d seen yet.
“Impressive!” I said, feeling the corners of my mouth lifting.
“How many times have you used this venom?” asked Adelaide. I remembered her variation and wondered how often her beak had seen real world use.
“On regular humans? There have been a few occasions, to give me time to get away from a bad scene,” said Ralph.
“It sounds like a handy thing to have in your tool belt,” said Ilya.
“For best results, use with a memory wipe and you’re golden.” Ralph actually seemed happy.
My forehead furrowed. “So you’ve paired up with a variant that could wipe memories?”
Faith, Cole, Jonah, and Ilya all snapped their heads around to look at me. “Did you ever work for Innoviro? With a variant named Rubin?” I said.
“Uh, no, I don’t think so. I’m sure I’d remember that. I’ve spent most of my life in the wild, after my parents died that is.” Ralph looked uncomfortable, so I relaxed my face and my posture.
Adelaide abruptly diffused the tension with her aggressive display of blue-ringed spots, splayed tentacles and the terrifying beaked second tongue.
Faith didn’t wait for Adelaide to retract, but turned towards the campfire and commanded it to rise to bonfire height. As the blaze subsided, Jonah noticed a clump of stray embers and conveyed a pot of wastewater to extinguish them.
Cole walked to the nearest tree line and chose a tree. He hugged the trunk and jerked back, lifting the tree, roots and all, up out of the ground.
Ilya broke into an ear-to-ear grin looking at Ralph. We turned to see what was so funny and Nellie screamed. Ralph had transformed into a glossy black dragon, terrifying and triumphant.
“Sorry, Nellie. There’s no need to call me a bastard though,” said Ilya.
“I, I didn’t call you a bastard,” said Nellie, still recovering.
“No but you thought it,” said Ilya.
“I’ll go next. I need a volunteer too,” I said.
“You can try me,” said Ralph, back to his plain old green lizard self.
I took a deep breath and reached out my hand. Ralph took it and we clasped handshake style. I looked into Ralph’s regular reptilian eyes and the world around me melted away.
Ralph’s body was much smaller. He wore only overalls, sitting on a stool in a laboratory setting. A woman in a crisp white lab coat turned and lifted Ralph’s arm. She stuck an empty needle in his arm and began to draw blood. She removed the needle and set the syringe down on the counter. She caressed the back of his head and kissed his forehead lovingly.
“Your mother was a scientist. I saw you sitting in a lab in overalls. She seemed like a lovely woman,” I said gently.
“Mother, parent, creator. It’s all the same in my case. But yes, she was a lovely woman,” said Ralph.
“And for my next trick.” I picked up my backpack. “I’ll demonstrate the hands-free shuffle.” My body tingled with nervous energy. I didn’t have much of an audience, but it would still suck to screw up.
I pulled my now infamous deck of tarot cards from the front pocket of my bag. I took them from their case and placed the stack on the palm of my left hand. With my right, I nursed cards upward one by one until the stack had separated into two equal piles. I guided the two piles together and visualized them shuffling. Miraculously, the cards obeyed. I coaxed the deck back down to my left palm. Everyone clapped and I blushed.
“I guess I’ll go last.” Josh must have recovered while all eyes were on my cards.
Josh walked over to the camp table where Adelaide had been cooking breakfast. He picked up a knife and stabbed his arm. We all gasped. Josh lifted the knife out towards us, displaying the ‘C’ curved shape of the once straight blade.
“I think that about covers it,” said Ilya.
“Everyone pick a practice spot,” Josh said. “Be sure to give yourself at least five feet in any direction. Irina made a good point about injuries. Let’s not have any while we’re an hour’s drive from the nearest hospital. Ralph just proved that no matter how strong your armor, everyone has a weakness.”
Chapter 14
I took Josh’s advice to heart, giving myself much more than five feet between my spot and anyone else. Having an extra ability proved extremely interesting, but it didn’t make me any physically stronger or less vulnerable.
In a battle, my telekinesis would be much more valuable than seeing someone’s past or future, so I decided to focus on practical moves. I practiced levitating a branch and swinging it like a remote bat. I enlisted Cole for assistance levitating an opponent. I figured he needed the least practice of any of my friends.
Josh had acquired a few training dummies somewhere between Seattle and our current camp outside Portland. I watched Faith repeatedly torch her fire-retardant stationary adversary. Ilya and Jonah played a game of ‘blast the illusion’, which Josh had consented to as it didn’t really constitute sparring. Jonah seemed to be his old self as he shot fire-hose strength streams through Ilya’s various apparitions, a bobcat, a bear, Thorn, Ivan.
Watching Ilya dodge Jonah’s attacks in turn gave rise to worry that he was even weaker than me on a battlefield with individuals as deadly as Adelaide, Ralph, Nellie and Bruno. He wasn’t just my friend, he was my twin and the weight of that had been growing every day. Without Gemma, he remained my only family. I tried hard to picture Gemma’s face. I visualized her dorm building, thinking about what she might be doing right at that moment.
The field melted away and I stood in my parents’ Prince George kitchen. The drapes were different, a bright floral pattern. My mother looked almost as young as she had at the Roman ruins honeymooning with Ivan. This time, she stood over a high chair with a bright-eyed baby flailing in her direction–it must have been me! She placed pieces of chopped banana on the plastic tray in front of the baby, caressing her pregnant belly as she did so.
“It’s strange how this pregnancy seems so much like the last one. You’d think I was having twins again!” Mom said to Darryl. Her face fell for a moment, but she looked at me and her smile returned. She grasped a small black stone pendant hanging around her neck and tucked it under her shirt as she leaned over to kiss my forehead.
“I hate onions and garlic again. I get the same twinge in my gut when I eat strawberries. I’m back to having those weird fainting spells when I use any of the appliances or power tools. The doctor thinks I’m making it up or that something really serious is going on. I told him it was the same with my first pregnancy and I need to avoid those things. No blending or drilling for me any time soon.” My mother laughed.
I could still hear her throaty giggle when the Oregon wilderness materialized around me. I looked around to gauge how long my mind had been back in my parents’ kitchen. My friends had stopped practicing and were tearing down our camp.
“Hey, space cadet! Get your ass over here and help pack! We’ve got about six hours ahead of us, not including getting back on the highway,” said Faith from the back of Cole’s car.
I retied my ponytail and ran back to my deflated tent. Jonah stood over it folding up elastic core tent rods.
“Thanks, but you don’t have to do that.” I heard forced cheerfulness in my voice.
“Contrary to what you might think, I am not on death’s doorstep.” Jonah’s words dripped with bitterness. His pale teal eyes glared at me.
“Don’t be like that. I don’t want things
to get weird with us. Can’t we forget about being together until we find a treatment for you?” I said.
“Sure, let’s forget about being together. That sounds like a great idea.” Jonah threw the bundled tent rods down into the pile of green nylon fabric and stormed back over to his own tent.
A lump quivered in my throat and subsided. Anger welled in my chest. Fine, if that’s how it’s got to be.
I looked up at Cole’s car to find Faith and Ilya standing in front of the trunk, holding bags, staring at me. I frowned and they both turned away. A strong hand grabbed my shoulder and I whirled around to find Cole behind me.
“We’re on our way to Chico, California. Josh and Ilya agree with me that finding my buddy who works in the fracking industry could be a great lead.”
“As long as we’re still on our way to San Francisco, I want to check out the Berkeley campus as well as Innoviro’s office there. I have a feeling San Francisco is more significant than we’d thought.”
“You’re probably right. I’m learning to trust your gut as much as your visions now.”
Our convoy took over an hour to rumble back down the rough logging roads to the interstate. Once we were back on the highway, the ride felt like gliding onto satin sheets after rolling in rough canvas.
Adelaide had requested that I ride with her privately, so I had brought my backpack–including my tarot cards–along for the drive. When I saw Bruno, Nellie and Ralph piling awkwardly into Josh’s Jeep, I knew Adelaide must have something particular in mind for me.
In Adelaide’s van, the bumpy terrain of the logging road made even small talk difficult. Once we were on smooth pavement again, she wasted no time with me.
“What’s it like, having a vision? It must be different than a daydream or a memory.”
The Compendium Page 11