by White, Gwynn
“––Again,” I cut in. “Said as if this is somehow my fault.”
I saw Jon aim another stare and scowl at the black-haired man, who was still leaning over the ticket counter, speaking seriously to the uniformed woman standing there. I followed Jon’s gaze, noting the unreadable yet somehow intimidating look my rescuer aimed at the airline employee, right before he motioned gracefully again with the same hand.
When I glanced back at Jon, I saw my brother’s eyes focus briefly on the guy’s ass.
Snorting, I rolled my eyes.
“Jesus. All right… I get it. He’s kind of hot.” Grunting, I added, “But seriously, that’s not the vibe I got from him at all. I’m pretty sure I was wholly incidental to him. He protected me like it was his job. Then he left, without saying a word to me, really.”
Cass laughed, hooking my arm with the one of hers not holding the ice pop.
“I forget how young and innocent you are,” she mused teasingly. “Such a trusting, good-hearted soul… so oblivious to the dangers she’s in. So vulnerable to the beast that is man.”
I snorted. “Sure. That’s me.”
Cass added more seriously, “You really can be incredibly dense when it comes to that whole sex-magic full-moon crazy-magnet vibe of yours, Al. It’s kind of cute. Annoying, but cute.”
I bit my lip, fighting not to get irritated for real.
The running jokes about my bizarre stalker problems invariably got old for me sooner than they did for Jon or Cass––probably because it wasn’t really a joke. Weirdos really did seek me out and obsess on me in disproportionate numbers; it honestly wasn’t that unusual for me to pick up stalkers just for existing.
A lot of it wasn’t remotely sexual, either.
A lot of them were simply––as Cass and my brother termed it––“full moon crazies” of one kind or another. People who thought I was an angel, who somehow fit me into their conspiracy theories or hallucinations. People convinced they’d been abducted by aliens. Religious fanatics. People who swore they knew me from a past life, or that they could see my aura. People who thought I was a witch. I’d gotten a few who’d recently had near death experiences.
I glanced back at the first class counter as this ran through my mind.
I was too late, though. He was gone.
The man with the black hair had vanished a third time.
I looked around, trying to catch him before he left the area, looking for him in the various security lines, including the one for first class passengers. My eyes paused on taller forms as I scanned the crush of bodies. I gave a second look to anyone with black hair roughly the same length and cut, and anyone wearing mostly black clothes.
None of it did me any good.
My mystery guy had well and truly disappeared.
5
Passed Note
Our flight ended up being eleven hours late.
Jon, Cass and I got stuck in a separate waiting area from Jaden and his band, since we had to go through a few additional security checks due to the bomb. For the same reason, we were the very last group to board the plane.
Jaden pinged me via my headset when their group started to board, and that time I picked up. I didn’t tell him about the black-haired man that time, either. I’m not sure why; maybe I was worried he’d say roughly the same thing as Jon and Cass.
They finally let us out of our waiting area about thirty minutes later, and we queued up in front of the last security checkpoint before we entered the jetway. When it was my turn, I flipped my arm over to flash my barcode tattoo at the ticket agent, using my headset to show her a hologram of the boarding pass so she could scan that, too.
By then it was dark out.
Instead of arriving in New York at six p.m. that day, we’d now be getting there around five a.m. the following morning.
We found our seats, which were right up against the bulkhead between coach and first class. It meant zero storage, but lots of legroom. I looked around for Jaden before I sat, and found him all the way back, seated a few rows from the opposite bulkhead.
Catching his eye, I smiled at him, giving him a short wave, and he gave me a wink and a smile back. He looked tired, but a lot less worse for wear than me, Cass and Jon. His blue eyes shone at me, his dark hear mussed and looking like it wore a lot of product. He was wearing one of his band T-shirts, with a big Eye of Horus in the center, twisted into the band logo.
Pinging me via his headset, he said, “I’m going to take a nap. I’m wiped. Want to catch up later?”
I nodded, smiling. “Sure. Sleep sounds good.”
I turned the headset to airplane mode and unhooked it off my ear and neck, shoving it in my bag. Slumping into my assigned seat, one in from the aisle, I breathed a real sigh of relief, maybe for the first time since we’d left in the robo-taxi that morning.
We were on the plane. Step one, accomplished.
I’d barely closed my eyes when Cass nudged me, right while I was in mid-stretch.
“Did you see Jaden?” she murmured in my ear.
I jumped a little, giving her a puzzled look. “Yeah, I just talked to him. Why?”
She smirked. Unlike before, I saw zero humor in her eyes. Rather, her brown irises flashed with anger. It wasn’t directed at me.
“Did you see who he’s sitting with?” she said only.
Frowning, I went back and forth in my mind for about a second. I tried to remember who I’d seen in the same aisle. Corey. Maybe Drake. The seat right next to Jaden had been empty though, as far as I could remember.
Knowing I’d regret it, I pursed my lips, sliding a leg under my rear. I sat up in my chair, raising my head up to peer over the back of the seat.
It took me a few seconds to find him again from the lower vantage point. He was a good twenty rows behind us, maybe twenty-five.
I found Corey, his drummer, first.
Corey was talking to Randy, their band manager, who sat next to him, looking half-awake and half-stoned, as usual. On Corey’s other side sat Drake, their bass player.
I found Jaden on the other side of Drake. He wasn’t sleeping, but talking, and not to anyone in his band. Instead, he was entirely focused on the person sitting to his right––a blond girl in her early twenties with poofy hair, pink lipstick, and a low-cut VR-paneled top that flashed light blue and pink in the dim light, matching her lipstick and eyes.
Widening those blue eyes in an affected innocent look, she pursed her lips in a pouty expression as I watched, nodding seriously and smiling as Jaden talked. He laughed halfway through telling her something, gesticulating with his hands, and she giggled with him, thrusting her chest forward in the low-cut blouse. Smiling at him when he finished, she touched his arm, leaning closer to say something directly in his ear.
Turning around in the seat, I slid back to sitting on my ass.
A cold feeling hit my gut. I fought not to think about that prickle of warning I’d been feeling for weeks. Months. I fought not to connect it to what I’d just seen.
A stewardess passed us, pointing sternly at me and Cass’s laps.
“Seat belts,” she said. “Headsets off.”
Nodding, I shifted in my seat, looking for the ends of my seatbelt. A part of me was glad of the distraction. Anything to get out of my own head.
I was buckling the ends when I finally exchanged looks with Cass. She hadn’t bothered with either her headset or seatbelt yet, but folded her arms under her breasts, frowning.
“Did you know she was coming?” she said. “Miss ‘I-Talk-With-My-Giant-Inflatable-Tits’? She’s that bitch who’s been trying to get with Jaden since their single took off, right?”
I shrugged, biting my lip to keep from commenting.
“At least if the plane lands in the ocean, he won’t drown,” Cass retorted.
“Cass.” I exhaled. “You’ve never been entirely above using your…” I nodded towards her own generous chest. “…assets. You know. Strategically.”
“Not wi
th guys who have girlfriends,” she said, sharper. “Jesus, Al. The tits aren’t the issue.”
I nodded, conceding her point. “I know.” I felt my jaw harden. “And no, I didn’t know she was coming. Jaden didn’t mention it––”
“––I bet he didn’t,” Cass retorted.
“I just don’t want to focus on her, Cass,” I said, giving her a faintly warning look. “She’s not the point. Jaden is. He should’ve told me––”
Cass barely seemed to hear me.
“––And I sure as fuck wouldn’t worry about breaking sister-code with that asshole groupie. All bets are off with someone who’s actively trying to screw you, Al.” She continued in a low whisper, her voice openly angry. “Seriously, what the hell? And what is Jaden doing? Did he think you wouldn’t notice? How the fuck is she even sitting there with them? Did he buy her ticket for her, or what?”
I didn’t answer, folding my own arms.
Truthfully, I didn’t have an answer.
I couldn’t remember the girl’s name. Hell, I wasn’t sure I’d ever gotten her name. I remembered her face, and her passive-aggressive jabs as she sat with me and Jaden in clubs after a few of his shows. I knew she was a relative newcomer to his whole scene, like Cass said, despite her constant proclamations of being a rabid fan.
Jaden’s “very biggest fan,” if memory served.
She’d even chided me a few times for missing shows because I had to work.
I’d refrained from asking her how many laundry mat gigs she showed up for, before Eye of Morris had their first big hit, and it was “cool” to like them. I wanted to ask how many times she’d been one of three in a coffee shop audience, trying to drum up enthusiasm on a Tuesday night after working a double-shift, when I had to work the next day.
A part of me wanted to ask, though.
Jaden’s band toiled in obscurity for years before getting their lucky break, when an indie feed producer used one of Jaden’s songs as a theme song for her multi-ending movie. The movie took off unexpectedly, and Jaden’s band along with it.
Pouty lips was part of the sudden influx of “fans” who showed up after that.
I really should know her name, but I had a tendency to block out the names of people I didn’t like. Pouty-lips was definitely one of those people.
“I’d cut the bitch, if it was me,” Cass said, her voice low, but still angry. “Get Sasquatch to hack and reprogram my virtual cloak––make it look like some random New York tweaker. Leave her in a fucking alley one night.”
I gave her another warning look when a second stewardess walked by.
Just then, Jon, who’d gone to use the toilet cubicle, slumped into the seat next to me. I noticed only then that the plane was moving.
Jon immediately turned to me, frowning. “Did you see who the fuck Jaden’s sitting with?”
Cass leaned over me, half-lying in my lap to talk to Jon before I could answer.
“Can’t you kung fu that bitch’s ass, Jon?” she hissed. “Allie won’t let me.”
He snorted, rolling his eyes. “If Jaden’s interested in that, then the particulars are the least of Allie’s problems.” He gave me a swift, apologetic look. “Sorry.”
I shrugged, shaking my head. “Why? You’re right.”
Glancing at me again, Jon hesitated.
I felt his hesitation and turned, looking up. Frowning at the reluctant expression on his face, I heard the wariness in my own voice.
“What?”
He let out a sigh. I heard the reluctance in that, too.
“I wasn’t going to say anything,” he said, leaning back in his chair and clicking in his seat belt. “Especially now, with the Jaden thing, but when the stewards let me use the toilet, they had me go up front. On my way back here, I saw your friend.”
I went from wary to puzzled. “My… friend?”
Jon nodded towards the curtains. “First class. Your knight in shining armor. The not-a-seer who saved your life.” His jaw firmed as he gave me another glance. “He definitely saw me. You might be right, Al. I don’t think he’s a seer. I’m thinking now he’s probably a cop. Maybe Home-Sec… even SCARB.”
“What?” I felt the blood drain from my face. “Why? Why would you say that?”
He shrugged, making a vague gesture. “Just a vibe. I’ve trained a lot of cops, and he’s got a bit of that cop-thing. I can’t really explain it beyond that.” He glanced at me again, lifting an eyebrow. “It’s possible he was in the military, and I’m picking up on that. A lot of cops are also vets, especially nowadays.”
I knew Jon trained a lot of law enforcement personnel as a kung fu instructor for one of the bigger Choy Li Fut studios in San Francisco. Being one of their senior instructors, he did a lot of the more intensive training himself, especially at the Western Addition branch.
Biting my lip, I leaned over in my seat, glancing through the curtain to first class. I could only see the backs of seats, though.
“He’s on our side,” Jon said. “Sitting alone. That aisle has a row of one-seaters.”
I nodded, frowning as I leaned back in my seat.
Jon nudged me. “You going to go up there and say hi? Thank him, at least?”
When I glanced up at him, he grinned.
“You want me to go up there and talk to my maybe-stalker?” I said. “The same guy you both gave me endless shit about earlier? Who might be a cop? Or SCARB?”
Jon shrugged, still smiling faintly. “Cop is better than terrorist. And Jaden’s being a dick. You might as well, you know… distract yourself.”
Snorting, I leaned back in my seat.
“I’m going to distract myself with a nap,” I said. “You and Cass will just have to find some other way to entertain yourselves… apart from convincing me to make an ass of myself with total strangers. I still can’t hear for shit, anyway.”
“Party-pooper,” Cass whispered from my other side.
Smiling faintly, I shook my head, grunting a laugh. Before they could hassle me again, I snuggled deeper into my seat and closed my eyes, trying to relax enough to doze.
I would think about Jaden and Jon’s mysterious cop later.
* * *
I woke up without warning, jerking violently in the narrow airplane seat.
I sat up when I did, blinking around at the pitch dark space.
Everyone around me was asleep. I saw headsets blinking from the temples and ears of people sitting on the same row, and more lights from elsewhere in the cabin, but most of the cabin was pitch dark apart from the running lights on the floor and those softer pulses.
Someone had put a blanket over me, probably Jon.
I pulled an arm out from under the thick dark cloth, rubbing my face, which still felt gritty. Deciding to take the opportunity to go the bathroom and clean up a bit, I started to take the blanket off altogether, when something fell off my lap.
When I looked down to see what it had been, I was surprised to see a white, folded square of paper on the floor by my feet. Someone must have left it on my lap. I hadn’t noticed until I knocked it off the blanket.
Unbuckling my seatbelt, I leaned forward, scooping it up off the floor.
On the very top was written, in dark black script:
ALYSON.
Picking it up warily, I fumbled with my headset to turn on a low-level light so I wouldn’t wake up Jon or Cass, both of whom were asleep on either side of me. Cass was snoring softly, her mouth partway open, her lips still faintly blue, even in the low light.
Turning on the dark amber light, I aimed it at the note, then began unfolding it carefully.
More of the same block letters covered the inside of the page.
THREE BY FIRE
WILL CLEANSE THE WORLD
THREE BY FIRE
WILL BRING THE ONE
THE HARBINGER, THE BRIDGE
KEEPER OF THE LAST DAYS
KEEPER OF THE SOUL OF OUR PEOPLE
WILL YOU BE WORTHY?
WILL
YOU CALL HER NAME?
WILL YOU SING THE SONG
TO BRING THE SWORD AND BRIDGE?
TO BRING HUMANITY BACK TO THE LIGHT?
I frowned, turning the page over. Nothing was written on the back. Nothing apart from my name, what I’d seen when the paper was folded.
Reading the whole thing again, I frowned.
Then, kicking the blanket off my legs and arms, I stood up.
I’d forgotten all about the bathroom, though.
6
Questions
My heart pounded in my chest as I shoved my way through the curtain to first class, but I was too angry to let myself second-guess my thought process.
I gripped the note in one hand, still blinking to wake up, walking a little off-balance from both the motion of the plane and just my own tiredness.
I found him easily enough.
He wasn’t asleep.
He had a strange look on his face, though, like he was thinking about something highly complex, something happening a long way away. Sitting with his eyes half out of focus, he stared in the direction of a monitor set in the rounded, space-age type cubicle wall in front of him. The monitor was playing one of the network news feeds, showing live coverage of riots currently taking place in some Asian country––maybe China.
As I stood there, looking at him, he raised a glass to his lips, taking a long swallow of an amber liquid that looked like hard alcohol.
When I leaned pointedly on the curved wall that opened up to his private seat, and just stood there, glaring at him, note in hand, he didn’t look up.
I pointedly cleared my throat.
Jumping violently, he sloshed part of his drink on his hand as he looked up, his light-colored eyes clicking back into focus. From the expression on his face, he hadn’t been watching the feeds at all, but had been spacing out––maybe even meditating.
I didn’t wait, but tossed the note onto his joint-armed swivel tray. It landed an inch or two from his hand still clutching the drink.