by Gareth Otton
His parents shared a glance, both looking guilty.
“We might have been a bit too harsh with Tad when we came back,” his mother admitted. “I didn’t know all that, what he’s sacrificed to look after you all these years.”
Tony almost made a joke about how it was him who made the sacrifice, and Tad was lucky to have him. However, the joke died before it ever reached his mouth and he only felt guilty instead. It felt like ages since he’d stormed out on Tad, and he was beginning to feel like the whole affair was blown out of proportion. Hearing his mother talk about sacrifice, Tony finally saw the missing aspect of his argument.
“He’s sacrificed more than you know,” Tony all but whispered, thinking again of Charles, Miriam and even Maggie. All of his ghosts were a part of Tad, that was the nature of being a Proxy. Losing them was like losing a part of himself. What Tony had failed to understand was that Tad had willingly sacrificed that part of himself to give those ghosts extra time at life. After all this talk of what it was like to lose a child and how hard it would be to put yourself through that again, Tony suddenly felt more sympathy for Tad’s side of the argument.
Before anyone had chance to question him, the doorbell rang and his mother went to answer it. As if fate was toying with his life, she returned a moment later with yet another child at her side, only this one was much more familiar. Her expression was familiar as well, which instantly put him on alert as it always did.
Jen was angry.
“Where the hell have you been?” she snapped before anyone could talk. “I’ve been looking for you for hours.”
“What’s wrong?” Tony asked, instantly knowing that something bad had happened. “Is Tad okay? Stella?”
“Dad’s hurt,” Jen said. “There was an explosion in America and he was right next to it.”
“Oh my God,” Tony’s mother gasped. “How bad is it?”
“He’s hurt, but he will heal eventually, but a lot of people died.” Looking directly at Tony, Jen added. “He’s blind, Tony.”
Everyone around the table gasped, but only Tony knew the full significance of that statement. Of course he was blind. How had he not thought of it before? Tad without a ghost had almost as much to lose as Tony without a Proxy. If he hadn’t felt guilty before, he did now.
Before he’d even realised he moved, he was already on his feet. However, he hesitated before taking another step. He had not left on the best of terms with Tad and he didn’t fancy facing him, especially if his old friend was blind. And then there were the kids to think of. He couldn’t just go back to Tad and forget about them. It had only been an afternoon, but Amber had done her work well and gotten him invested. He couldn’t leave them now.
“Come on, we need to go,” Jen snapped. “If this is about your stupid argument, Tony, I swear I’ll—”
“It’s not about that,” Tony lied. “I… Jen… It’s… There are kids here who need my help and… well—”
“Tony, we’ll look after the kids. You go help your friend,” his mother said in a tone of voice that told him she was amazed she even had to say it out loud.
“But… I mean. What about—”
“Oh for God’s sake,” Jen said, rolling her eyes as the last of her patience vanished.
She raised a small hand in his direction and every part of him locked up. He’d only felt this once before and he hadn’t liked it then either. Without even twitching a muscle he starting moving towards Jen, being pulled toward her outstretched hand by the tractor beam of her will. Everyone in the room was too stunned to intervene, not that they could, and a moment later they’d lost their chance.
The second Tony’s immobile form touched Jen’s outstretched hand, the world shifted from one kitchen to another that was considerably more familiar.
25
Thursday, 14th July 2016
22:50
How fitting, Tad thought. By stopping King and causing the Merging, I made countless nightmares true for so many people, now mine has come true for me.
He was glad he hadn’t said it out loud or Stella might have overheard from the kitchen and come to beat him to death for feeling sorry for himself. She’d already promised to do it three times, so this time she might actually go through with it.
He’d deserve it. He shouldn’t have gone behind her back. He knew he’d been wrong as he did it, but somehow he’d always been able to rationalise a course of action to himself in the moment and lose all memory of that rationalisation when he paid the cost for his actions. He was amazed Stella hadn’t walked out on him there and then… after beating him to death, of course.
“You’re feeling sorry for yourself again,” he said, then jumped as a wet tongue licked his face from chin to hairline. “Urgh, Growler. Will you stop that?”
“I’m sure he will when you stop the pity party,” Stella said, making Tad jump.
“Shouldn’t he get at least a day to feel sorry for himself before you start breaking the habit?” another voice asked, making Tad sit up quickly. “It’s only fair that a man gets at least forty-eight hours to whine after something as momentous as going blind.”
“You try living with it,” Stella said. Then to Tad she added, “Guess who I found hovering around outside.”
“I wasn’t hovering,” Norman Geller said. “I was merely checking if the coast was clear.”
“Waiting for your photo op, you mean,” Stella said a little too harshly. “Make it look like you care about the Dreamwalker’s fate while you’re actually here to tear us a new one because your plan has fallen apart.”
“Stella, you wound me. I thought we were past this.”
Tad could imagine the artificially pained look on Norman’s face. Oh, it would be convincing enough, he was a master actor after all. However, Tad had learnt there was more to Norman than he ever let show. Maybe being blind would let Tad hear the truth behind his words without the visuals to distract him.
Who was he kidding? He’d been blind for a little over a day and he could barely find the end of his nose to scratch it, he was a long way from being the next Daredevil.
“You want a coffee?” Stella asked.
“No, I won’t be staying long. After what happened in America, I need to get back to London fast. I have war councils to oversee.”
“War councils?” Tad asked, not liking the sound of that.
He flinched when the sofa shifted, but relaxed as he realised it was Stella sitting next to him. When the Prime Minister sat on another sofa, he wasn’t so surprised.
“Of course war councils. You remember why I recruited you, right? Well, after yesterday’s monumental failure, the American media have all the ammunition they need to turn public opinion against us. Coupled with the Pendine failure, lets just say I’m not holding my breath that we can turn this around. It’s time to change up a gear.”
“That’s hardly fair,” Stella argued. “The reason the ambush even happened was because we were following your orders. Trevors spotted the ambush within seconds of watching the video. If we had our team with us, we probably could have avoided this. And as for Pendine, I’ve already made my feelings on that clear.”
“I remember. Something about more lives lost had you not been there. The trouble is the media doesn’t deal in hypotheticals, and this week’s body count makes plenty of headlines on its own.”
“You’re still implying it's our fault,” Stella snapped, growing so tense it was like sitting next to a bomb on the verge of exploding.
“Who else’s fault could it be?” Norman asked. “The world thinks you messed up, and being as your mandate from me was to stop this happening, I’d say you messed up as well. As for suggesting I’m responsible, well, just remember how you got your current job and climbed so high. It can be taken away just as quick.”
Only Tad tugging Stella’s hand as hard as he could stopped her from climbing to her feet in outrage.
“Is that a threat? Well, you can take your stupid job. Good luck finding someone else
who can do better than I did.” Tad sensed her turn toward him as she said, “See, I told you we couldn’t trust him. When things don’t go his way, he shows his true colours.”
“Oh, calm down. I’m hardly throwing you to the wolves,” the Prime Minister said. “Honestly, everything’s such a drama with you. I’m just laying out the facts, how you choose to interpret them is up to you.”
“Yeah, well, interpret these facts. While you’ve been hiding behind the scenes, Tad and I have been on the front lines for every nightmare. Tad’s lost the use of his left hand defending the people of this country and now he’s blind. I wonder how sympathetic the media would be to an injured hero, the Dreamwalker no less, being cast out by an ungrateful government.”
A stony silence followed and when Norman spoke his voice was as tense as Stella’s.
“I think you are forgetting who you’re talking to, Miss Martin.”
“Oh, Miss Martin is it? What happened to first names because we’re such good friends? You can just go and—”
“Enough,” Tad interrupted, raising his bad hand to ward off further comments. “This isn’t helping. While I agree with Stella, I get why you’re pissed, Norman. We can’t change that though and need to figure out what’s next. Forget the threats, how do we move past this?”
There was the sound of skin on skin friction that Tad assumed was Norman running his hands over his face as it was followed by a muffled sigh.
“Honestly, I don’t know. That’s what I’m off to figure out. I was hoping to bring you along as your knowledge of the supernatural would be invaluable. However, I see how that’s difficult right now. Just how much help can you offer now that… well… since—”
“Oh, for the love of God, he’s not dead,” Stella interrupted. “He can still move between worlds with a thought, still has all the knowledge he had yesterday, and is still the best chance you have of understanding all this. You just have to give him a little time to adjust.”
“There you go requesting time again. Unfortunately, it’s the one thing I don’t have any to give.” There was another sigh before he asked, “What will you be doing?”
Tad sensed the question wasn’t directed at him, so he stayed quiet.
“Same thing I did yesterday. I will try to find the Campbell twins, arrest them, and find out how the hell we can use their dreamcatchers to stop nightmares.”
“You can’t seriously be talking about going back to America,” Norman protested.
“Not yet. First, I need to figure out just what rat bastard sold us out.”
There was another surprised pause before the Prime Minister asked, “You think a mole was behind what happened yesterday?”
“Speak with Trevors,” Stella suggested. “He practically threw it in my face. That was an ambush we walked into yesterday. They knew we were coming and there’s only a handful of people who could have leaked that. I will flush that rat out then dismember him before asking nicely why the hell he sold us out and how we can find the Campbell twins.”
“Well, as long as you ask nicely,” Norman deadpanned.
Despite himself Tad chuckled, and though he knew she didn’t want to, Stella laughed as well.
“You bastard,” she said, though he could tell her heart wasn’t in it anymore.
“Maybe. You’ll have to ask my mother.” There was the sound of fabric on cloth and a sofa reforming to its natural shape as a weight was lifted from it. “In the meantime, I have meetings to get to. If I don’t leave now, Amelia will huff and puff and… well you get the rest. Tad, from the bottom of my heart, I’m sorry about what happened to you. I’m pissed you dropped the ball, but I appreciate everything you’ve done so far. Stella, maybe take a Xanax and take the rest of the night off.”
“I thought you didn’t want me going back to America,” Stella said. “I don’t know where the hell I’d get Xanax over here.”
“God, I’ve been spending too much time with Misty,” Norman said. “Then just settle for the night off… all that’s left of it, anyway. You look worse than he does, and you’re not blind.”
“I very much doubt that,” Tad said.
“Yeah. You’re right. She’s gorgeous and she knows it.”
“I thought you said you were leaving,” Stella said dryly.
“Just about to… Uh. Is it normal for them to do that?”
“Who to do what?” Tad asked.
“Freckles and Growler are staring at the living room door with their heads cocked,” Stella said.
Having seen that look plenty of times since he’d adopted them, Tad knew exactly what that meant and couldn’t keep the relief from his voice.
“Jen’s back.” No sooner had the words left his mouth when suddenly there was a muffled pop from the kitchen and Tad felt a presence he had sorely missed over the last few days. “She’s got Tony with her.”
“That makes sense,” Stella muttered. Then to the Prime Minister she said, “Give us a day and we’ll both be back in action, fully working, vision and everything.”
“What?” Norman asked, sounding confused. Tad didn’t need to look to know Stella was smiling at that, she loved putting him off guard. “I thought… how will he be able to see by tomorrow?”
“We’re the Dream Team,” Stella said. “Miracles are our speciality.”
Norman groaned and took his leave. Meanwhile Tad was trying to stand so he could find Jen and make sure she was okay. Stella had other plans. With horrendous strength, she pinned him to the spot. It was like trying to stand when a concrete pillar was holding him down.
“You stay here,” she said after Tad heard the front door open and close behind the Prime Minister. “I’ll check on Jen, but you and Tony need to talk. And listen, whatever decision you make is up to you and I’ll respect it. But I just promised the Prime Minister a dreamwalker with working eyes, so you better have a damn good reason if I’m going back on my word. Remember, he’s a fourteen-year-old boy in that thick head of his, he doesn’t know any different. It doesn’t help that he’s a moron too, but hey, that’s how the world works sometimes.”
“I heard that,” said a voice that in someways was the most comforting thing Tad had heard in days. It was more than a voice to Tad, it was a presence. He could sense Tony in the same way he always had and with his eyes gone, that sense was all the stronger. He hadn’t been able to see Stella, her grandmother or cousin, nor the Prime Minister, but he just knew Tony was there the same way he knew things in Dream.
“Oh, you been standing there long? I didn’t see you,” Stella deadpanned as she climbed to her feet. “How ever will I live with myself after saying such horrible things?”
“You know, Stella, you’ve been spending too much time with Jen. It’s making you cruel.”
“Trust me, if you think that was cruel, you aint seen nothing yet.”
Tony gulped audibly but didn’t speak until there was a clicking sound that accompanied the living room door closing.
“You just going to stand there?” Tad asked without turning.
“How do you know I’m standing? I could be walking on my hands for all you know,” Tony teased.
“I may be blind, but my other senses are working fine,” Tad said. “Especially my Dream ones. I know you’re right there.”
He raised his right index finger, knowing for sure it was unerringly pointing at Tony’s nose. A second later Tony shifted to the left, but Tad’s finger followed him. He shifted right to the same effect. Even when he ducked or stood on tiptoe, Tad’s finger followed without fail.
“That’s just creepy,” Tony said as he made his way into the living room and threw himself down on the left sofa. “Kind of cool, though. We should figure out how to turn it into a street magic trick that we could take on the road and hustle tourists out of their money. Get ourselves out of the Borderlands where people can’t see us, and this time next year we’d be millionaires.”
Tad smiled and shook his head. “Sounds like a plan.” After a pause and
knowing that Tony would never be the one to broach the topic, he asked, “Where have you been?”
“Oh, here and there. Strip clubs, changing rooms, a few student house parties. You know, the norm.”
Again Tad smiled. He’d missed Tony’s casual lying, as strange as that sounded. “I wouldn’t expect any different. Now where have you been, really?”
“Here and there,” Tony answered, only a little more seriously this time. “Most recently, with my parents.”
Tad raised his eyebrows in surprise, but Tony never elaborated.
“Listen, Tad. About the last time we spoke… Uh… Look… Words were said and… Ugh.” Tony sighed and tried again. “I’m sorry, okay? It’s not been that long since Charles moved on, and with everything else going on I’m sure me rubbing new ghosts in your face wasn’t welcome. I shouldn’t have done it and I’m sorry.”
“Thank you for saying that,” Tad said. “You understand why I’m not interested, right? I know you’ve come up with reasons you think I need—”
“I get it,” Tony interrupted. “The truth is, I was pushing some of my issues off on you. I’ve been going through some stuff since the dragons incident when that sound... Well… You know. I think I’ve been trying to distract myself from thinking about it. I put all my attention on you and decided I needed to fix you.”
“How come I don’t know about this?” Tad asked, suddenly worried.
He sensed Tony grin.
“Jen helped me figure it out a few months back. It turns out we don’t think of our memories and knowledge all the time, we only recall it when we need to. It makes sense when you think about it. It works the same way when we merge. So long as I don’t give you reason to think there’s something wrong with me, your brain doesn’t have any reason to check my memories.”
“But I always think there’s something wrong with you, it’s practically my default setting.”