Rhapsody

by Heather McKenzie

  “I could understand Henry’s passion for science, and I overlooked many horrible things because of it. I went along with his insanity because it was my job, and I was loyal.” Sindra paused, scratched her throat.

  “And because you loved him,” Kaya said flatly.

  “Yes,” Sindra said. “Still do. I love him even though he is completely incapable of loving anyone or anything but power. I experimented, tortured, chained up, manipulated, and used people for him. I was as heinous as he was. But I grew to love another. Someone who was just as much a pawn. Someone I couldn’t bear to hurt anymore. And when I realized what Henry was going to do to him and to his own daughter, well, I couldn’t.”

  Why did I have the feeling Sindra was talking about Oliver? The way her eyes changed and blinked rapidly in his direction, and the way Oliver’s nostrils flared in complete disgust, and the unmistakable scowl of jealousy on Davis’s face…

  Huh. I’d let her talk. Then I’d kill her.

  “What you did to Oliver was unforgiveable in my book,” Kaya said. “He might be able to let it go, but I can’t.”

  I couldn’t stop myself. “Oliver? What did this broad do to you?”

  “Another time,” he said softly.

  “No. What did she do?”I realized I was holding a knife—a butter knife, but a knife nonetheless. I could scrape out the demon’s eyes. “What did you do to him, Sindra?”

  Having just returned, Lisa whisked Louisa off to the safety of the living room again.

  “I took control of his mind,” Sindra said softly, “by causing him physical pain for years. He came to me as a child, yet I did as I was told. I programmed him to obey. I used him for what I needed and manipulated him right down to his own feelings. I was exceptionally good at my job.”

  Before I knew it, I was flying at her from across the kitchen, about to show her some home-style farm-girl torture. Brutus yelped when I stepped on his paw, and thankfully, Thomas grabbed a hold of me before I could get to Sindra’s neck. He had an arm around my waist, the other one doing the chokehold that I had taught him. My intentions of strangling the bronze witch were quickly subdued when my own breathing became restricted. Thomas was freakishly strong—when did that happen? A few years ago, I could have tossed him around like a hay bale.

  “Don’t use my own moves on me, butthead,” I hissed, but he held tight, waiting for my muscles to relax. “I won’t hurt her. Scout’s honor.”

  Thomas let go.

  Oliver stared at me open mouthed, either impressed that I had jumped to his defense or completely horrified to have his past exposed. I felt like an idiot for losing my cool.

  “I’ve got dishes to wash,” I muttered and headed back to the sink.

  Feeling Oliver’s eyes on my back, I plunged my hands into the dishwater. I could feel his gaze go through me, but at least with my back to him, he couldn’t see my embarrassment.

  “All right, crisis averted,” Regan said. “Continue on, Sindra. Tell us what Henry is conjuring up in that lab of his.”

  “Genetic testing,” she replied.

  Regan practically burst from his chair. “And?”

  “He has figured out how to ‘cut and paste’ the DNA of a living creature to his specifications.”

  “By living creature, you mean a human.”

  Sindra cleared her throat. “Yes. The tool he acquired is precise and efficient and has been labeled a potential ‘weapon of mass destruction’. The embryos that are modified are not supposed to be allowed to develop for more than a few days, and they must be incapable of growing into humans. It is highly unethical and extremely controversial to use viable human cells. But Henry doesn’t have ethics. Nor does he follow the rules.”

  “I think I’m going to be sick,” Davis said.

  Sindra went on. “Henry wants to build an army of men with exceptional muscle mass and speed, but mentally weak so programming them won’t take so long. All he needs is one to clone, and then he can create as many as he wants. From there, he will design his own race of people. An ultimately higher intellect, disease-resistant race with a designer army to protect them. Not only does he need Kaya’s inheritance to complete this, he needs her… well…”

  Sindra stopped talking. I kept washing dishes. Brutus growled again. And Regan couldn’t contain his impatience.“He needs her what?” he asked.

  “He needs her body. He’s been keeping her healthy and ensuring her fertility all this time, not only so he can get an heir from her, but so he can harvest—”

  “Enough!” Luke slammed his hand on the table. “Not another word!” He had pulled Kaya to his side as if to shield her from the truth. “Whatever you were about to say next, you keep it to yourself.”

  Arguing erupted. Regan was desperate to hear the whole sordid tale, and Luke was adamant that the conversation be ended. Thomas, remarkably, was on Luke’s side, and it seemed that everyone had something to say except Kaya. She calmly wiggled out of Luke’s arms, came to stand beside me at the sink, and picked up a dishtowel.

  “Who’s on dish duty tonight?” she asked.

  I had to laugh. “Ellis and Thomas”

  “Let’s make sure Lisa uses every bowl in here when she’s cooking then.”

  The arguing behind us rose in volume, the only person not chiming in was Sindra.

  “Lisa is a darn good cook, isn’t she?” I said, passing Kaya a rinsed plate to dry.

  “Yup. Never thought I would like cabbage rolls, but yum.” She sniffed, then spoke quietly. “Ya know, Marlene, if I wasn’t around, none of this would happen.”

  I could have slapped her, and I’m sure the shock on my face is what stopped her from saying anything more. “Don’t you dare,” I hissed.

  “It’s true.”

  “No, it’s not true. Your nutso daddy would find someone else to use. Don’t you go running off or doing something stupid. I freakin’ mean it, Kaya Lowen. If I have to track you down again, I’ll staple your butt to the floor when I find ya.”

  “You won’t,” she said, putting her hand on my arm. “I promise.”

  I breathed a sigh of relief. “Good. And just so you know, if you leave him, it would literally kill him.” Of course I meant Luke, whose hand slammed angrily again on the table while Brutus howled his own point of view. Kaya and I just kept cleaning, our backs to the commotion. We were so wrapped up in ignoring what was happening behind us, we failed to notice a knock at the door until it was too late. Until Louisa, bunny in hand, had the porch door open and a rush of chilly air brought the arguing to a halt.

  Two men peered into the kitchen through the screen door. I was about to turn around and go to them, but Kaya held me to the sink. “Remember to hide your face. Just keep washing,” she warned.

  Right.

  “Is Seth around?” said one of the men to Louisa.

  She was loud for someone so tiny. “Seth? Well of course not. He’s gone…” We all held our breath until she said, “Fishin’.”

  Lisa flew into the kitchen, skidding to a halt behind Louisa. I could see the scene behind me in the reflection of the toaster. Everyone at the table remained seated and quiet, allowing Lisa to take the lead.

  “Can I help you?” she asked, blonde hair now out of the pony tail and down around her shoulders.

  “We just brought Seth his usual Christmas present,” one of the men said. “He’ll be snarly if he doesn’t get his whiskey. And you are?”

  “His girlfriend,” Lisa replied, all of us hearing her pain in that lie. “Lisa.”

  “Is he around? Can we come in? It’s kinda cold out here.”

  Lisa hesitated. “Oh yes, of course. Sorry, I forgot my manners there for a moment.”

  The screen door squeaked, the furnace came on, and heavy footfalls rattled the kitchen floor.

  “So, how do you know Seth?” Lisa asked.

  “We go way back. I’m Harris, and this is my partner Gabe. We were on the force together. It’s tradition for us to swing by on boxing day. Funny, S
eth never said nothing about fishing.”

  “Oh. Well, I sort of insisted he host dinner for my family today,” Lisa motioned to everyone at the table, purposely ignoring me and Kaya, “and he… well… he didn’t like that very much. Maybe now I know why?” Lisa eyed the whiskey with disgust. “You know how it is, ya gotta make sacrifices for family, but he didn’t feel like it I guess.” Lisa stumbled over her tongue and Louisa, firmly at her side in a hideous pink dress, took over.

  “My Mommalisa is pretty upset about it,” Louisa said, looking up at the men claiming to be cops. “She cries lots about him. He shouldn’t go fishing for so long. I think maybe he fell through the ice.”

  “Ha,” Lisa said, nervously. “Kids say the darndest things.” She patted Louisa’s head. “He’ll back soon, honey. Don’t worry, he’s fine.”

  Tension was thick. “Been with him for a while, have ya?” said Officer Harris, rolling his shoulders and taking in the room around him.

  “Yes,” Lisa said, valiantly keeping her composure. “Since February. Anyway, can I tell him you stopped by?”

  It was then that Officer Harris noticed Kaya and me at the sink. His eyes caught mine in the reflection of the toaster, and I clearly noticed the gun in the holster at his waist.

  “You folks staying for a while?” he asked.

  “Nope. Just today,” Regan said, leaning back and patting his stomach. He had dumped his British accent for something that sounded American. “We just finished a great breakfast, and now we’re gonna sit around and try to be pleasant to each other until dinner.”

  The smaller cop placed the whiskey on the table. “Well, maybe this will help,” he said with a wink.

  My hands were in the sink, but I was out of dishes to wash. Lisa had begun false introductions; cousin Luke, brother Davis and his wife Sabine, and I was wracking my mind with what to say when she got to me and Kaya, but Lisa conveniently skipped over us.

  “Well, nice to meet you all,” Officer Harris said, but there was a tone of suspicion in his voice. “Too bad we couldn’t have had a hang with the old boy, but I guess we can catch up another day. Oh, but before we go…” He reached into his coat pocket. “Have any of you seen this girl?”

  And I could tell by the uncomfortable silence that Officer Harris was holding up a picture of me on my ‘wedding day’. Was Oliver in the picture too?

  “Hmmm,” Lisa said, scanning it closely. “Pretty girl you’re chasing after. You know, there are websites for that. It would save you the trouble of knocking on doors to find a girlfriend.”

  Officer Gabe was unimpressed. “She’s wanted. For murder.”

  “Oh.” Lisa clutched Louisa protectively. “We will keep our eyes out for her then. That’s horrible.”

  I grabbed a vase off the windowsill and plunked it into the sink, pretending to really give it a good scrub while Kaya dried the same spoon over and over.

  “What’s your name?” Officer Gabe asked.

  I knew he was referring to me, but I stayed mute.

  Lisa tried to cover. “Oh, that’s my cousin.”

  “I didn’t ask you,” came the gruff reply, which was rather rude for a cop stopping by to visit his ‘friend’ at Christmas time. “You. The girl at the sink. What’s your name?”

  Kaya turned around. “I’m Kate,” she said.

  “No… not you… the other girl.”

  Kaya slowly treaded through the kitchen to buy me time, making a show of wiping something off the table before sinking down into a chair next to Luke. My mind raced. If I had to face these policemen, things were going to go south really darn quick, and not ‘Sunny Florida’ south, but all the way to ‘Butthole Antarctica’ south.

  So, I did the only thing I could think of.

  “Ah crap!” I yelled, putting my hands to my face. “I got soap in my eyes, just a second.”

  I scrubbed my face. Running the water and rinsing like a madman until I was sure every speck of makeup that I’d spent an hour applying had come off. When I turned around, everyone would see the purple birthmark, including Oliver. He would see the real me. He would be completely repulsed like most people were…

  But I had no choice.

  I dried my face, and when I could no longer prolong the inevitable, I turned around, ignoring the collective gasp amongst the room. Both officers recoiled as if I had a flesh-eating disease.

  “I’m Melissa,” I said, not having to dig deep at that annoyance I felt when meeting new people. I purposely stomped when I took a few steps closer, using my most intimidating posture. Both cops flinched and failed at trying to cover up their horrified stares, so I gave them the Marlene. “What? My face? Yeah. It’s a birthmark. Sorry if it makes you uncomfortable. Unfortunately, I can’t change it. Is that a problem?”

  Officer Gabe muttered, “Oh, no, of course not. Sorry to have bothered you. We just thought you were—”

  “Someone else,” finished Officer Harris as he reached for the door.

  Man, I had a knack for clearing the room. We were almost home-free, until Officer Harris noticed something on the floor.

  “Oh hey, it seems you got a broken cup there,” he said, bending over to retrieve the mug Louisa’s ridiculous dress had knocked over. Kaya was closest to it and she pulled her feet away. “Wouldn’t want the child to step on it and—”

  His words came to a crashing halt when his eyes fell to Kaya’s hands in her lap. He did a double take, then studied her face for a moment. Straightening up and putting the broken mug on the table, he cleared his throat as ten faces stared back at him in utter silence.

  They knew. But they were outnumbered.

  “Well, it’s getting late. We’ll be seeing ya,” Officer Harris said, his tone hurried and tense. “Happy holidays.”

  Then they were gone.

  “They saw her scar,” Luke said the moment they were off the porch and heading to their car. He rubbed his thumb over the bite mark on Kaya’s hand. “They know who she is.”

  He was stating the obvious. But what everyone else was in shock over was my face. For the first time in my life, I actually felt as ugly as I really was.

  “We have to leave. Now,” Luke said.

  The car outside was starting up, taking off down the long drive.

  “Hello?” Luke said, but everyone was staring at me.

  Regan finally spoke up. “Marlene.” I flinched at the sound of my name, horrified to hear what he was going to say. “You shouldn’t hide that. It’s quite lovely actually.”

  What??? That was probably just the doctor in him speaking. Someone who was used to seeing all sorts of weird and gross body stuff. There was a murmur of agreement though, and then the room burst into action. Luke was barking orders. Regan was repeating them. And I could finally flee from the kitchen.

  “Regan’s right,” Oliver said, catching me by the hand. If I didn’t like the bloke so much, I would have torn his arm from his shoulder.

  “Is he?” I said with my most intimidating glare, realizing it was having no effect on Oliver. “This is the real me you know. Without makeup. This—” I motioned to my face. “Doesn’t wash off.”

  Then came another first. Tears behind my eyes.

  Oliver smiled. It was warm and real, and it made his eyes shine. Everyone was moving around us, collecting truck keys and bunnies and clothing before the cops came back with more cops, but Oliver just smiled. Time stood still around us as organized chaos ensued. He reached to touch my cheek, the dark blue under my eye, the deep purple at my jaw, and wordlessly, I let him. I waited for him to come to his senses and run screaming from the room.

  “Marlene,” he said, pronouncing my name slowly, dropping his hand only when Thomas knocked into him with an armful of clothes. “I hope you never hide your beautiful face again.”

  Now Brutus was going crazy, barking his own orders. “We better get moving,” I said.

  But Oliver stood staring, as if the entire world disappeared and I was the only one left in it. And then, before
I could raise a hand to slap him or knee him in the balls, he kissed me. The gorgeous prick just leaned in and freakin’ planted one perfectly delicate kiss on my cheek.

  “The real you is stunning,” he said, and then he turned and walked off.

  I think I stood there for a full two minutes, shocked, until Thomas stopped and handed me a bag of dog food. I was expecting some snide remark, or some sort of the usual teasing I got from him, but all he said was, “Oliver is right.”

  With Kaya between me and Thomas in the backseat, and Oliver in the front while Marlene drove, the old green truck sped down the highway taking us farther and farther from the ranch house and civilization. I would have headed to a city to get lost in—there were so many places to hide—but I was outvoted, and I hated that I wasn’t in control. I also hated that Thomas’s legs were touching Kaya’s, and he was breathing the same air as she was. But for her sake, good Lord only for her sake, I would play nice.

  I glanced out the rear window, not at all surprised to see Davis and Sindra exit the highway.

  “You’re right, Oliver,” I said, not feeling bad about possessively draping my arm over Kaya and pulling her close. “Davis took off. He and Sindra aren’t behind us any longer.”

  “We’ll never see them again,” Oliver said with a sigh. “Davis couldn’t forgive me, and there was no way he’d stick around to help protect Kaya knowing he could be captured again. I’m surprised he didn’t take Sindra and vanish in the middle of the night.”

  I shivered at the thought of that dungeon, not blaming Davis for going off on his own. I thought of my little sister and the hell she’d gone through. I didn’t want to put her in another bad situation and here she was, smack dab in the thick of one. “I’m worried sick about Louisa,” I said, thinking out loud.

  “She’s fine with Lisa, I guarantee it, Luke,” Oliver said. “Henry has no interest in them, or Regan and Ellis for that matter. We’ll keep heading in opposite directions, and in a few weeks, they can all go back to the ranch house. It’s safer there than anywhere else.”