The Slice

by Greg Taylor

  “I don’t know what those words mean. Mother. Father.”

  “Well, I don’t want to get into the mechanics of it or anything, but a mother is the person who gives birth to a child.”

  “Oh, I see. Yes, I know all about that.”

  “So … who raised you? Who brought you up?”

  “My village did. My earliest memory is of being in a large room with about ten children of my own age. We were tended to by the some of the women of the village. When we were older, we were moved to another building. And another large room.”

  “So you’re an orphan,” Strobe said. Calanthe gave Strobe a questioning look. “That’s someone who doesn’t have a mother or father. Either the parents have died or the child was given up.”

  “What does given up mean?”

  “The parents didn’t want the child for some reason or other.”

  “That’s one way you’re not like an orphan,” Annabel broke in. “It doesn’t sound like your parents didn’t want you. This is just the way the children are raised in your village.”

  Hearing about the way Calanthe had been raised, Annabel suddenly felt—for the first time, really—a strong sense of responsibility for her new houseguest. Not only was she, Toby, and Strobe acting as surrogate parents for Calanthe in her new world, it turned out they were Calanthe’s first true guardians, period.

  “You know what? I think that’s enough for today, guys.” Annabel had noticed Calanthe’s eyes droop, the weight of the day finally taking its toll.

  “Okey-doke.” Strobe hopped off the desk he had been sitting on. “Shall we, Tobe?”

  Toby held his hand up to say so long to Calanthe. “This is how we say good-bye.” Calanthe imitated Toby’s good-bye wave. “You were really impressive today, Calanthe. Seriously, I don’t know how you managed to soak all that in and actually remember it all.”

  Calanthe waved again as Toby and Strobe left the room.

  “I’ll be right back,” Annabel said.

  As Annabel walked with Toby and Strobe downstairs and outside to the street, arrangements were made for the following day. Where to meet before, during, and after school.

  “I really think she’s gonna be okay,” Strobe said. “I wouldn’t have believed that yesterday, but—”

  “Yeah, that girl’s sharp as a tack,” Toby added.

  “There’s just so much more she needs to learn,” Annabel said.

  “And she will.” Strobe’s breath was visible in the cold October night air as he talked. “The good news is she’s already got more on the ball than some of the imbeciles I have to sit next to at school.”

  Annabel smiled, said so long to Toby and Strobe, then returned to her house. She was shivering from the short time she had spent outside without her jacket.

  “Want some hot chocolate, Calanthe?” Annabel asked as she came into her bedroom. Calanthe was not sitting on the bed, where she had been when the trio left the room. In the time it had taken Annabel to go outside with the guys, Calanthe had taken her thick comforter from the bed, placed it on the floor, and was sound asleep on top of it. In her clothes. With no pillow for head support.

  Annabel shook her head at the sight. Going to the closet, she took a blanket from the top shelf. After placing it over Calanthe, Annabel paused by the door, her hand on the light switch. Calanthe’s chest expanded and contracted in an odd cadence. One long breath. Then two short ones. Her breathing was in the same rhythm as her abnormal heartbeat. Abnormal for humans, anyway.

  Annabel turned off Calanthe’s light and went to her bedroom. After helping prepare Calanthe for her first day of school, it was time for Annabel to do some schoolwork of her own. She had to read a big chunk of The Turn of the Screw for her English class. Lying in bed, reading the Henry James classic, Annabel wasn’t sure if it was the subtle creepiness of the book or the whole Calanthe situation that was causing her to feel uneasy.

  Probably both, Annabel surmised. One reflecting off the other. For in spite of how well Calanthe had responded to her HS boot camp, Annabel still felt nervous about the girl’s upcoming first day of school. Actually, it was more than that.

  In the same way that Calanthe didn’t know much about her new world, there was so much they didn’t know about the world Calanthe had come from. What little Calanthe had revealed about her village was enough of a picture to suggest just how weird her upbringing had been. And it was certainly enough to make Annabel uneasy about what else was to come, what other odd and disturbing customs Calanthe would disclose about the dekayi world.

  Knowing it was useless to try to concentrate on her book, Annabel placed it on the nightstand and reached for the lamp switch. Her tossing and turning began as soon as the light was out. There was way too much on Annabel’s mind for her to fall asleep anytime soon.

  Among the many thoughts and images that flitted through Annabel’s head was Strobe’s question that she had prevented Calanthe from answering.

  “What are you, anyway? What makes you different from us humans?”

  Or, as Strobe had put it when they were being briefed by Harvey in New York, how did the dekayi go about doing their monsterly deeds?

  8

  In Calanthe’s former village, in a large, mostly empty meeting hall, an important discussion was underway. The Tall Man, who had returned to his village the previous week, was with his three village elders. The group sat on rough canvas-covered cushions, in a circle on the floor. It was the elders who had asked for this meeting, to convey their concern about the Calanthe situation.

  “I mean no disrespect, sir, but how can you be certain the rukh survived its fall from the rooftop?” It was the youngest of the elders who had asked the Tall Man the question.

  “In all the years I have led this community, have I ever failed any of you?”

  “No, you have not.”

  “Then you must trust me when I say … the rukh survived. I can sense it.”

  The Tall Man had spent several days and nights in New York City—both to heal from his wound and to wait for the rukh’s return—then had made the trek back to his village when the rukh failed to make an appearance. A purplish round scar on the Tall Man’s neck was the only lasting sign of his skirmish with Toby, Annabel, and Strobe.

  “But don’t you think it prudent for us to be doing something to bring Calanthe back to us?” It was another of the elders who had posed the question. “I’m concerned that if we wait for the rukh to do the task … well, there is very little time left, sir.”

  “I am quite aware of how little time there is.” The Tall Man’s reply was delivered with a sharper tone, something that did not escape the attention of the elders.

  In a deferential gesture, the youngest elder bowed slightly to the Tall Man before he spoke. “These people in the city, sir. You say they were fighters of some sort. Who’s to say Calanthe will not reveal to them where we live?”

  “She very well may attempt to do that. But Calanthe does not know the exact location of our village. Up until her escape she had never set one foot outside the boundaries of our village.”

  “I still do not understand why she felt it necessary to leave us.” It was the oldest of the three elders who had spoken, the disappointment obvious in his voice. “What could she possibly want from the Beyond that we could not provide her?”

  “There are more than a few mysteries in this world. But on this particular issue, let me reassure you. No matter what it takes, Calanthe will be returned to our village. The Day of Days will not occur without her in attendance.”

  From the expressions of the three elders, the Day of Days was something very important, very crucial. The senior elder stared gravely at the Tall Man, then indicated to the other two elders that it was time to leave. The Tall Man did not leave with them. After they had gone, he stood and began to walk the length of the large room.

  Illuminated by torches attached to a series of wooden pillars, the room appeared to be a meeting hall of some sort. Rows of cushions faced
a stage-like proscenium. This is where the Tall Man was headed. As he got closer to the stage, something that had been obscured by shadow from where he had spoken to the elders slowly became visible.

  It was a large wooden statue of a serpent. Serpent-like would be a better description, in that the creature had two rows of stunted legs—with webbed, clawed feet—running along its sinewy length. The long shape twisted ominously across the back wall of the stage, almost to the top of the high ceiling.

  The Tall Man stared at the statue for a moment, then he began to speak. The foreign words he used sounded age-old, as though they had come from the beginning of time. The language, and the way the Tall Man spoke them, matched the thing he was speaking to. Ancient, mysterious. And very sinister.

  Suddenly, the Tall Man’s words stopped. That’s because his head was disappearing into his body! So were his arms and legs. At the same time, his torso was growing and morphing into something that looked very much like the statue he had been speaking to.

  When the Tall Man’s gruesome transformation was complete, the thing he had become half crawled, half slithered to the statue, moving in and out of the contours of the wooden figure as it went upward.

  A very strange kind of ritual seemed to be taking place here. A meeting of the minds, so to speak. Whatever it was the Tall Man was “discussing” with his wooden-idol counterpart, one thing was certain. Annabel’s tossing and turning back in Hidden Hills was justified, her concerns warranted. The Tall Man had promised his elders that Calanthe would be returned to the village for the Day of Days, and the intimidating dekayi leader looked like the type of monster who always delivered on his promises.

  9

  Annabel woke with a start.

  “Calanthe! What’s wrong?”

  Calanthe stood at the bottom of Annabel’s bed, still in the clothes she had slept in. “Nothing. I simply awoke before I heard the alarm.”

  “Oh … Okay.” Annabel squinted at her bedside clock. “Wow, it’s not even five o’clock yet. You must be a little nervous about your first day of school, huh? A bit excited, maybe?”

  “No, I am not nervous. I am used to getting up even earlier than this.”

  “You are?”

  “Yes. The children in my age group milk the cows and clean out the stalls every morning.”

  “Yikes. That’s…” Annabel put her hand up in front of her mouth to stifle a yawn. “You know what, Calanthe? I wouldn’t mind sleeping another hour, if that’s okay with you.”

  “Of course. I will wait for you in my room.”

  Annabel watched Calanthe as she headed out of her room. “On second thought, maybe we could use the extra time to get ready.”

  When Calanthe stopped and looked back into the dark room, Annabel thought she detected a brief luminous glow in the girl’s dark eyes. Then it was gone.

  “I don’t wish for you to get up early on my account,” Calanthe said.

  “No. This is good. Let’s see what I’ve got in my closet for you to wear.” Annabel turned on a light and opened her closet.

  “I’m not wearing this?”

  “No, Calanthe. You’ve been wearing those clothes long enough. And BTW?”

  “Initials for by the way…”

  Annabel smiled and nodded when Calanthe properly identified BTW. “You don’t wear the same thing to school every day.”

  “I don’t?”

  “No. Unless you go to a private school. Private-school kids have to wear uniforms.”

  “What is a uniform?”

  “For the most part? Pretty ugly.”

  * * *

  Walking next to Calanthe down the crowded hall, Toby was well aware of what a head turner the girl was. Annabel had picked out a simple but eye-catching outfit for Calanthe to wear on her first day of school. Black turtleneck, black miniskirt, black leggings, tall black boots. A red hairband held Calanthe’s hair away from her face, allowing her regal profile optimum visibility. The hairband and two red earrings accented the ensemble with just the right touch of bright color.

  Like a wave down the hall, the heads of the kids in the hallway swiveled as Calanthe walked past. The girl was blessed with a powerful double-barreled “it” factor—exotic beauty and the new girl.

  “Here we are,” Toby said, taking Calanthe by the arm and steering her through a swarm of students toward a nearby classroom. “First class of the day. English. Any questions before we go in?”

  “No.”

  “Sure?”

  “Yes.”

  Looking at Calanthe, Toby had a feeling he was more nervous about her first day at school than she was. “I do have one tip before we step through that door. Until you’re feeling more comfortable here, at school? Don’t feel like you have to say anything in class, raise your hand or anything like that. Some kids get all the way through school without raising their hand once. That’s one of my goals, actually.”

  Calanthe frowned, thought for a moment about what Toby just told her, then turned and walked into the classroom.

  * * *

  “Everyone? Your attention, please. I’d like to welcome Calanthe Sanura, our new foreign exchange student. Calanthe is from Port Said, Egypt. She will be with us for the rest of the year.”

  The students in the classroom turned around to look at Calanthe. She and Toby had been the first to arrive for English and had been given two seats next to each other near the back of the room by the teacher. Calanthe gazed calmly back at the faces of the students staring at her. It appeared to Toby that she was studying her classmates … their expressions, what they were wearing, their hairstyles, the girls’ jewelry and makeup. The girl was intensely interested in everything around her, that much was clear.

  I totally like this girl, Toby thought as he watched Calanthe. She’s just so … cool. And calm.

  There was something else about Calanthe, which Toby had tried to capture in his drawing of her eyes: her dark, haunted quality. It was all part of Calanthe’s intriguing personality, which continued to unfold as something unique and unpredictable.

  * * *

  After three morning classes and a study hall, Toby and Calanthe made their way to the cafeteria for lunch.

  “What is that?” Calanthe asked, pointing to one of the lunch selections on the other side of the glass partition.

  “We call that mystery meat. Which means you should probably stay away from it.”

  Calanthe nodded at Toby’s assessment of one of the main course offerings, then moved on past it. “What about this?”

  “That’s pizza. But don’t touch it. I can make you a lot better pizza than this stuff.” Toby led Calanthe away from the offending cheese pizza slices. “Ah, here we go. Can’t go wrong with this.” Toby grabbed a piece of baked apple crumble, placed it on Calanthe’s tray, then took one for himself. “Hey, there’s Annabel.”

  After the two had finished loading up their trays, they walked across the cafeteria to Annabel’s table, where she had saved them a couple of seats.

  “How’s it going, you two?” Annabel asked. She was smiling when she asked the question, but Toby thought her smile looked forced, a cover-up for her underlying concern about what the answer might be.

  “Fantastic,” Toby replied.

  “Yeah?” Annabel looked genuinely surprised at Toby’s response.

  “Absolutely. Let me tell you, Calanthe’s catching on so fast she’ll be helping me with my homework by the end of the week.”

  “I don’t believe that’s going to happen,” Calanthe said modestly.

  “Now that I think about it, I hope it doesn’t either. That’d be pretty embarrassing.”

  Annabel smiled, happy to hear the easygoing banter between Toby and Calanthe. It actually appeared that things were going okay on Calanthe’s first day of school.

  Toby and Annabel noticed that Calanthe was staring at her miniature milk carton with a concentrated frown, apparently unsure how to open it.

  “That’s a little different from milking t
he cows, huh, Calanthe?” Annabel said.

  “Here, let me show you,” Toby offered.

  “No, I want to figure it out myself.”

  “That’s what she’s been doing all day, Annabel. Trying to figure everything out for herself.”

  “That’s the best way to learn,” Annabel replied.

  “And I do want to learn everything,” Calanthe said after she had mastered the carton and taken a sip of milk though her straw. Which seemed to delight her, this being the first time Calanthe had ever used a straw. “I want to know everything about how you live here, in your world.”

  “And you will,” Annabel said.

  Looking at Annabel, Toby could see in her expression the growing affection that she was feeling for Calanthe. It seemed to Toby that she—more so than he or Strobe—was really beginning to take the “mother hen” moniker to heart.

  10

  Three hours later Toby and Calanthe were in geometry, the last class of the day.

  For Toby, the entire day had turned out to be energizing in a way he could have never foreseen. He and Annabel both thought Calanthe might be intimidated by the intense newness of her environment, with the dangerous possibility of her reaching OVERLOAD before getting on the bus at day’s end, thanks to all of the hyperstimulation.

  But Calanthe hadn’t reached OVERLOAD. Not only that, but her questions had never stopped coming. Everything Toby took for granted during a typical school day had come under Calanthe’s microscope.

  What does this mean? Why are those people doing that? What does a pep rally mean? Instead of tiring of Calanthe’s questions, Toby found himself looking forward to them. Calanthe had forced him to gaze at his world through her eyes, which had turned out to be a pretty fascinating experience. What an interesting creature the human animal was, when you really thought about it.

  BRRIIIIIIIIIINNGG!!!

  An explosion of energy rocketed through the classroom when the end-of-the-school-day bell rang. Students grabbed their backpacks and jumped for the door. Toby and Calanthe stayed right where they were as the hyper teens jostled and nudged one another and filed out of the room, chattering and laughing all the way. Even after everyone had left the room, including the teacher, Toby and Calanthe stayed seated.