The Slice

by Greg Taylor

  “Maybe not in your culture. But here, Annabel will do anything to help you. She’s not mad at you, she doesn’t have any bad feelings about you whatsoever.”

  “But that’s just so totally random.”

  Toby couldn’t help but smile. Seeing his reaction, Calanthe said, “This is not an amusing situation, Toby.”

  “I know, I know. It’s just…”

  The two fell silent. Toby tried to figure out where to go from here. What to do.

  “What is it we can do for you, Calanthe? What do you need right now?”

  Calanthe thought about that. “I need time. Not much, I don’t think. But I can’t go back to Annabel’s. Not yet. Not until I’m positive I can control what I’ve become.”

  “So you’re saying you’re going to stay? Here, in Hidden Hills? With us?”

  “Of course. Where else would I go?”

  Toby was relieved, hearing this. He thought Calanthe might have been considering taking off—which was the last thing Toby wanted. Calanthe, on her own, somewhere out there, with the dekayi tracking her down.

  “You can’t stay out here in the woods, though.”

  “Where else is there?”

  Toby quickly thought through what it would entail if he hid Calanthe in his basement. He didn’t like the risk factor of that arrangement. Then it came to him.

  “I know.” When Calanthe gave him a questioning look, Toby nodded. “I know the perfect place.”

  * * *

  Toby used the back alley entrance to get to the secret underground training center in the Killer Pizza building. It was too risky to take Calanthe through the kitchen, down the hall, and into the storage room, where there was a concealed shelf/door, that served as a second entrance to the basement area.

  Toby showed Calanthe the locker room first. The showers. Where the towels were. The clothes closet, with the stacks of T-shirts, sweatpants, and socks. After finding a pair of sneakers in Annabel’s locker and giving them to Calanthe, Toby led her through the exercise room and out into the hall.

  It was when Toby got the roll-away bed out of the storage room off the hallway and rolled it into the classroom that he realized the KP basement maybe wasn’t the perfect place for Calanthe to live until she was more comfortable with her new powers.

  Entering the classroom, Calanthe’s eyes immediately went to the illustrations of monsters that lined the walls. Toby didn’t say anything as he set up Calanthe’s makeshift bed. He was hoping that she would just—

  “I’m one of these, aren’t I?”

  Toby winced. Exactly what he didn’t want to hear. He straightened up after tucking in the top sheet on the bed, turned, and looked at Calanthe. She was staring up at an illustration of a werewolf.

  “Technically—”

  “I am what you would call a monster. I don’t really belong here. In your world.” It sounded as though it was the first time this had occurred to Calanthe.

  “Yes, you absolutely do belong here.”

  “What do you call my people? I don’t see them here.”

  Toby hesitated, then said, “Dekayi. That’s the … term we use.”

  Calanthe nodded, thinking about that.

  “Calanthe. Please listen to me. Just because you’re now able to turn into something like … the things in these pictures? That doesn’t mean you’re a monster, okay?”

  Stepping away from the illustration of the werewolf, Calanthe looked across the room at Toby and crossed her arms. It was a prove-it-to-me kind of gesture.

  “I mean, look at last night. You could have eaten Annabel and me right up, right there under the bridge. We had no way to defend ourselves. But you didn’t.”

  Calanthe’s face was a mask, her not-giving-anything-away expression.

  “What I’m trying to say is … there are people, humans, who are total monsters without being able to change into anything. It’s just who they are. And that’s not who you are. You’re so far from that you’re just … well, you’re one of the coolest people I’ve ever met.”

  Calanthe was silent. Finally, she said, “Thank you for that, Toby. That is helpful to know.”

  A look of exhaustion suddenly came over Calanthe. She walked to her bed and sat down.

  “Are you hungry, Calanthe? It’s been a long time since you’ve eaten.”

  “Yes, I am a bit hungry.”

  “I’ll go upstairs and get you something. Be right back.”

  “Toby?”

  Toby stopped at the door.

  “A Fangtastic Hawaiian would be nice.”

  “You got it.”

  As Toby stepped out of the room and into the hallway, Calanthe once again called him back. “Are you certain this is going to be okay with Annabel? That she will forgive me for what I did to her last night?”

  “Yes, I’m totally certain.” Calanthe looked very vulnerable to Toby, sitting on her cot in her dirty tee and pajama bottoms. “Matter of fact, you know what Annabel told me?”

  Calanthe shook her head no.

  “She said that even though she’s only known you for a couple of weeks, she already loves you like a sister.”

  Hearing that, Calanthe frowned. “I don’t know what a sister is. Or love, for that matter. They’re just words I’ve learned recently.”

  Toby thought for a moment. “I think the best way to describe love is … it’s the vibe you’re getting from Annabel. And from me. And Strobe, in his own way. It means we’ll do anything for you. Whatever it takes, we’ll protect you, make sure your people don’t take you away from us.”

  How to protect Calanthe, if and when her people came for her, that was the question Toby couldn’t answer right then.

  25

  Strobe lay on the bed, staring up at the ceiling. Having had practically no sleep for the past forty-eight hours, he was so tired that he was having trouble keeping his eyes open. But Strobe wanted to keep his eyes open. Every time he closed them, the terrifying images from his trip to the dekayi village would run through his mind’s eye like a nightmare dream.

  Strobe had taken a plane from Montreal to Buffalo, New York, then backtracked—away from Ohio—by taking a bus to Scranton, Pennsylvania. He was now in a sleeper compartment on a train bound for Cleveland. From there … well, Strobe wasn’t sure how he was getting from Cleveland, in the northern part of Ohio, to Hidden Hills, in the southern part. He’d figure that out when he got there.

  Which is what Strobe had been doing all day long and into the night. Improvising his route as he went. Would all this zigzagging on trains, planes, and buses work? Would it result in Strobe shaking off the dekayi? If, indeed, they were actually following him? The only way to know that would be …

  Strobe suddenly sat up in bed and stared at his compartment door. He was sure he’d heard something out in the corridor. He sat still for a moment, then eased out of bed, and moved silently across the room.

  Staring at the slight crack between the door and floor, Strobe’s pulse jumped when a shadow appeared just outside the door. The dark outline of the shadow intruded a few inches into the room, making Strobe think that the shadow might be able to enter under the door and materialize into whoever was casting it. Not the most outrageous of scenarios, considering what Strobe had witnessed up at the dekayi village.

  Eyes locked on the shadow, Strobe held his breath. Whoever—or whatever—was just outside his door was standing perfectly still. Then the shadow moved slowly from one side of the door to the other. Strobe glanced at his backpack, lying on the floor by his bed, was considering grabbing the knife he had concealed in a secret inside pocket when …

  CLACK-CLACK-CLACK-CLACK-CLACK-CLACK-CLACK!!!

  Strobe jumped when a train blasted past the window, heading in the opposite direction from the one Strobe’s was traveling. The close proximity of the two trains caused the loud ricocheting of sound and clatter, which disappeared as soon as the trains had concluded their nighttime passing.

  When Strobe looked back at the door, the sh
adow was gone. He immediately snapped back the bolt lock, yanked the door open, and stuck his head out into corridor. He was just in time to see the sliding door at one end of the train car closing, the silhouette of a head visible on the other side of the door window.

  Strobe took off down the passageway and entered the dark, swaying interior area where his train car was connected to the next. A quick look around to make sure no one was lurking in shadows, then Strobe opened the door opposite the one that had just whooshed shut and entered the next car.

  Again, Strobe saw the door at the opposite end of the car slide shut. The etched silhouette of a head appeared briefly on the other side of the door’s window before disappearing into the darkness of the connecting compartment.

  Strobe arrived at the next train car within fifteen seconds. As soon as he entered he stopped dead in his tracks. He had arrived in the dining car. It was half filled, the people sitting in booths that lined each side of the aisle. Couples, families, a few solo passengers. It was past the dinner hour, and the people were playing games, talking, reading.

  Strobe studied the solo people in the booths, trying to determine if any of them had just sat down. But very quickly Strobe was the one being scrutinized. In his haste to go after his mysterious nighttime visitor, he had charged out of his room in T-shirt and boxers. Returning everyone’s sudden stares, Strobe smiled.

  “Good evening, all. Did anyone just come here? Run through the car? Sit down?”

  A few older people turned away from Strobe in disgust. Others shook their heads no. A young girl with her parents was laughing with her brother, the two of them clearly delighted at this surprising late-night diversion.

  “Okay … well, thank you all very much. And good night.” Strobe backed toward the door, nodded to the laughing girl and her brother, then turned and went back to the connecting compartment between the two cars.

  He inspected it carefully. There was nowhere for a person to hide. There were two doors, one on each side of the connecting compartment. The dekayi—if that’s what had been sneaking around outside Strobe’s room—might have escaped outside.

  Strobe was about to leave the compartment when he suddenly felt a sudden stinging sensation in his leg. At first, he thought he’d been bitten, but no … it wasn’t that. Strobe was alone in the compartment. Staring at his bare leg, Strobe couldn’t make out anything in the dim light. He quickly returned to his room to get a better look, only to find that his door had automatically locked behind him when he left his room.

  “Great, my evening is turning into a slapstick comedy,” Strobe muttered under his breath.

  After finding a porter and explaining his situation, a pantless Strobe was let back into his room. He immediately grabbed a powerful pocket flashlight from his back-pack and sat on the bed to examine his leg. The odd sensation in his thigh had been coming and going and Strobe was starting to feel a bit nauseous.

  “Holy crap!”

  Strobe dropped his flashlight, leaped off the bed, and flattened himself against the wall. It was an instinctive—and pointless—reaction, as though getting away from the bed would distance Strobe from what he had just seen in his leg. Momentarily frozen, Strobe picked up his flashlight and returned to the bed.

  He hesitated, then trained the flashlight once again on his thigh. The thing that had caused Strobe to react so violently was still there. Just under his skin was the unmistakable outline of a miniature snake!

  “I can’t believe it,” Strobe said in amazement. “They snaked me.”

  Had the snake been there since the dekayi village? This is what Strobe wondered as he stared at the disgusting thing lodged under his skin. In all the excitement, a tiny little bite before the snake invaded his body? Something like that could have escaped Strobe’s attention.

  But why? What was the thing doing there? A disturbing thought made Strobe wince in disgust. The snake was there to grow, larger and larger, eventually taking over his entire body! What a repulsive—

  But no. That wasn’t it, Strobe realized. This is how they’re tracking me, he thought. This thing is their supernatural GPS device!

  Another wave of nausea suddenly welled up in Strobe. When he doubled over in pain, Strobe knew he had to cut the thing out. The sooner, the better. Like, right now.

  When the sick feeling had passed, Strobe grabbed his backpack. He needed his knife to perform the operation.

  Shining his flashlight inside the backpack to locate the knife, Strobe suddenly froze. Caught in the bright beam of the flashlight were several tiny black snakes, slithering over one another in an attempt to escape the bright glare.

  They planted an entire nest of these things, Strobe thought feverishly. It really had been a ruse, allowing him to escape the dekayi village so they could follow him back home. Determined to undermine the dekayi’s plan, Strobe slowly took out his knife, a jacket, a shirt, and his first aid travel kit from the backpack, taking care not to disturb the insidious snakes. Going into the bathroom, Strobe arranged everything he would need to cut the snake from his leg on the small counter. He sat down on the toilet seat cover and stared at the nauseating, squiggly snake contour under his skin. Then he bit his lip hard to distract himself from the pain of the knife cut and made the incision.…

  * * *

  Entering the dark, swaying connecting compartment, Strobe let the door slide shut behind him. After cutting the wriggling miniature snake neatly in half, Strobe had extracted the two pieces from under his skin and flushed them down the toilet, fighting back an impulse to throw up as he watched the “supernatural tracking device” disappear down the toilet bowl.

  After stitching up his leg, Strobe had carefully inspected every pocket in his pants and shirt, several times each, before putting them on. The same thing with his jacket. Just before exiting his room, Strobe had placed his backpack in the small closet, hoping the dekayi wouldn’t discover it until the train had arrived in Cleveland.

  Picking one of the two doors in the connecting compartment, Strobe positioned himself in front of it. The train was traveling through a swath of forest, the outlines of the trees clearly visible against the moonlit sky. Strobe couldn’t believe what he was about to do, but he didn’t see any alternative. He had checked the train schedule before leaving his room. The next scheduled stop was Pittsburgh. That was too long to wait to get off the train. Besides, Strobe was concerned that his mysterious visitor might notice him slipping off the train if he exited in Pittsburgh. But here, in the middle of nowhere …

  Strobe grabbed the handle and opened the door, bracing himself for a moment against the cold wind that whipped across his face and caused his jacket to flap loudly, like a flag.

  Then, without giving it another thought, he jumped.

  26

  “Calanthe? We’re here.”

  Reaching the bottom of the back steps that led to the Killer Pizza basement, Toby thought it was a good idea to give Calanthe a heads-up that he and Annabel had arrived. He didn’t want to find out how Calanthe might react if they just walked in and surprised her.

  Toby had contacted Annabel immediately after receiving a call from Calanthe an hour or so before. After spending the rest of Sunday and most of Monday alone in the Killer Pizza basement getting used to her post-Altering powers and abilities, Calanthe had requested a meeting with the two of them.

  “In here!”

  Calanthe’s response had come from the exercise room. As Toby walked down the hall, he wondered what it must have been like for Calanthe, here, all alone, in the KP basement these past few days. Calanthe’s situation reminded him of what some of the superheroes went through in his graphic novels, in the origin stories when they first discovered who and what they were. Never an easy transition.

  When Toby and Annabel entered the exercise room, Calanthe was standing next to the punching bag. She was dressed in a Killer Pizza T-shirt. Sweatpants. No socks or shoes. She looked hyper, bursting with energy. She was sweating after what must have been an inte
nse workout on the bag.

  “We have gloves for that,” Toby said.

  Calanthe looked at her hands, still curled into fists. Her knuckles were bleeding. She shrugged. “I don’t need them.”

  Toby nodded. He and Annabel stayed where they were, near the entrance to the room. Until Calanthe told them otherwise, it was probably best to keep their distance from her.

  “Watch this,” Calanthe said. Standing up straight, her arms immediately began to disappear into her body! Her skin turned reptilian!

  “Oh, no. Okay, that’s enough.” Toby couldn’t help but turn away from the gruesome sight.

  Annabel winced, but kept watching.

  Calanthe didn’t do the full transformation. When her arms were no longer visible, she caused them to grow right back out. Her scaly skin returned to normal. She smiled, looking like a child who has just mastered something very difficult, like riding a bicycle for the first time without any help from a parent.

  “That’s…” Annabel was at a loss for words.

  “It was very difficult at first. And frustrating. But I discovered a trick that gave me control over it. A mental thing. I picture a whirlpool, with my human features disappearing into it.”

  “Whatever works,” Toby said, relieved that Calanthe was back to normal.

  “So it is okay. You don’t need to stay so far away from me anymore.”

  Still, Toby and Annabel walked a bit cautiously across the room to where Calanthe was standing. As they approached, Calanthe suddenly looked uncomfortable. Annabel noticed that she was looking anywhere but right at her.

  “Calanthe, what happened the other night? It’s done. Over. I don’t want you to even give it a second thought. I’m perfectly okay, see?” Annabel smiled and held out her hands to emphasize the point.

  “You don’t sound okay to me.”

  That much was true. Annabel still talked on the whispery side and sounded hoarse when she did. “My throat doesn’t hurt anymore. It just sounds that way. But nothing’s damaged. I’ll be back to normal before you know it.”