by Mason Dakota
“And what does that mean for Shaman?”
“It means he can’t be corrupted…even if I can be,” I said softly, repeating the intimate script between us.
Gabriel nodded. He smiled and turned his attention back to me. “That’s why you don’t fight for either Outcasts or Nobles. You’ll fight them both and save them both. You fight for the people as a whole. Despite race or species, you defend the weak and stand against those who seek to harm others. That’s Shaman’s purpose. That’s why I passed the job on to you because I knew you could be worthy of it.”
I shook my head. That may have been Gabriel’s reason for being Shaman long ago—even mine at one naive point in time—but time had changed that. Ziavir had changed that. Betrayal changed all that. Gabriel looked at me oddly so I explained. “All of that is true and noble. But it isn’t me…not anymore. I don’t fight for anyone, I might never have. I honestly don’t care. I just don’t like bullies. I don’t like any person who thinks they can get away with hurting others like it’s their God given right to do it.”
My final words came out through gritted teeth, like a growl of anger rising in my chest. Gabriel smiled at my anger, like a man who smiles at the ant that threatens him. “I know exactly what you mean. You’re willing to do whatever it takes for what you believe to be the greater good and your freedom. That’s why I’m here, why I hunt down the world’s most dangerous criminals and stop them before they kill.”
He strode back to the table and laid his hands on it. He stared down at me from across the table and said, “Someone has taken our bait, and now Nobles are turning up sick.”
“Someone has already infected and killed three people in attempt to start a plague.”
“You’ve been to the hospital, I see.”
“Don’t act like you didn’t already know, Gabriel. You’ve probably been keeping constant tabs on everything I do since you left. I can tell you’re after the person responsible. Are you the only one working on this?”
My implication remained clear. I wanted to know where Ziavir was. I wanted to know if he was here, if he had a part to play in this.
“It’s just me here. A team waits for orders outside the city. I’m keeping them distant to avoid too much suspicion. I don’t want to spook those responsible.”
“You mean my father, whom you’re suspecting is the one behind this?”
Gabriel didn’t answer.
“And Ziavir?” I asked again, with ice in my voice. Ziavir was a devil worthy to be feared in my book.
But Gabriel only shook his head. “Ziavir is far away from Chicago.”
“On another assignment you mean? Is that just to keep him far from me so one of us doesn’t kill the other?”
“A lot of people will die if this virus gets out,” said Gabriel avoiding my question yet again. There were bigger issues than the petty ones I kept bringing up. “Our goals are the same.”
“You want us to work together again?”
“That’s why I am here, hoping maybe we can put the past behind us and stop this killer. We have greater chances of stopping him if we work together. I’m willing to put things behind us. Are you?”
I flashed my teeth.
Twenty-Three
I stared at Chamberlain’s front door with deep dread in my gut. The hour read late. Without operational street lamps we stood invisible on the street corner. We were shadows carrying tales for despair for any we fell upon. I tended to like the darkness, finding my own soul blended with the world around me, and I could be free to act how I choose. There’s no judgment or shame within darkness—that comes from the light.
But now, I feared what messengers we became.
“Still don’t think this is a good idea,” I whispered to Gabriel, who stood next to me.
The moonlight illuminated his face enough to reveal his features. He looked forward but didn’t see. I saw it in his eyes, he swam in the midst of an old memory. He sucked in air and returned to reality to whisper, “I’m not sure how to proceed after being assumed dead for so long.”
“Not one for theatrics?” I teased.
He shook his head, “That was always more Ziavir’s trait. I’m a bit more…stoic.”
“Even with the whole Shaman persona?” I asked.
“You prefer flash, while I prefer stealth. The mask was important to conceal my identity.”
“Shame. The flash is the best part.”
He snickered and I turned my gaze back onto the house. Candle and kerosene light came through the windows. People moved about inside. Tonight was the rehearsal dinner for the wedding, and of course I was late. I already missed the rehearsal.
Normally it’s the best man’s job to make sure the groom got to the wedding, but I think it might be the other way around this time.
“You can say you got lost coming home from the grocery store,” I joked. He gave me a smirk but nothing else. We returned to our silence and thoughts. Neither of us wanted to go inside. We both feared exposure of our betrayals. Things will change when we cross that threshold. Whether good or bad, it would be painful.
“You know we had a funeral for you,” I said, trying to ease the tension. “Yup, a surprisingly beautiful service given that we had no body. It was special. Alison sang your favorite song. Chamberlain read a poem you once read to him. And I gave your eulogy.”
“Was it any good?” Gabriel asked.
“The eulogy? What do you think?”
He smiled and said, “Yeah…probably awful. Next time get Chamberlain to do it. Not Michael, the poor boy would soak my body in his tears before getting one word out.”
We laughed.
“Just don’t go dying again on us anytime soon,” I said.
“I’m not planning on it,” he said.
“You know, they don’t need to know your role with Nebula. The truth would crush them. This will be easier if you just say you were lost or recovering in some hospital. It’s what I would do.”
Gabriel looked shocked by my suggestion and asked, “You want me to lie?”
“To protect them. After all, isn’t that how you justified lying to us in the first pace?”
“Are you afraid they may try to kill me?” asked Gabriel.
I shrugged and said, “I tried to.”
Gabriel smirked. “Yes, you did. Look how that turned out.”
“Even so, I still think you should hesitate before telling everything. They don’t need this thrown on them the night before the wedding,” I said.
“Ah yes, that’s right. Tomorrow’s the big day isn’t it. It’ll be historic.” Then his voice got softer and I had to focus more to hear what he said next. “Secrets kill those closest to us. So many of them linger in this house. They will change this world forever. Confession brings healing, but this time I worry it will bring a sword.” Then he turned and patted me on the shoulder. “Come. Let’s pray for healing, my friend.”
He stepped toward the house and onto the front porch. I still stood on the curb and watched him. I felt completely unprepared for what lay ahead. Gabriel twisted the doorknob and opened the door. Soft yellow light engulfed him and the porch. He stepped into the building. I heard a loud gasp and the sound of something shattering before I ran after Gabriel.
Twenty-Four
I burst through the doorway to see Alison with her arms wrapped around Gabriel in a fierce hug. Tears ran down her cheeks. I forgot how much Gabriel meant to Alison. Slavers took Alison when she was a child. As Shaman, Gabriel rescued Alison and brought her safely back to her family. If it weren’t for Gabriel, Allison wouldn’t be preparing for her wedding.
I glanced toward Chamberlain to see him lean back in his wheelchair. Wide eyes swelling with tears and lips quivering. His left hand tightly squeezed the armrest of his chair, and he slapped his right hand over his mouth to hide his panting breaths.
If he could stand he might have joined in with the hug. Behind him stood Thomas, not knowing Gabriel, showing confusion by the twisted expre
ssion on his face.
Michael was the oddest of them all. I expected him to be the biggest crier of the group. I expected him to be jumping up and down and rattling wild expressions in a mixture of fictional languages. I expected him to yap like a loud puppy on a sugar rush from eating too much peanut butter. I expected an over-exaggerated and somewhat childish response.
His expression was dead cold. Fear in his eyes. Hands trembled. Feet shuffled. He looked like prey before a predator with eyes darting toward the door behind us. I wasn’t the only one who spotted Michael’s strange behavior. Gabriel saw it, too, and the two appeared to share some secret conversation as their eyes met.
“Where have you been all these months?” asked Chamberlain. His question drew me back to reality. Alison had finally released Gabriel. Gabriel didn’t answer, as per usual.
“Alison, Chamberlain, Michael, it’s good to see you all again. I’ve so missed your company these past few months,” Gabriel said. He turned toward Thomas and studied him with a confused interest.
“A Noble?” Gabriel asked, with a hint of skepticism in his voice. He turned toward me with that same quizzical look on his face. “The Griffon I knew wouldn’t be caught dead in the company of a Noble.” It was all a bluff for the others. We both knew that he had been keeping tabs on us and probably knew more about Thomas than I did. But he played the ignorance card for Thomas's benefit.
Playing along with his feigned ignorance. “A lot has changed since you’ve been gone. This is Thomas. He’s one of us now. He’s proven himself to be trustworthy, and he deserves your respect.” Enough ice lingered in my words for only Gabriel to notice. “Before you think it, yes, he knows about Chamberlain and he doesn’t care.”
Thomas dipped his head to hide the blush on his face. He had never heard me compliment him so openly to others. It must make him uncomfortable. I had spoken enough angry words about his people in his company to make a compliment from me sound rather strange. By law he had every right to demand higher praise from me, but he never asked for it and never seemed uncomfortable with my honesty. He wanted me to be me and him to be himself.
An odd taste formed in my mouth.
I glanced at Chamberlain and saw him smile with appreciation for my kindness toward Thomas. But there was something in his eye that made me wonder if he knew more of what was going on than I thought.
Gabriel stuck his hand out to Thomas and said, “It’s a pleasure to meet you then Thomas. It certainly isn’t easy to get on Griffon’s good side, and it’s dangerous to be elsewhere. My name is Gabriel.”
Thomas shook Gabriel’s hand and said, “Thomas King. It’s a pleasure to finally meet the famous Gabriel that I’ve heard so much about. What is your last name?”
Gabriel didn’t answer but instead released Thomas's hand and turned his gaze back to the whole group. Thomas looked a bit confused by Gabriel’s lack of answering his question.
Get used to it, kid.
Gabriel clapped his hands together and sighed. “It’s so good to be back in the company of friends.”
“Where have you been, Gabriel?” Chamberlain asked again, “We thought you were dead.”
Gabriel nodded and said softly, “In a lot of ways I was.” We all stared at him. His eyes glazed over for a minute as he seemed to be lost in memory. “The truth is I needed the world to think me dead, which meant that all of you needed to think I was dead.” I glanced toward Michael in the back of the room. His eyes flashed with cold anger.
What is going on in his mind?
“Why? Were you hiding from Nebula? Did you have to fake your death to escape?” asked Alison. I hurt for her optimism.
Gabriel tightened his mouth and straightened his spine. This was the moment we feared. Either he would tell the truth and confess, or he would rattle off another convincing lie and they would believe every word. I questioned how many times he had done that to us before.
I watched Thomas. He had lost a lot dear friends and a cousin in the panic and slaughtering caused by Nebula. That cousin and those few friends were all Thomas had prior to the incident. In some ways it was what grafted him so closely to our group—a family he needed after he lost everything. He longed for a place to belong after losing everything. A well of hatred settled in his heart for Nebula. It made us close in a short period of time. Now I wondered, between the two of us, who hated them more? His pain and hate made him dangerous in this moment.
“The truth is,” Gabriel started, “I am the director of Nebula, and they have been acting on my authority.”
The silence that gripped everyone was so loud I heard the flickering of the room’s candles like a roaring lion. Nobody spoke or moved. I’m not sure anyone breathed. I didn’t let my eyes leave Thomas. I watched the well of anger rise up within him. His fists shook by his side. His jaw clenched tightly. His eyes widened to the point that I saw the veins in them from across the room. His breaths grew shorter and more rapid. I knew exactly what went through his head. I knew the temptation he felt.
“What?” asked Alison, the hurt evident in her voice, “You can’t be! You couldn’t be!”
Gabriel nodded, a pure look of sadness over him. “It’s true. I was behind it all from the very beginning. Ziavir is my second in command and he did what he did because I ordered him to. I’m responsible for everything.”
“I…I don’t believe you,” whispered Alison. She wanted to convince herself that Gabriel lied. Desperate hope brought out her words. Gabriel’s expression darkened to confirm his confession. He wore the face of a beaten man. He lived by the tormenting code that the means justified the end. I knew why he did what he did. I knew his motivation for everything. I felt disgusted sympathy for him.
What monster is so elusive to capture that it requires a good man to hurt those he loves?
“You did this to us,” seethed Thomas with venom in his voice.
“Yes. People died because of my decisions. I’m responsible.”
There was the tipping point for Thomas. He had his confession. What came next was the judgment. He drew a knife from the kitchen drawer next to him and lunged at Gabriel. He might have killed him if I hadn’t intervened. I tackled Thomas under his raised arm and drove him back against a wall. I smashed him back so hard that photographs fell and shattered on the ground.
“Get off me, Griffon!” he shouted as he tried to push me away. I pulled back just enough to grab his wrist and held Thomas against the wall. Despite his Noble genes of immense strength, I was actually stronger than Thomas. My muscles were built from experience, not inheritance. I earned my strength ten times over.
“Just listen to him!” I shouted.
Thomas swiped my hand away from his chest and pulled the knife away. I thought he was finished but he swung at me with a surprise left hook. I leaned back, away from the blow, and grabbed his arm just as it passed. With the perfect amount of force, I twisted my body and spun Thomas around to smash him face first into the wall. The last photograph fell at our feet.
Thomas squirmed but I twisted his arm up his back and he froze with a quick cry of pain. “Let me go, Griffon! My friends and family are dead because of him! The only family I had left is gone!” shouted Thomas.
“That’s not true, Thomas! We are still here! We are your family, too! That means I can’t let you do this!”
He squirmed more, gained a bit more ground on me, and growled, “You would do the same thing in my place.”
He’s right. I would. I even tried.
I shoved him back into the wall again. He groaned in pain. “Which is exactly why I would want you to do what I’m doing to you now! Because that’s what family does!” I shouted.
The tension in Thomas's shoulders relaxed and he sobbed, “But he’s not my family.”
“And today he’s not your enemy, either. People died because of me, too. If you trust me, then then you can hear what he has to say. I’ll let you go when you promise to calm down and just listen to him.”
“Fine,” he
grunted through sobs.
“Let me hear you say it.”
“I promise,” he said. He dropped the knife. It clattered on the tile floor. I knew Thomas would never break his promise to me. It was part of his moral code. I let him go and stepped away. He turned around slowly as every eye carefully watched him. He wiped his tears on the back of his sleeve and cast his eyes downward, especially from Chamberlain. He feared Chamberlain’s disappointment as much as me. Thomas kept his word and didn’t make a move on Gabriel—in fact, for the rest of the night, he tried his best to pretend Gabriel didn’t exist.
I turned back toward everyone else and nodded to Gabriel. His eyes told a story of admiration and gratitude. It didn’t mean much to me anymore to know what Gabriel thought of me. A little over an hour ago I had tried to kill him, and now I defended him from my friends.
I wasn’t sure which was the right choice anymore, but I certainly wasn’t going to allow Thomas or the others to carry such a sin and darkness. I was the sin-eater here. That was my role in this family and I wasn’t going to allow any of them to take my responsibility. It was our unspoken pact; we each had a role to play. Alison served, Michael empathized, Thomas set boundaries, Chamberlain personified good, and I ate sin.
Chamberlain brought us back to reality and what really mattered by asking a short yet profound question. “Why?” he hissed.
Gabriel looked afraid, an emotion I had never seen him express. But with a single word from Chamberlain, fear showed its ugly head through Gabriel in a manner that seemed both right and wrong. He swallowed and looked away from Chamberlain. My guess is he sought the strength to tell the story he had once cowardly written to me in a letter.
He explained everything: the history of Nebula, their values and belief in what they did, their means of operation, their dreams for a world of equality. He confirmed that the bomb was really an EMP rather than the explosive device the city fearfully believed it was. He told about how Chicago was turned into bait to draw in a dangerous killer, a killer he claimed to be none other than my very own father.
