A Hidden Element

by Donna Galanti

Charlie clinked the dishes and silverware together, partly in frustration and partly because he wanted his parents to know he was home. He didn't want to think about what else they might be doing in the bedroom with the door closed. His mom's pregnancy bothered him enough. He was excited to have a new brother even though he would be so much older than him. But sometimes his mom's big stomach grossed him out knowing how it got so big. He didn't want to think about his parents doing that.

  His dad came out of the bedroom with his head bent down and Charlie saw a world of grief he didn't understand. Then his dad looked up and his face changed from a sad grimace to a half smile.

  "Charlie-boy, where've you been? Your mom's getting worried."

  Charlie fiddled to get the napkins lined up like his mom wanted them. It wasn't the time to remind his dad to stop calling him Charlie-boy. That was Ghost Man's name for him. "Hanging in the woods."

  His dad came closer. "What happened to your face?"

  Charlie looked up. "Kids at school. They followed me home."

  His dad put his hand on his shoulder. "Why didn't you take the bus?"

  Charlie twitched away and yanked open the cabinet to grab glasses. Fear, anger, and confusion mixed up inside him. Over his dad. The kids at school. The strange conversation he'd just overhead between his parents. He needed Ghost Man.

  "Yeah, I'm okay Dad, thanks for asking. And I'm glad you worried too, not just mom. Thanks again." He slammed the glasses on the table. One wobbled and fell over. His dad reached over and picked the glass up.

  "Okay, let's start over. Of course, I worry about you, too. And it's safer for you to take the bus, Charlie. Your mom and I don't like for you to be in the woods by yourself. The national forest extends beyond it for hundreds of miles. If you get lost in there we might never find you."

  "Would you care?"

  "Of course I'd care!"

  "But Mom roamed her woods as a kid when she was younger than me." Charlie sat down, his anger faded. His dad looked old under the kitchen light. It carved harsh lines in his face. His hair had turned almost all gray the past year.

  "It was—"

  "A different time and place. Yes, I know, Dad."

  "Let's get dinner on the table. Your mom will be right out. She's tired, so let's just have a nice dinner together. You can tell me what happened and we can figure out how to deal with this."

  "There's no need for you to deal, Dad. And it's my problem. You can't help me."

  "I can try."

  "No, you can't. You don't get it."

  "Help me to get it."

  "You won't ever. You're normal."

  "I never said you weren't normal, Charlie."

  "You're lying!"

  "I said to your mom once, in a private conversation, I wanted you to have a normal life."

  "Same thing."

  "No, it's not," his dad said quietly.

  Guilt grabbed at Charlie. He turned away to get the water pitcher from the fridge and accidentally bit his lip. Tears formed. He didn't want his dad to see him cry. He had to get out of here. Go to his room. Something.

  "I'm not hungry. I'll be in my room."

  His dad looked at him, nodded, and turned away. And so did Charlie. Then he let the tears fall.

  Charlie stood alone in the field. He peered up to the sky seeking out Ghost Man. He called Ghost Man's name over and over in a hoarse voice. The moon rose high amongst the stars. Charlie could wait all night if he had to, but he didn't have to wait long.

  "Charlie-boy, what's wrong?"

  "Ghost Man, I've been calling forever. Where've you been?" Charlie shivered.

  "I've been busy managing my business. I have many people I oversee, Charlie."

  "I need to talk. Bad. Now."

  "Tell me."

  "My mom, she knows about Elyon. I heard her talking to my dad. And about some belt and a Destroyer—whatever that is—and she was crying."

  "Charlie—"

  "She said 'maybe they're all dead'. Who's dead? And she said Elyon was her place and my place, too. It doesn't make sense."

  "Shh…calm down, Charlie-boy. And let me speak."

  Charlie puffed up his cheeks and then blew out hard. "Okay, okay." He ran his fingers through his hair and pressed his fingers to his brow.

  "Your hair."

  "My hair?"

  "Yes, see how it's like mine? And your fingers. Hold them out."

  Charlie stretched out his hand and Ghost Man reached for it with his. "You don't have nails either." Charlie stared at his own fingers then Ghost Man's. They shimmered along with his white hair. He glowed brilliant in unearthly light.

  Charlie stared at him with wide eyes. "I don't get it."

  "I've been visiting you for a reason. So you can know where you come from."

  "I thought Elyon was a make believe place and you were some kind of special vision I created with my abilities."

  "Elyon is real. A place far away. I'm from there. And your mother. And you."

  "No. My Mom's from New York."

  "Part of her is from Elyon."

  "Part of her? What does that mean? And what about my dad?"

  "He's just a human. Not like us."

  "Just a human?" Charlie stumbled back on a rock. He shook his head so fast it hurt. "No, no. I don't know what you're saying, but it's all wrong. You're wrong!"

  "It's true. I'm your mother's uncle. Your great-uncle. And I'm not from Earth."

  "Stop it! I thought I wasn't a freak with you and now you're saying I'm even more of a freak. Just stop it!"

  Charlie turned and ran to the edge of the field. Come back to me, Charlie-boy. Charlie heard him inside his head but didn't stop running.

  The words shattered through him like hammer to glass. Not from Earth.

  CHAPTER 8

  Caleb watched the elders and listened as the council meeting went on longer than usual. They'd become unhappy with the recent number of attempts at desertion. And the new program did not seem to be working as planned. One of the leaders had been sent with a small group of trusted community members to set up their first church outside of their compound.

  His father said the time had come to begin spreading their people throughout the world, but not all of the new community members thought so. Two members of the new church had disappeared and took their children with them, before new recruitment had begun. Caleb wished he was one of those parents.

  But did those Elyons leave of their own accord or did his father find them unfit and make them disappear? After the Destroyer Uprising had been defeated on Elyon, his father joined the cause and rebuilt the loyal group in secrecy. Caleb had suspicions before about his father's membership prior to defection. Since being kidnapped his suspicions were confirmed, and he now feared what else his father could do—had done.

  Adrian stood and banged his fists on the table. "Our plan changes. The next Elyon caught attempting to desert will die. Painfully. And those who refuse to breed will be lobotomized and bred through transference. Agreed?" He looked at Caleb.

  The elders buzzed. Tollen looked down his long nose at Adrian. "And what about the new church out there?"

  "Close it up. Bring the members back. We are not as ready as I had hoped." He sat down. "And seek out humans who may know about us. Erase their memory. We must cut off all enemies and destroy those who try to harm us. Even our own. Find them and dispose of them."

  "You rushed this, Brother Adrian," Tollen said.

  "It's been seven years of building a strong community. We must expand into the human world soon. In my lifetime. I must see this happen."

  "It's for the good of all our people, not only one. We don't want our cause crushed again like on Elyon."

  Adrian scowled at Tollen, who finally dropped his eyes, and sat down.

  Caleb stepped in. "Father, with increased lobotomies we defeat the purpose of coming here to build our gene pool. Those lobotomized no longer have powers."

  His father turned to look at him. "But they can still breed
power, Son. Better than those who refuse to breed."

  His father knew he had sent the girl meant for him off to Thomas after releasing the boy. Caleb hadn't been punished yet for his own disobedience. It would come. New scars would soon blend with the ones thick on his back already. He could bear the whippings—if he could spare the punished some pain.

  Adrian called order and the elders voted on the new laws. Despair sunk into Caleb. They all had the power to heal but were denied this for themselves. This was the one law that enabled his father to wield the power of corporal punishment over his people. How ironic that back home Caleb was an outcast for not healing himself as expected when injured. He wanted to feel the pain, to feel human.

  And here Caleb secretly saved the discarded ones, those his father punished and tossed aside like yesterday's trash. But how could he save every executed Elyon? At least a few were something. It was his one salvation. If he stopped a few souls' pain, it soothed the emotional pain he felt.

  The pain of fighting against his Destroyer genes.

  The pain of never knowing his sons.

  The pain of never having love of his own choosing.

  Would he soon be trash, too? And who would save him from being discarded?

  Is this what his mother felt like in that well? He had only been seventeen the day he found her. He didn't know why she had traveled off the path and come across it. He had covered the old well with branches and leaves. It had been his hiding place back home to get away from the bullies—and his father.

  He remembered the day he'd walked in on his father plundering Aunt Manta in their house, and hearing her moans of pleasure. He had stumbled out then into the cold rain, heading for his hideaway.

  When he reached the well, a giant hole breached the brush he had last used to cover it. He shoved the branches aside and climbed down into his sanctuary, wary that some animal might be poised to greet him. Halfway down he paused, but sensed no movement. Heard no sound. The comforting dark reached up for him, and he longed to enter its embrace.

  His foot reached the floor but didn't touch hard stone. He landed on something soft. He lost his balance and fell back, cracking his head on the side of the well.

  He lay crumpled at the bottom, waiting for the pain to recede. As his eyes adjusted to the gloom, a face stared back at him. Not the bright eyes of an animal. Eyes he recognized, yet so different now drained of life. His mother's.

  Caleb screamed and slammed back into the wall. Her head lolled to one side and her leg, stuck out at a crooked angle, lay on her travel bag. She leaned up against the wall as if someone had propped her there.

  Why had she insisted on leaving alone? He should have walked with her. He knew these woods better than she did. She must have wandered off the path in the dark and fallen into the brush. He never should have covered the opening so carelessly. He should have told someone about the danger and had it sealed.

  This was his fault. His own, dear mother's loss—all his fault.

  Or was it?

  Crying, he touched her shoulder. Like frozen wood. "Mother?" It echoed up the dank walls.

  She didn't answer. He placed his hands on her stiff body and closed his eyes, willing her back to life with his healing power. Please come back. You're all I have now. Please!

  But she was long gone.

  No one heard her scream. No one came to save her. For days while he went to school and did his chores his mother lay broken and dying.

  For days their search party combed the woods. He didn't want to see her down there. But later it became a place he went to. He sat there and talked to her spirit.

  "Caleb?"

  He brought himself back to the business at the table and realized his father watched him. He had to be more careful. He couldn't let his guard down and allow his father to read his mind. His father was a master mind prober, like a snake in dark halls that slithered unseen to uncover secrets.

  "Do you second the motion to put these laws in place?"

  The elders stared at him from around the immense table.

  "I do," he finally said. "Motion seconded."

  His father nodded at him. Let his father think he wanted to do his dirty work.

  The elders left but his father motioned for him to stay. "I have a job for you."

  Caleb waited, hands fisted under his robe. His fingers pressed into his palms.

  "The first punishment delivered from our new law."

  Perspiration rose hot above Caleb's lips. Blood pounded in his ears. He forced himself to reveal his hands and held them out as an offering. "Yes?"

  "A deserter will die. It's your duty to make it so. She has been caught outside the compound with her children. Not far into the woods."

  "How is she to die?"

  "By stoning. The entire community will participate. It will be a warning to them."

  Caleb pulled in his stomach. A sickness sprung deep from within him. He had to save her.

  "And the children?"

  "They will watch her die and then be placed back within the community."

  Despair and relief coursed through Caleb at the same time.

  "Who is the woman?"

  "Her name is Rachel." His father smiled at him. "I believe you lay with her once. Long ago when your mind was strong and your body willing to do its duty."

  His stomach churned. He shoved his hands back under his robe and pressed them to his gut.

  "You must deliver her for the punishment. And when she is dead you'll bury her in the woods. Do you understand your duty?"

  Caleb's eyes blurred. His father became a shadowy shape drifting before him.

  "If you cannot, your sons will die, too. I know who they are."

  Caleb's vision cleared.

  "And you will throw the first stone."

  Caleb nodded and pushed his way past his father. He ran to the nearest bathroom and threw up until there was nothing left.

  He was empty inside. As he had always been.

  CHAPTER 9

  Laura heard Charlie come in. She turned over and looked at the clock. After midnight. What had he been doing? She tried to sit up but pain raged through her head. The migraines had returned. Her unborn child kicked angrily as if he too felt the pain. She fell back and sighed. Tomorrow she would question Charlie. Tonight she prayed for blessed relief from the pain. It had to be pregnancy related. She made a note to ask the doctor about it at her next checkup. The moonlight shed a soft glow through the sheer curtains. It hurt her eyes.

  Ben moaned next to her. She wondered what his dreams held. Fear and terror like hers? She placed her hand on his arm. He moaned again. She pushed her belly into his side, needing to feel safe. She traced her fingers on the scars across his back, the physical evidence of his long ago night of suffering as a sailor in Hawaii. He had almost met his death then by a vengeful pimp who held him hostage and whipped him. And he had been saved by the man who'd watched over both of them in secret—Felix. It was a lifetime ago before he met Laura, when he had been another man.

  She had to use Felix's communication belt again, had to know if others still existed there—were coming again like they had so long ago. With her child coming soon, uncertainty about his place in the world—about hers—filled her with growing anxiety. She needed to know her kind still existed in order to feel at peace. If they ever came to Earth and Charlie finally knew his heritage—could he accept it?

  She slid from the bed and retrieved a box from her closet, hidden far behind clothes and under books. She sat in the wingback chair near the window and lifted out a wide, long belt of burnished steel. She peeked at Ben to make sure he remained asleep. His slow breaths comforted her as she ran her fingers over the belt's smooth texture. Its silver sheen glinted in the soft moonlight, rippling with iridescence. It changed color from dark gray to light then a deep purple and back to gray as it flexed between her hands with a life of its own.

  She put it on and had to loop it on the last hole, her expansive stomach taking up most of
the length. She took a deep breath and pressed a series of buttons on the buckle's panel that was the combination she had discovered years ago upon taking the belt from Felix. He'd helped her and Ben survive her twin's attack. Felix had been the only other person, beside her brother, who had been half-Elyon, half-human—like herself. He had died that awful night protecting her when her brother tried to kill her. But he left her one thing behind—his belt. Felix had told her it was a belt to their world. Elyon.

  Take me to Elyon. She closed her eyes and in a whoosh was pulled through time and space. The tick of the wall clock and Ben's breathing left her. An almost unbearable silence filled her every crevice. She opened her eyes. Mist blew across gray rock. Stars twinkled above through racing clouds.

  The vapor swirled away to reveal a black building, not square but angled and rounded. A figure stepped from an opening in it and moved toward her. Laura clutched her belly to protect her child, even though her body still sat in the chair back home. Her hands shimmered through her, like an apparition. If she pressed the large green button on the belt her spirit would return to her bedroom.

  A tall, white haired man in a gray robe grew closer, his head down. He held a large bag and shuffled one hand about in it. The mist flowed around him as if it were part of him. He looked up and stopped, his hand frozen in the bag. He pulled it out and held it toward her. Laura inhaled sharply. She hadn't seen people here since Charlie was a young child and she had stopped using the belt. She had no need to then.

  The man walked closer, his face puzzled.

  You're Laura. His words came to her, clear in her mind.

  Stunned, she didn't know how to respond and then the words came to her and she answered back with her own thoughts. How do you know this?

  I saw you the day my brother spoke to you years ago. You were ready to bear a child then, like you are now.

  You're my uncle, too?

  Yes. My name is Brahm Madroc.

  Your brother said your people were coming. I've waited and waited but heard nothing.

  I believe he did come. The man's forehead wrinkled and he looked away.

  What do you mean? The mist blew across the man, obscuring his sad expression.