A Hidden Element

by Donna Galanti

  "What kind of memory?"

  "I can't remember it all. I've blocked it out. I didn't want to remember. But I do know it had to do with the day my boss died at work. An employee went on a shooting spree. While the details are blurry to me now, I do know that what your dad said—'it's not me'—had something to do with that day."

  "Why?"

  His mother shook her head, as if shaking away the memory or trying to relive it.

  "I—I don't know. I knew then but not now."

  "Could your brother have said the same thing?"

  "Maybe. Oh, I haven't thought of it in years. I haven't wanted to remember all the deaths. I erased details of them on purpose years ago, but I didn't want to erase the people I loved."

  Charlie got up and stood by his mom. She took his hand and looked up at him. "I'm afraid someone like my brother is here from Elyon. Someone who wants to hurt us."

  Charlie pulled his hand away, a crushing weight of guilt fell on him.

  "Mom, I don't understand. How can someone from that planet be here now?"

  "I don't know. I've tried to contact the planet for years through a belt communication device I have that was Felix's. But I feared everyone on the planet had died out. I saw the Elyons there once through the belt. I met my one uncle…and others."

  "A belt to contact aliens?" Charlie laughed. It sounded crazy.

  His mom nodded and went to her bedroom. When she returned she had a box. She pulled out a funny looking metal belt. It glimmered and glowed. Light moved through the burnished gray steel like flowing water. Charlie reached out to touch it. Buzzing warmth crept through his fingers. He pulled away. She put it back in the box. He wanted to try it but was afraid his secret of Adrian would be found out if he did.

  The stove light glowed warm in the cozy kitchen. But Charlie felt anything but cozy. He felt cold dread inside. His mom sighed and sat down at the kitchen table. "I've had migraines and nightmares for weeks, like I had when my twin sought me out. And now your dad is acting so strange. I've been convincing myself it's my pregnancy causing all this, but I just don't know."

  Charlie sat down across from his mom. He had to make it right, with his mom and dad and Adrian. Maybe he could bring them all together to talk about things. "I'm sure you're right, Mom. Let's see how tomorrow is. Call Dad then and see how he's doing."

  "Tomorrow. Yes." His mom looked out the window. She was silent a long time as if thinking of another time and place. He tried to read her thoughts, like Adrian had taught him, but it didn't work. She must be skilled at blocking them, too. "And maybe by then I'll remember what those words mean. 'It's not me'."

  I'm not sure if I want you to, Charlie thought, but he nodded at his mom.

  Tomorrow. He would tell her everything tomorrow.

  CHAPTER 20

  Adrian laughed and laughed. To control the lowly human filled him with power. He hadn't wanted Ben to kill Laura, just hurt her enough so she used her powers to kill him. How tormented she would have been—and would be when she discovered he had been teaching her son his true powers.

  For now he had to deal with the community elders. They filed into the meeting room and faced him around the long table. None spoke. Adrian stood up and smiled at them.

  "I'm bringing the woman in. She brings my two heirs with her. They will help make this community strong again. The boy now. Her baby later. We shall groom him. You shall see."

  Tollen opened his arms in mockery. "Two Madroc heirs, Brother Adrian? Really, neither child is yours."

  "They are of my blood. They will be raised to take my place. Once the flock knows this, they will embrace them as their own. We will demand their love and they will freely give it. And we will provide them with some of the things they want to make them content. Things that do not break down our community."

  The elders looked from one another and back to him.

  "I think your naming a successor is premature," Tollen said. "And especially two. There are no rules set in place stating your family has precedence to rule after you. This isn't a kingdom but a shared community. We follow the laws our Destroyer leaders set forth for us to build a life here." A few nodded.

  Adrian tried to control his voice so it didn't quiver with anger. Idiots, all of them. "We need to give the flock something to hope for. New hope in new blood. We will announce special reward offerings to the flock at the fall festival, and we will center the event around the boy's arrival. Make him the star. Have him mingle with the people. They will want to follow him, alongside me."

  "What about your son Caleb?" Tollen's eyes narrowed. "You can't control him. What makes you think you can control this boy who's been raised a human?"

  Adrian soothed his anger and smiled at the questioning group before him and at his nemesis, Tollen. "Because I have been grooming him since he was a young child. He is the son I should have had." Like the one you should have had, Brother. But he kept that thought hidden. For now.

  "Our future has altered," Tollen protested. "I no longer see Elyon Destroyers in positions of power. Our fate is murky. We must reverse our fate. You have led us to this uncertainty."

  Adrian had seen this also and he fought the urge to grab the fireplace poker and ram it through Tollen's heart. He took a deep breath and smiled. "We have all led ourselves to this. But our future will change. We will make it so."

  The elders murmured amongst themselves. Tollen clapped his hands together in approval, although it seemed more mocking than submissive. "Fine. Let's see if your mission works. All who agree?"

  All hands rose in the air, answering him as if he were leader. Adrian would soon find a way to make him pay. For now, he bowed to the elders and they streamed out. Adrian walked to the fire and warmed his hands over it. Everything would work out. Now he needed to check in on Caleb to ensure he carried out his duty tonight.

  If not, his end came tomorrow.

  He couldn't wait to see what tomorrow delivered.

  Laura stretched out on her bed, so empty with Ben gone. She had dozed on and off, holding her belly. It comforted her. She was drained from telling Charlie everything tonight. He took it well. Better than she had hoped. He seemed to accept it.

  And the familiar man in her dreams. Who was he? She needed to figure things out. She needed to remember. Why had those few words terrified her so? It's not me. She had suppressed her powers and memories for so long, except reading of minds. She had taught Ben how to accept her thoughts and it had brought them closer. Not now. She could use the Elyon belt to seek Ben out, but she was not ready to face him yet. And tonight she wasn't sure if she could heal again but she did. Thank God. She didn't blame Charlie for hurting Ben. He had just been protecting her.

  Charlie had gone to bed but not after he had gone around the house bolting every door and window then locking himself in his room.

  She closed her eyes now and forced herself to relive the deaths of all those she had lost years ago at the hands of her twin brother. There had to be a clue in their deaths. She had to remember the details.

  Her parents killed when he burned their home down.

  Her best friend in college savagely torn apart.

  Her boss shot in the head beside her.

  The night her twin killed himself.

  She could remember nothing that would help her.

  Twice already she got up to make sure Charlie's door remained locked. Relieved she returned to her room each time and dozed again. She closed her eyes and took herself back to the day her boss was murdered, willing herself to remember. Puzzle pieces came to her. It pained her. She watched it unfold again. Gunshots rang out in the office. She pulled her boss, Renee, under the desk. Screams pierced her ears. More shots. The screams tapered off. It's not me. Someone is making me do it. It's not me.

  Laura opened her eyes and sat up fast, trembling. The shooter had said the same thing. Then Felix's words came back to her about her twin. He hates the idea that you have a life of freedom and pleasure. He has sought to destroy your
life. It was him who burned your house down and killed your parents.

  She got up and paced the floor. Felix had said something else. Remember, damn it!

  Then it hit her like a blow to her chest.

  Your brother entered the body of your co-worker to kill your colleague.

  "Oh, my God."

  Ben. Someone was controlling Ben.

  Someone from Elyon. A Destroyer who wanted to hunt them down and kill them.

  Charlie!

  She ran into the hall and stumbled. Let it still be locked.

  She fell into the door, fumbling with the handle. Still locked.

  "Charlie?"

  No answer. She pounded on the door. Then for the first time in years, she called upon her powers to move an object. She gripped the door handle. Open!

  Nothing happened.

  She placed her other hand on the door and gathered all her will. Move!

  The handle jiggled.

  Sweat broke out on her upper lip. She licked it off. Come on, damnit!

  She pressed her body into the door. The handle shook harder.

  Then it turned easily in her hand.

  She swung the door open. Wind rushed cold across her from the open window. Her eyes adjusted in the dark.

  Charlie was gone.

  Ben couldn't sleep. He stood by the motel window looking at the moon, like he had years ago on a night when Laura had been lost to him. The night he had joined forces with Mr. B and Felix to kill her brother. The night those three had died in a cavern under the earth. Ben and Laura had left them there, sealed in, their story silenced forever. And then Laura disappeared.

  She had left him then, afraid to commit to him. Afraid she would curse his life and he would die, as so many others she had loved. He understood how she had felt for he, too, had shut humanity out until Laura opened that door. Months went by before she came back to him, pregnant with Charlie. Now she was lost to him again.

  He spent an hour driving crazy on dark side roads before heading to the only motel in town. He'd parked in front of his room trying to quell his urges. He yearned to get good and drunk, but those were the old days. He understood Charlie's rage more than his son could imagine, but he hid that side from his son. He had to. He never wanted to be a fuse to set off Charlie. He had seen what Laura's brother had done, and he believed their son could do the same.

  But could someone be hunting them again? They'd had a quiet life since Charlie was born. The threat was gone. Why now, after all these years, would someone come after them?

  It was crazy.

  Or he was.

  He looked at his hands—the hands that had nearly killed Laura. He had seen himself doing it in a fog. It had been like watching an evil character in a movie. He got up, shoved his murderous appendages in his pockets, and looked out into the dark. An owl hooted. The wind carried its mournful call to Ben. A sole creature of the forest beckoning for companionship. Ben felt the same way. He had not been this painfully alone in a long time.

  Maybe there were others out there they didn't know about. Had been out there all along. Watching and waiting. Maybe that's what he had to do. Wait and see. Perhaps Laura was right. Once the baby was born all would go back to normal.

  Normal.

  It's the life he wanted. It's what Charlie could never be. He should accept this, for Charlie's sake. They never did get along. And what was the reason for that? He drummed his head trying to figure it out, thinking back through the years.

  And then he understood.

  "The reason we never got along was because I could never accept you as my own son. And you know this."

  Saying it out loud drove the truth home. Could Charlie hear him?

  An ache in his heart stabbed him. Did Charlie also know that Ben placed high hopes on his new son to be the kind of son he'd always wanted? He put his head in his hands.

  "How can I fix this? How can I get my family back? And how can I control something I have no control over?"

  Tomorrow he'd see things differently. But how could he fight something he didn't understand? It was a mystery all right. And right now he was the only threat to Laura and Charlie. No one else.

  He was desperate for it to be true.

  And now he stood in a dark motel, alone once again, watching the woods as if waiting for a madman to rise from the dead.

  Maybe he was the madman.

  Tomorrow. He would fix this tomorrow.

  CHAPTER 21

  Laura ran to the window. Cold gusts blew in like stinging daggers on her skin. She looked down at the short drop to the ground. Part of her wished Charlie had run away. Maybe he went to the forest to let loose his rage. With all her heart she wished he was in the forest finding comfort in the darkness.

  Anxiety clawed up her throat.

  "Charlie." She called to the wind and the dark. Nothing but the forlorn wind returned her call, taunted her. She ran through every room calling his name. Sharp pains tore at her abdomen. She doubled over and gasped. Loss welled in her from the place where her deepest love resided. She wailed with grief as she searched the house for some sort of sign of where Charlie had gone.

  Or who had taken him.

  She accepted the truth she had wanted to banish. They were being hunted. And her son was the first taken. The man in her dreams was real. He had controlled Ben and tried to kill her using his strength. And he had taken her son. As he had taken her baby in her dream. Oh, my God! Her baby. He had come back for her baby.

  "Charlie," she screamed. Something caught her eye on the floor of his room. Something that didn't belong in their home. She snatched it up. A leather whip. Its handle was braided with nine leather strips tied to it. Red tinged the ends of the strips. A torture device. She held it in her shaking hands and closed her eyes, not wanting to see the images it carried. But she had to. For her son. For Ben.

  Blurred scenes became sharp. Charlie as a little boy running through the meadow in the forest. A man called to him. Charlie ran to him. The man floated in the air like a vision, the pale monster in her dreams only now clothed in a gray robe.

  Then Charlie was older. He stood in the meadow battling sticks and stones together with his mind power. The man watched over him, arms crossed. Then the man stood over her sleeping son in his bedroom. In their house. He was a real monster in the flesh. He pulled out a syringe and pushed it into her son's thigh. No! She gripped the blood stained whip unable to stop watching.

  Her baby tumbled inside her, kicking hard as if he felt her torment. The man picked up Charlie and looked at her. He stared right into Laura's eyes. She gasped. He smiled, malevolent and gruesome. He pulled Charlie tighter to his chest, holding him as a father would a child. His hands looked strange. Hands with no nails. Like Charlie's.

  "No, he's not yours!" Laura dropped the whip and stumbled back onto the bed.

  She knew this monster now. Remembered his face. Knew his name now. It was Adrian Madroc, and he was her uncle.

  She had met him using the belt to communicate with Elyon before Charlie was born. He had been so kind, so welcoming. You are safe with us, he had said. Take care of your child. He is part of all of us and connects our two worlds. You may now be our only hope.

  He was not kind. He was a Destroyer. And he wanted her and her children.

  In the dim moonlight words jumped up at her from the whip's handle. She picked it up and turned on the light. Burned into the handle sprawled one word.

  Benevolence.

  Caleb looked at the female. She had been with his father and had several children with many males, but she still looked so young.

  "What's your name again?"

  "Leah," she whispered. She looked at the floor, blonde hair covering half of her face.

  "Leah, it's been a long while for me."

  "I know." She looked up and smiled then looked back down at the floor. "Everyone knows you're saving yourself for a special female. I—I've hoped you would choose me."

  Her one cheek burned red. He wa
lked toward her and gently pushed her hair back, exposing both blushing cheeks. She stood dainty before him with full lips and large, bright green eyes. Her skin glowed luminescent in the low light of his room. Her breasts jutted out from her robe, a worthy invitation. He took her hand and rubbed the inside of her wrist. An immediate jolt shot through him. He heard her almost imperceptible groan and felt her shudder.

  It had been so long since he touched a female, been deep inside their warm depths. He envisioned sliding inside Leah, warming her body with his, skin to skin. He grew hard instantly. He had hoped to not like the girl and make this a fast event, but he felt her yearning for him. He needed to make it special for her. He didn't want her to suffer because he hated his father. She was a victim in this, too.

  "How old are you, Leah?"

  She looked up at him. "Eighteen."

  Only eighteen and already a mother many times over.

  He hoped he did not make her one tonight.

  "I'm ready for you, Caleb." She pulled her robe off, naked underneath, and looked at him for his blessing. He nodded and she lay back on his bed offering her body to him. He wanted her, and he would have her. He took off his robe and stood over her. She looked scared and he sensed her thoughts. She was afraid of not pleasing him, and afraid he would be like his father, cruel and rough. He saw her visions of what his father did to her and it sickened him.

  Caleb would treat her like a flower instead, stroking her petals until she bloomed for him. Then he would take her. When she raged with desire and called him to her dark heat, he would possess her. This gift he could give her.

  He knelt before her and spread her thighs apart, stroking her body with light feather caresses. She moaned and raised her hips to him, begging him to enter her.

  "Not yet, sweet Leah. This is your night."

  She moaned louder as he took her to new heights molding her skin into fiery points of pleasure. His full heart was ready to give away. It brimmed with an ache that throbbed inside him.