Catalyst

by Shelly Crane

  “Hey, how she doing?” Cain asked, sobering and sitting on the couch arm.

  “Same. Miguel gave her some morphine so she’d sleep.”

  “That’s good. She’ll be ok, man.”

  “I know.” I looked up at him. “Thank you for going in after her.”

  “Don’t thank me. I didn’t do anything you wouldn’t have.”

  “This isn’t the first time you’ve saved her life.”

  Cain’s face changed. He looked down and made a noise in his throat like he was uncomfortable. Lillian squeezed his hand.

  “It’s fine, dude, really. So...Daddy.”

  “Yeah,” I laughed and smiled, embarrassed but I couldn’t quite put my finger on why. “She finally said it. And then she wanted to call Sherry mommy. It’s unreal.”

  “It’s sweet,” Lillian said. “She wouldn’t want to call you that unless you were good to her, you know. Kids are smart.”

  I laughed again, feeling a little semi-giddy.

  “Thanks. She is smart. She’s incredible. Sherry thought she’d never have kids and Lily is so perfect for her.”

  Danny and Celeste came up and joined us, taking the chair near Sherry’s feet.

  “Why did she think that?” Lillian asked quizzically. “I know Sherry didn’t think she was gonna be a spinster.”

  “Not with that bone structure she wouldn’t have been,” Celeste blurted. “Sherry is so petite and sweet looking. It’s not fair really if you think about it. I have the legs for a model but not the hips. If I can’t be a model, why can’t I at least be dainty and wholesome like someone I know?” She leaned forward a bit on Danny’s lap and spoke to Sherry conspiratorially. “That’s right, Sherry. I’m talking about you like you’re not here. And I called you dainty. Wake up and yell at me,” she sang.

  We all laughed then I turned to answer Lillian’s question.

  “Sherry can’t have children. She found out when she was fourteen. She was pretty upset, even at that young age.”

  “Yeah, I remember that,” Danny chimed sadly. “She cried for a whole day straight. I thought she was crazy. I kept asking what she wanted to have kids for anyway. And Mom and Dad weren’t big on sympathy. Mom told Sherry every reason why that had happened to her; the universe, karma, poor diet from sneaking animal products when we were away from home. They made it sound like it was her fault.”

  “But that’s how Sherry handles things,” I said firmly. “She freaks out, she cries, she moves on. She tries to find the positive in everything. In fact, I don’t remember her ever telling anyone about it. She just acted like it didn’t matter, it didn’t exist. She didn’t beg for sympathy, didn’t tell all her friends so they could feel sorry for her. She just dealt with it.”

  “What’s that like?” Lillian asked suddenly and looked at me intensely. “Knowing everything about her? Remembering all the same memories, every birthday, every milestone, all the crazy stunts she pulled as a teenager.”

  Danny laughed and I tried to hide a chuckle.

  “‘Crazy’ and ‘stunts’ aren’t in Sherry’s dictionary. The craziest stunt she ever pulled was the one time she snuck out of the house when she was thirteen, but she got caught. In fact, she came back and pretty much told on herself.”

  “Really? Nothing crazy?”

  I squinted, trying to remember, but came up with nothing.

  “Moving out. Her parents didn’t want her to but she was determined that if she got out she would be happier. So she did. But other than that, she’s pretty clean.”

  “Squeaky,” Danny said smiling.

  “So, she really is a saint. But you didn’t answer my question, Merrick.”

  I sighed, hoping she would let that one pass. It wasn’t something I was exactly proud of; watching Sherry when I wasn’t supposed to.

  “It’s normal for me to know everything. It’s all I’ve ever done was watch people. But, I have to say, Danny and Sherry were by far my favorite. And I’m not just saying that because one of them is listening,” Danny laughed, “and because I was crazy for Sherry. They were just so...I don’t know, the opposite product of their environment. It was fascinating. They are so grounded and easygoing where as their parents were very over reactive, uptight, and against the flow.”

  “That’s putting it mildly,” Danny muttered darkly.

  “I mean there’s nothing wrong with being different, nothing wrong with being proactive, but they didn’t have any balance of the causes and their own children. And they didn’t have any other family so, Danny and Sherry just were kind of on their own.”

  “What did Sherry think when she found out you were a Keeper? That you’d watched their lives? I remember Michael was kinda furious at first, but he was guy, so that’s different I guess.”

  “I thought she’d be angry, but she surprised me. She was upset with herself, for not showing a better example.”

  I laughed remembering her turning the situation in on herself.

  “That’s Sherry. Our little martyr,” Danny said loudly. “I’m talking about you! I’m gonna tell everyone about the time your bikini top fell off at the beach. No one knows what you had to do but Merrick and me,” he said in a sing-song voice, trying to rouse her.

  I chuckled and felt myself turning a little red. Ha! I was blushing! I wondered if anyone else could tell. I thought Lillian could. She was smiling at me, knowingly.

  “Danny Patterson. Sherry will kill you,” I said trying to stifle a laugh.

  “Yeah right. I can take her.”

  “I can hear you, brat,” Sherry said suddenly, her voice raspy her eyes still closed.

  Then she smiled but winced and grabbed her cheek.

  Danny and I both jumped and knelt beside her and everyone else crowded around the back of the couch.

  “Hey, baby. How long have you been eavesdropping, huh?” I joked, pushing her hair back from her face.

  “That depends. How long have you been talking about me like I’m not here?” She tried to smile again. “What are you all doing?” She cleared her throat.

  I grabbed her water glass with a straw and offered it to her. She drank eagerly.

  “Waiting for you,” Celeste said happily. “Duh.”

  “How long have I been out?”

  “Not long enough,” I said with a tone so she’d know I disapproved.

  “Help me sit up?” she asked and I shook my head about to protest but she stopped me. “Please. I can’t sit here like this anymore right now. I’ve been lying down for...”

  I think we all knew what she meant; lying down on the concrete alone for hours and hours.

  “Ok. Don’t overdo it. If you feel like you need to sleep or whatever, you tell us to shut up and leave. Got it?”

  “Got it.”

  She smiled again, letting me lift her and set her up at the end. She tucked her legs under her and pulled me down next to her. I went easily, trying not to jostle her and she snuggled right up against my chest. I pulled my arm around her and kissed her forehead. She felt just right in my arms. I tried not to think about how she was almost taken away from me, again.

  “Cain.” She looked up to him and smiled again. “Thank you, guys. Lillian, I can’t believe you did that.” She held out her hand and Cain took it as she pulled him down to squat in front of her, then she hugged him. Any lingering weird feelings of jealousy I had about those two, forced by Piper and her compulsion plot to make us doubt each other, were completely gone. I’d seen the way Cain looked at Lillian. And I no longer had doubts of Sherry’s feelings either. “You shouldn’t have come and got me. You had no idea what you were getting yourselves into.”

  “Are you kidding? We stick together, shorty,” Cain said and winked.

  “I promise to try really hard to stop being the trouble maker of the group.” Everyone laughed, more for her benefit than her being funny I thought. “I’m sorry. Maybe I should’ve tried to...do something, but I thought if I didn’t go with them, they would find you guys and I could
n’t have that. Thank you for saving me.”

  Cain looked down at the floor again, looking...guilty?

  “Hey,” Sherry said softly and when he looked up, she leaned forward and whispered something in his ear.

  It took about a full minute before she pulled back and he nodded and smiled sadly. I wondered what it was about as I was sure Danny did too, given by the look of intense curiosity, but we stayed quiet.

  She released his hand and waved Lillian to her for a hug. Then Danny came over and hugged her so hard she winced and he apologized but looked really peeved. Celeste hugged her too before resuming her spot on Danny’s lap in the chair. There was an uncomfortable silence and Sherry sighed loudly.

  “Will everyone please just sit down and relax? I’m fine, really.”

  “Yeah, that’s why you can barely see out of your left eye and I can’t even hug you without hurting you,” Danny said angrily.

  “Danny,” I said to stop him and he sighed and nodded.

  “I’m sorry. You’re fine, Sherry, I just can’t believe what they did to you.”

  “Well, I’m not talking about it, ever. The last thing you need is one more reason to be angry. So, what were we talking about?”

  I watched her. She looked pretty normal. Except for the bruises and trauma to the skin on her face, neck and arms. But she looked normal. She didn’t look traumatized, didn’t look upset. This was how Sherry did it; freak out, cry, move on. Just like I said before. She was a rare breed.

  “You,” Celeste said matter-of-factly. “Danny was just about to tell us a story about a bikini top.”

  Sherry gasped and looked at Danny in disbelief.

  “No, you are not!”

  Everyone laughed and hung on every word she said with watchful, fearful, careful eyes. Everyone was worried but let her talk and laugh and add her own anecdotes for Danny’s stories for a while until she fell back sleep after an hour or so on my shoulder during a story Danny was telling about a camping trip of theirs.

  “Ok,” I whispered, “that’s it for her.” I guess she wasn’t too bad off because she moved by herself before. So I decided to take her to our room. “I’m taking her to bed so you can still talk.”

  I picked her up and she lay there in my arms, loose and exhausted but trying so hard to not induce sympathy, trying to be strong. At least look strong.

  Our room was a little chilly so I lay down with her under the blanket for a while, just watching, making sure she was comfortable. She was dreaming. It must’ve been a good dream. She kept smiling and then wincing because of her cheek. She whispered my name a couple times as she snuggled closer, making my human heart jump in exhilaration.

  I smoothed her hair, rubbed her arms, fiddled with her necklace charm that made it through her debacle intact somehow. Anything to let her know I was still there.

  After a while, she still slept soundly so I crept out. It was late. I wanted to check on Lily and make sure she got to bed. I knew someone had taken care of her, that’s how it always was. Everyone loved to do things for her, but I wanted to make sure she wasn’t up somewhere fretting for Sherry.

  I found her asleep in her room. Joy, her doll, was tucked under her arm and her pajama shirt was on backwards. Danny. I knew it right then that Danny had put her to bed.

  I chuckled and backed out.

  I decided we’d all waited long enough for a certain situation. Celeste had been studiously avoiding the topic and even walking around smiling and acting normal, but we all knew what had to be done. Margo had to be dealt with and there was only one way. And I so didn’t want to be the one to start the execution.

  I called the Keepers in my mind. It was kinda late but not too late. Most people would still be awake and it might even be better for people to sleep through it. Except Celeste. She had to know.

  Brothers, sisters? I’m sorry, I know it’s late but you know there’s one more matter to deal with.

  I felt them agree. They were coming to meet me in the commons room. I called Danny in his mind and told him to bring Celeste. I also told him to prepare for a bad time.

  I saw them coming down the hall. Celeste was smiling and oblivious. I wondered how in the worlds she could be so unconcerned with the situation with her mother.

  “Danny, did you tell her?” I asked curiously.

  He leaned in close as Celeste walked over to Kay.

  “No, not yet. I did something you may not agree with, but we were leaving and she was freaking out. I didn’t want to leave her here so messed up over her mom and Sherry and me leaving so...I used compulsion to make her not worry.”

  “Danny,” I breathed angrily, “I can’t believe you did that. Just because we gave Marissa permission that once wasn’t a license for everyone to start compelling everyone they crossed paths with.”

  “I didn’t. Merrick, you didn’t see her. She was out of her mind, completely in hysterics. I couldn’t get her to go to sleep at all that night. She cried and begged me not to go with you, begged me not to let you kill Margo. I had to do it so she would be ok while I was gone and could get a grip before she hurt herself.”

  “I understand, ok? I see why you did it, but Celeste isn’t going to like that you did that to her. And the others aren’t going to like that you used your gift on her without her knowledge or consent.”

  “I know. I’ll take the consequences.”

  “The consequences are to leave the bunker, Danny. That was the punishment we set to detour people from doing this to each other.” I sighed in frustration and pinched the bridge of my nose. “Ok, we’ll deal with that later. For now, take off the compulsion. We’ve got to deal with Margo. She’ll only get worse and it’s cruel to let her suffer like that.”

  With the mark, the patch, the Lighters control you with a compulsion as well. The patch just makes you their eyes but the compulsion does the deed they want done. Once the deed is done, the compulsion is still there because of the patch and can’t be reversed or removed without death to the subject. Because the compulsion is still there to finish a task, but there’s no task to be done anymore, it drives the subject crazy. Margo has been slowly degrading in that back room and it’s only right to end her suffering, though it means her death. Technically, she was dead already, but it would be hard for Celeste to understand that.

  He nodded and walked to Celeste. He framed her face with his hands. She smiled up at him.

  “I’m sorry. I did what I thought was best for you,” he said softly and then closed his eyes, his mind reaching out to hers.

  Her smile changed and so did her eyes. If I hadn’t been so wrapped up in Sherry, I might have seen the compulsion in her eyes making them glassy and blank. She understood everything immediately. With Danny’s kind of compulsion, that was how it worked. Since he had to tell her to stop, it made her aware that something had happened. Therefore, he didn’t have to explain anything to her. Her mind was already aware.

  “Danny,” she squeaked. “You shouldn’t have done that.”

  “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, baby.”

  “I could’ve spent the day with her while you were gone. I could’ve gotten a few more hours with her! And now, they’re going to kill her!”

  “She’s not herself, Celeste. She’s not your mom right now.”

  “Yes she is! It’s not fair. I should get to say if she lives or dies!” She looked around at us all, all the Keepers standing around, to her looking very much like executioners.

  Right then, I felt like one.

  “Baby, listen,” Danny tried again, “you know she wouldn’t want this. She wouldn’t want to be stuck in some Lighter compulsion making her do things that she doesn’t want to do.”

  He tried to hold her, grabbing her upper arms, but she wrenched away.

  “You don’t know! You don’t know anything about it. She wants to live.” Her tears streamed down her face. “That’s what she wants; to live and not to be murdered by the people who claimed they were here to help us! Murderers!”


  She collapsed despairingly on the floor, heaving and sobbing loudly. Danny sat next to her and pulled her close. She only fought for a few seconds and then clung to him and sobbed even louder into his neck. He looked nauseas and regretful, but it wasn’t his fault.

  She was out of her mind over Margo, he was right about that.

  I would never say anything to him about it, but looking at the situation like that, I thought he did the right thing. She was too grief stricken to be left alone like that. With all of us leaving, she needed to be stable while we were gone. Now, she could deal with her grief and Danny was here to ferry her through it.

  Kay came to kneel beside her and rubbed her back.

  “Ok. Come on, Celeste. Let’s go see Margo,” she suggested and tried to coax her to stand.

  Celeste looked up at her and nodded reluctantly. She let Danny pull her up off the floor and then pull her under his arm as we all walked together in a sad procession.

  Margo was squatted down leaning on the wall in a corner. Her hair was all scraggly like she’d been pulling at it. She was scratching long lines down her arms and some of them were bleeding. Her hands twitched.

  “Oh, mom,” Celeste said in a sob and then turned towards us with fresh tears rimming her eyes. “Oh, God, help her, please. I can’t- I was wrong. I’m sorry about all the stuff I said. Please, just help her.”

  Merrick. Who?

  I knew what Jeff was asking. Who? Which human was going to do it because the Keepers couldn’t touch the patch.

  I’ll call Miguel.

  I did and explained why we needed him. We waited for a minute while Celeste tried not to look at her mom. He came and looked at Celeste sadly for a second before coming to stand by me.

  “Don’t look at her eyes,” I told Miguel, remembering he’d been scratched before by a Marker as well as Sherry.

  It hurts the ones who had been marked.

  “Wait,” Marissa materialized in the doorway, “maybe I can help.”