The Athena Effect

by Derrolyn Anderson

  ~

  They spent the afternoon in bed, holding each other close until the sky began to darken. Calvin was unable to get his fill of her, overjoyed at the reality of finally having her curled up in his arms, all pink and gold, peaches and cream.

  “You’re so beautiful,” he told her over and over, making her blush every time.

  There was a sharp rap on the door, and Calvin scrambled to pull the blankets up over them before Jarod could burst through the door.

  “Hey, are you guys–” He poked his head in, averting his eyes when he saw them. “I, uh, just wanted to say I got some eggs and stuff.” He ducked his head back out and closed the door.

  “I’ll have to talk to him about knocking,” Calvin said.

  She sat up and reached for a shirt, but before she could slip it on he snagged her around the waist and pulled her back down, kissing her swollen lips. “I don’t want you to ever leave this bed.”

  “You’re going to have to let me go sometime,” she laughed.

  “Never,” he said, his dark eyes intense. “I’ll never let you go.”

  He pulled her close and wrapped his body around hers to make his point. Caledonia closed her eyes and sighed in utter contentment, finally drifting off into a peaceful sleep. Calvin couldn’t remember a time when he ever felt happier, and he would have been perfectly content to stay in bed all day and all night if it wasn’t for his growling empty stomach. He got up slowly, careful not to disturb her, and slipped out of the room quietly.

  He came back to find her lying across his bed, propped up onto her elbows, reading a book. Her long legs were sticking out of the bottom of his shirt, her golden hair wildly cascading down her back. He had never seen anything so sexy in his entire life. She looked up and smiled at him.

  “Hungry?” he asked, brandishing a brown paper sack.

  She closed the book and sat up. “Shouldn’t we go eat in the kitchen?”

  He shook his head no. “Jarod’s got a poker game going, and I wanna be alone. Besides,” he said, his lips twisting into a slow, devious smile, “I was serious about keeping you in bed.”

  She put her book down, and he handed her a foil wrapped package and a stack of napkins. “I hope you like Mexican.” Together they sat on the edge of the bed, sharing a meal of burritos with a couple of bottles of orange soda to wash them down.

  “So, what are you reading?” he asked her.

  “One of your books,” she held it up to him, “Moby Dick.”

  “Ugh,” he said, “I had to read that for English class.”

  “Had to?” she asked.

  “Yeah, it’s about some dude trying to catch a whale.”

  She looked shocked. “It’s really much more than that … It’s about good and evil, obsession and madness … the existence of God …”

  “You’ve read it before?”

  “Twice.”

  “Then why read it again?”

  “Because with a really good book you get something new every time you read it. Because … well … Because you’re a different person each time.”

  He looked into her extraordinary eyes. “You make me a different person.”

  “Then you need to read it again.”

  “Let’s eat first,” he laughed. The burritos were huge, and despite her prodigious ability to eat she still couldn’t finish hers.

  “How was it?” he asked.

  She rubbed her stomach. “It was great. It was a gut bomb,” she said seriously, making him laugh again.

  “Have you ever had one before?”

  “My father made burritos,” she said, remembering. “He made tortillas with beans and rice all the time, but we never had any cheese or meat inside.”

  “Were your parents vegetarians?” Calvin asked.

  She shook her head no. “We ate a chicken once in a while, but if we wanted meat I had to go hunting.”

  “Wow,” he said, finding it hard to imagine. “What did you hunt?”

  “Mostly just mushrooms,” she said, “but if I was lucky I might get a few birds or a squirrel.”

  “You ate squirrels?” he looked shocked.

  “You just ate a pig,” she pointed out, making him laugh again.

  They cleaned up, discarding the wrappers and straightening out the rumpled bedding. He propped a stack of pillows against the wall and slipped his shoes off to kick back comfortably, patting the mattress next to him with a smile. “Why don’t you come over here and tell me all about Moby Dick?”

  She looked at him with narrowed eyes. “Are you teasing me?”

  “I might be.”

  They spent the rest of that long night in bed, alternating between heated passion and languid, relaxed cuddling. There was a raucous party going on elsewhere in the house, but the two of them were oblivious to the outside world. They were wrapped up in the insulated cocoon of lovers, completely unaware of anything but each other.

  Calvin kissed every scar on her body, watching her face as he made love to her slowly, his fingers entwined with hers. Neither one of them wanted to sleep, but they finally succumbed to exhaustion, curled up around each other in a woven tangle of arms and legs.

  He woke up late the next morning to find Caledonia gone, and sprang out of bed in a panic. He raced out of his room to find her cleaning up the kitchen, elbow deep in a sink full of soapy water. She looked up at him and smiled shyly.

  “Good morning,” he said, drinking in the sight of her in his baggy clothes. The ashtrays and beer cans on the counter had been replaced by a straggly bunch of wildflowers in a vase he hadn’t seen in years. He remembered how much his mother loved flowers, and had a sudden urge to go out and buy her some nicer ones.

  He came up behind her and kissed her neck. “Can I give you a hand here?”

  “I thought I’d make breakfast,” she said. “Do you like omelets?”

  Jarod stumbled down the hall, looking like he’d had a rough night. He nodded his approval, “Bout time someone cleaned up around here.”

  Crystal followed behind him, yawning. “There she goes again,” she said with good humored sarcasm. “No coffee yet? I’m gonna go take a shower.” She headed back down the hallway.

  Caledonia pulled the plug to drain the sink, drying off her hands and turning around to meet Calvin’s laughing eyes.

  “What’s so funny?” she asked.

  “Nothing.” He took her in his arms, bending down to whisper in her ear, “You just make me happy.” He drew back after he kissed her, adding, “Without even trying.”

  Caledonia saw something move over his shoulder, glancing through the window with a sharp intake of breath. The van from yesterday was pulling up in front of the house, and the same three big men with mirrored glasses piled out of it. They headed straight for the door, moving with serious intent. Calvin turned around and saw it too.

  “Oh no! It’s them! It’s the same ones!” she said, panic in her voice. “What should I do?”

  “Go wait in my room. I’ll get rid of them,” Calvin said tersely.

  “Who is it?” Jarod asked from the couch.

  Caledonia darted towards the hall, pausing around the corner to listen as the men started pounding at the door.

  “Cal?” Jarod stood up. “What’s goin’ on?”

  Calvin’s face was stony, “These guys are here for Cali.”

  “Why?” asked Jarod, as the pounding grew more insistent.

  “Long story,” Cal said, steeling himself and opening the door a crack. He asked them what they wanted in an angry voice, and Caledonia strained to listen.

  “Send out the girl … We’re here to return her to her legal guardian.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Calvin said.

  The man’s voice was low, menacing. “We can do this the easy way or the hard way. It’s up to you. Now, give up the girl and nobody gets hurt.”

  Jarod came over to stand beside Cal, “Are you threatening him? Get the hell offa my property!”

/>   “Wouldn’t you rather deal with this matter without involving the police? I’m sure your parole officer would be interested to hear all about how you’re harboring an under-aged runaway. We could have both of you gentlemen prosecuted for statutory rape.”

  Caledonia’s stomach twisted; they’d certainly done their homework.

  She heard Jarod’s voice, raised in anger, “You must not have heard me. I said, GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE!”

  “Hey!” Calvin yelled. She heard a scuffle, and the bang of the door slamming against the wall. The sounds of fighting were followed by a series of clicking noises and the sickening thud of a body hitting the ground.

  “Where is she? Tell us or you’re next!”

  Caledonia looked around the corner to see Calvin backed up against the wall, his angry eyes trained on some kind of device brandished by one of the men. Jarod lay on the ground, eyes closed.

  She stepped out from the hallway, yelling, “NO!” She looked at the three big men with fiery eyes, “Stop it right now!”

  They all paused, their target in sight. Caledonia rushed to get between Calvin and the men, facing them again and projecting a powerful cloud of soothing aqua blue towards them. It did nothing to temper the predatory colors they were emanating.

  “You’re coming with us,” one of the men said, “whether you like it or not.”

  “No she’s not.” Calvin tried to pull her behind him.

  “Wait a minute,” she held up her hands in a compliant gesture, playing for time, mustering a massive fog of tranquilizing lavender and casting it in the closest one’s direction. With his reflective sunglasses on, she could not see where his eyes were looking, and she realized that it rendered her ability useless.

  She gestured towards Jarod’s still form. “What did you do to him?” Moving slowly, with her hands in the air she knelt by his side, reaching down to feel his neck for a pulse. His eyes fluttered, and to her relief he let out a groan.

  Caledonia felt a hand clamp onto her arm, and she instinctively dropped and spun around on her back, landing a vicious kick directly to the knee of the man who’d touched her. He let out a shriek and crumpled to the ground in pain.

  Calvin lunged at the man with the Taser, but it was too late, and she heard the same rapid series of clicks as before, watching in horror as Calvin’s eyes rolled back in his head and he slumped to the floor.

  Now both Calvin and Jarod were sprawled in the entryway, and Caledonia scrambled backwards while two men advanced on her.

  “Tase her!” the one on the ground cried. He was clutching his knee, his face contorted in agony.

  “No,” Max replied, “He wants her untouched.”

  The men finally backed Caledonia into a corner, and despite putting up her best fight, Max seized her in an immobilizing bear hug. The injured one struggled to stand, unable to put any weight on one of his legs.

  “I think that bitch just broke my knee,” he gasped.

  Max gripped her tightly from behind, marching her towards the door, while the other one went to help his comrade up from the floor. Caledonia refused to stand, kicking and squirming to resist as best she could.

  She forced Max to half carry and half drag her dead weight towards the door, and by the time he’d maneuvered her to the threshold he was sweating from the effort, swearing under his breath. He grew increasingly frustrated and angry.

  It was a good thing the professor was so interested in receiving her intact, because Caledonia could tell that Max wanted to hurt her, intuitively sensing that this was a man who was capable of doing terrible things. The thought made her redouble her efforts to resist, hooking her legs onto the doorframe, fighting a losing battle to avoid being dragged from the house.

  A low rumbling sound grew louder and louder, and by the time Max had forced her out onto the porch a half dozen of Jarod’s biker friends pulled up in front of the house, blocking their path out to the van. They dismounted from their bikes, advancing on the house suspiciously.

  “Where’s Jarod?” asked a big man with a beard and bandanna.

  “Help!” Caledonia cried, struggling even harder.

  Max dropped her, reaching for his weapon while the other two men stood behind them. His color changed to a fearful sour green, not so tough once he was outnumbered. For the first time, Caledonia was overjoyed to see all of Jarod’s thuggish friends.

  “Max, we have to abort,” the injured one said.

  A blonde blur flew out of the front door and slammed into Max’s back, sending him flying off the porch and into in the dirt. It was Crystal, and she jumped onto his back, flailing away with her fists, clawing at his face with her long fingernails.

  “You sonofabitch!” she shrieked.

  The bikers stood in a semicircle, laughing at the big man trying to disengage the furious woman from his back.

  “Hey Crystal. We came as soon as you called,” said the biggest one, “but it looks like you don’t need our help so much.”

  Jarod staggered into the doorway, looking dazed as he took in the scene. Max managed to disengage Crystal, stumbling to his feet with a bloody lip, his black suit covered in dust. He brandished his weapon, clearing a path for the three men to retreat to their van. They were utterly humiliated, wounded and disheveled, trailed by the sounds of derisive laughter coming from the crowd.

  “Oh, baby!” Crystal ran to Jarod, throwing her arms around him.

  Caledonia caught her breath and crawled on her knees over the threshold to where Calvin lay unconscious, kneeling over him in a panic. She pressed her ear to his chest, and when he started coughing her eyes spilled over with relief, splashing fat tears onto the front of his shirt. She looked up to see Jarod and Crystal watching them from the doorframe.

  “Holy shit, Cali!” exclaimed Crystal, “What the hell just happened?”

  ~

  Chapter Nineteen

  ESCAPE