“You may have to acquire it from Tina since she made it clear to return it to her.” He placed it back into his book bag as he gave Jacob a sheepish smirk. “If that’s ok?”
“Not a problem. Well, let’s call it a day. Let me walk you out and get you a pass for anytime you want to come by. I have a feeling you’ll be visiting a lot.” They both jerked out of their seats, eager to leave the subject behind.
“Yea, it’s too little of information to make any conclusions from.” He followed Jake out the door and into the elevator. “Thanks for the help by the way.”
“It’s my job, don’t worry about it. Thank you for being so straight forward.” Jake smiled, desperate to throw a sensation of comfort into the air as the elevator came to a stop. “I just wish I could help you. Had some answers, or clues even.”
“I appreciate the thought at least.” They stopped at the main counter. “I’ll probably stop by when I come through this way. Especially, since I can find you a lot easier than Talib.”
“Yea, either here or Annie’s place.” He handed him an ID badge. “Don’t lose it or the security manager will blitz out. Security issues, bah!”
“Thanks,” They walked out the front of the building making their way to the parking garage. “I still have a hard time with this whole situation in general.”
“I don’t blame you. If it weren’t for the memories that came flooding back, I would be uneasy as hell about it. Honestly, I still have the small feeling of not wanting to accept the whole scenario.” Jake jolted to a stop as they approached Hotan’s motorcycle. “Shit.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me.” Hotan’s bike was lying on its side, tires slashed and the whole thing looked like it had been dragged through a mud hole. “I just can’t catch a break anymore.”
“Good evening, boys!.” An all-black motorcycle came rushing to a stop between them and the bike. “Geliah sends his regards!”
Laughter poured from the helmeted woman on the bike as she peeled away. The screeching of the back tire was deafening within the parking garage. They both cringed and turned their focus back to the dirt-covered motorcycle that lay on the concrete floor of the parking garage.
“Dammit.” It was all Jacob could mutter as they came closer to the devastated motorcycle. “I hate her with a passion.”
“I can’t believe this.” Crouching down, Hotan assessed the damage on his only form of transportation. Worse off, it was the last item of value that he owned. “That’s strange, there’s mud everywhere. It’s like someone put potting soil in every nook and cranny. The fuel tank is full of the stuff!”
“Looks like Cassandra’s work.” Jake shook his head. “Sorry buddy, looks like Geliah’s girl got you good on this one.”
“Who?” He looked over at him. “Cassandra?”
“Yeah, take a closer look at the damage there. Since when do slashed tires leave dirt? In fact, I guarantee the engine’s full of it too.” Jake started digging into his pockets, keys and coins jingling. “Cassandra’s with Geliah, or should I simply say his girlfriend, partner, bed buddies, which ever you prefer. Unfortunately, she’s the element of earth and she can be somewhat of a nuisance, a real challenge to deal with since we’re non-elementals.”
“Great. You think she’s been spying on me?” Hotan walked over to where his helmet laid on the asphalt, wiping dirt from it.
“Wouldn’t surprise me,” Jake lit up a cigarette then grabbed out his keys. “My truck is around the corner. I’ll drive around and we’ll load your bike up. I know someone who can fix it.”
“Uh, I don’t really have the money for that kind of repairs.” Leaning against the parking garage wall, Hotan felt as if he had hit a dead end. “And I don’t think anyone has the skill to remove dirt from every inch of an entire motor.”
“No worries. I’ll pay for it. I can get work done there without a problem. Damn good mechanic too.” Jake puffed on his cigarette, huffed out the smoke and began walking around the corner. “I know they can fix this, trust me on that. They are always looking for a challenge, heh.”
Staring down at the mess at this feet Hotan managed to mumble, “Thanks again.”
Chapter Fifteen
After a few minutes, a large silver quad cab pickup drove up and backed up towards the bike that lay in ruins. Jake climbed out of the vehicle, placed the half-smoked cigarette in his mouth. With a 1-2-3 the two of them lifted the motorcycle into the bed of the truck, slamming the tailgate closed. Hotan climbed in, sliding into the nice leather seats and the cool air conditioning hit his face. Jake turned up the radio as he continued to finish the last of his cigarette. Both of them sat in silence pondering over the details of everything they had discussed.
Now I have a new threat: Cassandra. Someone I have no idea what she looks like or even the extent of what she is capable of doing. Would she go as far as going after someone close to me? Annie? Shellie? Kyle? Every corner I turn seems to make matters worse. I am desperately trying to deal with everyday life situations, but I am overloading on the abnormal stuff like land mines in a sidewalk. It is getting worse with every piece I learn. Every time I manage to get a new piece of the puzzle something else much more dangerous rears its ugly head. Cerberus himself had crawled out from hell to chase me down to join the others who were drowning in the Lake of Fire.
Shellie. I haven’t talked to her in a while, like we used to before all of this. The guilt is starting to get to me. She’s left me alone to deal with it all, like I asked. No harassing phone calls, just a simple yes or no question on it, nothing more. She disappeared quietly, giving me space and time to deal with whatever had interrupted our life together. It’s one of the reasons why I like her so much; she doesn’t need me to be there every day to know that we are a couple. We have a mutual and mature relationship, unlike the ones I watch go on at school. We accept the fact that we both need our space and time apart. School and jobs take up much of our free time, but it makes our moments together a lot more special.
I should call her, check up on her.
“Check up on who? You’re girl?” Jake flicked his cigarette out the window and rolled it up. “Shellie?”
“Uh, yeah,” Sighing, Hotan still hadn’t mastered keeping his thoughts from being heard. “You heard that, huh?”
“Yea, you’re not as loud as when you first started out over dinner, but still there for anyone to chime in.” Jake gave him a smirk. “So! How is your girlfriend?”
“Ok I guess.” Shrugging he looked out the window watching the telephone poles zoom by. “Haven’t really been talking to her lately.”
“You guess? When was the last time you even spoke to her Hootie?” The smile faded as Jake glanced over at him. “Oh man, you need to call her or something more at the rate you’re going. Life without love is just, sad.”
“I think it’s been a month, I think. At least that long since I last spoke to her normally anyhow.” His guilt started to weigh him down even further. “I feel horrible about it.”
“Holy Cow! Are you sure you’re even together anymore?” Jake gave him a distraught look hearing the news, “Teenage girls don’t take these things lightly you know? Are you sure you’re still boyfriend and girlfriend? That’s far too long.”
“Yea, we’re together.” Hotan was feeling the pressure, “I feel bad about it. She knows if she needs anything to call me, but with all this stuff going on it’s been hard. I don’t even know who I am anymore, or if I am still supposed to be someone else. The idea of dragging her through this bothers the hell out of me.”
“Well, that’s understandable.” Jake turned down a more rural area of town. “But don’t you think you could really use her right about now. At least she’s the solid point in your life. Sounds like you two really respect and care a lot about each other.”
“Yea, I guess you have a good point.” Industrial-type buildings pass by on the desolate weatherworn road. “Where are we going?”
“Not too much further. The shop’s at
the end of this road, just around the turn up ahead.” Once more, he gave his smug look.
“Gotcha.” Hotan gazed out of the window in silence, reluctant to let his thoughts wonder like normal.
They pulled up to an old small aircraft hangar turned mechanic shop. Directly behind it was a fenced-in junkyard, a resource for those missing and hard-to-find parts. A sign read ‘Lilly Pad’s Junkyard & Repairs’ as it swung in the breeze creaking. As the truck came to a stop and dust floated by, Hotan noticed there were no signs of anyone or if it was even open for business. Watching Jake get out of the truck, Hotan followed him with his eyes as he walked towards the open garage. After a minute or so he walked back up to the truck opening the passenger side, rubbing the back of his neck.
“Looks like I’m going to need your help.” Jake laughed nervously, “I can’t see anyone anywhere.”
Hotan blinked, “Help?”
“Yea, we’re going to have to search the junkyard for our beloved mechanic. Probably working on a side project again.” He sighed leading him around the back of the shop where a gate hung loosely on its hinges.
The unlocked padlock hung lazily on the fence.
“So who am I looking for?” Hotan gawked at the stacks of cars baring signs of being stripped or completely totaled from their accidents. The injuries on the metal beasts were each unique and equally gut wrenching. “And how am I going to see them out in this?”
“The only other person out here, besides us.” Jake walked pass him and headed towards the right.
Hotan headed to the left, hoping he’ll manage to make his way out again in the maze of twisted cars. There were cars of all sorts of shapes, sizes and conditions. Some old, some new, and occasionally one or two unrecognizable pieces. He traveled down the winding hallways of the morbid labyrinth that occasionally creaked or tinged as a gust of wind would blow by. It was creepy seeing all these vehicles, leaving questions in one’s mind if the passengers they once held survived. The damage was severe and horrific knowing that it once was a safe place for someone to sit.
A rearview mirror came crashing to the ground beside him from a car above him. He backed up and gazed at where it came from to find a black cat stalking about. After their exchanged glares, it flicked an ear and moved on.
Jake brought up a very good point. I do need Shellie. She is the only thing that is definite and unchanging in my life. She is my strong point at the moment and I neglected ensuring it stayed that way. I hope she isn’t upset with me. I needed to be with her, but my new worry is if Cassandra or Geliah would harm her. At this point and time they have trashed my bike, but who knows what else they would be willing to do. Cassandra is the element of earth and the things she could do with that is unlimited. She could literally bury me ali-
A muffler came smashing down in front of him. He stumbled and fell backwards, landing hard on the muddy ground. “Holy shit!”
“Eh?” A voice came from far atop of the cars. “Who the hell are you?”
“I-” Hotan choked on his words as his heart pounded in his throat. He managed to start again. “Who are you?!”
“The property owner! That’s all you need to know!” Steps could be heard coming across one of the cars above him. “Now tell me who you are and why the hell you’re trespassing!”
“My name’s Hotan and I came here with Jake.” He stood up brushing himself off.
“Jake? Jake Kendall? As in the Jake Kendall that owes me money Jake Kendall?” The voice chirped in disbelief like a bird in a tree.
“Yea, Jake Kendall.” Hotan ogled up at the towering giant made of cars, shading his eyes from the gleaming sun in order to make out the person that was speaking to him. “I didn’t know he owed you money.”
“Yea, well it’s pointless with him. He thinks the world owes him everything and he owes nothing to the world!” They laughed squatting down, still making it hard to make out who they were from where the sun glared brilliantly behind them.
“Yea-yea, you can say that all you want!” Jake walked up behind him patting Hotan’s back. Scoffing, Jacob kicked the rusted muffler that had been tossed down into Hotan’s path. “Were you trying to kill the boy?”
“No, just stripping a car for parts, he happened to be in the way, that’s all.” They huffed, standing back up.
“I’m ok, it was no big-” Hotan’s heart dropped when the person above them leaped off from what seemed to be a good 25-foot drop. They managed to land without any complications with a fa-thud sound, squatting on the ground in front of them. “No way in hell.”
“Feh!” The broad shouldered girl stood up straight wiping her heavy leather gloves off on each other and moved on to brush her overalls off with her muscular arms. “That’s nothing. I’ve hopped down several stories before. It takes practice, but we’re capable of a lot.”
“Looking beautiful as ever M’ Lady,” Jake grinned as she adjusted her bandana that covered her coarse hair pinned back in its ponytail. She twisted her grease-smudged face at him, “C’mon now, can’t you pretend to be happy to see me?”
“Depends if you’re here to pay me the two hundred bucks you owe me.” She snorted brushing pass them, working her way through the skyscrapers of junk cars.
“Sure, I’ll pay you today, doll face!” Jake raced up beside her pulling out his wallet and handing over the money without further delay. “But I need another favor.”
“What is it now?” She shoved the money into her pocket as she looked over at him nonchalantly. “Nitro? Lift kit? What project you got going and on which of your toys?”
“No, nothing like that babe, this is for Hotan.” She paused and glanced back at him with a ghostly complexion. “He’s in a tight spot at the moment.”
“You’re, did you just say Hotan was your name?” Her eyes vehemently glared at him picking apart his every feature. “You may look like him, no, something.”
“Yea,” Hotan returned her glare with a more questionable one. “And you are?”
“Lilly, but you’re Hotan. You look like Hotan, but you sure don’t act like him.” She walked up to him examining him further fighting the idea that he was who he claimed to be. “And for you not to know who I am is even stranger. I can feel it’s there, but it’s different. You’re not the Hotan I know. That is without a doubt. You are completely different. Fresh even.”
Hotan watched her eyes scan him as she circled him once, finishing with her leaning close to him exchanging a forceful eye-to-eye contact. “You’re him, but,” Lilly finally stepped back and turned to Jake with a concerned soft voice. “What the hell is happening Jake? What kind of trouble is this?”
“Oh, I don’t know what you’re talking about, Lilly Pad.” Jake shrugged and gave her his best smug look.
“Stop playing games, I know there’s something up. Hell, this isn’t Hotan.” She walked to Jake and started stabbing him in the chest with a finger. “In fact, this is a kid with the same abilities if not stronger! What in the hell are you and Talib going to do about this, Jacob?”
“Uh,” Jake leered at her as she gave him a stare down, arms crossed and her eyes sharp as they sliced through his act. “Oh come on, Lilly. I really don’t think this is the best time or place for such a talk.”
“Now is better than never, spit it out, I don’t care.” She huffed as she tapped her biker boot impatiently on the ground, squeezing the answer from him with her gaze. “I refuse to do anything till you give me some sort of explanation of what’s going on. I mean, obviously this has been developing for some time but dammit. I need to know what we’ve gotten ourselves into.”
“Tell her Jake.” Hotan broke his silent watch over the argument and fell under her glare as she looked back at him. “Or should I try to explain it?”
“Why couldn’t you just stay quiet?” Jake mumbled in frustration, rubbing the back of his neck. “If you think you can tell her then go ahead, Big Boy. We still really don’t know. Honest.”
“Yea, let me hear this from you.”
She placed her hands on her hip letting her aggressive approach fade to a lower level. “I’m sure you’re the one suffering the most out of this ordeal. You’re an infant in this mess.”
“Heh,” Hotan took in a deep breath trying to give himself a moment to know where to begin. “Well, as you already figured out, no I am not the same Hotan. I am a complete duplicate or remake. Still not quite sure what the purpose was in it but at the same time I haven’t a clue what I can do. I don’t get the luxury of remembering how to use these so-called powers.”
“Is that all you know?” She lifted an eyebrow, turning back to Jake who nodded in agreement. C’mon Jacob, what’s really going on? Talib must know something, right?
“Hey, it’s rude to whisper like that.” Jake started to walk further out of the junkyard in hopes of cutting her investigation short. “He’s not completely void of abilities. He has at least that much going for him.”
I can do it but not very good at controlling it. Hotan shrugged as she glanced back at him with an amused look on her face. “But there’s a lot we don’t know about what’s going on. I’m still trying to deal with the idea that we exist, let alone that I’m one of you. On top of it all, I keep getting the impression this whole mess is Hotan’s fault, which ripples down to its all my fault.”
“No kidding.” Sighing, Lilly led them back through the decrepit gate. “I’m just curious of why he did this. He was so determined on the matter of making us disappear it just doesn’t feel right.”
“Well, Lilly Pad, if you happen to find that answer you be sure to call the rest of us.” Jake scoffed as they stopped by his truck and he lit up another cigarette, taking a long deep drag from it. “What’s got me twisted is the idea of Talib being awake for it all. Why did he let it happen? I know he knows, but the man hasn’t said anything. Not one hint of how he feels or even a reaction to it all.”
Rebirth Page 17
