by Jen Haeger
Evelyn winced as a small pit opened up in her stomach. “Your masters, I almost…have you spoken with your advisors? What did they say?”
Staring at the floor, Kim shrugged. “Obviously they’re pissed off at me for dropping everything, but fortunately I was at a bit of stopping point, so they’ve given me the rest of the semester to get things together. But they expect ‘a full and consistent commitment’ when I return.”
The pit widened. “And your training?”
Kim rubbed at the top of her hand. “That…is over now. My coach said that there was no way to make up the weeks of missed training. She’s right.”
“Kim, I…”
Kim met Evelyn’s gaze. “It’s all right, Evie. It’s not your fault. Maybe after all of this is over…when you’ve found a cure, I can start training again. The next, next Olympics aren’t for five years, and a lot can happen in five years.”
Knowing no matter what happened in those five years that Kim would be too old to swim in the Olympics by then, crushed Evelyn’s soul. Though it was easy to blame the Vulke for Kim’s shattered dream, it was almost impossible not to blame herself too. Sadly, showing Kim that guilt would have accomplished nothing, so Evelyn looked away.
“Too bad the condo complex doesn’t have a pool.” A pool? Evelyn, what’s wrong with you? “We should join a gym.”
At first Evelyn railed at herself again for such a flippant remark, but then she mulled it over. Why not? It’s not like they had a ton to do right at this moment. It wouldn’t be a horrible idea at all to stay fit before…for when they had to fight the Vulke again. She looked up at Kim. “No really. We should join a gym. We could keep fit, blow off a little steam, and get some balance back. Not like three, one-month memberships are going to break Roberto’s bank. And it’ll give us something to do until I hear back from Nicolas. I’m sure that there’s one with a pool around here.”
Evelyn turned from Kim’s stunned face to her computer screen. A couple of mouse clicks later, and Evelyn was signing the three of them up for a free trial membership at Lansing Fit and trying to drum up a little more enthusiasm from Kim.
“Oooooo, it says here that the trial membership includes a free thirty-minute massage with their in-house massage therapist, a free forty-five-minute fitness trainer consultation, and a free small smoothie at their health bar.”
Kim’s smile finally shined true. “I could use a massage…”
David trundled down the stairs into the basement, his face a mask of anxiety. “How’s it going? Have you sent the e-mail yet?” As he approached the computer, his eyes wandered in confusion from the grinning girls to the screen.
“We joined a gym!”
“Huh?”
*
Kim’s enthusiasm for the gym idea having taken hold, there was no shaking it. She insisted that they get changed and immediately take advantage of their newfound membership benefits. David’s skepticism about the idea was doomed from the get go, and being out-numbered, he followed along in Kim and Evelyn’s wake until they reached the gym, though he declined joining the girls in the pool.
“I think I’d rather check out the weight room. Maybe next time.”
Evelyn was going to give him a hard time about it, but then she thought about the ugly puckering burn scar on her leg and let it go. It was possible David had also picked up some scars during the fight that he wasn’t ready to expose to a pool full of strangers.
It didn’t take long for Evelyn to abandon all hope of keeping up with Kim’s laps, so she found a more leisurely pace, enjoying the calming effect of the water’s buoyant embrace. She hadn’t been swimming since…a flash to flames reflecting off a turbulent stream made Evelyn flounder and gulp in a mouthful of water. She paused, stood, and regained her breathe and composure. Wallowing down that creek with Nicolas didn’t count.
*
For the next few days, Evelyn couldn’t have been happier with her gym decision. They went every day and Kim’s dampened spirits were once more soaring and lifting the Inali pack’s morale. David was even smiling more. But even with the daily distraction of the gym, checking her e-mail constantly with no reply from Nicolas,was still making Evelyn antsy and frustrated. Not even lunch with her parents or a visit with her sister could bring cheer to the deep, worried places in Evelyn’s heart. Time was getting short again. Any information he might send her would be useless if she had no time to act on it. On the fourth day, Evelyn called Sylvy and allowed herself to be guilted into a visit with Peko.
“So are you taking your damn cat back?”
Evelyn hugged her friend quickly then ducked down to prevent an escape attempt from the cantankerous ball of orange fur. “Is that any way to greet your best friend?” She scratched Peko behind his ears.
“Are you talking to me or the cat?” Sylvy put her hands on her hips.
Evelyn scooped up Peko and went over to Sylvy’s couch to sit with him on her lap.
Sylvy rolled her eyes and shut the door. “No seriously, Evie, have you come to take the little monster with you?”
Evelyn gently squashed Peko’s face between her hands. “You’re not a monster are you, Pe-pe?” He frowned at her and mewled. She released him and he jumped off her lap in indignation then walked right back onto it for more attention, tail held high. Petting him absently, Evelyn looked up at Sylvy. “I’m sorry about this Sylvy, but I just can’t take him back right now. Things are just so—“
“Complicated. Right, you said.” Sylvy frowned and sat on a chair facing Evelyn. “Evie, I’m worried about you, Hon. You dump Mr. Fuzzball with me, don’t tell me why, I’ve hardly seen you in over a month, your Mom’s called me to ask about you…Evie, what’s going on? Is it David?”
The thought of Evelyn’s problems being merely a domestic dispute almost made Evelyn laugh, though without smiling. “No, it’s…a special project I’m working on…for the USDA. There’s been some…viral outbreaks that are causing concern, and I’m working to find a cure before…before an epidemic happens. But I’m not supposed to talk about it because they don’t want people to freak out.”
Sylvy stared at Evelyn for a long moment. “Damnit, Evie, sometimes I wish you weren’t so smart.”
Evelyn faked a smile. “Yeah, me too.”
“I hope they’re at least paying you well.”
Thinking about Roberto’s seemingly endless bank roll, Evelyn’s grin almost turned genuine. “I’m being compensated.”
Sylvy’s smile didn’t last long. “Should I be worried?”
Mustering all of her acting skills, Evelyn pretended to pick something out of Peko’s fur, much to his aggravation. “Nah, everything’s going to be fine.”
60
“Everything is not going to be fine.”
“You don’t think I know that?”
Roberto stared at Caroline across her desk. He hated this place, the casino. It seemed a vile hotbed for the glorification of sin. It had not been quite so embarrassing a center for the Wahya power when Marcus was Alpha, but Zachary just didn’t belong here. However, that wasn’t the issue now. The issue was ferreting out a traitor.
“I cannot help but feel that you and your Alpha are sticking your heads in the sand as far as this issue is concerned.”
Caroline threw up her hands. “What do you want us to do, Roberto? We’ve checked all the financials of casino employees in the know as best we can. You probably have better resources than we do for this.” She straightened and sniffed. “Besides, do you really think it matters at this point?”
Roberto smiled sourly. “I did not imagine you to be a quitter, Caroline.”
Caroline’s smile could have encased a candle flame in ice. “I’m not a quitter, Roberto, but I’m not a fool either. Maybe, if there hadn’t been a fire, and maybe if our battle had also been a success, and maybe if Evelyn could at least find a way to stop the spread of the mutant virus, then maybe we’d have a chance at winning this war. But like I said, I’m not a fool.”
Sighing, Roberto’s face fell into a sober countenance. “What would you have us do?”
“Run. Hide. Perhaps in the vast nothingness of Canada. Wait for the humans to rise up then join them in the battle. At this point, anything else is suicide.”
Roberto gave her a hard look. “Some might say that is traitorous talk.”
Holding his gaze, Caroline gritted her teeth. “I am trying to save my pack. We can’t win this, not now. Surely you see that. But if we run, survive, we might get our chance later.”
Sighing, Roberto looked away. “There is no later, there is only now. Either we find a way to stop the Vulke or we die.” He returned his gaze to Caroline. “Maybe individual humans might accept us, but as an overall race, I think you are being wildly optimistic. No. This is it. This is our final stand against them.” Rising, Roberto made his way to the door, reached for the knob, but then turned back to Caroline once more. “Besides, you and I don’t have that long to wait. At our age, it would be our final stand regardless.”
*
Evelyn stared at the words on the computer screen until her eyes itched from not blinking. Though brief, the reply from Nicolas caused Evelyn’s stomach to twist and knot, her breakfast eggs churning and contemplating a hasty evacuation. It read, “Unable to send all documents. Have more in my possession. There is danger. I seek a meeting, asylum.” The message had all the flags of a trap, but the only thing Evelyn could think about was how she was going to pull off the meeting and convince Roberto, and everyone else for that matter, to take Nicolas into the anti-Vulke fold. Finally blinking to moisten her eyes and give herself a moment to think, Evelyn rapidly tapped out a reply. “Sault St. Marie locks, Saturday, noon.” Once the message was sent, Evelyn began downloading the attachments and dialed Clem’s number. Saturday was only two days away, so she hoped that Nicolas would be able to make it there in time…and that no one else was reading his e-mails.
*
The rest of the day had Evelyn poring over the attachments that Nicolas had sent her. He had really come through with the information, though one small issue arose that Evelyn had not considered: all of the text was in Russian. She got very adept at utilizing Google translator and, with Kim and David’s help, was slowed only marginally in reviewing the documents. The business of sorting through the data helped Evelyn forget about the fact that she’d agreed to meet with Nicolas, and in doing so had implied that she could grant him asylum. It also helped her suppress the guilt from not telling David and Kim what she’d done, despite the fact that she’d so recently promised them not to ever lie to them again. There were two reasons that Evelyn thought this deception necessary: one was David’s overconfidence in her ability to do something that the greatest minds on the planet had yet to accomplish, curing a virus, and the second was David’s possessive and protective attitude towards her. Whether it was backed by love, his Wolfkin Alpha instincts, or a strong vein of friendship, they didn’t have time, and Evelyn certainly didn’t have the energy, to argue with David about the danger of meeting with, let alone taking in, Nicolas.
Evelyn especially didn’t want to involve David in the meeting because she felt a jealousy there, like somehow David was jealous of Nicolas saving Evelyn from the fire. It was a stupid, macho, and frankly insulting attitude that David would deny, and a verbal confrontation about it would only cripple their anemic relationship even worse than Evelyn’s latest betrayal of trust. Rock and a hard place. It was possible that David wouldn’t forgive her this time, but it was a chance she was willing to take for the possibility of finding a cure, defeating the Vulke, saving lives, and living…if not happily, then at least ever after.
At first the information Nicolas sent was disjointed. Bits and pieces of viral sequences, notes on viral gene splicing, and descriptions of viral trials comprised most of the downloads, though Evelyn was excited to compare normal Vulke DNA to the DNA of herself, David, and Clem. She hadn’t found any differences in the viral strains between her own, David’s, and Clem’s, so she didn’t expect to find any difference in the Vulke subjects’ DNA either, but it would be good to double check and take a better look at the closest possible strain to the mutant strain. The viral splicing data was also invaluable, though there were hundreds of pages to go through. The Vulke had been busy. Evelyn kept hoping that with each newly translated page something would jump out at her and she would have a miraculous “Aha!” moment, but thus far the information hadn’t been all that enlightening. The DNA splicing was fine to alter the virus before someone was infected, but afterwards, it was only possible through gene therapy. Over time, with unlimited funds and several invasive, difficult treatments, Evelyn might be able to cure a single Wolfkin using gene therapy, but right now it was a dead-end approach.
“How’s it looking, Evie?” David asked, handing her another translated page.
She didn’t want to seem too pessimistic, so she nodded and smiled as she spoke. “Good, really good. A lot of useful stuff here. A heck of a lot more work than we could’ve probably gotten through just ourselves.”
Kim picked up Evelyn’s false enthusiasm and ran with it. “Do you really think the key to the cure is in here somewhere?”
If it isn’t we’re kinda screwed.
“There’s definitely something here.”
Let’s just hope I can find it in time.
*
In the lab that night, Evelyn concentrated on just sequencing clean fragments of Vulke viral DNA to compare to all the other viral segments that she already had. It wasn’t any kind of major breakthrough, but it was a good baseline to start the research anew. Both David and Kim came to the lab with her, both thinking that they were making some major progress on curing Languorem luporum. Evelyn found it exhausting to keep up the ruse of excitement with them, so took every opportunity to escape to the isolated prep rooms. While she carefully measured out reagents and set up PCR reactions, her mind drifted. What if this was all the information Nicolas had? What if his promise of more was just a tease or a lie only to get protection from the Vulke? As she tried to banish these pessimistic ideas, she thought again of the old Shel Silverstein poem about the “Whatifs”, and it helped her recognize that she couldn’t afford to live the short time she might have left with a bunch of “Whatifs” in her ear. She had to believe that everything was going to work out or there was no point to any of this. Not the most inspiring pep talk she’d ever given herself, but it was enough to get her refocused on the task at hand.
*
The next afternoon, Evelyn packed an overnight bag before heading down to face David and Kim.
“I spoke to Clem yesterday, and he wants me to come up and get him again.”
David paused in mid-bacon bite. “He’s still not able to drive? I thought his leg seemed much better.”
Evelyn retrieved the orange juice from the refrigerator to hide her face. “It is, but he’s still worried about it cramping up on him.”
David put the bacon back on his plate and Evelyn had an image of his Wolfkin ears twitching. “Did you tell him about Nicolas’s reply? It seems silly for you to take a whole night off in the lab to go get him now that we’re making progress. I’ll go pick him up.”
Kim swallowed a bite of food. “Yeah, Evie, we can go, or just David can go if you need me in the lab.”
While she poured the orange juice, Evelyn debated whether or not to just tell Kim and David the truth. What am I doing? I promised not to lie to them anymore. She tried to tell herself it was to protect them in case things went poorly, but that would mean that she cared less about Clem than she did about her own pack and that just wasn’t true. Her glass full, she glanced up at the clock. There just wasn’t time to try to make them understand her decision, wasn’t time to rethink her decision, and she didn’t want to fight with David before the meeting with Nicolas. “I don’t want to take time out of the lab either, you guys, but I have to go.”
Sensing a ripple of doubt from David, Evelyn swallowed down her juice, turned her
back on him and Kim to rinse the glass, placed it in the dishwasher, and exited the kitchen as if the matter was settled. Her stomach was bare, but grabbing a bite on the road was much preferable to continuing the conversation. As she headed upstairs to grab her bag, an ache manifested in her chest. If this was all a sick ruse or a Vulke trap, she might never see David again, and the fact that her last conversation with him could be full of lies and betrayal sent sudden shocks of agony through her. Sitting on her bed, she grabbed a small notepad and pen. Feeling as though she was dipping the nib of the pen in her own heart and using her lifeblood as ink, she penned a goodbye. “From the moment I truly saw you until the end of days. I love you, but I had to try. Yours, Evelyn.” She folded the paper, wrote “David” across it, and tucked it under her pillow. If something happened, she knew he’d find it. Sucking back tears and telling herself she was being overly melodramatic, Evelyn scooped up her bag and prepared to head out to see Nicolas, again.
61
When Evelyn arrived in Sault Ste. Marie, Clem met her at one of the local McDonald’s. Ravenous from only a hasty meal on the road, Evelyn ordered a quarter pounder with cheese meal with a coke before joining Clem at the booth where he was waiting, sipping at an orange soda. Evelyn slid into the plastic seat and Clem eyed her morosely.
“Evie, I’ve known rabid skunks that were less of a walking calamity than you.”
Evelyn savored the greasy, salty taste of the three fries she’d shoved into her mouth before answering. “You really know how to charm a girl.”
Clem’s grin lacked conviction, but it softened his face modestly.
“Jest tell me, how is this a’gonna work again?”
Evelyn swallowed a mouthful of burger and washed it down with a swig of cola.
“So, we go to the locks incognito and watch for Nicolas. When I see him, I’ll give you the signal, and you bump into him and slip him the paper with the instructions on it. We watch him closely to see if he’s being followed or tries to contact anyone then meet him at the final destination. Anything looks shady and we just bail.”
