‘Good. Child, in our time together, we talked a great deal about your relationship with your father.’
I let my spoon clatter to my plate.
He held up his hands in submission, but I knew he was going to keep going. ‘I have been thinking a great deal about the man he is, and what motivates him. Have you had any contact with him since the night at the prison?’
I picked up half an egg roll. ‘Nope,’ I said, poking the tail end of it into my mouth.
‘None whatsoever?’
‘Sometimes I think he might be having me followed,’ I mumbled with a shrug. I squirted some plum sauce in after all the egg roll in order to grease the wheels of the lump it had made.
Choden nodded. ‘I was honoured when you choose to share with me the story of your mother’s death.’
I froze for a moment then forced myself to look up to meet his eye. ‘Why are you bringing that up?’
‘I am afraid there is no delicate way to say this,’ Choden said. ‘Your father takes perceived disloyalty quite badly.’
‘Yeah, like murderously badly.’
‘And yet,’ he paused again, ‘he has let you go.’
Everything stopped for a moment. I studied Choden’s eyes. ‘What are you saying? You think my father’s going to hurt me? Kill me? Because he’s had plenty of opportunities. He—’
Choden sighed. ‘I don’t think he has anything so straightforward planned.’
My stomach clenched painfully. ‘Then what?’
‘I couldn’t begin to guess.’ He folded his hands on the placemat. ‘Any more than I could have imagined what he did to your mother.’
My eyes darted around the table as ugly, cold fear seeped into my bones. My father had designed a biological weapon and orchestrated a situation where my mother could take it so she would kill herself as he watched. And he had done it all simply because she had questioned him. I had done a lot more than that. And yet, he had just let me go. I knew exactly what Choden was getting at. I wanted to argue with everything he had said, but I just couldn’t. In fact, I was starting to get really angry with myself for not seeing it sooner. My father hadn’t let me go at all. He would never let me go. He was planning something, and I had stupidly just gone on with my life as though the man who had sired me wasn’t out to obliterate my existence.
‘What I have to say next may come as a shock,’ Choden said, ‘but I would like you to consider it carefully.’
I nodded.
‘Have you ever been to Nepal?’
Chapter 11
‘I’m sorry,’ I said, blinking. ‘Did you say Nepal?’
‘I hope you will forgive me for not consulting with you first, but I took the liberty of asking my sister if she would consider having you live with her for a while. She does live quite far away in a remote mountain village. I cannot think of a safer place for you.’
‘Nepal?’ I repeated.
He smiled. ‘She could train you if you’d like. The way you have always spoken of. She will even tie a log to your back and have you run up snow-covered hills.’
‘Don’t you use my Rocky fantasies against me!’ I suddenly shouted. ‘No way!’
‘It is remote, but—’
‘It’s not that, Choden!’ I said, shaking my head. ‘Look. I appreciate that you are trying to protect me. I really, really do. But I’m not hiding. Not from him. Not anymore. No way am I letting my father have that kind of power over me.’
‘He already does have power over you,’ Choden countered in his gentle persistent way. ‘I once asked you if you thought you would ever be able to forgive your father. The question is more important than ever now.’
‘Okay, soon, this ice-cream is going up your nose,’ I said, gripping my plate. ‘You just told me you think it’s likely he’s cooking up some twisted scheme to destroy me! Uh-unh. Is this why you and Ryder are kicking me out of the club? To keep me out of harm’s way? No way. I’m not leaving. I plan to spend the rest of my life getting right up in his face. I don’t care what he has planned.’
He smiled sadly. ‘You are not your father, Bremy St. James.’
‘I know that!’
He nodded.
‘No. I really know that. In fact, my life’s goal is to be nothing like my father! That is pretty much the one thing I’m sure of.’
‘Which gives him a great deal of power in your self-definition.’
My mouth opened, but nothing came out for a moment. ‘You … you suck.’
He nodded. ‘I have been told that before.’
‘Really?’
‘No.’
I shook my head and slumped back into my seat. ‘I don’t want to hide, Choden.’
He pressed his lips together before saying, ‘My desire is not to be cruel, but when it comes to your father, in this case your emotions may cause you, and others, more harm than good. Training with Ryder was certainly dangerous before, but now you are no position to protect others. You are the target.’
My leg bounced up and down as I looked around the diner. Suddenly my eyes flashed back to his. ‘What does Ryder have to say about all this? Why isn’t she here?’
Something in Choden’s face changed, but I couldn’t read what it meant. ‘I assure you that Ryder is in agreement.’
‘Really?’ I asked, licking my lips. ‘I want to hear her say it. To my face.’
‘I’m afraid that’s not possible right now.’
‘So, that’s it?’ I threw my hands in the air. ‘That’s all you’re going to tell me? I’m afraid that’s not possible right now?’ I didn’t expect an answer. I already knew I wouldn’t get one. He wasn’t going to tell me what was going on with Ryder, maybe, because he knew I couldn’t handle hearing the answer.
He reached over again and touched my hand. ‘Think about it, Child.’
‘Nepal?’ I repeated, my voice barely a whisper.
‘The mountain air is quite lovely.’
***
I spent the entire night dreaming I was running up a mountain covered in mouths with razor-sharp teeth. Nepal.
Choden wanted me to go to Nepal. I mean, what the hell? Nepal?
Don’t get me wrong, part of me really liked the idea of devoting myself to awesomeness training, but it just seemed so extreme, and I was tired of being subject to my father’s control.
But there was the fear to consider.
I was scared. Really, really scared. Scared for me. Scared for my sister. Scared for everyone who had come in contact with me since I had left home. My father was a puppet master at heart, and God only knew what he had already set in motion. I wouldn’t be surprised if one of these days I were to wake up chained to a bathtub with a hacksaw in reach. He’d probably make sure it was encrusted with diamonds just for, you know, irony’s sake.
Choden was right. Loyalty was everything to my father. I was being completely naive to think he didn’t have something planned for me. But then again, in fairness, I had been so completely irrelevant to him most of my life, it was odd to think I would actually be worth his time now. But then again, again, it really wasn’t about me, was it? It was all about him. How could he dominate the world if he couldn’t even get me, his own daughter, in line?
I couldn’t just leave though. What about my life? My friends? Pierce? Jenny? I especially couldn’t leave with things being the way they were with my sister. There had to be another choice between hiding, and waiting for my father to enact his twisted revenge. There had to be. Just then my phone buzzed on the toilet.
‘Hello?’
‘It’s Tanya from The Pink Beaver.’ Oh yeah, and then there was my job. How could I forget my job? Who’d give that up voluntarily? ‘You need to get your ass in here now.’
‘What?’ I asked, rubbing my eyes. ‘I’m not scheduled to work today.’
‘Mr Raj wants to see you now. He’s says if you’re not here within the hour, then don’t bother coming in at all.’
Suddenly mountain air did sound appealing. ‘Alright,
I’m coming. I just n—’
She hung up on me.
Half an hour later, I was hurrying down the street, clutching my new eighties windbreaker tightly against the cold wind. Yes, it was horrifically ugly, but I had learned that there were more important things in life than fashion. Not freezing to death was one of them. Who knew?
Not even the cold, though, could stop me from thinking about my conversation with Choden. Nepal! kept flashing in neon pink in my mind. It was crazy, totally crazy. But it might get me closer to my goals. I wanted to be like Ryder. What better way than to train like her?
Ryder.
Suddenly my foot thrashed out and kicked a nearby garbage can. It made a pretty awesome metallic sounding clang. So awesome I kicked it again.
‘Hey!’ somebody yelled.
‘Sorry!’ I shouted back, before continuing on my way.
This was all Ryder’s fault. Showing me what it was like to be awesome, and then cutting me off. Well I say, forget it. No way. It was decided. I wasn’t going anywhere until Ryder told me face to face that we were done. Choden had been a little sketchy on the details of what was going on with her, and that did not sit well with me.
As I got closer to the street that would take me to work, I was finally distracted from my thoughts by the strangest sensation that had been building since a few blocks back. It was hard to put a finger on it, but something in the air of the city felt different today.
I stopped and focused my senses. Hmm. What was it? Everything looked downtown city-like. The alleyway I was currently in was definitely dirty, what with all the overflowing dumpsters. My eyes caught an old newspaper skittering along the pavement. Totally appropriate. I took a sniff. Yup, cat urine and rotten cabbage. That seemed right. But still, there was something … off.
Wait a minute! I knew what it was. Where were all the people? I did a quick scan in all directions. Hmm, no one but me, myself and I. And it was quiet … deathly quiet … except for … what was that? I cocked my head. It sounded like … rushing? Yup, definitely rushing, and, oh boy, it was getting louder. I looked up to the mouth of the alley. People. People running! All in the same direction!
What the hell was going on? I watched the people tear past the slice of space between the buildings. Were they running away from something?
I listened again. No Godzilla footstep sounds in the distance. That was good … and the people, they didn’t seem panicked, really, just in a hurry. I took a tentative step forward. The few people still straggling behind didn’t look scared, but this was definitely not normal human herding behaviour.
The thought suddenly occurred to me that I should probably go home. I didn’t have good luck with strange happenings on city streets. Then I noticed a businessman, walking normally in the opposite direction of the way the people had been running. He didn’t look scared. If anything, he looked kind of annoyed. So obviously death couldn’t be that imminent. I bit my nail, racked with indecision. I did have to get to work, and work was that way. Really, it seemed silly not to at least go check it out. I watched as the number of people racing past dwindled down to nothing. The street at the mouth of the alleyway was completely vacant.
I made a frustrated grunt as my muscles twitched in protest. I wanted to go, but I also wanted to be smart about things for a change. The curiosity, though, was really killing me. I could barely stand it.
Suddenly somebody shouted, ‘Help!’
I ran for the opening in a flash. In fact, I was running so hard I overshot the mouth of the alley and ended up skidding to a stop in the middle of the now empty street.
I caught myself and spun in the direction I had seen the people running. What the …
In front of me, stood at least a hundred people in a grid formation, faces slack.
Uh-oh.
Chapter 12
Eerie silence rolled over me as I stared into the army’s blank faces.
My first thought was, He’s done it. Somehow my father had managed to implant the entire city with his mind-controlling brain chip, but then someone yelled, ‘Help!’ again, and the army of people in front of me did something very strange. Their hips started jerking in unison. I vaguely noticed an older man with a scruffy face shuffle up beside me. He was chewing gum that didn’t do much to cover up the smell of coffee wafting from his mouth.
‘What … what are they doing? I asked, finding it difficult to drag my eyes away from the horde.
He moved his drooping eyes to mine and jerked a thumb. ‘They need help.’
‘Should we call 911?’
‘No,’ he said, smacking me on the arm. ‘Not that kind of help. It’s that song … you know the song.’
‘The song?’
He squinted at me. Just then the music started up. That’s when it all clicked.
Before I knew it, I was hopping up and down and clapping. ‘Flash mob!’
‘She’s alive,’ the man said, shaking his head, before shuffling off.
I watched the now smiling group of people in front of me sing and gyrate. This was great! I had never seen a flash mob before. I once thought maybe one was starting up in a bank, but that just turned out to be robbery. Before I knew it, I was dancing too. Sure, I didn’t have their choreography down, but I could do a shoulder shake with the best of them … although it was kind of awkward standing out in front all by myself.
I looked around. Business people in suits, nannies with strollers, and teenagers looking comically unimpressed dotted the sidewalks. Most already had their phones out. It hit me that I should really get out of the street. Especially considering—I was fairly certain given that most of the phones were pointed at me—that I looked like an idiot. I was about to inconspicuously shuffle my way to the side, but when I turned my face back to the mob, I jolted with surprise when I realised they were almost on me! It was a flash mob parade! I’d never make it to the sidewalk now … but I could lose myself in the crowd. I let the grooving, marching crew swallow me up, and just like that, everything was back to being awesome! The sun was shining. The people all around me were blocking the wind. And I was dancing in the streets!
‘Good times, huh?’ I said to a woman dancing beside me.
She nodded.
‘So what’s all this for?’ I shouted. ‘Charity? Fine Arts School? Proposal?’ I clasped my hands together. ‘Please say it’s a proposal.’
She shook her head no.
‘What then?’ I asked with a smile.
She cocked her head to motion behind her. ‘It’s for Big Shot.’
My body jerked to a stop as my head snapped around.
In the distance, behind all the dancers, was an enormous float made of … of crystal? It didn’t even look like faux plastic crystal. I shielded my eyes against the refracted beams of light it was emanating. There, at the very top tier of the layered crystal cake, stood the man I had seen at the arena in the aviator glasses. But he wasn’t the worst part … oh no, not by far. Planted all over the giant crystal structure were the girls he had at the fight, but this time, they were wearing matching outfits and wigs. I instantly knew who they were supposed to be.
In the most surreal moment of my life—and that’s saying something—I realised I was about to be flattened by a float filled with … with …
… Dancing Bremy St. James-es.
Chapter 13
Numbers of dancers brushed by as I stood staring at the existential monstrosity bearing down on me.
Don’t get me wrong. My life had been filled with a lot of … well … me. It came with the territory of being a St. James. But this felt different somehow. And not a good different.
I eyed the gold plate anchored to the front bumper of the float that read Princess in seventies style script. That had been a signature necklace of mine back in the day when I decided to try out jewellery designing. And by designing, I mean I pointed and said, That one, to the display case presented to me one morning while I lounged in bed. Sold millions of them. The wigs the girls were wearing we
re also cut in a signature style of mine. Those bangs were all the rage two summers ago. The white dresses and strappy sandals too. I tightened my windbreaker around my chest. One of the street dancers suddenly bumped my shoulder. ‘Better move it. You don’t want to get run over by the Bremys.’ I snapped my eyes over to his.
‘Just what the world needed, huh? More Bremy St. James.’
I began to shout something back, but he had moved on. I snapped my mouth shut.
My eyes trailed back up the tiers, Bremy to Bremy, to the very top as the float advanced on me. Finally my eyes landed again on Big Shot. This time he was wearing a dark purple dinner jacket with black lapels. It was a lot for my sensibilities to take. My eyes flitted up to his face. I startled a little when I realised he was already looking at me … smiling.
Again, I felt the sensation of familiarity rush over me. There was just something about him.
Suddenly he reached a hand out to me—an invitation to jump up on the float. I grabbed the flap of my jacket and swirled it to the side to stomp off to the sidewalk. Who did this guy think he was? For that matter, who did I think he was? What the hell was going on here?
Screw this, I thought, pushing my way past the onlookers gathered on the sidewalk. I didn’t have time for this nonsense. But on a deeper level, I knew I just wanted to get away from there. I was feeling very uneasy. Something about this had my father written all over it. It was probably the money. Crystal floats don’t come cheap.
Just then, I heard the screech of a microphone on a loudspeaker. Are we all having a good time?
A resounding, YES! roared back from the crowd, drowning out my sulking, ‘No.’
You know Big Shot likes to have a good time, and today, I want to give a shout out to the biggest party girl of them all, Bremy St. James!
Cheers followed. I stopped. Maybe I could hang out a few minutes longer.
Here’s to you, Bremy, he shouted, raising a champagne flute. Come home, girl. We miss you.
New music started up. This one’s for my girl. I watched as Big Shot began snapping his fingers, and then, of all things, he started singing … ‘Danke Shoen’. ‘Danke Shoen’?
Sidekick Returns Page 8
