Rhys made a gesture with her hand, still smiling.
“Nothing,” she said, laughing.
“Oh, come on. I know you enough to know you want to tell me something.”
Rhys opened his eyes wide.
“Do you really know me enough?”
“Well,” Eve said. “You remind me enough, I have to admit.” She chuckled before adding, “And you're one of the few people I can afford to be myself with. Also, I have wanted to ask you something.”
“Oh yeah?” Rhys raised an eyebrow. “What is it?”
Eve cleared her voice a little.
“About Cassie. What did you say to that ear in the cemetery that day?”
Rhys widened his eyes, still smiling.
“I told her that one day she would be beautiful like her mother,” she said nostalgically. “She would be so good and intelligent, and loving. She would be happy, beloved.”
For a long minute neither of them spoke. The training room was in perpetual silence. Eve picked up the thermos again and took another sip of water.
“Yes, I had a question to ask you,” Rhys said. Her expression was indecipherable, impassive; her eyes were down, where she held her hands. “Because you did?” She looked up. “Why did you help him escape?”
The answer was simple.
“I made a promise to his mother that night at the hospital,” she said. “I promised that I would take care of it.”
“But do not you think you did the opposite?”
“Don’t.” That answer was not as easy as the previous one, but it came out naturally. The certain thing was that its security with respect to the decision to help to escape to Caleb oscillated between the tremendously stupid and the immensely sensible thing. She thought that Caleb would be safe in Wisconsin, that he knew how to take care of himself and that he could also take care of his sister. Then it was said that the pyxis could easily locate him, kill his uncles, his sister and him included. “I know that part of me feels that I have done the right thing.”
“And the other part?”
Rhys was staring at her intently.
“The other part...” Evelyn paused and sighed. “What would happen to me if the other party did not have any doubts?”
* * *
The laboratory was dimly lit that day; the meager light conferred a cold sensation on the atmosphere. Eve rubbed her hands for a bit of heat. She was a little nervous. They were all gathered in the wide space where Sally was, waiting for the news from the professor. Apparently—that night—the time machine received two messages from the future with important news.
Evelyn and the agents waited expectantly for professor Kerr to enter the room. While that was happening, the silence that remained was as sharp as the cold. Tadhg remained painfully inhibited by Evelyn’s presence; his icy attitude made her nervous. She wanted to go to him and slap him; although maybe that would make things worse.
“Never before have so many messages been received,” Dawit commented jovially.
“It’s only two.” Juno’s tone was harsher. She looked at the ceiling and left the view there. “I was with the professor when the first message of the future arrived,” she said. He read it instantly. His expression gave me to understand that something was not right. He didn’t allow me to browse the content.”
“And when did you receive the second one?” Asked Eve; she until then had believed that they both arrived at the same time.
“This morning.” Juno was still staring at the ceiling. “That time his expression was a poem, and not a good one.” She chuckled.
Steps were heard approaching the open space where the five gathered. Professor Kerr appeared on the arm of his wife Claire. Kerr’s step was irregular due to the weight of the metal prosthesis that made the leg. In addition, on his face was the trace of a poor dream the night before; his eyes were tired and his step, apart from irregular, was also tiring. Juno made a gesture to bring the chair to her grandfather, but he raised a hand to stop, very serious. Juno, dismayed, left the chair in the same place and remained quiet and quiet with Rhys and Evelyn.
“As you already know,” Kerr began, with a terse tone, “I've received a couple of messages from the future.” He sighed deeply. “None good, I'm afraid. The future men are still in danger of a Great Catastrophe.”
As they were few, instead of a bustle before the commotion of the news, only silence was heard. Eve crossed her first look with Tadhg after several days. The ice blue eyes passed over her in an impassive tone before turning back to the professor.
“How?” He asked Kerr.
“I am afraid that the messages of the future are very much closed and do not delve into details. The second message, the one I received this morning, only read: “The Great Catastrophe continues.” Shrugged. “It's all it said.”
“That means that the pyxis are still among us, right?” Rhys asked.
“Yes,” Kerr replied confidently. “They are still among us. And they will continue to attack in the coming days.”
“What does it mean?” They heard Tadhg say; his arms were folded in front of the imposing chest and a scowl as if he could not. For the second time his eyes met Eve's, this time charged with reproach. “The message you received last night, what it say?”
The professor exchanged a brief look with his wife.
“A new mission,” she reported. “Apparently a girl in the East Village will be in serious trouble after tomorrow night. Her name is...” She paused to brood. “Helen McGraw. Do you know her?”
“Helen,” Dawit muttered. “It is the mother of Jo Queslove.” He looked at the other agents with wide eyes.
“Who is Queslove?” Eve asked.
She remembered that they had been told about him before, without many details.
“Queslove is one of the agency’s most experienced agents,” Rhys said. “He would be here instead of us if Rob had not intervened on our behalf.” She brushed a golden strand of hair from her face, and added in a carefree voice. “Apparently, the pyxis continue with their plan to attack the parents of the most important among our own.”
“Rob,” thought Evelyn. Her other son, the firstborn. She asked who he looked like. If Tadhg was a younger version of his maternal grandfather and Rhys that of her paternal grandmother, then Rob...
Her thought was interrupted when she heard Tadhg’s voice.
“Then we must decide who will go to the mission,” he said. “Right now.”
“Because right now?” Juno asked, her brow wrinkled.
Tadhg watched her with frightening eyes.
“Why not?” He replied.
“In that case,” Rhys said, “I propose that this mission be the first for Evelyn.”
There was a moment of silence.
Tadhg turned slowly towards his sister.
“Not a joke,” he said. “She is not ready for this mission, and I doubt she will one day be for any other.”
“Shut your mouth, Tadhg!” Dawit exclaimed. “She is ready to become Fury. She just need an opportunity.” He raised a hand, smiling. “I support Rhys’ proposal.”
He looked at Juno.
“You'll see,” she said. “I still haven’t had the opportunity to be in charge of a mission, but I am willing to give up this one just to make a bad move to Tadhg.” She raised an eyebrow with devilry.
“I also agree,” added the professor, raising a hand, which was not holding his hand.
“And I,” Claire said.
Someone snorted rudely. It was Tadhg.
When Evelyn turned, Tadhg came out of the room very hunched at a fast pace and with a very straight back, clenching his hands at his sides.
The place was silent. Evelyn felt worse than a while ago. Juno approached Rhys and whispered something in her ear. Rhys stared at Eve and approached her with a worried expression; she put her arm around the girl’s shoulders and muttered something unintelligible to calm the terrible compunction that,
surely, Evelyn had sketched in her face.
The professor cleared his throat.
“There's a problem,” he commented, worried, when they all looked at him. “The address of Helen McGraw does not appear in the message.”
“There is someone who does know where to find Helen,” Rhys said, very serious.
“Who?”
Rhys turned to Evelyn.
“I?” Said this one.
“No, you don’t.” Rhys smiled. “Your father.”
“My dad…?” Eve frowned. “Why would my father know where...?” She was interrupted.
Suddenly, she knew the answer.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
The next day, Evelyn was sitting on one of the huge rocks of Central Park when it began to snow thinly. The sky was pale gray, almost white. The clearing—that surrounded the rocky mounds—was covered by a white blanket of snow. Eve sighed, admiring the white and immaculate environment, and a white mist came out of her mouth like an ethereal cloud.
After a while, she heard some movements behind her. Tabita sat down with her, uttering a guttural sigh; she pulled down the hood of the dark jacket and looked from one side to the other, until she stopped her in Evelyn with dissimulation.
“This will be our meeting place, huh?” She commented, and looked back to the front.
Despite her dark complexion, Tabita had pale cheeks and white lips because of the cold that reigned in the atmosphere. However, she looked impeccable; the ripples of her dark hair did not change when she removed the hood, from a suede jacket that went with her casual shoes. That was the Tabita she knew: fun, elegant, beautiful and carefree. Her friend.
“I missed you, too,” Evelyn replied.
Tabita snorted a giggle.
“You know what I mean,” she said. “I thought that the places of our meetings would alternate; they are already in the same place twice. Perhaps your persecutors soon discover where to find you.” Her voice was full of impetus. “Have you ever thought about it?”
“You’re right,” she recognized; without seeing her, she placed her hand on Tabita’s. “And I appreciate it.”
Their looks met.
“Yes, of course I missed you too.” She sighed laughingly. “These months have been difficult without you. I’ve seen myself alone in the high school dining room.” She shrugged and looked straight ahead, serious, embarrassed. “The other day Tariq approached.”
“Tariq?” Evelyn repeated, absorbed.
Tabita giggled. Tariq was Caleb’s best friend. Tariq was one of the most attractive boys in high school. Tariq was not a good influence. Tariq was going out with Ivvy. And Tariq would be Dawit’s father in the future.
“Yes, I know,” said Tabita in a voice sharpened by emotion. “It’s amazing, isn’t it?”
Evelyn nodded.
“And what did he want?” She asked.
“He wonder about you. I was alone at a table, apart. Until then I had not realized the few true friends I have.” She shook her head and smiled again. “Whatever; I didn’t know what to tell him. I shrugged, waiting for him to move away. It did not. He sat next to me and began to tell me that Caleb had also disappeared mysteriously the night of the opening of the edom.” She frowned, looked at Evelyn, and asked, “Do you know anything about that?”
Eve shrugged.
She had never hidden anything from Tabita, much less lied. But it was not wise to tell her that Caleb had spent the last few months with her in that secret place she could not talk about. So she chose to imitate Tabita: she shrugged, hoping she would continue what she had been saying. It worked.
“Anyway.” Tabita made a gesture with her hand, as if frightening a butterfly that flew between them. “Our talk continued beyond the strange disappearances of our best friends. He invited me to go out. We like Chinese food, so he took me to a nice little restaurant in Chinatown.”
“How did that happen?” Evelyn replied.
“One month ago.”
“Then have you been dating for a month?”
“More or less, yes. How did you know?”
Eve shrugged, laughing. She noticed that it had stopped snowing. There were people walking the clearing. Beyond were the trees, dark and bare, where other people were hidden. Eve immediately turned her gaze away so Tabita would not go over that place.
“What happened to Ivvy?” She asked.
“Two months ago they finished. Ivvy... Well...” She paused, looked away, and sighed. “Soon after, they found her mysteriously dead.”
“Dead?” Evelyn tried to disguise the shock of the news; she had begun to attribute all the mysterious deaths to the Pyxis since she learned of their existence. “How?”
“I do not know.” Tabita shrugged.” And I prefer not to know the scabrous details of her death. But some people say it was...” she swallowed, “dismembered.”
During the next minute it was as if Central Park was silent.
“Tariq has not yet overcome it,” Tabita continued after a minute. “For that reason I still do not dare to define my relationship with Tariq.” She repeated repeatedly. “Now that I remember it, the death of Caleb’s mother was very unfortunate.”
Evelyn looked at her.
“I heard that Caleb appeared on the day of the funeral. Tariq told me that a few days ago he stopped by his house to say goodbye, because he was going to Wisconsin with his uncles and his sister, and he did not give any explanation about his disappearance”. The look Tabita gave Eve was growing more intense, as if she were trying to tell her something from below. “At least now we know where he is.”
Eve tensed.
“Will you ever come back?” Tabita asked. “To your life, I want to say.”
“I don’t know.”
“They are close?”
“Yes. They protect me.”
“Whose?”
“Not from whom,” thought Eve, “but what?”
“People,” she said instead, though she actually meant things instead of people, “like Doctor Silence. Have you seen him again?”
Tabita frowned.
“Don’t,” she said. “Who is Doctor Silence?”
“I'm afraid that I do not know either, Tabita. But I do know that it is someone very dangerous.”
* * *
After a long conversation about the dates she had had with Tariq in recent weeks, Tabita said goodbye to Evelyn. They did not hug each other, no; they did not say goodbye or see you later. It was like a casual encounter between two strangers. Tabita nodded before getting to her feet, gave her a sly smile, and climbed down from the rock. Evelyn watched her walk away.
When Tabita was no longer within her visual field, Evelyn stood up and pulled the hood of her black jacket up in a carefree motion. She descended from the rock as easily as she had raised it. She walked through the clearing to find the clear path when it began to snow heavily.
The man in black emerged from the shade of a tree. He was tall, stocky and mysterious; he walked as fast and as cavalierly as he could, so as not to attract attention and reach Evelyn’s lightened pace. She did not flinch when he appeared at her side, having expected him to do it once her encounter with Tabita was over.
“How was it?” Dawit asked.
“All right. I suppose.” Eve shrugged.
“I think it was good.”
“Because what you say?”
“Well,” said Dawit, basting a broad grin from ear to ear. “For starters, they were not attacked by the pyxis. I thought you would choose a safer place. Tadhg will kill me when he finds out that I brought you here again.”
“Again.” Apparently, mother and son thought alike: meeting in the same place twice was a terrible idea.
Evelyn sighed.
“Then we did well,” she said dispassionately.
“What did she say?”
“Who?”
Eve was distracted thinking about the mission she was going to perform the fo
llowing night. Dawit was about to answer, when she remembered who she was talking about.
“She told me many,” Evelyn said. It was the only thing he was going to say, but she saw the disappointment covering Dawit’s face like a shadow, and added: “Most about your father.”
Dawit's face brightened again.
“And what did she tell you about my father?” He asked, vibrant with curiosity, his eyes shining.
“They have started dating. Your appointments.” She inhaled deeply, arched her eyebrows, and emphasized as she added, “And some very intimate things you would not want to know.”
Dawit also raised his eyebrows.
“Yes. Better not to know,” he said, shaking his head from side to side; he looked straight ahead. “At least my birth is insured. Thank you.”
At that word, Evelyn realized that she had kept walking even when Dawit had stopped walking. She returned the pair of steps towards him.
“Thank you,” he repeated, and put his hands on Eve’s shoulders. “Thanks for doing this for me.” He pulled her to him and gave her a vehement hug that Evelyn, belatedly, reciprocated. They separated and resumed the road; she a little nervous and moved, and he excited.
“Well,” Dawit said when they were a few meters from the Central Park exit. “My mother is hot...”
Evelyn rolled her eyes.
“Shut up, Dawit!” She snapped.
And they laughed.
* * *
Evelyn’s house in Brooklyn was the next stop. After the events of the first day of fury, the Agency welcomed Evelyn’s father. A week later, the agents felt it was prudent to let the governor's chief of security resume his activities, as well as return to his former home. However, this did not represent that he would be unprotected from the pyxis—No—Mr. White would be highly guarded by the security men of the agency he presided over, while the agents of the future would have a small share in his protection, making night rounds and visits of subtle rigor.
Tadhg and Rhys, for obvious reasons, never participated in those visits. Even Evelyn was denied the privilege of reuniting with her father from time to time for her own safety, as poor Dawit said.
Poor, because he had fallen into Evelyn’s trap; in the net of words that she wove in order to persuade him to take her, even for once, to see her father. For a moment, Evelyn felt a little pity for Dawit. After all, he was right: Tadhg would kill him if he found out where he had taken her that day.
Days of Fury (Future Men Series Book 1) Page 25
