by Ben Wise
“Make yourselves at home while I find a map and some paper.” Caitlin yells as she goes searching in another room. “Damn it, I can’t seem to find out any paper.”
“The door opens, go out on balcony if you want,” Caitlin calls out before returning to her search. This may take some time.”
Sliding the glass door open, I step outside; the air is cold, too cold for comfort, yet somehow suitable. Leaning out over the balcony is a new experience for me. I’ve never been this high up before. The city is spread before me, a foreign landscape still brightly lit at this hour.
Allison joins me; she leans against the balcony next to me, silent, waiting patiently, her face unreadable as she looks out over the city. But I can’t find the words to begin talking to her. I don’t understand why she would follow me. Why she would risk helping me.
“We’ll find her,” Allison eventually says.
“How do you know?” I ask.
“No matter what it takes, I will help you find her.”
“Why? Why are you helping me?” I ask.
“You’re not the only person to have lost family to the government.” A momentary flash of anger crosses her face. Up until now she had been completely detached.
“I was thirteen when a patrol of Templars caught my brother and me. He was sixteen. One of the soldiers held a knife to my throat while another raped me. They forced my brother to watch while they took turns. Then, once they were sated, they turned to him and shot him. I still remember his face, the look of shock as his blood poured through his hands.
“Until then, I thought I wasn’t talented. My brother was a kine, just like my mother and father. I thought I was the odd one out; thirteen years old and no hint of any telekinetic talent. That changed that night. I killed them both. With telekinesis I pushed the knife away from my throat. Tore it from his grip. And I stabbed it into them, again and again, until exhaustion finally overwhelmed my fury.
“It was my Master who found me that night, crying next to my brother’s lifeless body. He took me in and he helped me focus. He gave me purpose. I owe him everything. All he asks in return is that I always keep fighting. Never give up. Because you don’t know what fate has in store. You can’t change what will happen, only stare it down resolutely.”
“But all of you are risking so much helping me. Who am I to you? I’m just some random stranger; a nobody. I mean nothing to you. I don’t want more people to get hurt because of me. It might be best if I just give myself up. Organise a trade with the Templars, her for me.
“Don’t be stupid, I would never give up one of us to the government. Never.” She stresses never with bitter surety. “I can’t let them hurt her.”
“You really care about her, don’t you?”
I keep silent for a moment. “I’m just tired of running.”
“We’ll find her, and when we do, there’ll be no more running,” Allison says. “Come back inside. Rest while you can. You look like you need it. ”
She guides me inside and sits me down on Caitlin’s scarlet couch. I curl up in the corner while they organise themselves.
Reunion
“Wake up, wake up”. Somebody is shaking my shoulder. Eyes open. Night still hangs on outside. I must have fallen asleep. Allison is the one trying to wake me. Caitlin stands over a large kitchen table covered in sketches.
“How long was I asleep?” I ask. Not long enough… I feel wrecked. Sleep still has her grasp firmly on my consciousness.
Allison answers. “Two hours or so, maybe three. We didn’t have the heart to wake you.”
Two hours? My heart drops. We’ve got to get out of here.
“How the hell have we managed to stay in one place for two hours? I ask in a panic. “We’ve got to leave, now! They’ll find us here!”
“You know, you panic too quickly.” Caitlin answers with a scowl. “Don’t you think, as an RV’er, that I wouldn’t have some sort of defences against it? I’ve taken steps to prevent others from RV’ing into here. It should keep them busy for a while.”
I look at her confused. “What steps? How can you not be panicking?”
“The walls are all shielded. Anybody walking in here disappears. I assumed that the people tracking you are using you as an anchor. This room blocks any link they might use to track you. In here you vanish into a psychic void. And that’s not the only trick this place has. It also obscures its own location. Anyone that looks too closely is likely to go on a wild goose chase to try and untangle things. It should keep them guessing for a while.”
“Wait, did you say it’ll break the link? What about my sister,” I say in a panic. “You mean I’ve lost the link to my sister? I can’t lose that, that’s all I have to find her.”
“It just blocks people looking in. Once we step out, it should be fine again.”
“Should?”
“Settle down already,” Allison says. “Besides, we have more news on that as well.”
Caitlin continues, “Yeah, we started off tracking Cara, which has been really difficult since they were moving her by vehicle. That made it really hard to get a solid anchor so I struggled to get a decent image. By the time I got a solid picture, they had stopped for the night at some sort of hotel, toward the western outer suburbs that we’ve located on the map and, from that, Allison thinks she knows where they intend to take her. Given how close they are to their likely destination, we are, however, confused why they didn’t just keep going.
“And you have news about my sister? You’ve managed to track her down?” I ask, excited.
They all nod at me, solemn expressions matching.
“What, what’s wrong?”
“Don’t get too hopeful,” Caitlin says. “We’re pretty sure we know where they’re keeping her. And it’s the same place we think they’re taking Cara. Are you familiar with Le Castel Blanc?”
I shake my head.
“Ok, so you know where the Viridis River divides the city and where the Viridian Woods grows along either side?
“Of course, though I’ve only seen the outer suburb side,” I respond.
“Well, secluded within the Viridian Woods, on the inner side, the Templars constructed their high command centre, Le Castel Blanc. The place is a damn fortress, it’s a modern castle. We’re better off getting my sister back before they take her there. It’ll be much easier to hit her captors before that get to that compound, but we’ll need to do it quickly.”
“And how do we do that?” I ask, wondering how us three are going to manage that.
“We get help,” Allison says. “Once she’s safe, we can work out how to get your sister out.”
Will they even help me once we’ve gotten Cara back? I stand up and walk across to the table. Some of the sketches in front of Caitlin show different up-close images of a massive stone or perhaps concrete fortress, a modern take on castle. Some of the sketches show the castle from a distance in its surrounds, the thick grove of evergreen pine trees that make up the Viridian Woods, while others still focus in on the soldiers guarding the walls with automatic rifles.
It doesn’t look like the sort of place you’d just walk up to and ask to be let in. Though what did I expect really?
“That place looks impenetrable. How the hell do we get in there?”
Nem picks that moment to fly in through the glass wall. She morphs as she flies through the air until she settles sitting on the edge of the table as a human, hands holding on to the edge and with feet swinging merrily, like a child.
“Oh, that’s simple. You walk in through the front door,” she says. You can almost see her smug smile.
Allison and Caitlin look at her incredulously.
“That sounds as far from simple as it gets. Caitlin’s pictures show them armed. And I’m sure they’ll be quite willing to point those guns at us if we try walking in through the front door.” I say cynically. “You’re kidding, right?”
“I don’t know why you doubt yourself so much. You’d be perfectly capable of d
oing it if you bothered to think about it a little,” Nem says. “If you’re smart, you might consider not killing those holding Cara captive, perhaps gain some valuable information. Maybe even score yourselves a few uniforms, hmm?”
With eyes open in wonder, Caitlin’s first thoughts of the situation are succinct. “I’m not even going to ask; at least she speaks the truth.”
Nem climbs onto the tabletop and clambers, on hands and knees, over to the map. “So show me on the map where they’re holding Cara.”
Caitlin points. “It’s this building. We think it must be some sort of government-run hotel or holding house or something.”
Nem shifts back to her crow form on the table, and hops to the edge. “Ok, I’m going to go check it out. It shouldn’t take long to get there, as the crow flies.” And leaving us with that corny joke, she flies off through the glass wall.
“Ok, please tell me what the hell that was!” Caitlin exclaims.
“Who the hell was that, is the more correct question. That was Nem. And if she hears you call her a ‘what’ she’s liable to kill you.”
Allison takes a step back from the table. “I’m heading out to get us some help. We’re going to need it if we’re going to pull this off. I’ll be back in no more than an hour. If I’m not back by then, get out of here.” She walks across to me and looks me in the eyes. “You’ll be ok. If we’re going to do this, we’re going to need help. I don’t expect any problems, but if there are, just get out of here. While you wait for Nem to come back we could do with a bit more information on what we’re getting into. Try and find out anything else you can about the people holding Cara.”
She walks quickly from the room, leaving me wondering what to do now.
Caitlin seems intent on whatever it is that she’s doing, unconcerned with Allison leaving. Lifting a pencil up, her brow goes taut in concentration while her eyes stare through the paper in front of her. She shakes her head and looks at me, worry filling her face. Worry turns to frustration as she slams the pencil against the table. Half of the snapped pencil rolls towards me.
“Why am I having so much trouble seeing this?”
“What’s wrong?” I ask.
“I just can’t seem to get a clear picture. I’ve never have this much of an issue. Everything is blurry.” She shakes her head.
“You’re worried about your sister,” I try to reassure her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. “It’s little wonder you’re having trouble concentrating.”
“Maybe,” she responds, unconvinced.
The silence that follows is awkward. Not that there’s anything I can really do to help her. It’s an awkward walk back to the couch, trying to avoid looking too useless. I stare up at the night sky, thinking of nothing else but Cara; the stars offer no suggestions. Night, the black void, absorbs all my thoughts.
Or maybe not. I bounce back to the table excited. “Are you able to explain to me how you do it?” I ask her. “Maybe I can help?”
She gives me a look that shows very clearly I should stop annoying her and she doesn’t believe me. Regardless, she’s polite enough to explain it to me anyway.
“I really don’t know how to explain it very well. I just think of the person or object and a link seems to form between us. It helps a lot if I know roughly where the objects or person is because then in my head I can guide the link as it forms. If I follow that link in my mind by, I don’t know, projecting myself out, pictures will flash into my head, showing me things as if I were hovering over that object. I’ve learnt to hold those pictures in my mind long enough to sketch them. It’s hard to keep steady, but I’ve learnt to control my position a little so I can get closer or further away and see more of the surroundings. Hopefully, from those images I’ll be able to recognise a location or be able to sketch a decent map of the building,” she patiently explains to me.
“When I was taught about using my abilities, there was a point where I needed to…” my face twists up as I struggle for the right words, “I don’t know, push the image in my head from imaginary into reality. Is there the same thing with you?”
“Yeah definitely,” she nods to me. “It’s at the point when I project myself out. Hah. That’s weird; I’ve never thought about it before, it just happens.”
The thought must have helped because after a quick smile in acknowledgement she sets herself back to sketching with new fervour. At least I can bring a smile to her face.
Pencil in hand, I can do this. Forget the fact that you can’t draw for shit. Eyes closed. Concentrate on Cara. Picture the bond form between us. Ok, now push out with my mind.
The next moments are a rush. How can I describe it? It feels like I’m floating, yet moving at a speed of hundreds of kilometres an hour. Such an amazing feeling. The earth rushes up to meet me, the world becoming clearer and clearer as an image of a place forms in my mind.
For a moment everything becomes clear. Cara stares directly back at me, almost as if she can see me. I see her kneeling in the center of the room with hands tied behind her back. She looks so scared.
Then it goes horrible wrong. My vision turns bright white as heavy static fills my ears. Then the pain comes. I bang my head against the table as the pain cuts me in half. The pain of hitting my head doesn’t even register against the fire of every nerve in my brain burning from the inside out.
“Break the connection! Break the damn connection!”
Everything turns black.
I come to, as somebody shakes me a little too vigorously for the massive headache I now have. “Hey, wake up, wake up.” I open my eyes to a worried-looking Caitlin hovering over me. Somebody has moved me to the couch.
“What happened?” I ask.
“I don’t know,” Caitlin says, “You were standing over the table, then you fell suddenly, whacked your head on the table and passed out. You seemed ok, so I moved you to the couch to recover. What happened?”
“I really don’t know. I saw Cara, briefly, for just a second. Then everything started hurting.”
“You saw her?” Caitlin asks excitedly. “Tell me what you saw,”
“Didn’t you?” I ask. Surely she was able to see her when she was viewing herself.
The look she gives me says otherwise. “No, I wasn’t able to. Like I said, it was all blurry. No matter how hard I tried, I just couldn’t focus.”
Allison walks across to me. “Welcome back to the world of the living. You were out for quite a while. I brought help.”
With a firm grip on my arm, she pulls me up. For the second time today I find myself in standing in front of Erik. He looks less than impressed.
“When Allison insisted on my help but wouldn’t tell me for what, I had to know that somehow you were going to be involved.
Allison gives him a friendly push. “And yet you’re still here. Be honest, the more fucked the situation, the more you enjoy it.”
Erik grabs the map while slipping her a sly smile. “If what you say is true, then they must have had some sort of protection around her. Shit, if you’ve tripped something, they’ve probably worked out that we know where they are. We need to move now if we’re to have any chance of catching them. Grab whatever else you think might help. Did you see how many of them there were?”
“No, I didn’t see any actually. It happened so quickly that I’m struggling to remember what I did see. The place wasn’t very big though. There couldn’t have been more than a couple in there.”
“Hmm, it sounds a little too easy. I guess we’ll just have to wing it and hope there isn’t more. Just to make sure, this motel that they’re at, it’s single storey yes?” he asks. “We want to avoid contact with the public if at all possible, obviously.”
“Speaking of contact, has Nem been back?” I ask. “She should have returned by now.”
“She’s able to find you, right? Hopefully she’s able to catch up to us.”
“I’m not sure. I guess so. I’d rather not leave without her though.”
Al
lison twists her face up, irritated. “We don’t have time to wait for her. What about you Caitlin? I know this kind of stuff isn’t really your thing.”
“Are you kidding? I need to be there for my sister. There’s no way in hell you’re leaving without me.” She says.
Erik cuts in before Allison can argue against it. “Whatever, this is wasting time. We really need to go folks.”
He leads us down more stairs than I remember there being when we came. Geez I really must have been tired when we got here. Waiting for us in the building car park is, what is becoming my usual transport, a dark van. Heavily tinted windows at the front and no windows at the back, it’s impossible to see into the van, which lends it a distinctly sinister look.
Allison opens the back of the van for Caitlin and me. I’m first to jump in the back. Caitlin is barely through the door before Allison slams the sliding door shut and jumps into the front seat. She leans back and passes a black military style sub machine gun to me from a well-worn duffle bag.
“What the fuck am I supposed to do with this?” I ask, more frightened by it than anything else.
Erik leans back and points towards the barrel. “You point this end at the bad guys and look serious. Let’s hope that’s all it takes.”
Fantastic, I can’t see this going wrong at all. The gun steel is icy cold and a lot heavier than expected. A metaphor for the mess I’ve gotten myself into. I hold it nervously as Erik pulls the van out of the parking lot.
With no side windows, it’s difficult to get an idea of how long we drive towards this place. Then again, I didn’t think to ask exactly where this place was. This is far too unplanned for my liking. But the thought of losing Cara is terrifying. I won’t lose her; not to those soldiers, not to anyone.
Caitlin looks so unemotional sitting across from me. Yet, under the mask, she struggles to hide her fears. In a way, it makes her seem more fragile. Like the mask will shatter at any moment and she’ll fall apart. I hope she holds.
