by Mazhar, S
Rose nodded, willing her tears to stay back. “I’m sorry,” she said in a small voice.
“There’s no need to be,” Mary replied. Her grip on Rose’s shoulder tightened. “Time is the best healer, Rose. Have faith in it.” She smiled. “One day this place, this realm, will be your home and you’ll be happy here. I promise.”
Rose didn’t say anything, but her pained expression showed her disbelief.
“Go. Rest.” Mary pulled her hand away. “I’ll see you bright and early tomorrow.”
Rose looked to the messy table. “I should help clear up,” she said. “I haven’t been much help otherwise.”
Mary looked surprised at her comment, but she stopped Rose. “No, it’s okay,” she said.
“But–”
“It’s cool,” Aaron said, stepping up beside her. “I’ll take your shift and clean up.”
Sam didn’t say anything but headed towards the table. He took a tray and started loading up the dishes. Aaron sent the reluctant Rose towards their cottage and began helping clear the table.
The whole walk up to the cottage, Rose kept looking back, seeing Aaron and Sam do her job. She knew, though, if she went back they wouldn’t let her do anything. With a resigned sigh, she walked into the cottage. The lamps were already on. Kyran had made a habit of leaving a few lamps on in every room – for their benefit, of course.
Rose trudged up the stairs, feeling exhausted. Her breakdown had really drained her. Who knew crying could take so much out of a person? She noticed the door to the third room was slightly ajar, but she couldn’t be bothered to close it.
She walked into her room, rubbing at her eyes, but stopped at the sight of the bag on her bed. She blinked at it, surprised by its sudden appearance. There was nothing on Sam or Aaron’s bed, save for a few books they had been reading, but in the middle of her bed sat a little blue plastic bag with the handles knotted.
Hesitantly, Rose approached her bed and picked up the bag. She undid the knot only to stare in surprise at the contents. She reached in and pulled out a handful of chocolate bars. The bag was filled with bars of chocolate, ones she recognised from the human realm: Mars bars, Bounty, Kit Kat, Snickers, Twix and about a dozen others. Rose stared at them in shock.
She turned at the sound of footsteps coming from the third room. Kyran, still clad in his jacket, crossed past her door. He paused, catching sight of her, the bag in her hands. Rose didn’t say anything. The truth was, she couldn’t find the clarity of mind to speak. She stared at Kyran, stunned that he had gone to the human realm just to get her chocolate.
Kyran smiled, and walked away without saying a word.
17
Like Father Like Son
Over the next few days, the individual groups of Hunters began taking their leave, having recovered from the effects of the full moon and the Q-Zone hunt. Their departure was just as loud as their arrival had been, with all the Hunters joyfully meeting everyone with promises of returning soon.
Zulf’s team was the last to leave. Aaron was pleasantly surprised when Zulf took the time to bid him goodbye. No other Hunter had paid him much notice. Zulf clasped Aaron’s hand in his own big, strong one and shook it.
“Stick around, kid.” He grinned broadly. “Things might just get interesting with you here.”
Aaron stood back to see everyone else say goodbye to Zulf. Even Skyler shook Zulf’s hand. Zulf met Kyran last, embracing like brothers who didn’t know if they would see each other again. Clapping a hand on Kyran’s shoulder, Zulf regarded him at arm’s length.
“You’re not going into another Q-Zone,” he said strictly. “Not without me, understand?”
Kyran smirked back.
They hugged one last time before Zulf climbed onto his green and black Kawasaki Ninja bike and led his group of Hunters out of the Gate. The door sealed for the final time that day and Salvador was left feeling rather empty.
***
Aaron was pretty sure the moment the cottages were empty, Kyran was going to kick him and his friends out. He was therefore rather surprised when he found Kyran didn’t say anything to him. Wanting to make sure they wouldn’t be made homeless again in the middle of the night, Aaron sought out Jason to request a cottage, only to be told that the cottages were being cleaned thoroughly before anyone could move into them.
“You really took Rose’s words to heart,” Aaron said.
“Aye, well.” Jason scratched his head. “She ha’ a point.”
Aaron nodded. “How long will it take?”
“Few days, th’ee at the most,” Jason assured.
Aaron nodded. “Okay.”
Jason was about to walk away when he stopped and turned back to Aaron with a smile.
“I bet you jus’ make yerself com’ortable with the per’ect cottage and yer folks’ll come back, wantin’ to leave.” He walked away chuckling to himself.
Aaron’s heart jolted at the thought of his parent’s return. He wished with all his might that what Jason said came true. Six weeks had passed since his parents left him in Salvador. Six weeks. Aaron couldn’t help the shiver that ran down his spine. They should be back by now, the voice in the back on his mind whispered over and over again, sending a spike of pain through his heart. Negotiating with Neriah couldn’t possibly take six weeks, could it?
Aaron had spent every waking moment around his mum and dad. He knew his parents – knew what they were like, what they were capable of. He knew, believed with every fibre of his being, that leaving him alone in a strange place for six long weeks with no communication was something his parents were not capable of doing. The thought had been niggling at Aaron, stealing the sleep from his eyes. He had found himself clutching onto the worn, tattered letter at night, praying his parents were okay, as Sam and Rose slept soundly in the beds next to him.
Sitting at the table waiting for breakfast, Aaron couldn’t hide his dejected mood. His fingers traced the edges of the letter as he told himself repeatedly that his parents were okay, that nothing ill had befallen them, that they would return soon. He felt Rose’s hand close over one of his, making him look up at her.
She smiled tightly at him. “You okay?” she asked.
Aaron nodded.
Rose eyed the letter hesitantly. “Don’t worry,” she whispered. “They’ll be back soon.”
Aaron didn’t say anything.
“You know what I’ve been thinking?” Kyran’s question distracted Rose and Aaron. Both turned to look at him, but he was walking to Ella.
“What?” Ella asked.
“Why we don’t interrogate demons?”
Ella raised her eyebrows, a slow grin crossed her face. “You playing?”
“No, I’m serious,” Kyran said. “Think about it. We could halve our problems if we got the information out of demons rather than relying on Lurkers.”
“Yeah?” Ryan asked. “And how exactly do we do that? We can’t bring demons into safe zones since they can’t pass the Gates.”
“I know that,” Kyran said, “but we can question them in their zones.”
“We could,” Ella said, “but just the once.” She leant forward with angry lines on her brow. “Come on, Kyran! We barely have the time to get in and kill the filth and you want to hang around demanding answers from them?”
“I didn’t say we had to ask them questions.” Kyran replied coolly. “I’m talking about taking the information, not asking for it.”
Ella sat back, frowning at him. “How would that work?”
“How else?” Kyran smiled. “Focus, find the flap and pull it open.”
“These aren’t flesh memories, Kyran,” Ella said. “You can’t just lift the flap on demons.”
“How do you know?” Kyran asked. “I say we should try it next time.”
“Fine,” Ella sighed. “Next time we have a demon and we’re feeling particularly suicidal, we’ll test out your theory.”
“Is all I’m asking.” Kyran held up both hands, smiling.
Alan appeared at the head of the table, ready to lay out the dishes. “Morning, y’all,” he said.
Everyone returned Alan’s greeting, everyone except Aaron. He was still staring at Kyran, his mind reeling. Quite abruptly, Aaron got up and practically ran back to his cottage, the letter clutched in hand. If he had looked back, he would have found a smirking Kyran watching him.
***
Aaron closed the door and sat down on his bed. He held the folded, crumpled paper in both hands, forcing out several breaths before his heart rate slowed to an even pace. He thought about what Kyran had said. Focus, find the flap and pull it open.
What did that even mean? Aaron forced out another breath and closed his eyes, rolling his shoulders. Focus. He could do that. He had to focus. On what? came the question. Aaron felt the coarse paper between his hands and he concentrated on it. He brought up the mental image of the letter, complete with all its creases and water damage. His fingers felt every crimp in the paper, the rough sharpness of the edges.
Find the flap and pull it open.
Kyran’s voice echoed in his head.
Aaron didn’t have the faintest clue what that meant. He sat for long minutes, trying to find the flap. In his mind, he imagined the letter had a little overlapping corner. He tried to visualise it, so he could pull it away and reveal the memory hidden inside.
Footsteps rushed up the stairs before his door was slammed open.
“Aaron?”
Opening his eyes, he saw both Sam and Rose at the threshold, staring at him.
“What was that?” Sam asked, walking over to him. “Why’d you leave the table?”
“What happened?” Rose asked. “You ran off like a shot.”
“The memories,” Aaron replied, holding up the letter. “The flesh memories – the ones Alan was talking about. I know how to get to them. Well, I mean, I’m trying to get them.”
Sam frowned. “What are you talking about?”
“You want to see the memory attached to the letter?” Rose asked. “Why?”
“’Cause maybe that memory will tell me what’s going on.” Aaron said. His brow creased and eyes clouded with worry. “It’s been six weeks, Rose. They should have come back by now.”
Sam stiffened, like he always did when Aaron mentioned his parents, but Rose walked over and sat next to him.
“I know it seems like a really long time,” she said, “but considering they’re negotiating their stay here, it’s bound to take some time.”
“If that’s even the case,” Aaron said. “Zulf only thinks they’ve gone to see this Neriah guy, but I don’t know if that’s true.” He held up the letter. “Maybe when they were writing this, they talked about what they were going to do, where they were going, how long they were planning to be away.” He held her gaze. “I need to know what’s going on, Rose. It’s driving me crazy.”
Rose nodded in understanding. “Have you seen the...the memory thing yet?”
“No,” Aaron replied. “I can’t get it to work.”
“What do you have to do?” Sam asked, his voice uncharacteristically quiet.
Aaron stared at the letter. “Kyran said to focus, find the flap and pull it open.”
Rose and Sam frowned.
“What does that mean?” Rose asked.
“I think I have to imagine there’s a flap on this.” Aaron held out the folded paper. “And if I pull it open, I’m opening the lid to the memories stored in it. Alan said I had to unlock the memories, so I’m not sure if pulling the flap is unlocking them.”
The twins just stared at him.
“I’m confused,” Sam said, blinking like he was seeing spots. “You have to imagine a flap and then pull it open?”
“Yeah,” Aaron replied.
“That’s...” Sam grimaced. “...stupid. Where did you hear that?”
“At the table,” Aaron said. “Kyran mentioned it when he was talking to Ella.”
“I didn’t hear him,” Sam said.
“That’s because you were too busy staring at Ella,” Rose said. “Seriously, Sam, she’s going to kick your ass one of these days if you don’t stop ogling her.”
“I wasn’t ogling her,” Sam said defensively. “I was paying her attention. It’s called being a good listener.”
“So why’d you not hear her talk about flesh memories?” Aaron smirked.
Sam threw him a furious look but refrained from answering.
Rose turned back to Aaron. “Why don’t you ask someone what to do?” she suggested.
“I asked Alan but he doesn’t know how to explain it,” Aaron replied. “And I asked Kyran but he was a git about it.”
“Really?” Rose said.
“Why the tone of surprise?” Aaron asked.
“No, it’s just...” She shifted on the bed, dropping her gaze. “I just thought Kyran would help you, that’s all.”
“Why would he help Aaron?” Sam asked.
“Just...’cause.” Rose was starting to blush. “You know, compared to the rest, Kyran isn’t so...so....”
“Bad?” Aaron suggested with a slow smile. “You think Kyran’s not bad?”
“Comparatively speaking,” Rose said. Her neck, cheeks and nose were pink now as she averted her gaze. “Anyway, we better go to get breakfast before it’s all gone.”
“Before breakfast’s gone or...Kyran’s gone?” Aaron teased.
“Oh, shut up,” Rose said, but her eyes flashed with amusement just the same.
“I don’t like this,” Sam warned, walking behind Rose, following her out of the room. “Kyran is bad news. All mages are bad news.”
“Um, hello?” Aaron called, gesturing to himself.
“You’re not a mage,” Sam said. “You’re Aaron. I’m talking about the prats out there.”
“Like Ella?” Rose countered.
“She’s different,” Sam said defensively.
“Uh-huh,” Rose mocked.
Aaron got up from his bed and pocketed the letter. He was going to try to unlock the memories later on. Preferably when his friends couldn’t distract him.
***
The good thing about working in the Stove, Rose decided, was that it was so busy there wasn’t much time for idle talk. For this, Rose was grateful. Ever since her breakdown, or crash as Mary put it, Rose had felt so ashamed she could barely meet Mary’s eyes, let alone talk to her. So it was to Rose’s great discomfort that Mary sought her out this morning.
“How are you finding things?” Mary asked with her usual gentle smile.
“Fine,” Rose replied, keeping her gaze on the carrots she was peeling.
“I was thinking,” Mary started, “about what you said–”
“Mother Mary.” Rose turned to look at her. “I’m sorry. I said a lot of stupid things that day.”
“No, no.” Mary shook her head. “It wasn’t stupid. Nothing about what you said that day was stupid. You got your feelings out and that’s never a bad thing.” She paused for a moment, staring at Rose intently. “I was just wondering if there’s anything you enjoyed cooking, before coming to Salvador?”
“I wasn’t in the kitchen much,” Rose replied. “My...my mum...” She choked on the word a little. “She would always ask me to help with dinner and...and half the time I would just ignore her.” She fell quiet, her remorse stealing her voice.
Mary watched her carefully. “But the other half of the time, you did help her. What was your favourite thing to make?” Mary pushed.
A small smile tugged at Rose’s lips. “Popcorn.”
Mary chuckled. “There must have been something other than popcorn.”
“Not really,” Rose said. “There was one thing, though. We used to make these chocolate and coconut ball things. I don’t know what they’re called, but they were pretty decent. We didn’t make them all that often but they were fun.”
“Show me.” Mary said.
Rose looked over at her with surprise. “What?”
“These chocolat
e coconut ball things,” Mary said. “Show me how you make them.”
Rose started shaking her head. “They’re nothing special–”
“Oh come on,” Mary said. “You’ve got me curious.”
A slow, somewhat excited smile spread across Rose’s face. “Okay.” She put down the carrot and knife. “We’re going to need some hot chocolate powder.”
Mary looked lost. “I can grind cocoa beans into powder,” she suggested hopefully. “Then add some sugar, like I do to make hot chocolate?”
Rose nodded. “Should be okay,” she said. “We’ll also need oats, a little butter and some grated coconut.”
“Not a problem,” Mary said. “I’ll just get some coconuts from the orchard.”
“There are coconut trees in the orchard?” Rose asked with surprise. “But I thought coconuts only grow in tropical–” She stopped, seeing the confusion on Mary’s face. She smiled at her and shook her head. “Never mind.”
***
That night, along with all the dinner dishes, sat a plate piled with small chocolate and oats balls, covered in coconut flakes. Rose couldn’t stop beaming at the sight of them. They looked positively cute, sitting amongst the dishes of roast lamb and rice. It didn’t take long for the new dish to be noticed.
“What are these?” Ella asked, peering at the plate with an interested glint in her eyes.
“A special dessert.” Mary beamed. “Made by Rose.”
Sitting across the table, Kyran lifted his head up.
“What is it?” Zhi-Jiya asked, eyeing the balls.
Mary looked to Rose to introduce them.
“Choco-coco balls,” Rose said. She and Mary had giggled endlessly when it came to naming them.
“Mmmm.” Sarah stared at them. “They look...interesting.”
“They’re more than interesting,” Sam said. “She used to make them all the time. They’re delicious.”
“Yep,” Aaron agreed, “I can’t get enough of them.” As proof, he reached out and took two.
