Altruist (The Altruist Series Book 1)

by Walsh, Ashley

  “Whoa, wait, what? Why do you think that? I swear, Cate, you and him get in one disagreement or something and now all of a sudden the conspiracies are flying.” She stands up and walks over to the window, but before reaching it she turns and heads straight towards me. “Okay, I need you to help me understand why you’re thinking this, because honestly, they seem like a bunch of weird coincidences and I would much rather be spending my time at the lake than up here.”

  “I said I don’t know, Wills! I’m trying to make sense of it just like you are. It’s just the dreams are changing, their focus isn’t always me dying anymore, and, okay, well that box Dad gave me, you know how it has that triangular symbol on it?” She stares back at me, waiting for my big reveal to be unimpressive. “Well that exact same symbol is on a necklace that Abel’s mom wears and, I know this will sound crazy, but it’s also marked on Abel’s back.”

  “What? What do you mean ‘marked’?”

  “I’m not sure, I think it’s burned into his skin or something.”

  Willa sits down on the crate next to Asher, who up until now I had completely forgotten was even in the room with us. Willa nudges his side. “What do you think?”

  Asher just sits there, briefly idle before pressing his hands against his knees and lifting his body so that his eyes directly meet mine. Walking over to the same window that Willa failed to reach, he pushes the shutters open and sunlight floods the room. “I think we need to find this connection.”

  ###

  The next few days are filled with loud music and rummaging through boxes, papers and photos—photos of my parents when they were young, photos of the twins bundled in my mom’s arms as she lays in a hospital bed, pictures of their tiny faces paper clipped to their birth certificates accompanied by tiny ink footprints. I remember that day, not a ton obviously, but I do remember. I remember feeling happy, but more than that I remember feeling this great sense of pride that I was their big sister. Flipping through more photos I search for the earliest one I can find of myself, past the ones of a young me riding a bike, petting a puppy, licking an ice cream cone. I find photos from a Christmas morning when I was no more than 4, and then I find what must be the first photo that was taken of me. For a moment I’m disappointed that it’s not neatly clipped to my birth certificate like my siblings’ photos were—my father has always been such a stickler for order. In the photo, my mother is standing in front of a brick building, smiling as she holds me. Seeing her smile makes me smile and I flip the photo to see what is written on its back. My mother, nearly as meticulous as my father, has always written dates and places on the back of photographs. Turning the picture over I read:

  Cate

  THE MANOR

  MARCH 23, 1997

  That can’t be right, I think to myself, That’s three days after my birthday and Mom clearly doesn’t appear to have just given birth.

  Just then I hear Willa call over to Asher and me. “Guys get over here.” Her body is nowhere in sight but I walk towards the general direction of her voice.

  “Is it another ‘maybe mouse’ spotting? Because I am not going on another hunt for a figment of your imagin—”

  “No, no, I think, I think I may have found something…” her voice trails off. As I approach her, Asher helps move some boxes out of the way so that we can sit beside her and see what she is holding onto so tightly. “Look!” she exclaims, “Look at this book, it has that triangle thing.”

  I take the book from her hands and see that she’s right—in the upper left corner, made of the same grey, worn fabric as the rest of the cover, lays a small triangular symbol. Quickly I open the book, but to my dismay, I find the words, if you could call them that, impossible to understand. My expression shifts from delight to despair.

  “What’s wrong?” Asher asks.

  “I can’t read it. It’s not in English.” I flip eagerly through the pages, desperately searching for something I can understand. “None of it! It’s just filled with more meaningless symbols!” Anger and frustration fuel my tone. “More of the same damn nonsense!”

  “Cate…” Willa says, wrapping her arm around my shoulders. “We’ll figure it out. We will, won’t we Asher?” She turns to him for assurance.

  “Absolutely. And Cate, it’s not like we’ve spent all week just to come up empty handed. I mean, we found this—”

  “I found this,” Willa pipes in.

  Asher stares with disapproval at her poor timing, then continues, completely ignoring her statement. “And that means that this wasn’t just some crazy goose chase. I mean, think about it, why would this book with all these crazy symbols, including the most important one being on the cover, even exist? And more importantly, if it ever were to coincidentally exist, why, of all places, would it be in YOUR attic?”

  I feel myself begin to calm and thoughts pass clearly through my mind again. “You’re right. We spent all this time looking for the connection, but we already had it.” They stare back at me trying to follow. “It’s the triangle, that’s the connection, the link. It’s always been, we just didn’t see it.”

  “Yeah, but what does it mean?” Willa asks.

  I meet both of their gazes. “I’m not sure, but I know exactly who to ask.”

  ###

  A single 3-second beep airs through the house, and Maggie walks to the front door to find Eliath and Shoshanna patiently waiting on the front step.

  “Oh, hello there…” Maggie smiles. “What brings the two of you down the hill?” She asks glancing up the winding road at the house, barely visible at this distance.

  “We can finally be considered ‘moved in’ and wanted to extend an invitation to you and Emzire to come over for dinner in our newly furnished abode,” Eliath offers.

  “Oh, absolutely! I would love to see what you’ve done with the place. Katie tells us it’s stunning.” Laughter bellows from inside the home and Shoshanna, standing quietly beside her husband, noticeably peers past Maggie’s shoulder. Maggie meets her gaze and explains, “My husband has a work colleague over…” Eliath and Shoshanna continue to stand there, firm and still. Maggie, not sure what they want, adds, “Would you like to come inside? I’m sure Emzire would love to see you.”

  Shoshanna’s mannequin like stance suddenly comes alive at the invitation. “That would be lovely,” she says, and the three walk toward the conversation coming from the living room inside.

  “So then, Adam here says, ‘Well that’s why you hired me isn’t it?’” Laughter erupts in the room but is quieted once Maggie reenters with her surprise guests.

  “Adam, Miranda, I’d like to introduce you to The Cohens, Eliath and Shoshanna. They just moved into town, and their son, Abel, goes to school with Katie.”

  “Oh right,” Miranda starts. “You’re the ones trying to renovate that old house on the hill.”

  “Yes, it’s turned out better than we could have hoped for,” Shoshanna states sternly, clearly uncomfortable.

  Emzire, picking up on the tension, asks Maggie into the kitchen to help him choose another bottle of wine for their guests. “Eliath, Shoshanna,” Emzire says, motioning toward the sofa. “Please sit, make yourselves at home.” Then he follows Maggie through a swinging door.

  Adam walks over to the mantle, glancing at the photographs. “Nice to hear you’re settling in. We wondered when you would make your presence known. We’ve only been in town a few weeks ourselves,” he pauses briefly, his voice is slightly higher than one would expect to accompany his tall, slender frame. Running his fingers through his dark auburn hair, he firmly presses down any hairs that have strayed, then moves his hand towards his inside coat pocket where he extracts a handkerchief. Slowly he absentmindedly begins to wipe whatever invisible residue clings to his hands, as if this is all routine. “I’m not sure if you had heard, but Emzire was gracious enough to offer me a position in his lab. We were hoping to see the two of you soon.” Adam ventures back to the chair Miranda is sitting in and places his hand on her shoulder.r />
  “It wouldn’t have been any fun without any sort of challenge,” Miranda grins. “Yet, again.” Her voice reaches their ears in a sort of a whine, mocking The Cohens’ failed attempts. Her smile is as flawless as the rest of her structure, too perfect, as if she were made seamless on the outside as a disguise for the evil that lies within. “Oh, how I do enjoy and good fight.”

  Shoshanna stands, infuriated by the idea. “Fight? I’m sorry, when exactly was the last time you saw a good ‘fight’? Unless that is, you’re referring to when you and your pathetic husband spectated from up on a hill?”

  Miranda stands to meet Shoshanna’s stare and Eliath grabs Shoshanna’s arm, restraining her from ripping the woman’s head off. Eliath, eyes fixed on Adam, softly speaks the words, “Not now, Shoshanna.”

  Just then, footsteps thunder down the stairs and Cate, Asher and Willa come into view just as Maggie and Emzire reappear. “Katie, you remember Adam and Miranda, don’t you?”

  Cate, still weary of Eliath and Shoshanna, immediately walks towards Miranda and wraps her arms around her. “Of course! That ice trick you gave me to break in new shoes has completely changed my life!” Cate laughs and steps back.

  “Good!” Miranda smiles as she gazes intently at Shoshanna. “I’m so glad I could be of help.”

  Cate glances at Eliath’s hand on Shoshanna’s arm, her expression is that of surprise, confusion and worry. “Is everything okay?” she asks.

  A brief moment passes, though painfully slow, before Adam breaks the silence, “Everything is fine, Katie. More importantly though, how are you doing? Your parents said you haven’t been feeling well, you’re doing better now, yes?”

  “Yes, much better. Almost ready to head back to school.” Cate smiles.

  Asher kicks is shoes together and with as much sarcasm as he can muster, he muffles, “Yeah, I’m not.” At this the room laughs slightly. “Well we spent all of break in that musty attic!” he adds.

  “What were you guys doing up there? I’ve been up there plenty of times and there is absolutely nothing of interest,” Emzire says through laughter and embarrassment.

  “You’re right about that one, Mr. Quill!” Willa exclaims. “No, but we did find this cool book up there—” She starts but is interrupted by Cate and Asher’s glares.

  “Book?” Miranda inquires. “Anything decent? I love reading old books.”

  “I’m not sure,” Cate says disappointedly. “We haven’t been able to read the text. It’s just a bunch of meaningless symbols in no particular order.”

  “I see…” Adam says. “Well that’s just too bad.” His attempt at mimicking a somber mood is slightly off and Cate clears her throat on nervous instinct. “When you are feeling better, our son Dante is still interested in getting together with you. It would be a huge help to us if you wouldn’t mind showing him around sometime.”

  Without giving Cate time to agree, Miranda takes a small card from her purse and quickly jots a few lines on the back, then hands it over to Cate. “That’s our address, feel free to drop by any time. We’d love to have you.” She smiles. It’s cheap and plastic and Shoshanna hopes that Cate is smart enough to realize it.

  Eliath, noticing that Shoshanna is at her breaking point with this façade, gestures to shake Emzire’s hand. “We better be off, but I do hope you’ll accept our invitation for next weekend?”

  “Yes, of course,” Emzire affirms. “We’ll be there.” At this Eliath and Shoshanna see themselves out and close the front door behind them.

  “Shoshanna, breathe. You have to relax.”

  “I want them away from her, I want them away from her now,” she pleads in anger as a tear of pure frustration trickles down her face. Eliath wipes it away with his thumb and forces her to return his stare.

  “They’re getting desperate Shoshanna. There is no way he would send them, third tier captains, if he weren’t getting nervous. That,” he pauses, “what they’re doing in there, is purely tactical scouting, nothing more. They ARE planning something, but it’s not tonight.” He takes her hand. “We will make our move tomorrow.”

  Chapter 10

  Monday comes and I pass from class to class barely aware of my body’s autopilot movements. A nagging flow of questions floods my mind and all I can think is, I need answers. Thankfully class is near its end and as soon as the bell rings, I grab my books and head to my locker. Hurriedly spinning the numbered ring, I hear the clicks to freedom, 23, Student Ambassadors is going to have to wait today, 13, I have to get over to Abel’s house and speak with them, 7, CLICK. I place my books but before I can lock them inside, I hear an unfamiliar voice.

  “Lucky number 19.” I turn and see a tall, slender boy, with flawless skin and fiery auburn hair adorning his head. “Your locker number, lucky number 19,” he reiterates.

  “I wasn’t aware that 19 is a lucky number,” I say with a sigh. If this is his attempt at getting to know me, I don’t have the time or patience today.

  “It’s my lucky number,” he says, smiling.

  “You’re Dante, right? Adam and Miranda’s kid?” I’m hoping to cut his flirtation short and help him get to the point.

  “Yeah, I see my reputation precedes me.” His cocky tone confirms my assumption.

  “Your red hair is a dead giveaway. You look exactly like your parents.”

  “Ouch, that’s not exactly what a guy hopes to hear.”

  “I don’t know, if your parents are good looking then I guess it isn’t a bad thing to hear at all.” I give in to the conversation for a brief moment before realizing that I don’t have time for this.

  “So you’re saying my parents are good looking?” he laughs. His playfulness would be a welcome change had I not already had so much on my mind.

  “No, I’m not saying that, that would be a weird thing to say about anyone’s parents.” I close my locker and begin to walk away, hoping that he’ll catch on. My hint fails and he follows anyway.

  “I was wondering if you wanted to go get something to eat and hang out for a bit today.” His tone is a bit too pleading and I find myself wondering if this kid has any friends. I almost wish I didn’t have anything to do today.

  “Oh, I’d love to but I can’t today. I have a Student Ambassadors meeting and I have to make sure to catch a ride home with my friend, Asher. The meeting won’t let out until around 7 and then I have to get home to work on an English project.” My reason for refusal is probably more than he needed to hear but I’m hoping he sees that my apology for not being able to join him is sincere, since I think it almost is actually sincere. Getting away from everything would have been nice for a day but for whatever reason my desire to speak to Abel is greater than my desire to run away from the situation.

  “No problem. Hey, maybe some other time, yeah?”

  “Sure.” I shrug and he promptly turns down a side hall. As I watch him walk away for a brief second, I notice how firm his posture is. It’s a strange thing to recognize but among the masses of slumped over adolescents beside him, it’s easy to see.

  Suddenly, I feel a tug on my backpack followed by an exhausted Asher’s tired voice. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you! Student Ambassadors has been moved to Mr. Mendel’s room.”

  “Yeah, about that, I’m not going.” Asher appears utterly puzzled, knowing how my dad’s been on my case about extracurriculars all term. “I need to go see Abel. I know you will understand why this is more important. Will you cover for me?” I ramble, walking towards the blue double-doors ahead.

  “Yeah, okay. Do you want me to go with you?” Asher’s offer is genuine and though I want to shout ‘yes’, I know it’s something I need to do on my own.

  “I’ll be okay, just tell Mr. Mendel that I wasn’t feeling well or something.” I press my body against the metal bar that opens the buildings door and without looking back, shout, “Thanks Asher, I owe ya!”