The Forgotten

by R. L. King

  Verity looked off into the camp, watching the various residents moving around. “Yeah,” she said. “Your friend’s a mage, isn’t he?”

  “You know about mages?” Jason was surprised. For a bunch who were supposed to be as secretive as Stone had implied they were, a lot of people seemed to know about them.

  “Only since recently,” she said. “A lot of the Forgotten know about them.”

  “Forgotten?”

  She nodded. “That’s what they call themselves. The—special ones.”

  “The ones with powers, you mean.”

  “Yeah.”

  Jason leaned forward, searching her face. “What’s with the powers?” he asked. “We’ve seen some of them in action, but I don’t really get it. Do they all have them? Where did they come from? Are they mages? Al says they’re not as far as he can tell, but it sure seems like magic to me.”

  Verity spread her hands in a how should I know? gesture. “I don’t really know anything about mages except that they exist. But—a lot of the Forgotten have powers. They don’t have a lot of control over them—they just kind of happen, you know? When they need them to, I mean.”

  Jason thought of the way one of the library group had concealed them from the fake cop. “You mean like hiding people.”

  She nodded. “Yeah, that’s one of them. That one’s fairly common—most groups have somebody who can do that.”

  “So what would other ones be?”

  “Lots of things,” she said, shrugging. “Lamar can heal—you saw that with your friend. That’s pretty rare. We’re lucky to have him. Some are like detectors—they can tell when something dangerous is around, or getting closer. Some of them can influence animals—you know, calming down mean dogs and that kind of thing. One lady—I think you met her, she’s one of the group who told us they’d seen you—has a shopping cart with all these bags, and she always seems to be able to dig around and pull out whatever she needs at the time.”

  Jason remembered the old lady with all the tote bags at the library. “Yeah…I think I do know her.”

  “Another one some of them have—I thought this was kind of cool to find out—You know how you can drive by a building a bunch of times and never really see it?”

  “Yeah.” He knew exactly what she meant. Every town had them: those nondescript, faceless buildings, usually government offices or businesses that didn’t cater to the public, that everybody missed unless they had some reason to be there. He called them “invisible buildings.”

  “Some of the Forgotten can do that—make a building hard to find like that. It’s not like you can’t find it, but if you’re not sure where you’re trying to go, or you’re not looking for it specifically, you tend to just go right past it without seeing it.”

  Jason thought about how they’d passed the fruit-packing plant the first time, and had to turn around and do another pass before they found it. “Where—do these powers come from? Does anyone know? Have they always had them?”

  “They haven’t told me everything, so I’m not sure about that part. But from what little I’ve been able to put together, I think the powers started showing up right around the time things started going bad around the country.”

  Jason stared at her. His mind was spinning again, trying hard to put things together. “Wait a minute. Hasn’t anybody thought this whole thing is too big a coincidence to be a coincidence?”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “You’re telling me the bu—er, the Forgotten—started to get these powers around the same time stuff started going to hell. Which is about the same time you started having your—episodes. You don’t think this stuff is all connected?” He remembered what Charles had said. “And—Charles was telling me this—around that same time is when he said people around here started to get meaner. It might have happened around Ventura too, but maybe not as bad, since there are fewer people down there.”

  Verity looked contemplative. “Are you saying that—something happened back then to cause all of this? That’s crazy, Jason! What could it have been? And how could it have happened without anybody knowing about it?”

  “I dunno. I think I need to talk to Al about this when he’s awake. It doesn’t make any sense, but I can’t shake the idea that there’s something more to all this.” He looked at her again. “Putting that aside for now, though—I got more questions. I don’t think I’m gonna run out any time soon. So—what is it about these symbols I see all over the place? Is that a Forgotten thing, too?”

  Verity nodded. “They told me about that. They use them to communicate with other groups. It’s dangerous to let the groups get too big—people squabble and it makes us more vulnerable to attacks. You have to remember, even though they have these weird powers, most of these people have some kind of mental stuff going on. They don’t always play well together. But they use the symbols to let each other know things—what places are safe, what places are dangerous, where the Evil is—”

  “The Evil?” Jason leaned forward, stiffening. “What’s the Evil?”

  “Oh, right. I didn’t tell you about that. That’s what they call it. Kind of a dumb name, I know, but—”

  “What is it?”

  “They don’t know, exactly. It’s the shimmery thing I saw coming out of that guy in the basement. It’s some kind of—spirit, or being, or something—and it possesses people. Some of the Forgotten can see it in people—see when they’re possessed. That’s one of the reasons they stick together—it’s trying to kill them, because they’re the only ones who can, or almost the only ones. Nobody knows why.”

  “They—possess people?” That explains a lot. “How? Can they possess anybody? Do you know they’ve possessed you?” Jason considered it a mark of just how far he’d come in the past few days that he accepted this information without questioning it.

  Verity shook her head, holding up her hands to ward off his questions. “Jason, stop. I don’t know all this stuff. I’ve only been around them for a few days, and some of what I know, I only know from listening to them talk. You should really talk to Lamar, or to Marilee. They can tell you more. And they’re—some of the more ‘together’ of the group.”

  Jason was barely hearing her. “Could—being possessed by these—Evil things—have been what caused your episodes? Caused you to—”

  “—to go crazy? No. That much I do know. Forgotten can’t be possessed. I think it has to do with the powers somehow, or with how their brains are mixed up.”

  “But wait. That means you’re—?” Jason’s head was reeling again.

  “Yeah, I guess I am, sorta. Though I don’t think I have any powers.”

  “What about that ‘mind push’ thing you were talking about?”

  Her eyes widened, and she stared at him. “Oh my God…Jason…I didn’t even think of that. I didn’t tell anybody about it, ’cause I didn’t think they’d believe me. By that time I wasn’t even sure myself that I’d really done it. I thought I was just remembering things wrong, like I used to do a lot. And I wasn’t even sure I could do it again. But—I did it tonight. To get that guy off you. I saw him about to attack you, and I sort of went on instinct. And it worked.”

  “Good thing, too,” Jason said. “So—how are you not—having problems anymore? Did these guys stop it somehow?”

  “Not stop it,” She said. “I guess it’s more like—suppress it. It’s one of the things Susanna can do. It doesn’t always work, though. She said it’s only ever worked on three or four people she’s tried it on, and if I get too far away from her, it’ll probably stop working. Her main power is keeping us hidden so we don’t get found, and sometimes knowing when bad stuff is coming. I guess it’s kind of rare to have more than one power, too—she’s the only one I know who does.”

  “The DMW—are they part of this—Evil?” That would make a lot of sense too. He remembered something e
lse Charles had said: how they’d been a small-potatoes gang until a few years ago, then gotten a new leader and took several steps up the food chain in short order.

  Verity nodded. “Yeah. Some of ‘em are. They’re kind of—the foot soldiers. That’s another thing I think is true, but like I said, you really should talk to Lamar or Marilee. I think they have…like…levels. Some of them are more powerful than others. The more powerful ones use the DMW—maybe other gangs, too—to do their dirty work.”

  “Mmm,” Jason said, thinking that over. He looked up and saw a shadowy figure heading across the camp toward them. As it got closer, it resolved into a familiar form: Hector, the alcoholic ex-military man Stone and he had seen at the library. He stumped up and stood in front of them.

  “Hey,” Jason said. “Haven’t seen you in a while.”

  Hector nodded. The tang of marijuana mingled with his usual odor. “Your friend’s awake. He wants to talk to you,” he said in his gruff, abrupt tone, then turned and stalked off the way he’d come.

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Jason leaped to his feet. To Verity, he said, “I’ll be back soon, okay? I want to talk to you some more. I still have more questions, and you probably do too.”

  She nodded and rolled her eyes. “Not like I’m going anywhere.”

  Jason grinned and hurried back to the tent, poking his head through the flap. The woman in the colorful sweater was gone now; Lamar waved him in. “I’ll leave you two alone,” he said, getting up slowly.

  Jason helped him up and waited until he’d left, then dropped down next to Stone. The mage was still pale and looked exhausted, but his eyes were open. “Hey,” Jason said. “You okay? You gave me quite a scare out there.”

  Stone smiled faintly. “I gave myself quite a scare,” he said. His voice had nearly no volume behind it; Jason had to lean in to hear him. “The man who’s been patching me up tells me that I missed the big reunion.”

  Jason nodded. “Yeah, you did. She’s here, Al. I’ve been talking to her. And I’ve got plenty to tell you.”

  “Oh?” Stone tried to struggle up to a more elevated position, but failed and sank back, panting. “P’raps I’ll wait a bit before I try that.”

  “Does it hurt?” Jason indicated Stone’s side, covered now by his wool overcoat.

  “Surprisingly, not at all. I’m not sure why. I distinctly remember seeing that knife sticking out of my side and quite a lot of blood before I blacked out. But all I feel is—ghastly. So tired I can barely move. But no pain.” He glanced up at Jason. “I suppose that’s one of the things you want to tell me about?”

  “You sure you’re up to this? It can wait, if you need to—”

  Stone glared at him. “Jason, if you have answers to any of our little puzzles, I want to hear them. Don’t be cruel—I don’t have the strength to zap you right now.”

  Jason grinned—same old Al. “Okay. I’ll tell you what V’s told me so far, but I think we’re gonna have to talk to the others to get the rest.” Trying not to forget anything or leave anything out, he told Stone the story of what had happened to Verity, and what she’d revealed about the Forgotten.

  Stone’s bright blue gaze, dimmed a little by exhaustion but still laser-sharp, focused in on Jason’s face, barely blinking the entire time he spoke. The mage didn’t ask any questions while Jason was telling the story, but he tensed when he got to the part about the Evil and the possessions. “So you’re saying,” he said when Jason finished, “that these so-called ‘Evil’—this—force, or spirit—can possess people at will?”

  “I’m not sure,” Jason said, shifting position. The tent floor was uncomfortable, and even though he was getting acclimated to the smell of the camp, it was still pretty bad. “Verity said we need to talk to Lamar—I guess that’s the guy who was in here—or Marilee. She said they know more.”

  Stone nodded, but didn’t appear to be listening closely. His eyes were closed again. “Al? You okay?” Jason asked him, nudging his shoulder.

  The mage opened his eyes. “Just…thinking,” he said. “There’s something here I’m convinced I’m missing, but it’s eluding me. Brain’s a bit foggy right now. But this—this is fascinating. Somehow all of this seems to be connected to something that happened a few years back—but what?”

  “I was hoping you’d know,” Jason admitted. “You’re the resident expert on weird shit and magical phenomena around here. Back then, I was neck deep in Criminal Law classes and running obstacle courses and getting yelled at by guys with short haircuts and big ears.”

  Stone nodded vaguely. “Can you go find Lamar, or this Marilee person? I don’t know how much longer I’ll be awake, but this is important. I have questions for them.”

  “Yeah, give me a sec. You want anything to eat?”

  “No. Just—find them.”

  Jason got up and hurried out of the tent, looking around. People seemed to be settling in for bed now, laying out sleeping bags and bedrolls around the two fires. He found Lamar digging into a plate of beans under a tree. “My friend wants to talk to you if that’s okay,” he said. “Or, if you’re busy—Marilee. I don’t know who that is, though.”

  “Verity’s been telling you about us,” the old man said. It wasn’t a question.

  “Yeah. And Al—Dr. Stone—she said you knew he was a mage.”

  Lamar nodded. “We saw the spells he was casting when the DMW showed up. Those were no Forgotten abilities.”

  “He’s a mage,” Jason confirmed. “And he wants to ask you about some things—things Verity didn’t know about. Are you willing?”

  Again, Lamar nodded. He had a slow, methodical way about him that made him seem like a real doctor, rather than merely a homeless man with supernatural healing powers. “I’m willing. You should ask Marilee to come as well. She’s over there by the fire, near her cart. I’ll meet you there.”

  Jason looked over to where he had pointed and was surprised to see the old woman from the library sitting next to an overflowing shopping cart. He realized he’d never known her name. Moving over to her, he saw that she was knitting something in her lap while the small black kitten batted at the ends of her needles. “Hi,” he said, smiling. Cocking his head at the kitten, he added, “I see you and your friend are still doing fine.”

  The old woman, Marilee, looked up at him and returned his smile. “Well, hello,” she said. “Didn’t get a chance to talk to you before. It’s good to see you, even in times like this.”

  “Same here,” he said. “Hey, would you mind coming with me to the tent? Lamar’s there, and my friend you met back at the library. He wants to talk to you.”

  “I thought he might,” she said, nodding. She offered the kitten to Jason, carefully stowed her knitting in one of the bags hanging off the side of her cart, then used the cart to pull herself to a standing position. “Your friend is very lucky.”

  “Yeah. It’s a good thing you guys were here, for sure.” He followed her as she shuffled toward the tent.

  Lamar was already inside, seated next to Stone, who appeared to be asleep. He opened his eyes as Jason and Marilee came in, though. The two of them lowered themselves to seated positions; it took a few moments because space was tight and they didn’t want to jostle Stone too much. As soon as Jason had sat down, the kitten leaped out of his arms and settled herself in the crook of Stone’s arm.

  “She certainly does like you,” Marilee said with approval. “Kitties always know. That’s why I like them.”

  When they were all arranged, Stone looked at Lamar. “Thank you for coming,” he said, still speaking very softly and more slowly than his usual tones. “And thank you for—whatever you did for me. I doubt I’d be here talking to you now if it hadn’t been for your efforts.”

  Lamar nodded solemnly, but didn’t speak. Marilee fussed around the mage a bit, pulling up his overcoat cover and mopping his forehead.
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  “Jason’s told me a bit about you—things he’s learned from his sister. He’s told me about your—abilities—and how you use them to help you keep yourselves safe from—the Evil, you call it?”

  Again, Lamar nodded. “Yes.”

  “Can you tell me a bit more about it? About your abilities, and about this Evil? Do you know anything about its nature? Do you know where your abilities came from, or why you have them?”

  “Dr. Stone,” Lamar said, leaning forward to look into the mage’s eyes. “You’re a mage. I know this—and I know also how curious your kind are. How they want to know everything, and study everything. That’s your nature. I understand this. But what we have, what we do—we haven’t studied it. It simply—is.”

  Stone sighed. “It can’t simply be. Jason told me it started appearing five years or so ago. But no one knows why? Is it a cause, or an effect? Did it affect people who were already—mentally unstable—or did it cause them to become so?”

  “Nobody knows,” Marilee said. “Maybe both. Take your sister, for example. She said she was fine until she just started—seeing things. Thinking things were seeking her, trying to kill her. But others—” she shrugged. “Hector—you met him—he had problems with drugs and alcohol before any of this happened, and something about the war…did something to him.”

  “So this—whatever it is—took hold of people, drove them mad—or madder—and caused them to develop these odd abilities? Do all of you have these abilities?”

  Lamar shook his head. “No. And there are degrees of them as well. Some of them are useless. Some are common—like the ability to shield one or more people or a location, or the ability to sense when the Evil is nearby—while others are much less so, like my particular gift. No one knows what determines a person’s ability.”