Council of Peacocks

by M Joseph Murphy

  Elaine placed her hand on a flat, red scanner to the left of the elevator. When the scanner turned blue, she punched in a series of numbers on a nearby keyboard. Only then did the elevator open to a dark-skinned giant of a man in a black suit, and a Doberman Pinscher on a short leash.

  “Get in, Mr. Ross.” Elaine motioned him forward but did not step into the elevator. “This will take you to Mr. Wisdom. I’ll meet with you later this afternoon to go over some paperwork with you.”

  David hesitated. He looked at the dog and thought of what those teeth could to do to him. Could he stop the dog before it ripped out his throat?

  Elaine shook her head. “We didn’t bring you all this way to kill you, Mr. Ross.” She pushed him into the elevator. “If you intend on lasting here, don’t be so jumpy.”

  As the elevator doors closed, David struggled to keep his eyes off both man and dog. He was afraid either one of them could attack at any moment. There was no soft elevator music to fill the air, just the constant panting of the dog. David studied the mirrored walls of the confined space and fought a losing battle with fear.

  ‘Too late for second thoughts,’ he thought. Sweat ran in streams down his back. ‘Besides, I can’t go back home. The police are looking for me.’

  The doors opened to a busy corridor. Men and women in dark suits walked in every direction. Over by the reception desk a man in a brown uniform delivered flowers. Another man in a rumpled grey suit shouted at the receptionist, something about rescheduling an appointment.

  David got out of the elevator and looked back. He expected the giant man to get out and guide him to Wisdom’s office. Instead the man let the doors close and disappeared.

  He started toward the reception desk. A group of men in almost identical suits nearly crashed into him. They swerved mid-conversation without so much as an apology. Then, he felt a tickle in his skull and stopped. He turned in a circle until he saw a woman dressed in a tight, black business suit. She had long, straight brown hair but it was her eyes that captured him. They were emerald green like his, luminescent like a cat's at night.

  “A word of advice, Mr. Ross,” she said. “Most women do not take a gaping jaw and drool as a compliment. My name is Garnet. I’ll take you to Wisdom. Follow me and try not to set anything on fire.”

  David swallowed. “Does everyone know about me?”

  Garnet turned and walked away from David. He rushed to catch up to her. His eyes drank in her body, the way the fabric hugged her curves.

  Garnet stopped and glared at him.

  “Sorry,” he said. “I’m not used to people reading my mind.”

  “Work on that,” she said. “And, to answer your question, only a few of us know what you did back in Nova Scotia.”

  They passed several white doors that he assumed led to offices. All the doors were shut and there was not a window to be seen. It felt less like walking through an office building and more like being filed away in an archive. Occasionally, as he walked on, sounds came from behind the doors. He heard moans, laughter and muffled conversation. Once he had an impression of something large and not quite solid moving behind one of the doors. After that he kept his eyes forward.

  “Is it much further?” he asked. His voice sounded pale and insubstantial in this place.

  “Do you have another appointment, Mr. Ross? I do hope we’re not keeping you from something.”

  The green-eyed woman slowed her gait.

  David slowed his as well. He did not want to walk beside the woman. There was something about her that scared him as much as the unseen things behind the doors.

  At the end of the hallway was a second reception desk. An old woman with grey hair typed at her computer. She was dressed in a bright dress of pastel flowers with matching gold necklace and hoop earrings. Garnet led him past the receptionist to a black door. She did not knock. She simply placed her hand on the face of the door for a moment and then pushed the door open.

  David followed her in.

  ***

  Wisdom stood from his desk as Garnet entered with David. “Right on time,” he muttered under his breath. He walked over to the newest arrival and shook his hand.

  “Pleasure to finally meet you, David,” he said. “I’m sure you have a million questions. First, realize you are amongst friends here. No one will judge you on your past. Certainly not me. Garnet, can you pour us some drinks?”

  Garnet bowed her head and went to a table covered with crystal tumblers and bottles of liquor.

  “I don’t even know where to start,” David said. He glanced around the room, eyes wide in wonder. The room was luxurious, with thick carpet and mahogany furniture. Then he saw the wall of framed photographs to his right. He fixated on one of them – Wisdom sitting with a group of men on a beach – and his mouth dropped.

  “Is that JFK?”

  Wisdom smiled. “Yes. I met him a few times. Charming fellow. Always beat me at tennis.”

  David looked at Wisdom from the corner of his eye.

  Wisdom smirked. “I’m older than I look.”

  “Who are these other people?”

  “You wouldn’t recognize their names, I’m afraid. The one to my left is Bill Bundy, one of Kennedy’s advisors. The one with the big ears is David Rockefeller. He taught me how to play poker. But that’s not important now. Let’s talk about you. When did you first realize you were different?”

  Garnet returned with drinks and handed one each to Wisdom and David. Then she returned to the bar to pour her own.

  “When I was fourteen,” David said as he sipped his scotch. “It started on my birthday. Mom had this cake all lit up with candles. When I went to blow the out, the cake exploded. Disaster. A few days later, I woke from a dream and my blankets were on fire. Mom thought I set it on purpose. She grounded me for a month and got rid of all the lighters and matches in the house. The next week, I heard her talking about how she was scared of me. Only she wasn’t speaking. I realized I was hearing her thoughts. For years I thought I was crazy. Then there was prom and, well, it seems you know what happened there.”

  “Indeed.” Wisdom motioned for David to sit on a red loveseat and then sat beside him. “No need to go over that right now. You’re not alone. As I’m sure you’ve figured out, Garnet is like you. So were the other two you met in the car earlier, Jessica and Amy. Currently there are 48 young men and women just like you under my care.”

  “So many.” David’s hands shook. “What the hell am I? A mutant?”

  “Not exactly. I prefer the term Anomaly. Each of you has advanced psionic abilities. No two Anomalies are exactly the same but there are some similarities. Over the years I’ve perfected a system of training people like you. I can make sure you never lose control again. I know the guilt is eating you, David. You can’t live with yourself because of what you’ve done. I understand. I’ve done many things in my past I’m not proud of. That’s why I do this.”

  “Have you killed people?”

  Wisdom sighed.

  “I’m sorry,” David said. “I don’t know what I was thinking. That was rude.”

  “No need to apologize.” Wisdom finished his drink. Garnet came over with a crystal decanter and refilled it. “It’s a valid question. You have a right to know about me, what kind of person I am. Yes. I have killed. Many times. Things were very different in my youth. As I said, I’m much older than I look. Back then, sometimes murder was a necessary tool. Then, years ago, I had a near-death experience in the south of France. I realized that, despite all my years on this planet, I hadn’t achieved anything. No legacy. If I died, no one would remember my name. I needed a cause, so I chose you. The Anomalies.”

  “How did you find out about me? About us?”

  Wisdom waved the question away. “Long story. For now, just know I have methods of finding people like you. In time, you’ll get more details. You must be tired from your long trip. You must want to shower and get into some clean clothes. Garnet, can you show young David to his room?”


  Garnet stood and offered a hand to David, helping him to his feet.

  “Yeah,” David said. “I’m pretty rank. One last question. Why is there so much security around here?”

  Wisdom glanced over his shoulder. “I don’t think it’s enough security. I’m not the only one that knows about you, David. About the Anomalies. You have a power others would like to manipulate. They will stop at almost nothing to do so. Be glad that I found you first.”

  Chapter Eight

  Garnet led him up a flight of stairs to a common room filled with plush beige couches and armchairs. Several strangers, all of them children or young adults, gathered around a large plasma television. They barely glanced at David as he walked by.

  “This is your room.” Garnet stopped in front of a white door. She handed him a keycard. “Someone will get you in the morning for breakfast.”

  The room was larger than he expected. It came with a private bathroom, a king-sized bed and a white leather sofa. His canvas bag lay on the floor beside the sofa on the rich crimson carpet. There was no TV or radio in the room but there were several shelves filled with books. A computer sat on a desk in the corner.

  After a quick shower, he lay down and tried to sleep. Not long after, the two creepy girls from the Hummer paid him a visit. They walked in without knocking. Still, David knew they were coming before the door opened. He felt them coming.

  “He’s not surprised,” the Asian girl said.

  “Of course not, Amy,” Jessica said. “Remember, I told you he was strong.”

  “Hmm, doesn’t look strong to me.”

  “Are you little monsters here for a reason?”

  Jessica put her hands on her hips. “Well, we’re not here to make friends, if that’s what you’re thinking. We don’t like you, remember?”

  “We definitely don’t like you,” Amy said. She carried a Barbie doll in a red ‘Gone-With-the-Wind’ style dress and swung it gently in her right hand as she spoke. “But it’s probably better for us if you don’t die. You have to be careful now that you’re here. Especially if you’re outside. Of course, they don’t let us go out much anymore.”

  “They say it’s for our own protection,” Jessica said. She hopped up on David’s bed not far from him and sat cross-legged, studying him while she tossed her blond bangs away from her eyes.

  “It is, Jessica. You know what happened to Madeline.”

  “Who was Madeline?” David got off the bed and walked over to the sofa. It made him uncomfortable to be so close to them.

  “We’re not supposed to talk about her, Amy. Wisdom will do bad things to you.”

  “Will not. I’m his favorite.”

  Jessica rolled her eyes. “We both know that’s not true. I’m the favorite. Anyway, since you’ve told first and I can blame this all on you, I’ll tell him. Madeline was this old lady from somewhere in Spain.”

  “It was France.” Amy walked over to the bed and sat on the corner.

  “Whatever. She was pretty but not very smart. One night last month she decided to take off without telling anyone.”

  “She liked to go for walks at night.” Amy brushed the hair on her Barbie with her left index finger. “And she wasn’t that old, either.”

  “Was too. I heard she was in her late thirties. That’s practically ancient. Anyway, later on that night, Amy and I woke up. There were all these people rushing around. Even Wisdom raised his voice and that never happens. Never. That’s why I got out of bed and went looking. I knew it was bad.”

  “There was blood all over carpets. Even some on the walls.”

  “What?” David sat forward and pushed his damp hair off his forehead.

  “She’s exaggerating. Amy tends to do that because she’s an only child. That’s also why I adopted her as my sister. Not because she exaggerates but because she’s an only child. No one should have to be an ‘only’ anything. The blood wasn’t all over the carpet. It was just…I don’t know…leaking behind Madeline. Now, she was covered in blood. I couldn’t see very well but, from what I sensed in her mind, she was cut by very big knives. Knives that looked like peacock feathers.”

  “She was also set on fire. Don’t forget that.”

  Jessica grabbed Amy’s Barbie and threw it against the front door. “You’re jumping ahead and ruining my story! Stop it!”

  Amy walked slowly over to the doll, picked it up and adjusted its hair with her index finger. “Don’t do that to my doll, Jessica. I won’t warn you again.”

  Jessica opened her mouth, squinted her eyes, and then shook her head. “I won’t. I promise. Don’t be mad, okay? Anyway, David, we found out after she was dead…”

  “Dead?”

  “Well, yeah. We forgot to mention that, didn’t we? Well, after she died, Amy overheard Elaine and Wisdom talking. It wasn’t a random attack. This was deliberate.”

  David pulled a package of cigarettes from his canvas bag only to have them pulled out of his hands by an invisible force. The package fell onto the floor between him and the girls.

  “No smoking in here, David,” Amy said. “Wisdom has allergies.”

  Jessica rolled her eyes again and got off the bed. She walked over to the cigarettes, picked them off the floor, and threw them into a nearby metallic garbage can. “He does not have allergies, Amy. How many times do I have to tell you? Things, I mean people, like him don’t have allergies. He just doesn’t like cigarettes because they smell bad. They’ll make you give them up in class, too, so you might as well stop now.”

  David stared at the garbage can. “So you’re saying someone tracked her down and did this to her. That’s the reason you guys are not allowed out of the building?”

  “Sort of,” Amy kept her eyes focused on her doll. “But we weren’t allowed out much before that, either.”

  “Don’t say anything else, Amy. You know you really do talk too much. We should get back to our rooms. We have studying to do. Just don’t go out on your own. Bad things could happen and I haven’t decided whether I want you dead or not yet.”

  After they left, David changed into jogging pants and sat on the sofa. He looked out over the city for a long time.

  In the morning, he woke screaming and covered in sweat. This nightmare was even worse than usual. He tried to forget the crawling, scaly things from his dream. But he failed. He looked at the alarm clock on the nightstand. It was 5:30. He threw off the few corners of the sheets still clinging to his body and pushed himself to his feet.

  He looked out the window and surveyed the streets of Toronto. From thirteen stories up, he could still make out the people below. A group of people his own age staggered and swerved down the sidewalk. It took him several minutes to remember what day it was. Saturday morning. They were probably students out all night dancing and drinking, coming home after an early breakfast. In another life that would have been him.

  ***

  Elaine walked into Wisdom’s office and sank to the floor, her back against the wall and her feet on the floor.

  “Rough night?” Wisdom asked. He sat behind his desk pouring a glass of scotch.

  “It always is, Wisdom.” She cracked her knuckles and rubbed the soreness out of her trigger fingers.

  “I don’t need to ask, do I?”

  She looked up then. “Of course you don’t need to ask. They’re dead. It was just…messy. There were a few civilians. A mother and child.”

  “It’s not the first time you’ve shot a mother, Elaine. Your conscience confuses me. Those men killed Madeline. So when do you stop?”

  “When you say we’re done.”

  Wisdom smiled. “Not the killing, the self-flagellation.”

  “I think only your kind can do that. I’m still…”

  “Still human? Well, yes. I guess you are. I could change that for you, you know? One of these days you will take me up on the offer.”

  Elaine shook her head. “Not yet. Maybe when I get old. For now it’s too much to give up.”

  W
isdom laughed softly. “I do love you, Elaine. Just don’t tell Echo I said so. Well, I won’t keep you. You should get a few hours' sleep while you can. This may be the last moment of peace you know in this life. This will be our last night here.”

  “Hallelujah. I’ve never liked Toronto. Too many homeless people. It just depresses me.”

  “London has just as many homeless,” Wisdom said. “Do you think your dislike of Toronto might have something to do with a certain blond-haired man who died here?”

  “That was a long time ago.” Elaine went silent for a moment and leaned her head back against the wall. Then she pushed herself to her feet. “It’s starting soon, isn’t it?”

  “Yes. In a few hours.”

  “Are you sure you can still trust Echo?” Elaine’s face was blank. There was something in the vacancy of her eyes that clearly showed disappointment. “She could turn the Anomalies over to Propates. You did say she was unpredictable.”

  “Unpredictable, not stupid.” Wisdom drank the rest of his scotch. “She’ll be here just in time.”

  Elaine dropped her shoulders and scratched her hair. “I don’t know if I’m ready for this, Wisdom.”

  “Believe me,” Wisdom said. “When the time comes, you’ll be ready.”

  ***

  At 6:58 a.m. there was a knock at David’s door. He looked away from the mirror where he had been attempting to straighten his hair. He was about to say “Come in” when Garnet entered. She was dressed in a tight black pantsuit with a red top underneath. He started to admire the way she looked but stopped the thought before it was fully formed. Around here it was hard to tell who was listening.

  “You’re up? Good. Ready for class?”

  David looked back into the mirror and ran a palm over the stubble on his chin. “Do you think I need to shave?”

  She tilted her head to the left and studied him. “No. You’re good. You know, there’s a whole closet full of clothes over there. Are you sure you want to wear that?”