Council of Peacocks

by M Joseph Murphy

  He walked towards the elevator. He put his hands against the metal and used his new powers to dissolve the cohesive bonds that kept solid objects solid. The sensation danced over his skin like an orgasm. It continued to build until the metal turned to rust and flaked away. This was the power of decay, the third level of Eyeness. Most humans could not carry this power for long – their bodies gave out long before their will did – but Paeder did not care about that. He would survive long enough to retrieve the boy. He would drag the boy back by the hair if necessary. And once the Council was done with him, Josh Wilkinson would die.

  He slammed the side of his fist into the rusty metal. It shattered like brittle ice. The actual car was somewhere above him. As long as he kept the power off, it was not going anywhere. He leapt into the shaft, grabbed the nearest set of wires and started to climb.

  ***

  As soon as the plates and silverware were in place, Josh had Garnet dump a pot full of water over the burning knife block. The air was now thick with smoke, although it was too dark to see any of the black clouds. Josh and Garnet hid behind an industrial-sized steel fridge. Jared curled up in a nearby corner. Josh could hear the crinkle of the kid’s jeans as he rocked back and forth.

  Garnet peeked past the fridge. “My God. I can feel him now.”

  “Just stick to the plan.” Josh put a hand on her bare arm and drew her back to their hiding spot.

  “The demon is angry,” Jared said. Jared smacked his head against the wall with a soft thud.

  “Stop that,” Garnet said. There was no heat in her voice, no sense of worry, either. But it was enough. Jared stopped.

  The weight of the fire extinguisher grew heavy in Josh’s hands but he didn’t dare set it down.

  “Are you sure it will come in here?” Garnet whispered close to his ear.

  Josh nodded. “If there was any doubt before, the smell of smoke will solve that. Now hush. Let’s not speak until…”

  “It’s gone,” Jared said.

  “What’s gone?”

  “The demon. I can’t feel it anymore.”

  Josh rose to his feet, pins and needles shooting through his legs.

  “Garnet?”

  “I can’t feel it either,” she said. “One moment it was there, this pool of pestilence, moving through space. Then it was gone. I can’t feel the taint anymore.”

  Josh shifted his weight and listened. “I can. It’s coming.”

  Click.

  Garnet gulped in air. Then there was absolute silence.

  Josh held his breath and listened. His head buzzed, like a sudden hangover pounding in his skull.

  Tap tap tap.

  ‘That’s the door being pushed all the way open,’ he thought. Then he heard a series of clicks and ringing vibrations. ‘A fork being thrown against a spoon and tumbling into a plate.’

  Then nothing.

  Silence.

  Eventually, he detected a third pattern of breathing. Deep and solid. Despite his blindness, the sounds gave him a perfect visual of where the demon was.

  ‘Almost there. Just a few more steps.’

  ***

  Paeder couldn’t help it. His eyes lit up and he fought not to burst out laughing.

  ‘Utensils on the floor? This is the man that slaughtered my family?’ After the forty or so armed guards, he felt like he had stumbled upon a child trying to catch their pet dog in a fancy mousetrap. The only thing that kept him focused was the memory of his mother’s dead body, vacant eyes in a cold skull.

  The Third Level of Eyeness also allowed him to see without light. He was in a kitchen big enough for a restaurant. Metal pots and pans hung from the ceiling over three of the islands. The walls were filled with cupboards.

  ‘Reminds me of our place in the Laurentians,’ he thought. He sniffed at the air. Smoke masked the stench of sweat and fear making it difficult to pin down locations.

  ‘Hide all you want. I’ll still find you.’

  He crept forward, dropping to all fours. ‘There. I can hear them breathing.’ The sound came from the left. ‘If I concentrate just a little harder…’

  He heard something like wind in the air. He turned just in time to see the thing flying through the air. He caught it with both hands and called up the power of decay. It shot through his hands before he recognized what the object was. The area around his fingers melted, creating quick holes in the pressurized steel container. He did not have time to curse before the fire extinguisher exploded.

  ***

  As soon as he threw the fire extinguisher, Josh moved.

  “Garnet, now!”

  Behind him, Garnet held up one of Jared’s sneakers and set it on fire. The flash of light was blinding but this time he was prepared for it. He closed his eyes and rushed to where he’d thrown the fire extinguisher.

  The explosion took him by surprise. It threw him back several feet. Luckily, he was far enough away not to be hurt. The blast lasted only a second. Afterwards, there was an eternity of screams. The demon held hands over his foam-covered face, metal shards sticking out of its upper body.

  Before the demon could focus beyond his pain, Josh kicked and shattered its kneecap. The demon fell, still holding its face. Josh slammed both his fists down on the back of its head. It hit the floor face-first; metal shards dug deeper into its body.

  “It’s not dead!” Jared screamed.

  A bloodied hand reached out and grabbed Josh’s ankle. It clawed at him, trying to drag him off his feet. But Josh was lucky. He leapt free of the hand and landed near a block of knives. He grabbed the two largest blades and spun around. That’s when he caught his first good look at the face of the demon.

  “You!” he said. When he'd heard there was a demon coming, he'd imagined horns and scales. He didn’t expect to see one of the Redford twins.

  The demon smiled back at him. “You killed me mumsy. I’m going to make you scream.”

  An oily tentacle darker than the shadows reached out from the demon’s hands and grabbed Josh by the throat. Josh screamed. Searing pain burned into his neck as the tentacles tightened. He was vaguely aware of Garnet throwing something she’d set on fire, but it was hard to concentrate.

  ‘Have to move or I’m dead,’ he thought. He slid his fingers under the bottom edge of the tentacle and concentrated. Nothing happened. He focused harder, ignoring the howl of pain as the corrosive ropes burned his skin. Then his mind was clear. There was nothing in the world but silence.

  In his mind’s eye, the smoke and pain parted. A figure appeared dressed in a tuxedo woven from living maggots and writhing beetles. Wet intestines wrapped around its neck and waist, crafting a mockery of bowtie and cummerbund. But it was the face that struck Josh the most: the dull grey slate of a powered-down television cracked open in scales and oily boils, lips like wet tar and beautiful blue eyes that were far too familiar.

  ‘Ah.’ the creature said in his mind. ‘Now there’s my boy.’

  Josh howled, filled with terror. His hands broke through the tentacle. He fell to the floor, gagging and struggling for breath. Something flew over his head – a flaming shoe. It hit the demon in the chest.

  “Josh! Look out!”

  He didn’t have time to react to Garnet’s warning. Something solid grabbed him by the throat again. With a grunt, he kicked out as hard as he could. Luckily, his foot connected with something and the grip around his neck broke free. He shook the blackness from his eyes in time to see the demon holding its left knee.

  All the Redford twin’s clothes and hair were on fire. Still, it would not fall.

  ‘How the hell am I going to beat this thing?’ Even as the thought came to mind, the demon pointed at him. Another tentacle of darkness shot out toward him.

  “No.” Josh held his hands out. As soon as he said the word, the tentacle stopped moving. It hung in the air, twitching, dripping shadows, but it did not move forward. Josh looked the demon in the eye.

  “You killed my best friend. Tortured my girlfri
end. Making me angry was the worst decision of your life.” Something pulsed in his mind. Then it jumped forward and wrapped around the demon. With a violent jerk and a loud snap, the demon’s head twisted clockwise and up. Then, wide-eyed, it fell.

  Paeder Ferris was dead before he hit the floor.

  Josh stared down at the body. ‘What the hell have I done?’

  ***

  The building came back to life with a series of whirls and hums. The kitchen overflowed with light. Josh blinked several times, forcing his eyes to adjust. Garnet came forward and knelt beside the Redford twin.

  “He’s dead,” she said. “No more demon thoughts. Would you agree, Jared?”

  Jared stood up from where he had been hiding – behind one of the islands – and nodded. He was crying. Somehow, he looked more frightened now than before the demon attack.

  Garnet rose and stood in front of Josh. “That was pretty hard-core there, Mr. Wilkinson. I didn’t know you were capable of that.”

  Josh shook his head. He could not look her in the eyes. “I’m not sure that was me.”

  Garnet raised her eyebrows. “Then who was it?”

  Josh remembered the man in his mind, the creature in a living tuxedo. For a moment it felt like the creature had taken control of his body. “You wouldn’t believe me. You’d think I was crazy.”

  “Whatever. It worked. We’re alive. That’s all that matters now. You knew him from somewhere, didn’t you?”

  “He’s one of the psychos from Quebec, the ones Wisdom rescued me from.”

  “That’s funny.” Garnet examined the wounds around Josh’s neck.

  “Weird is an understatement.” Josh stepped back away from her prying eyes and fingers. Then she gave him a look that froze him in place.

  “No, not funny as in weird, funny as in ridiculous. You think Wisdom rescued you? That’s flippin’ hilarious.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Garnet, you should be nice to him. He might kill you, too.”

  “Hey! I’m not going to…”

  “Just kidding.” Jared broke out into a bright smile. He danced over to the demon’s body and kicked it in the head.

  Josh went pale. “You know, Jared, you’re a very troubled kid. What do you mean, Garnet? He did rescue me. If it wasn’t for him, those freaks would have killed me.”

  Garnet laughed, but there was no humor in it. “Honey, if it wasn’t for Wisdom, freaks like that probably wouldn’t exist. Don’t get me wrong. I love the big guy – as much as you can love someone like that – but there’s so much about him you don’t know. There’s even a bit I don’t know about him. The parts I do know help me to realize he never rescues anyone. He might recruit you, but saving you was the last thing on his mind.”

  Jared kicked the demon in the head again. This time the skull flopped about on the broken neck with a series of crackles.

  “Can you please stop that?”

  “Come on! How often am I going to get to play with a dead demon? This is sooo cool.”

  Josh was not sure if he was going to throw up on or throw something at Jared. ‘Have to be careful,’ he thought. ‘I might just kill him by accident.’

  Jared smiled again, this time not so brightly. “Don’t count on that, mister.”

  Josh blushed. ‘Oh my god. I forgot he could read minds. Which means he’s probably still reading my mind.’

  With a snicker, Jared kicked the demon’s head once more and then walked over to Josh.

  “I told you he was a demon, didn’t I?”

  “Yeah. It’s just, he doesn’t look like a demon, does he?”

  “He does on the inside. You know, you have a lot of weird things in your head, too. It’s like you put parts of yourself into little boxes in your mind and thrown away the key. I could help you open those boxes.”

  “Another time.”

  “You can’t always rely on what you see,” Jared said. “Maybe this demon can change his appearance. Maybe he doesn’t really look like this at all.”

  “That’s a lot of maybes.”

  “Have you ever seen a demon before?”

  Josh shivered. ‘Who or what exactly was that thing in my head?’

  “Oh yes,” Jared said with a smile. “I guess you have.”

  Josh turned away. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Not yet. But you will.”

  Chapter Twenty

  David looked over the secret city below. Tall sand-colored spires rose on either side of dust-covered streets. Deep-cut stairs followed the outer wall of the canyon heading to the lower level. The stairs looked solid but the edges were cracked and worn. As they came closer to the city, he made out landmarks that made it more and more difficult to think of the Edimmu as simple winged monsters. Several open city squares lay covered with layers of dust. In one of them, seven forty-foot tall peacocks encircled a dry fountain. Dozens of smaller statues dotted the city: life-sized replicas of sleek humanoid figures with massive wingspans.

  “I’m starting to envy the Edimmu,” he said. “I’d love their wings right about now. At this rate it’ll take hours to reach the city.”

  “You could always jump,” Jessica said. She walked close to Elaine, but she was moving much more easily now. The wounds were scabbing over, the bruises fading. The speed of her healing unnerved David.

  “Are you getting anything from Echo?” he asked for the third time.

  Jessica turned to him, put her hands on her hips, and said nothing.

  “I was just asking.” David focused his eyes on his feet.

  Below, mosaics of turquoise and onyx splayed across several of the larger buildings. One showed a reptilian face, forked tongue out to the side in what seemed to be a smile. The series of white figures to the side of the face reminded him of hieroglyphics. Another mosaic was troubling for another reason. It showed two small reptilian creatures without wings riding the back of what could only be a pterodactyl. Either the Edimmu had been around since the dinosaurs or the mosaic was an advertisement for a children’s fantasy book. He wasn’t sure which idea was more unsettling.

  “Can we rest for a sec?” Todd sat down on the edge of step. He put a hand to his ribcage.

  Elaine set her guns aside and sat cross-legged with her back to the outer wall. “Once we’re down, we need to find shelter. There should be running water in some of the buildings. Echo told me the aqueducts are still sound.”

  “I’m hungry,” Jessica paced back and forth along the steps. “What are we going to do for food?”

  “Echo stored supplies down here last week, just in case. See that square with the dry fountain? There’s a wooden crate near one of the peacocks. It’s filled with dried goods and bottled water. She said there would be enough for 50 people to survive a few weeks. I’m hoping it doesn’t come to that. Echo’s still around somewhere. Even if she’s not, Wisdom knows we’re here. Someone will come for us.”

  ‘What if no one comes?’ David thought. He looked over at Todd. He saw the same fear he felt echoed in the other man’s eyes.

  David cleared his throat. “How you holding up? I’m surprised you can even move after what they did to you.”

  “It’s one of my EFHBs. PK. Psychokinesis. I can move things with my mind. I’m not as strong as Jessica, but it’s enough to keep a kind of mental splinter around parts of my body. I’ve got three broken ribs, a shattered ankle, and a fractured shin. Plus, I think my arm is toast.” He looked over at Jessica. “I feel bad for her. Her PK is different. It’s better for heavy lifting but hard to manage for small jobs.”

  “I don’t need your sympathy.” Her voice was weak. She coughed and brushed away a loose strand of hair. The hair she pushed away fell stubbornly back into place. She brushed it away again, her eyes wet with tears. “I’ll be fine.”

  ***

  An hour later they stepped off the last stair and entered the city. Walking through block after block of abandoned buildings unnerved David. The shadows, like th
e light, were dim and ill-defined but numerous. Each window was a square of darkness, each doorway a portal away from the light.

  Though the buildings were made of stone, there was an organic quality he found disturbingly familiar. Several blocks into the city, he realized what they reminded him of: honeycombs. The buildings reminded him of the inner workings of a beehive. Everything felt connected. He could not even distinguish where the floor of the large cavern ended and the buildings began. Entire blocks of buildings seemed to have been carved out of the rock at the same time. The interconnectedness made the city feel like the skeleton of a giant.

  “This place is massive,” he said. “It’s at least as large as Halifax back home. How is this possible?”

  Todd stared up at the tall vacant buildings. “I don’t know. There’s enough housing here for hundreds of thousands of people. What I don’t get is how they lived underground. What did they do for food?”

  “I don’t think people lived here,” David said. “It was Edimmu. Can you imagine those things living in a place like this? I mean, look over there. Either I’m nuts or there’s more of those glowing spheres, the same ones up in Echo’s apartment. That means those things were advanced enough thousands of years ago to have electricity.”

  “And where the hell is all this light coming from?” Todd looked at the ceiling. “Those spheres are nowhere bright enough to light up the whole city.”

  “How is it we know nothing about them? How can a society just get erased from the history books?”

  “You have heard about them,” Elaine said. “They built these cities a long time ago, back when they were in control. There was a time when the people around here called them gods. The lizards taught them things – how to farm, write, forge steel. Stuff like that. They’re all over the Bible. Of course, most of the stuff about them was taken out once the Canon was set.”

  Jessica squinted her eyes. “Are you talking about angels?”

  When he didn’t hear an answer, David looked over at Elaine. She was nodding. Then she stopped. “If you have questions, ask Wisdom. There are things I’m not at liberty to discuss with you Anomalies.”