Council of Peacocks

by M Joseph Murphy

  Leaving the dirty dishes in the sink, she opened another gateway.

  “You owe me one for this, Wisdom.”

  ***

  David screamed at the flash of light and nearly pissed his pants again. It was not until Echo stepped through the portal that he started to breathe again.

  “Where the hell have you been?” he said.

  Echo raised her eyebrows and lifted her hand as if to smack him upside the head. Instead, she waved her hand at the portal. It disappeared as quickly as it had come.

  “Way to show your gratitude, David.” Elaine walked toward Echo. “Forgive the pretty body. He’s an idiot. Glad to see you made it. We were worried.”

  “I’m sure you were. Let’s get out of this dead city. The sooner I hand you back to Wisdom, the better. I want nothing more to do with this whole fiasco.”

  “What about the other Anomalies?” Todd grimaced as some inner pain racked through his body. “We have to rescue them or something. We can’t leave them with Propates.”

  “Not my concern,” Echo said. “Not even on my radar. Wisdom created this mess. He can fix it.”

  “Wisdom had an errand to run,” Elaine squared her shoulders. “I don’t think we should take his not being here as a bad thing. I’m sure he’ll show up as soon as he can. When he does, we’ll make a plan to get them back.”

  “How do you know he’s not back already?”

  “Jessica says she can’t feel him. And like I said, he expected to be away for quite some time.”

  “And I take it you’re not at liberty to discuss his little mission, are you?” Echo bit her tongue and shook her head. “Typical. That man is never here when I need him. I don’t know why I keep expecting that will change.”

  “You’re more important to him than you realize, Echo.” Elaine cleared her throat and put a hand on Echo’s shoulder.

  Echo's shoulders slumped and she sighed. “Let’s get the four of you someplace safe. When Wisdom wants to find us, he will.”

  Echo flicked her wrist again and the portal reappeared. David let Jessica and Todd go first. He motioned for Elaine to follow them. She rolled her eyes and pointed him forward by jutting forth her chin.

  On the other side of the portal, he closed his eyes to shake off the afterimages of bright light that stained his retinas. To his left, something roared. He opened his eyes and slowly realized what the sound was: ocean waves crashing against a beach.

  Eyes wide, he walked past Todd and Jessica to the open-air windows. He took a deep breath of the salty air. Although Dartmouth never got this warm, the scent reminded him of home. Sweat poured freely down the back of his neck and ran in a steady drizzle from his armpits to his elbows.

  “Glad to feel moisture again,” he said. “I felt like I was drinking sand the whole time we were underground.”

  “Nice, isn’t it?” Echo handed him a glass of ice with a little iced tea thrown in for color. He drank it down quickly, convinced it was the best iced tea he had ever tasted. Then he put the glass against his cheek. He could almost see steam rising up from where it caressed his hot flesh.

  “It’s paradise,” he replied. She smiled in response and put a comforting hand on his elbow. Then she handed out drinks to the others. David turned back to watch the waves crash against the beach and listened to the conversations around him.

  “What’s wrong with him?” Echo’s voice was throaty and solid, full of command. Jessica rattled off a list of various injuries. Several times Todd tried to speak for himself, saying that Jessica was the one who needed to be looked after, but she kept shushing him.

  The windows looked out over a wooden porch to the high crescent moon and millions of stars. It was bright enough for him to see fairly far. At the right end of the porch, a staircase ran down to a ten-foot wide patch of grass. At the edge of the grass, greenery gave way to clean white sand. He looked up and down the beach. It went on as far as he could see to left and right. Off to the left he also saw a patch of forest with a thin strip of grass separating it from the sand. A breeze blew over his face and dried the perspiration on his cheek.

  ‘I have no idea where in the world I am,’ he thought. ‘My life is so completely crazy. Earlier today I saw psychic surgery in an underground city built by reptilians. Now I’m standing at the edge of an unknown ocean. I barely know these people. Hell, I don’t even know their last names. Home feels incredibly far away.’

  He lifted the glass to his lips. The ice cubes were melting and he drank the build-up of water collecting in the glass. ‘Strange to think I just left Dartmouth a few weeks ago. Wonder how Mom’s doing. Is she even trying to look for me? Probably not. She probably hopes I disappear until the police close the case.’

  His third murder.

  It was easy to forget he was a killer. Sometimes he went an entire day without the thought popping into his head. Then a piece of an overheard conversation or a stray fragrance would take him back. He would smell the burning flesh; hear the screams of the gaggle of kids across the street. Worst of all was when he remembered the feeling, the satisfaction he felt as Dane Houghton rolled around on the grass trying to smother the fire that ate him alive.

  Thinking back, David fought to keep his lips from curling back into the same smile he had worn as he had stared past the orange and blue flames to watch flesh and bone melt. At the time, he had not even known the boy’s name. He had heard it on the television hours after the boy had stopped struggling.

  ***

  Dane Houghton was nobody, not in David’s life anyway. He was a 16-year-old high school student with a part-time job delivering newspapers.

  At 19 David graduated high school and took a job washing dishes at a fish and chips restaurant. It was ludicrously hot as he walked home that day in late July. He had changed his shirt after work, but it was hopeless; everything about him reeked of wet garbage. His hair was thick from the oily air in the kitchen. A pungent film coated his face and neck. So when the kid walked by and told him to take a shower, David wasn’t feeling particularly charitable.

  It was tempting to think it was temporary insanity, brush it off as a psychotic break. Only, he seemed incapable of fooling himself. As comforting as it would have been to believe otherwise, David was fully cognizant of his actions and the consequences of what he planned to do. He knew it was wrong, but he didn’t care. The voice of reason told him he should just ignore the thin brown-haired kid. After all, David was the adult now. The most he should have done was tell the kid to screw off. Instead, he turned, slowly, and snapped his fingers.

  Flame flashed over Dane’s t-shirt and jeans. He waved his arms around, dropped his bundle of newspapers before any of them caught fire, and then threw himself on the ground. It was only then that David saw the group of kids getting off the bus. The kids who pointed and screamed. The bus driver got out and pushed all the children back on the bus. David barely paid attention to them. He kept his eyes on the burning body, the boy he set on fire.

  The boy he killed for telling him to take a shower.

  ***

  “I’m not a monster.” He looked at the glass in his hands and set it down. He felt sick to his stomach. The smell of burning flesh was thick in his nostrils.

  “Did you say something?”

  He looked over his shoulder. Echo was just putting the phone back in the cradle. He had not heard her speaking on the phone. He realized he had been staring out at the sea for longer than he had intended. He walked over to one of the beige chairs in the living room and sat down before his legs gave out beneath him. “Nothing,” he said. “Just talking to myself.”

  She shrugged her shoulders and walked out of the room.

  ***

  He woke up to the smell of food. He didn’t remember falling asleep in the chair. It wasn’t like him to nod off like that, but he did feel better now.

  Jessica and Todd were playing cards at a circular table between the living room and the kitchen. Both seemed stronger, somehow. It took several moment
s before David realized they were no longer covered in bruises. Jessica’s shoulder bone was back inside the flesh. He felt the back of his head and looked over his own body. Except for the remnants of dried blood on his skin, none of his wounds were visible. It appeared Echo was a talented healer after all. Hearing muffled talking, he searched for the source. Elaine sat at a mahogany desk at the far end of the living room with a phone to one ear. She was writing notes with her right hand, her voice rising occasionally in angry tones. David stood up and walked over to his classmates.

  “What’s going on?”

  Todd placed a seven of diamonds over a seven of clubs in a pile of cards on the table. “Crazy eights. Echo took off again. I think Elaine’s calling Wisdom’s offices around the world trying to track him down.”

  “I hate you!” Jessica kicked a leg of the table and picked up a card from the turned-over pile. “Shoot. I can’t go. Are you happy?”

  Todd smiled and laid down a three of diamonds. “Very happy. Do you want to play, David?”

  “No thanks,” he sat down at one of the other two chairs around the round table. “Isn’t this kind of unfair? I mean, with you guys being psychic and all? Can’t you tell what the other one is going to play?”

  Jessica rolled her eyes and picked up another card. “It wouldn’t be much fun if we did that, now, would it? Besides, all we would have to do is think of a whole bunch of cards we don’t have and it would throw off the other person. Even if I tried to cheat, I know Todd well enough to realize he wouldn’t think about the cards he really has in his hands.”

  “You know me that well, huh?” Todd laid down a two of diamonds. Jessica kicked the table leg again and picked up two more cards. “Echo rounded up a few servants somehow. A few of them are cooking supper for us. She said she’d be back by the time we’re on dessert.”

  “Damn!”

  They all looked away from the table and stared at Elaine. She had slammed a fist against the wooden desk so hard David was sure the desk was cracked somewhere. She was no longer on the phone. He was about to ask her a question when she got up from the desk and walked over to them.

  “There was an attack at the London offices,” Elaine said. She moved toward the remaining chair, then decided against it. She paced back and forth between the mahogany desk and the table. “Not an Edimmu, they say, but definitely not human. It killed twenty-seven guards and almost got Garnet, Jared and the new guy.”

  “What new guy?” Jessica put down the eight of clubs and mouthed the word ‘Spades’. Her face broke out in a smug little smile. In response, Todd stuck his tongue out at her.

  “Another Anomaly Wisdom picked up. That’s not important right now. Where the hell is Echo?”

  Todd shook his head and laid down a five of spades. Before his hand was fully withdrawn, Jessica laid down the Queen of Spades and started laughing. “Burn, baby!”

  “Can you stop the damn card game?” Elaine stopped pacing and put her hands on her hips. “People died, remember? Garnet could be next if we don’t get her out of there.”

  Todd raised his eyebrows and scratched his scalp. Then he started picking up a series of cards from the deck. “Garnet can take care of herself, remember? You said the same thing to me about two months ago when we had that conversation about her wardrobe.”

  Jessica put her cards down and looked back and forth between Todd and Elaine. “You had a conversation about the clothes she wears?”

  “No, we didn’t.” Elaine pointed a finger at Todd. “We had no such conversation, understand? And I know she can take care of herself. This is different. People died. I should have been there instead of…whatever.” She sat down at the fourth chair, resting her elbows on the table.. “I can’t believe this is happening. I should have retired by now. Where the hell is Echo?”

  She got up from the table and started pacing again.

  A woman with light brown skin walked out of the kitchen. She was dressed in a blue blouse with a white skirt that hung to her knees. She was lightly tanned and blond. Seeing her reminded David of Annisa and Roma and what their absence meant.

  “Supper is ready,” the servant said. She glared at them, taking in the large patches of dried blood and dirt marks over their skin and clothes. “You may want to freshen up first. The bathroom is down the hall to the left.” When she said “you may want to freshen up” she lowered her head and stared each of them squarely in the eyes. The way she said it did not sound like a suggestion. Even though he was not hungry and had no intention of eating, David was on his feet quickly. Jessica and Todd both laid their cards down and headed toward the bathrooms as well. Even Elaine stood in line to wash her face and hands.

  David surprised himself by eating two servings of the turkey and mashed potatoes. It reminded him of happy times, Christmas and Thanksgivings before he knew he was different. Before his parents realized he was different. He drank a few glasses of white wine and ended up in a conversation with Todd about which Radiohead album was the best. Jessica asked for wine once. The servant, Courtney, put a glass of apple juice in front of her. Then she stood, arms crossed, waiting for Jessica to say something else. Jessica stared back, but only for a moment. Then she said, “Thank you,” and took a sip from the apple juice.

  Elaine barely looked up from her plate. David tried to involve her in the conversation. When she admitted she did not know who Radiohead was, he realized it was hopeless. No matter how hard he tried, though, he could not keep his eyes from straying over to her throughout the meal. He was glad she kept her eyes on her plate. He didn’t want her to realize how often he stared at her.

  When they finished talking about Radiohead, they talked movies. Not long after that, Courtney brought them each a plate of thick cherry cheesecake with hazelnut ice cream. As soon as she left the room, Jessica got up from her seat, walked over to Todd and picked up his 1/4 full wine glass. She lifted the glass to her lips and then froze when they all heard someone clear their throat. They turned to see Courtney standing in the doorway between the kitchen and the living room, arms crossed with one eyebrow raised. She stayed like that until Jessica, slowly, put the wine glass back in place and returned to her seat. Once Courtney disappeared into the kitchen, Todd and David broke out laughing. Elaine put her hand over her mouth, barely hiding the smile while she very studiously looked at the ceiling. Jessica did not look amused.

  They were deep into a discussion about The Lord of the Rings when Echo walked in on them.

  “Good,” she said. “You look better. I’ve brought some company.”

  David stood as Garnet and Jared walked into the room. Behind them was someone he did not recognize, a blond man about his own age who walked with his hands in his pockets.

  ‘That must be the new guy¸’ he thought.

  “Hey, strangers.” Garnet walked forward and put a hand on Elaine’s shoulder. “You all look like hell. Where are the others?”

  David’s mouth fell open. It was like a mirror shattering, he thought. Just like that all the warmth and happiness fell into sharp shards and clattered noisily on the floor. Jessica dropped a forkful of cheesecake and got to her feet. She started to run but slowed herself, walking briskly out of the room and down to the bathroom.

  “Oh,” Garnet let the word out like a balloon deflating. “Little Amy. God.” She spun and faced Echo. “Jesus, woman. You could have told us.”

  Echo shrugged her shoulders and sat down in Jessica’s seat. “Wasn’t my place. It was better for you to hear it from one of your own.” She put the forkful of cheesecake in her mouth and spoke as she chewed on it. “Look, I hate to rush you and all, but you’ve got to decide where you want to go. Where you want to hide out until Wisdom resurfaces.”

  Garnet frowned. “Can’t we stay here?”

  “No,” Echo ate another forkful of the cake and then pushed the plate away. “There’s not enough room. And even if there was, I’ve been involved in this too long. I can’t have the Council of Peacocks after me.”

 
; Garnet’s face went red but she kept her silence.

  Echo got up from the table. “Look, obviously you all have some talking to do. Catch each other up on what’s been going on. I am going to make myself scarce but I’ll be back again in the morning. Let me know then where you want to go and I’ll drop you off. There’s plenty of food and drink here. Be nice to Courtney, she’s a doll really.”

  “Wait!” David stood up, his fork clattering against the plate. “You’re really not going to help us? Those things could kill us. Don’t you care?”

  Echo waved her hand and a circle of light appeared. “I’ve already lost two homes because of this needless drama. Now I have to stay in this little shack until I can find a new home. I helped you because Wisdom asked me to. And as much as I hate to admit it, I owe him. But now it is too serious for me to stay in this little game. A suggestion, though? Elaine, I think it is time to stop with the whole secrecy thing. Normally, Wisdom would be upset with show and tell. Given the circumstances, I’m sure he’ll understand.”

  She looked down at the plate of cheesecake as if deliberating. Then she picked up the plate and fork and walked over to the portal. “You all enjoy your evening. Do your best not to use any of your powers and I can pretty well guarantee the Edimmu won’t track you here. You’ll be safe for now. See you in the morning.”

  With that, she stepped into the portal and was gone.

  David sat down slowly and stared at his plate. Once again he had lost his appetite.

  ***

  For several minutes no one said anything, locked in their own heads. Then, Jessica walked back into the room. Her eyes were red, but she had her chin firmly out and her jaw set. She did not sit back at the table. Instead, she found a beige over-stuffed chair and sat with her arms crossed.

  It was Elaine who broke the silence.

  “Tell me what happened in London.”

  They all left the dining table and moved into the living room proper. Josh introduced himself, which led into the story of his kidnapping and how Wisdom had rescued him. Garnet took up the story at this point, using security jargon that only Elaine seemed to understand. She then told everyone about the attack in London and how they managed to escape it alive. When she finished, Todd and Elaine took turns relaying how Echo had rescued them during the initial Edimmu attack in Toronto and the events in the underground apartment. Neither of them talked at length about Bethany, Amy or any of the other Anomalies, saying only that they had been killed or stolen by shadows. David was thankful no one pressed for any more details.