Council of Peacocks

by M Joseph Murphy

  Their stories finished, they all sank into silence, breathing air that sat heavily in their lungs. David wished he had not drunk the wine.

  “So what now?” Josh said. “Does Wisdom have any secret hideouts? Some place we’ll be safe?”

  Elaine nodded. “He’s got tons. Only problem is they are secret. I have no idea where they are. I only know of the offices he has around the world. We could go to any of them, but we’d have to assume that the Council knows all about them.”

  Josh leaned back. “So what exactly is this Council?”

  “Yeah!” David leaned forward. “Echo’s right about one thing. Stop playing around with the whole secret society crap. Let’s lay it all on the line. What the hell is going on?”

  Suddenly a crack of thunder shot through the room and the lights went out. David held his breath. There was a buzzing in his head, persistent but not painful this time. Lightning flashed outside, slamming and slicing into the ocean. Garnet found some candles and lit them each by touching the wick. Wind blew in strongly off the ocean, making the flames flicker, casting strange shadows around the room. David wished she would put the candles out.

  “That was just a coincidence, right?” Todd rubbed his hands together, twisting in his seat as if trying to get comfortable.

  “Of course not,” Jessica was on her feet now. “I know you can feel it, too, so let’s stop pretending. Something is out there. I just don’t know what it is.”

  She squinted her eyes and stared out at the lightning. In the candlelight, it was hard to make out the expression on her face. David stared at her. Lightning flashed again and he got a clear look at her face. It was frozen in horror.

  “Oh my God! Wisdom!”

  Even as she screamed, a dark shape flew in from the ocean and slammed against the side of the house. Jessica ran forward. Even though Todd tried to grab her and keep her back, she climbed out through the open window and dropped out of sight. Elaine followed, a blur of motion, and leapt headfirst out the window. Heart pounding in his throat, David walked with the others to the window and looked down. In the flashes of light he saw a body in mangled red clothes lying on the grass at the foot of the house. Jessica knelt at the body’s head, stroking it while Elaine held two fingers against the man’s neck.

  “It can’t be.” Garnet put her hands against the side of her head. She looked like she was about to start screaming.

  David looked at the body again. In the dark it was impossible to make out anything. He stared where he knew the head was and waited for the next flash of lightning. When it came, he recognized the features.

  “David, come on!” Garnet yelled. “You have to help. Elaine is motioning us to go down. I don’t think Wisdom’s dead. Not yet anyway. Come on!”

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  “Is that the last of them?” Propates rubbed the back of his neck and cursed under his breath. A cloud was forming in his head. Since the Orpheans had invaded his bathroom, he couldn’t shake the sensation he was being watched. Coupled with the annoyance of letting Echo slip through his fingers, his concentration was paying the price.

  “Yes, sir,” the acolyte said as he shut the door to the cell. They were moving from room to room in the subbasement of the Thessaloniki headquarters checking on the kidnapped Anomalies. Behind locked doors, drugs kept them sedated, nearly comatose. “We took 35 of them alive. We believe three are hiding somewhere in the old Edimmu city. Several were killed during retraction.”

  Propates sighed. “I would have preferred more but we have enough to move forward.”

  “This also proves Wisdom doesn’t know what we’re planning.”

  “Do you stuff your head with paper? Of course Wisdom knows what we’re planning. He’s traveling through time, idiot. He must have seen this coming.”

  “But if he saw it coming, if he knew you were going to take the Anomalies, why wasn’t he there to stop you?”

  “Now that is a good question.” Propates closed his eyes and put a hand against the wall. A shiver ran through him – an echo at the bottom of his awareness. It called to him, willing him to go to the Vulture Antechamber. “Retraction was easy. Too easy, especially considering how much trouble Paeder faced trying to retract just one Anomaly. If you knew Wisdom like I do, you would realize he’s not one to give up. He let me have these Anomalies for a reason. I just need to figure out what that reason is.”

  “Are we sending a team to retrieve the others?”

  “No.” Propates shook his head. “A storm is brewing out there, spreading all across the ether.”

  “Is it the Activation?” The acolyte said the word ‘Activation’ with reverence and fear.

  “Of course not. That’s still months away. But time moves quickly. Have the ceremonial chamber and the tattoo artists prepped within the hour. I want all these Anomalies taken through the first phase of Eyeness by this time tomorrow.”

  The acolyte nodded, bowed and scampered off. Propates steeled his nerves and headed for the Vulture Antechamber.

  ***

  “We have to get him upstairs,” Elaine said. “Spare room.”

  Josh nodded. “I know where it is.” He grabbed Wisdom’s ankles while Elaine took the shoulders. They carried him up wooden steps. Before they reached the top, Josh’s hands and arms were covered in warm blood, his shirt smeared.

  They set him down on the queen-sized bed in the spare room. Josh grimaced as Wisdom’s blood splattered the light flowery sheets and pillowcases. Garnet pushed Josh aside and helped Elaine strip the remnants of the mangled suit from Wisdom’s body. He looked away. In the dark it was difficult to tell the flaps of cloth from flaps of loose skin.

  “Go,” Elaine said over her shoulder.

  He knew the remark was aimed at him. He left the room. The door closed firmly behind him. For a moment he stood completely still. His head buzzed with too many thoughts.

  ‘Where will we go if Wisdom dies?’ His chest constricted and his heart pounded so fiercely it was difficult to breathe. ‘How long would it be before the Council of Peacocks and their Edimmu henchmen finally captured the rest of us? I don’t think I could take being captured again.’

  “Stop it,” he whispered. He forced himself to take deep breaths, panting like a woman in labor. Josh pushed himself to his feet and steadied his nerves. Careful to avoid the red, wet smudges of blood on the steps, he walked downstairs and looked around the living room.

  In the candlelight the group of strangers looked intimidating. He heard something dripping and realized it was him. Wisdom’s blood fell from his hands and torso, creating tiny puddles around him. A quick look at the light beige furniture told him it was not safe to sit anywhere, at least not until after a thorough shower. Aware that everyone was watching him, he walked over to the only other person in the room he knew. Jared sat at a card table with an overweight brown-haired man and a prepubescent girl. His physical presence was a welcome moral support.

  For the better part of an hour no one said anything. From time to time a maternal-looking blond woman entered from the kitchen with hors d’oeurves and glasses of iced tea. No one ate and most barely drank. Then the door to the spare room opened and Garnet walked down to the bottom of the stairs. Although she was not crying, her eyes were completely bloodshot and her lower lip trembled. The maternal servant, Courtney, walked over to Garnet and spoke in a low voice Josh could not hear. Garnet slowly nodded her head, then straightened her blouse and walked into the living room.

  “He’ll live,” she said. “His wounds are healing remarkably quickly. He hasn’t woken up yet. There’s no way to tell when he will.”

  “Let’s let him sleep tonight.” This came from Elaine, who stood at the top of the stairs. Several people jumped as she spoke. Even Josh had not heard her approach. “He should be fine by then.”

  “What happened to him?” Jessica sat on the edge of a chair, her hands close to her mouth as if she was going to bite her nails. Then she looked at the hands, closed her mouth and pu
t them firmly on the sides of the chair.

  “I think that would be best left for him to say.” Elaine rubbed the back of her neck, turned and headed back into the spare room.

  ***

  David’s eyes settled on Elaine as she appeared. He wanted her to look at him but she did not. She seemed to peruse everything in the room except him. Bags seemed to grow suddenly under her eyes, although it was more likely David had decided not to see them until that moment. He wanted to comfort her. The realization made him cringe.

  ‘That’s a joke,’ he thought. ‘Me comfort her? She’s far more confident and powerful than I’ll ever be.’

  He shook his head and walked quickly to the window. He needed to feel the breeze against his skin. He crossed his arms and hung his head. He was not aware that he was crying until the tears hit his lips.

  He felt a hand on his shoulder.

  “It’s okay. You’ve had a rough few days, haven’t you?”

  Garnet.

  He wanted to open his eyes, to see a friendly face, but keeping his eyes closed was the only thing preventing his tears from flowing freely. Any hope he had of maintaining a degree of masculinity was gone now. Even Jessica, the child, had shown the grace to leave the room for her breakdown. Knowing he was outclassed by a 12-year-old was bad enough. Realizing that everyone was watching his breakdown made it all the worse.

  Violently, he wiped his eyes with his palms.

  “Thanks.” He felt like sinking into the floor. He looked back out the window. The storm still sporadically lit up the waters in the distance, but the thunder seemed very far away. It did not seem to be raining, either on shore or where the lightning fell. Still, some summer storms were like that, even back home. Sometimes it was just the heat and the humidity in the air that brought the storms on. No reason to think it was anything different. Only, it felt different. Maybe something had caused the storm. Maybe, on some level, that something was Wisdom.

  He shook his head and covered his eyes. ‘I have no idea what’s going on. I’m surrounded by members of a secret club, strangers who refuse to tell me what’s really going on. Not that it would do me any good. I can’t even deal with what little I know. I’m a murderer. A freak. Even if I leave Wisdom’s circle of freaks, I can never go back home. I’m totally trapped.’

  ***

  The Vulture Antechamber was dark, lit only by burning embers in incense braziers around the room. At first glance the chamber was deserted. Then Propates saw the whisper of a man hanging in the air.

  The agent from away.

  “Why are you here?” Propates disliked this man. He knew he was an alien, a creature from a planet far away. The fact that he so closely resembled a human disturbed him. It hinted at a common ancestry he could not explain. “Have you acquired the Miscellany?”

  “No,” the agent from away said. “But I know where it is now. I’m assembling a party to retrieve it. We leave within the week. But that’s not why I’m here. I was contacted by the Djinnistani.”

  “What did he want?” Propates shifted on his feet.

  “He was injured. He needs to retreat to the Kaz for a few days, but he wanted to pass along a message. He fought Wisdom and Wisdom won. Don’t let your chin hit the floor, Propates. I need you to concentrate. Wisdom is more powerful than his father expected, which means he’s probably more powerful than you suspect. The Djinnistani also wants you to know Wisdom claims he killed his father in the future. If that happens….”

  Propates' headache was much worse now. He felt faint. “If that happens, all our plans might be for naught. I can’t let that happen. I’m not going to let the world be destroyed simply because Wisdom doesn’t know when to lie down and die.”

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Josh knew things were moving too quickly. He clenched and unclenched his hands repeatedly as he scanned the room. He did not know these people, did not know who to trust. God, he could not even tell which ones were human and which were things like Wisdom. He wished his father was there. He would know what to do.

  The sudden emptiness in his chest made him realize it was the first time in almost a week that he had thought of his father and the rest of his family. Jan. How was she coping? Had she recovered from the horror of the Laurentians? What did she tell her parents? And what about Matt? Was the damage to his knees permanent? How was he dealing with Tonia’s death?

  But of all the questions that ran through his mind, the worst was: ‘Will I ever find out one way or the other?’

  By now, his father would have scores of CSIS agents looking for him. Nothing was more important than family to Richard Wilkinson. His father was a tall man with the well-groomed look of a Mormon. But behind his eyes, visible now that Josh knew what to look for, was a cold strength. They never talked about the work his father did, but from time to time Josh caught fragments of regret and rage coming off him in waves. Richard Wilkinson knew things about the world. He’d seen things other people were never forced to see. That knowledge was the reason he had trained Josh.

  “I’m heading to the washroom,” he told Elaine.

  “I think Todd’s in there.” She watched him with a cold look that reminded him of his father. “I hear you took out a demon unarmed and by yourself?”

  Josh swallowed hard. “Guess I’m just lucky.”

  Elaine nodded, a vacant look on her face. “There’s more to you than meets the eye. I think we need to find out what that is. I know you don’t remember how you killed the Edimmu, but that type of amnesia is a luxury we can no longer afford. Can’t say I blame you. About the not wanting to remember thing. There are several things in my head I wish I could forget. Like my brother. He was like you, an Anomaly. The Council took him. It’s how I met Wisdom. Long story. Point is, we need you to remember what happened. Talk to Jessica. She can help.”

  Josh asked himself what his father would do in a situation like this. There was not much doubt about that. “Sure. Let’s see what she can get me to remember.”

  ***

  Echo accepted the bowl of noodle soup with a smile. The Chinese man in the white uniform of a waiter reached out his hand, smiled and bowed, under the delusion he’d been paid and tipped well. He wouldn’t realize he was short for hours. By then Echo would have faded back into the crowds.

  She came to New York partially to hide in the crowds, but mostly to be reminded what civilization felt like. This affair with Wisdom and his Anomalies seemed to take up her whole life. Here amongst the noise and the carefully regulated chaos of Chinatown, the secret war seemed a million miles away.

  She was halfway into her noodle soup when she felt the presence. She kept her eyes on the bowl, hoping to hide the fact that she was aware. She scanned the restaurant casually, her eyes brushing over the tables filled with smiling patrons all engaged in quiet conversation. The air was filled with scents: garlic and fish sauce, ginger and deep-fried batter. But there was something underneath it all. Something dark and subtle. Despite the well-spaced lights around the restaurant, there were still puddles of shadows. One in particular stood out. Near the swinging door that led to the kitchen, the door to the broom closet stood slightly ajar. Dropping all pretence, Echo stood and started walking toward it. From the shadows, inside the closet something glistened. A flash of gold. Echo stopped mid-step and looked over her shoulder, judging how long it would take her to make her escape.

  Then, as clear as a bell, she heard a voice whisper from deep within the closet: “Found her,” it said. “Tell the Djinnistani.”

  Echo bolted for the front door of the restaurant. She pushed it open too quickly, too forcefully. It shattered in a rain of glass. She was barely aware of the destruction in her wake. She was too focused on trying to think of somewhere else she could run.

  ***

  Josh sat in a beige armchair and watched the others swirl around him. The power was still out. Garnet and Todd rearranged the candles in the room, making Josh the center of the light. Jessica took a wooden chair from the card ta
ble and sat opposite him. She slipped the elastic out of her hair, unraveling her ponytail so her blond hair fell loose around her face.

  “It might help if you take your shoes off,” she said.

  “Why?”

  She shrugged. “Don’t know, really. It just always seems to work better if the other person has their shoes off. Actually, it works best when they wear as little as possible, but I don’t want to see you naked, so don’t do that.”

  “Okay.” Josh bent down, suppressed a grin, and took off his shoes. She was a strange little girl. “Should I keep my socks on?”

  She shrugged again. “Doesn’t matter. Just let me know when you’re ready.”

  Any other time, Josh would have found the little girl precocious. Under the circumstances, he found her a little frightening. He left his socks on and placed his shoes to the right so they were out of his way. As he settled back in his seat, he became aware of all the eyes on him. Garnet and Todd sat nearby on the beige sofa, watching him expectantly. Elaine stood near the foot of the stairs at the edge of the living room. She would not stray too far from Wisdom, but she kept her eyes on Josh with an unblinking stare.

  ‘It’s like they’re all getting ready to watch a movie,’ he thought.

  He nodded. “I’m ready.”

  “Good.” Jessica squared her shoulders and let her hands rest on her legs, palms up. Then she closed her eyes. “Now, this is not like hypnosis. I’m not going to count you down from ten or whatever those guys do. It’s more like I step inside your head and we walk around together.”