Council of Peacocks

by M Joseph Murphy

  “Have you ever done this before?”

  Jessica opened her eyes. “Of course I have. I do it all the time. Just ‘cause I’m a ‘precocious little girl’ doesn’t mean I’m a newbie. Now, any more questions or can we actually get started?”

  Josh cleared his throat. When was he going to learn to watch his thoughts around these people?

  “If you must know,” Jessica said, closing her eyes again. “I used to do this all the time with my big brother. It was like a game for us. At first, I thought I was just a good guesser. Then I told him I knew what our uncle did to him at the cottage. We stopped playing after that.” She stopped talking and Josh felt his head grow heavy and distant, like he had ingested too much cold medication. Something was happening. Then there was a vibration in his head, almost as if he could hear something: a distant noise.

  “I feel something,” he said. “Is that you?”

  “You’re fighting me,” Jessica said. Josh watched the way her face was scrunching up and looked to Garnet for a clue. He didn’t know how he could be fighting something he did not understand.

  “Close your eyes, Josh,” Garnet said. “It’ll help. Think about whatever you’re trying to remember. If you don’t concentrate, your mind will fill up with random thoughts. That will make it more difficult. For both of you.”

  Josh nodded and closed his eyes. It really was like fighting someone. If your mind was on anything outside the fight, you had a better chance of losing. He took a deep breath and concentrated. He thought back to the bush party, focused on the memory until he could smell the smoke from the bonfire. He saw himself standing next to the keg, laughing with Brian, but he could not remember what they were laughing about. Then, the vibration in his head changed. It stopped being a faint rumble and became a clear ringing, like metal hitting crystal.

  ***

  At the bush party, he stood next to Brian. They were checking out Moira McDonald, a cheerleader wearing a tight blue turtleneck. He started his third beer from the keg when he saw Tommy Delonki running.

  ***.

  “I knew.” He said aloud as the thought ran through his head. “As soon as I saw him I knew they were there. I knew the Edimmu had come back for Tommy. They were going to kill him if I didn’t stop them.”

  ***

  Tommy collapsed at his feet, as if he had reached a safe place. There were long bloody gouges along his legs and arms. A few people swarmed around Tommy. Most, the under-aged drinkers, ran for their cars. All this blood meant someone was going to call the cops. They were more worried their parents would find out about the drinking than whether Tommy was going to live or die.

  “They came back for me,” he said. “I told you they would.”

  Several of Tommy’s teeth were missing. Several others hung by threads to his gums. Somehow, this seemed the worst of his injuries. Josh wiped tears from Tommy’s eyes. Something inside him went very hot and solid.

  He leaned close and whispered: “I warned them.”

  He stood, reaching into the bonfire to take out a burning log. He chose not to let his hand burn: a solid, conscious decision.

  ***

  “How is that possible?” he asked.

  “Don’t fight it.” Jessica’s voice seemed clearer than his own. “Don’t think. Just focus.”

  ***

  He walked into the woods. He didn’t need to ask Tommy where they were. He could feel them. The stink and wrongness of the creatures pulled on him like magnetic North. They called themselves Edimmu. They wanted to do things with Tommy. They said he belongs to them. They said he has been promised.

  Josh’s memory changed. Dark trees and the smell of blood dissipated into a fog, only to be replaced by clean walls and the smell of a good dinner still lingering in the air.

  He stood beside the closet door while Tommy Delonki sat up in the bed behind him. Tommy wore his Star Wars pajamas, the ones with C-3PO and R2-D2 repeated over and over against a blue background. Tommy pulled the blankets up to his chest. He looked cold, shivering against the headboard, even though it was mid-July, the temperature well into the 80’s.

  “I’m serious, Josh.” Tommy drew his knees up, hugging them close to his chest. “They’re real, and if you don’t get away from the closet, they’re going to get you.”

  Goosebumps rose over Josh’s chest, but he didn’t move. Sweat trickled down from his armpits, but he also felt something inside him get as strong as steel.

  “Maybe,” he said, “or maybe I’ll get them.”

  He stood there staring at the door as Tommy turned off the light. Tommy cried into his pillow. Josh saw a flash of purple light under the closet door. It seemed familiar.

  The thing inside him burned even hotter now, but he wasn’t sweating. And he wasn’t afraid, even though he knew he should be. He stepped in front of the closet. As it opened, he moved with it, hiding behind the door while the monsters from the closet came out.

  The room looked so dark. Though some illumination came from the streetlights outside and a nightlight in the shape of the Death Star, everything seemed much darker with the closet door opened. He could just barely make out the shapes. There were three of them, but their bodies did not seem normal. He stared at them, bile rising. These were the things that made his best friend so scared. Even though they were much bigger than him, he made up his mind to hurt them.

  He was about to yell at them when something strange happened.

  Tommy never said what they did to him at night. He just said it was bad. Josh assumed it was a sex thing. That is what they taught in school: strangers can be bad and want to touch your private parts. This was much weirder. It was like they were playing doctor. One of them put a black shape that looked like a briefcase on the bed and took out a bunch of needles. The metal parts shone in the dark.

  “He’s not asleep,” one of the things said. Josh thought the voice sounded familiar, too.

  “No problem.” Another one of the things put a hand over Tommy’s body. Shadows deeper than darkness poured out of the hand and covered all of Tommy’s body. There was a lot of screaming. The bed bounced up and down. Josh held his breath. With all this noise, Tommy’s parents would surely come in to see what was going on.

  But no one came.

  Josh tried to step forward, but found he couldn’t move. He looked down at his body. It seemed normal, but his muscles refused to respond. It reminded him of the time last Christmas when he had drunk a few of his dad’s beers and fallen asleep on the floor. His body just would not listen to him.

  ‘Move, I say!’ His body always did what he told it to do, at least when he consciously told it to do something. It was why he was good at sports. As soon as he made up his mind, the sleepiness was gone from his body. Now he was really mad.

  He slammed the closet door closed. The three creatures turned. Despite the darkness, he saw them very clearly. He saw the way their wings hung limp at their sides, the way their scaly skin gleamed under the nightlight. And he saw the way their eyes glowed red in the dark.

  “You’re bad men and you need to go away.”

  “Josh, what are you doing here?” one of the creatures said. “This isn’t your concern.”

  Josh snapped his fingers and the lights came on. “He’s my friend and you aren’t going to hurt him anymore.”

  The Edimmu nearest Tommy finished taking blood while another knelt down beside Josh. It ruffled his hair and smiled. “I know you like him, but don’t forget where you come from. Let us finish up and we won’t have to tell your dad about this, okay?”

  Josh slapped the Edimmu’s hand away. The creature cried out in pain.

  “Tell my father whatever you like, but you are not going to bother my friend again. Don’t forget who I am!”

  ***

  Josh opened his eyes.

  Jessica stared at him.

  Josh stood too quickly and his knees gave out beneath him. He fell forward limply, each slow breath he took the only thing he could really feel. His head
was spinning. He felt as if a part of him was still outside his own body.

  “What was it?” Garnet took a few steps toward him. She reached out her arms as if to help support him, but Josh shook his head and waved her away. “What did you see?”

  “I don’t ... Oh God. I don’t know...” He looked up at Garnet, took in her beauty, and for a moment her green eyes seemed the most solid thing in the world. “What the hell am I, Garnet?”

  “Josh,” Jessica said. Her voice was weak. When he looked back, her eyes were wide and rimmed with red. She looked completely terrified. “We’ve got to finish. I can feel you don’t have very many blocks left.”

  Josh shook his head as he pushed himself back to his feet. He heard people shout but did not know why. Then he realized he was on the floor again. Todd and Garnet helped him get back up and led him back to the chair.

  “Maybe it’s best if we wait for Wisdom,” Elaine said. She took a few steps toward Josh. He looked up and saw that her hands were placed lightly on the sub-machine gun.

  “That can’t be real,” he said. “It can’t be a real memory.”

  Josh didn’t realize he was still shaking his head until Garnet rested the palm of her hand against his cheek. There was such tenderness in the touch the remnants of his dignity disappeared. He sobbed, confused and exhausted.

  “Oh, Christ. That’s how the creature touched me. The Edimmu. I knew it. It liked me. I…I think I might be going into shock. I can’t feel my legs anymore. It knew my father.”

  Jessica slipped off her wooden chair, kneeling in front of him. She put a comforting hand on his knee. “I saw it, too, Josh. It was real. I don’t understand it any more than you, but I can tell you it really happened. Who exactly is your father, Josh?”

  Elaine pulled Jessica back and put her palm on Josh’s forehead. “Enough. Look at him. Garnet, get some blankets. The linen closet is at the end of the hall by the spare room. Hurry. David, I need your help.”

  Josh felt David throw his arm over his shoulder, leading him off the chair to a couch. Josh stared at the floor, unable to concentrate on anything. He heard voices, but they made no sense. Everything was distant and secondary, like moving through a dream. His knees buckled and then Elaine was beside him, helping him. Then his head fell backwards and the world just stopped.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Josh stared at the ceiling with open vacant eyes.

  Todd paced back and forth by the windows. “We can’t just leave him like this.”

  Elaine rolled her head back, stretching out her neck. “Well, I can’t let her play around in his head anymore. Look what she’s done already?”

  “Hey, you’re the one who said we couldn’t afford the luxury of amnesia, remember?” Todd spoke with uncharacteristic anger. “Well, Jessica has unlocked something poison in his head. If she doesn’t get it all the way out, who knows what will happen.”

  “Christ. David, can you go wait outside the spare room? Let me know if Wisdom wakes.”

  David ran a hand through his hair and nodded.

  Elaine looked around the room and grunted with annoyance. “Has anyone seen Jared? Jessica, can you look for him? When was the last time anyone saw him?”

  Jessica closed her eyes. “He’s fine. I can feel him down on the beach.”

  “What the hell is he doing wandering off?”

  Jessica shrugged. “He’s a total dork. Who knows why he does the things he does? I’ll be right back.” She walked out on the patio and headed down the wooden steps.

  Elaine turned to Todd. “I made a mistake, Todd. What if he’s somehow connected to the Edimmu? If he’s our enemy…”

  Todd backed away from her. “You can’t shoot him, Elaine. Look at him! Does he look like a threat?”

  “Looks can be deceiving. You don’t look like a threat either, but I’ve seen what you can do. I’m not promising anything. I know you think I’m a hard ass but you don’t know how dangerous the Edimmu are.”

  “I don’t? Jesus. I was thrown around by a few of them this morning, remember? I lost my best friend.” He stopped and gasped. Then he hung his head and continued in a very quiet voice. “I lost my best friend to them, watched three of them slaughter and abduct others I care for. I know they’re dangerous. Whatever Josh is, whoever he knows, he’s not one of them. I am psychic, you know. I can tell that much.”

  Elaine bit the corner of her lower lip. “I’m sorry, Todd, but you don’t really have a clue. No matter what they did to you today, they represent something a whole lot worse than that. You say you can trust him, so we’ll go with that for now. But if he or anyone else crosses Wisdom, you have to know I’ll kill him. Like it or not, it may be the best thing.”

  Todd cocked his head to one side and rubbed his nose. “You know, Ms. Ryerson told us we’re some kind of monster, all us Anomalies. Freaks. So how are we any different than him? Do you plan on killing us, too?”

  Elaine stared back at him. The expression on her face drained the rest of the blood from Todd’s face.

  “Do whatever you want,” she said as she left the room. “Just don’t expect me to watch.”

  ***

  Hours later, Josh sat up, conscious again. Garnet was holding his hand, smiling down at him. Jessica ran over to him and stood beside her.

  “How are you feeling?” Garnet realized she was still holding his hand and went slightly red. She slid her hand back to her lap.

  “Like I was hit repeatedly with a tire iron.” Josh laughed softly, unconvincingly, and put a hand to his head. “I just wish that was the worst of it. Truth is, I know we have to finish. We all need to find out what else I’m blocking. Jessica, can you do your magic while I’m lying down?”

  Jessica nodded and sat on the edge of the couch by his feet.

  “Good. That way I won’t have far to fall if I faint.”

  Everyone smiled at that. No one laughed.

  “Okay,” Jessica closed her eyes. “The Edimmu acted like they knew your father. Why don’t we start there? Start going through your memories of your father.”

  Josh closed his eyes and lay back down. It was easy to bring a picture of his father to mind.

  ***

  The first moment: his dad in a three-piece suit walking beside him. Josh was six years old, riding a bike. His father held one of the handlebars to help keep him stable. This is how he saw his father: a tall, strong man, always smiling and with love in his eyes.

  The second moment: the hotel room in Lebanon. Josh sat on the floor flipping through the channels on the television. His mother lay on one of the twin beds reading an Agatha Christie novel. His father shaved in the adjoining washroom. He was the type of guy women liked to look at: square jaw, blunt nose and high cheekbones. His hair was darker than Josh’s. It could only be called blond in the summer when the sun brought out its highlights.

  The room was small with no air conditioning. One of the windows was open. A slight breeze brought in the smell of spices from the restaurant across the street.

  “You sure you don’t want to go shopping?” His father’s voice was deep. He raised his voice to be heard over the running water in the bathroom sink and the babble of voices from the television.

  “I’m fine here, doll,” Mother said. “Five hours of shopping is enough for one day. Just go to your little seminar thing. Josh and I will be fine here.”

  “I’m bored,” Josh said.

  “Kid, you’re always bored.” His father wiped the remnants of shaving cream from his face with a white towel.

  “Am not. It just sucks here.”

  “Josh, you have a ton of books to read,” his mother said. She didn’t look up from the mystery novel, but Josh still had the impression that she was looking right at him. “Let your father do his thing. When he gets back we can go out for supper, okay?”

  Josh groaned and rolled his eyes. Maybe that’s why he saw the flash of light out of the corner of his eyes. He got up on his knees and looked out the window. There it was
again. Across the street on the rooftop, something shone, like a mirror reflecting the sun.

  “What’s that?” He got to feet and walked toward the window.

  “What’s what?” His mother flipped the page on her book. She still didn’t look up.

  “On the roof over there. It’s like someone’s sending signals with a mirror.”

  Then the memory slowed down: a videotape played frame by frame. Disjointed still images linked together in the illusion of movement. Every second was an independent moment in time. He saw his mother lift her eyes from the book and turn to the window. He saw his father run out of the bathroom, razor still in hand, eyes wide in disbelief. Then he saw someone move out of the shadows on the roof, a very large gun in hand.

  ***

  Josh gasped and sat up.

  Jessica stared back at him, shaking her head. “Josh, that can’t be right.”

  “Oh, I think it is very right.” He pushed her away from him and walked toward the stairs. His legs felt like rubber. With each step he worried he would lose his footing and trip over his own feet. But he couldn’t let that happen. This wasn’t the time for weakness. He was vaguely aware of people shouting behind him, but it seemed very far away. The only thing in his mind was the memory of that face on the rooftop and the gun pointed in his direction.

  He kicked in the door to Wisdom’s room. In a heartbeat, Elaine rose from where she sat on the bed, her submachine gun pointed at Josh’s head. Her expression wavered from anger to relief and settled into worry. She cocked the gun and did not lower it.

  “Back away, Josh,” she said. The worry on her face escalated into anger.

  “You shot my mother.” Josh took a step forward.

  Elaine repeatedly pulled the trigger of the gun. Josh saw the mounting horror on her face as each pull of the trigger had the same effect. Nothing. The gun refused to fire.

  With his left hand, he pushed the weapon out of the way. With his right hand, he grabbed Elaine by the throat, lifting her off the ground.

  “You shot my mother,” he repeated. “Why?”