by Miranda Kavi
Finally, she spoke. “Okay, there are two basic options as I see it. Let’s start with the simplest explanation first. It’s a joke. Someone who saw the news stories is trying to mess with you. That’s the most likely scenario.”
I shook my head in disagreement. “From Alaska? Someone in freaking Alaska saw the news last week, composed this creepy little letter, found out your home address, and dropped it in the mail four days ago, exactly when the media storm died down?”
She leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms. “You’re right. This letter was mailed the same time Gavyn and the family released their statements. The media interest evaporated. I didn’t realize the timeline coincided. But it still could just be a coincidence. What else is there to do in Alaska?”
“What’s your second scenario?” I said.
“It’s legit. I’ve always wondered if there are more people like you out there. The letter mentioned bloodline, and your great grandmother was institutionalized for delusions. Maybe she said she could fly.” She picked up the letter again. “I wonder if there would be some sort of support group or something. I guess that could make sense.”
“I’m not an alcoholic. I don’t need a support group. Do you really think there’s an anonymous secret support group for the gravity challenged in Fairbanks, Alaska?”
“Well, when you say it like that, I guess it does sound surreal.” Her face became more serious. “Let’s face it though, your life is pretty surreal. Stranger things have happened.”
I took the letter back and read the words one more time. “The mysterious author said they will make contact with me soon. Let’s just keep our guard up, and see what happens. If no one contacts me, then we know it’s a joke. If someone contacts me, we’ll go from there.” I smiled at her. “Try not to shoot anyone, okay?”
“Fine. I’ll try to restrain myself. For now.” I couldn’t tell if she was joking or not.
I was awake in bed for several hours watching the occasional light flash across the ceiling from passing cars. I thought about the possibilities hinted at in the letter, providing a welcome retreat from my heartache. Could there really be a group of people out there like me? If it was genetic, why did my mom and sister remain firmly planted on earth’s surface at all times?
I tried not to get too excited about the letter, but I couldn’t help it. Nothing about the letter made sense, but logic rarely prevailed in my world.
As usual, the pain over losing Gavyn was still working at the corner of my mind. Alone, in the dark, I let it wash over me. I cried into my pillow, soaking it with my tears. I could only hope as time went on, the pain would at least dull to a more manageable level.
It didn’t. Boredom defined my life in Wichita. I didn’t go to school, I didn’t have a job. The novelty of having nothing to do quickly wore off.
My one salvation was exercise. I could run eight miles at a time and spend hours in the gym lifting weights.
I was fit, but I was clueless. I couldn’t figure out if I wanted to go back to school. If I did, I wasn’t sure if I would finish law school or do something else. My job options were somewhat limited in Wichita. A liberal arts degree was almost completely useless on that front.
I allowed a few days to slip by until I woke up determined to spend my day productively. The least I could do was help out my mom while I was living like a useless bum in her house. I left for the grocery store, taking my old economy car my sister’s boyfriend had retrieved from San Antonio. I took the time to peruse the aisles and compare prices. It felt good to be doing something constructive with my time.
I was walking out of the store when a short, wiry forty-something man with bright blond hair approached me. Thick sunglasses hid his eyes, but he still looked vaguely familiar. I stiffened and wrapped my hand around the pepper spray, for once glad my mom insisted I carry it with me wherever I go.
“You received our letter?” He had a faint eastern European accent.
“What? Is this a joke?”
He glanced behind him before he spoke. “It’s not a joke. Please believe me. We cannot talk any further here.” He handed me an envelope. “It’s time we met. Here is an address of a small café just outside city limits. Meet me tomorrow at two in the afternoon. Bring your mother if it will make you feel more comfortable. It’s a public place, but we should be able to speak privately. I’ll have some answers for you. Please come.” He started to walk away, and then paused. “There are others.”
He disappeared into the crowd of people walking into the grocery store. I was transfixed, gripping the handles of the shopping cart until my knuckles turned white. Eventually, I managed to get a hold of myself and go back to my car.
Once home I booted up the computer and looked up the address of the diner. It was a small place, just like he said. I would go. I would tell my mom about it, but I would definitely go.
She wasn’t nearly as excited about it as I was.
“This whole thing is really bizarre,” she said. “I don’t know about this.” She was sitting at the table, pinching the top of her nose with her eyes closed, something she only did when she was really upset.
“It’s in a diner, a public place. I’m going. If you would like to come, you are more than welcome,” I said.
“Fine. I will be armed,” she said.
I was practically bouncing in the passenger seat when we pulled into the diner parking lot the next day. My mom wore a baggy t-shirt to conceal the gun she was wearing on her person. She looked at me, resting her arms over the steering wheel. “Are you sure about this?”
I appraised the small, old metallic diner. There were a couple of trucks and one shiny black car parked outside. “Yes.”
A girl my age behind the counter took orders from the bar and waited on the tables. It was simple fare: hamburgers, hotdogs and waffles.
The man was there, waiting in a booth at the far end of the restaurant. He sat with his hands folded in front of him. He was pale, and leanly muscled, with grey eyes like me, except his were a steely light grey, almost blue.
Without sunglasses, I recognized him. I’d seen him before back in San Antonio, at the grocery store and the bookstore.
He smiled as I settled in across from him. “I’m so glad you decided to come. My name is Konstantin.” He reached across the table and shook my hand. He directed his gaze to my mom. “You must be Aubrey. Thank you for being here.”
“Are you alone?” she asked.
“Yes, I am the only one here.”
The waitress took our order. When she left, Konstantin clasped his hands together. “I know this must be very strange for you. I understand in order for us to communicate further, I must first earn your trust, and your mother’s.” He gestured toward my mom. “The best way I can earn you trust is to give you some information about yourself, and your ability. I must warn you, some of this will be surprising. Please remember we are in a public place.”
He turned his head, scanning the restaurant with his eyes. When he was done, he lowered his voice. “It starts off as almost, shall we say...levitation, and for some, that’s as far as it gets. For others, it can be much, much more. It’s something you have to control at all times, which clearly you have been able to teach yourself how to do. At times when you are very sleepy or in an extreme emotional state, be it good or bad, it is harder to control. Sound familiar?”
He must have received some affirmation from the expression on my face, because he continued.
“Your ability, I suspect, is one of the strongest we have ever heard of, if the account of your feat is true.”
He paused while the waitress put down a burger for me and coffees for him and my mom, then left.
“There are others. Many, many others. All over the world.” He tore open a sugar packet and emptied it into his coffee. “We’ve been able to trace some, but not all, back to specific bloodlines. The bloodlines are from every race and ethnicity you can imagine.” He paused. “Please, eat your food. I’ll explain whil
e you eat.”
I numbly took a bite, forcing myself to chew so he would keep talking.
“Those of us with abilities try and find each other. We have been watching you and trying to protect you since you’ve been exposed. It appears our efforts with the media were successful.” He smiled. “I’m assuming you will both have questions. Please, ask me anything.”
“You’ve been following me,” I blurted out threw a mouthful of burger.
“We protected you in San Antonio. Yes.”
“What?” My mom looked pissed.
“Why?” I breathed.
“Because they were getting too close,” he said.
“They?”
“There are dangers for us, but don’t worry. We won’t let anything get through.”
For the first time since my exposure, a cold hard, fear blossomed in my chest. “Who? Who would hurt me?”
“Not who, what.” His voice dropped so low we both leaned forward to hear him. “The dark ones. We call them Shyama. This is something I cannot explain in full right now. Not here.”
Whoa. The universe became fuzzy around the edges of my vision. My mom put her hand on my arm. “Deep breaths, baby.” She left her cool hand on my arm, but refocused her gaze on Konstantin. “How can we know if you are telling the truth about all this?”
“I’m one of the others. I can show you my abilities. I have no reason to lie.”
“Where are the others?” I whispered.
“All over the place. Some choose to isolate themselves and live together, in small towns and villages they create themselves. Others choose to mix in normal society.”
“You’re telling me there is a secret society of flyers?” I said.
“No. A secret society of those with special abilities. There are many kinds.”
My mom slammed her fist down on the table, making both me and Konstantin jump. “Enough! How do we even know if any of this crap is true?”
Konstantin smiled. “It’s time Aurora met the others. There, she can learn everything.”
“I’d like to meet some people like me.”
“No. This is too dangerous,” my mom said. “We don’t even know who you are, or what you are.”
“I understand your fear. I have someone here in town with me. If you are willing to meet in private, we will show you our abilities, so you know you are like us.” He slipped an envelope across the table. “There is much, much more to discuss. I do no want to lead anything to you so we must take precautions. Please meet me in this hotel room tonight at 8:00. The address and key are inside.” His eyes slid to my mom. “As I have said before, we will never harm you, but I understand if you continue to choose to arm yourself.”
He took my hand. I stiffened, but let him. “You are very precious to us. You have much to learn about yourself, and very little time to learn it. Please come tonight.”
He threw a fifty dollar bill on the table and left without another word.
My mom watched him leave. She moved so she was sitting across from me. “I don’t know about all of this. How do we know if these are the good guys?”
“Something tells me they’re not bad. Why would someone go through all this trouble to contact me if they just wanted to hurt me?” I pushed the plate with my half eaten burger away from me. “What else am I going to do? Sit here? Apply for jobs day in and day out?”
When we got back to the house, I sat on the front porch and waited for the dark to come. My brain flitted over the all the things Konstantin had said. I rolled the ideas over and over in my head, trying to imagine if they were real. It didn’t seem possible, but then again what I could do was not possible either.
After the night fully settled in, I washed my face, changed my clothes, and got in the car with my mom. “Are you sure you’re okay?” she asked as we drove toward the hotel.
“Yeah,” I said. “It’s sinking in, I think.”
“I’m glad it’s sinking in for you.”
We pulled up to the chain hotel shortly before eight. She paused outside the door to the appointed room. “Hold on.” She placed her hand inside her purse strapped across her shoulder.
“What are you doing?”
“I can shoot through the purse. No need to even pull it out,” she said. “Let’s go in.”
“Right on, soldier.”
Konstantin answered at the first knock. He stepped out and threw a glance in each direction before letting us in.
“Were you followed?” He directed his question to my armed mother.
“No.”
Inside the room, the dark shades were drawn closed, but all the lamps were on, casting the furnishings in a bright light. A redheaded woman, about the same age of Konstantin, stood near by.
“Aurora, Aubrey, this is Carmen. She’s my wife.”
Carmen stepped forward to shake my hand. She was petite and wiry, like Konstantin. She had a shocking aqua eyes and a light smattering of freckles across her nose and cheeks. She released my hand quickly, but her expression was warm. “Aurora, it’s so nice to meet you. I’m so glad you came.”
She turned to my mom. “I understand your caution. I will not be offended if you prefer to keep your hand on your firearm.”
She withdrew her hand and shook Carmen’s. “I don’t need to have my hand on it to use it quickly. I’m glad you understand I have to protect my daughter.”
Konstantin cleared his throat. “I’ll cut to the chase. I’m here to show you our abilities, so you know you can trust us, so you know we are the same. These are deep secrets we carefully guard. I asked you protect them.” He stared at my mom as he spoke.
Without another word, he drifted gracefully to the ceiling.
“You are like me!” I dropped my purse on the floor and let it happen. Soon, I ascended so I was eye level with Konstantin.
“At some point we will need to spend some time together so I can assess the extent of your abilities. You have excellent control,” he said.
We both looked down. My mom was sitting on the floor, her mouth open in shock.
“Why don’t you two come down?” Carmen said, gesturing toward my shocked mother.
I sank to the ground. “Mom, are you okay?”
“Yes. I...I just never thought I would...” Her voice trailed off again. “It was little shocking to see two people flying, okay?” She pointed at Carmen. “Can you fly too?
“No. May I take your hand, Aurora? It’s not necessary, but it does help me.”
“Sure.”
She took my hand, holding it in hers for a few seconds before she spoke. “You are feeling very happy right now, but you are riddled with pain. Your heart is broken. You can see his face in your dreams. It’s haunting you.” She paused. “You feel your ability is unfair, because you can’t have the one thing you want. Would you like me to continue?”
“I guess.”
She looked at my wrist. “Your bracelet. It was made for you. You haven’t told your mother, but it’s from him.”
I pulled my hand back. “You could have just said you were a telepath.”
“I’m not a mind reader. I’m very sensitive. I can sense emotions, see bonds between people,” she said. “I have a strong sense of premonition. I can identify danger if it is nearby. I can sense if someone seeks to harm me or the ones around me. I can see if someone intends to do well.”
“Oh.” I guessed her gift was much more powerful then she was letting on. My poor mom had gone from shocked to pale and tired-looking.
“Mom?”
“I’m fine. I’m just a little overwhelmed.”
Carmen whispered something in Konstantin’s ear. Konstantin led us to the door. “You must go. You’ve been here too long. It would be bad to lead them to Aurora, but worse to lead them to you, Aubrey. We will leave this area as well.”
My mom snapped back into her old self. “Good. We need some time to think.” She shook hands with Konstantin and Carmen. “Thank you both for being so open. Your secrets are safe wi
th me.”
Carmen answered. “Your words are true.”
My mom shot her a wary look as she pulled me out the door.
When we got home, she brewed two cups of tea. “You want to talk?”
“No. I want to crawl into a little cave and sleep until this is all over.”
She sat next to me on the couch. “We both have a lot to process. Sometimes when you go to bed with a problem, you wake up with solution.”
I was almost glad Gavyn was out of the picture. Almost. At least he would be safe. I only cried for a few minutes that night before sinking into a deep sleep.
Chapter 12
The next morning, I woke up to lukewarm coffee in the pot and an empty house. I braced myself for another day, wondering what new information could possibly be revealed. Before I could begin to process the events of the past couple days, I needed caffeine. Lots of it.
I drank reheated coffee and watched the national news. The world was still full of huge problems, much bigger than me. The damn phone rang before I was even halfway done with my cup.
“Aurora, it’s Konstantin.”
“Er, yes?”
“I’m sorry to do this, but you need to start packing. I’ll pick you up in fifteen minutes.” His accent was stronger than I remembered.
“What are you talking about? Packing for what?” I said.
“As much as you can in the next few minutes. Actually, it’s not important what you pack. Get your passport and be ready to go.”
“Are you on crack? Where am I going?”
“I attracted their attention. They’re getting close. If you stay any longer, they will find you, your mom, and your sister. We can’t protect them all.”
The familiar panic darted around my mind. “The Shyama?”
“Yes. We don’t have time. Get ready. We can call Aubrey on the way out. I’ve called in some people to keep an eye on her.” He paused. “You have to trust me. If you don’t come with me, they will find you, and they will find your family, and they will die. You have fourteen minutes until I get there.” The line went dead in my hands.
