by KD Knight
"Firstly, Eshkar Investigators have been notified. They are looking for Marcus as we speak. Secondly-"
There was a sudden and boisterous knock at the classroom door that sent my heart racing.
"Boothe, you made it!" Lisa squealed as he entered the room. She leapt from her seat and wrapped her arms around him like he was an old friend.
"Who invited the traitor?" Mark asked, studying Boothe from head to toe with his eyes.
"I did," Dr. Coy gestured for Boothe to come closer.
"Yo, Boothe and the Neph are friends. Batty and bench!" Mark spat angrily. "Gweh!"
"Gweh? I'm not going anywhere." Boothe gave a chesty huff. "For a funny guy you really have a dark side. You should see someone about that?"
"I should kick your-"
"Mark! Calm down." Lisa grabbed his arm. "You're not helping."
Mark stood defiantly in front of Boothe. He looked like a small child challenging his older more physically developed brother.
"Mark has a point," I spoke up. Mark looked at me with satisfaction. "Why is he here?" I looked directly at Boothe when I spoke.
"Jane, Marcus and I are friends, but we weren't at the same time, if that makes any sense." He said, stepping around Mark.
"No, it doesn't," I wasn’t about to let him off that easily.
"Marcus and I were cool before he started getting out of hand. When he started acting up, I started distancing myself. I told Lisa and Coy everything. I even tried to warn you," He said, walking towards me.
"Let me guess, I was the idiot who didn't listen and started this whole mess."
"I'm not saying that, Jane." He clenched his jaw tightly and stared at me the same way he had in the class. I watched as his eyes slowly transformed from black to grey. I was once again mesmerized.
"I've asked Boothe to take you to and from school for the next month, as a precaution," Dr. Coy interrupted.
"Why can't Lisa drive me?"
"Because I know Marcus. He doesn't take losing very well," Boothe said. "You'll be safer with me, trust me."
"That's the problem, I don't trust you." I stepped closer to Lisa. "How do I know you're not one of them?"
"I know a Nephilim when I see one. Boothe isn't one. He's an Eshkar," Lisa offered her assurance.
I dropped my arms by my side and balled my fists. "Well, I’m not going anywhere with you."
"You've got two choices, you either accept my offer of protection, or you fend for yourself. You've seen what Marcus is capable of. There are a lot more like him out there. At the end of the day, the choice is yours. Choose wrong and it's your funeral."
I hated to admit that he was right. "And exactly what are you going to do if someone attacks me, again? Dazzle them with your football skills. Or maybe you'll charm them with your winning personality."
"The last time someone got on my bad side, I ripped the doors off his car," He said calmly.
"Well, alright then." I clutched my backpack tighter and tried to hide the lump in my throat.
"Jane, before you leave I must issue you a dire warning," said Dr. Coy. "I have done a lot of research on Aramos, the General. He is a first generation Nephilim. His father was an angel, his mother a Normal."
"He's immortal," I said aloud.
"He's the leader of the Nephilim Clan. It troubles me that Marcus has risked exposure just to bring you to him. Boothe, I trust you to keep her safe."
"No one will touch her. Not while I'm around." I have to admit Boothe’s confidence was reassuring
We rode home in dead silence. I stared out the window watching the buildings pass by in a blur. Between the blurs I saw flashes of the shattered bus window, the old woman and Marcus's blood red eyes. Then a memory came to me. One evening when I was frustrated by my mother's rules I decided to stay outside after the streetlights went on. I remember the panic in her face, and the desperate way she hugged me when I came inside. I didn't understand it then, but I understand now.
"Jane," Boothe paused, clenching his bottom lip between his teeth. "I'm sorry, it’s my fault. I didn't do enough to stop him. I should have never let it reach this far. I didn't step up because, well it doesn't matter why, I just didn't."
"If you were really sorry, you would have said no when Coy asked you to be my chaperone," I said quietly. "I don't want or need your company."
Silence filled the cabin once again. I wrapped myself in my memories. Every weird event, spontaneous relocation, and every seemingly irrational denial my mother ever made all made sense now.
We turned off Hope Road and drove down the bubbling residential street. Night fell quickly in Jamaica. It was only 6:30 p.m., but looked like 9:30 p.m. according to Canadian standards. Within the next hour bright stars would fill the night sky.
"The other day you asked me if I was afraid of 'my girlfriend’ Nadya seeing us talking together," Boothe resumed his explanation.
"The day you confessed to stalking me."
"It wasn't Nadya that I was concerned about. It was Marcus. He has this idea in his head that there is some sort of rivalry or competition going on between us."
"Sibling rivalry?"
"Exactly, except we are not siblings. If he saw us talking and had any idea that I've been looking out for you…"He squeezed his bottom lip between his teeth. "I had to treat you that way. If I hadn't, Marcus would’ve made it his mission to get you."
"Get me? Isn't that what he tried to do today?"
"Two years ago, Marcus and I had Biology class together. We did an in-class test. Whoever got a perfect score got to take home the class pet, some exotic bird from South America. At first, Marcus didn't care about the test, he even made jokes about how stupid he thought the whole thing was. After I won, he became obsessed with the bird. I even caught him trying to feed it chocolate."
"I thought chocolate was fatal to birds."
"It is."
"Are you saying that Marcus would have tried to kill me?"
Boothe didn't answer.
We pulled onto my street. It was close to 7:00 p.m. and the street was still busy. The kids ran up and down the streets without a thought of the danger that was out there and the killer Nephilim that lurked in plain sight. I wanted to tell them to run home and hide, but that wouldn’t do any good. If a Neph wants you, he’ll go after you, just like Marcus did today.
"What are you going to tell your aunt?" Boothe asked as he pulled into my driveway.
It struck me, I hadn't thought about what I would tell my family. I suspect there's no need to breakdown the existence of Nephilim and Eshkar. The question is how do I tell them what happened today? It pained me to think of how my mother would react. She would grab the next flight, pack all my things personally and ship me off to a deserted wilderness. I think I stand my best chance of survival here with others that are like me.
"Not your business," I exited the car quickly.
Boothe's move from cold shoulder to confidant was too much of a leap for me to take. He was still the friend of my enemy. I didn’t just trust him.
I stood outside on the veranda for a few moments listening to the hum then zap of the floodlights as it claimed another insect as its victim. Boothe kept the car idling in the driveway. I gestured for him to leave but he ignored me. I had to go in at some point; I figured I’d best do so before the mosquitoes sucked me dry.
Maybe I didn't have to say anything. But how could I do that? How could I stand in front of Aunt Dar and pretend that today was another uneventful day. I was in an accident that could have killed me. How could I pretend that I was okay?
When I entered my aunt was reclining on the living room sofa. The tranquil voice of the local news anchor rang loudly through the quite room.
I took a deep breath. "Hi, Aunty," I said with all the cheer I could muster, which wasn't much.
"Evening, Jane," Her eyes moved slightly away from the television screen then back again. "You're late."
My hands were shaking. I took off my shoes as calmly as possible,
taking deep breaths to steady my racing pulse.
"Your mom called for you earlier," she mentioned as I turned to walk up the stairs.
"I'll call her later." I didn’t slow my pace.
I made it to my room without breaking down. I fell at the side of the bed and buried my face in the skirt of the sheets.
"Jane," Aunt Dar whispered as she lightly knocked on the door. "Are you okay?"
I quickly wiped my face, fanned fresh air into my eyes and took a couple of deep breaths before responding. "Yeah, I'm fine." I was disappointed that my voice shook so violently. Please don't come in. I couldn’t lie to her face.
"I know something is wrong, Jane. I'm coming in."
Don't come in, please.
She slowly opened the door. I kept my focus on a small piece of unravelled thread that hung from the skirt of my sheet and bit my lip.
She crouched down and sat on the floor facing me, folding her legs like a young student. She took my face in her hands and gently lifted my chin.
"Why would mom do this?" I asked. My voice was still quivering. "How could she hide a thing like this from me?"
Aunt Dar let out a deep sigh. She knew. "Give your mom a chance, Jane. The only reason she held on to you so tight was that she was afraid of losing you. It's not easy living with the constant fear that at any moment some creature could come and take you away. This was the reality of your mother's life. She did the best she knew."
"If she wanted to keep me safe then why did she send me here?"
"Well, you can't run from destiny, Jane." Aunt Dar said with a deep sigh. "So when evil found her doorstep, she knew that it was time to let you go."
"But why didn't she tell me what was going on so that I could at least be prepared?"
"I don't know, Jane, but hindsight is always twenty-twenty. I guess in her attempts to protect you she forgot to teach you how to protect yourself." She rubbed my shoulder gently. "Christopher and I worked very hard to get you into Kingston Academy, so that you could be around other Eshkars and learn and develop your skills. Christopher’s a great teacher."
"Can you teach me?"
There were a few moments of silence before Aunt Dar responded. "I'm not an Eshkar, sweetie. My mother, your grandmother Edna, had the gene but it skipped your mother and me. You're the only living member of our family to be blessed like this."
We sat on the floor for another hour as Aunt Dar told me every story she could remember about her mother. I told her about the dreams and she smiled and said that even after death gran was still protecting me.
~Boothe~
Chapter Ten: Two Bull, One Pen
After dropping Jane off I headed straight home. I approached the front door and could hear through the thick, solid wood doors that there was an argument in progress. I could hear my father's thunderous voice piercing through the door. Although I couldn't make out what my parents were talking about, I had a gut feeling it had to do with me. It always has to do with me.
When I entered, my mother was standing in the middle of the foyer with her arms folded. My father stood with his back towards me, his small frame enhanced by his anger.
When my father was calm, he was a petite man standing at five foot four. But when he became angry, he grew an additional three feet, his back broadened, his arms became swollen with muscle and his hands lined with veins.
He spun swiftly to face me. His grey eyes blazed with venom. "You! You're ruining everything I've done for you! All my hard work down the drain!"
"What have I done now?" I asked, leaning against the wall. I folded my arms across my chest.
"Don't play with me boy! You think I don't know you’re driving that girl around. Everyone has seen you two together!" He shouted.
"So I drove a girl home. What’s the big deal?" I shifted between his face and my mother’s. "She’s not the first girl I've had in my car."
"You have no idea what’s going on." His hands began to shake. "She will ruin you!"
It was hard to imagine Jane ruining anything. I've watched her closely since she started at the Kingston Academy. She had a sharp attitude, but that was purely defensive. Beyond the wall she put up, she was loyal to her friends, polite to strangers, and had compassion for everyone. I admired that. I admired her.
"I know what this is about. You've always liked Nadya," I shot back. "You and her dad run in the same circle …"
"This is not about Nadya. You can hang out with anyone you want but NOT that girl!"
"Her name is Jane," I became defiant. Normally, I followed my father’s commandments with little opposition, mainly to keep the peace in the house. But this time I made a promise to Jane. I owed it to her. I knew what I was supposed to do about Marcus. It gnawed at me, like an unrelenting sand fly. Yet I did nothing and let Marcus hurt people and almost kidnap Jane.
"Take it easy, Henry," my mother injected.
"Claudia, I don't want my son to wind up dead because of this girl," he shot back.
"Whoa. Wait. Dead? What are you talking about?" I was confused.
"I'm talking about letting that girl lead you off the course I set for you. She is the beginning of the end," he shouted.
"Henry, calm down." My mother pleaded.
"She's not …" I started.
"Kiba!" He barked. "Shut your mouth. You know nothing about the real world."
"Henry! Your blood pressure." My mother tugged on his arm for him to stop.
He let out several deep breaths, and with each breath his frame shrunk, until he returned to his normal five foot four size.
"Mark my words," he pointed his forefinger directly at my face, "I will not stand by and watch you throw all my hard work down the drain. Stay away from Jane Miller." With that, he quietly walked out of the room.
I waited until he had vanished into his study before I approached my mother.
"Mom, what is he talking about?"
She shrugged. "Today your father got a visit from an 'old friend.'
"What did this friend look like?"
"He was about five foot ten, small eyes, shaved head."
He didn't sound like any friend I'd ever seen my father with. "Was he Eshkar?"
My mother raised her brows at me.
"Yeah, sorry. You're a Normal; you can't tell the difference." I said.
"They went into the study," she said in a hushed voice. "When they came out, your father was as pale as a duppy. I don’t know what he told your father, but he has been on edge ever since." She glanced over her shoulder towards the study.
"How did he find out that I drove Jane home?" I asked curiously. "He called her Jane Miller. I never said her full name."
"You know your father."
"He had me followed."
Mom raised her eyebrows silently affirming my suspicion.
"Why am I not surprised? Things always have to go his way. The school I go to, the sports I play, and now who I hang out with. Everything has to be the way he wants it." I bit down so hard I punctured the inside of my mouth.
"That's the way it has always been. You have never argued with your father before. Is this girl worth this conflict?" She looked at me tenderly.
“I'm seventeen. I should be able to make my own decisions. I can understand if I am out there causing trouble, but I'm not. I’m trying to do the right thing. If he had me followed then he must know what happened today, and why I had to drive her home."
"That man is your grandfather and the only father that you’ve ever known. He only wants to protect you."
"You are the only mother I have ever known. It was his daughter, my mother, who was killed. That's exactly why I can't stand back and idly watch as the same happens to Jane. Marcus will get her if someone doesn't protect her."
My mother held my hands in hers. She gave me a proud smile. "I can't tell you what to do, son. You’re old enough to understand that you have your own path to walk. As an Eshkar, you have a duty and a responsibility. Now, I’m not telling you to disobey your father; wh
at I am telling you is to listen to that small voice inside to guide you. Unfortunately, I think your father has replaced that small voice with his own."
~Jane~
Chapter Eleven: Under Pressure
About fifteen hours ago, an evil baby-faced boy tried to kidnap me. Fourteen hours ago, I was told that I was a member of a group of people born with special gifts called the Eshkars. The eyes glowing with unnatural colours of grey and red were real.
About five hours ago, I finally managed to fall asleep where I thought I would have peace. But my dreams were anything but peaceful. My sleep was tormented by a replay of the accident, hearing the sound of metal against glass, seeing the old woman's bloody and lifeless body.
At 7:00 a.m., I rubbed my sore knee and hobbled to the bathroom. As soon as I made it to the bathroom, I heard a heavy knock at the front door. I listened as Aunt Dar greeted the visitors. I leaned over the banister to see if I could get a glimpse of the person she was talking to. My eyes met hers and she motioned for me to come downstairs. I went down, giving no thought to the pajamas, fuzzy slippers and ratty hair that made up my appearance.
Their grey eyes followed me as I descended the steps. Sitting on the sofa were a man and a woman. They both sat upright and away from the sofa as if their backs were pinned to a wall. They were dressed in identical white and black uniforms. The woman's twisted hair was pulled tightly together and pinned up in an elaborate pattern of circles. The man removed his black hat to reveal his clean shaven head.
"My name is Lieutenant Millicent Grainger," the woman said. "This is Council Guard Lieutenant Glenroy Mamos. We are investigators."
"Eshkar investigators," I cleared my hoarse throat. "Dr. Coy mentioned you."
"E.I. for short," Glenroy added, his top lip twitching slightly as his grey eyes examined me from head to toe. "You're Jane Miller."
"We're here to ask you a few questions about Marcus." Millicent said, shooting Glenroy a look of caution. "We are aware that his most recent attack was levied against you. He is a high risk Nephilim offender. We need to catch him as soon as possible. We hope that any information you can give us will help with our pursuit." She opened her notepad and prepared to take notes.
