Bernard laughed heartily and put his hand on her shoulder. It was the first time he had ever made physical contact with her and the sensation made her feel like her heart was about to explode. He told her, “You sounded so brave just then.”
“Thanks.”
“Of course you should be afraid,” he admitted. “After all, I am what I am and I do what I do. And I have been cooped up way too long.” He started laughing like he was really entertaining himself. “Don’t worry so much,” he told her. “It won’t take that long and you’ll be relieved when it’s over.”
“Why are you going to hurt me?”
“That’s a good question, my dear. I suppose it’s because I just can’t help myself. I was born this way and it just feels good.”
“Dade will hunt you down.”
Bernard started laughing. “The sourpuss! Of course he’s going to hunt me! After what I did to him when he was your age, it became the purpose of his life. Whatever I do to you isn’t going to change that. My and Dade’s relationship has been carved out by fate. We’re natural enemies, you see.”
“What did you do to him?”
“Ha!” Bernard blurted. “You see! Even when you know something horrible is about to happen to you, even though you’re so scared that you’re shaking, still this fascination with Dade Harkenrider. Ahh, a young woman in love.” He stared at her for a quiet moment. To Ann Marie, it seemed as though he was imagining what she would taste like. He went on, “Dade was my first spiritual child so to speak. I tried to raise him as the son I always wanted him to be, but something went wrong.”
“What?”
“I’m not sure,” Bernard admitted, before offering his best guess. “I did my best with him but in the end, I couldn’t change him. Something was broken and twisted in Dade before I even started. That’s why he conducts himself the way he does. That’s why he’s a monster.”
“He’s not a monster.”
“Believe what you like.”
As Ann Marie’s car circled its way down the hill, the fog became less thick and she could see the ocean down below the cliff. “What are you going to do to me?” She asked him.
“I’m going to love you,” Bernard said before breaking into riotous and totally inappropriate laughter. “Don’t worry so much. You’ll feel like a million bucks when it’s all over. Look at my daughter, Ivy. Look at the beautiful creature she’s blossoming into.”
“Why are you doing all this?”
“Why indeed,” Bernard said with a glimmer of rumination. “Well, because it’s the way things are meant to be. It’s the natural order, my dear.”
“No. It isn’t.”
Bernard’s face took on a shade of menace at Ann Marie’s challenge. He told her, “You’re just as simple as the sourpuss.” He went on as though he had the mission to convince her. “Of course it is meant to be. I know someone as smart and special as you can see it. Look at these humans. Look at what their civilization has turned into. The whole thing is eating itself and these stinking animals fight with everything they have not to notice. Every day, people like me work to speed things along, to do our part. Every day, things get a little more horrible and a little more evil, for lack of a better word. Every day, we chip away at the goodness that’s left. Every day, we claim more minds and souls. I’m just part of the clean up crew, doing what I can for the natural environment.”
“Who’s we?”
“I’m the spokesman, you see,” Bernard explained. “Excuse me, spokesperson.”
“Spokesperson for what?”
“You animals, you humans have been trying to name it since cavemen started mumbling words. Devil. Whatever it is, humans aren’t fit to name it. Your simpleton master calls it a parasite. It’s the primary force of nature and I’m part of it. You can be part of it too. An important part, my dear.”
“Whatever it is you’re doing, it won’t work. Dade and I will stop you.”
“I knew there was something different about you, my dear Ann Marie,” he said, as though he had just detected something in her face. “I saw it the moment I got in the car. It’s written all over you. You’ve been on the other side,” he said like a playful accusation. “Did the sourpuss take you because that doesn’t sound like him?”
“I went on my own,” she answered. Somehow, she had lost some of the fear that came with being that close to Bernard Mengel.
“And you didn’t lose your mind,” said Bernard. “Very impressive.” There was such respect in Bernard’s voice that Ann Marie toyed with the idea that he might not hurt her. He sounded proud of her, like he was speaking to a respected colleague. “You are in a very special club, my dear.”
“I feel different since it happened.”
“Of course you feel different,” said Bernard. “You’re on your way to giving up your humanity. You’re on your way to something far grander than most of these savage animals will ever glimpse. You’re evolving.” Then something changed in his expression. The frightening look made Ann Marie abandon any hope that he would let her go. He looked like he was about to slit her throat and lap up the spraying blood. He said, “And now I’m gonna help you in your metamorphosis.” Bernard reached across the car and started to run his fingers through Ann Marie’s hair. “I’ve wanted you right from the start,” he said, rubbing a few strands between his fingers. “You and my princess, Ivy. You’re my girls and we’re going to be a family.”
Ann Marie was shaking in fear and the car was beginning to swerve around the road. Bernard slid across the car and cozied up to her more closely. He put his hand on the wheel and took control of the car. She couldn’t look at him. Then she started to cry. “Please,” she pleaded with him, “just let me out of the car and go ahead with your plan. I won’t get in the way.”
Bernard giggled at her and slowly shook his head no.
Ann Marie could hear her heart racing in her ears. She felt herself begin to hyperventilate while Bernard ogled her. Her skin became flushed and a strange feeling started in her head. It reminded her of the first few moments after her finger touched the green crystals for the time. She could hear her heart pounding even louder and faster.
She felt a cool rush of air accompanied by a dizzying sense of motion. The carseat felt like it had turned into the wing of a speeding jet. It was as though she had been squeezed from inside the car like the air from a shrinking balloon.
Suddenly her eyes were overwhelmed with bright light. She realized she was looking at Bernard Mengel from the air outside her car. She was floating in space over the cliff while Bernard just stared at her in shock. She felt a chill on her skin and discovered that she was completely naked. Somehow, she had left all of her clothing behind in the car. Below her was nothing but a drop to the Pacific Ocean.
She screamed out loud, “I teleported!” before falling straight into the ocean below.
The water felt freezing and the long fall disoriented her. She tumbled in the current, grabbing at the cold water around her, not knowing which direction would take her to the surface. She felt naked and vulnerable in all the blackness. The moment she broke through to the air, she screamed in a trembling voice, “Dade! Dade! Help me, please!”
Dade was working in his laboratory at the top of the building when he sensed something was wrong. The signal that Ann Marie was in trouble seemed to travel faster than the speed of sound. He sensed it even before the sound of her screams made it up the cliff and into his ears.
He teleported right out of his chair, reappearing across the lab. With a sudden flash, he appeared on the top deck in a full speed mix of running and teleporting. He plummeted more than ten stories, riding the momentarily glowing, evanescent fibers on his way down. Once on the ground, he ran straight for the edge of the cliff and cast himself off.
Ann Marie heard a loud splash when Dade’s body hit the water. It sounded like the launch of a cruise ship. “I’m here!” He shouted into the night.
“I teleporte
d, Dade! I teleported!” She yelled while accidentally swallowing some sea water that made her cough. “I teleported through the car window! I did it!”
He followed her voice and found her floating in the dark. The relief she felt the moment he scooped her up was as powerful as a narcotic. She collapsed into his arms. Dade was somehow floating in such a way that he seemed impervious to the ocean currents. He moved through the deep water effortlessly like he was on a simple stroll down the street. While Ann Marie rested her wet head on his shoulder, he carried her toward the shore.
At one point, she looked down at the water and noticed a blue and orange glow below the surface. Branches of light, like nerves or plant roots, were blooming from Dade’s arms and legs into the water. The strands would appear, intertwine with the water itself, and temporarily give him something to hold onto. Underneath her, the light from the tendrils lit up scores of seals and dolphins. They all seemed quite curious about what was happening.
“I’m naked,” she said as he took her to shore. She sounded as though she was in shock and could pass out.
“It was your first teleportation,” Dade said. “You’ll remember your clothes next time. I’ll teach you.”
“Bernard was gonna hurt me,” she told him.
Dade emerged from the water, cradling Ann Marie in his arms like she had the weight of a newborn infant. He carefully set her down in the sand while she coughed out some sea water. There was a nearby lifeguard shack. Dade teleported up the ladder and ripped through the door. He came out with a rescue blanket that looked like aluminum foil.
He wrapped her up in it and carried her across the sand on their way back to the lab. “What you did was amazing,” he said.
“You really think so?” She coughed up more ocean water. Feeling exhausted, she let her head fall on his shoulder. “I don’t know what happened,” she told him. “I don’t know how I did it.”
“You must have been very afraid when it happened,” he said. “That’s how the first time was for me. That’s how Bernard taught me. He knew that it was triggered by profound stress. Once he knew what I was afraid of, it was easy.”
While he carried her, she asked him, “Can I stay with you at the lab? I don’t want to go back to the apartment and be all by myself. Not after everything that’s happened.” She remembered, “I was supposed to meet my mom at the Pink Pelican. She’s waiting for me.”
“After we get back to the lab, I’ll send the Sheriff. You’re going to need to rest after what happened.”
“Do you think I’m a good sorcerer?”
“You’re already on your way to surpassing me.”
Chapter 18
The Spokesman for the Nightmare
When the Sheriff and a small security team went to check on Lori at The Pink Pelican, there was so sign of her. For the next several days, Ann Marie left over a dozen messages. Some were quite emotional and frantic. Still, no answer came from Lori Bandini.
Then, after three days, the phone rang.
At first, Ann Marie was angry and considered letting the call go to voicemail. But she picked up. When she did, her mother was crying so hard that she didn’t sound like herself.
“Mom?”Ann Marie said, sounding concerned. “Mom, what’s wrong?”
“I don’t know where I am,” Lori Bandini sobbed. “I’m feeling really drunk. Nothing is making any sense to me.”
“Mom, where are you? Dade and I will come. We’ll come and get you.”
“I told you,” she said as she started to sob harder, “honey, I don’t know where I am. Everything looks really strange.”
“Are you safe?”
“I don’t think so.”
Dade interrupted by touching Ann Marie’s shoulder, saying, “I have all cell phone traffic to The Asylum monitored. We’ll track her location.”
“It’s OK, mom,” she said. “Dade and I are coming. We’ll be able to track you.”
“It’s too late,” Lori Bandini said.
“What the hell do you mean too late? Listen Mom! We’re on our way. Just stay on the phone with me.”
“I deserve it,” Lori said. “I am disgusting and useless. He told me that but he loves me anyway. He loves me and he’s teaching me a lesson for my own good. He loves me. Ouch!” she cried like someone pricked by a pin. “Ouch! He loves me. He loves me. He loves me. Ouch! That hurts! He loves me. He loves me.” She started to sound like a broken recording.
“She is really drunk,” Ann Marie told Dade with her hand cupped over the phone. “We need to go get her now.”
Ann Marie followed him to the front of the laboratory, where they were met by self-driving Asylum One. She stayed on the phone with her mom. Lori was becoming less responsive as they got closer to refining her GPS location. When they were half way down the hill, the computer was able to identify Lori’s exact geographic position. The results were displayed on the monitors. Dade and Ann Marie noticed at the same time.
“GirlFixer!” they both said at the same time.
Ann Marie kept her mother on the phone while she and Dade charged down the freeway. Asylum One swerved around vehicles and blew an air siren to clear traffic in front of them. The truck even destroyed several segments of guardrail squeezing past slow moving vehicles.
Panicked, Ann Marie kept asking her mom questions. “Is anyone there with you? Did your new boyfriend take you there?”
“He’s here. Ouch! He has his hands around my throat. Ouch!”
“Stop it!” Ann Marie screamed into the phone with her voice shaking. “Leave my mom alone!” She heard gulping in her mother’s throat mixed with groaning. She heard a man laughing in the background.
“He’s jabbing me with needles,” Lori said, sounding more dreamy than ever. “Whoah. Whoah.”
Then she hung up.
Asylum One was now off the freeway with GirlFixer just down the street ahead of them. “Strap in,” Dade told Ann Marie. She was too upset to really hear him. So he secured her in the vehicle’s safety harness himself. She was so worried about her mom that she barely noticed.
“Wait?” She asked. “Why are you strapping me in? Aren’t we getting out?”
“Not exactly.”
Asylum One accelerated so hard that it threw them both backwards. The truck went right over the curb on its way to the front of the strip club. He addressed the vehicle’s central computer, saying, “Scan for infrared signatures, adult female. Avoid collision.” The screen displayed several outlines of human bodies inside. They were all positioned far from the front door.
The truck’s speed increased as it continued its collision course for the building. As GirlFixer’s facade hurtled toward them, Dade reached over and touched Ann Marie’s shoulder. “We’re going to get to her in less than three-seconds,” he said just before she felt a disorienting jolt. A flood of debris poured over the windshield as Asylum One broke through the wall.
Dade was already out of the truck by the time Ann Marie came to her senses. When she stepped out, she nearly fell to her knees at the sight.
Her mother was draped across one of the dance tables. She was lying naked and impaled by perhaps fifty hypodermic needles. They were sticking out of her arms, legs and back. Lori struggled just to move and could barely make a sound. Behind her, Bernard Mengel looked as though he had been expecting the interruption. He was holding the plunger of a syringe planted in Lori’s neck.
“Now we’re practically family,” Bernard said to Ann Marie across the bar. “I feel so much closer to you now, my dear. That was a very impressive feat you performed before by the way. Teleporting through material. That’s very good.”
“Shut up!” Ann Marie shouted through tears. “Let my mom go!”
“Easy now,” said Bernard as he dared to push down the plunger. “You think she’s bad now, then you really don’t want me to give her this. Don’t be so emotional, my dear. After all, even your mom knows you would be better off without her. She wants th
is.” Bernard then looked down and addressed just Lori, saying, “You know this, right?”
“I’m gonna kill you myself, you god-damed devil!” Ann Marie shouted. She ignored the danger and tried to charge Bernard.
Dade caught her by the back of the shirt. He told Bernard, “You’ve only bought yourself a short time longer, old man.”
“I’m walking out of here, Dade my boy,” Bernard said. “And there is nothing you or Tinkerbell can do about it. You’ve got a very sick woman here and I think she is going to need serious medical attention. I think her condition is going to have to take precedence over your quarrel with me.”
Dade told him, “You’re going to regret this.”
“You fool, you always say that.” Bernard laughed. “Ivy is going to destroy you very soon. You don’t know how I’ve built her. So much better than you. So much stronger.”
With the sound of a whip crack, the hypodermic needle in Lori’s neck dropped to the floor and Bernard was gone.
...
That night, while Ann Marie tended to her recovering mother, Dade was alone in his laboratory. He was tinkering with something that looked like a high tech version of a satellite dish on his workbench. The moon was closer to the Earth than it had been in a century. It looked like an invading alien spaceship.
Dade put down his tools and went over to open the patio doors. He let in some night air and the sound of hissing tide. The moon had Palos Verdes aglow. The grass on the lawns of the beach houses seemed to create its own green light. As he looked out at the perfectly still palm trees, he noticed someone below in the courtyard.
Ivy Cavatica was sitting Indian style in the Asylum Laboratory courtyard garden. Like a child amusing herself, she stacked up a few of rocks into something that looked like a little house. Noticing him right away, she smiled and waved all the way from ten stories below. She wanted him to come down.
Ann Marie's Asylum (Master and Apprentice Book 1) Page 27
