[Whispering Woods 01.0] The Waiting Booth

by Brinda Berry

  “Huh?” My irritation subsided, replaced by confusion. I put bread into the toaster. “What kind of family issues?” I asked suspiciously.

  “Role of a father. Although I didn’t know mine until I was older, I had one. Before my father came to get me, I had several men who acted as a father. I basically know how it works,” Arizona said matter-of-factly. He rose and went to the counter, reaching for the bread.

  I glanced at Regulus and wondered what Arizona had told him. He had finished the peeled orange and was spinning a whole one like it was a top.

  “The father is different from the mother in the nurturing of an offspring,” Regulus said it like he was reciting from a book. “He shows affection for the offspring in a different manner as his biological makeup demands protection of family.”

  “My dad loves me just because.” My words came out simple and childlike. “I’m all he has right now.”

  “And when you leave him?” Regulus asked.

  “Why would I leave? I mean, sure I’ll leave someday after college. I’ll probably still see him at least once a week, even then,” I said.

  “I don’t understand these parental attachments, but I’m trying to learn them,” Regulus said. “What do you know of your mother?”

  “Coldhearted witch.” The answer was simple to me.

  “But Steven Taylor had emotional ties with this woman.” Regulus rose and crossed the room to stare at the picture on the refrigerator. Most of the four-by-six prints were of Peter and me. A few included my dad. Regulus picked through the numerous photos until he found the one he wanted. “Do you have memories of this woman?”

  He held the one picture that I’d hidden beneath the others. I hadn’t thrown it away because I knew Pete would’ve been angry if he returned to find it missing. The family portrait was covered by several other pictures and magnets. The section of the picture with the woman holding the baby had been covered. I wasn’t sure how Regulus had discovered it.

  “No, not really.” I thought about my midnight trip to the garage and the dream that had prompted my curiosity. “She left us and went to start a new life somewhere. It was a long time ago.”

  Arizona stopped crunching the cereal. “How do you know that was your mother that you saw in Dr. Bleeker’s house?”

  “It was Nancy Taylor,” Regulus said flatly.

  Arizona and I both stared at Regulus. He obviously had information about the woman who had been missing from my life the last fifteen years.

  “What do you know that we don’t? I thought it was her, but I wasn’t sure.” I accused him with my tone. I waited for him to look guilty, but he didn’t look apologetic at all.

  Over a month ago, Regulus and I had searched an empty house looking for Dr. Bleeker. Instead, we’d been surprised by two people, a man and woman, who seemed to be intent on killing us. Or that was my interpretation of the gun aimed at the back of my head. The woman had been Nancy Taylor, my mother.

  “I know of your mother. I have reviewed a file of your entire family.” Regulus always met my gaze when he talked. His unwavering blue eyes never held any regret or avoidance.

  When I got nervous, I couldn’t meet those eyes. I ended up looking at the small, almost imperceptible dimple in his chin. “What did you learn that makes you positive that it was her? A lot of women look like the one we saw. Blonde, petite, pretty.”

  “Nancy Taylor has a scar along her right cheek. She also has a condition called heterochromia.”

  I didn’t want to ask what it meant. It sounded like some horrible disease. After waiting a moment for an explanation, I decided to ask. “I give. What is that?”

  “One green eye and one blue,” Regulus answered.

  “You noticed all that in the few minutes we saw her?” My mouth dropped open in amazement. I couldn’t tell you what the woman was wearing, much less the color of her eyes. My mind had been racing with the problem of her gun to my head. And how to save myself and Regulus from biting the dust in Bleeker’s house.

  “You said that you thought it was your mother as we walked out of Dr. Bleeker’s home,” Regulus said. “Then we have a positive identification, correct?”

  I shrugged. “Your guess is as good as mine. I hope we’ve seen the last of her.”

  Now close to me, Regulus murmured, “You know that we will meet her again. She is a traitor. She may be involved in the disappearance of your brother.”

  The pounding of my heart sounded in my ears. I could hear my own breathing in the silence that followed. My hatred for her grew to an incomprehensible level.

  “Stop keeping information from me. What makes you think that she had anything to do with Pete leaving?” I waited for Regulus to respond. He was silent, to my chagrin. “What’s in the file? My mother left when I was only a baby. She’s living with some new family somewhere in Idaho or Nebraska. Or maybe Alaska…” My childish protests sounded weak.

  Regulus rubbed my shoulder, comforting me before he moved away. Had he remembered Arizona was watching? “Your mother was an agent of the IIA. That is how I know these things. You have the gifts that your mother passed to you. Genetic gifts. She was a synesthete.”

  His gentleness made my throat constrict. I stared at the pictures on the refrigerator door.

  “Do you miss this woman? Your mother?” he asked.

  “No, I don’t know Nancy. But I can tell you that she has never been a mother to me.” I drew a deep breath. “We need to find her as well, right? And turn her over to the IIA.” I glanced from Regulus to Arizona for confirmation. Neither one would look at me.

  “I wish it were that easy,” Regulus said. “We are not authorized to bring Nancy Taylor to the IIA. She has been granted autonomy. She is a citizen here.”

  “The woman put a gun to my head…her own daughter. I don’t get it. We’re supposed to bring Bleeker in, but you can’t turn that woman into them? That doesn’t make sense.”

  “Bleeker doesn’t belong here. He is not an original citizen and was never granted the right to live here. Nancy Taylor must stay here. She belongs here no matter what illegal activities she is performing. Your government has jurisdiction over her.”

  “I don’t care. If she knows something about Pete, then I’ll find her too.” I lifted my chin. “I could do a citizen’s arrest. That’s my right.” My skewed logic probably wouldn’t get me anywhere, but I was desperate. My voice had risen, and I stood, glaring at Regulus, challenging him.

  “What about your high-school winter formal? Are you taking Regulus, and does Emily have a date?” Arizona asked.

  Regulus and I both swiveled to face him.

  “How do you know about that?” I sputtered in confusion. The shift in conversation threw me.

  Arizona grinned like a Cheshire cat. “I listen. Emily talked with you about girls getting asked by certain boys. I’m interested in how this works.”

  “I don’t think I’ll go.” I avoided looking at either one of them.

  “Regulus will take you,” Arizona said as he grinned at Regulus.

  Silence.

  “It’s not a big deal. Really.” The words were rushing out of my mouth of their own volition. “I don’t go to most of these things anyway. It’s all about clothes and who’s taking who, and it will probably be lame because I’ve heard the original deejay has canceled and now they’re looking for a band instead of a deejay—”

  “Yes,” Regulus said. “I want to take you. Unless there is some reason you don’t want me to go.”

  “I…” I finally looked up into his eyes. “You don’t have to go. It’s a stupid high-school thing. Really stupid.”

  “I said I would like to go. You must tell me the rules for it.” He seemed uncertain all of a sudden. “Am I not requesting it properly?”

  “There aren’t a lot of rules. You’ve asked fine,” I said. I wanted the awkwardness to go away. “Yeah. I’d like to go with you.” As an afterthought, I added, “You’ll have to wear something different from your everyday clothes
. There’s a store on the square downtown that has tuxes. You could wear a tux, if you want to.” I shrugged, my face heating. I really hadn’t planned to go.

  “And Emily. Would Emily go with me if I asked her?” Arizona asked, looking very pleased. I didn’t know how he had shifted the conversation away from my issues with a renegade mother to this, but he had.

  “I can’t answer that. But I think she might. Maybe.” I had a hard time figuring out where Arizona stood with Emily. I didn’t want to give him false hope.

  “Good,” Arizona said. “I’ll call her later. Now, we go to the woods for training.”

  * * *

  Fight Training

  “Portal finder. I can do that. I didn’t sign up for this other part.” I shivered in the cold morning. Deep in the woods, a fine mist hung in the damp, sticky air. We had walked at a brisk pace to match Regulus’s for a couple of miles, and now my hair clung to my neck and cheeks. Irritated, I shoved the strands off my face.

  “These skills are necessary for all agents of the IIA, portal finder or not.” Regulus nodded at Arizona. “Arizona is adept in judo, jujitsu, and several other martial arts. He is small but quick.”

  I looked at Arizona, a head taller than myself.

  “I am skilled in everything from hand-to-hand combat to weaponry. You do not have time to become skilled in anything,” Regulus said.

  “Gee, thanks,” I answered.

  “You will rely on your ability in marksmanship, which you recently demonstrated irresponsibly.” Regulus referred to an incident over a month ago at Dr. Bleeker’s involving a gun and a precise shot into the thigh of a bad guy holding Regulus. Video gaming had paid off for once.

  Arizona smirked. “I think she did pretty well. Saved your backside,” he said.

  Regulus shot him a look that would wilt most people, but Arizona grinned even wider. Then he took off his backpack and removed two weapons, setting them in a precise line on the ground: a black-handled, five-inch-long knife, and the silver box from Regulus’s world that I called a stunner.

  Examining the knife, I imagined slitting someone with it. Nah. The knife wasn’t my style. I picked up the stunner.

  “Be careful,” Regulus said as if I were a child. “You could hurt yourself.”

  “Do I finally get one of these?” I asked the question and then stuck out my tongue at him. The wind blew and twirled leaves around my head in a kaleidoscope of red and orange. I pushed hair out of my eyes.

  “This is how you hold it.” Regulus took the rectangular box from me with deliberate care. He held it much like a cell phone and said, “Make certain that the opaque end faces out.” He then pointed somewhere in the distance. “See that tree with the knot in the center?”

  I shook my head.

  “I will take the limb off. The one that is a foot above our heads.” Regulus pointed the stunner and squeezed both sides. A high-pitched whistle sounded, and the tree limb fell to the ground. “Now, you shall hold it. No pressure should be exerted in this hold.” He handed me the box. “Hold it lightly.”

  I studied the object in my palm that I’d held in the past without a clue as to its inner workings. The sides were malleable with a gel-like quality. Anxious, I tried not to squeeze. A mockingbird chattered and startled me into a jittery bundle of nerves.

  “What makes it go off?” I asked.

  “You do,” Regulus said. “Now you will exert pressure with your thumb and forefinger and tell it to discharge.”

  “Tell it?” I shifted uncomfortably at the thought of talking to the stunner. Regulus hadn’t done that. I raised my eyebrows, unsure that I had heard him correctly.

  “You can do it with your voice, but it isn’t necessary. Direct the command with your mind.” Regulus nodded his head toward the tree. “This is going to take all morning if you must question everything that I tell you to do.”

  Arizona had carried a sword into the woods and began executing slicing motions parallel to his body. Ever since we had taken the sword from Ms. Amazon, he had been obsessed with it. He ignored us.

  “I don’t get it. Where is the trigger? My voice?”

  “Stop talking.” Regulus stood behind my shoulder and brought his arm forward, covering my hand with his. “Hold it like a gun. Steady.”

  “Nothing is happening.” I pressed with my thumb and finger.

  “Close your eyes,” he whispered. “Think about the discharge and mentally tell the weapon to obey. Be certain that your fingers make firm contact.”

  For once, I didn’t argue. I concentrated on the weight of the weapon in my hand and pressed while I wished for it to fire. I heard the faint whistling sound and opened my eyes to see what I had done. Nothing looked different. If a branch had fallen, I couldn’t tell.

  One hundred yards away to the left, an ancient oak tree bent in half and popped in protest. Several jolting shrugs later, the top five feet bent at a forty-five degree angle and creaked as it drooped toward the ground. A displaced flock of birds chattered while settling in another treetop.

  Arizona chuckled to himself without making a comment.

  Regulus rubbed his hand over the back of his neck. “I think you have it. Now let’s try with the eyes open. But this time, think less forcefully. It may be important to keep the landscape intact, and there is a rather small mountain over there quivering in fear.” A slight smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.

  “This is too sweet. It’s superhero stuff, in case you didn’t know. No Slip will ever mess with me again.”

  “This weapon is mine. I’m only showing you how to use it. It’s too dangerous for you to have one in your possession.” Regulus almost sounded sorry.

  “That’s not fair. Why tease me with it?” My shoulders slumped as I looked around for a target.

  Regulus took the stunner from my hand. “You may get your own some day. For now, you can use mine in case of emergency.”

  “Great. I’m feeling as though I’m five years old. Want to just hand me a pointy stick and hope I can defend myself?” I glanced down. “I do get the knife, right?”

  “A pointy stick might be best for you and your impulsiveness, but yes, you will use the knife.” Regulus’s mouth was a straight, hard line. “You will use the weapon from a distance for now. You have demonstrated very good aim in the past.”

  He touched my hair, then strode over to a tree some distance away and removed a sheet of paper from his pocket.

  Frustrated, I watched. He vacillated between shyness and boldness, and I rarely knew where I stood with him.

  When he backed up, I could see his work. The paper was attached to the tree. Staring at the bull’s-eye target, I muttered, “You expect me to hit that? With the knife? You’re kidding, right?”

  Returning, he handed me the knife by the handle. “First you place your right foot in the back. Then your feet should be approximately two feet apart.” He reached over to move my left leg into position. Then, he demonstrated how to place my feet.

  “Can I throw it now?” I asked impatiently.

  “Bend your knees.” His voice was even, as always. He took the knife from my hand. “I will demonstrate first. I should have thought of that.”

  He assumed the stance he had taught me and extended both arms in front of his body. He quickly looped back his right arm, then shifted his body as he flung the knife so fast I didn’t see his right hand release it. The blade whizzed through the air and struck the center of the bull’s-eye, pinning the target.

  Arizona had stopped practicing with the sword to watch. He jogged to the tree and tugged out the knife. Strolling back, he remarked, “We could let her use something easier.”

  “No,” I said, peevish. “Don’t make allowances for me. I can do this.”

  I eyed the knife for a second and then took it from Arizona. Though smooth, the handle was too large, awkward. When my posture and footing looked correct and balanced, I drew my arms forward as I’d been shown. I wound back my right arm as fast as I could and threw
the knife. It went sailing through the air to fall…somewhere. Past the tree.

  Regulus stared at the tree trunk.

  Arizona ran forward to find the knife. He hunted through the piles of dead leaves before spotting it. Trotting back, he returned it to me. “That wasn’t terrible. It even landed somewhat near the tree.”

  “Thanks,” I said. “I’m sure a bad guy will run when I throw a knife within four feet of him.”

  “Again,” Regulus said softly with no apparent expectation that I would argue.

  We continued in the fruitless exercise until my arm began to hurt, and I needed a bathroom break. I wanted to go back home and crawl back into my warm bed. Clouds had gathered overhead and a chill pervaded the clearing. My woolly sweater didn’t provide the heat I needed in spite of the exercise.

  “Can we go in now? Lunch maybe?” I looked at Arizona since he would be easier to bait with a meal. I widened my eyes innocently. “Sure could use a burger.”

  “You would cook us hamburgers?” Arizona sounded hopeful.

  I almost felt guilty.

  Regulus looked from my face to Arizona’s. “Your arm is weak. Yes, we will stop.”

  “My arm is not weak. I can’t help it if repeating the same motion fifty times is causing muscle fatigue.” I handed him the knife. “I told you that I didn’t sign up for this part.” I smiled at him. “Find Pete, chill with you guys, locate a portal or two, save the world from hazardous baddies. If I can find Pete, my work here is done.”

  “I envy you.” Regulus stated the words with honesty. “It must be pleasant to be carefree of the responsibilities you should carry. Has it occurred to you that you could be saving your people, your world, from extinction?”

  “I think you’re exaggerating a little. Don’t you?” I asked gently. Dr. Bleeker had killed test subjects. Serious, but he wasn’t purposely killing all humans.

  “Your earth’s role as our seed vault calls for extreme measures to ensure its safety,” Regulus explained with a shrug. “I do not see how you can be blind to the severity of this situation.”