Mackenzie Legacy, The

by Anderson, Derrolyn

  “Earth to Layla,” Julie called mockingly, drawing her attention from the young love blooming outside. She held up a sequined blouse. “Isn’t this cute?”

  “Uh huh,” Layla nodded, flipping absentmindedly through a rack of jewel-toned cardigans. Her all-seeing eyes were drawn back to the drama playing out on the bench outside. Layla wondered what it would feel like to be that girl sitting on that bench, having a boy she really liked reach out for her so sweetly. She sighed, fingering the fine cashmere. She could have all the nice things she wanted, but all she wanted was the one thing she could never have.

  “Do you think Michael will like me in this?” Julie asked, thrusting another garment in Layla’s face.

  Layla looked back at the raven haired girl. Pale olive green betrayed her anxiety, but she kept trying to make small-talk, chattering on and on about things that Layla could care less about. Layla wondered why she even bothered, suddenly realizing that Max had no doubt ordered up this whole event to try and tamp down her growing dissatisfaction.

  She sighed mournfully, looking out the store window to see the couple wandering off, hand in hand. Michael was still engrossed in his phone.

  “Well?” Julie asked. Her patience was wearing thin.

  “Why should I care?” Layla replied, watching her irritation grow. The girl turned on her heel and went out to complain to Michael. She could see both of them looking in at her, frustrated that she wouldn’t play along with their little charade.

  Michael embraced his annoyed girlfriend, running his hands down her body to cup her backside, and Layla looked away with a snort of disgust. Here she was, expected to be content in her captivity, while Michael rudely groped his tramps in public. When she thought about everything she’d done to protect him she started to wonder why she even bothered.

  “Can I help you miss?” a friendly salesgirl asked.

  Layla reached in her bag for the charge card Max had given her as a reward for demolishing a major Hollywood producer. Lately, the pickings had been slimmer, and he’d admonished her to “go a little easy” on the spending.

  She held up the pricey sweater with a smile. “I’ll take one of these in every color.”

  ~

  She suffered through lunch, resenting every giggling flirtatious comment Julie made to Michael. Layla looked away when they kissed, noticing how Julie grabbed Michael’s thigh under the table. She’d never even been on a date, and now she had to sit and watch Michael and Julie suck each other’s faces. It was enough to make her want to puke.

  Layla broadcasted a blast of annoyance directly into the server’s unsuspecting eyes, watching with amusement as the waitress’s interactions with Michael and Julie grew increasingly snippy. She toyed with the busboy out of annoyance, making him forget what he was doing when he looked up from the next table to see her brown and green eyes.

  Increasingly agitated, she excused herself, slipping past the restroom and out the door to wander down the street. She stopped to look in shop windows, failing to see anything that piqued her interest. She saw the reflection of her curly hair in the glass and thought about Cali again, wondering what sort of exciting adventures she was having.

  A car horn blasted, startling her. She spun around to see that a van had pulled up at the curb, and watched the door slide open to reveal Max’s amused face.

  “Nice try,” he said, gesturing for her to climb in the back seat where Michael sat in a cloud of dark blue shame, looking like a dog that had just been scolded. Julie was nowhere to be seen.

  Her brother folded his arms across his chest. “Why can’t you just be happy?”

  ~

  When they got back home she stormed out of the van and up to her room, throwing herself onto the bed. There was a rapping on the door, and she sat up, a little shiver of fear running down her backbone.

  “Yes?” her voice was higher than normal.

  Michael slipped inside, closing the door quietly. He came over and sat down on the end of her bed. He was a strange mix of colors, violet concern blending with celery green annoyance.

  “Nice job. Max is not very happy with you.”

  Her eyes narrowed with suspicion, “So he’s having me followed now?”

  “He says he’s worried about you… He thinks you’re too emotional, and you’re going to get us all into trouble.”

  “I’m going to get us in trouble?” she was incredulous.

  “He’s worried… He thinks one of our… clients… might come looking for revenge. He doesn’t want you to put yourself in a vulnerable–”

  She rolled her eyes. “He’s not worried about me! He thinks I’m going to run away.”

  “Listen– If you don’t cool it he’s not going to let you come out with us anymore.”

  She set her jaw with a defiance she didn’t quite feel inside. “I don’t care.”

  “Me and Julie were just trying to show you a good time. What do you want anyway?”

  She thought for a minute. “I want to go to college… I want to live in a dorm with other students. I want to be on my own. I want to be… normal.”

  “But you’re not normal. We’re not normal. The professor made sure of that.”

  “Cali’s like me, and she’s on her own. I want to find her… I want to find out what happened to her.”

  He winced a tiny bit at the mention of her name. “She probably doesn’t want anything to do with us… She probably hates us for helping Teddy catch her.”

  “You’re the one that nearly got her killed.”

  He looked down, bitter shame clouding his already muddled colors. “What’s done is done.”

  She folded her arms across her chest. “Well, I for one am getting out of here.”

  “Really?” he said mockingly. “Exactly where do you think you’re gonna go?”

  “I don’t know… I’ll figure something out. Max can’t keep me prisoner here forever.”

  “Then leave already!” He was frustrated. “We can get by just fine without you!”

  “Max threatened to hurt you if I didn’t go along with his plans.”

  He looked shocked. “What?”

  She nodded seriously. “He’s not your friend.”

  “Exactly what did he say?”

  “He said it would be a shame if I was responsible for your unhappiness…”

  He laughed at her, “Seriously? That’s it?”

  “You didn’t hear the way he said it. He was threatening me.”

  “Ooooh, scary,” he said sarcastically.

  Her voice rose, “He was using you to control me… Just like Teddy did!”

  He scoffed, “I know he thinks you’re being a pain in the ass, but there’s no way Max would do anything to me. I’m his right hand man… He needs me to help him move the money around.” His chest puffed out, supremely confident, “If you want to go, just go. I bet after one week on your own you’ll come crawling back begging!”

  “But Michael…”

  He stood up, straightening his blazer irritably. It was such a Max-like gesture it made her shudder. He shook his head at her in disappointment, walking out of the room.

  Layla had been trapped her whole life, but she’d never felt so completely alone. She was being denied a life of her own in order to feed Max’s thirst for money, and now her only ally had deserted her. How would she ever go to school or meet someone nice? Get married and have a family?

  She needed to strike out on her own, but she was paralyzed by fear.

  Layla threw herself back down, crying her heartbreak out into the feathers of her pillow. She curled into a ball, her sobs trailing off as she drifted away to an uneasy sleep. Soon, her hands and feet started gently twitching as she was captured in the gossamer net of a vividly colored dream.

  ~

  The old woman was standing at the door of a big country home, waving a greeting. She donned a straw hat, tying it under her chin with a blue ribbon. She smiled warmly, stepping down from the grand porch and gesturing for Layla to fol
low her as she walked along a path to the garden behind the house. The air was fragrant with blooming roses, a charming birdbath perched on a pedestal, and the air was filled with the scent of lavender.

  ~

  Chapter Eight

  WARNED

  ~

  The next afternoon Calvin and Caledonia packed up their bag and drove the truck into the heart of the city, pulling up to the entrance of a bustling hotel-casino. A uniformed valet rushed up to take the keys from Calvin, who joined Caledonia at the curb. She grabbed Calvin’s arm in shock when the man drove off with their truck, the motorcycle still firmly strapped in the back.

  “It’s okay,” Calvin reassured her, “He’s only parking it for us.”

  They were both nervous when they entered the imposing lobby. A lengthy front desk was flanked by imposing marble columns and wide hallways that led to elegant lounges and expensive storefronts filled with luxury goods.

  An impressive portal beckoned guests into the casino, which was humming like a beehive. It was the pulsing hub of the hotel, the only reason for its existence, and Caledonia could see swirling clouds of emotion wafting and dissipating throughout the air conditioned atmosphere.

  When Calvin approached the front desk and presented the card, the pretty brunette behind the counter was all smiles. She called for a concierge to make the tournament arrangements, and slid another card across the marble counter towards him. A bellman materialized to show them to their suite.

  “Whoa,” was all Calvin could manage when they stood in front of the floor to ceiling windows in their room. After a summer of traveling they were accustomed to hotel rooms, but this one surpassed anything they’d ever seen. Not only was it the finest room either one of them had ever set foot in, but looking down at the strip from thirty stories in the sky was amazing.

  “I’ve never been up this high before,” Caledonia breathed, looking down. Pedestrians moved like blood cells on elevated walkways that fed fresh gamblers into the heart of the compound.

  Calvin tilted his head towards a large sunken bathtub mounted on a raised platform with the same million dollar view as the bed. “That tub… is definitely big enough for two,” he said with a mischievous glint in his eye.

  Caledonia rolled her eyes at his one-track mind, but she had to agree that it looked inviting.

  Calvin smiled, “They gave me this for tonight.” He handed her a voucher for dinner at one of the hotel’s restaurants.

  “La Volière… Hmm, I think that means aviary in French.”

  “Seriously… You speak French too?” he asked in mock horror, only halfway joking.

  She smirked at him. “Just a few words here and there.”

  The poker tournament wasn’t scheduled until the following afternoon, but Calvin was nervous, and they both wanted to take a closer look at the venue ahead of time. They dressed in their best clothes and took the elevator back down to the labyrinthine lobby, following the herds of people drawn into the casino’s palpable current of energy.

  Time no longer seemed to exist in the busy whirl of the windowless gaming palace. Bells and buzzers sounded, bringing cries of elation that stood out like little mushroom clouds in a sea of fixated anticipation. Scantily clad cocktail waitresses dipped and twirled through the crowd, their trays laden with drinks.

  The two Cals found the card room, taking a spot with the rest of the spectators to watch some of the games in progress. Caledonia gazed upon the scene, her singular eyes seeing a cacophony of intense emotion. A palette of vivid color swirled above the player’s heads; cold greed, envy and anxiety contrasting with warmer pulses of elation and arrogance.

  It occurred to her that the whole town was built on a foundation of deceit and deception, and the glitz and glamor of the shiny new surfaces only masked a scaffolding of greed. Calvin was engrossed in watching the action at the tables, but Caledonia didn’t want to stay any longer than she possibly had to. The place made her head hurt.

  “I’m going to go check out the shops in the lobby,” she told him.

  “Okay,” he said, tearing his focus from the game. “I’ll go with you.”

  “No. You stay and watch,” she said. “I’ll be fine.”

  He leaned over to kiss her cheek, giving her hand a squeeze. “Don’t leave the hotel… okay?”

  “I’ll be fine,” she assured him, beating a hasty retreat.

  She lingered in the quiet hallways, looking at some sparkling jewelry displayed in glass cases. The rest of the hotel was hushed in contrast with the gaming rooms, and as she wandered she regained her equilibrium. She walked past a small lounge with a sign advertising “The Magnificent Raynaldo–Master Hypnotist”. Caledonia peeked inside to see a small gathering of people drinking cocktails, watching a man on a small stage set in the corner.

  She lingered in the doorway, watching as he scanned the crowd for a volunteer from the audience. He suddenly stopped, theatrically pointing towards a table hosting a group of jovial women. He singled out the most attractive one. “The lady in blue… please allow my lovely assistant to show you onstage!”

  The woman laughed nervously, and after being goaded by her friends she followed a showgirl clad in sparkling red sequins onto the stage. The hypnotist directed his assistant to swing a pendulum before the woman’s eyes.

  “You will hear nothing but the sound of my voice, and you will obey all my commands without question…”

  Caledonia smiled with amusement, slipping just inside the entry to watch from the shadows.

  Raynaldo continued, “When I count backwards from ten you will believe that you won the lottery… Ten…Nine…Eight…”

  When the count was finished the formerly shy woman was transformed. “Whoopee!” she squealed, jumping up and down with intense excitement. Cali was surprised– Did she just see what she thought she saw?

  The sequined assistant raised her pendulum again, and Reynaldo announced, “You just heard the funniest joke in the entire world!”

  The woman started giggling, and was soon overcome with mirth, laughing so hard she had a difficult time catching her breath. Caledonia stepped further inside, stunned. The closer she got the more obvious it became; it wasn’t her imagination.

  The hypnotist’s assistant was changing her.

  The Magnificent Raynaldo took a bow, and the audience clapped. He signaled to his assistant again, and Cali inched closer to the stage, fascinated. She studied the woman in red closely, realizing that she was much older than she’d first appeared from a distance. Caledonia watched as she lifted her pendulum again, gazing intensely into the eyes of the audience participant.

  Raynaldo smirked at her, announcing loudly, “Now my dear… You are going to fall madly in love with me!”

  His assistant flushed emerald green with irritation, but Caledonia watched her steel herself and cast a cloud of intense blood-red infatuation directly into the woman’s eyes, topping it off with a compliant amethyst. The woman in blue looked adoringly at Raynaldo, and he took her in his arms, twirling and dipping her theatrically to the hoots and hollers of the audience. He released her and took a deep bow for his delighted applause, exiting the stage.

  His assistant led the dazed audience member back to her seat, stopping briefly to send her an unmistakable pop of lemon yellow confusion. The woman took her seat, asking her giggling friends, “What did I do?”

  Caledonia was shocked. She had just witnessed the Athena effect in action, and yet this woman was far too old to have been mutated in the womb by Professor Reed’s drug experimentation. How could it be? If she hadn’t seen it with her own two eyes she wouldn’t have believed it. She followed her over to the bar in the darkened lounge.

  The woman sat down heavily, motioning to the bartender, “Scotch and soda.” She wore theatrical makeup, and her thick black hair was teased high and piled on top of her head. She looked hard, and even older up close than she did from the stage. She took the tumbler the bartender handed her, lifting her glass to drink with a tired
air.

  Caledonia studied her profile, trying to make sense of what she’d just witnessed, finally speaking, “I saw what you did. I saw you change her.”

  The woman sighed, turning to look up. Her own mismatched eyes mirrored Caledonia’s, flying open in shock and recognition. “Well I’ll be damned… Where did you come from?” She looked around, “Who are you with?”

  “M-my boyfriend,” Caledonia answered, stammering in disbelief as she looked into one golden brown eye and one blue eye, “You have heterochromia…”

  “I have what?” she asked, sizing Caledonia up with an appraising glance. She knocked back her drink and motioned to the bartender, “Gimme two more Joe… neat.” She nodded to the stool next to her, “Have a seat… You look like you just saw a ghost.” She held out her hand, “I’m Roxy.”

  “Cali” she replied, shaking her hand and sitting down. The bartender brought two more drinks, sliding one in front of each of them and bustling away.

  Roxy leaned back on her barstool, looking Caledonia up and down, “Well aren’t you just as cute as hell. Granny always told me that there were others like us… I never really believed her though.”

  “Others? Like us?”

  “Don’t play dumb sweetheart, you just called me out on it. My Granny saw the colors too… She called it ‘the sight’,” she sighed, casting a sour glance at Reynaldo flirting with the table of women.

  “Your Grandmother could see…” she gasped, shocked.

  “Yeah, and my great aunt also… She’s gone too. Died a long time ago. I thought I might be the last one.”

  “The last one,” Cali repeated softly, her mind racing.

  “You’re here to gamble, aren’t you? It seems like such a great idea when you first get good at it… but they’ll catch you– they always do. Plus, it gets harder as you get older…” She grabbed her glass and knocked the drink back, rubbing her temples as she inspected Caledonia, “Do you get the headaches when you do it too much?”