The Compendium

by Christine Hart

  I rounded the corner to the open doors at the back of the van. Adelaide and Ralph were still entwined in a mess of tentacles and scaly green skin. Parker lay dead on the ground, his face tinted blue, his tongue bulging out of his mouth.

  “I’m sorry! He startled us! It’s a defense mechanism! Why did you let him come out here?” Adelaide untangled her tentacles from around Ralph.

  “We need to get out of here,” said Ilya darkly.

  “Can’t you help him? Do something! FIX THIS!” shouted Cole. His eyes were wet with rage and grief.

  “There’s nothing anyone can do for him,” said Adelaide.

  “Cole,” I said softly, putting my hand on his shoulder, “He’s already gone.”

  Chapter 16

  We left Chico in the dust after Cole moved Parker back into his home. Cole pocketed Parker’s phone in the hopes there would be no other evidence of who Parker had interacted with in the days leading up to his death. Our schedule was straightforward, hit the road and don’t stop until San Francisco. We would head to the Berkeley campus and regroup there.

  Back in Josh’s Jeep, I pulled my cards out of their pack. Telekinesis aside, I hadn’t touched them much since my time in Victoria. I hoped something of the serum that Ivan had coated them with still remained. Nellie and Bruno sat quietly in the back seat. I closed my eyes. I concentrated on Ivan’s face and the fracking tower. I prayed to the universe that wherever my visions came from, they would show me exactly what Ivan was doing with fracking in California.

  Dust and diesel fumes blew past my face through the partially open door window next to me. Hot dry air whipped around my head. The cry of a hawk pierced the rumble of road noise and the darkness of my eyelids transformed into the interior of a cave.

  My eyes strained to focus, but I could make out two figures and a cylindrical steel tube frame between them. The floor of the cave was sand, like that of a beach. To my right, a bright archway promised escape in the distance.

  “Will it drill deep enough?” Ivan smoothed his strawberry blond hair back and adjusted his collar.

  “Of course it’ll drill deep enough! I’ve tested the drill. It’s the detonation piece that hasn’t been tested in the field. The advantage of my technology is that it can drill faster than anything else on the market, with pinpoint accuracy. Why do you think this cave is a viable test site? Something rural would have been more secure,” said Waynesburg.

  I recognized their voices before their faces became clear. My eyes continued adjusting to the darkness. Ivan and Waynesburg’s features resolved in front of me.

  “When will we be ready to detonate?” Ivan examined his phone with his thumb as if to signal to Waynesburg he wasn’t worthy of undivided attention.

  “Tomorrow. I’m more worried about our exit strategy. My remote won’t penetrate bedrock. We can detonate from the mouth of the cave, but we’ll be trapped if the fallout is what I expect. We won’t have more than a few minutes. Air retreat is the best option. Once you’ve secured a helicopter, we’re good to go.” Waynesburg drew a remote from his pocket, pointed it at the steel tube framework, and pressed a button. BRRRRRRrrrrrowwww came from below the frame. The sand on the ground shivered and the surface fell by a few inches. The machine settled in to a grinding hum as it worked.

  “My sister will be flying us. She is one day behind me.”

  “Well then, I suggest you make sure she has something to fly when she gets here.” Waynesburg reached into the darkness behind him and picked up the shell of an empty oil drum, open on one end. The inside of the drum had a layer of white foam. He lifted the drum shell up and over the steel tube framework concealing it completely. The metal wall blotted out the machine’s annoying grinding sound.

  The vision ended with a CLA-BANG as Josh’s Jeep hit a pothole. The hot fuming air of the desert highway hit me in a fresh gust.

  “Josh!” I yelled out.

  “Sorry. Did you see something?” said Josh.

  “They’re one day away from testing, if I saw the present. Maybe it was the future. From the sounds of how serious this earthquake will be, we’d know if it had already happened.”

  “Where were they? If we don’t stop, we’ll be in San Francisco before dinner.”

  “They were in a cave. I have no idea where, but the floor was sandy and you could see the ocean in the distance outside the entrance. Waynesburg fired up a machine and hid it with a fake oil drum. If nobody tries to move that drum in the next day, the machine won’t be found and they’ll start a major earthquake.”

  “You knew for sure they were testing somewhere around San Francisco?” Nellie piped in from the back seat.

  “The first time I saw Ivan and this Waynesburg guy talking about the test, they were in Innoviro’s San Francisco office. Ivan wanted a tour of the test site. It sounded like they were talking about a location nearby.”

  Nellie pulled a tablet out of her bag and clicked it on. “How many caves can there possibly be around San Francisco?”

  “Probably none,” said Bruno.

  “If we can’t find anything, Cole might know. He is a geologist after all.” I looked down at my hands, clasped and squeezing each other independent of my intent.

  Nellie started tapping on the screen of her tablet. I stared at the cars on the highway ahead of us while I waited for her. Everything looked so normal. Travelers and families rolled along the road as though nothing differed for any of us.

  I looked back at Nellie. She was frowning and tapping. “I’m looking for ‘San Francisco’ and ‘cave’, but I keep getting something called the Sutro Baths.”

  “What, like a bathhouse?” I said.

  “When I search Sutro Baths, I get a seaside bathhouse. But all the cave imagery tagged with San Francisco is also tagged Sutro Baths. There must be a cave somewhere near or below the bathhouse.”

  “Josh, punch the Sutro Baths into your GPS. I’m going to tell Cole to do the same,” I said, picking up my phone.

  “What about Adelaide and Ralph? Neither of them has a phone,” said Bruno.

  I clenched my teeth and kept my mouth shut as I wrote to Faith with instructions for her car. I no longer cared if Adelaide and Ralph kept up with us.

  “She’ll be following wherever we go. She’s been living without a cell phone most of her life, so I’m sure she’s not going to freak out when we don’t go to Berkeley.” Nellie’s tone sympathized with Adelaide.

  We drove in silence. Josh kept his eyes on the road and Nellie tapped on her tablet while Bruno slept. I watched the rough dusty hills evolve into cultivated suburban developments, all under a clear cerulean sky. The landscape evolved into the concrete towers of a city. Towers shot up above us, looming steel and glass giants until we passed through and shot out onto the ocean over a bridge.

  The iconic Golden Gate Bridge hung majestically across two points of land on the other side of the San Francisco Bay. The bright red bridge gleamed in the sunlight in sharp contrast to the blue sky behind it. No trace of the infamous San Francisco Bay fog could be seen for miles. Summer sun beamed overhead.

  Josh pulled into a parking lot overlooking a cliff bluff at the edge of the continental United States. Open ocean stretched endlessly into the distance. Not since my adventure at Sombrio Beach outside Victoria had the world seemed so limitless.

  Cole and Adelaide each parked alongside us. Several other vehicles suggested summer tourists crowded the site. We grouped around the open door at the side of Adelaide’s van where Ralph lay concealed in the back.

  “We’ve got good timing. The tide is out, so we’ll be able to walk around all the exposed ruins,” said Jonah. I wanted to tell Jonah to hang back and take it easy, but I said nothing.

  “It’s not crazy busy here, but it looks like you’ve both got to stay behind,” said Ilya to Adelaide and Ral
ph.

  “Adelaide can take her chair. If there isn’t a ramp, I’ll carry her,” said Cole.

  We knew he meant chair and all. Jonah and Ilya eyed Cole carefully. Faith and I both had looks of pure surprise on our faces. I couldn’t believe Cole volunteered to help his friend’s killer mere hours after the incident, accident or not. I made a mental note to check with Ilya on how Cole was actually handling the incident with Parker. I didn’t want to ask in front of everyone and make things worse for Cole than they already were.

  “Are you sure? We won’t be gone long,” said Jonah.

  “You’ve all seen how lethal I can be,” said Adelaide quietly. “If you’re going into a dangerous situation, you want me there.” She looked down when she finished speaking.

  “I don’t see a ramp, so how will we account for her chair being down there? When we bump into other tourists, what do we say?” I asked.

  “I think the benefit of having an extra set of hands–or more in this case–outweighs the risk that we’ll end up in an awkward conversation,” said Nellie.

  “She’s right. I can hold my own, but I can’t protect everyone. This one solves problems instantly,” said Bruno as he nodded at Adelaide.

  “Okay. The decision is made. She comes,” said Ilya. I hoped he knew for sure that Cole would be able to restrain himself.

  Adelaide activated the hydraulic lift that lowered her chair out of the back of the van. Once the coast was clear, she crawled from the front seat through the van, out the back, slipped into her chair and positioned her blanket. Josh retrieved a flashlight from his Jeep. As he tucked the light into an inside pocket of his flak jacket, I saw his gun strapped in place. My confidence in Josh notwithstanding, the sight of his black metal weapon made my chest contract.

  We reached the edge of the parking lot and evaluated the stairs down to the ruined foundations of the Sutro Baths. Sure enough, the steep stone steps were our only option. Cole picked up Adelaide’s chair by the wheels and hoisted her up in front of him. I cringed even though I knew the weight was nothing for him. He walked effortlessly down the stairs.

  Jonah led the way and we followed him single file down the stairs with the ocean directly beneath us. A chorus of seagulls complained as we descended. The surf roared and crashed in the distance.

  I directed a thought at my brother. Ilya, hang back with me. I need to talk to you about Cole. On cue, he bent down to re-tie a perfectly knotted shoelace and the others moved ahead.

  “Are you sure Cole is okay to be around Adelaide right now?” I whispered, leaning towards Ilya’s shoulder.

  “No, but he’s not going to do anything stupid. The thought has crossed his mind a few times to rip that beak tendril out of her throat and leave the rest of her behind,” said Ilya.

  “WHAT! Then why are you letting us all head off together? He’s carrying her for God’s sake!” I hissed.

  “For the reasons we all discussed. And you don’t want to call Cole out any more than I do! When we find this cave, if my father–our father–is there with Waynesburg and maybe Thorn, what exactly will you do? Throw rocks with your mind? Concentrate on their future? I’m no better at fighting. I can distract. I can trick. I can’t kill a man with one blow. We need her and him. We need to figure out how to keep her from changing sides. I thought you were on the same page with me here.”

  I pressed my lips together as I thought. Fairness and justice were not on the agenda at the moment. Ivan was pretty deadly on his own, but with Thorn at his side, we didn’t stand a chance. Not without people like Adelaide and Cole. “If Cole understands how important she is, I guess that has to be enough.”

  “Focus on what’s at hand. Let’s find this machine and shut it down for good. And then, when the time is right and not before, we’ll gently probe Adelaide and Ralph about their level of commitment to our cause. Ralph won’t give anything up, but I can hear Adelaide. If he’s confided anything in her–which from the looks of things this morning is highly possible–the info will come out in Adelaide’s thoughts.”

  “I hope you’re right. I’ve never managed to change anything I’ve seen in a vision. It makes me wonder if things can be changed. Maybe I’m only meant to be prepared.”

  “Screw destiny. Nothing is ‘meant’ to happen. We can stop it if we’re smart.”

  Ilya and I reached the bottom of the stairs and caught up with the others. There was only one way to turn at the bottom of the stairs and we saw the mouth of the cave immediately. Cole had to continue carrying Adelaide across the uneven rocky sand, but he didn’t act put out. He set Adelaide down on a smooth patch of concrete.

  “I’ll go in first.” Cole’s square jaw locked with determination.

  “No, I’d better go. If there’s a nasty surprise in there, I can take the brunt of it.” Josh pulled the flashlight from his vest and strolled inside the cave where blackness quickly swallowed him.

  Chapter 17

  Several people emerged from the rough black tunnel before Josh reappeared. First came a young family, followed by a middle-aged couple. More tourists will come. This is not the time or place for a variant battle, I thought.

  “You’ve got that right,” said Ilya softly, standing at my side.

  “We look like idiots standing here for no reason,” said Faith. Ilya stepped away from me and took Faith’s hand with one of his and touched her cheek with the other. Faith rolled her dark eyes and gave a small smile. Both her nose stud and eyebrow ring glinted in the sun from her subtle movement.

  “If we stay calm, everything will be fine,” said Jonah.

  Josh sauntered across the landing to join us. “There’s no sign of Ivan or anyone suspicious. We can go in, but other people are dawdling in there.”

  “What about the oil drum? Did you see it?” I said.

  “It’s all the way at the back of the cave. I didn’t see anyone poking at it.”

  “If the drum is near the back of the cave and we get a few moments to ourselves, I can throw up an illusion to make it look like the cave ends before the drum. Should give us enough time to examine it properly,” said Ilya.

  “Sounds good to me.” Cole took the flashlight from Josh and walked into the cave. We all followed.

  The cave was a plain tunnel with a sandy floor just as I’d seen. In my vision, I hadn’t noticed the handrail which extended along the side of one wall providing a lifeline from the darkness back into the light. The dull black air weighed heavily around me, but I kept moving. I reached out for the handrail, feeling for the cold metal tubing.

  We walked until the darkness nearly swallowed us and only the light of the flashlight remained. The oil drum rested exactly where I’d expected it nestled innocuously into the sand. I looked back towards the entrance. The tunnel was empty with the exception of a few dots at the entrance.

  “Ilya, throw up your wall now. The coast is clear, but more people are sure to come,” I said.

  “Everybody quiet now. I need to concentrate,” said Ilya.

  We watched as Ilya examined the cave wall. He touched it, letting his fingers learn the surface of the rock. He closed his eyes and the walls grew together, closing us inside a tiny claustrophobic pocket of rock.

  “I can’t stay in here much longer.” Nellie hugged herself, rubbing her arms although the cave wasn’t cold.

  “Calm down hon, you’re fine. I’m here,” said Bruno. He cleared his throat with a growlish cough and put his arm around Nellie.

  I stepped forward and put my hand on the top edge of the drum. The cave fell away and I stood in a grove of giant pines, with Ivan and Waynesburg again, this time in a campsite. They were dressed in simple jeans and T-shirts. Ivan carefully rotated a hot dog over a fire.

  Waynesburg put the finishing touches on setting up a small nylon tent. I turned around to survey the rest of the camps
ite. A large pick-up truck and trailer were parked behind me. The trailer door opened and Tatiana stepped out, dressed in khaki shorts, a crisp white golf shirt, and brown hiking boots.

  “How long are we going to be roughing it?” said Tatiana as she examined her expertly manicured nails.

  “As long as it takes to complete our test,” said Ivan, massaging his jaw as he looked past Tatiana into the trees.

  “Think of it as a vacation.” Waynesburg dusted his hands on his jeans as he rose from the ground.

  “My vacations include five star hotels and room service.” Tatiana extended her arm and examined her fingernails.

  “Have you retrieved a specimen from each of the test groups? This place will likely be underwater after tomorrow,” said Ivan.

  “Go in the trailer and see for yourself,” said Tatiana.

  Ivan went into the trailer and I followed. A mini fridge with a glass door took up most of the space on the counter. The racks inside the fridge were full of jars with small pieces of matter suspended in liquid. On the opposing counter sat a glass case full of rows of pinned insects. Several rows of oil slick bees had small tags on each pin. Below the bees, several rows of beetles were pinned, some still partially camouflaged to leaves and grass.

  Ivan finished his visual inventory with a quick flip through a clipboard on the trailer’s dining table. I saw a receipt on the table from the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. Three adults had been admitted to Muir Woods National Monument.

  I let go of the edge of the oil drum. The cave walls materialized around me.

  “Ivan, Tatiana, and Waynesburg are in the Golden Gate National Recreation area. They’re retrieving specimens because it’s going to be underwater tomorrow.” I stepped back from the drum and rubbed my face to clear my mind.