Descendant

by S. M. Gaither

  He was the one I supposedly had ‘plans’ with.

  And this guy, according to Sera, wanted me dead.

  5

  visitors

  I slammed my car’s trunk and sprinted over to the porch, to the relative safety of my mom’s side. We barely had time to exchange a glance before Kael leapt up the steps to stand before us.

  As the initial shock of his unexpected appearance began to wear off, I couldn’t help but notice that he looked considerably more...normal than I’d remembered, standing there in his dark jeans and a fitted, black, long-sleeved shirt that he’d rolled up to his elbows. He looked almost like a regular teenager—one who I could hardly picture getting into a gun-fight with a giant wolf.

  And he definitely didn’t seem as threatening today as he had at the lake.

  Still, there was something about him that made me uneasy. Maybe it was his piercing gaze, and the way those blue eyes seemed to reflect an unnatural amount of the sun’s rays. Or maybe it was the way he smiled without really showing any emotion—it looked like he’d forcibly molded his mouth into the shape of a smile and then taped it into place.

  For a fake smile, it was still annoyingly good-looking.

  But I couldn’t help but wonder what he was covering up by using it.

  “Forgive me, Mrs. Layton—I don’t mean you any disrespect,” Kael began in a very business-like tone, the taped-on smile instantly fading. “I realize your daughter is being punished, but I was hoping you would permit me to speak with her, perhaps just for a few minutes?”

  I turned to my mom anxiously. She threw me an irritated glance and took a deep breath through her nose before replying.

  “If you will recall, Mister....McClelland was it?” Kael nodded, even though she didn’t pause long enough to be corrected one way or the other. “As I said this morning, Alexandra does not need to hear anything you have to say—”

  “And I assume that you recall,” Kael interrupted in a compulsorily pleasant tone, “the message I sent you earlier? I know you saw it. Your daughter is facing a very pressing situation, and our intervention is necessary to assure—”

  “Mom? You didn’t mention any messages? What did it say?”

  “He sent it while you were gone,” my mom said, waving a dismissive hand at me. “And it doesn’t matter what it said. Just a bunch of nonsense, this whole situation.”

  Kael cleared his throat purposely. “As I was saying—”

  “I don’t care what you were saying. My family won’t be a part of this.”

  “You’re a part of this whether you like it or not,” Kael said, his tone darkening. It was obvious that he was trying not to lose his temper. “You can either cooperate and help us settle things, or you and I are going to end up enemies—and I promise you, you don’t want that.”

  My mom’s face turned blood red.

  “I sincerely hope you are not threatening me, young man.”

  “I was merely stating a fact,” Kael said with a frown.

  “Mom? What the hell is going on?”

  She didn’t reply, and for a moment the two of them just glared at each other. I half-expected them to jump forward and start ripping each other’s throats out. But after what seemed like an eternity, my mom’s jaw unclenched, and she jabbed her finger at Kael and then towards the Camry.

  “Go. You’ve got about thirty seconds to get off my property or I’m calling the cops.”

  I’d never heard my mom sound so pissed.

  What in the world was in that message Kael had sent?

  I looked at him, wondering if he was going to dare arguing back. I wished he would, if only because I wanted to hear what he had to say—more explanations, maybe.

  But as soon as I laid eyes on him, Kael shook his head in annoyance and turned to leave. He made it as far as the top porch step before stopping and glancing back over his shoulder.

  “Alex,” he said, “Until we meet again, do me a favor.”

  “What?”

  “Stay away from Sera.”

  “How do you know who—”

  “Who’s Sera?” Mom asked.

  “I happened to be out doing a little…shopping. I saw the two of you talking,” Kael said to me, not bothering to acknowledge that my mom had even spoken.

  “What were you doing, hiding in the bushes or something?” I asked, only half-way jokingly.

  Because I could kind of see this guy being a stalker. Or like one of those serial killers that lured in his victims with his disarmingly good looks, or…

  Or maybe I just watched way too many crime documentaries.

  “Hardly,” Kael replied with that same arrogant smile from before. “You walked right by me. You’re not a very observant person, you know that?”

  “Maybe not,” I shot back, “but I kind of have a lot on my mind here lately, so you’ll forgive me if I don’t notice everyone I happen to walk by? It wasn’t like I was hoping to see you again.”

  “Fair enough,” Kael replied, shrugging. “But anyway: stay away from her.”

  “I’m not promising anything,” I said, mainly because I didn’t want this guy thinking he could tell me what to do.

  I was going to stay away from her— but only because I didn’t particularly want to see her again, either. Because the more I thought about it, the more my meeting with her bothered me, and the more I just wanted all these strange people to go away and leave me alone before I ended up being featured in one of those crime documentaries that I watched too many of.

  “Do what you want then,” he replied with another shrug.

  Like I wasn’t going to anyway.

  “Right. Well I’ll be seeing you soon, Alex,” he called as he turned and continued down the steps.

  “Oh no you won’t,” my mom shouted at his retreating back. But Kael simply mimicked her dismissive wave from earlier, keeping his back to us as he reached his car. “No he won’t,” Mom said, turning her attention to me instead. “You will not see him, and I—”

  “Don’t worry, Mom,” I interrupted as I watched his car disappear down the driveway. “I don’t want anything to do with that guy.”

  “…Good,” she said, wary relief spreading across her features. She was silent for a few seconds, until Kael’s car was out of sight. “I guess we should do something about lunch before I have to start getting ready for work,” she said.

  “I’ve actually already eaten, Mom. While I was in town.”

  I was busy trying to avoid my mom’s searching gaze when an earsplitting screech filled the air, followed by what sounded like it might’ve been thunder.

  Except it was sunny, and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky.

  Mom and I exchanged a quick glance.

  “That sounded like a wreck,” I said.

  My mom nodded, and the two of us jumped from the porch and raced down the driveway. The trees that encircled our yard hid the road from view, but as we neared the end of our driveway there was little doubt in my mind that a wreck was what had happened; the scent of burnt rubber and gasoline were filling the air.

  I broke through the opening in the trees several yards ahead of my mom, and I saw it immediately; less than a football field’s length away, Kael’s black Toyota rested on its side in the ditch.

  My stomach turned several somersaults as I watched plumes of smoke billow out from under its hood, one side of which looked like a monster truck had rolled over it. As I moved closer I could see that both the front windshield and the driver’s side window were lying in shattered shards on the ground. Besides the massive dent that covered the entire left front fender, there was a second one that graced the left front door. Eying this door anxiously, I cupped a hand over my mouth and rushed over to it.

  “Be careful, Alex!” I heard my mom call from somewhere behind me.

  I was afraid I didn’t have time to be careful.

  This looked bad.

  Within seconds, my free hand rested on the twisted metal of the door frame. I cast a quick, nerv
ous glance toward the smoking hood before peering inside the car.

  I didn’t see the horribly mangled body I’d been expecting.

  In fact, I didn’t see a body at all. My eyes, which were now watering as the smoke assaulted them, searched the passenger seat and the back seat several times.

  Nothing to see.

  I wanted to be relieved, but the anxious feeling in my gut persisted. I pushed away from the car, nearly colliding with my mom as she reached my side.

  “Is he okay?” she asked, her voice muffled under her hand.

  I tried to open my mouth to respond, but by this point the smoke was getting to my lungs; I could hardly breathe, much less speak, so instead I grabbed my mom’s arm and pulled her away from the car. It took nearly a full minute of coughing and sputtering to clear my throat before I could speak.

  “He’s not in there,” I finally managed to wheeze.

  “What?”

  I shrugged.

  “Well he can’t have gone far,” my mom said, eying the wreckage as she pulled her cell phone out of her back pocket. “You search that way, I’ll call 911 and check over here. Try not to breathe in too much smoke if you can help it.”

  I nodded, though something told me that I wasn’t going to find anything.

  I combed the area anyway, even going so far into the distance that I could barely make out the car amidst the haze of smoke surrounding it. Then I doubled back and searched along the ditch, and up to the edge of the woods that ran along the road. I was looking for a body—preferably a live one. By the third time I’d circled the area, I would’ve settled for a sign that a body had even been there.

  I had no such luck.

  I was just about to find my mom and inform her of my useless search, when something on the ground— or somethings, rather—caught my attention: In the gravel dust of the road’s shoulder there were several paw prints.

  And whatever made them must have been huge.

  The tracks led away from the wreck. I turned and followed them with my eyes. They ended a few feet away, but I could see faint indentations in the grass that probably marked more. I hesitated for a moment, glancing back over my shoulder at my mom.

  I’d almost made up my mind to follow the tracks when the wail of sirens caught my attention. A fire truck hurtled around the curve a few seconds later, followed by an ambulance. The vehicles had barely slowed to a stop before firefighters and EMT started pouring out of them.

  “Dr. Layton!” I heard one of the EMT call. My mom ran to meet them, passing several fully suited firefighters as they ran towards the smoking car. For a few minutes, everything was chaotic as the newly arrived emergency workers doubled our search efforts. EMTs scoured the surrounding area and some of the firefighters used a jack to lift and search under the car, while others tore off the hood and extinguished the smoking flames underneath it.

  After a few minutes, they all seemed to conclude that maybe there was nobody to rescue after all.

  Everything slowed down, and everyone stood around talking and occasionally gesturing toward the wreckage, trying to make sense of it. I wandered back toward that wreckage myself so I could listen to any conclusions they might have come up with.

  “This is so strange,” said one of the firefighters as he removed his helmet to reveal a full head of blonde hair.

  “What’s strange?” I asked.

  The blonde and the man he was actually talking to both slowed to a stop and exchanged glances. Then the blonde one gestured back toward the car.

  “This wreck—we were just talking about how it’s almost identical to one we responded to a few weeks ago.”

  I looked at him curiously.

  “That one,” he continued in a dramatic voice, obviously glad to have an audience, “was another one car wreck, ‘cept that time it was a Jeep Wrangler. But the entire hood and the driver’s side door was dented in, just like this ‘in. We never did find any victims of that wreck either, did we Gene?”

  The fireman standing next to him shook his head. “Nope. We didn’t find the cause of that wreck, either,” said Gene as he picked at a loose thread on his jacket. “I think the highway patrolman wrote it off by saying that it must’ve been some kind of animal or something,” he added with a snort. “But I don’t know of any animal that could cause that much damage and walk away from it—especially seeing as how there wasn’t even any blood.”

  “A bear, maybe?” suggested the blonde fireman.

  “Nah, doubt it,” said Gene in a monotone voice. “There aren’t many bears left around these parts. And even a bear probably wouldn’t have been big enough to cause that much damage and walk away without a scratch. Don’t you remember how that Jeep looked? It was barely worth saving for scrap metal.”

  “Could it have been a wolf?” I asked, more to myself than them.

  “There are even fewer wolves than there are bears around,” my mom, who had just walked up, interjected quietly before either of the firemen could answer.

  The blonde fireman nodded in agreement with her.

  For a moment I considered telling them about the paw prints I’d found, but just then I looked up to meet my mom’s gaze—which, for some reason, looked angry.

  Weird.

  I decided to keep quiet.

  The two firemen left when the highway patrol officer arrived a few seconds later. He asked Mom and me several questions—most of which I let Mom answer while I watched what was left of the Toyota being loaded onto a tow truck.

  My eyes lingered on the driver’s side door. I barely knew the guy. And yes, there was a tiny chance he was a stalker and/or a serial killer…but I still couldn’t help but worry about what might’ve happened to Kael.

  The wreck was on the news that night. It was on the six ‘o’ clock news first, but it was just a short story— so I stayed up until the eleven ‘o’ clock news, hoping for more.

  But at eleven they just repeated that same, vague story.

  In their defense, I guess they didn’t have a lot of details to work with. The cause of the wreck was still under investigation, according to the anchorwoman, and there were still no victims to report.

  Dead or alive, Kael was apparently long gone.

  I frowned at the T.V. as the news anchors told me goodnight. I hadn’t really expected otherwise, but I still felt a bit disappointed that they didn’t have more to report.

  I didn’t get up from the couch when the news ended. My arm was draped over the armrest, and my index finger was the only part of me that moved as it slid across the remote. Channel surfing was about the only thing I had the energy to do. I don’t know if it was the wreck, or everything else I had on my mind finally getting to me, but for some reason I’d been feeling like this all afternoon and evening—so exhausted I could barely move.

  My eyes flickered to the clock above the entertainment center.

  Five past midnight, according to the glaring red display.

  Mom would be home from her shift at the hospital in a few hours. Maybe I could just go to sleep here and she could carry me to my bed when she got home?

  My eyes were wandering in and out of focus. I’d dropped the remote and hadn’t bothered to pick it up, and the T.V. was now showing an old western movie that I’d seen at least three times; my dad and I used to watch these hokey sagas together on nights when neither of us could sleep.

  All of my memories of him felt bittersweet here lately, tainted by anger—and now confusion, too, thanks to the things Sera had said.

  But angry or not, I knew I didn’t want to forget the way I’d felt when I was curled up at his side, fighting sleep so that I could spend a little more time with him.

  So I watched that overacted old movie, in between resting my eyes, for a few minutes before turning and burying my face in the couch cushions.

  I was drifting uneasily between sleep and consciousness when a quiet tapping noise caused my eyes to open again.

  At first I thought it was the T.V., so I felt around the fl
oor until I found where the remote had fallen. I pushed the mute button and, with a sleepy groan, turned back into the cushions.

  A few seconds later, I heard the tapping noise again.

  Annoyed, I lifted my head and blinked my eyes into focus, staring down the hall that led to my sister’s room. I could see a light shining from underneath her door.

  “Lora!” I shouted. “Be quiet, I’m trying to sleep!” I listened for her response, but the house stayed quiet.

  Assuming the silence meant she must’ve heard me, I slumped back into the cushions and closed my eyes.

  The tapping came again.

  Louder than before.

  I sat up. I was almost fully awake now, and with the clarity that brought to my senses I realized the noise wasn’t coming from Lora’s room at all.

  Our dining room had sliding glass doors that led to the back porch, and that was where I suspiciously focused my attention. Sure enough, a second later, several more taps on the glass pane confirmed it: someone was knocking on our back door.

  At twelve-thirty in the morning.

  “Who in the hell…?”

  Tap, tap, tap.

  I was tired. Nauseous. And the last thing I wanted to do was get up off that couch.

  TAP, TAP, TAP.

  “I’m coming!” I flung my blanket off, causing a sharp spasm of pain to shoot through my arm, and stood up and stalked over to the door. I guess I should’ve been frightened. I mean, it could have been a burglar, right? But at the moment I was too tired, too sick, too annoyed at having been so rudely wakened that I didn’t think about the danger.

  I did grab the poker lying by the fireplace, but the motive behind that wasn’t purely self-defense; I just really wanted to hit whoever was on the other side of that glass.

  Regardless of the motivation behind picking it up, however, as soon as I flipped on the back porch light, it dropped to the floor with a clang!

  I was too shocked to even move to pick it up.

  “Alex?” my sister’s voice quickly ended my paralysis. “What was that?”

  Panic flooded over me.

  “Nothing!” I shouted back. “It was just… Apollo knocked something over!”