by N. Phillips
I waved her off and addressed the dude. “Who are you? And why did you want me to come here?”
“My name’s Raymond, but you can call me Ray for short. I know a lot about you, and I gotta say, you’re one of the coolest people on the planet. Seriously.”
“You’re sounding more and more like a weird stalker,” Maylene voiced my thoughts.
“No, it’s nothing like that. I’ll explain if you come in.”
Ray stepped aside and gestured his arm toward the inside of the house. Maylene and I walked in and followed the apricot rug that trailed to the large living room. The carpet corresponded with the tangerine walls and orange furniture that decorated the interior.
“Have a seat.”
“No thanks,” Maylene snapped at him before whispering in my ear. “What’s up? Does this guy have a Shadow or what?”
“No, he doesn’t. This is so weird.”
“You know what? It’s cool. I expected this type of reaction,” he said, taking a seat in the recliner near the fireplace. He slouched forward with his hands folded in front of him. “I’ll get right down to it. I set this whole thing up because I need your help, Aliyah.”
“What do you mean you need my help? I want answers.”
“And I got those. But first, I need you to promise that you’re not gonna rat me out to Obsidian. My mom works for them and—”
“What do you know about Obsidian?” Maylene jumped in. I could feel the heat radiating off her skin.
“Whoa, chill out. I’m not working for them or anything. I just know a lot about them because I hacked into my mom’s computer. That’s all.”
She walked closer to him. “Never tell me to chill. Start explaining yourself before this turns into a heated interrogation, and I mean that literally.”
“Alright, alright, jeez. My mother works for an organization named Obsidian, and they have files on people called Dreamers. You’re familiar with those names, right?”
“Yeah,” I confirmed. “Go on.”
“Okay, so after hacking into the folders on my mom’s computer, I found a file that’s only shared between higher-up members of Obsidian. It’s updated daily, and it’s a list of potential Dreamers that the organization is searching for. They use people like you to find these Dreamers.”
People like me? What was this guy talking about? He was just making things more confusing at this point.
He must’ve noticed I had no clue what he was going on about, because he then said, “Hm, I figured Obsidian would fill in its employees.”
“I don’t work for Obsidian,” I informed him. “I’m being forced against my will to work for a man named Alvin. I’m supposed to be investigating someone who could be a Dreamer. That’s why I was in the cafe, which I’m sure you know since you left the letter.”
He grinned. “Yeah, that plan was genius, wasn’t it?”
Not sharing his sense of amusement, both Maylene and I glowered at him. His short-lived exhilaration dwindled as he slumped back in his chair and narrowed his lips.
“Anyway, after going through my mom’s data for weeks, I decided to tackle a bigger challenge and hack into one of Obsidian’s main servers using a library computer. The building where the server is located is just outside the city, and the files on it contained boatloads of information about you and other Dreamers who are exactly like you.”
“As in they can see Shadows?”
“Yup.” His answer shocked me. “Obsidian uses you guys to track down other Dreamers who use their power for evil. You’re the only one out of them still around, though. But that’s why I’m a huge fan of yours without even seeing your craft in action.”
The information left me speechless, and Maylene had to reply on my behalf. “So what you’re saying is that Obsidian threatened people like Aliyah to do their dirty work?”
“I’m not sure about the threatening part, but I know those like Aliyah all cooperated with Obsidian at some point in time, and they had some sweet powers. I mean, she’s got the sensor abilities to detect bad guys like a real-life superhero.
Intrigued by his knowledge, I sat down on the couch close to his recliner and locked eyes with him. “What happened to the others like me?”
“Nasty Dreamers with badass powers killed them. The documents in Obsidian’s files mention the evil guys having a mark or something. I’m not too sure, but regardless, you’re the only one who can help me. I wouldn’t have gone through all this trouble to get you here if I could’ve handled the problem on my own.”
“How do we know this isn’t all some game you’re playing?” Maylene sneered. “I understand your mother works for Obsidian, but you know a little too much about Aliyah. And if Obsidian is so worried about news of the Mentifery Virus getting out to the public, how come you can just hack into their protected data so easily? You’d think they’d have better security.”
He puffed out his chest and retorted, “I’m a Dreamer, too.”
It was comical, and even Maylene cackled in a sarcastic manner before saying, “Really? Can I take a wild guess and assume you wanna the smartest person in the world? How original.”
“It’s deeper than that. I’ve got three brothers who went to Ivy League universities and graduated at the top of their class. Meanwhile, I struggled just to get out of high school and ended up dropping out of college freshman year. Everyone looks at me as the dumb one in the family tree, so you’re damn right I wanna be smarter so I’m not labeled the ‘failure’ anymore.”
“But don’t you think using the virus as a way to outsmart everyone would be considered cheating?” I questioned him. “You’d lose that sense of achievement from learning the subject on your own.”
He shrugged. “I’d rather lose the feeling of accomplishment than being talked down to at family reunions for another year. Besides, how was I supposed to know some disease would turn me into a genius? I’m not even super smart, yet, but I can tell I’m growing more knowledgeable by the day.”
“I doubt that,” Maylene mocked him. “Only an idiot would stage a plan to invite a complete stranger into his home. And you even admitted that your own mother works for Obsidian, so why should we trust you? This could all be a trap.”
Muffled profanity escaped his mouth before he spoke louder. “I’m sorry, I know she’s with you, Aliyah, but who is this girl?
She’s been rude this entire time.”
Maylene tapped her foot with a smug expression. Her tolerance for him wasn’t going to last long.
“Her name’s Maylene,” I answered before she decided to fry him. “Maylene Rivers.”
He rubbed his goatee and appeared in deep thought.
“Rivers … I know I’ve seen that name multiple times in Obsidian’s files.”
Maylene gave him a solemn stare. “Show me.”
“I-I shouldn’t do that in my house. I can get away with hacking into my mom’s computer when she’s not home, but digging into Obsidian’s servers using my house computer isn’t safe. I could get busted if they track my IP address.”
“I don’t care. Learning about Obsidian is important to me. So if you don’t pull up those files within the next few seconds, I’m going to make your head explode like fireworks on the Fourth of July.”
He groaned and stood up. “In my room.”
Maylene and I followed him deeper into the house until we entered a room that contained a queen-sized bed, a large flat-screen TV, and two computers near an opened closet filled with clothing and stacks of comic books.
“I can’t believe I’m doing this.”
He sat in a black rolling chair and started typing on the keyboard in front of his desktop computer. “Sit on the bed or something. This may take a while depending on if they changed the security codes.”
Fortunately for us, Ray managed to hack into Obsidian’s servers within a few minutes.
“Got it,” he declared, getting up from his seat. “All of the folders with the files inside are here. There’s one I haven’t be
en able to crack into because of the amount of protection it has, but everything else is available. You’ll have to look through them all because I don’t remember which one had the name Rivers inside it.”
“Thank you,” Maylene said, taking a seat in front of the desktop. “I appreciate it.”
“No problem. Hey, Aliyah, can we go back to why you’re here now?”
“Yeah, sure.”
We walked back into the living room and stood near the fireplace. “That girl can be a real hothead, huh?” he asked.
“If you only knew.”
He smiled before his facial features grew stiff. “I hacked into Obsidian’s potential Dreamer files and made up a fake profile in order to get you to come here. I placed the fake profile at the top of the list in hopes that whoever sent you to find the fake Dreamer would eventually lead you to the cafe like I planned.”
Not only was his plan risky, but it must’ve taken a lot of work just to get me to his house. The real question remained: what exactly did he want with me?
“Alright, so what specifically do you need me to do?”
“I need you to help my boyfriend. His name’s Sam. I can tell something is really wrong with him, and a lot of students on his campus have died in the past few days. I’m not saying he’s the one murdering them, but I’m positive he’s being controlled by a Shadow that Dreamers like you can see. I’ve read multiple occurrences documented by the others who can sense them, and I’m sure what’s happening to my boyfriend is another case of a demon turning him to the dark side.”
This was my first time being asked by someone else to free the mind of a tortured soul. It almost made me feel like a paranormal investigator or a legit demon hunter.
Now if only I had the slick, all black attire to go with my certified occupation.
“Are you sure you’re not just being paranoid?” I asked, making sure I knew what I was getting into.
“I’m sure. He’s never been like this. Please, I need you to snap him out of it. I’m begging you.”
Observing the misery that shaped his face, there was only one response I could give to him.
“I’ll do it. Under one condition.”
“Oh, great. What is it?”
“Can you hack into actual security systems, like locked doors?”
He gave me a perplexed look. “I’ve done it a few times before. Why?”
“You know that Obsidian server outside of the city that you’ve been hacking? I think it belongs to the laboratory where my friends are being held hostage. If I save your boyfriend from the demon that’s manipulating him, you have to help me get my friends and a bunch of other people out of there.”
He huffed and scratched the back of his head. “Man, you’re putting me in a tough spot. I’m positive my mom doesn’t work in that building, but if we’re caught, she’ll most likely lose her job, and I’ll be in some serious trouble. As much as I can’t stand her personally, I don’t know if I can take that risk.”
“Please, the guy and girl they’re holding captive are my best friends. I love them just as much as you love your boyfriend. Like you said, you wouldn’t have gone through all this trouble to get me here if he wasn’t special to you.”
He looked down to the floor and mumbled to himself before looking back up at me. “Damn. You know you’re asking me to go up against my own mother in a way, right? But fuck it; she’s a tyrant anyway.” He smirked and hunched his shoulders. “Alright. I’m down for this.”
“Then let’s do it.”
With our agreement intact, we gave each other a fist bump before walking back to his room. When he opened the door, a wave of grief skimmed past me.
“Maylene?”
She was peering down at the desktop, puzzled and bug-eyed. “T-they did it...”
I stepped inside the room and felt the intense heat circulating in the air. “Maylene, what’s wrong?”
In a flash, the computer in front of her had burst into flames. The blaze spread across the room and trailed through the walls of the house, causing sparks of wiring to flare and smoke detectors to go off.
“Maylene, stop,” I shouted, backing out into the doorway.
“What the hell is she?” Ray yelled. “Do you know how much that stuff cost?”
Maylene turned to face us with fiery eyes. “My parents. They were killed by Obsidian. Alvin ordered their deaths.”
I gaped at her discovery, standing at a loss for words until the fire grew larger.
“Maylene, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, but you have to calm—”
“Don’t tell me to calm down.”
Her shriek of displeasure was followed by multiple explosion sounds coming from different sections of the house. I attempted to walk back inside the room and comfort her, but the inferno was too searing for me to get close.
“Maylene, Ray and I came up with a plan. Please, you have to listen to me. If it all works out, you can confront Alvin face-to-face. You can avenge your parents.”
Maylene’s pupils returned to normal, but the fire failed to extinguish.
“Yo, put the fire out already before we die.”
“I’m trying,” she shouted back at Ray. She closed her eyes despite the heat of the moment and focused on extinguishing the flames. When the conflagration subsided, Ray fell to his knees and dropped his head into his hands.
“I’m a dead man walking. Another reason for Mom to hate me.”
Maylene stepped out the room and approached me. “If you’re serious, I’m in. Let’s do it as soon as possible.”
Teardrops slid down her cheeks before I grabbed her and held her close. It may have been the most vulnerable I had ever seen her, perhaps even more so than the moment on the bridge.
“Both of my parents were neuropsychologists,” she told me. “A few months before they died, they were transferred to a new organization. I never bothered to ask about it because the transition meant more money for all of us. I was just happy my family would have a bigger income.”
She separated from our embrace before continuing. “I never knew that the organization was Obsidian. I heard them mention the name a few times in secret, but I never imagined what they were getting into. I discovered on the files that Alvin was their boss, and after he found out my parents were going to reveal the Mentifery Virus to the public, he ordered someone to kill them and blame their deaths on an accidental house fire.”
My gaze never left her. I could feel every ounce of depression engulfing her heart as her sorrow began to take its toll on me. Never have I sensed so much heartache.
“That fire...” She paused and looked down at the palm of her hand. “All this time, I thought I had killed my parents. I thought it was all my fault.”
“It’s not. It never was. We’ll get through this, Maylene. I swear.”
“We will. As soon as Alvin is dead.”
Ray approached us with a wide-eyed expression. “So, which one of you is paying for all of this? My mom’s gonna be home in a couple of days.”
“I will,” Maylene answered. “I don’t know if my savings will cover all of the damages, but I’ll work extra shifts and pay off my debt, I promise. You can give your mother my information and blame it on me if you have to, but right now, let’s discuss this plan.”
“Fine. I guess I’ll pitch in, too. I’m sorry about your parents. I’m rooting for you to get back at the guy who set them up, but first, we need to get my boyfriend out of his funk.”
“Uh, okay?” She glanced at me before looking back at him and shrugging. “Whatever. Let’s go.”
CHAPTER 26
Maylene had parked her car outside an apartment building and waited with me for Ray’s signal to go inside. We both craned our necks up at the yellow lights that illuminated the fourth floor where his boyfriend lived.
“Are you getting any strange vibes?” she asked.
“Yeah, for the past twenty minutes we’ve been waiting here. I’m starting to think it was a bad idea letting Ray go insi
de first.”
We continued to sit on standby and scroll through our phones while waiting. With the day turning into night, I decided to beat my mom to the punch and text her first before she contacted me.
Hey, Mom. I’m at Maylene’s house finishing up the math assignment. Her grandfather’s here, so don’t worry. I’ll be home soon.
Maylene chuckled hearing me read the text out loud. “Speaking of that project, we should really plan a sleepover soon and actually finish the thing.”
“We should, because I hate lying to my parents. Most of the time I do it because I have to, but it still makes me feel guilty, you know?”
“I guess.”
Maybe talking about parents wasn’t the best idea, because the frown on Maylene’s face made me feel like an idiot. I sat back and remained quiet until the vibrating buzz of my cell phone got our attention. Surprisingly, it was a text from Lucas.
Robyn came by and had some complications with the baby, so I drove her to the hospital. I’m on my way home now, babe. I love you.
I didn’t text back. Why? I don’t know. Maybe the circumstances involving Robyn in his life was preventing me from expressing any emotion toward him. Just the thought of her always being around was enough to push me away.
“How is Lucas, anyway?” Maylene asked. “You know, after the whole Cassandra situation.”
“He’s doing better. Why do you ask?”
“No reason. You two seem to have a really stressful relationship, so I just wondered how things were going is all.”
In comes another lie in three… two… one…
“We’re fine, don’t worry. You think we can all hang out after everything is over?”
She snorted. “Yeah, and I be the third wheel while you two make googly eyes at each other? No thanks.”
We laughed at her comment until my phone vibrated again. “It’s Ray. He said to come upstairs... in all caps.”
We got out the car and hurried into the building, climbing the misty stairway covered with graffiti on the walls until we were on the fourth floor, standing in front of a green door marked 413.
“Ray said this was the apartment number,” I told her while trying to turn the knob that refused to budge. Glass-shattering sounds could be heard on the other side of the door.
