The Affliction

by Wendy E. Marsh

  “Yeah. I can feel it.” And I grinned cautiously, trying to gauge his reaction. His face lit up, and he smiled the first uninhibited smile since I had met him, and just to see him beaming at me made me feel whole.

  “So what else do you want to know?” He asked, evidently trying to hide his satisfaction even though he couldn’t conceal his excitement. I thought about that…there had to be a never ending list full of things I wanted to know. I could probably interrogate Gabriel for days, and not even then would I have all the answers I sought. I had a whole blind life full of questions, and now that I finally had clarity, more sprung up and bloomed like the field of Poppies in the Wizard of Oz. My question-poppies were nearly as intoxicating, too.

  “Did you make us invisible, I mean when you rescued me from the hospital?”

  “Sure did. That’s something that has always come naturally for me.” Then he suddenly disappeared, and although I knew he was still there, the sight of a driverless car greatly disturbed me, and the hair on my bare arms stood up from my goose flesh skin. My heart nearly skipped a beat just from the mere shock of it. I heard his bodiless chortle and then, like the Cheshire Cat, he reappeared. My face must have been very comical because he broke out into a new wave of laughter when he looked at me.

  “Don’t…do that to me…without warning,” I managed to get out between uneven breaths.

  “What, did I scare you?” He asked, and a somber tone suddenly crept into the joking in his voice, as though he was afraid that I feared him.

  “No, not really, it just surprised me, is all.”

  “Oh, okay, I’m sorry, it’s just that I forget you’re new to this…it’s so easy to be with you.”

  I immediately jumped to conclusions, my heart racing again, but I rationalized that he couldn’t have meant it the way I curiously wanted him to. I couldn’t even understand why I desired such meaning. Since Michael’s death, I hadn’t been interested in anyone. No one had appealed to me, none caught my eye, and I relentlessly turned every eager guy down. Now, for some odd reason, I begrudgingly recognized the unmistakable signs happening inside of me, and it was all for someone I barely even knew.

  “Aren’t you getting tired of saving me?” I asked, wanting to hear that he was so it would make it easier for me to distance myself from him. He looked at me curiously then, detecting a hidden meaning behind the question, but not able to decipher it.

  “Well, no, I mean that’s what I was born for, and when I’m successful at it, I feel…accomplished, complete somehow. That’s how it is with us. We not only enjoy our job; it makes us who we are. And not that I want you to be in such dangerous situations, but it seems that when I’m protecting you…” Gabriel drifted off and turned his head away from me.

  “What?”

  “Nothing. Finding you is just so unreal. What else do you wanna know?” I was somewhat reluctant to let this statement go, but I had so many other questions.

  “All right, so what are the different skills in each calling?” I settled on for the moment.

  “Well it’s fairly extensive, but I can give you a brief overview.” He seemed more comfortable when he talked about the Mystic again. “Silencers are essentially assassins, very stealthy, and possess an arsenal of gifts to assist them in their tasks. Exterminators, on the other hand, are made to kill in mass amounts and tending to lack sneak skills, make up for it in brute strength and resilience. Guardians, like myself, were brought here to protect, whether it be ourselves, our secret, or outsiders. We probably have the broadest range of gifts, purely for the reason that we need a variety of skills to remain undetected.”

  I interrupted him there, as something finally made sense to me. “I just now fully realized why you laughed when you first told me your name. Gabriel, the name of an angel, and you’re a Guardian.” I paused and looked at him, unable to stop myself. “You’re like my guardian angel,” I blurted out. He smiled briefly and looked uncomfortable, and then I had a horrible thought, though I didn’t see a ring on his finger.

  “Do you have a girlfriend or wife or anything?” I asked, sounding completely lame to myself.

  “No.” He said shortly.

  “Oh. Well is there someone you wish you were with?” I said, secretly hoping for both possible responses. I wanted him to say no, but I knew it would be better if he said yes. Although my heart told me I wanted to be with him, I knew I was not ready.

  “No. There’s never been anyone serious.” I didn’t dare say anything more on the subject and he quickly changed it. “So anyway, then there’s the Shamans. You might realize now that this is Adam’s calling. They’re our healers. No doctors needed with them around. They’re also unnaturally persuasive, able to hypnotize even the Davos. Informers are what you might think of as undercover cops or spies. They’re kind of shady people, the strangest among us for sure. There’s one in our chapter, and I don’t even know her real name. She mostly goes by Ashley, and I can’t say that I’ve seen her many times, though she does stay with us some if she happens to locate a Davo and returns to relay the intel.”

  After this bit of information, I had to interrupt again. “What do you mean by in your chapter?” I asked, trying to picture not knowing someone lived with you.

  “Well we all belong to The Mystic, but there are divisions within the society called chapters, most of which mimic countries. The society originated back in Europe, but since the United States is larger than most of those countries, there are eight chapters established here. Before the dying out of the Davos and the formation of The Black Shadow, there used to be about a hundred members or more in each, but these days we’re down to about ten.”

  He must have noticed how wide my eyes were in reaction. “Wow,” I said, “It’s almost like you…we are dying out.”

  “Yeah, well, that’s another complication. Believe me; we’re doing extensive research on the topic. But anyway, we’re a part of Chapter C. We mostly cover Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio, and West Virginia. Our borders overlap with Chapters A, B, D, and E.”

  “I see. So that’s how you can guess who my dad is.”

  He looked uncomfortable again and didn’t answer right away. Eventually, he said carefully, “Yeah. He was most likely once a part of our chapter, and he’s obviously a Sage since you are. The Black Shadow have kept themselves split up into chapters, too, so I think I know him,” he said with an undeterminable expression on his face.

  “Who do you think it is?” I asked, suddenly eager to finally find out the identity of my father. Nobody in my life had ever offered to help me find him or even guide me in a direction to start.

  “Well, I actually can’t say because it’s just a suspicion, and I’m not sure you’re ready to know that. We have to talk to the elders first anyway,” he said evasively.

  “Who are the elders?”

  “The elders uphold our law. They’re masters from all the chapters that are older than seventy. There’s one master for every chapter, chosen by the other members and the elders. Once they turn seventy, they automatically become one of the elders unless they’re mentally incompetent, which rarely happens. They oversee the society and make sure it runs smoothly. I’m gonna take you to the elders, and they’ll decide what you should do.”

  “So where are they? And what do you mean, what I should do?”

  “A group of five elders came here from the Mystic Capital outside London. They’re in Philadelphia now to deal with Adam and Cara, but they’re coming here to Headquarters to decide how you’re going to proceed with your training.”

  “My training?” I asked dubiously.

  “Yes. You have Sage’s gifts, but they are kind of raw, I guess you could say. You haven’t discovered even a percentage of what you’re capable of.”

  “Oh. And so how long will that take?”

  “It’ll take as long as you need it to.” And I thought I heard some disappointment in his voice.

  “How long is it usually? Are there others like me in your chapter?”r />
  “In our chapter. And yes, Tobias is also a Sage. I think he said that it took him about five years to fully develop and gain control of his abilities.”

  “Five years,” I gasped, suddenly unsure if I could follow through with such a regiment.

  “Well, I’m not positive how long is average for you guys, and your time may differ anyway since you’re older than average.”

  “Differ, as in shorter or longer?”

  “I honestly don’t know. I’m pretty sure there’s never been anyone in your situation; everyone grows up in a home with at least one Mystic and knows their purpose. The average age that we begin training is usually at the onset of puberty.”

  “And what exactly will I be doing?”

  “I’m not really certain, just honing the abilities you already have and learning new ones I guess. But look, we’re almost to your house.”

  And sure enough, I recognized the scenery, which I had previously ignored as it whizzed by the car. We were about five minutes away from my house.

  “What are we doing at my apartment?” I wondered aloud, not sure why the detour was a necessary stop before we met the elders. He looked at me very seriously then and continued in a tone that suggested I was not to argue.

  “You will pack your stuff, we’re going to leave, and you’re never going back.”

  Chapter 11

  “You’re stealing me,” I half-joked.

  “Essentially yes, but you belong with us.”

  “What if I don’t want to…what if I want to keep living my life as it was?

  “You don’t.”

  “How do you know?”

  “Nobody ever denies it. We’re compelled to use our gifts.”

  I couldn’t argue with him, as he seemed to be right. I desperately wanted to become an active member of The Mystic and saw no other way. Already, just knowing that I was a Sage, I began having a stronger sense of “intuition,” and I wanted to test it out.

  “How does Isaac know what I want to take with me?” I inquired. Gabriel looked confused.

  “Isaac? What do you mean?”

  “He’s at the apartment packing my stuff already…how does he know I’ll want what he’s taking?” And then Gabriel laughed as he understood what I did.

  “Okay, no need to go and show off or I’ll have to show you up,” he said, although I could see he was impressed.

  “Hmm, competitive, are we?”

  “Slightly.” He grinned and swung onto my driveway. “We’re used to moving people quick…I think he’s probably done a good job.” I thought about what he said.

  “So is Isaac a Guardian, too, then?”

  “Yep.”

  “Wow, so that’s three of you in our chapter.” I was still not used to the “our” part, and so I said that word tentatively.

  “No. Nathaniel’s not a part of our chapter. He’s a Guardian of the elders and travels with them, somewhat like a bodyguard. He’s with the representatives that arrived here initially to deal with Cara. At first, there were only three elders, but when they heard that another outsider—that would be you—was involved, two more flew over. Now they have even more to deal with since you’re not actually an outsider, but one of us.”

  I merely nodded, taking everything in; surprisingly ready to end the questioning. I didn’t think my brain could hold any more new and extraordinary information at the moment.

  The day had turned peaceful, and although an opaque covering remained that would obscure the sparkling of the stars if it were night, the monstrous black clouds had left that stage of the world. The chirping of crickets in the tall grasses behind the house reverberated through the air, audible even with the windows rolled up in the car.

  The air felt humid again, and as I stepped out of the refuge of the air-conditioned car, the heat infiltrated the pores of my skin, weighing me down and making me temporarily dizzy. I glanced up at the house and for a split second saw black smoke curling out of the windows, blazing orange flames eating away at the faded siding, and then they were gone, the house looking just as I had left it.

  “You’re going to burn it?” I asked, a little shocked at the thoroughness.

  “We can’t leave any evidence,” Gabriel shrugged, as though burning down houses was a daily occurrence in his life.

  “Good thing I didn’t put down many roots,” I said realistically. It was easy to pick up and leave without too much concern. After they realized I had not become a charred crisp along with my apartment building, I would become a missing person. Forever.

  The thought haunted me, but I suddenly realized I had been in denial for a long time. I was stuck in a time that didn’t exist any longer, that could not return. Denial was one of the reasons I wasn’t good with change, why I never left Aurora, how I chose the small local community college when I was accepted at so many more prestigious schools. I had lived in the same place since I was born, it was all I knew. Twenty-one years later I was still there, sometimes able to pretend that I was eight again.

  I could stand on the same streets, eat at the same restaurants, and delude myself into thinking I still lived in that perfect world where nobody died, my parents were good people, and I was happy. Where had all the time gone, and why were things so abruptly different when they had been the same for so long? I was at a crossroads, and I felt like I didn’t belong anywhere.

  As I foresaw my apartment burning, my past life disintegrating to ashes, I realized that I had waited for this for longer than I acknowledged. A sign at the crossroads to tell me where to go. A push to motivate me to take that first step towards the future and accept the fact that the past would never come back.

  A sporty black Toyota Tacoma waited in the drive, and bags I recognized as my own already filled the bed. I stared at the tiny truck in contemplation of suggesting a trade for a more spacious vehicle…Perhaps a small U-Haul. I didn’t own a lot of stuff per se, but I didn’t see my whole apartment fitting in the compact bed.

  “I guess now is not the time to be materialistic,” I muttered as Gabriel walked around the front of the car to stand beside me.

  “No, probably not,” he said. “But don’t worry. Isaac packed what you can’t replace and what’s essential, and for everything else, money is not an issue for us, although you may find our accommodations suitable enough anyway.”

  “And where exactly am I going to be living now?”

  “Chapter C Headquarters, which is hardly the appropriate name for it anymore. That term sounds more professional, and it once was, but it has been made more, uh, livable over the centuries. I think you’ll like it. It’s not far from Sundown Lake.”

  “I’m sure I’ll like it,” I encouraged him, not missing the hope in his voice. And then I had a peculiar urge to enter my apartment and find Isaac. I tried to focus on this unasked for craving, and suddenly I knew why I was needed. My intuition had never exactly scared me before, but then again I had always dismissed it.

  Now that I knew that it was much deeper than keen instinct and I pursued it, the information that came to me became clearer and more detailed, and I can say I was a little frightened by it. Our culture had always been taught to fear the unknown and I became skeptical of the mystical.

  “I’ll be right back,” I called to Gabriel, already bounding toward the exterior staircase.

  “Where are you going?” he asked, apparently cautious of my sudden actions.

  I laughed and looked back to him. “Isaac needs some help. I don’t think he knows what’s essential when it comes to girl’s clothes.” I didn’t wait for his reply but took the stairs two at a time, still marveling at the look on his face.

  “Isaac?” I called, as I reached the top of the stairs. No answer as I stepped over the broken shards of my lamp and remembered the first time I unknowingly met Gabriel. I immediately walked towards my bedroom and called Isaac’s name again.

  When I turned into my empty-looking room, I noticed the top drawer of my dresser hung open, but nobody was there
. At first, I thought the worst possible, the same anxious feeling I had the last time I searched my room started to creep up on me, as I thought that maybe the Black Shadow had been there and taken care of Isaac.

  I was quickly relieved of my building tension as I had another burst of intuition, but the revelation I received hurt me a little.

  “Isaac, I know you’re in here, and I know you’re hiding because you don’t believe that I’m one of you, but we don’t really have time for games right now.” As I said it, I felt the full weight of the truth in my words. We didn’t have much time before they would find us. Isaac apparently didn’t grasp the urgency of the situation because he didn’t appear and he didn’t respond. I looked around the room in frustration and as I spotted an extra storage ottoman at the foot of my bed I knew.

  I hurried over to the ottoman on the right, knowing which one I wanted, and kicked it as hard as I could. Instead of making a thud like a shoe on furniture should, a sharp intake of breath preceded a voice which cracked in the middle as the boy it belonged to screamed at me, “Ow, all right, all right, I give up!” A skinny teenage boy with curly black hair appeared where the ottoman had been not seconds before.

  “Hello Isaac,” I said, “do you believe Gabriel now?” I didn’t wait for a reply. “If not, it’s too bad because I’m grabbing the rest of my stuff and leaving before the Black Shadow gets here. You can stay to greet them if you like.” And then I hurried to the open drawer, grabbing the small deserted bag on the floor, and started shoving in my favorite panties and bras.

  Then I heard Gabriel’s charming laugh from the doorway, zipped up the bag, and embarrassedly heaved the drawer shut.

  “Don’t mess with her Isaac, she’s a feisty one,” Gabriel said. And as though to prove him right, I lightly hit him in the stomach with my bag to encourage him move out of my way as I marched into the hall, and they followed.

  I was not in any particular hurry to meet the elders, yet I felt the danger coming for us, so I increased my pace and literally ran down the steps. In my mind I could see those bestial hunters, sniffing out our trail. They must be Silencers, I thought. Surely assassins would have the ability to track their prey. And I could feel her, see her vivid pink hair, her blue eyes, just like mine. Just like mine.