by Marc Lindsay
Jason’s mum was working late that night so Jason prepared a modest dinner and put a dish aside for her later. Having no homework for the night Jason decided he would engage in homework of a different kind. Sitting cross legged on the carpet, Jason closed his eyes and practised a breathing technique that Ulysses had shown him. Jason wasn’t sure what his mentor hoped he would achieve, but he thought with time up his sleeve what would it hurt to try.
The room was now dimly lit by a single lamp and he had turned off his phone and anything else he thought might distract him. The only sound now was the gentle breeze blowing in from the open window, the curtain flowing back and forth rhythmically. Jason tried to clear his mind, concentrating on nothing else but his breathing, slow and focused. At first the harder he tried to clear his thoughts, the more random ones arose, school work, his mother and the events of the past month all came flooding in. An image of Selene flashed by, one in which she was scantily clad in a bikini. The image was clear and vivid. Jason focused in on it remembering with crystal clarity how beautiful she had looked, the way her dark raven hair cascaded down past the elegant curve of her neck and over her shoulders. The stark contrast of her hair with her creamy pale skin was mesmerising. Jason could feel a warmth spreading out across his body as he concentrated on certain aspects of her bikini clad body, the swell of her breasts and the pleasant shape of her hips. His imagination kicked into overdrive as he tried to imagine what lay underneath.
The warmth he had felt earlier now had an intenseness to it which although comfortable was also too palpable to ignore. Jason reluctantly pulled himself away from Selene as he shook himself awake, the dreamy image of his girlfriend was replaced with his bedroom, now bright from an unseen light. It took Jason a moment to realise that the light was emanating from him. Still sitting cross legged on the floor he looked down at himself and with dawning horror found flames dancing across the surface of his skin, which now had a black porous quality to it much like a volcanic rock.
His first instinct was to try and put out the flames, which he attempted to do by patting frantically at his arms and torso with his hands. This proved futile as the flames appeared to be flowing out from his very pores. Without thinking he leapt to his feet and raced to the bathroom, his every step on the carpeted floor giving off a muffled sizzling sound. Jason dove into the shower receptacle and fumbled with the taps until a stream of water burst from the shower head and collided with his body in a loud hiss and a geyser of steam. The effect was more of a mental one as Jason made the connection of water on fire as he reverted back into his human form. Still allowing the water to rain down upon him, he leaned against the wall of the shower and regained his breath. Once his nerves had settled he towelled himself off for the second time that night, venturing back into his bedroom to survey the damage he’d done.
‘Oh crap,’ Jason muttered, as he looked about his bedroom. There were heavy scorch marks littered across the floor, one large one where he had been sitting and a trail of smaller ones leading towards the bathroom. ‘How the hell am I going to fix this,’ Jason cursed, and then as if on cue the sound of a rumbling engine pulling up the driveway. ‘Crap, Crap, Crap.’ Jason raced downstairs and retrieved a large rug from one of the spare rooms and laid it carefully down over the burn marks. After inspecting his handy work Jason was satisfied that his mother wouldn’t suspect anything.
‘Jason,’ Helen’s voice rang out through the house.
‘Coming,’ Jason called back, as he took one last look at the floor and went down to meet her.
‘So how was your day?’ Jason asked trying hard to act casual, Helen was eating the dinner he had prepared earlier.
‘An absolute nightmare, it was practically raining cats and dogs.’
‘Is that a common ailment in Perigord?’ Jason asked with a smirk. Helen ignored him as she continued to eat.
‘Hey have you got a client with a pug named Mojo?’ Jason asked.
‘No I can’t say that I have yet, however my client base is growing by the day. Why do you ask?’ Helen asked with sudden interest.
‘No real reason, Selene and I met an old woman this afternoon, her pug was missing. I was curious if maybe you knew her?’ Jason asked.
‘Missing, another one,’ Helen muttered to herself.
‘What do you mean another one?’ Jason asked.
‘It’s unusual is all, in the past week there has been a high level of missing pets in town,’ Helen replied concerned. ‘And a great deal of these people are looking to me for the answers. Answers I don’t have.’ There was quiet in the kitchen.
‘Would it have anything to do with winter approaching?’ Jason asked.
‘What do you mean?’ Helen replied.
‘I don’t know, I thought maybe, with the cold there might be less game out there for the predators.’
‘Forcing them in closer to town,’ Helen finished his sentence. ‘That’s very intuitive.’
‘Aw shucks.’ Jason blushed.
‘No, really, this is very helpful. Tomorrow I’ll see if I can find any correlation between winter months and missing animals,’ Helen said.
‘Even with this knowledge, what would you hope to be able to do?’ Jason asked.
‘Well for starters we can warn people to keep their pets and livestock locked away at night. Not to mention I can talk to the forestry rangers and ask if they could look into any preventive measures the town can make to dissuade further attacks. That’s if we’re correct with our assumptions.’ Helen said, brightening to the idea.
‘What’s this WE’RE and OUR stuff,’ Jason said with a grin.
‘Hey this was a team effort; I honestly wouldn’t have thought of it without you. Perhaps you might consider it as a future field of endeavour.’ Helen offered.
‘And that is a conversation for another time. Goodnight,’ Jason said and left his mother to finish her dinner in peace.
Chapter 5
An elder gentleman in his mid-fifties, neatly groomed, grey suit, short cropped silver hair and polished black shoes pushed a cart up the path towards the Golden Leaf retirement home. In his cart dozens of roses all in a beautiful shade of turquoise. He walked with a casual self-assurance as he passed through the front doors and up towards the reception desk, smiling and nodding greetings to those he passed. A pretty young girl in a grey nurse’s uniform and sensible black glasses peered up at the arrival of the elder gentleman and his cart full of roses. The gentleman held out a long stem rose and the nurse took it with a coy smile and a giggle.
‘Oh, you’re such a sweetheart. Thank you Mr Silvanus.’
‘This flower is a pale imitation of your own beauty,’ Mr Silvanus said smoothly, the corners of a smile touching the edges of a perfectly groomed moustache.
‘Why thank you,’ the nurse replied, her eyes getting big as she gazed longingly at the elder gentleman. ‘I think you’re very special, to be donating your roses and time for the residents here.’
‘These roses are a small token for these lovely people. And as for time, well I have plenty of it,’ Mr Silvanus said his eyes narrowing a little. ‘All I ask is that when the roses have withered you keep a hold of them and I will collect them later.’
‘Of course, but I have to ask you. Why,’ The nurse replied.
‘I use the remains for my mulch, I like to reuse as much as I can. I hate waste.’ Mr Silvanus said with distaste.
‘Oh, I understand, it’s very circle of life.’ The nurse said.
‘Well I better be on my way, but may the rest of your day be problem free,’ Mr Silvanus said followed by a brief bow of his head, and after unloading his wares departed quietly.
‘It’s always the way. The good ones are either taken, gay or too old,’ the young nurse said wistfully, then went about her duties.
Chapter 6
Having already unloaded the heavy crates, Jason and Selene worked together to pry them open with a pair of crow bars, packing foam spilled out.
‘I can’t be
lieve how many crates there are. I thought this exhibit mainly consisted of parchments and manuscripts. What could possibly be in these crates?’ Jason asked.
‘Ha, you think that’s what you’re unloading,’ A voice came out from nowhere, making them both jump.
‘Jeez, you startled us Ulysses, where did you pop out from?’ Jason asked his eyes darting around then shrugging. ‘Second thought, forget I asked.
‘If not the items from the exhibit, then what are we unloading?’ Selene asked. Her interest piqued as she scooped big handfuls of packing foam out of the crates. But instead of valuable artefacts what she found were lengths of timber and glass sheeting.
‘That my young friends, is your next task,’ Ulysses said taking a dainty sip of tea from a small cup of fine china in his hand.
‘Why do I have this sinking feeling in my guts right about now,’ Jason muttered.
‘In each one of these crates is a complete display case that needs to be erected,’ Ulysses declared. His statement was met by silence and looks of disappointment. ‘Come now, you really didn’t expect to be handling priceless museum pieces, did you.’ The twinkle in his eye letting them know that he was enjoying this revelation.
‘Not that I’m complaining, but if these are such rare and valuable items, why are they being displayed in this hick town,’ Selene said bluntly.
‘I think all people should have the opportunity to view these rare items. And, the manager is a close personal friend, and I was hoping to view a couple of the pieces from the collection up close,’ Ulysses said candidly. Selene and Jason both raised an eyebrow.
‘How long do we have to put these cabinets together?’ Jason asked with a sigh, resigned to his fate.
‘You have two days, Amelia will have the tools and instructions you require to assemble them,’ Ulysses said, struggling to keep the condescending smile from his face.
‘You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?’ Jason muttered.
‘No, no, of course not,’ Ulysses replied with a chuckle he failed to disguise as a cough. ‘I better get going, stuff to do.’
‘Such as?’ Selene asked deadpan.
‘Librarian stuff.’
‘Well don’t let us keep you then,’ Jason grumbled. By now Ulysses wasn’t even trying to appear empathic to their task as he walked away, a huge smirk plastered on his face.
‘You know sometimes that man can be a real jerk,’ Selene said, and Jason grunted in acknowledgement as he commenced pulling the contents from the crate.
The smile had left Ulysses’ face as he made his way through a large door and down a darkened corridor, his footfalls echoing loudly on the stone floor. He passed through two more doors, both requiring a key to open. The last one led down a dimly lit staircase where he met Ms Jax who was on her way up.
‘Our guests have all been fed, you needn’t have come down,’ Ms Jax said.
‘I’m here to have a chat with our two newest arrivals,’ Ulysses replied gruffly.
‘I think you should just leave it alone,’ Ms Jax said concerned, placing a hand on his arm.
‘Those two know something, and I intend to get that information,’ Ulysses replied agitated.
‘I think…’
‘I think you should give Jason and Selene some assistance upstairs,’ Ulysses interrupted sternly, letting her know that her advice wasn’t wanted.
‘Okay,’ Ms Jax said stiffly, continuing up the staircase. Ulysses sighed regretting his rudeness, then thinking he would say something later to make amends.
Ulysses eventually finished up at a length of corridor, where a series of closed doors lined both sides of the walls. In between the doors were crudely drawn cave style paintings, images of hundreds of men bowing before strange looking alien beings and their ships, the eyes of the aliens were black and their heads large. The images of the men appeared in anguish and sorrow. Overall the paintings would give the impression of horror and nightmare, and as Ulysses knew were based on truth.
Each door had a small rectangular window and as Ulysses walked by he glanced in. Located behind every door were an assortment of strange humanoid figures, each one lay dormant and unconscious embedded deeply within an impression on the stone wall of their cells. The last two doors contained the inert figures of Onyx and Strix. Ulysses continued past their cells and towards a large stone throne located on the far wall. The throne was immense in stature and intricately carved with runes and symbols.
Ulysses took a deep breath before climbing up and sitting upon it. Looking briefly down he punched a series of crystals located on the arm rests, a large green crystal dome descended slowly from the ceiling directly above his head, eventually covering it entirely. He pressed several more crystals on the arm rests and a buzzing noise echoed throughout the corridor, followed by a pulsating green light that emanated from within the dome. Ulysses tensed in his seat then went limp.
Ulysses opened his eyes and was standing within a vast emptiness, which seemingly reached out forever. Standing a short distance before him were two figures, one was Strix and the other Onyx, and both were not pleased to see him.
‘So you’ve finally decided to show your face your changeling piece of shit,’ Onyx spat. Ulysses ignored the insult.
‘I have a couple of questions for the pair of you, and the sooner I get my answers, the sooner you can get back to whatever fantasy realm you’ve dreamt up for yourselves,’ Ulysses said business like.
‘Go screw yourself,’ Onyx shot back angrily. Strix placed a calming hand on her partner’s shoulder.
‘You can hardly blame his reaction, why the hell should we answer your questions. We’re being held here unfairly,’ Strix interjected.
‘Unfairly. Be thankful you ended up here, at the time I was planning something a whole lot nastier,’ Ulysses said in a raised tone.
‘You may think this is a fair punishment, but we’re both well aware that this world you’ve created for us is not real. A prison is a prison after all,’ Strix said.
‘And.’
‘And why should we help you at all,’ Strix said.
‘What do you want?’ Ulysses replied knowing full well what the answer was going to be.
‘We want out,’ Onyx yelled in frustration.
‘That’s not going to happen, but I’m willing to consider a reduction in sentence,’ Ulysses said calmly.
‘Forget it then,’ Onyx said sharply.
‘Hey, let’s not be too hasty,’ Strix said quickly, attempting to calm a seething Onyx. ‘What kind of reduction are we talking about?’
‘I’m willing to consider halving your sentence IF, the information I receive is credible and results in concrete answers,’ Ulysses stated.
‘Well under current circumstances I don’t see what choices we have,’ Strix said then casting a quick pleading glance at Onyx. ‘We agree, what’s your first question.’
‘Who hired you?’ Ulysses asked.
‘The woman Gaia,’ Strix answered.
‘What was her plan for my associates and me?’
‘Death,’ Onyx said, a dirty grin on his face. Ulysses ignored it.
‘Were you aware of the Stumpp Brothers and their role?’
‘We knew there was another team hired specifically to take care of you,’ Strix said, Ulysses nodded.
‘What other parties were involved?’
‘None that we were aware of,’ Strix said.
‘So you weren’t aware of any other locals involved with the woman you know as Gaia?’
‘That’s correct,’ Strix said.
‘How was she planning to move her army off this world?’ Ulysses asked, there was a long pause.
‘The other team was supposed to procure the exit strategy, but we don’t know how they were going to accomplish it,’ Strix said.
‘And this other team, the Stumpp Brothers, do you know their whereabouts now?’ Ulysses asked, a flicker of anger in his voice.
‘We don’t know,’ Strix and Onyx answered together.
‘Finally what was Heinrich’s role in all this?’ Ulysses asked.
‘Heinrich?’ Strix asked puzzled.
‘You mean Heinrich Perigord, don’t you,’ Onyx said.
‘YOU KNOW WHO I’M GODDAMN TALKING ABOUT!’ Ulysses yelled completely losing his temper so violently that Strix actually took a step back. Onyx paused then let a chuckle roll out.
‘I see you’ve still got a thing for the old man,’ Onyx smirked.
‘Don’t play with me, I want to know what he’s up to. And until you tell me everything you know, you can both rot in here,’ Ulysses said struggling to regain some composure.
‘Please don’t leave us in here, we’ve told you everything we know,’ Strix pleaded, taking a step forward, but this time it was Onyx who stopped her with a hand on her arm.
‘Forget it girl, he doesn’t believe us,‘ Onyx said. Ulysses could barely control the look of disdain on his face as he turned, then vanished from their sight.
Ulysses opened his eyes at the same time the crystal dome lifted away and disappeared into the ceiling. He sat there broodingly for a long time contemplating his meeting with Strix and Onyx, the only sound was the drumming of his fingers on the stone armrest that echoed down the corridor.
Chapter 7
Selene and Jason picked up their tools and prepared to finish work for the day. With the help of Ms Jax they were able to knock over a lot of the cabinets for the afternoon. Despite her easy going manner, Ms Jax appeared distracted and Jason got the feeling that she didn’t want to talk about whatever was troubling her.
