“I’m okay, Pip,” I said past the big lump of love, fear, relief, and shame crammed into my throat. I looked away toward the Detective, blinking a speck of dust or something from my eyes.
Detective Hunter’s face was red, rigid, and so compressed, it looked like it wanted to pull itself right off her head and go get a drink. I barely noticed her low-cut evening gown and the two smooth, tan mounds peeking out from the top of it, or the valley between them that led the eye down into mysterious... Really, I barely noticed it.
“Finn, what have you done?” Her dangerous tone helped me to focus on her face.
“Me? I just got here.”
Holly looked up at me, eyes shining with excitement. “You should have seen Dad! Those bad men shot him twice! He fell down, and I ran away to call you, but you didn’t answer. When I came back, I saw him kill the second guy! He just ripped his head right off! It was so cool! That guy’s blood squirted all the way to the ceiling! Our Dad’s like Superman, Finn! Did you know that?”
I felt a little faint, but Holly wasn’t done. She made a disgusted face. “Then he started eating the first guy. He just started chewing on the guy’s arm. It was really gross. You should have seen it!”
He was eating corpses now? I looked over at my dad in alarm. He just shrugged helplessly.
Holly was still talking, her nose wrinkled up in disgust. “...and did you know that people poop their pants when they die? That’s even grosser! It stinks.”
Oh God.
“When Detective Vicky got here, she almost shot Dad, but I stopped her.” My little adopted sister stuck her chest out with pride. “Isn’t that great?”
“Uh, yeah... yeah... very cool—that would have been bad.”
“Holly?” My mom’s panicked call came from the kitchen.
“Mom! Finn’s back!”
“Oh, thank God!” My mom rushed up and swept me up in a hug, which I gladly returned. “I’m so glad you’re safe.” She pulled away and looked me in the eyes. “Dear Lord, honey, you’re bleeding!”
After a half moment of shifting gears, I recalled my own busy day. I shook my head, “No Mom, it’s not my blood.”
“Whose blood is it?”
“It’s mostly Jen’s.”
“Jen! She’s hurt? Where is she?”
“Oh, hell! She’s out in the van. Something’s wrong with her.” I looked over to the paramedic, “Come on, maybe you can tell me what’s wrong.”
She didn’t give my dad a second look and followed me as I ran back toward the living room. Detective Hunter barked, “Through the kitchen!”
“Right, sorry.” I altered course and took the kitchen path.
Behind me, I heard my dad say, “Go on Helen, I’ll be fine.”
I ran out the door past the standing cops. Along the way, I filled in the paramedic.
I rounded the far side of our stolen van and saw Jen sitting up in the open side door next to Dave. He had his arm around her. I felt a little tinge of completely irrational and ill-timed jealousy. I mean it wasn’t as if...well, you know.
“Jen!”
She turned to me with a lost and bemused expression.
The paramedic pushed past me to examine her. She freaked when she saw all the blood on Jen’s shirt.
I fell to my knees next to the paramedic and grabbed one of Jen’s hands. “Jen, are you alright? What happened?”
When she didn’t speak immediately, Dave said, “I figured someone needed to watch her, so I came back here, and she just woke up.”
The paramedic glared at me and said, “Sir, please give me some room.”
I reluctantly dropped Jen’s hand and backed off. Jen looked at me with weary eyes and spoke with a weak voice. “I was... traveling, but something attacked me and cut me off. I lost my way back. I searched for a long time... I was lost and scared. I finally found you, and I woke up here.”
Realization hit Spring and I at the same time.
She was spirit traveling and we cut the cord!
Oh dear God, what did I do?
I thought to Spring.
Don’t freak out too much, she seems to be back.
I nodded and tried to focus on whatever outrageous thing Dave was saying. He always knew the precisely wrong thing to say to defuse emotional moments.
“Hey, don’t worry about it for now, Jen, you’re here with us and everything’s going to be fine.”
I snorted at his comment out of habit then immediately felt a little ashamed when I absorbed his kind words. Wow, I guess even Dave could be supportive and kind.
Dave broke into his shit-eating grin. “Wait till you hear how I got you out of there.”
Or not. I growled. “Dave...”
He laughed. Jen just sat there looking confused.
I felt my mom come up behind me. She quietly spoke into my ear. “Oh, dear God. Finn, what happened?”
Jen sat up straight and her eyebrows rose in alarm. “Mrs. M?” She ducked the paramedic’s ministrations and looked at me. “Finn! I saw your dad getting attacked! There was blood everywhere. Two guys...I think they had guns...they—”
“Shhh. Don’t worry Jen, everything’s all right now. Everyone’s okay,” interjected my mom.
Dave and I exchanged glances. Was Jen getting visions? I tabled that thought for a moment.
The paramedic grabbed Jen’s head and finished checking her eyes and the red, but healed, wound on her chest. The sight of it made me nauseous.
Why do I seem to get everyone around me shot?
Just a natural talent, I guess
,
replied Spring.
The paramedic shook her head. “Is she going to be alright?” I asked.
She glared at me. “Beside the torn shirt and coating of blood, the only thing I can find is low blood pressure and an elevated pulse—what are you people playing at?”
“What?”
“Do you expect me to believe that she got shot and healed up completely in a matter of hours?”
I shook my head, but my mother interceded. “Miss, I assure you that we are just as confused as you.”
The paramedic scowled at Jen and said, “You should be taken to the hospital for a closer examination.”
Jen nodded hesitantly.
“Thank you, miss. We’ll take care of her from here,” said my mom as the paramedic started packing up her stuff.
“Why don’t you come inside?” I asked Jen.
With eyebrow raised, Dave said, “Really? You think she’s going to take well to that scene?”
“Oh, right.” Jen was looking more confused than worried now. “Jen, maybe it’s better if you just stay here right now.”
She sought my eyes. “What happened, Finn?”
“There was an attack. A couple of guys with guns. My dad took care of them.”
“Oh...I think I saw it, Finn.” She
had
been traveling! Guilt crushed in.
Don’t you dare tell her what you did
,
Finn. You will have time to grovel later.
Instead of apologizing, I tried to reassure her. “Don’t worry about that now. You’re back...”
Jen’s expression clouded up with fear again. Her voice came out small. “I was watching the men and then suddenly there was a blinding pain, I lost my way.”
Dave gave Jen a hug. “Hey, forget about it,” he said. “What’s important is that you are here.”
“I...okay.” She sighed and seemed to deflate.
“We should talk about something else,” Dave laughed, and added, “...like how I rescued you!”
I rolled my eyes. “Dave, just let her be.”
“Go get your own distressed damsel, Finn. I’ve got this one covered.”
My mom said, “Jen, are you really alright? We should call your parents. They’re worried sick about you.”
Before Jen could answer, a muted buzz rang out from Dave’s pocket. He shimmied around and pulled out his phone and smiled.
“Hey! Look at that. Finn’s calling me...” He answered, “Hey Finn...” His face fell, and he soberly offered me the phone. “It’s for you.”
I eyed the phone as if it was poisonous, then took it. I walked around to the back of the ambulance leaving Jen with my Mom. Dave followed close behind and stood near as I answered.
“Hello?”
“Hey, kiddo! You forgot your phone,” said Uncle Mark.
A wave of fear passed from my head to my toes, momentarily taking with it my ability to speak.
On the other end of the call, Mark didn’t seem to share that problem. “How’s everything down at the home front, Finn? I heard there was some trouble.” His voice carried nothing but good cheer.
Rage exploded in my head.
“You fucking bastard! We killed both your goons. I’m going to find you and I’m going to rip you out of my uncle’s head! I swear I’ll find a way to destroy you! If you hurt—”
“Somehow, I don’t think you will have that opportunity, young Finn. But, I’m relieved to hear that the cowardly and vile attack on your family failed.”
“You sent it!”
Mark’s familiar dry chuckle came over the phone. “Ah, yes. There is that.”
“If you—”
“If I wanted your family dead, rest assured, they would all be bloody corpses hanging from trees in your little love forest. A feast for the—”
“Shut up! I’ll kill you if you touch my family!”
He tisked at me like some comic-book villain. “You shouldn’t interrupt your elders, Finn. Don’t you want to know why I called? Yes or no, I’ll tell you anyway. I’m calling for the Caduceus. Can’t be any real surprise to you. I’ve always thought you were quite bright, and now I know firsthand.”
Oh, shit. He has your memories Finn, s
aid Spring.
She was right. I tried to take a breath and get my anger under control.
“If you remember being me, then you know that isn’t going to happen,” I said. “Giving you the Caduceus would just let you go on a massive killing spree. It’s not going to happen.”
“Finn, you, more than anyone else, know what the hunger is like. It cannot be denied, so I’m going to kill a lot of people regardless of what you do. In fact, I’ve already been indulging myself. It’s not like it’s anything new for Mark before he became me. No, I simply want the Caduceus, so it’s no longer a threat to me.”
“And so you can just rip out people’s souls with a thought.”
“I can already do that Finn.”
I quailed at the thought. “Ha, that’s a lie! Remember, I know you as well as you know me.”
“I highly doubt that, kiddo. In fact, I have at my disposal several pieces of the One True Cross, the Tree of Life, or psionic resonators. Regardless of what you call them, they were all handily collected by Matt Smith from the Delacroix and their cousins. They give me sufficient power to rip away a soul with just a thought even without the Caduceus. On top of that, I have the rest of the spirit totems from the dig.”
“You can’t use those with each other.”
He chuckled. “I don’t need to, dear kiddo. I’ve given them to my most trusted men as backup.”
Crap. “You’re going to get caught,” I said.
“No, I highly doubt that. You see, besides the contacts I have nurtured with various government security agencies, I also have the network that Matt Smith put together. That man was a true fanatic. It would boggle your mind to discover the intricacy and the reach of the web he wove. Perhaps I can show it to you when you drop—”
Dave grabbed the phone from my hand, and before I could more than squeak an objection, he had it on speakerphone.
“...to me here... Hello? Are you still there or did I just lose you?”
“I’m still here.”
“Ah, you put me on speaker phone. Just as well since this chance I’m giving you intimately concerns your family and every friend in your phone book here...”
He paused briefly to give me a chance to speak, but the implications struck me dumb.
“Ah, I can tell you understand now. You really don’t have a choice in this. Don’t feel too bad, though. There are some silver linings to your little cloud of woe. I’m going to finish what Matt Smith started and take care of your Delacroix problem. First, I’ll make sure any survivors know you don’t have the Caduceus any longer, so you and yours will be safe. Then, I’m going to hunt down every so-called shard of the cross those self-important religious freaks have collected and take over their little hidden empire as well. You can re-enroll at the university and get on with your life. Trust me. It’ll be for the best. I know what a burden the Caduceus has been for you.”
I tried to crush the cold despair growing inside me. “And you’ll go off on your merry little way, murdering innocent people and feeding off their auras.”
“I know you are a bit of an agnostic, Finn, but don’t deceive yourself—I’m devouring their souls. The good news is that now that I have my pick, I plan on eating only the nastiest and least desirable sorts. No need to waste productive citizens. No innocents need to suffer. Consider me sort of a vampiric Batman.”
“That’s bullshit and you know it,” I said.
“
Au contraire
, kiddo. Think back to when you were me, or I was you... hmm...that brings out some interesting existential questions, doesn’t it? My thoughts never used to be this deep... But, back on task. I’ve never been presented with such a smorgasbord—a feast beyond a glutton’s wildest dream. I can afford to be picky. I’m still your Uncle Mark and though my priorities have shifted a wee bit, I would prefer to see you and your family thrive. I can do that. Think of me as the predator that culls the human herd of its worst parts. In the end, it will strengthen the race.”
“Dude, you’re monologuing,” interjected Dave. “That’s always when the hero escapes and kicks the super-villain’s ass.”
“Ha, you do have a quick wit, David, but don’t get too cocky. Neither you nor your family is untouchable. Be a good friend, and a better son, and make sure Finn sees reason.”
Dave glared at the phone in his hand.
My uncle resumed. “Now, let’s talk details. Finn, I want you to go to my home, and place the Caduceus on my kitchen table. I’ll send someone along to fetch it.”
“Why don’t you come meet me yourself?”
“Let’s be serious here. I shall equip my courier with a shard of black power. He will be able to cause some trouble if you try to control or stop him. He won’t know anything about my location except the P.O. box where he will mail the shard, so don’t bother trying to force him. I’ve been at the spy game longer than you have even existed, kiddo, so don’t start feeling clever. Trust me, it will not work out well for you.”