Sondranos: The Narrative of Leon Bishop (12 page)

Melanie leaned forward,
whispering as well. “The MacKinnon Commune of the Primary Divinity
– it’s a branch of Catholicism that has literally little to nothing
to do with Catholicism anymore. They split maybe three or so
hundred years ago to follow something more similar to Buddhism –
the spirit and all that. Not like the Church of L.I.A.M., which
would hunt you down for even insinuating there are other religions.
They respect that we all have gods, or a God. To shove their god
into someone else’s life is considered an insult.”

“
So, you’ve
been to the commune before?” Kayt asked.

“
You need
written permission from an authorized priest, or to be accompanied
by one to get in. So, no,” she frowned. “I’ve just been around him
a lot lately.”

“
You’re of
his faith, too?” asked Annalise.

“
No, Lise.
I’m more of an atheist. Don’t have time to put my life in the hands
of something I’ve never seen,” Melanie shook her head. “But if
you’re wondering, I think I know why he’s insistent on going to the
commune. He honestly believes this is a spiritual journey we have
all undertaken, whether we’ve decided consciously or not. I don’t
know, it feels like he’s trying to make up for something. He and I
were talking about this earlier on the road out of
town.”

“
What about
your mission to find your father?” I asked.

“
Davion said
‘every mission comes with an unexpected journey to
self-discovery.’” Melanie said. “He said this was always the path I
was supposed to take, and now he keeps any information about my
father more secret than before.”

Annalise sighed. “Ah,
faith.”

It seemed, for as long as we
were hiding in the tree farm a good distance away from the suburban
sprawl, like we were going to be fine. When Davion returned, we all
welcomed him back before starting up a new conversation about when
and how to leave. Most of it was about fear. The rest was about
hope. None of it was memorable.

We started out
thirty minutes
later. Lancaster had
mentioned, again, how hungry he was – omitting the curse and
looking to Davion for approval. He’d also tried to get into Kayt’s
good graces again, making it obvious to all of us that he was
trying to win her affections.

Our group had become almost
unwieldy. There were six of us all together, and I felt like I
could only handle two or three at a time. Davion also looked less
than enthused about the numbers, except I could bet he wanted more.
Melanie, Lancaster and Davion took up the front while the rest of
us followed.

“
I’m sorry
about earlier,” Kayt said. I could feel her will to add herself
into the apology.

“
No worries.
How long has Lancaster been in love with you?”

Kayt stumbled.

“
It was
pretty obvious,” mumbled Annalise.

“
He’s going
to be jealous, you know. He already kind of is,” Kayt
said.

“
How do you
mean?”

“
I told him
he was too nice before Sondranos was attacked, before the cars and
everything stopped working. He didn’t take it too well. His initial
swearing was an attempt at sounding masculine. When Davion called
him out, he thought he’d be able to use it to stand up for himself
– I guess nobody ever taught him what was worth standing up for. He
was jealous that someone acted stronger than he could.”

“
Fancy
analysis coming from a sheltered girl,” Annalise said. Kayt went
on, explaining what I already noticed. Platonic friendship, and
all.

“
My point is:
if he says or does something stupid, it’s my fault,” Kayt
concluded.

“
Your
fault?”

This is what she told us, and I
can only now assume it was her Present Moment:

A beat-up
Sondranos-87 cruises
down the road.
Magnetic locks whine below the car, holding on as they direct the
vehicle to the checkpoint – where the driver will then plug in the
next course. Two passengers, Lancaster and Kayt stare out the
front, watching the city grow as they crest the first hill on their
journey.

Lancaster sits back, one hand
resting against the steering wheel while the other balances on the
parking brake. He occasionally grazes the edge of a small sheet of
white paper that tells him what checkpoints to use. He quietly
pushes down another pre-programmed map route, which gives him a
route that will add two hours to their journey – feigning traffic,
Lancaster has long memorized the new directions. Kayt flips through
Lancaster’s collection of music.

“
Do you have
anything classic?” she asks, when she flipping past a quartet of
discs labelled in green pen.

“
No. I have a
sat-radio in the trunk though. My Dad was supposed to install it,”
he answers. “May be able to pick up Transistor Radio.”

“
Never mind,”
she shrugs, and sets the music discs down below her seat. Kayt ties
her hair back and strips off her shoes. She sets her bare feet on
the dashboard. The heavy Sondranos sun is starting to warm up the
morning. Ahead of them, the city glistens and beckons them forward.
Kayt imagines them reaching their destination. She clears her
throat in a single, distinctly un-feminine cough. “Got to clear the
throat for all the moaning later, right?”

“
That was
sexy,” Lancaster says.

“
Sorry?” she
responds.

“
I expected
you to be a bit classier. Especially given the
circumstances.”

“
It’s a joke
– I’m nervous. I deserve the right to make inappropriate jokes with
my best friend for a while.”

Lancaster sighs; Kayt
smiles.

“
This is
amazing,” she starts, “All you are doing for me. Not too many
people would drive across the city just to help me out.”

“
It’s
nothing,” Lancaster says. “I’d do anything to help you.”

“
It’s not
nothing,” Kayt scoffs. “You’re too nice to me. A girl could get
used to it.”

“
I really
wish you’d stop saying that.”

“
Why?”

“
You’ve said
it yourself; guys who are too nice just don’t appeal to
you.”

Kayt studies his response. When
he’d picked her up just a half hour earlier, he was happy,
exuberant. Now, he reflects nothing but sadness and a hint of
hostility. It clicks in her mind. “What’s your problem?”

“
Nothing, I’m
just tired.”

“
It’s because
of
him
, isn’t
it?”

“
I don’t want
to hear about your fiancé, or about how much you love him, okay?
That stuff gets boring after the millionth conversation. I’m sorry.
I just don’t want to hear it.”

Kayt holds
her tongue. She shifts again and watches him for a moment. She
staggers her words, slow and careful. “I was referring to our
discussion about my Dad’s whiskey party. You yawned during it,
remember? You said you were tired when I called you on it. I wasn’t
referring to
my fiancé
. You’re only doing this because you still expect to win me,
aren’t you?”

“
No, don’t be
ridiculous.”

“
Of course
you are,” Kayt sighs and sets her head back on the rest. “I knew I
shouldn’t have asked you. I thought you were over me. We’re just
friends, Lancaster. You’re my best friend. Or, that’s what I want
you to be. And that’s all I want from you – you’re the best friend
I’ve ever had.”

“
I know,” he
interrupts her before she can continue. “We’ve had this
conversation a dozen times.”

“
Including
last night. You may have offered to drive, but you didn’t listen to
me, did you?”

“
I
did.”

“
You
substituted your own reality, though. All that talk about you
saying you were over me, that it was just a phase, and that I
shouldn’t feel intimidated or like I should be expecting something
– how much of that was a ploy?”

“
You really
don’t have any faith in me do you?”

“
No,
Lancaster. This isn’t the first time you’ve lied to me to get
something.”

“
I didn’t
need to lie, Kayt,” this is the hostility she had felt coming to
light. “That was five years ago. And you slept with me because you
wanted to. You even said I was too nice to date then, but you
haven’t really given me a chance, have you?”

Kayt can feel the anger boiling
in her gut. “Because when you act like this, when you actually
think doing something to help me will completely change our
history, I can’t help but question what your intentions were in the
first place. I know who you really are, Lancaster, and the prick
you’re acting like now isn’t him.”

“
What does
‘too nice’ even mean?”

“
You aren’t
that guy,” she stumbles for a second. Something kicks beneath the
floorboards of the car, and she loses track of what she’s thinking.
Lancaster hits the steering wheel. Kayt questions why he hits it
again, but then feels the deceleration kick in. The car slows to a
stop, and the engine dies. Lancaster curses and starts fumbling
with the checkpoint receiver on the dash – it’s gone black. He taps
the power button. Nothing happens. He holds it, hoping it will
reset, then clicks it over a dozen times rapidly.
Nothing.

“
Look,”
Lancaster says. He occupies his hands with the car. “I’m sorry – I
still think we have a chance. You know I love you as my best
friend, but I want more, Kayt.”

“
And I’ve
told you before – I don’t want to be responsible for giving you
what you’re looking for. That’s not something I can do.”

Lancaster starts to speak, but
his words fall short when they hear the explosions in the distance.
A few minutes later, Sondranos city is gone, and Kayt and Lancaster
are running towards his parent’s house, their conversation
forgotten until they have a moment’s peace. The Belovore finds them
just shy of the ending of the woods.

Kayt finished
telling us about
the car ride and Annalise
set her arm around the young girl’s shoulders. “It’s not your
fault. Trust me. People think being a friend is a terrible thing
when it comes to romance. Most don’t realize its friendship which
drives the strongest
kinds
of romance - so they get angry or
jealous.”

“
What do I
do?”

“
Let him be
mad. Let him be angry. But most of all: let him try. That way, if
you still don’t love him, he can sit back and acknowledge that he
tried and still wants to be your friend. If he sticks around after
he’s had his little tantrums, you know he wants more from you than
trying to get in your pants.”

“
That was an
option?”

Annalise looked at me, and I
smiled. “It’s always an option to guys his age.”

Kayt shook her head. She’d been
happy to take the chance to forget about Sondranos, but now the
reality of the situation seeped back in. Her face resumed its
solemnity; she thanked us for listening, and increased her step
until she got to Lancaster. She’d lost a lot, but wasn’t quite
ready to voice what it was. We all had. But none of us wore it on
our features the same way she had.

Lancaster had
been following Davion. When she caught up with them, Melanie took
point so Kayt could walk next to her friend. We didn’t mention the
inconsistency in her story – that she’d still
chosen
to get in the car with him. We
locked eyes and knew she’d been more comfortable in the car with
Lancaster than with us. Annalise smiled. It was cute. The smile,
Kayt and Lancaster’s adolescence, the uncomfortable notion that we
used to be that way.

“
Should we
tell her?” I whispered.

“
No. Let them
grow up, give them the advice that they want to hear, and when
they’re old enough they’ll see what’s really worth worrying about,”
Annalise said. “Let them have their trifles and time for as long as
they can.”

Annalise trailed away and sped
to the front of the pack.

Like most tree farms, the line
of the woods ended as abruptly as it started. None of us realized
how close we were until Davion slowed and bowed, extending his hand
outwards as if to escort us out as Annalise jumped past. Melanie
stopped short of the line while Lancaster led Kayt out – both
looked around nervously. In front of us, with the distance of a
very large field between, was her neighbourhood.

“
What we need
is in the house just over there,” Annalise called out. “Single
story, blue.”

Davion added: “It will be our
salvation,” and crossed himself.

Further, at the cusp of sight,
nine or ten darts protruded out of the soil near the home closest
to the edge of the suburb – ten down from Annalise’s. A sudden
scream came from overhead and two more darts flew towards the
others. Even from our distance, their actions were clear.

They opened fire, flying fast
at the ground. Kayt clung to Lancaster, and the rest of us
watched.. The two darts simultaneously crashed and scraped against
the ground, and a moment later we could see the faintest hint of
red climbing out of each pod, heading towards the suburbs.