The Athena Effect (10 page)

She’d slipped away again, like sand running through his fingers.

Calvin found himself growing increasingly dissatisfied and depressed, thinking it must be the upcoming graduation that had him in such a funk. The never-ending party atmosphere at home was wearing thin, and he started spending more time holed up in his room, playing computer games and drawing more than he had since the accident.

After another wild party on Friday, he spent most of Saturday in bed, nursing a hangover. He finally left the house that night, going out by himself to get some food. His heart leapt into his throat when he spotted her lonely figure walking along the dusky street, going in the opposite direction of her house.

He pulled up on his bike, “Where you headed?”

She looked down at her worn out shoes, “For a walk.”

“Alone? At night?”

She looked at him like he was the stupidest person she’d ever seen, “Why do you care?”

He rolled his eyes at her, but he was ticking off the reasons in his head. Because I can’t stop wondering about you. Because I never felt this way before. Because I think that maybe…

“Do you want to go for a ride somewhere?” he asked her.

“Where?”

“I don’t know.” He thought about what she’d said, “To get away from this place.”

She looked at the dark woods beyond the cemetery and back at him. She knew he wouldn’t harm her, but she didn’t want to trust him. He was annoyingly persistent, but she had to admit to herself that she wanted to go with him. He was back to his glowing golden color, only now it was ringed with a shade of hopeful pink.

No, he wasn’t scary… And a bike ride somewhere new was a whole lot more appealing than the prospect of another cold evening spent alone in the trees. He could see her struggle with something, and for a second he thought she was going to burst into tears. She took a deep breath and climbed on the back of his bike, tucking her bag between their bodies.

They rode off into the night, leaving the neighborhood far behind. After a while, she rested her cheek against his back, and he shivered a little at the contact. He had imagined the way her touch felt all week, and her hands were on him now, making him feel strangely protective. He drove like he was carrying precious cargo.

He climbed to the top of the highest hill in town, pulling up at a spot with a view of the entire city, laid out like a sparkling carpet of lights. She’d never seen anything like it, and she climbed off the bike to drink in the view, completely entranced.

“Wow,” she whispered reverently, “Look at how many people there are with electricity.”

He chuckled by her side, “Who doesn’t have electricity?”

“I didn’t… until I came to live here,” she said, back to being defensive.

“Really?” He looked at her incredulously.

She turned away, walking off a few yards for a different vantage point.

He followed her, standing by her side to watch her face in the dim light. “What’s that?” she pointed.

“The fairgrounds,” he said, “And the race track.”

“No,” she pointed, “That round thing.”

“That’s a Ferris wheel.”

“You mean… You mean it’s one of those carnival rides? Seriously? Are there people on it?”

“Yeah, the fair’s going on this weekend.”

She was fascinated, musing, “There are people on that right now… Do you think they’re scared?”

“I don’t know,” he said, trying to remember the last time he was on one. “Probably not.”

She took a deep breath, looking all around, “It looks like the stars at night. It’s prettier from far away than it is up close.”

“Wait till you see the city,” he said softly, imagining her surprise.

“What city?”

“San Francisco.”

She turned to him, her eyes shining in the moonlight, “Have you ever been to the art museum there?”

“Which one?”

“There’s more than one? Really?”

He smiled, “Really.”

She sighed, thinking that those places were so far out of reach. “My parents went to museums. Someday, I’d like to go see them too.”

He watched her closely, “I could take you sometime… If you want.”

She looked over at him in shock, and he could see that she didn’t even think it was a possibility. Her reactions to everything he said were so strange, he didn’t quite know what to make of her. Half the time he thought that she was joking around.

She looked thinner to him, her skin translucent. Her delicate beauty seemed to be growing even more fragile by the day. He finally made her an offer she couldn’t refuse.

“Do you want to go get something to eat?”

~

Chapter Eight – INTERNET

~

He took her to the newest burger chain in town, watching her amazing eyes dart around, taking in all the details. She asked him to order for her, and then watched him do it like he was giving a speech. She followed him to a booth, sliding in and inspecting everything on the table.

She poked at the napkin dispenser, picking up a laminated advertisement to read with her brows knit together. She squeezed the catsup in the little packets from side to side.

“Have you ever tried this place before?” he asked.

“I’ve never been to a restaurant before,” she said lightly, like it wasn’t the weirdest thing in the world to say. She was constantly saying the last thing he ever expected to hear.

He looked at her in amazement, wishing that he’d taken her someplace nicer.

“So… why didn’t you have electricity?” he asked.

“We were too far away.”

“Away from what?”

“From everything.”

“So you had no TV?” he asked.

“I had books.”

“Where did you go to school?”

“I didn’t,” she said defensively, getting uncomfortable. All of a sudden she clammed up, folding her arms across her chest. She felt like he was interrogating her, and she remembered her parent’s warnings. She shouldn’t trust anyone, they’d said, and she should keep her abilities to herself. He’d already seen too much of what she could do.

She met his curious eyes, “How did you know what Caledonia means?”

He looked sheepish, smiling, “I Googled you.”

She looked confused, “You what-ed me?”

“I searched you on the net.” She looked even more confused, and he realized that she really did grow up without electricity. “You know, on a computer.”

“Oh… computers. I don’t know how to use them.”

“It’s not that hard, and you can find out anything you want to know.”

Her eyes flew open wide, “And you found me?”

He smiled again, “Not you, just the meaning of your name.”

She looked down, “The school computer said that there were no records, and they didn’t want to enroll me… It took a long time to get an identification card. My aunt got really mad.”

“They’re a bunch of morons,” he scoffed. “There are records of everyone… They must not have looked in the right place.”

She was quiet for a minute, and she looked up at him with the biggest, clearest, most beautiful eyes he’d ever seen, “Could you show me how to search in the nets?”

“Sure,” he smiled. “What for?”

“I want to see if my parents had any records.”

“Okay,” He nodded, “We can do it after we eat.”

Their number was called, and he got up, returning with a tray of food. He watched her scarf down her burger and fries like she hadn’t eaten in a week. He was starting to suspect that her aunt didn’t do a very good job of feeding her. She leaned back in the seat with a groan.

“Are you full?”

“Completely… I think I ate too much,” she moaned.

He nodded, “This food
is
kind of a gut bomb.”

She giggled at the imagery like he’d just said the funniest thing in the world. He joined in, and they both started laughing. He was suddenly feeling really happy, and he wished he could make her laugh all the time.

They climbed back on his bike in the crisp night air, and again, he was acutely aware of her hands on him the whole ride home. He pulled up at the house, relieved to see the place was quiet this time.

“This way,” he said, with a toss of his head, directing her to the front door. She followed him in warily, afraid of what she might find inside. She knew from Angie’s house that evil could be lurking inside, hiding right behind kindness.

The outside of the house was neglected and rundown, and the inside wasn’t any better. The walls were bare, the furniture sparse. Caledonia peeked in from the entryway to see a sunken living room that opened up to a dining area housing an octagonal table covered with plastic poker chips. The carpet was stained, and there were empty bottles and cans piled up on the kitchen counter.

Cal’s brother and his girlfriend were lounging on a couch that was patched with duct tape, watching a huge television that was mounted on the wall. It was the one new-looking thing in the whole place. They both looked up expectantly.

“Hey Cal.”

“Caledonia, this is Jarod and Crystal”

Jarod squinted at her, “Hey– I know you! You’re that dog whisperer chick!”

“She’s the one that helped me break Rufus out of the pound,” Cal said.

Jarod got up, advancing on her. She held out her hand, but he swept her up into an enthusiastic embrace, clapping her on the back.

“Thanks man! You saved his life! If there’s anything I can ever do for you, just say the word!”

She stood stiffly, not at all sure if she liked him, “You’re welcome.”

He pulled back, taking a closer look at her, “Whoa! Your eyes are freakin’ awesome! What was your name again?”

“You can call me Cal.”

“Cal and Cal?” he asked, looking at his brother with a grin.

“Cal and Cal,” Crystal repeated from the couch. She squealed, “How cute is that?”

“I call her Cali,” Calvin said, rolling his eyes.

Calvin waved for Caledonia to follow him down the hall to his room, flipping on the light and directing her to have a seat on his unmade bed. She could see he was nervous, and she was too, standing awkwardly and looking around at the things that he surrounded himself with.

The closet stood open, clothes spilling out of it onto the floor, and a messy bookshelf lined the wall opposite the door. There were more books than she expected, scanning the spines and recognizing a few of the titles. The walls were covered with nicely done pencil drawings of cars and motorcycles, tacked up in between posters of girls in bikinis rolling on sandy tropical beaches.

Calvin picked up a laptop computer from a bedside table and smoothed the blanket before sitting down and flipping it open.

“So what are your parent’s names?” he asked her.

“Mackenzie,” she said, “Jenny– Uhm, Jennifer and David.” He started typing on the keyboard, and she sat down tentatively, leaning over to see the screen.

“Check it out!” he exclaimed, “There’s a ton of stuff here!”

She moved a tiny bit closer to see the image on the page he clicked open.

The first thing she saw was a picture of her parents that looked like it had been taken on their wedding day. Her mother’s big brown eyes were happier than she’d ever seen them, and her father looked so young and hopeful. A flood of emotion overwhelmed her, and she let out an involuntary sob.

He turned to look at her. He didn’t even have to ask if it was them.

Tears spilled out of her big eyes, streaming down her face to splash down on her lap, leaving dark spots on her faded jeans. She willed herself to stop crying, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. He could see her shoulders shaking from the force of her suppressed emotion.

“I’m sorry,” he said, wanting to take her into his arms, but afraid that he might drive her away. He reached over and patted her back gingerly.

She struggled to regain control, gulping, “I– I don’t have any pictures of them. I thought I’d never see them again… I was afraid that I’d forget how they looked.”

“I know,” he said. He understood, because he was afraid of exactly the same thing. He’d been fighting to hold onto an increasingly hazy image of his own mother. Caledonia took a deep breath, composed herself and scooted right up next to him. She leaned in for a better look, “What does it say about them?”

Her hair was coming loose, and she flipped it back over her shoulder, brushing it lightly across his face. She smelled clean, like soap and fresh air, without any of the cloying perfume that the girls at school were usually drenched in. He took a deep breath in through his nose, turning to focus on the computer screen.

The picture was from an old newspaper article about the mystery of her parent’s sudden disappearance, and the more they read, the more mysterious it got. The article described recently married graduate students with a bright future; it detailed two lives full of promise, abruptly abandoned. They had disappeared into thin air, all of their material possessions and identification left behind. Foul play was suspected.