The Athena Effect (23 page)

“Why don’t you ever ask
me
to call you Cal?”

“I dunno… I guess I like the way my name sounds when you say it.”

She was impossibly warm, full and safe, and she yawned again. He watched her eyelids droop and flutter, and he held as still as he possibly could, wanting to keep her there, just like that, forever.

“Go to sleep,” he whispered, but it was too late, because she already was.

~

Chapter Seventeen – RUNAWAY

~

She thrashed about, arms and legs flailing, making the horrible sounds of a trapped and wounded animal. Caledonia cringed under the quilt, watching as he held her down, trying his best to soothe her with a calm, steady voice.

“Shhh… It’s okay… Everything’s alright… I’ve got you.”

“Where’s Cal?” she asked, still consumed by panic.

“Look…” Her father pointed in her direction. “She’s right there in bed… Safe and sound.”

“I dreamed that Teddy got her,” she heaved a great sobbing breath, finally laying her head back down. “Are you sure he can’t find us here?”

~

Caledonia’s eyes sprang open, and she bolted upright in bed, hyperventilating.

Calvin sat up in the dim light of the new morning, “What happened?” he asked, his voice rough from sleep. He rubbed her back, “You okay?”

She nodded yes, taking a shuddering breath and settling back down. He lay down behind her, coiling himself around her. “Did you have a bad dream?”

She shook her head no, wiping her eyes with a shaking hand, “I think it might have been a memory.”

“What was it?” he whispered into her ear, snuggling closer to her.

“My mother,” she said quietly. “It was a long time ago, but I remembered her having a nightmare. She was crying… scared. She thought that someone named Teddy had taken me away.”

“Teddy?”

“Professor Reed told me that I could call him Teddy yesterday. It must have made me remember.”

“Whoa,” he said, holding her tighter.

“There’s something else I didn’t mention,” she said.

“What?”

“The girl– I think she might have tried to do it… To change me… She wanted me to relax and go along with them.” She rolled over to face him, “They all seemed surprised when I wouldn’t.”

He was quiet for a beat, “Has it ever occurred to you that your parents weren’t hiding themselves? Maybe they were only hiding you.”

She turned back away, “Yeah,” she admitted.

He kissed the back of her neck, “Well, I won’t let him bother you anymore. Go back to sleep.”

Caledonia tried to relax, focusing on Calvin’s steady breathing, but sleep would not come. Her mother’s frightened face kept flashing in her mind, and she thought about the terrible feeling that she got when the professor made his offer. She finally slipped out of bed, rolling up Calvin’s too-long sweat pants and padding down the hallway silently.

She took her promise to make breakfast seriously, and she went into the kitchen, rummaging through the refrigerator. There were a few eggs and some milk, along with a stick of butter, some leftover pizza and a suspiciously old-looking bucket of fried chicken.

She looked in the pantry to find a bag of potatoes that were partly sprouted, along with a couple of onions that were starting to grow as well. She found some stale bread, a bag of sugar, and a drawer of spices that probably dated back to the last time his mother had baked something. She thought for a minute, and then got to work.

When Calvin followed his nose out to the kitchen he found Caledonia standing over a pan of frying potatoes and onions that smelled delicious. She looked up and smiled brilliantly, so cute swimming in his baggy T-shirt that he could feel his heart swell in his chest.

“What are you doing?”

“I said I’d make breakfast,” she replied.

He looked over her shoulder at the stovetop, “Yeah, but I figured we needed to go grocery shopping first. We don’t do a whole lot of cooking around here.”

She shrugged, “I’m used to improvising. It should be ready in about fifteen minutes.” She bent over to peek at something in the oven and Calvin had the urge to pick her up, set her on the counter and kiss her passionately. She looked up at him quizzically, as if she’d just read his mind, and it occurred to him that she pretty much could.

“I’d better go take a shower,” he said, kissing her on the cheek instead.

Crystal staggered out of Jarod’s room, yawning and stretching. There was black mascara smeared under her eyes and a knot of tangled hair on the back of her head. She took a cigarette out of a pack and lit it, sitting on one of the barstools that looked over the kitchen counter. She smiled wryly, “You’re making me look bad.”

Caledonia looked worried, “How?”

She held up her palms, “Kidding. What are you making anyways?”

“Bread pudding and potatoes,” Caledonia answered. “Where are the plates?”

Crystal stubbed out her cigarette into an overflowing ashtray, getting up to help set the table. Jarod appeared in the kitchen, looking surprised, “Smells good in here.”

“Cali made breakfast,” Crystal said.

Soon the four of them were sitting down together. Caledonia served them all a plate and they settled down to eat, quiet at the table.

“It’s good,” Jarod nodded, surprised. “What did you put on the potatoes?”

“Rosemary.”

“Where did you get that?” asked Calvin.

She looked at him like he was mad, “It’s growing all alongside of your house!”

Jarod laughed at the look on her face, “So Cali… Did your mother teach you how to cook?”

“No, my father did. He was good at cooking things. Mama was good at growing things.”

“What were you good at?” Jarod asked.

“Hunting things,” she said.

Jarod raised his eyebrows at his brother, “Yep… She’s a keeper, alright.”

After they finished eating, Caledonia excused herself to go change into her clothes. She came back out after a few minutes, her face scrubbed and her hair freshly braided. “I’m going to get my things from Angie’s while she’s at work,” she announced. She was eager to move on and put all of the bad memories from her aunt’s house far behind her.

“I’ll give you a ride,” said Calvin.

They pulled up in front of the condo complex, and she checked the parking lot to make sure that her aunt’s car was gone. She was in no mood for any more awkward or angry confrontations, ready to clear out once and for all.

She climbed off the bike, leaning over to kiss Calvin goodbye.

“I’ll wait here and drive you back,” he said, looking at the condo suspiciously.

“No. I only have one bag, and you’re going to be late. Besides, I need some time to write a letter and tell her why I’m leaving. I think I owe her that much.”

“You don’t owe her anything,” he said angrily.

She put her hand on his chest, “I’ll be fine. Go to school. I’ll be waiting back at your house when you get home.”

He reached in his pocket and pulled out a key, “Here’s a key for you in case Jarod goes someplace.”

She was delighted, “I can put it on my keychain!”

He smiled at her enthusiasm and pulled her close, leaning over to kiss her softly, “I want you to feel at home.”

She sighed, liking the sound of it, and liking his kisses even better. He watched her walk down the pathway and let herself in the door, reluctantly starting his bike and heading off for his last day of school.

~

“Out catting around again?” Phil’s sarcastic voice rang out from his regular spot on the couch. “That professor was calling here all night. Your poor Aunt Angie barely got any sleep!”

She ignored him, hurrying up the stairs for her things. She reached under her pillow, taking her pink keychain and thrusting it into her pocket with a smile. She groped under the air mattress for her knife and sheath, strapping it firmly onto her calf. Most of her clothes were already stashed in the old duffle bag, so she cast about for a pen and paper and sat down on the floor cross legged, contemplating what her last words to her aunt should be.
 

The squeal of brakes startled her, and she looked out the window to see a van had pulled up in the street directly in front of the complex. Three big men dressed all in black with mirrored sunglasses rushed out, purposefully coming straight towards her aunt’s unit. There was a pounding on the door, and she crept out into the hall to peek down the stairs.

Phil opened the door, “That was fast– Hey!”

The men brushed past him, “Where is she?”

“Where’s my money?” Phil asked belligerently. “You better tell him I was the one who called you!”

Two of them started up the stairs, ablaze with color and radiating a purposeful eagerness that she knew all too well. It was the same kind of excitement that Caledonia felt when she was closing in on her prey; the acid yellow anticipation of hunters. She doubted her ability to combat three grown men with such strong emotions working in concert.

Caledonia backed up, realizing she was trapped. She darted into the bathroom, locking the door and pulling open the vanity drawers as a barricade. She had just started the water running when the sound of a fist banging on the door made her jump.

“I’m busy,” she called, “I’ll be out in a minute.”

The banging on the door grew more insistent, so she went to the small window above the shower, sliding it open and popping the screen out. With considerable effort, she climbed up, contorting her body to get through the tiny opening. Once she was out, she reached up for the rain gutter, hauling herself onto the tiled roof, panting with exertion.

Within moments she heard the shattering sounds of wood splintering, and she realized that they were actually breaking down the door. Now she was really scared. They were too big to follow her out the window but she knew they could climb up from the outside, and she looked for a way down, trapped again.

When the door gave way she could hear the men cursing, and she paced on the roof, with no time to think. The identical buildings in the complex were at least ten feet apart, but there was no other way. She took a deep breath, visualizing how she used to jump over spring-swollen streams. She backed up as far as she could, and with a running start, took a great leap across the two story chasm between the roofs, landing with a thud and three feet to spare.

Emboldened, she leapt from that roof to the next one, and the next, until she came to the end of the development. She swung down onto a second story balcony, surprising a woman with a towel wrapped around her head. Without stopping to explain, she climbed down from the balcony, dangling with her feet groping for the fence below. A small dog on the patio started in with a frenzied barking.

“Shhh… Calm down,” she whispered. She sent a cloud of tranquility to engulf the hysterical creature, but it was too late; there were footsteps on the gravel heading straight towards her. She reached into her pocket, pulling out her keychain and flinging it into a hedge of shrubbery around the corner, holding her breath to listen.

The footsteps sped up, crunching away in the direction of the noise.

Caledonia tumbled to the ground, scraping both her elbows with a rough landing. She sprang up to bolt from the spot, leaping over a retaining wall behind the complex and sliding down a steep cement bank. She landed with a splash in a shallow muddy drainage ditch, and scrambled into a bank of shrubs on the opposite side of the waterway. Moving carefully, she worked her way deep into the underbrush where she sat as still as possible, scared, bleeding and bruised, but free.

If she needed any more evidence that Professor Reed was up to no good, this was it. He obviously knew that she was different, and he wanted to collect her because of it. The violent way in which the men had been sent to take her stood as testament to his ruthlessness; no wonder her parents had feared him so much.

She heard voices as the men searched all around the complex, and saw them looking over the fence through a veil of leaves. It seemed like they were there forever, and just when she was about to break cover they were back, looking again. It occurred to her that if she was caught, she might never see Calvin again. She touched her knife for reassurance, and settled in to wait them out.

Hours passed, and she finally stirred from her spot, brushing the leaves and cobwebs out of her hair. She dared not take the road back to Calvin’s, so she headed south, walking along the drainage ditch, picking her way through broken glass and discarded tires. She found a bank of bushes loaded with Juneberries, and stopped to eat her fill, gathering some extra in the pouch in front of her sweatshirt.

When she reckoned she was near enough to Calvin’s house she climbed up the embankment and through a stranger’s backyard, peeking around to the street to find she had come up within a couple of houses of her target. Staying well back from the road, she stalked across the landscaping, finally bursting through a hedge to find Calvin and Jarod standing out front by their bikes. Both of them looked up with surprise.

“See? Told ya she’d be back,” Jarod said, turning to head back into the house.