The Athena Effect (33 page)

Max scowled at the girl from behind his sunglasses, still wary of her. Professor Reed may have bought her little act hook line and sinker, but Max had seen her in action, and judging by the scars she bore on her arm, she was made of much tougher stuff than the doctor could even imagine.

He watched her following along behind the twins with her head down submissively, but he could see the difference between them. There was something about the way she moved, something in the set of her shoulders… something unmistakably free.

The girls said goodnight to Michael in the hallway, and they were locked into their respective rooms for the night. It was commonplace ritual for the twins, but Caledonia cringed when she heard the bolts slide on the door. She started pacing around the room anxiously, full of pent-up energy. She finally sat down on the couch with a sigh.

Layla wanted to talk, eager to find out more about her glamorous new roommate. She asked Caledonia question after question about what it was like to attend classes with other students, curious about everything she’d ever heard or read about high school. She was particularly curious about what the boys were like.

“I’m not the best person to ask… I didn’t really fit in,” Caledonia said. “It was a little overwhelming for me to be around all those people.”

Layla dropped her head, disappointed, “Then there would have been no hope for me.”

“I wouldn’t say that,” Caledonia said, “You grew up around people… with electricity... and fancy clothes… I bet you would have had lots of friends.”

Layla looked up, and when the girl’s mismatched eyes met they both smiled wryly. Despite their completely different upbringings, again, they were both aware of how similar they really were.

“I wish I had a blue eye,” Layla said. “I hate my brown eye.”

Caledonia got a lump in her throat, “Don’t say that. Brown eyes are my favorite.”

“I’m sorry,” Layla frowned sympathetically, reminding Caledonia that their emotions were an open book to each other. “His eyes are brown… aren’t they?”

“Yes,” Caledonia nodded, feeling even sadder.

“Did you kiss him?” Layla asked innocently.

Caledonia’s blush brightened her cheeks and spread across her chest.

“I’ll take that as a yes,” Layla laughed, barraging her with questions about Calvin, and what it was like to go on a date.

Caledonia started talking, reliving all of her powerful emotions as she told Layla about saving Rufus, and the crazy goings on at the biker house. She described their trips to the fair and the museum, and the more she remembered, the more she missed Calvin. She realized that she had been in love with him long before she’d allowed herself to admit it.

Layla listened raptly as Cali spoke, sharing the feelings that burned bright and true; she could taste the sweetness of her memories, and see the deep purple pain of their separation. She was deeply moved, feeling almost as though she was in love as well. She sighed, full of frustrated longing for a boyfriend of her own that wasn’t only a story in a book.

“Your life was so exciting. I can’t even imagine how I’ll ever meet a boy, much less date one.” She looked thoughtful, “Maybe if you do really well on jobs for Teddy he’ll let us go shopping together! That would be fun… Maybe we could make him let us pick out our own things...”

The sharp ping of a pebble bouncing off the windowpane startled them, and Layla stood up, pulling the curtains aside and squinting down to the twilight street, “I think there’s someone out there.”

Caledonia’s eyes flew open wide, and she sprang up to press her face against the bars, looking down into the swirling foggy night. It was hard to make out the lone figure standing in the gloomy twilight, but when he moved, she knew his walk. “It’s him!” she gasped.

Calvin saw a cloud of golden hair appear in the window, and his heart skipped a beat. He stood rooted to the spot, holding his breath.

Layla looked again, turning to Caledonia, “Oh my! Just look at his color… He sees you! He looks like he’s going to explode!”

Caledonia was wild eyed, “I have to get down to him.” She turned to Layla, “Will you help me?”

Layla saw her vibrating with the same frantic energy as the boy on the street. Their powerful feelings galvanized something inside of her, giving her the courage to go against years of conditioning.

“What can I do?”

“Get me into Michael’s room,” Caledonia said, her voice shaking.

Layla nodded, thinking she’d never seen anyone so intensely determined. They rushed to the door on the side of the room and entered into a short corridor, rapping on a door at the other end of it. Michael opened his side, and Caledonia brushed past him, racing to his unbarred window. She frantically tried to pry it open, looking down to see Calvin pacing back and forth in the street.

“You aren’t supposed to be in here… What are you doing?” Michael asked fearfully.

“Help me get this open!” Caledonia grunted, “Do you have any rope?”

Michael was stunned, “You can’t get down from here.”

Caledonia turned to Layla, wild eyed, “I need something to climb down on!”

“I know!” Layla cried. “We can tie the bedsheets together to make a rope!”

“That might work!” Caledonia exclaimed.

She ran to Michael’s bed, tearing it apart and pulling off the sheets.

“I’ll go get mine!” Layla ran back to her room.

“Oh my God… You’re not going to…We’ll get in trouble,” Michael said, backing away.

Caledonia started knotting the corners together as best she could, her hands shaking with adrenalin. When Layla returned and handed her more sheets she looked up with a shaky smile, “What a great idea! You’re a genius!”

Layla returned her smile and shrugged, “I saw it in a cartoon.”

“A cartoon?”

“I think it was Daffy Duck,” Layla admitted.

Caledonia went back to the window, struggling to slide the heavy casement open. Layla came to help, groaning with exertion by her side as they slowly forced it up.

Neither one of them noticed that Michael had picked up the phone.

When the crack was big enough for her to get through, Caledonia popped the screen out and lowered the makeshift rope, tying one end of it to the leg of a nearby desk. She turned back and embraced Layla with tears in her eyes, “Thank you!”

Michael looked towards the door, “Don’t do it! Max is gonna be here any second.”

“What?” Layla looked at her brother, horrified. Both of the girls could see the fear and guilt pouring out of him. “What have you done?” she asked.

The door on the far side of the room swung open, and Caledonia darted for the window, scrambling out of it and dangling from the tied up sheets. She fell a few feet and stopped short with a snap as the desk slammed up against the wall. Clinging on for dear life, she got her bearings, straddling the sheets and using her feet to rappel against the building as she lowered herself hand over hand.

Calvin stood on the street, shocked to see a makeshift rope drop from the window.

“Oh no,” he said, seeing Caledonia come flying out the window to slam against the side of the building. He raced over to the sidewalk to position himself beneath her, his heart hammering in his chest.

“You can do it,” he choked out, barely believing what he was seeing. The end of the blanket rope stopped a good ten feet off the ground, and he held his breath, praying with all his might.

Max burst through the door just in time to see Caledonia dive out of the window. At first he thought she’d jumped, but he raced to the windowsill and looked out to see the little witch nimbly climbing down a line of blankets.

“Godammit it!” he roared. She’d made it about halfway when he grabbed the end and heaved on it, nearly making Caledonia lose her grip. She started to twist, swinging wildly and bouncing off the building.

“Hold on!” Watching her struggle, Calvin had never felt so helpless in his entire life.

Max heaved on the sheets again, enraged, thinking that if he couldn’t reel her up, he would settle for making her fall. He wanted to see her hurt, and he could care less what the old man thought about it.

“Stop it!” Layla screamed, “Stop it!”

Max ignored her, stooping to untie the sheet from the desk leg, but having a hard time because it was pulled taut. Layla grabbed at his arms, trying to stop him. He turned around, his face ugly with anger, and backhanded her across the cheek.

Layla went flying to the floor, gasping for air. She had only slowed him down for a few seconds, but that was all it took. Caledonia shimmied to the end of the line, dangled for a moment, and dropped the last few feet into Calvin’s arms. The line of blankets fell a split second later, puddling in a pool at their feet.

She wrapped herself around him with a sob, and he hugged her tightly. He could hardly believe what had just happened, and his breathing was ragged with enormous shuddering gasps of relief.

“You made it,” Calvin said hoarsely, “You made it.”

There was a grinding sound of metal on metal as the entrance to the building started to roll open, and she turned to see Max sprinting towards them, glowing bright red with murderous intent. They ran across the street towards the alley, footsteps hot on their heels. Calvin turned to see Max closing in on them, and stopped to place himself between her and the enraged man.

Out of nowhere, Jarod came roaring between them on his bike, hitting Max in the back of the head with a bag of take-out food. The big man went flying, landing hard in the middle of the street. Jarod skidded to a stop and spun the bike around, making Max roll across the spilled milkshakes to avoid his second pass.

Calvin made it to his bike and Caledonia jumped on behind him, clinging to him as they peeled out onto the dark city streets. She turned back to see Layla’s pale face in the window, watching her new friend make the escape that she could only dream of.

Caledonia burrowed into Calvin’s back and held on tight.

Max groaned, wincing with pain as he struggled to get up, swearing that if he ever saw her again he’d kill her. He rose from the pavement, dripping with goo and clutching his broken wrist.

Starting right now, the old man was gonna pay dearly for this one.

~

Chapter Twenty Five – FUGITIVES

~

They drove away fast, Calvin’s powerful motorcycle weaving in and out of traffic. After a few minutes they were joined by Jarod, who signaled for them to pull over. The two bikes turned off the main road, finally stopping to park on a quiet residential street.

Calvin swung off the bike, running his hands up and down Caledonia’s arms as if to inspect her for damage. “Are you okay?” he asked, brushing her hair back from her face to lean in and search her eyes.

“I am now,” she said, touching his face. “You found me.” He kissed her, and she could taste his sweet relief mingling with her own. He pulled her close with a heavy sigh, and she was enveloped by the kaleidoscope of their shared emotions. Love, worry, and happiness mingled together, all overpowered by an intense violet relief.

Jarod cleared his throat, “Hey Cali, you alright?”

She looked up with a smile, “Yes. You have perfect timing.”

“You’re not gonna believe how she got out of there,” Calvin said, smiling for the first time in days.

“Let’s go home and you can tell me all about it over a beer,” Jarod grinned.

“No,” Calvin shook his head, keeping her tucked in close to his body. “We’re gonna take off from here. We’re going where nobody can find us.”

“Aww c’mon… We can figure something out. We’ll be ready for those guys if they come back around… Maybe Cali can stay at Crystal’s place for a while…”

“No way,” Calvin was adamant. “We’re leaving. We’ll come back after Cali’s birthday.” He looked around the gloomy city streets suspiciously.

Jarod sighed, stepping forward to clap his brother on the back and give Cali a bear hug. “Take good care of him,” he spoke in her ear. She nodded solemnly.

They promised Jarod they’d call when they could, waving goodbye to him as he pulled away. Calvin zipped open the pack on his bike and extracted two helmets, helping her into an extra leather jacket without commenting on her unusual attire. They had the rest of their lives to talk about what happened. For now, he was anxious to get her as far away from the professor and his goons as possible.
 

“Let’s get out of here,” he said, giving her one more kiss before they climbed back onto his motorcycle and sped away.

After a couple of hours on the road they pulled up to a motel that faced out over the freeway. Calvin swung off the bike and stretched his sore arms, “How are you doing?”

She stretched too, “I’m fine. Are we stopping here?”

“We should get some rest so we can get an early start. Wait right here while I get us a room.” Calvin looked around suspiciously, “If anyone comes, I want you to hide, okay?”

She nodded, “Go ahead. I’ll be fine.”

When they were safely locked away in their room Caledonia excused herself to take a long hot shower, discarding the clothes she wore in the wastebasket. She washed away all the fear and anxiety of the past few days, purposefully sending it down the drain along with the soapy water. She stepped out and slipped into a shirt from Calvin’s bag, imagining how horrified the professor would be to see her now; the thought made her smile at herself in the mirror.