The Athena Effect (7 page)

“For Rufus?” he added, cocking his head as charmingly as possible.

“What about you?” she asked, “Where’s your helmet?”

“Don’t worry about me… The skull is nature’s helmet.”

She almost smiled at his joke, pressing her lips together and taking the jacket. She slipped it on, noticing how it smelled like him. She reached for the helmet and he stood grinning at her.

“What?” she asked.

“It looks good on you,” he said, climbing on the bike and starting it up.

She took a deep breath in, exhaling slowly. “For Rufus,” she said, slipping on the helmet and climbing up behind him.

“Hold onto me,” he told her.

She took him by the waist gingerly, keeping some space between their bodies. She could feel his lean torso tense up under her hands, and for some reason it unnerved her. She closed her eyes and tried not to think of her parent’s accident.

True to his word, he was careful to go slow, and within a few minutes they pulled up into a dark alley, parked the bike and walked out onto the sidewalk. The pound was across the street, and he showed her the fence they needed to scale. They waited in the shadows until the security guard was clearly visible in the office window.

“Wait a sec… You
do
know that this is illegal… right?” he asked.

Her mother had always said that legal and right were two different things. Besides, Cal had read Machiavelli. She rolled her colorful eyes at him, “Lead the way.”

He reached the fence first, turning around like he expected her to need help. She scrambled up faster than he could, climbing with effortless grace and jumping down to land as light as a feather. He went after her and hit the ground with a thud, sending a lone dog barking with alarm. They both froze, waiting a few minutes until the noise trailed off and stopped.

He took her hand in his, and with a redundant finger to his lips he led her around a corner to a door standing ajar. There was no need to lock this room, because it was lined with securely padlocked kennels housing the dogs deemed vicious. This was where the death-row inmates were caged, and the room was filled with battle scarred pit bulls and mangy looking mixes, with a few wild eyed Rottweilers thrown in.

They were trapped, frightened, and ready to start barking on a hair trigger.
 

The place smelled awful, but far worse than the odor was the terrible despair that permeated the atmosphere. It was a place of great sorrow, and goose-bumps rose on Cal’s arm. Her heart went out to the poor animals, and she walked in ahead of Calvin, sending a soothing blast of lavender pink out ahead of her. She moved down the row of kennels, and he watched in amazement as the dogs all lay down in her wake.

They rested their heads on their paws with audible sighs, a peaceful feeling washing over them that many hadn’t experienced since they were puppies. She reached the end of the walkway and turned back, her face wet with tears. Cal stood at the other end of the room with his mouth hanging open.

She dropped her face into her hands, drained. He rushed up to her, worried, and she raised her head, wiping her eyes with determination. “Find him,” she whispered. “I can’t look anymore.”

He nodded, speechless, peering into the rows of kennels and finally stopping at one. She joined him, waiting as he climbed over the wire to get inside the enclosure. Rufus sat up, wagging his tail, and Cal heaved him up and over the fencing to her. She caught him, staggering and falling to the cold cement floor with Rufus licking her face happily.

Cal jumped back over and helped her up, “Are you okay?” he whispered, brushing off her back awkwardly. Again, he wanted to give her a hug, but she was already turning away, sending the pathetic dogs one last blast of peace and drowsiness that she hoped would last them all night.

She hurried out of the building, climbing the fence numbly and waiting on the other side to catch Rufus. This time she managed to keep on her feet, waiting for Cal to jump down and take the squirming dog from her. He took Rufus under one arm, and grabbed her hand with the other, hustling the three of them into the alley and onto the waiting bike.

It was awkward, but they managed to climb on with a peacefully sedated Rufus sandwiched between them. She held the calm dog securely, holding firmly onto Cal this time. He liked the way her hands felt on him, and the hair on his scalp started tingling.

He pulled up to his dark empty house and parked. They got off the bike and stood while Rufus wandered the yard happily, sniffing the ground and lifting his leg to re-mark his favorite spots.

“That was a trip,” Calvin said.

She handed him back his helmet and jacket in silence, remembering the shocked look on his handsome face. “Please… Please don’t say anything … Please don’t tell anyone…”

“I won’t,” he said, and he meant it. He knew he had just witnessed something profound, and he wasn’t about to ruin it by telling Jarod or one of the silly girls at school. They watched Rufus silently for a while.

“I should put him in the house before someone sees him,” Cal said, looking at her hopefully. “Do you want to come in?”

She shook her head no, glancing back over her shoulder. “I should go.”

The motorcycle ride, combined with the chamber of horrors she’d just seen at the pound had shaken her to her core. She wanted to curl up in bed and cry. It was late, and Phil was bound to be passed out by now, making it safe to go home.

The truth was, it was all too much, and she needed to be alone with her fresh grief.

Calvin was disappointed; he hated to go into the house when it was empty.

“I’ll walk you,” he said, leaving to put Rufus indoors and rushing to return to her side.

They walked along the road, and he asked her where she moved from.

“I came to stay with my aunt,” was the most he could get out of her.

“I have to find a place for Rufus before they come looking for him,” he said. “Will you help me move him?”

“Okay,” she nodded.

He took out his phone, noticing that he had tons of texts piled up from various girls. “Give me your number and I’ll call you tomorrow.”

“I don’t have a number,” she said.

“How do you call people?” he laughed.

“I don’t,” she replied.

“Why?” he asked, honestly curious about her.

“There’s no-one to call,” she said.

He didn’t know what to say, realizing that she wasn’t joking. They got to the condo complex and she stopped, indicating he’d come far enough.

“I can check by your house on the way to school tomorrow,” she volunteered.

“Okay,” he nodded eagerly. He wanted to reach out and grab her, wrap his arms around her and kiss the sad look right off her face, but he was afraid of scaring her off for good. “Thanks,” he said awkwardly, “I’ll see you in the morning.”

He started to walk away, and she called after him, “Do you give up?”

“Give up what?” he asked.

“Trying to guess my name.”

“You got me,” he said.

“It’s Caledonia,” she told him, turning to walk away.

“Caledonia,” he said out loud, letting the word roll around on his tongue. He couldn’t stop smiling the whole way home.

~

Chapter Six – GRANDPARENTS

~

The next morning, he was waiting out front again, pacing back and forth. He couldn’t stop thinking about what she’d done– it had to be some kind of trick. She was just a dumb girl like any other, he kept telling himself, and not worth getting so worked up about.

He froze when he saw her willowy figure coming towards him, walking tall and holding herself lightly. When she wasn’t on guard she almost seemed to float, moving through space with natural ease and grace. His cocky attitude vaporized, replaced by nerves.

Rufus caught wind of her approach, and sat up with a whimper.

“Good morning,” she nodded.

Up close, her pretty face looked pale, her shoulders weighted down by her heavy book bag, “Did you find a place to take him?”

“My Grandma said she could keep him for a while.”

“Oh!” she looked surprised, “You have a Grandma?”

He laughed, “Doesn’t everybody?”

He regretted saying it the instant it registered on her face. She stooped down to greet Rufus, embarrassed.

He cleared his throat, “Will you help me take him there? On the bike?”

“When?”

“How about right now… They probably already figured out he’s missing, and I bet they come looking here first.”

She looked worried, scanning up and down the street. Her eyes looked amazing in the bright morning light, and he tried not to stare. “What about school?” she asked.

“I thought we could skip it for today.”

“Can I leave my bag here?” she asked, without missing a beat.

~

They left the city and struck out onto narrow backroads leading into the countryside. The row houses of suburbia gave way to farm fields and ranches, and Cal started to relax when she saw the familiar landscape. Rufus yawned and burrowed his face against Calvin’s back, perfectly content to be wedged between the two of them on the motorcycle.

They turned onto a gravel drive, and finally pulled up in front of a tidy looking house and stopped. There was a small herd of sheep in a fenced pasture on one side, with a little grove of oak trees set in a meadow just beyond it. A pair of Golden retrievers came running, barking out an alarm. Caledonia set Rufus down to meet them, and they stood watching the three dogs frolicking around like old friends. She looked up at Calvin with the tiniest hint of a smile.

The front door opened, and a sturdy looking old woman stepped out on the porch. “Calvin!” she called, coming down the stairs to sweep him up into a warm embrace. “Well, just look at you! Have you grown some since Christmas? Are you getting enough to eat?”

“Yes Grandma… And it’s Cal, alright?”

An old man came out on the porch behind her, looking doubtfully at Rufus and suspiciously at his grandson, “I hear your brother’s in trouble again,” he grumbled, radiating disapproval. “Takes after his father.”

“Thanks for taking Rufus,” Calvin said.

“Seems like he’ll do alright here,” his Grandfather replied gruffly, looking at the three dogs playfully rolling around on a patch of grass alongside the driveway.

Caledonia stood off to the side awkwardly, watching the exchange with big eyes. The old woman smiled at her, asking her grandson, “Who’s your friend?”

“Grandma and Grandpa Costa, this is Caledonia,” Cal said, gesturing to her. “We go to school together.”

His grandfather nodded, but his grandmother came forward to peer closely at her, taking the hand the nervous girl offered into both of hers warmly, “It’s a pleasure to meet you Caledonia. My goodness! What a pretty name.”

“Thank you,” she replied shyly, “It’s nice to meet you too.”

“She goes by Cal too,” Calvin added.

“That could get awfully confusing,” his Grandmother laughed.

“You can call me Cali,” she said, trying to be helpful. She couldn’t help but notice Calvin’s broad grin.

Caledonia could see pink kindness and affection radiating from the older woman, and she watched in fascination. Both of the old people were unlike the teenagers she’d grown used to. Their feelings were modulated and controlled; they were just as powerful, but they seemed to transmit on a different frequency. She liked it.

Grandma Costa looked at Calvin, “You two look like you could use a good meal. Why don’t you show her around the ranch while I rustle up some lunch?”

Calvin looked uneasy, “It’s a little early for lunch…”

“Not when you get up at a decent hour,” his grandfather crabbed.

Caledonia could see Calvin stiffen, and she wondered why there was animosity between them. He turned to address her, “Are you hungry?”

She looked at his grandmother watching them eagerly, and it was clear she wanted her grandson to stay and visit. Caledonia’s stomach was hollow and empty. If she missed her school lunch, she wouldn’t have anything to eat until Phil was asleep.

“Yes please,” she said to his grandmother.

Grandma Costa hurried for the kitchen while Cali and Calvin went for a walk, following a fence for a while before stopping to lean against it and watch the sheep with their spring lambs. A lamb came trotting up to them, and Cali squatted down, reaching her arm though the fence to feel its soft fleece.

She smiled up at him, and he thought she was the prettiest girl he’d ever seen.

“H-How do you do it?” he stammered, “How do you get animals to like you so much?”

She looked back down, not sure how to explain it or if she even should.

“Uhm… I just sort of figured out how to… I don’t know… help them to feel different.”

She got up and started walking, not wanting to go into further detail. Her parents had warned her not to tell anyone. For some reason she was afraid he wouldn’t like her because of it, and she felt like an idiot for caring what the idiot boy thought about her.