The Holders (6 page)

“Well,” she sighed, “I’m a female. Like Alex told you, my gifts aren’t half of what they could be. All I can do is move in time, not space. And only forward, no past.”

“Is that bad?”

“Well, it’s not bad, but it’s not exactly useful. Here,” she said, stopping and taking a few steps back, “I’ll show you. Give me a date.”

“Any date?”

“Anything, as long as it’s the future.”

“OK,” I said, getting excited, “how about November 26, 2015.”

Chloe took a slow breath through her nose and closed her eyes. “All right, I’m there. I am still standing in this spot, at the same time of day, only what I see is this spot and time on November 26, 2015.”

“What do you see?” I whispered, as though talking too loud might break her trance – or whatever it was.

“Not much. All the buildings are the same. That tree needs a trim,” she said raising her arm and pointing to the tall willow on the other side of the footpath. “A full Walker would be able to walk around to other parts of campus, or the world for that matter, with no problem. But as soon as I try to move…” She took a step forward, hesitating for a moment, her eyelids tensing up like she was trying to hold onto something. After a long moment she sighed and opened her eyes, deflated. “I lose it.”

Well, that was… anticlimactic, I thought to myself. Not at all like Alex’s Casting demonstration.

“See, like I said, no big deal.” She sounded so sad.

“Hey, it’s more than I’ve got,” I said, as we began walking again. “Alex said that the fact that I graduated two years early from school is my ‘ability’, how lame is that?”

She smiled, perking up a bit. “Yeah, I suppose it’s all right. I just wish I were more useful. What I really want is to be in the Order, but Jocelyn says I’m not strong enough and that it’d be too dangerous.”

“The Order? What’s that? Help with what?”

“Oh,” Chloe bit her lip, looking apologetic, “I should probably let Alex tell you about all that. He knows more about it than I do.”

A particularly cold breeze caught us and we both gave a shiver. “Come on then, let’s get on to Lorcan and get warmed up. And on the way, I can give you a tour!”

“OK,” I said, smiling at her sudden enthusiasm, glad that she was back to being bubbly.

We walked along for about ten minutes, Chloe naming all the buildings we passed, and giving me any pertinent history she knew about each one. Most of the halls were named after Irish saints – Cian, Niall, Aidan, Martin, Cillian – the majority of whom I’d never heard of. She talked about the history of the grounds, and the names of the trees and plants, and said hi to the occasional passerby, though they were few and far between as it was getting dark, and most people were in for the night.

Try as I might to pay attention, my mind began to wander off on its own tangent, namely Jocelyn. I was suddenly acutely aware of the fact that for the first time in ten years we were in vicinity of one another. Every time Chloe pointed out a new building or hall, I realized that he could actually be in there. My heart started to beat faster and I had the urge to duck into a doorway and hide, as if I were actually afraid that he was going to pop out from behind a bush or jump out of a tree at any moment.

Yeah, right.

It was long past time to get a grip. With a huff, I stuffed my hands in my pockets and forced myself to listen to Chloe’s never-ending river of dialogue. She pointed out the cafeteria, and the library. Showed me the dorm where Ryland was housed, and all the different academic buildings that Ryland would have his classes in. We turned onto a smaller footpath that seemed to be leading us away from the campus proper. As we passed through a line of trees, I wondered aloud, “Seems like everything is back over there.”

“Don’t worry, nearly there,” Chloe told me, pointing down the path, and sure enough, there was one building left. In fact, one of the largest buildings we had seen so far.

“Here we are,” Chloe said as we arrived, resting her hand on the banister of the large stone steps leading up to the entrance, “Lorcan Hall.”

It was one of the coolest buildings I had ever seen. It was as though someone from the eighteenth century couldn’t decide whether they wanted to build a church or a castle, so they combined the two. Huge columns framed the giant oak doors, each with two ornate iron hinges and a knocker that looked too heavy to lift. The windows were all stained glass, and had pictures of saints and angels on them, surrounded by intricate Celtic knots.

“It’s amazing,” I said, still in awe.

“I knew you’d like it! Come on, I’ll take you to your room.”

The inside of Lorcan Hall was just as grand as the outside – stone corridors, tapestries, leather furniture, and more stained glass than a Catholic church. After climbing way too many stairs, we finally stopped in front of one of the ornate doors on the third level.

“Here you are. I’m so happy you’re here!” she said, pulling me into a tight hug. “My rooms are right down the way if you need anything,” she added, pointing along the corridor. “There’s a pink flower on the door, you won’t miss it.”

“Great, thanks.”

“Well,” she stepped back reluctantly, “I guess I’ll see you in the morn!” She waved one more time before continuing down the hall. “Fine sleep!”

“Um, yeah, you too,” I said, watching her turn the corner before stepping into my room.

Fine sleep? Must be an Irish thing.

I felt around on the wall for the light switch and flipped it on, in no way prepared for what I was about to see. I had expected a small, dorm-style room – you know, cinder block, one window, prison bed – typical college fare. However, what lay before me could barely be considered a room, much less a dorm. It would better be defined as an apartment! Or at the very least, a studio. I stepped into a small living space complete with couch and TV. To the right of that, through a large open archway was a bedroom with double bed and linens. Connected to that was a bathroom with a toilet, sink, and bathtub with a shower. Best of all, one look inside the bedroom revealed my luggage already there waiting for me on the bed.

Mmm… bed…

Looking at the large mattress with soft white sheets immediately took its toll on my jetlag, and all I could think about was undressing and climbing in. But of course, as soon as I moved to take off my shirt, there was a knock at the door.

It was Alex.

“Hi, sorry, I heard you come up,” he said, seeming a bit on edge, or at least less casual and at ease than he had earlier.

“No, it’s fine,” I said, trying to keep the shake out of my voice. “I’m glad you stopped by. Is Ryland OK?”

“He’s fine. Passed out as soon as we got to his room.” He handed me a card. “This is his building and room. That’s the phone number.”

“Good, thanks.” Why was he nervous? Why was I nervous? Why was I all of a sudden acutely aware that we were mere steps away from my bedroom?

“Is…” He cleared his throat awkwardly. “Is your room OK?”

“Oh gosh, it’s awesome! I was expecting a one-room cell.” I laughed, hoping to ease the tension.

“The rooms in Lorcan are nicer because we live here, but there aren’t many. This room was the only one not in use. My room is,” he cleared his throat again, “right above yours, if you need anything. And Chloe is just down the hall,” he added quickly.

“Yes, she told me, thank you.”

“So… good night then,” he said, with a strange almost sad look in his eyes. He was probably tired.

“Good night.”

Once he was out of sight, I closed the door and shuffled back over to the bed, kicked off my shoes and climbed in, not even bothering to take my clothes off. As I snuggled down into the pillow, I heard footsteps on the floor of the room above me.

Alex’s footsteps.

He was pacing back and forth on what I could only assume was the floor of his bedroom. Normally something like that would keep me awake, but tonight oddly enough it was soothing, and I drifted off to sleep to the soft, rhythmic beat.

 

7

 

52… 53… 54. That should be the one.

“Ry,” I called through the door, knocking three times, “you in there?”

A few seconds later the door flew open, and I was greeted by a smiling little boy – who looked like he’d been dragged face-first through someone’s flowerbed.

“Ryland! What in God’s name happened to you?”

“What?” he asked, totally clueless, stepping to the side so I could come in.

“‘What’? Look at you, you’re filthy! And is that grass in your hair?” I tried to pick a piece out only to have my hand swatted away.

“Oh yeah, probably. After breakfast some of the guys wanted to play football, but actually they meant soccer!”

“Really, wow, weird,” I said, knowing full well that soccer was known as football to the majority of the world. “What’s that?” I asked, squinting down at the small charm hanging from his grimy neck.

“Oh, yeah! Alex brought it for me last night, it’s awesome! He said it would make the voices go away, and it did!”

“Really? You can tell already?”

“Yeah, because it’s not just the voices, all the noise is gone too!”

“Wait, noise? What noise? You’ve never said anything about noise.”

“Because I didn’t know. It was just noise. Not loud, like it was far away, you know? But it was all the time and I thought everyone heard it. But now it’s gone and it’s so quiet!”

“Wow, that’s great, Ry,” I said, trying to sound like I wasn’t choked up.

My God, this may actually work…

I casually turned away looking for a distraction and found a large black folder with the school’s green emblem on it sitting on the bedside table. “What’s this?” I asked, picking it up and taking a seat on the edge of the bed.

“A folder with some stuff about the school in it. It was sitting there when I got here last night.”

Flipping through it I found a pamphlet with a list of courses, a guide to building hours, a student policies handbook, and random other informational items. Thankfully, one of these items was a campus map, which I folded up and stuck in my pocket, having already gotten lost twice trying to re-find Ryland’s dorm, which Chloe had pointed out to me.

“Why weren’t you at breakfast?” Ry asked me, as I sat down on the edge of his bed.

“I slept in.”

“Too bad, it was great! Except for the porridge. Have you ever had porridge? It’s really gross!”

“So… you like it here?”

“Yeah, it’s great! Did you know they have a rock climbing class? How awesome is that?”

“Yeah, that sounds cool.” This was definitely not the Ryland I’d expected to find this morning. Where was the shy introvert, who was afraid to talk to other kids? Was this all a show? That seemed unlikely. He’d barely even looked at me since I walked in; too busy changing his shirt, digging through his suitcase, and arranging his collection of action figures on the shelf below the window. But come on, I told myself, there was no way he could have changed that much overnight. “Ry, are you sure you’re not just–?” but I was cut off by a knock at the door.

“Ryland? You ready?” a boy’s voice called.

“Yeah, come in!”

The door opened and two boys walked through. “We gotta hurry or Clancey’s team will get the best spot!” the taller of the two said.

“Who’s that?” the shorter boy asked, pointing at me.

“I’m–”

“That’s just my sister,” Ryland informed them. Then, turning to me, added, “We’ve got to go, but I’ll see you later, OK?”

Well. I see how it is…

“OK, sure.” I stood and walked out into the hall, knowing a get out when I heard one. I turned back to say goodbye, only to see the door was already being shut behind me.

Just my sister? Just my sister? Oh yeah, I was just the sister who flew to the other side of the world, just to make sure he wasn’t locked away in some nut house!

…little punk.

I knew I shouldn’t be irritated, but I couldn’t help it. OK, maybe it wasn’t irritation per se, but that seemed like the best word for it. Calling it “hurt” seemed way too sentimental and clingy. And honestly, I had no business feeling that way, in any event. Wasn’t this what we wanted; for Ryland to finally have a normal life with friends? Exactly. So, it was stupid for me to be bummed that he might suddenly not need me so much anymore. Stupid – and counterproductive I might add – as the main idea of all this was for me to leave him here and go home. He was supposed to stop needing me. He was supposed to be learning to do things on his own. Ergo, the lump in my throat was entirely uncalled for.

Entirely.

Not wanting to go sit alone in my room, I decided to make use of my new map and take an impromptu tour of the campus. I had hoped to spend the morning exploring with Ryland, but it was still nice to have a chance to walk the grounds and get to know the place that he might soon call home.

It really was a gorgeous school, I had to admit. The grand architecture and ancient style of the buildings were nothing short of magnificent, and it made the whole place feel more like a university than a school. It was also busier that morning than it had been the previous evening, all the activity filling the campus with a lively buzz. There were students of all ages coming and going, some carrying large bags of new textbooks all ready for the start of classes, while others played games of soccer on the central quad or sat in groups on the steps of the buildings talking casually, all of them trying to make the most of their last day of freedom.

So many students – were any of them Holders? Alex had said there were others with abilities attending St Brigid’s, but I had no idea how many. Could the boy who’d just scored a goal for his team down on the quad also know how to read minds or instantly heal the sick? Could the girl flipping through her new notebook and chatting with her friends also be able to flip through time or make images appear and disappear on a whim? There were dozens of kids out that morning and any one of them could have been harboring an ability that the rest of the world knew nothing about, and the idea was as amazing as it was intimidating.

I continued my explorations around the property, becoming increasingly impressed with what I found. The dorms were segregated by gender and very well-maintained for as old as they clearly were, the grounds were immaculate with not a bit of trash or stray weed to be found, and the walkways, while winding, were well-marked and easy to navigate.

One of my favorite discoveries was the massive library, which had to be more than three times larger than any I’d ever seen. I spent quite a while perusing the shelves of books, happy to find that even though I was in a completely different part of the world, the whole building had the same wonderfully comforting smell of the libraries I’d grown up with back in the States. It was an aroma as nondescript as it was specific, and as it filled my nose, I couldn’t help but smile. Apparently books smell like books no matter where you are.

The classrooms and lecture halls were equally impressive, most with wooden desks that weren’t anywhere near new, but had been very well-cared for – not covered in crude carvings and ink stains like the wooden desks I had known – and all the rooms had the refreshingly classic black chalkboards – not the ugly green ones my school had been filled with.

It was past one by the time I got back to Lorcan Hall, and my mood was decidedly better. I wasn’t sure what to do with myself, and briefly considered going up to my room and calling my mom, but with the time difference I knew she’d already be on her way to work, so that would have to wait a while. With nothing else to do, I figured I might as well poke around Lorcan for a bit, and maybe find something to eat while I was at it. Who knew, I thought to myself, maybe I’d run into Alex along the way…

No! I really had to stop that. I would be going home soon – sooner than I thought, given the way Ryland was taking to things – and Alex would be staying here. As my Mom would say, no use barking at a squirrel you can’t catch.

I wandered the halls aimlessly for a while, not finding much. It was obvious that Lorcan wasn’t used for regular classes as the few classrooms I found were either almost entirely empty or being used for storage. There was a lounge area in the front with a small library in it, an alcove in the east hall with a piano, a few restrooms here and there, and so on, but nothing all that exciting. Though happily I did come across a vending machine, providing me with a much needed lunch.

It wasn’t until I passed by a large pair of carved doors, and heard voices coming from the other side, that my interest was piqued.

“I say we have him try it right away. How else are we to know if any of this is real? It could simply be a waste of time,” a male voice said.

“No matter what happens, it wasn’t a waste of time, you know that. He’s better off here than he was in the States no matter what happens.”

I recognized the second voice as Alex, but who was he with?

“He’s just a boy.” A female voice with a Russian accent interjected. “He isn’t ready to take on such a large burden.”

Just a boy…? Better off here than in the States…?

Ryland! They were talking about Ryland! I crept up to the door and carefully pressed my ear against the polished wood.

“It needs to be done slowly and carefully,” the female voice continued. “If everything isn’t handled perfectly, someone could find out that we’ve brought him here.”

“Exactly! Which is why we need to make sure–”

“Reid,” Alex cut him off, “it’s almost two, don’t you have a meeting?”

“Damn,” the same male voice said under his breath, “all right, well, see to it that he decides soon. We no longer have the luxury of time.”

Suddenly there was the sound of motion – of feet walking towards the door. My throat began to spasm as I tried to decide what to do, fast realizing that I had no options. If I ran they would hear me, if I did nothing they would catch me, and in either event they would know I’d been eavesdropping.

I froze. The footsteps had reached the door. I was out of time.

I held my breath as the door opened, and a moment later I was standing face to face with… Taron. I waited for the scolding, the yelling, the haughty derision… but none came. He just stood there looking at me. Thinking offense might be the best defense, I opened my mouth, planning to offer some excuse or maybe even a denial. However, before I could get a word out, he yawned – yes, yawned – right in my face, and walked off down the hall without a word to me at all. He was soon followed by Mr Anderson, a short older woman in a knit shawl and frizzy hair, and a middle-aged bald man with a long nose and wire-rimmed glasses, none of whom so much as glanced in my direction. I was standing right there, in the middle of an otherwise empty hall, obviously eavesdropping on their conversation, and no one cared?

The last person out of the room was Alex, who hung back, leaning casually against the doorframe, watching the backs of the others as they walked up the hall, also not so much as glancing in my direction.

“You should try holding up a glass next time,” he said, after the last of the figures had turned the corner.

“What?”

“You’ll hear better,” he said, turning to face me.

“What was that? Why…?” I stopped, shaking my head, trying to piece together what had just happened.

“Why didn’t they say anything to you? Because they couldn’t see you.”

“Wait, you did that? But… how? You can’t make people disappear… can you?”

“No,” he said, shaking his head and grinning, “but I can cast an image of the hallway without you in it.”

“How did you know I was out here?”

“I felt – er, heard you,” he corrected quickly, looking away. “I was standing right by the door.”

“So your skills not only allow you to impress unsuspecting women by taking them to far off lands from the comfort of their bedrooms, but can also help you aid-and-abet snoops?” I asked, hoping a joke would cover the fact that I was mortified to have been caught spying on them. “You should work with Peeping Toms; they’d probably pay good money.”

I looked up to find his eyes on me. “I impress you?”

Oh God, had I said that? My neck grew hot as his eyes held mine, waiting for an answer. “Yes, of course,” I said, figuring there was no harm in being honest. “Anyway,” I added quickly, pretending I didn’t notice his ears turn red at my compliment, “thank you.”

“No problem.” He closed the door and put his hands in his jeans pockets. “So I imagine, considering you overheard, that you have some questions.”

“I had some anyway, but yeah.”

He nodded. “I think you’re ready for the rest of the story. Any chance you could give me about twenty minutes before we get into it though? I promised Mr Anderson I’d help bring over a few things for his next class.”

“Twenty minutes?”

“Twenty minutes.” We began to walk side by side up the hall. When we reached the main corridor, he pointed, “If you take this all the way to the end and turn right, there is a small rotunda. I’ll meet you there.” With that, he smiled and left.

It took me a grand total of forty-two seconds to make it to the rotunda, which was small and contained nothing besides yet another pair of large oak doors. As there was nowhere to sit and wait, I figured I would waste the rest of my twenty minutes continuing the tour I’d started before I’d gotten sidetracked. This proved to be a lousy idea however, as it took me a grand total of twenty four seconds to get lost. After I passed the same hallway with the same leather couch for a third time, I collapsed down on it, totally annoyed with myself. Maybe Alex would come looking for me when I didn’t show up to meet him. Or maybe I could get upstairs and find my room, then come down using the main stairway and–

“You seem to be lost.”

As soon as the voice hit my ears, the back of my neck started to prickle and every hair I had stood on end. I knew that voice. I hadn’t realized it until that very moment, but I’d have known that voice anywhere. Time itself seemed to hang in the air as I slowly turned my head to face the speaker. A man I’d not seen in over ten years.