A Hidden Element (5 page)

Charlie eased silently away from his parent's door, his mind reeling. How did his mom know about Elyon? He had thought it was a special place just him and Ghost Man talked about. And what was a Destroyer? And why was she so afraid? Her sobbing disturbed him. He planned to sneak back to the woods after his parents went to bed and hope Ghost Man appeared. He needed answers.

He set the table for dinner. Maybe it would make her happy. He disappointed her a lot, but he just couldn't control his urges all the time. He wanted to. He really did. She understood most of the time. His dad didn't.

He remembered a time when he and his dad weren't at odds. He had been a kid then. They'd go mountain biking along the wood trail. One time he had busted up his bike on a big rock going too fast. Speed set him free until he crashed. His dad had cleaned up the gash on his leg and put a big bandage on it. He never yelled at him or nothing. He took out his bike tools and showed him how to fix the problem. Charlie laughed when his dad wiped his face and left a big black smudge of chain grease on his nose.

Oh, yeah, Charlie-boy?
You dare to laugh at me?
His dad jumped him then, smudging his own face. He smudged him back and then all-out war followed. Charlie got full-on body tickled in the pine needles. He laughed so hard that his sides hurt. When they stopped they both looked like painted Indian warriors ready for battle. The same in look and spirit.

Not now. Not anymore.
Not normal.

He was only normal with Ghost Man.

Charlie clinked the dishes and silverware together, partly in frustration and partly because he wanted his parents to know he was home. He didn't want to think about what else they might be doing in the bedroom with the door closed. His mom's pregnancy bothered him enough. He was excited to have a new brother even though he would be so much older than him. But sometimes his mom's big stomach grossed him out knowing how it got so big. He didn't want to think about his parents doing
that
.

His dad came out of the bedroom with his head bent down and Charlie saw a world of grief he didn't understand. Then his dad looked up and his face changed from a sad grimace to a half smile.

"Charlie-boy, where've you been? Your mom's getting worried."

Charlie fiddled to get the napkins lined up like his mom wanted them. It wasn't the time to remind his dad to stop calling him Charlie-boy. That was Ghost Man's name for him. "Hanging in the woods."

His dad came closer. "What happened to your face?"

Charlie looked up. "Kids at school. They followed me home."

His dad put his hand on his shoulder. "Why didn't you take the bus?"

Charlie twitched away and yanked open the cabinet to grab glasses. Fear, anger, and confusion mixed up inside him. Over his dad. The kids at school. The strange conversation he'd just overhead between his parents. He needed Ghost Man.

"Yeah, I'm okay Dad, thanks for asking. And I'm glad you worried too, not just mom. Thanks again." He slammed the glasses on the table. One wobbled and fell over. His dad reached over and picked the glass up.

"Okay, let's start over. Of course, I worry about you, too. And it's safer for you to take the bus, Charlie. Your mom and I don't like for you to be in the woods by yourself. The national forest extends beyond it for hundreds of miles. If you get lost in there we might never find you."

"Would you care?"

"Of course I'd care!"

"But Mom roamed her woods as a kid when she was younger than me." Charlie sat down, his anger faded. His dad looked old under the kitchen light. It carved harsh lines in his face. His hair had turned almost all gray the past year.

"It was—"

"A different time and place. Yes
, I know,
Dad."

"Let's get dinner on the table. Your mom will be right out. She's tired, so let's just have a nice dinner together. You can tell me what happened and we can figure out how to deal with this."

"There's no need for you to
deal
, Dad. And it's my problem. You can't help me."

"I can try."

"No, you can't. You don't get it."

"Help me to get it."

"You won't ever. You're normal."

"I never said you weren't normal, Charlie."

"You're lying!"

"I said to your mom once, in a private conversation, I wanted you to have a normal life."

"Same thing."

"No, it's not," his dad said quietly.

Guilt grabbed at Charlie. He turned away to get the water pitcher from the fridge and accidentally bit his lip. Tears formed. He didn't want his dad to see him cry. He had to get out of here. Go to his room. Something.

"I'm not hungry. I'll be in my room."

His dad looked at him, nodded, and turned away. And so did Charlie. Then he let the tears fall.

Charlie stood alone in the field. He peered up to the sky seeking out Ghost Man. He called Ghost Man's name over and over in a hoarse voice. The moon rose high amongst the stars. Charlie could wait all night if he had to, but he didn't have to wait long.

"Charlie-boy, what's wrong?"

"Ghost Man, I've been calling forever. Where've you been?" Charlie shivered.

"I've been busy managing my business. I have many people I oversee, Charlie."

"I need to talk. Bad.
Now
."

"Tell me."

"My mom, she knows about Elyon. I heard her talking to my dad. And about some belt and a Destroyer—whatever that is—and she was crying."

"Charlie—"

"She said 'maybe they're all dead'. Who's dead? And she said Elyon was her place and my place, too. It doesn't make sense."

"Shh…calm down, Charlie-boy. And let me speak."

Charlie puffed up his cheeks and then blew out hard. "Okay, okay." He ran his fingers through his hair and pressed his fingers to his brow.

"Your hair."

"My
hair
?"

"Yes, see how it's like mine? And your fingers. Hold them out."

Charlie stretched out his hand and Ghost Man reached for it with his. "You don't have nails either." Charlie stared at his own fingers then Ghost Man's. They shimmered along with his white hair. He glowed brilliant in unearthly light.

Charlie stared at him with wide eyes. "I don't get it."

"I've been visiting you for a reason. So you can know where you come from."

"I thought Elyon was a make believe place and you were some kind of special vision I created with my abilities."

"Elyon is real. A place far away. I'm from there. And your mother. And you."

"No. My Mom's from New York."

"Part of her is from Elyon."

"
Part
of her? What does that mean? And what about my dad?"

"He's just a human. Not like us."

"
Just
a human?" Charlie stumbled back on a rock. He shook his head so fast it hurt. "No, no. I don't know what you're saying, but it's all wrong. You're wrong!"

"It's true. I'm your mother's uncle. Your great-uncle. And I'm not from Earth."

"Stop it! I thought I wasn't a freak with you and now you're saying I'm even more of a freak. Just stop it!"

Charlie turned and ran to the edge of the field.
Come back to me, Charlie-boy
. Charlie heard him inside his head but didn't stop running.

The words shattered through him like hammer to glass.
Not from Earth.

Caleb watched the elders and listened as the council meeting went on longer than usual. They'd become unhappy with the recent number of attempts at desertion. And the new program did not seem to be working as planned. One of the leaders had been sent with a small group of trusted community members to set up their first church outside of their compound.

His father said the time had come to begin spreading their people throughout the world, but not all of the new community members thought so. Two members of the new church had disappeared and took their children with them, before new recruitment had begun. Caleb wished he was one of those parents.

But did those Elyons leave of their own accord or did his father find them unfit and make them disappear? After the Destroyer Uprising had been defeated on Elyon
,
his father joined the cause and rebuilt the loyal group in secrecy. Caleb had suspicions before about his father's membership prior to defection. Since being kidnapped his suspicions were confirmed, and he now feared what else his father could do—had done.

Adrian stood and banged his fists on the table. "Our plan changes. The next Elyon caught attempting to desert will die. Painfully. And those who refuse to breed will be lobotomized and bred through transference. Agreed?" He looked at Caleb.

The elders buzzed. Tollen looked down his long nose at Adrian. "And what about the new church out there?"

"Close it up. Bring the members back. We are not as ready as I had hoped." He sat down. "And seek out humans who may know about us. Erase their memory. We must cut off all enemies and destroy those who try to harm us. Even our own. Find them and dispose of them."

"You rushed this, Brother Adrian," Tollen said.

"It's been seven years of building a strong community. We must expand into the human world soon. In my lifetime. I must see this happen."

"It's for the good of all our people, not only one. We don't want our cause crushed again like on Elyon."

Adrian scowled at Tollen, who finally dropped his eyes, and sat down.

Caleb stepped in. "Father, with increased lobotomies we defeat the purpose of coming here to build our gene pool. Those lobotomized no longer have powers."

His father turned to look at him. "But they can still breed power, Son. Better than those who refuse to breed."

His father knew he had sent the girl meant for him off to Thomas after releasing the boy. Caleb hadn't been punished yet for his own disobedience. It would come. New scars would soon blend with the ones thick on his back already. He could bear the whippings—if he could spare the punished some pain.

Adrian called order and the elders voted on the new laws. Despair sunk into Caleb. They all had the power to heal but were denied this for themselves. This was the one law that enabled his father to wield the power of corporal punishment over his people. How ironic that back home Caleb was an outcast for not healing himself as expected when injured. He wanted to feel the pain, to feel human.

And here Caleb secretly saved the discarded ones, those his father punished and tossed aside like yesterday's trash. But how could he save every executed Elyon? At least a few were something. It was his one salvation. If he stopped a few souls' pain, it soothed the emotional pain he felt.

The pain of fighting against his Destroyer genes.

The pain of never knowing his sons.

The pain of never having love of his own choosing.

Would he soon be trash, too? And who would save
him
from being discarded?

Is this what his mother felt like in that well? He had only been seventeen the day he found her. He didn't know why she had traveled off the path and come across it. He had covered the old well with branches and leaves. It had been his hiding place back home to get away from the bullies—and his father.

He remembered the day he'd walked in on his father plundering Aunt Manta in their house, and hearing her moans of pleasure. He had stumbled out then into the cold rain, heading for his hideaway.

When he reached the well, a giant hole breached the brush he had last used to cover it. He shoved the branches aside and climbed down into his sanctuary, wary that some animal might be poised to greet him. Halfway down he paused, but sensed no movement. Heard no sound. The comforting dark reached up for him, and he longed to enter its embrace.

His foot reached the floor but didn't touch hard stone. He landed on something soft. He lost his balance and fell back, cracking his head on the side of the well.

He lay crumpled at the bottom, waiting for the pain to recede. As his eyes adjusted to the gloom, a face stared back at him. Not the bright eyes of an animal. Eyes he recognized, yet so different now drained of life. His mother's.

Caleb screamed and slammed back into the wall. Her head lolled to one side and her leg, stuck out at a crooked angle, lay on her travel bag. She leaned up against the wall as if someone had propped her there.

Why had she insisted on leaving alone? He should have walked with her. He knew these woods better than she did. She must have wandered off the path in the dark and fallen into the brush. He never should have covered the opening so carelessly. He should have told someone about the danger and had it sealed.

This was his fault. His own, dear mother's loss—all his fault.

Or was it?

Crying, he touched her shoulder. Like frozen wood. "Mother?" It echoed up the dank walls.

She didn't answer. He placed his hands on her stiff body and closed his eyes, willing her back to life with his healing power.
Please come back. You're all I have now. Please!

But she was long gone.

No one heard her scream. No one came to save her. For days while he went to school and did his chores his mother lay broken and dying.

For days their search party combed the woods. He didn't want to see her down there. But later it became a place he went to. He sat there and talked to her spirit.

"Caleb?"

He brought himself back to the business at the table and realized his father watched him. He had to be more careful. He couldn't let his guard down and allow his father to read his mind. His father was a master mind prober, like a snake in dark halls that slithered unseen to uncover secrets.

"Do you second the motion to put these laws in place?"

The elders stared at him from around the immense table.

"I do," he finally said. "Motion seconded."

His father nodded at him. Let his father think he wanted to do his dirty work.

The elders left but his father motioned for him to stay. "I have a job for you."

Caleb waited, hands fisted under his robe. His fingers pressed into his palms.

"The first punishment delivered from our new law."

Perspiration rose hot above Caleb's lips. Blood pounded in his ears. He forced himself to reveal his hands and held them out as an offering. "Yes?"

"A deserter will die. It's your duty to make it so. She has been caught outside the compound with her children. Not far into the woods."

"How is she to die?"

"By stoning. The entire community will participate. It will be a warning to them."

Caleb pulled in his stomach. A sickness sprung deep from within him. He had to save her.

"And the children?"

"They will watch her die and then be placed back within the community."

Despair and relief coursed through Caleb at the same time.

"Who is the woman?"

"Her name is Rachel." His father smiled at him. "I believe you lay with her once. Long ago when your mind was strong and your body willing to do its duty."

His stomach churned. He shoved his hands back under his robe and pressed them to his gut.

"You must deliver her for the punishment. And when she is dead you'll bury her in the woods. Do you understand your duty?"

Caleb's eyes blurred. His father became a shadowy shape drifting before him.

"If you cannot, your sons will die, too. I know who they are."

Caleb's vision cleared.

"And you will throw the first stone."

Caleb nodded and pushed his way past his father. He ran to the nearest bathroom and threw up until there was nothing left.

He was empty inside. As he had always been.