Piercing The Fold (21 page)

Sam is sitting in a dimly lit office in Club Helion, waiting for Xander. He has a tumbler of scotch and water in his hand.

Xander pulls up to the club in his 2011 Porsche Panamera. He smiles at the valet as he tosses the keys to him. “How’s it going, man?”

The valet replies, “Great, sir. Busy tonight!”

Xander walks past him into his club. On his way through, he shakes a few hands and exchanges embraces, smiles, and waves. He is making his way through gyrating bodies toward his office in the back of the club. His mind is on the meeting that he called with Sam. Since meeting Jesca, Xander hasn’t been able to get the familiarity of her out of his mind. He needs to know if she is involved in that trip he made to Georgia. And lately, the way Sam is acting with the clubbers is questionable and drawing concern among the regulars. Sam is becoming very comfortable with taking some of the late-night clubbers to ‘private parties’. With the recent news about young night clubbers who have been at Helion and Meridian going missing for days and then resurfacing, it looks really bad for the clubs’ reputations. The secrecy behind so many things that Sam is doing lately is wearing on Xander. He needs to talk to Sam and find out what is going on.

About six weeks ago, Sam started giving Xander lists of VIP people that he needed to meet and invite to the club for personal tours of the club scene, only to be given by Sam. Xander thought the lists to be harmless the first two times Sam presented them to him, like a promotional thing. Sam was very particular with Xander’s presentation of the invitations to these VIP people. It was almost like a courtship initially, to gain their trust. The latest invitation is to a girl from the Cloisters, Corinna Cain. She is supposed to stop by tonight. After a couple more weeks of lists from Sam, then meeting Jesca, Xander feels like something else is going on; he doesn’t like it.

Xander scans the club one last time before entering the office, but doesn’t see Corinna. Xander remembers her as a sweet girl. Christian and Xander met her for lunch one afternoon to deliver her invitation. Until he knows exactly what is really going on with Sam, he doesn’t want to get her involved by being here. He hopes she won’t show.

Xander opens the door to the office. Sam turns in the chair to face Xander with a smile.

“Xander.”

Xander doesn’t return the smile. “Sam.”

“Oh, c’mon. Don’t sulk. Why are you sulking?” Sam walks over to Xander and pulls him in for an embrace. “How have you been, boy?”

Xander slowly pats Sam’s back. “Good. Just keeping up with the club. It’s been kind of crazy lately. Where have you been? You have been hard to pin down the past couple of days.”

“Aw. I’ve had investors breathing down my neck. And entertaining the VIPs that have been coming into the clubs. They have demanded quite a bit of my time.”

Xander looks at him straight on. “Really? I was under the impression you were taking those VIPs elsewhere for private gatherings?”

He is digging for an answer. Xander knows he has every right. His name is on the line as well. He isn’t going to let Sam smooth-talk his way out of this without a solid, justifiable explanation. Not this time.

Sam slowly sips his drink, and then turns his wrist to swirl around the contents. Sam doesn’t speak, just stares at Xander. Whoever speaks first would lose.

Xander says, “What’s going on? What are you involved in, Sam? What are you getting me involved in, with beefing up the personal invitations to the clubs?” Xander feels a burning in his head as his heart begins to race faster.

Sam sits his tumbler down on the side table from where they are standing. “What is going on has been happening since before I picked you up at Cutler St. My involvement has always been the same. Now, I’m preparing the path for you, Xander.”

The crease between Xander’s eyebrows increases. “Preparing a path for me? Do you know what is being said about the clubs around town, especially ours, lately? Are you involved in what is happening to these people that are missing for days, then resurfacing days later? I am getting heat, and I need to know what is going on.”

Xander looks at Sam with pleading, but determined eyes. Determined to get answers.

Sam rolls his eyes and uses his animated hands to show how frivolous the claims are. “The heat will die. It will pass. It’s just the latest media feasting on a few kids that had a little too much fun, got loaded, and passed out at friends’ houses.”

Xander puts his head between his hands as he leans forward. He runs his fingers through his hair. “No, these kids have names that I know. I personally invited them. I screened them for you. They were clean people. I feel responsible. And you should too.”

Sam huffs. “Xander, we provided the entertainment. If we worried about every person that walked through our doors and left our doors…” Sam trails off to a pause. Sam continues in a calmer tone, “The point is, you are not responsible for what another consenting adult decides to do.”

Xander smirks and turns away from Sam.

Sam jumps. “What, Xander? Spit out any other accusations you may have!”

Xander turns back to Sam. ‘That’s the thing. I don’t think these people are deciding anything.”

Sam moves closer to Xander. “What are you saying, Xander?”

Xander’s eyes do not leave Sam’s. His patience is running thin now. “Corinna Cain was the latest invitation. Who is she? Why her? What are your intentions with her because she is a nice girl, Sam.”

Sam shifts in his seat and lets out a cackle and mimics Xander’s words. “What are my intentions with her? She is a nice girl. Please, Alexander. Let me tell you something, kid. You have no idea what my intentions are.” Sam’s face begins to redden. “You want to know? All right. Think back as far as you can. Past the first time we met. Think back to your grandmother. Your parents. Can you remember them?”

Xander’s blood begins to boil. Sam is being cruel. Xander looks down at his hands that are resting on his hips. “No, Sam. I was very young. I don’t remember my parents.” Xander can’t help to feel a bit deflated from the low blow.

Sam takes advantage of his moment of weakness. “Well, let me give you a brief history lesson, son. Your parents were part of an organization, a fellowship. One that I have been a part of for the greater part of my life. I knew your parents. The organization was established by a man named Balthazar Onoch.”

Sam details the history of Balthazar, Sebastian, Sonde, Dobria, and the intersection. Xander is astounded. It all seems fake. How can he believe anything Sam says at this point? Slowly puzzle pieces of his life that never matched up in the past, start snapping into place. Unsure if he wants to know more or not, Xander cautiously asks, “So how did you and my parents know each other?”

“Your parents were both physicists at the University of Miami. They had been involved in ongoing research of the Bermuda Triangle and wormhole theory applications. Balthazar was impressed by their level of knowledge and their own supporting ideas of the correlation between wormholes and the Bermuda Triangle. So, he introduced them to the world of Sonde, knowing that they would not be able to resist the invitation.” Sam pauses awkwardly after he says the last word, ‘invitation’.

He continues, looking down at his tumbler. “They traveled with Balthazar to Sonde. I met your parents there. I was there researching. Months went by and your parents, Rebekah and Paul Sera, were enthralled by their accomplishments on Sonde, especially with the use of their knowledge in the development of a mechanism to sustain an open portal from Earth to Sonde for an extended amount of time.

“Even though they loved the endless learning, research, and experimentation that they were a part of in Sonde, they wanted to come back to Earth. They wanted to stabilize the mechanism here on Earth. Rebekah and Paul were also eager to have a family, a child. They were truly invaluable assets to Balthazar. Balthazar planned to send them home to Earth so that they could continue processing the mechanism from here while having the life they desired. Before they left, you were born.”

Sam pauses and looks at Xander. “Months later, when you were old enough to travel, the finishing touches were being made on the mechanism here on Earth. When you were only a year old, your parents were prepared to link the device on Earth with Sonde. Dobrian spies infiltrated the research lab where Rebekah and Paul were working. Unfortunately, Rebekah and Paul were caught in the crossfire between the Sondian and Dobrian guardians, and they were murdered at the hands of the Dobrians.

“From that point, well, you know the rest. Your grandmother, God bless her, kept you safe, protected, and loved. When I saw you, Xander, when Balthazar told me that you were the one who was going to be a key component in the collision of our galaxies, that you had a purpose beyond his, mine, and your comprehension, that I needed to keep you, raise you, and teach you…I was intimidated. Intimidated by what you could become as a man.”

Sam looks down at his folded hands. “But I myself had lived my whole life for work, not for making friendships or a family. I wanted to be a part of another’s life at the very point in time that I met you.” Sam’s face becomes softer suddenly.

Xander shifts and crosses his arms over his chest.

“As life progressed for you and I, Balthazar kept me informed of what steps needed to be taken and when.”

Xander’s expression changes. A light goes off in his head. “The investor is Balthazar, isn’t it?”

“Yes. He is the investor. He is our guide. He is the one that will give us unimaginable ranking when the collision occurs.”

Xander breathes out a large sigh. He is trying to grasp all of these fantastical images running through his head. He looks over at Sam again. “Is he the one that ordered the invitations of these people I’m bringing to the club, like meals on a platter for you?” Xander can’t resist the sarcasm. Sam deserves the dig after keeping as much from Xander as he has.

Sam looks at Xander with serious eyes. “Xander, it is not like that. These people were chosen to become very important vessels, prophecies of the collision.”

Xander looks at Sam like he is crazy. “Vessels? And you think that it is okay for Balthazar to just use them?”

“They have been chosen to be a part of the multitude when the collision occurs. They are the first phase. These average humans have become communication vessels if you will; the eyes, ears, and voice of the beings that will be coming to our Earth.”

Sam wipes his hand over his mouth and moves closer to Xander. “I took these vessels and sent them to Balthazar with the help of the mechanism your parents created, a Copula. The vessels were then implanted with a second generation Copula. This device interacts and synchronizes with the human’s central nervous system, allowing extraterrestrial access to the vessel when they are elsewhere, like on Earth, for instance. It is almost like this vessel has become possessed by the extraterrestrial. That is why these people disappear for days. When they return, they have no recollection of the journey. The journey has been blocked from their minds. It is for their safety.”

Sam is stating all of this so bluntly, cold even. Xander is floored. He runs his hands through his hair and starts pacing in front of Sam.

“Safety? Are you kidding me? Listen to yourself! Michael at the door was telling me that two of the people that have been found had to be institutionalized. They are going crazy, Sam! Another was exorcised by a priest. This is sick, Sam!”

Sam shows no emotion as he looks at Xander. He looks vacant. Xander knows Sam is already in too deep; he is lost.

Xander stops pacing and stands in front of Sam. “I’m done! I’m not going to be a part of this, Sam!”

Sam throws his glass against the wall. Sam is so close to Xander, he can feel his breath on him.

“Did you not hear me? This is part of your purpose, Alexander. The collision is inevitable. You will have a direct hand in this one way or another. We will be protected, given safe haven, power, and resources. You are a Sondian by lineage, Alexander. It is what your parents wanted for themselves. And it is what they wanted for you! If you are not a part of our purpose, then you are a liability, and I will not be able to keep you safe.”

Xander walks to the window. A loud thundering knock on the door interrupts them.

Xander answers, “Yeah, Come in.”

It is Michael and Cecil, the front doormen.

Cecil says, “Mr. Crest, your guests have arrived. Corrina Cain and her friend. I’m sorry, but the friend did not disclose her name.”

Sam speaks over Xander. “Thank you both. We will be right behind you. Please escort them to the lounge and set them up with some drinks.”

Sam holds his smile until Michael and Cecil leave the office.

Xander walks over to Sam. He grits his teeth. “I’m not going to put Corinna and her friend through this!” Xander puts his drink down on the desk and starts toward the door.

Sam grabs Xander by his shirt and turns him around to face him. He pushes Xander against the wall. “No, you aren’t, Xander. But you are going to introduce me to the girl that has given you a conscience.”

Xander glares back at Sam, not backing down. He is beyond that now with Sam.

Sam sees this and softens his hold. His expression instantly changes to that of a soft smile. He begins to smooth out Xander’s shirt. “She must be a pretty amazing woman if she moved your emotions like this, my boy.”

Xander’s stoic face does not change. “Actually, Corinna wasn’t the cause. Do you remember my trip to Georgia? For the investor?”

Sam walks to put his sports coat back on, still listening. “Yeah. The research on the professor there. Ezra Kahn.”

Xander nods. “Was he the only reason, though?”

Sam pauses and looks up at Xander.

Xander senses the tension brewing in Sam.

“I mean, I don’t believe in coincidences, and a week ago I met a girl from the same town in Georgia I was sent to. She attended the same university as the one Kahn taught at. And to top it off, I think I might have seen her before last week, bumped into her on campus. I wasn’t sure, though. So I did some digging in the university’s records. And wouldn’t you know it. She was coincidentally specializing in Ezra Kahn’s department.”