Underworld

When I woke up, it was nine o’clock and light was merrily streaming in through the half-opened blinds. I’d slept for two hours but I might as well have not slept at all; I didn’t feel any more rested than when I’d laid down last night, head full of whirlwind thoughts.

My neck was stiff from lying in the same position for so long and when I rotated it, it popped loudly. The door that separated the rooms was still closed. I went into the bathroom and cracked open the other door but the bed was un-slept in, with only a few indents where they’d sat on the edge. I guess Bree stayed the night with her father.

I sighed and ran a hand over the bed cover, smoothing the wrinkles. I felt the remnants of last night’s discussion, like cobwebs of confusion and hurt that clung to the fabric. I had to talk to Bree soon about all this; I wasn’t sure how much Mr. Callahan had told her about himself and I was afraid she thought I knew about him all along and hadn’t told her.

But right now, I had to talk to someone else and I wasn’t exactly jumping for joy about it. I hit a button that speed-dialed Aunt Jeannette. She answered after the first two rings.

“Shaye,” she greeted sternly. “You didn’t call last night but I’m sure you had a good reason.” She chuckled. “How are you?”

“Well, it’s a funny story. I actually did have a pretty legitimate reason for not calling last night.” I hated to ruin her good mood but it had to be done. I told her about Caleb and Kye and their offer. I said it fast, as if getting it over with quickly would lessen the impact. Hell, it worked with Band-Aids.

She was quiet for so long I checked my phone screen to make sure the call hadn’t been dropped. Finally, she exhaled, long and slow.

“You certainly know how to start the day off well, don’t you?”

“And I don’t even have to try,” I said, attempting a bit of humor to lighten the mood. She didn’t laugh. Probably because it’s true.

“Let’s start off relatively simply, then. Who did you meet, again?”

“They told me their names were Caleb and Kye.”

“Caleb Knight?”

“I’m not sure about his last name but he’s a Hydro, if that helps.”

“That’s him.” She sighed. “It figures he’d be the one to find you. He’s good at that.”

“You know him?” I was beyond surprised, though, at this point, I really shouldn’t be. It seems like the supernatural world was a small one.

“He’s a rather prominent figure in…our society.” She hesitated at saying “our”. Did she not want me to know that she knew about this…Underworld?

“What does ‘our society’ mean?” An uneasy feeling came over me; the shock of Mr. Callahan’s connection to the two strangers had not yet worn off. “Are you a part of this-this Underworld?”

“No, Shaye. I hesitate to include myself because I have been absent in the Underworld for almost twenty years.”

“Why?” I may not completely trust Caleb or Kye but that didn’t mean I wasn’t interested in learning more about the Underworld. Why would she isolate herself from it?

“There are many reasons, none of which you would understand at this point. But it’s apparent now that you cannot be kept separate from it anymore.”

“So what happens now?” I paced back and forth in front of the window, gnawing on my lip, and the TV zapped on. I ignored it. “You obviously know more about this than me,”—I managed to suppress the tiny thread of resentment that nearly accompanied that statement—“So should I trust this Caleb Knight?”

She gave a dry chuckle. “And if I said ‘no, come back home’?”

“Then I would. I trust you, Aunt Jeannette, even when I disagree.”

“Good to know I still have some influence over a certain headstrong teenager.”

I pressed my forehead against the window, looking down at the lively street below. I’ll admit, I was deathly afraid of heights but even four stories up, I wasn’t fazed as long as I was secure behind the glass. “You know you do, Aunt J. I trust you more than anyone else. You’re like a second mother to me.”

“I wish Catherine was here, Shaye. I feel like she would know the answers to these things better than me, the answers a mother should know,” she said, so quietly I had to strain to hear.

My mother had died when I was four years old. She was diagnosed with schizophrenia shortly after I was born. A week after my fourth birthday, she personally put an end to all the voices she would stare out the window at when she thought no one was looking. I’d never known my father, so Aunt Jeannette became my guardian.

“You do everything you can, and more,” I told her. My voice was soft but I worked hard to keep as much emotion as I could from it; I really didn’t want to start talking about my mother right now.

She cleared her throat and, to my relief, returned to the previous conversation. “I trust Caleb to take care of you; he’s a good man. But don’t feel the need to rush into this. You should enjoy the rest of your vacation with Bree.”

“Actually, I have a feeling my vacation is over.” I briefly told her about Mr. Callahan.

“Well didn’t that go to shit?” I snorted with laughter; Aunt J so rarely cursed, it was a novelty to hear her say a “bad” word. “How’s Bree handling all of this? It must be very…sudden for her.”

My amusement died. “I don’t know, I haven’t talked to her about it yet.”

I heard the scrape of a key at the front door. Without turning around, I knew who it was. What perfect timing. “Aunt J, I have to go. I’ll talk to you later, ‘kay?”

We disconnected and I turned to face Bree, tossing my phone onto the bed. I still wore my wrinkled pajamas but she was fully clothed as though she’d been awake for a while.

“Hey,” I said. I felt awkward just standing there so I sat on the bed, cross-legged. After a moment, she mirrored me, sitting on the floor. I guess she didn't want to share the bed for a seat with me. That stung.

“What’d Aunt Jeannette say?” she asked, filling the silence.

“She’s cool with me staying here for a while so Caleb can train me.” I wanted so badly for her to say that we were fine, we were still friends, but I forced myself to be nonchalant. “So I guess I’m going to be in New York for a while longer.”

“What about school?”

I could tell she was only asking for the sake of passing curiosity, just trying to warm up to the heavier discussion. Fine with me. If we could keep making small talk about school and Aunt J, I could almost pretend things were normal.

“I’m not sure yet. I might just take some time off and make it up over summer; we haven’t really talked about it yet.”

Bree nodded, and took a deep breath. I braced myself. “Did you know my dad is a psychic?” she asked bluntly, eyes glued to the bedspread as if something interesting was there.

“No, not until last night.” I remembered the tiny spark that had jumped between my and Mr. Callahan’s hand when I’d first met him but I didn’t find it necessary to mention that. I honestly hadn’t known there was any significance to it anyway.

She didn’t say anything, only nodded, chewing on her lip. I didn’t know if she believed me or not.

“I always thought,” she said, looking up at me suddenly, “that you were the only one who could do the things you can do. It was easier to not be jealous if I could believe it was just you, and it was just a fluke. But when, all of a sudden, my own father is the exact same as you…I feel almost betrayed. You both have something so special while I’m just normal. My own father, for Christ’s sake. Shouldn’t I have it, too? Shouldn’t it be genetic or something?”

“I don’t know,” I told her honestly. I owed her that much. “I don’t know how it works. And I’m sorry that there’s nothing I can say that will make those feelings go away. No one can control what they’re given in life; it just is what it is.”

“I know. And it’s not your fault and I’m not blaming you.” She took a deep breath. “But, in all honesty, right now, I can’t help but resent you for something that you can’t control. It’s not fair but…it is what it is.”

I nodded, throat tight. We had nothing left to say. No matter how much it hurt to say goodbye to my best friend, I couldn’t help her with the things that were bothering her now. It was something she’d have to make peace with by herself.

“I’ll be here,” I told her as she stood to leave, “whenever you want to talk.”

“I know you will.” Bree briefly squeezed my hand, and then she was gone.

OOO

At two p.m. on a weekend, the coffee shop was comfortably busy, with just enough people to provide pleasant background noise.

I sipped my green tea and waited for Caleb to return from ordering his coffee. He sat down a few minutes later, sliding a scone towards me. I hadn’t asked for one; he struck me as being one of those gentlemen types.

“You’ve talked to your aunt?” he asked, though, from what I’ve seen of his abilities, he’d probably already read the answer in my mind. Oh well. I told him she’d agreed to my staying in New York, though for how long I wasn’t sure.

“So I guess my main problem is where I’ll be staying,” I said, breaking off a piece of scone and popping it in my mouth. Mmm, blueberry. “I probably have enough money to find an apartment but I’ll need to get a job if I’m going to be here for an extended amount of time.” I didn’t want to rely on Caleb or Mr. Callahan for a place to stay. My stubborn sense of independence, I guess.

Caleb set down his coffee and folded his hands on the tabletop. “Well, I was actually planning on having you come stay with our small coven. I think it’d be more convenient and comfortable.”

Oh yeah, I’d forgotten that they lived in a group. I imagined bunk beds lined up in a room like in a summer camp. Time for arts and crafts! I had to smile at the mental image. I could tell Caleb caught part of the image because he smiled, too.

“Not quite,” he said. “We live in a house and everyone has their own room, more or less. Bathroom rights can get a bit violent in the morning but it’s not unbearable. An industrial-sized kitchen and it’s home sweet home.”

“Sounds good.” I noticed the little plastic stirrer in his coffee was moving in lazy circles without the help of his hand. I raised an eyebrow. “Do you always do that in public?”

He flashed a quick smile that crinkled the corners of his hazel eyes. He didn’t look as old as his demeanor suggested; he looked maybe late twenties or very early thirties.

“No, but it’s sometimes amusing to listen to their thoughts as they convince themselves that their eyes are playing tricks, or maybe there’s a draft that’s moving my stirrer.” He made a small motion towards the other customers, smiling wistfully.

I asked him something I’d contemplated ever since I became aware of my abilities: “Do you ever wish you could tell people about what you can do? What we can do?”

He looked at me, a little surprised. “Of course I do. I’m sure everyone who has our abilities has considered that at some point, if only for curiosity’s sake.”

“What if someone decided to reveal themselves? What would happen?”

He looked a little pained. “We try very hard to prevent that but the implied consequences are…unpleasant. I hope you’re not planning on doing that.”

Who, me? I’ll admit it was a bit amusing to see the horrified look on Caleb’s face but I was only teasing him. He read the thought and relaxed but fixed me with a stern look.

“That’s not funny, Shaye. If you even hint that you might do or say something that jeopardizes the secrecy of our people, I can’t guarantee I can protect you,” he said, still frowning at me.

Christ, I felt like a little kid in elementary school, being scolded by the teacher. Come to think of it, that was how a majority of my school years went.

“Relax, Caleb, I’m not going to start advertising our powers for the whole world to see. My point was, there’s got to be people who have come out of hiding in the past. There’s no way that even one single person in the Underworld hasn’t wanted to enough to try.”

“Very true. There are a few who have chosen to make their abilities public but they are slight, no more than parlor tricks, really. They chose to become psychics and magicians and such, all sanctioned by the Underworld.”

“I’m assuming an Elemental can’t, then?”

He shook his head. “Even the weakest of the Elementals would be too dangerous to be made public. They cause enough problems even when they don’t mean to and we’re always scrambling to cover up their actions as it is.”

“Like what?” I asked, brushing a few crumbs from the table. I took a sip of my tea and found only ice cubes at the bottom. Damn. I’d get a refill after we were done talking.

Caleb stood and took my empty cup to the counter, buying me a refill. I watched with a raised eyebrow, arms loosely crossed against my stomach.

When he sat down, I said, “I’m trying to figure out whether you’re a nice guy or just a pushy bastard.”

He smiled, unruffled. “You must let me know when you decide on that one.”

“I’ll be sure to do that. You were saying about the Elementals that you have to cover up?”

“You’ve probably heard about them on TV, actually. Sinkholes, tornadoes that form on a whim, landslides—you name it. You may have heard about the most recent tornadoes in Ohio and Illinois that resulted in thirteen people killed. Most of those didn't form naturally.”

I nodded. It’d been featured in a brief segment every day on the evening news lately. “So are you saying all of the natural disasters are caused by Elementals?” If so, there were a hell of a lot of them running around, wreaking havoc.

“No, Mother Nature does her fair share, too. But I’d say nearly a third are caused by Elementals, especially the reports of unforeseen occurrences. Humans can usually predict natural storms with their instruments.”

Caleb glanced at his watch. “Well, Shaye, I hate to be rude but we’ve used up all our time here. I have some errands to run but we’ll keep in contact.”

I pressed a button on my cell phone so the front screen flashed to life. It told me that it was nearly three thirty. We both stood and I cleared the table of napkins and paper straw coverings. He held out a hand and I shook it, brief but firm.

Outside, the sun was blinding after being in the cool, dim coffee shop. I grimaced and slipped my aviators on, grateful for the wide lenses. A dark green SUV pulled up to the curb. The windows were darkly tinted but I could just barely see Kye through the windshield and I gave a small wave. We’d be living together sooner or later, might as well try to make it pleasant. He nodded at me before looking pointedly at Caleb.

“Would you like a ride anywhere? It’s hot out today,” Caleb said. It wasn’t, not really, but I knew he was just being polite.

I shook my head. “I’m good,” I said. “I don’t really have anywhere to be, I’m just hanging out. And thinking.”

Caleb’s face softened. “It will all work out, Shaye. I promise.” He gave my shoulder a fatherly squeeze before opening the passenger door and sliding into the SUV. He waved at me through the tinted windows before taking a left turn and disappearing into the metallic jungle that is New York City.