30 August 2010

Glass and Mirrors, Part 4

Parts 1-3 are on your left. -m

The most uncomfortable part of having someone else in your head is not, in fact, the simple fact that they are there. It's the nagging fear that at any moment they'll accidentally find that key under the mat in front of the door to the rest of your mind.

Avel had conjured up a leather chair to sit in while he relaxed on the front porch of my mind. I kept trying to push him out, but he had some sort of magic thingie around me, and there was nothing I could do. All of my efforts pushed me further away from him, leaving torn up tracks of sod all over the lawn. He smiled benignly.

"Having some trouble?" he asked.

"Get out of my head!" I yelled. My actual voice, the one Kadey could hear as she sat in the theater, sounded like a muffled mumble. In my head, I was screaming.

"But I like it here," he said, pulling a glass of lemonade out of thin air and taking a sip. Ice cubes clinked against the glass. I threw my hands up into my hair, feeling like I wanted to pull it out. Keeping a wary eye on Avel, I half pulled myself out of my mind so I could look at the theater again. Everything was still in shades of gray, and Kadey had a firm grip made up of freezing, shaking fingers on my lower arm.

"Meli? Can you hear me?" I looked up at her from my slouched position and tried to nod. She at least noticed that I was trying to acknowledge her, and she pointed at the theater screen. At least Avel was still letting me see things, even if the color was sapped. The images on the screen were still making people scream. For a few seconds it was a small child's memory of tripping on the sidewalk, then it switched to a girl stealing jewelry from a department store. Avel was enjoying it way more than he should have, I could feel his self satisfaction practically oozing all around the unsheltered parts of my mind. I decided I needed to do something awkward.

But before I could go back and confront Avel, Kadey's fingers tightened on my arm. I jumped a little, able to move because Avel couldn't guess that I would have been surprised by something Kadey did. Kadey leaned over and put her head close so I could hear her whisper.

"I think I found him," she said. I tried to move my head, but nothing happened. She rolled her eyes, thought for a minute, and then reached into her pocket and pulled out her touch screen phone. The screen was dark and for a second I was really confused, until she held it so that the people next to me were reflected on the surface. "Sorry, I don't carry a mirror," Kadey said. She turned the fake mirror slowly, so that I could look at everyone in its reflection. It was hard to see, especially in the strange light of the theater, but I could at least make out, about three people away, the shape of a teenaged boy with dark hair sitting with his arms up.

I couldn't see clearly enough, and I looked back at Kadey, hoping for an explanation. She nodded, understood my confusion, took one last look at the boy, and copied his pose. Sitting up very straight, Kadey lifted her arms so that her forearms were parallel to the movie screen. Tilting her head back, she half-closed her eyes and bent her wrists back a little so that her fingers were near her eyebrows.

Then, once her arms were in place and she'd peeked once or twice to make sure that she was accurately copying Avel's position, she began twitching her fingers randomly. I swallowed and uneasily began to return to my mind, to confront Avel in his leather chair. My spine tingled. I'd only seen Avel sit like that once before, and it had ended with the other guy in pieces. I mean, literally. Many pieces. And he'd done it to himself, with his own magic.

"Avel, stop," I said. This time there was urgency in my voice. He put down his drink, stood up, and came to me.

"Stop chasing me," he said. I shook my head. "Tell Kadey to leave." I hesitated. He was so close, and even though it was all in my head, I could smell him. He still wore the same cologne.

"You'll stop using their minds as entertainment?" He smirked and lifted a shoulder. "Let me talk to her, at least?"

I opened my eyes in the theater. Kadey was still holding my arm.

"Mmphar," I said on the first try. I licked my lips, cleared my throat, and tried again. "He wants you to leave."

"I'm not leaving," Kadey said. A man screamed from one of the front rows, and we both jumped. I glanced at Avel, the teenaged version of him, at least. He still had his arms up, fingers playing some unseen symphony, and he was still in black and white. Without blinking, I went into the back of my mind, unlocked the trap door, and dropped through, covering my tracks with magic made to look gray. What I needed was a bit of my own magic to take out of my mind with me, but Avel was blocking it all. So, physically, I was screwed. No fireballs or anything cool.

But I could play the word card. Easy.

Quickly I felt into the pantry and grabbed the first thing I could reach -- a chocolate bar. I unwrapped it as I jumped back out of the room and locked the door, shoving it in my mouth just before I got back to the theater. As far as I knew, Avel had no idea what I'd done.

Before I said anything to Kadey, I turned as much as I could towards Avel. He had my English tied up tight in his hands, but he didn't own all the words in my mouth. I could feel the chocolate magic tingling between my teeth, like really strong mouthwash. It even tasted a little minty. I took a very deep breath.

"Ambreel! Arrete!" I yelled. Ambreel Avel Tucker jumped in his theater seat, looked at me, and grinned. The instant he opened his eyes I shut down the walls in my mind, forcing him out. The movie screen went black, and within seconds people began to leave as though nothing unusual had happened.

Soon the theater was completely empty; even Kadey had gone. It was just me and Avel, and he came to sit next to me, stretching his long legs out on the top of the seats in front of us.

24 August 2010

Glass and Mirrors, Part 3

Parts 1 & 2 are over there. -m

If I hadn't've been sprinting after the ever-changing form of my ex-boyfriend, I probably would have taken at least a couple of moments to revel in the crazy luck we'd had in finding him in one of the first antique shops we'd tried. Just the ridiculous timing of it all made me grin. But then Avel would try to change his hair color, and my mind would be whipped back to reality. If I didn't pay better attention, my luck wasn't going to stick around very long.

Kadey's feet were pounding behind me, and I could also hear her having a hard time with other people on the sidewalk. I wanted very badly to glance back and check on her, but I had to keep both eyes on Avel. He was heading deeper into downtown.

How had he gotten so fast? Geez. It was like his legs were slurping up the pavement and spewing it out in dust. And I was eating it. My breathing was so labored I was certain that any moment I was just going to collapse, and then we would never find him again, because there was no way that Kadey would keep up with him.

Avel flung himself around a corner, the first one in several blocks, and I pushed harder, trying to keep up. I was only a few steps behind him, but once I came around the curb he was gone. I screamed in frustration. I needed to focus and look for him, but I was breathing so hard that all I was good for was leaning over and putting my hands on my knees. I saw Kadey's shoes on the pavement.

"He's gone!" she said. She was breathing hard, too.

"I know," I said. I took one huge breath and straightened. "You put your arms down!"

"I'm sorry," she said as she warded off a slap on the arm. "They were getting tired, and I honestly didn't think he was there any more!"

"Fine. Ok. Where would he go?"

"Why are you asking me? You're the one who knows him," Kadey said. I could almost hear her adding, You're the one he made out with and almost married....

"Ugh. I know! Ok, let me think," I said. I closed my eyes and leaned against the building. The art museum, movie theaters, restaurants, angsty poet hovels... all these ran through my head. But to no avail. That dang street corner was going to pay for making us lose him. I punched the wall. Ow.

"Hey, that's weird," Kadey said.

"Huh?"

"I could have sworn 46th went all the way through here," she said. Kadey took a couple of steps forward. I'd completely forgotten where we were during our run, but while I'd been thinking Kadey had looked up at the street signs. People rushing to their cars and to the metro from work ran into us from every angle. But we didn't move.

"Where are we?" I asked. I spun and looked at the sign. 46th and Jelly. I looked around, getting my bearings. If this was Jelly, and the sun was there... 46th should go straight through, crossing Linoleum. But a block away was a skyscraper, and 46th turned into a right-or-left choice. A choice that had never been there before. I started running, and Kadey followed me.

"Brace yourself!" I yelled over my shoulder. The transition point was coming up, and there was nothing weirder than passing through one of Avel's illusions without warning. It was like getting hit with a wall of marshmallows. Didn't leave any bruises, but it didn't exactly leave you feeling very healthy. We hit the edge of the illusion at a sprinting speed and I felt my hair get caught in the magical wall. Everything was kooky and soft for a second, and then we were through, and 46th didn't run into a skyscraper anymore.

"Whoa," said Kadey. "That was awesome!" I kept running, but I still grinned at her. I don't know why, but part of me felt a little proud of Avel for being able to pull off something like that. It didn't even occur to me that maybe I should have wondered why I hadn't seen the illusion in the first place. Something that huge should have been obvious.

"There!" I yelled and veered to the left. A gray haze was just disappearing into the alley behind the movie theater. We darted through the narrow opening and were suddenly the only people within view. Something told me that he was hiding in the theater. Avel couldn't have gone far while maintaining that illusion. I yanked open the back door and Kadey and I practically fell into the theater. After the bright sun of the streets it took a while for my eyes to adjust.

Kadey grabbed my arm and I started walking slowly, picking my way around shadowy obstacles. A few seconds later I found another door and opened it. We were in the back of a giant IMAX theater that was filling with people. It was then that I noticed that I wasn't seeing things very well. Everything was black and white and gray. I looked at Kadey. Her normally dark blue eyes were still dark, but they were gray. My hands were shaded, too; the flesh tones were gone. I choked on air in my rush to speak, but by the time I cleared my throat a theater attendant was at the top of the stairs leading down to the door we had just come out of.

"Excuse me, but you can't go down there. Employees only," he said. Kadey and I apologized and mounted the steps, pretending to look for our seats. The attendant wouldn't let us do anything but sit down. Every time we tried to head away to the exit, he corralled us and led us back to the seats. We sat, resigned, and stuck our heads together to figure out a battle plan. I kept staring at my hands in their gray creepiness and at the ends of my hair, which was just plain black. All the richness of color was gone, and I knew it wasn't because I had suffered any trauma. Avel was here and was doing it to me.

"What's wrong?" Kadey whispered. The lights in the room had just dimmed and people were putting on 3D glasses.

"I can't see," I said.

"What!?"

"No, I mean, I can't see colors. Everything's gray and black," I said. Kadey spun around in her chair, trying to look all directions at once.

"My vision's fine," she said. I sighed. If everything was already gray and black, I wasn't going to be able to find Avel. Not a chance. And he knew that. He remembered.

The screen flickered once, and the audience "Ooohed". Every seat was full and I could see two people in the aisle, walking up and down the stairs as they looked for open seats. Immediately I felt guilty, but there was nothing I could do. I needed this seat so I could keep looking for Avel. I tried scanning the crowd for him the way I'd looked for his work in the antique store, but everything looked hazy and gray in the darkness.

I slouched in my chair, frustrated. Kadey was still looking, wide-eyed, at all the people in the auditorium. With no chance of finding him, I closed my eyes. And saw Avel.

"Don't react," he said. I suddenly found I couldn't open my eyes, but I could still hear everything. Avel's voice was coming from just a few feet away. I struggled to sit up, but the weight of magic was on top of me. I was frozen and felt sick whenever I tried to move.

"I said, 'Don't', Meli. Don't move," he said. My mouth wouldn't open to speak. "Stop chasing me." I gave in to the illusion and let down the smallest of my mind barriers, so that I could at least yell at him.

Shoving my own magic back in his face, I said, "Give me back my sight!" Avel laughed, overjoyed.

"Finally! Doesn't it feel good to let it out?" In my mind Avel sat in a leather-backed chair, grinning like crazy as he ran his hand through his hair. "Let's play with them, shall we?" My stomach sank. Play?

The crowd in the theater gasped, and one woman screamed. Avel let me open my eyes to see the screen. The scene was from the perspective of a person walking on a dark road. Footsteps sounded from behind, and the person turned to look. Three thugs in gang gear were following the person; they smiled maliciously. The same woman screamed again.

"Meli?" Kadey said. There was a worried hesitance in her voice that I didn't like.

Suddenly the scene changed and Kadey gasped.

"That's my house," she whispered to me. This time I understood. Avel was ruffling through the audience's minds like they were picture books. Every five seconds, the picture changed, and a different person screamed or at least gasped in surprise. He was still in my mind, and I pushed my way up to his chair.

"Stop it!" I said as I reached out to slap him. But even in my own mind I was slow, and he blocked it before my fingernails could do any damage.



16 August 2010

Glass and Mirrors, Part 2


Link to Part 1 at left.

Kadey Wilson showed up at my house wearing a Superman t-shirt, baggy jeans, and Birkenstocks. She didn't even bother ringing the bell or knocking; one minute I was alone on my couch, the next she was sitting across from me, on the ottoman, grinning like crazy.

"Shut up," I said. "It's not funny." Her smile widened.

"Oh, I think it's funny. It's very funny," Kadey said. She stood up to pull a tiny notebook out of her pocket, and then she plopped back down, handing me the notebook.

It was held closed with a rubber band, and as I pulled it off it snapped against my finger. Kadey sniggered. The notebook fell open and proved itself to be more of a folder than a notebook. It was completely packed with polaroids folded over to fit in the narrow space, and sketches of weird random things, and slips of napkins written on in marker.

"What is this...?" I asked, but then I knew, because I saw Kadey's short, wide writing flowing over the pages of the notebook, and Avel's cramped hand had obviously scrawled on the random scraps thrust in between the pages. And the pictures were of him. I looked at Kadey, bracing myself. "You've been running surveillance? Already?"

"Oulara gave me my envelope two weeks ago."

"Two weeks?"

"Yeah." She shrugged and went to the kitchen. I could hear cabinets open and shut, along with the fridge, and she reappeared with a glass of iced tea, baby carrots, and a handful of dark chocolate chips. "You need more junk food," she said. I laughed.

"You don't," I said. "So...where is he?"

"Downtown, I'm pretty sure. There's been an influx of antique furniture and collectibles," she said. Crack! went a carrot. "But then again, that could be anyone. You're the one who'd know if it was his stuff or not," she added as she looked at me from under her brows. It looked like she was waiting to see if a volcano she was leaning on was active or not.

"Yeah," I said. Avel, like the paper had said, was an illusionist. But he wasn't the hat-n-bunny type; his style dealt in, well, real magic. I guess it sounds kind of weird to say that. When Kadey first heard about him she laughed when I'd described his talents, but after she'd met him the first time she'd given me this wide-eyed "Oh I get it" look. Avel didn't just make things appear that weren't there, he changed things that already were; he pulled ideas and images out of your head and used them for or against you, depending on his mood.

I realized that I'd been zoned out for a couple of minutes, and I looked back up at Kadey. She was finished with the carrots and was popping the chocolate into her mouth, piece by piece. I sighed and looked at my bedroom, where all of my gear was organized in a single row on the bed. If Avel was downtown, he wouldn't be hiding in plain sight. And if he was already forging antiques, his business was booming. We weren't catching him at the beginning of things.

I tossed the notebook in Kadey's lap and went into my room. Kadey stood in my doorway as I geared up. My knives got strapped to my ankles and one wrist, and the other tools of my trade went into my pockets.
I had changed earlier into stretchy jeans and a loose black top, and light leather boots. You never knew when you'd have to jump a fence in pursuit of someone trying to be faster than you. I turned around and reached for a yellow summer scarf.

"You look like Lara Croft on her lunch break," Kadey said. I rolled my eyes.

"You're wearing that?" I asked. She looked down at her shirt, pulling at the hem as though she didn't remember what she was wearing.

"Superman is antique-y," she said. I snorted in a very unlady-like fashion and pushed past her.

"Go time," I said, and tossed her a thin black jacket to put over her shirt. "You better've brought along a change of shoes."

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The antique store smelled like home to me. Kadey wrinkled her nose when the door closed behind us, jingling the brass bell suspended from the ceiling. I breathed in and smiled. It smelled like dirt and sunshine and a little bit of dust, and it was all encased in the reverent hush of the library of Alexandria.

I ran my hand along the top of a dresser that was probably two hundred years old, judging by the workmanship on the legs, and smiled as I imagined its life before ending up in the shop. Kadey cleared her throat.

"Should I leave you two alone?" I jumped a little and smiled at her.

"Sorry, no. I'm just remembering," I said. She shrugged. I took a few more steps, looking for signs of Avel's handiwork. Since we'd been so...close, I could almost see the things he'd changed. I stood with my feet shoulder's width apart and half closed my eyes; it wasn't squinting, so my face was completely relaxed. Kadey knew that I wasn't just enjoying the antique store, and she stayed silent, quietly reading the titles of frayed hardbacks on a sticky plastic shelf.

There was something hazy in the back of the room, and I ended up in front of a large glass case about the size of a couple of refrigerators. Once I was in front of the item I pulled my hands out of my pockets and held them at my sides. The air around me was full of electricity and the hair on the back of my neck rose. I grinned triumphantly at the source of the energy, an antique jewelry box inlaid with mother of pearl. Gemstones crusted the filigreed corners, and the whole thing was set up on a little stand so that it was easy to see the top of the lid. Kadey came up behind me and let out a low whistle.

"Shiny," she said. "Is that it?"

"I think so," I said, as I looked around once more. I couldn't see anything else that Avel may have touched. I inspected the box from tiptoe and pursed my lips. "I need to touch it." Kadey nodded and went to get the manager. He opened the glass door with shaking gloved hands and pulled the box reverently out of the case. It clinked against the glass counter he set it on and the old man stood, waiting, as I looked at the box.

I knew that Kadey just had to trust me when I said Avel had made the jewelry box. I'd had the history and the training to recognize the changes. From behind my eyelashes there was a haze around the box. It wasn't colored or anything...it was more like someone had erased the edges of the antique before putting it back into real space.

Avel's signature, a double "A" encircled with a black obsidian ring, was set into the center of the lid. I nodded at Kadey, who suddenly reached out, touched the old manager's arm, and asked him a question about a painting hanging behind us. My hand was already halfway to the box; I brushed my fingertip over Avel's mark.

It flared a hazy gray before the box itself flickered, like it wasn't really there. Under the illusion I saw a little girl's jewelry box covered with pink crowns. And then the gorgeous antique version was back, and I dropped my hand. Well, at least I knew that Avel was still a very talented forger. The poor manager, who was also the owner and an antique dealer of several decades, couldn't have known what he was buying.

The brass bell up front jangled and the manager jumped to put away the box. Before I could say anything it was behind glass and Kadey and I were alone in the back of the room. I heard a man's voice call for the manager, and I looked at Kadey. Her eyes were wide, staring at something past me. I turned. It was a mirror, leaned up on top of a dresser, and it reflected the front of the store. Someone tall with dark hair was speaking to the manager in excited tones. I recognized those tones. My heart was pounding in my ears, in my fingers, everywhere. I almost couldn't concentrate.

I walked as calmly as I could around the corner, leaving Kadey a few paces behind me. I tossed my hair and took a breath, and smiled.

"Hello, Avel," I said. Ambreel Avel Tucker's head shot up in a dictionary-perfect picture of shock. His eyes found me quickly and I could almost hear him mentally cursing himself for showing up for a sale without a disguise. He was leaning on the front counter, in his everyday outfit of jeans and a snazzy navy blue shirt. He was wearing loafers.

"Meli," he said, nodding. "How are you?"

"I'm great," I said, still walking towards him. He watched me carefully, probably trying to figure out if I was there for him, or to browse. "How are you?" Avel looked me up and down,
especially taking in the shoes I was wearing. He stopped leaning on the counter.

"Fine," he said. I smiled again, bigger this time.

And then he was gone. Poof.

"Sh*$!" yelled Kadey. "Where'd he go?"

"He's still here," I said calmly. "Stop shouting." I threw my arms out in front of me. He was an illusionist, not a magician. He would still have to use the door. I just had to grab him before he got there. "Door!" Kadey jumped in front of it and held her arms akimbo. The poor manager was staring at us with eyes so huge I just knew he was going to have a heart attack if we didn't get out of there soon.

Five minutes passed, and then Kadey dropped her arms while I was looking the other way. I would have yelled at her, but I didn't see it. Avel took his opportunity immediately, pulling himself out of his illusion and practically diving into the door. Jinga-jingle! went the brass bell. Kadey looked sheepish for about a second, and then I sprinted past her into the warm evening air.

14 August 2010

Glass and Mirrors, Part 1

A couple of summers ago, a year after I slammed the door on Avel and a year before Jeremiah turned brute with the full moon, I was working on a project. My work back then was very vague. Well, it still is, but back then it was even more smoke and even less paperwork.

Kadey was working with me, kind of as an intern. We'd been given an assignment in a black envelope, something I had only heard rumors about before that moment. Mr. Oulara hadn't even mailed it to me in the usual fashion. He'd found me at a cafe, staring out the window and absentmindedly turning my empty tea mug in circles.

"Meli," he said after clearing his throat. I looked up slowly. I wasn't too thrilled to hear his voice, or to see him standing next to my table. Although, I probably should have been happy about it. Mr. Oulara didn't show up with black envelopes for just anything. He laid the project on the table and walked away. I could reject it by not touching the envelope, but I was too curious. For a minute I just looked at it, letting my mind wander through the stories I'd heard about black envelopes and the failures associated with them. Whatever this was, it meant they trusted me. Great.

When Oulara was more than out the door and his dark sedan was turning at the signal at the other end of the parking lot, I sighed resignedly and pulled the envelope closer with my fingertip. The instant I touched it a shock of electricity shot through my finger. I gasped and pulled it back, and then I looked at my hand. My finger had a tiny mark on it; at a glance it just looked like a small burn, but the more I stared at it, the more it looked like our company's seal. It had been burned into my skin.

I read the single piece of paper quickly, knowing that, as usual, there was only a short amount of time before the words disappeared. Here is what it said:



I had pulled the paper out of the envelope so it had been face down, so my first reaction was, "Huh. Black envelope, brown paper. Ok." And then I had flipped it over and my stomach had started beating and my heart was tied in knots. In other words, I had no idea what to do with myself. Avel? Avel was my project?

I almost didn't need to read the entire page. After I saw the words "Ambreel Avel Tucker" my brain had come up with a lovely flashback of Avel leaning in my kitchen doorway. No one needed to tell me his distinctive features. In my mind Avel was grinning at me, twirling a knife around his fingers, showing off. I was making dinner. Avel put the blade down and touched my arm with the back of his hand. I blinked. This was going to be difficult.