I scrolled through the local news while lying on my bed. Nip purred next to me, occasionally batting at my hand when I stopped petting him for too long.
Unsurprisingly, there was no mention of anything beyond just the fires that sprung up in the countryside. “None of the families affected were available for comment,” it read. Right. They were either dead or probably incarcerated in some H.E.S.P. facility. Searching up information on H.E.S.P. didn’t give me much either, just a crappy government page with dead links on it.
A text notification popped onto my screen: “I’m outside.”
I got up and gave Nip one last chin scratch before leaving my room.
“I’m going out!” I shouted as I laced up my shoes.
My mom gave a distant response, “Okay! Remember that you need to buy a new backpack! School is starting soon.”
I stepped outside and shielded my eyes from the sun. Kay’s red hatchback was parked on our driveway and she honked at me. I climbed into the passenger seat, letting out a sigh.
“Uh oh,” Kay said, raising her sunglasses. “Not having a good day?”
“Just got reminded that uni starts in a few weeks.”
Kay started up the car and backed out of the driveway. “Not feeling it? Can’t say I blame you.”
I watched the suburban houses slide past us like they were on a conveyor belt, straight from the factory that mass produced these cookie cutter buildings. “I’m having trouble mustering the willpower to throw myself into that after all that happened last week.”
“Riiiight, after all that,” Kay said, raising an eyebrow. “You wanna elaborate? Cause Nell has been pretty clammed up since she moved in. I haven’t asked her about it, but even my softball convo starters are getting thrown at a brick wall.”
There was a bobblehead of some video game character that was sitting on the dash. I flicked it into motion. “I’m not sure how to describe it without sounding crazy.”
“Hit me with it. I can do crazy,” Kay said, deadpan.
I glanced over at her. Star shaped pieces of metal dangled in her braided hair. She wore a t-shirt with a design of an opossum soaking in a kiddie pool. There was no proper gauge for how she would take this. I was pretty confident that the non-disclosure agreement that Mac had made me sign was bullshit and I was annoyed with how close-lipped he was being. So why was I hesitating? I barely knew Kay, was I that worried about scaring her off? Plus she seemed unflappable. She had agreed to house Nell without a second thought. I owed her some transparency at least.
“It was a cult,” I said. “And I mean a serious one. They were even chopping off limbs, giving them up as sacrifices.”
Kay’s eyes widened. “No shit? Wow. That’s a step above anything I’ve heard of. My dad would kill for that level of loyalty.” She glanced sheepishly at me. “I call him a cult leader sometimes, but he’s just a motivational speaker. Still, getting people to self-mutilate is wild.”
“That’s the thing,” I said slowly. “I saw some things, felt some things I can’t explain. I’ve changed. Like… the cult might have been on to something.”
I watched Kay’s expression, waiting for the inevitable look of derision or fear. Her face remained neutral.
“You’re serious?” she asked. “You’re not fucking with me?”
I slunk down in my seat until the seatbelt caught on my neck. “Nope.”
“Damn, Nick. You weren’t kidding. That is crazy.”
“I know it’s hard to believe.”
“I wouldn’t say that.”
I thought about showing her my antlers. Maybe not when she’s driving. “Told you. I don’t believe that the cult was right but… something is going on. I’m hoping Nell will know more. She has been their captive since she was a kid.”
“Oh shit,” Kay breathed. “Human trafficking, too?”
A wave of relief washed over me and I sat up, blinking. Where had that come from? The emotion retreated as quickly as it had come. I realized that we must have crossed into the range of Nell’s connection with me.
“Well now I’m extra thankful I had a bed for her. Poor girl,” Kay said.
“Thanks again for that. You really came in clutch.”
“Don’t mention it. It’s just a little further,” Kay said. She was quiet for a minute, then spoke, “I get the feeling that you’re holding back on me still, just like Nell.”
I didn’t know how to respond to that. Eventually we pulled up to a house with colourful yellow siding. There was a small garden that wrapped around the side of the house that appeared to be quite fruitful with a variety of healthy green plants growing in it.
Kay parked the car and spun the keys around her finger. “There’s a garage in the back that I got converted into a guest suite.”
I followed her as she walked across the lawn and around the side of the house. “You have all this and you’re still going to university?”
Kay made a face at me. “Bought by daddy’s money. He thinks that this is a good equivalent for him actually being present in my life. I can’t even recall the last time he actually stopped by in Sillwood.”
“He travels for his motivational speaking?” I asked as I laid my eyes on the garage. There weren’t any windows on this side, just a door and a stone path to connect it to the house.
“Yeah. That and he’s addicted to fame and parties. He still goes out every night like he isn’t in his forties.”
As we reached the door, it swung open and I was met with Nell’s piercing green eyes. She was wearing jeans that were bunched up at the waist, held up with a tight belt.
“Hi Nell,” Kay said. “Did you hear us? Just make sure you aren’t opening the door for strangers, yeah? I have some nosey neighbours.”
“I knew it was Nick,” she responded.
“Okay, but the garage is sound-proofed. I don’t think you heard… Nevermind.” Kay let it drop. “I’m going to run inside and use the washroom. Be right back.”
I stood awkwardly at the door, feeling Nell’s eyes on me.
“I like it here.”
“That’s good,” I said weakly. “‘Cause of all the plants, I’m guessing?”
She pulsed approval instead of just saying yes.
I let out a sigh. “I’m not sure why I was expecting this to go away once the nightmare was over.”
The feeling pulled back.
“Sorry,” Nell said quietly.
I glanced back towards the house. “I wanted to thank you,” I said. “It feels like I made progress with my dad for the first time ever. I wouldn’t have been able to do that on my own.”
“You were outside my range. I didn’t do anything,” she said.
I grinned. “No, not like that. Dredging up those memories ended up being a good thing.” Her pleased emotions wriggled back into my awareness. “I just wish you could have communicated your intent properly. Everything was so cryptic.”
She shrugged. “It wasn’t on purpose. We only had one shared memory. And I don’t know how to talk to people.”
“You’re doing fine right now.”
Nell pulsed with frustration. “What am I supposed to say to her when she asks me about T.V. shows or hobbies? I didn’t have any of that.”
I stared at her. “What did you have?”
“Books,” she said with a kind of reverence. “Lots and lots of books. And the occasional plant when they weren’t careful enough.”
The grass rustled and I looked down. There was no wind to move it, yet the grass was swirling with patterns, like a monochrome kaleidoscope.
Nell still wasn’t wearing any shoes. It was hot, it wasn’t like she needed them, but I felt like it was an intentional choice. She rocked on the balls of her feet and I felt a certain kind of longing from her.
“Do you want to come outside?” I asked, taking a step back.
Hesitation came through our connection.
“Have you just been in this room since you got here?”
Nell nodded, her wild mess of hair bouncing.
“It’s a nice day,” I ventured.
She frowned. Birds were singing. A lawnmower droned in the distance.
“I’d love to talk about what life has been like for you. I get the impression that you were stuck in a room a lot, being told what to do, where to stand, what to think.”
There was the briefest tremor in my hands as some emotion passed over me in one moment, gone in the next.
“But whoever they were, they’re not here right now. So fuck ‘em, right? Do what you want to do.”
She grinned ever so slightly. “Fuck ‘em,” she whispered and stepped out onto the grass. All of the grass in the yard bent towards her, as if bowing.
“So, explain it to me again,” I said. “What can you do with your powers?”
“They called it Shaping,” Nell said as the grass returned to normal. “I can sense living things in an area around me. It’s hard to describe but…” a flower sprouted between us, the petals rapidly changing colours. “I can mold it. Change properties and structure.”
The flower leaned towards me. “Specifically plants though?” I asked.
“It’s what I’m comfortable with. What I’m good at. There’s a reason why making your new heart was so difficult. I’d never done it before.”
I thought back to the confrontation at the Tree, with the strange woman in pajamas and her bodyguard made of liquid metal. “The woman that was at the Tree. She’s the same as you, right?”
Anger kicked me in the chest, seizing control of my body. I felt my heart quicken and my face flush with heat. The antlers pressed up, just beneath my skin, ready to erupt. “Hey!” I shouted.
Nell stiffened, then composed herself. The anger ebbed away. I sat down on the lawn, breathing heavily.
“I didn’t mean it like that,” I gasped. “Powers. She can Shape people with her mind, like you.”
Nell looked away and I felt her embarrassment. “Right, sorry.”
I decided not to press her on that and continued with my line of questions, “How come that woman never tried to force you to surrender with her power? She only ever used it on me and Aaron.”
“I don’t know exactly, but I could never Shape her and she never Shaped me. There were other times in the past where I couldn’t Shape a person. I couldn’t sense them with my sixth sense when that was the case.”
“And what about me?” I asked, looking down at my arm, focusing on making just a tiny antler poke out from my wrist. “I”ve been thinking back and I can’t think of a time where I could have been injected by Chase, and Aaron never struck me as a liar. I think you gave me the ability to Shape myself.”
I heard the door to the house open and found that I could absorb the small antler back under my skin.
“I’m back,” Kay called out. “Unless you want more time alone.”
I turned to look at her. She shrugged. “Hey, if there’s secrets you two need to keep, I won’t pry.”
Nell was hesitant, but I didn’t really care if Kay knew.
“We discovered that we share… sort of a psychic bond?”
Kay stared at me, twisting a ring on her finger. “Huh.”
Of course she didn’t believe me. How could I prove it?
“Nick,” Nell said, “don’t turn around, but tell Kay how I’m feeling.”
“Uh…” I started, but soon felt a pulse of happiness. “Happy?”
Then it changed. Low level emotions, not the same kind of intensity as before, but I could still feel them. “Now it’s anger- No, she just switched. Sadness.”
Kay said nothing for a moment, then she burst out laughing. “Okay,” she chuckled. “I get it. Neat trick.”
The emotion changed again. I turned to see Nell’s face screwed up in an exaggerated expression of fear complete with knees knocking together.
I snorted and Nell smiled.
“Those were some good faces,” Kay said. “You should become a mime or something.”
“I practiced,” Nell responded seriously. “Using examples from a textbook. I was cooped up most of the time. So anything you can think of, I’ve probably tried it to stave off the boredom.”
That sobered Kay. “Are you comfortable talking about it? You don’t have to if it’s too painful.”
Nell thought about that seriously before responding, “I can talk a bit about it. I’ve been with those people for a very long time. Almost my whole life. They… took me from my parents when I was very young.”
There was that same emotion, hidden from me, so that I could only feel its passing, like the earth shifting beneath me.
“That must have been hard,” Kay said softly. “I’m sorry. I know a group of survivors of human trafficking I could put you in touch with if you wanted.”
Nell shook her head. “I think my experience was probably different…”
Kay gazed at her, nodding seriously. Then she sat down next to me, plucking a strand of grass. “You know, that emotional bond, the weird changes you mentioned, Nick. I might have actually seen something similar before.”
Nell kneeled down too. “Really?”
“It’s a bit of a long story. But there was a couple I used to know.” Kay twirled the blade of grass between her fingers. “Back in high-school I was in a band that had gigs in all the seedy places in Sillwood.”
She gestured to the guest suite. “That garage used to be where we would practice. I was also the underage driver for the group. I lived an hour away from downtown, but that was fine for the two lovebirds that comprised the rest of the band. A guy named Alek and a girl, Helen. Whenever we had a gig, I would get to Alek’s place and knock on the door. It would always take them a minute to answer and they’d be all sweaty. At the time I thought they were making out but now I realize that they were probably doing witchcraft.” She wiggled her fingers at me, then stopped and looked thoughtful. “Or sex. Probably sex.”
I flicked a blade of grass at her. “Can we skip ahead a bit?”
Kay looked at Nell and rolled her eyes. “Tough crowd. Bear with me. So we have a gig one night at a club and the asshole wannabe bouncer won’t let us in. Alex isn’t the most chill guy, but he isn’t so dumb that he’d start a fight for something like this. But the bouncer said something demeaning to Helen and she lost her cool. She started yelling and cursing him out. And then I realize that Alek is starting to lose it too. Like I see the veins on his neck bulge like he just saw this guy kick his dog. The bouncer continues to deny us, calls Helen some names, and then Helen yells Alek’s name.
“In a split-second, Alek was on him. Like, this guy was twice Alek’s weight, but Alek tossed him like a sack of potatoes. Wait, potatoes are heavy aren’t they? So this was more like tossing a stuffed animal. The bouncer flew across the street and smashed through a store window. The alarm went off and we hightailed it away.”
“Then, being the lady I am, I asked them politely what in the flying fuck was that. At first they tried to play it off. Alek is stronger than he looks. Yeah, I didn’t buy it. When I threatened to leave the band, Alek folded.”
Kay paused for a moment. “It should have scared me more honestly, but at the time I just thought it was metal. Alek was way stronger and faster than he should have been. Not like ‘lift a building’ strong, but more like ‘could probably shift over a semi-truck’ strong.”
A shadow passed over Kay’s face. “Helen was different. She could mess with your mind. Make you see and hear someone else, but like, overlaid on top of an actual present human being. She made Alek look like a teacher I had in high-school. Down to a T, it was fucking creepy.”
She looked at me and Nell in turn. “Is this sounding similar?”
“Kinda,” I said weakly. “I’m not very strong though.”
Kay shrugged. “I thought they were into occult shit because sometimes they would call themselves a Witch and a Wolf.”
“Hmm. The woman who was in charge of the cult said something similar.” Then I remembered something else about what she had said. “She also said Nell had created a Phage.”
“Ooh, that’s interesting,” Kay said.
“Why’s that?”
I received a light punch on the shoulder. “C’mon, you’re the Biology major. You’ve heard this before.”
“Phage as in macrophage? Like white blood cells?”
Kay nodded. “Macrophage means big eater, derived from the ancient Greek word that meant to devour.” She grinned at me. “You feeling hungry, Nick?”
“So… we have two superhumans to put it positively. And we’re linked. Like we have an empathic bond.” I turned to Kay. “Your story makes it make a lot more sense why you’re taking this in stride.”
Kay sighed. “Yeah, well I ended up on the receiving end of a Witch’s ire. I’ve always been into the occult, so it sucked to think that my only exposure to the supernatural ended the way it did.”
“What happened?” Nell asked, eyes wide.
Kay’s tone shifted as she explained, “I guess Helen didn’t like that I knew their secret. She never was very nice to me, but once I found out, she started acting hostile. I ended up leaving the band due to it, but that didn’t stop Helen. A few months later, people started treating me differently. I was getting a lot of looks and friends were avoiding me. Then one of my friends told me they’d seen me vandalizing a school banner. I should have clued in at this point, but I didn’t, sue me.” Claire tried grinning but it wasn’t genuine. “I get more of these reports and I’m freaking out. I didn’t remember doing any of these things, but the teachers wouldn’t have it. I’ll admit it wasn’t outside the realm of my M.O. And then my friends leave me, unexplained, dropped me off of every social media, started to change hang out spots, avoiding eye contact when I did see them. I finally break down into tears and beg one of them to tell me what I did. And that’s when I see, across the road… Myself.”
Claire grabbed a handful of grass and ripped it up. “Helen had been impersonating me. She… had sex with one of the teachers and told my friends a bunch of cruel things using my face. I was ruined. I made my parents switch schools. And then I kinda just coasted through the rest of high school without any friends.”
“Sorry that happened,” Nell said seriously.
Kay shrugged. “It’s fine. Needless to say, I don’t like Helen. But if you want to know more,” she regained her devilish grin, “I know where Alek lives.”