WnW 7.13

Once more I found myself in the back of one of H.E.S.P.’s armored vehicles, but this time it was alongside Nell, Neve, Daria, and Mac. The roar of the engine was loud enough to make any private conversation nearly impossible and we were constantly having to brace as the truck shuddered on the dirt roads we were traveling on. We would have to cross provincial lines to reach the secluded house of Jenson Parra, our suspected child abductor.

I had my headphones in but I wasn’t listening to anything but the sound of my own heartbeat.

“How come the other boys didn’t want to sit with us?” Daria asked Mac sweetly.

The other H.E.S.P. operatives had chosen to sit in the front with the driver.

Mac shrugged. “They’ve heard about you. My team does their research.”

Daria pretended to look offended. “Me?” She flashed me a toothy smile. “What could they have heard? I’m harmless. I’ll give them each a hug to prove it.”

Mac gave her a pointed look. “It’s up to you to prove to them that you are a dependable ally. I know you’re used to riding solo, but it’s important to be able to trust each other.”

He turned to me and I squeezed my fist, pretending I hadn’t noticed.

“Nick.”

I didn’t hear anything.

“Nick,” he repeated, a little louder.

Reluctantly I took out an earbud.

“Talk to me, man. I know things are complicated now, but we need to be on speaking terms. It’s all of our responsibility to make sure this team doesn’t get anyone hurt. That starts with open communication.”

“You weren’t very open with information before,” I said quietly, staring at the floor.

“Pardon me?”

“Why did the Director put you in charge?” I asked, speaking louder. “Did you tell them that you could handle me?”

“I just said we were friends.”

“We’ve barely talked since Cathrow. So much happened and you were there for none of it. I met new people and made new friends that actually were on the same page about this Shaper stuff. Then you dragged me and my friends into H.E.S.P. custody without an explanation. That wasn’t cool.”

Mac gave a pained expression. “I was rattled, Nick. We all were, after Sillwood. You should know that best, you were at the center of it. And we’re just now starting to see how this will affect the view of Shapers worldwide. The Director didn’t say it aloud but I know that this is the best chance for the public to see that Shapers are not all bad.”

Nell turned her head slowly to stare at him coldly. “You wanna try that sentence one more time?”

Mac kept his composure. “I could have worded that better. I could have worded a lot of things better, Nick. I’m sorry. Can you sympathize with how stressful this all is? Think about how Claire feels about her husband having such a dangerous job, and she isn’t even allowed to hear about most of it. Now realize that I care about you just as much, but I can’t protect you from it.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Just as much as Claire?”

Mac gave a small smile. “Almost as much.”

“Are you married to her or your job? Because sometimes you talk like you’re picking sides. You say you want to keep your personal and professional life separate, but I guess I’m both now and you don’t know how to deal with that.”

“I said we’re friends. That hasn’t changed.”

“Hasn’t it? I’m mad at H.E.S.P. but I’m also mad at you and it feels like I’m talking to a customer service rep.”

Mac sighed. “You want me to yell? To cry? This is just how I’ve always been. I know how Shaping can alter your emotions-”

“There it is again!” I shouted over him. “Stop that. Stop it right fucking now. Let me just be. I’m not asking to be placated like you’re in HR. Every time you open your mouth I just get more angry that you’re trying to patch things up without even acknowledging how absent you’ve been.” 

Nell pulsed comfort at me and I struggled to take a deep breath. 

“It’s fine,” I said. “There’s nothing wrong with that. People can grow apart.”

Everyone remained quiet. 

I looked away, feeling embarrassed that Daria and Neve had witnessed my outburst. “But if you want back in, you’re gonna have to stick around and be patient.”

“Okay, Nick,” Mac said, barely audible above the engine.

I sat back and closed my eyes, letting the noise and the rocking of the transport cradle me in a blanket of sensation.

As my anger faded, something else started to bother me again. It was something Neve had said earlier in the day. I had heard of Kirkbride Asylum before. I’d known that Organ had run experiments on Shapers there. Who had told me that? Visions of the Cathrow kids swam through my mind. No, before them. Jason and Gail’s faces slowly became like their parents, distracting me.

Nell poked me, rousing me from my half-conscious daydream.

The truck had stopped and Mac was pulling up a camera feed on the screen embedded in the wall. It was a drone shot of a forested driveway. I caught a brief glimpse of the camo roof of the truck we were currently sitting in, parked off the road at the turnoff to the driveway. The drone then followed along above the treetops until it came to a clearing, where the driveway came to a small lot with a house in the middle. The house looked rustic, with a brick chimney and firewood stacked along one wall. Even the car parked out front appeared to be a vintage model.

“We’re outside the range of most typical Witches,” Mac said, glancing at Nell knowingly. “I think you all can guess why we brought so few people today. The last thing we want is for whoever is in there to get scared and start harming the kids. We need to infiltrate undetected so that we can locate the children and start to understand what is going on in that house. No kicking down doors, Daria.”

“What? Why would you single me out specifically?” Daria asked mockingly.

Mac tossed each of us a walkie-talkie. “We chose the four of you because you will be either immune or resistant to the Witch’s influence. That’s valuable. You can scout around at ground level and give us some idea of how we should proceed. Nell and Neve will be invisible, but Daria and Nick will need to make sure you’re Shaping so that you’re less noticeable to the Witch’s senses.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Daria said. “We know how it works. Now let’s finally get some action.”

Mac pursed his lips. “This is important. Remember not to-”

I opened the door to the back, letting the sunlight and the cold air in. “Don’t do anything that’ll get the kids hurt. We get it. Even us Shapers care about the kids, Mac.”

Daria chuckled and hopped out, before turning to catch Neve. Daria swung her around once before receiving a smack on the head and then she let Neve down.

Nell and I exited and the four of us entered into the woods surrounding the property.

Daria led the way, occasionally jumping up to smack the snow off of low hanging branches.

“Shouldn’t we be a bit more stealthy?” I asked.

Neve sighed. “Don’t worry, she’ll get serious soon. And I’ve enhanced her senses, so she’ll know if someone is within earshot.”

Nell dragged her hand across the bark of an evergreen. “She’ll hear them?”

“Hear the quietest footsteps, see the smallest movements,” she tapped her nose. “She’ll even smell them. I’d do the same for you, Nick, but getting used to it can be a bit overwhelming at first.”

Daria spun around to walk backwards, somehow still sidestepping trees. She watched Nell and I for a bit and then asked abruptly, “Are you guys together?” 

My insides clenched, which felt extra awful due to the constant internal Shaping I was doing to lower our chances of detection.

“Daria!” Neve said, admonishing.

“What? I’m just getting to know our teammates.”

Nell narrowed her eyes. “Why do you want to know that?”

Daria stopped walking and grinned fiercely at her. “Cause it makes things more fun. You had quite the reaction to the little game Nick and I played. Feeling jealous?”

Neve grabbed a stick off the ground and whipped it against Daria’s head. The thin branch snapped in two and Daria didn’t bat an eye.

“They. Don’t. Have to answer that,” Neve said, glaring at Daria.

Daria chuckled and rubbed the back of her head.

I stepped between Nell and Daria. “We aren’t, so there’s no need for this. I suppose it is fairly common, though? Helen and Alek were a couple.” Emphasis on ‘were’.

Nell didn’t respond and just kept walking. I could tell she hadn’t liked my attempt at defusing things.

Why? I was being truthful. Nell and I shared a close connection. It was a magical thing. But it wasn’t a romantic relationship. I couldn’t even begin to imagine how the dynamic of a Witch and Wolf would play out in romance. But I supposed I was looking at one such example.

As I watched Neve and Daria bicker, I suddenly recalled where I had heard of Kirkbride before and it made me shudder.

“Neve, when you were at Kirkbride, did you meet a man named Chase?” I asked.

In the matter of a second, Neve’s face became as pale as fresh snow, like she’d been drained of every drop of blood. Daria had her back to me, but I saw her red hairs rising like they had been rubbed with a balloon. The muscles on her back became extremely defined.

Neve regained a portion of her composure and grabbed Daria’s hand. “It’s okay, Daria.”

“Are you sure?” Daria asked. Not a hint of her amusement remained.

“Yeah, one uncomfortable question deserves another, no?” She tried and failed to smile.

I raised my hands placatingly. “I don’t want to dredge up anything you don’t want to. We don’t have to talk about it. I just want to say that I have some nightmares of my own from that man. Chase took me on a wild ride of hunting Aberrants and actual people. It ended with me lying in a ditch with my throat slit. Nell was the only reason I survived.”

“I wish I’d been there for Neve,” Daria growled. “So I could’ve pushed that fucker’s eyes through the back of his skull.”

“Maybe I can tell you about it some other time,” Neve said to us quietly. “We’re getting close to the house. Let’s not get distracted.”

Sure enough, after another minute of walking the house was in sight through the trees. A thin trail of smoke was rising from the chimney. Green moss grew along the roof of the quaint single-story bungalow.

Daria paused at the edge of the trees, scanning the house.

“No cameras,” she whispered. “I can hear music from inside.”

I strained to hear what she was hearing, but beyond the sounds of birdsong and squirrels scolding us from above I couldn’t make anything out.

“I’m going to stay here for now,” Neve said, kneeling behind a bush. “I don’t do well up close to the action.”

So the three of us that remained found an angle to approach where the chances of being spotted from the windows was slim. Daria started off first across the open ground, moving in soundless fluidity until she was up against the wood pile. Nell started after her and I followed close behind. Nell bumped a loose piece of firewood and Daria reached out and caught it before it could disturb the pile. She grinned at Nell, who chose not to give her a reaction. At least Daria had shaken off her dark mood.

We crept along until Daria was past the firewood pile, crouching directly beneath a window. Nell’s brow was furrowed as she focused on her sixth sense, so I moved past her and joined Daria under the window.

“Shall we take a peek?” she whispered.

I nodded.

We rose at the same time.

Inside, we viewed a long hallway with wood flooring and a grandfather clock along one wall. 

A cat emerged into the hallway, head craned back as it led the way. Moments later a woman stepped into view. She wore a simple dress that was a bit too tight for her. Her mouth moved, perhaps talking to the cat or herself. We both moved to duck out of sight, but then the woman turned the other way down the hallway and moved into another room.

Daria frowned and mouthed to me, gibberish. 

After a few more seconds, the cat re-emerged, tail waving in the air. It was quite a chunky cat with impressively large paws. It stopped in the middle to groom itself.

Daria waved to get my attention, then motioned that she was going to go around the corner of the house. I nodded and glanced back through the window one more time, then froze.

A boy was in the hallway. He had just pinned the cat to the ground, but now was looking straight at me. He had his hair tied up in braids close to his scalp and he was barefoot. The nails on his hands and feet were long and dirty.

My heartbeat thudded in my ears and I seized Daria’s wrist. She looked back and saw the boy’s wide-eyed stare.

Then the boy released the cat who ran off and raised his hand, beckoning to us with one curled finger. He looked scared.

I reached down and switched on my walkie-talkie. “Mac,” I said quietly, “we’ve found one of the kids. He wants to talk to us.”

I released the talk button to hear Mac in the middle of a swear. “-it. Don’t go inside. We need more information.”

The boy stared at us pleadingly, his eyes darting to the sides nervously.

“He’s already seen us. I don’t want him alerting anyone.”

“Nick,” Mac said firmly. “Listen to your superior. We don’t know if this kid is being influenced by the Witch.”

I clenched my teeth.

“Nah, I’m with Nick,” Daria said, grinning. “If it’s a trap, bring it on.”

“If we’re really here for the kids, let’s fucking act on it,” I said into the radio. “I’m not gonna wait for a more opportune moment.

“Damn it. Don’t let your feelings-”

Nell reached over and turned off my radio.

“Go ahead,” she said. “I’ll wait in the wings. They won’t see us coming.”

“That’s what I like to hear,” Daria breathed, then she slowly slid the window open. The scratchy music of an old record player flowed through the gap, a voice singing alongside a violin. Shuffling footsteps reverberated through the walls from other parts of the house. The floorboards creaked as I set my feet down on them.

Daria came in after and shut the window slowly.

Now that we were closer, I could see that this boy wasn’t Jason. He had the wrong skin tone and hair colour. While there was dirt under his nails and he stood unsteadily on his feet, I didn’t notice any bruises or other irregularities. He looked maybe eight years old.

The boy came closer and opened his mouth, only to pause as someone began to sing along with the record. It was a tenor voice, singing with expertise.

“Are you here to rescue the kids?” the boy whispered in a raspy voice, like he hadn’t spoken in a long time.

I nodded.

His eyes widened. “Okay, I can take you to them. But you need to be quiet. I don’t want him to know about you.”

The boy turned and walked down the hallway, peering into each room as he went. He paused at the open doorway that we had seen the woman enter and spoke to someone inside, “Mable, don’t come out for a bit. He’s in a mood.”

Then he shut the door and beckoned us forward.

Even by tracing his steps, I still made the floorboards creak with my weight. But we were in luck, the man who I assumed to be Jenson kept singing loudly, covering up my mistakes.

Something brushed against my leg and Daria made a tiny sound.

I looked to see the cat looking up at me. The orange and black colouration was striking and the size of it made it clear that this was not a house cat. You could usually tell how big a cat was going to get by the size of its paws, but this was on a whole other level. This was a baby tiger.

What is going on in this house?

Distracted, I reacted too late to the door opening beside me.

A towering figure stood in the doorway, with a bushy beard and hair that grew down to his belly. Meaty hands hung at his sides, with fingers twice as thick as mine. Large eyes peered through his tangled hair and his mouth opened wide, ready to shout.

I feared no amount of singing was going to drown that out.