Chapter 18
More Imbroglio…
Their names were Max and Thad. Max was from Ukiah, California. He was twenty-six. Thad was fifty-two, from San Francisco, and had taken an interest in me, as well as playing guitar for the firefly pixies. Neither one talked much about what had happened to them before they had found Gideon’s group, and I hadn’t heard what little they had said. But I knew that Max once had a wife and two sons. Thad had been a grandfather of three.
Ultimately, I found Gideon at the fire pit talking with a large gathering. It was an evening event for the group. Gibby was setting up for marshmallows and s’mores. There was a pile of pre-sharpened sticks of suitable length. Elan was jumping up and down happily in anticipation of the snack. Everyone was relaxed and pretty much the only people who were missing were on guard duty at the highway. Briefly, I noticed that Lulu had already found Zach and was talking to him animatedly. One of her hands touched his shoulder, and I made myself focus on Gideon.
Gideon stood up from his cut-log stool as soon as I came into sight, and I faltered as he did so. Kara bumped into my back. Why was it, that in this group, no one had seen what was to happen to the two men? Why was it that I hadn’t had any tingle of a bad feeling more than I had? Why was it that Gideon knew that something was wrong as soon as he saw me?
There was a reason, of that I was certain. I needed to figure it out in order to understand how to use any of our abilities for the best scenario. Gideon stared at me, and it dawned on me that he was getting a mind full of images. He hadn’t discussed it; he had only implied that my theory was correct, but I knew then.
One of the steering committee members, Leander, a man who led the scavenging missions, stood up as well, his face fixed on mine. His expression was horrified as he stared at me, and I wondered what he was thinking.
Zach saw me then, and his eyes centered on me. Lulu turned to see what he was looking at, and she shrugged with an elongated sigh. Her hand dropped to her side.
“Ethan,” Gideon said abruptly. “We need to gather the steering committee for a meeting now.”
Ethan was sitting across from Gideon, holding Calida on his lap with his hand on her stomach. He frowned at Gideon even as all conversation died away. Boy, I was a killer at parties and like functions. I could really be counted on to clear a crowd. The next thing I knew, they would be fleeing at the mere sight of me.
The steering committee consisted of Gideon, Ethan, Sinclair, Calida, and Leander, who had become friends with Zach. The faction made the decisions about where the larger group was going in terms of becoming civilized once again. They shared their decisions on a biweekly basis with the larger group and asked for suggestions. (It was very enlightening. Often I wasn’t sure if I should laugh or cry.) They parted from the crowd while worried words slithered like snakes through the crowd.
“You too, Sophie,” Gideon ordered as he turned to follow the others into the main office building. Well, color me surprised.
Zach started to protest but Kara said, “Not now, Zach.”
I followed the others with only one glance over my shoulder. Zach was standing at the edge of the group watching me. His arms were at his sides, his hands clenched into fists. Kara was beside him, saying something softly to him. He shook his head and then turned away. Lulu was already talking with someone else, having apparently given up on Zach for the moment.
The main office building had a stonework fireplace that was lit with a blazing fire. There was a series of small offices along one side of the building and a large open area with the fireplace. It provided the light for the room. The five core group members gathered around it, and I lagged behind uncertainly. Gideon motioned me to his side and made a space for me. Everyone sat on the floor expectantly waiting for Gideon to begin.
“Tell them what you saw, Sophie,” he instructed kindly.
“The Burned Man,” I said immediately. I swallowed nervously. Saying his name was like whispering the name of the worst person imaginable. It was the old mantra: Speak of the devil, and the devil will appear. The Burned Man might not be the devil, but he might very well appear. “He killed them. He killed them both,” I finished, wishing it didn’t have to be said.
Calida took in a breath that was half a gasp. I had spoken of the mysterious sociopath who had attacked me before, and they knew of his moniker. “Killed who?”
“Max and Thad,” I said, and I glanced at Gideon. His face was white. The freckles that clouded his nose and cheeks stood out like period points. His lips were a flat, grim line. I had warned him, and I suspected he didn’t need the reminder in the least. It would be haunting him.
“They went to replace the sign,” Ethan said. “The one you burned down.” He looked at me skeptically. “What makes you think they’re dead?” Clearly, Ethan wasn’t on board with the whole psychic thing. He was a born cynic and made sure that everyone knew it.
Sinclair made a noise. “Sophie knows things, Ethan. Just like Gideon. Just like Elan.”
Ethan’s face twisted. “We’ve had this conversation before. You know I don’t believe in any of this crap.” His face contorted a little. “Although…there are things I can’t just explain away. Maybe.”
“What’s the day of the week today, Ethan?” I asked quickly.
“It’s Thursday,” he said promptly. Then he glowered at me.
“What does that have to do with anything?” Calida asked.
“That’s my theory,” I said. “We survived because we’re all something special.”
“Special,” Ethan repeated doubtfully. “My mind works in a funny way. I remember dates. I can calculate dates and days of the weeks. I’ve always been good with numbers. I used to be an accountant before the change. It’s an interesting skill, nothing more. And it certainly isn’t paranormal.”
I tried to see the big burly Ethan as an accountant and had to blink. He looked like a lumberjack or an extreme wrestler, not an accountant. Straightaway, I blurted out, “What day was January 1st in the first year A.D.?”
“Monday. Darn it!” Ethan said swiftly. “Would you cut it out? It’s nothing exceptional. It’s just one of those things. Some people play football really well. I do numbers and dates. Not a huge deal. Especially not now.”
“Your brain works differently,” I said. “Or maybe it has an extra little something that gives you that ability. Just as I do. Just like Gideon. Just like the doctor and his magic hands.”
Sinclair shrugged his shoulders. “Too bad it doesn’t work on the bigger injuries, but I’m death on headaches and sore muscles.” He made a noise. “Sorry, bad choice of words.”
“When’s my birthday, Ethan?” I asked quickly.
“Wednesday, January 15th,” Ethan said before he clamped his mouth shut.
“How would you know that?” I queried softly.
“And Calida?” Ethan said snarkily, ignoring the question. “What’s your take on her? Does she foretell the future or tell about your past lives? Maybe she makes the Chrysler Building vanish in front of a huge crowd.”
“I don’t know,” I said as I looked at Calida. She had an expression on her face that said she knew what I was talking about. Oh yeah, she knew. And she hadn’t told Ethan. Sorry, Calida. I hadn’t meant to rain on her parade. “What is it, Calida?” I asked slowly. My tone was all that. I knew. She knew that I knew. I knew that she knew that I knew. (What a mouthful.)
“Baby?” Ethan said questioningly. He had caught the same look. It didn’t just puzzle him, but it pricked his enduring attention. Calida had hidden something from him. “What is it?”
“Sometimes,” she said and then the words died off. “Sometimes,” she started again, “I can move things.”
Ethan’s mouth opened and then shut again.
Gideon nodded encouragingly. “Little things, right, Calida?”
“Mostly,” Calida agreed. “But when I was twelve, my grandfather got pinned under his car. The jack stand crumpled. There was no one else, you see. There was no one to
help, and the phone was all the way up at the house. I had a nosebleed for two days. They kept me in the hospital, but they let my grandfather out the same day. He thought it was an angel. He never knew what really happened to get the car off him.”
“But it was you,” Gideon finished.
Ethan was staring at Calida dumbfounded. I wished I could read his mind and tell if he was simply surprised and not frightened. I hoped I hadn’t just screwed something up for the two of them. Mostly, I hoped they would forgive my intrusion. She looked at him in silent rebuke and then glanced around. Her gaze settled on a basket of pinecones next to the fireplace. She closed her eyes for a moment, and one of the pine cones tumbled out of the basket. It rolled on the hearth in front of the fireplace for a long moment and then suddenly skittered over to Ethan in abrupt jerking motions. It hit his shin, and he reached down automatically to stop it. When it was still, he looked at Calida with amazement. Then he murmured, “Don’t be afraid of me, Calida,” and she smiled weakly.
Leander laughed. The sound split the large open space, and everyone looked at him in astonishment. “All this time, I thought it was something only I could do. And this is why we survived? When all those others didn’t?” He was a large man in his forties with salt and pepper hair and green eyes. Agile and lean, he exuded a certain strength that people probably didn’t appreciate until he was in action. Once he was a banker. Now he was part of a group who were all something unique, not all of who wanted to admit to their extraordinary aptitudes.
“And you?” Gideon asked. When I looked at Gideon it was readily apparent to me that he already knew what was up with Leander.
Mind reader, I thought. Leander’s head swung around to me. His green eyes were like arrows. It didn’t take a mind reader to know that he was wondering how I could have known that. Good guess, I thought harder. That’s why he had been staring at me. He’d known what I was so emotional over.
“That’s right,” he said to me.
“He doesn’t get every thought,” I said. “Just the strongest ones. The most emotional.”
“It’s like pictures in my head. And I tend to tune out most people,” Leander added, ducking his head a little. “It’s difficult to hear all their thoughts in my head, so I kind of shut it all out unless I need to know something very particular.” He shrugged as if he was slightly embarrassed. “It helped a lot when I was doing high finances to know when people were lying.” His head swung back to Ethan who was staring at Leander intently. “And yes, I know your underwear is purple with pink polka dots, Ethan. Nice shorts, dude.”
Calida smothered a sound with her hand. Ethan snorted.
I didn’t laugh. They’d forgotten for a moment why they were here. In their delight of the new and unusual, they’d forgotten about Max and Thad.
But Gideon hadn’t forgotten anything. “I should have listened to Sophie,” he said. “For that, I’m sorry. I sincerely apologize to you, Sophie. You tried to tell us, and I thought that we were stronger than him. I thought that we would know if he was a threat to us.”
“Obviously, it doesn’t work all the time,” I said. “But I have to ask if the Burned Man knows something about us, as well.”
Ethan sat up straight. “You mean, he’s like us?” Apparently, acceptance was easier than I had thought it would be for him. “He’s somehow psychic, too?”
“I mean exactly that,” I agreed. “He knew that you were coming for me, or he would have tried to finish me off. He didn’t know how close you were but he knew. He deliberately stopped and looked over his shoulder to the south. If he had known how close I was to giving up, he wouldn’t have stopped. If he had known that you and Zach were hours away, and not minutes, he wouldn’t have stopped. But he was injured, his blood was draining from his arm too fast, and he fled instead.”
Gideon was digesting the information. “And you’re certain about Max and Thad?”
“Yes,” I said sadly. I didn’t say the rest. The bad feeling had come the moment I was talking to Kara. We were too far away to do whatever could have been done. They were by the highway at another billboard they’d selected. They had found a ladder and the paint they needed. While Max was up on top, the Burned Man had come up behind Thad. Thad hadn’t fought because he’d been taken by surprise. Max had come down the ladder when Thad wouldn’t answer, and the Burned Man had used some kind of club on him. But that wasn’t the worst of it.
Leander watched me, and his color faded away. He had seen what I had seen. I couldn’t help the emotionality of what had happened. “God,” he said. “Oh no.”
I lowered my head. Gideon touched my shoulder. “I warned them to be careful,” he said softly. “It wasn’t enough.”
“You didn’t know,” Ethan responded. “No one knew. If what you say is correct and some of you do have premonitions and the like, it’s useful, but it’s not something you can count on all the time. You have to understand that. It’s possible you couldn’t have changed the situation, even if you’d known about it days in advance.”
Well, Ethan surprised me. Ever the doubter, he was coming to the rescue. Obviously, he felt protective of Gideon. I wondered how I felt. I had warned Gideon, but I didn’t know that the Burned Man would target two grown men. Further, Max and Thad were large men, both more than capable of protecting themselves, but apparently, they hadn’t taken the warning to heart. Whose fault was this?
The Burned Man.
Now the decision was what to do about it.