Chapter 27: Darkness Visible
My Saturday started much earlier than usual since I had to stop at both of my churches for prayers, confessions, and lighting some candles. By the time my soul was taken care of, I had to head to karate class. Of course, Jazz and Key wanted all my date details and would barely let me out of the locker room. They were practically swooning with the minor details. I was actually glad Rafe wasn’t here because I would have blushed pretty much the whole practice. I had two stations in my head. The Perfect First Date. Team Calli Plan B.
To keep with the stealth theme, I met Dr. A at the gas station on the way home. We got gas at the adjacent pumps as he briefed me one more time. I also made him promise me that the drugs for Thrace, Justin, Spart, and Rafe wouldn’t hurt them. He just nodded and said his part was covered. He then gave me my earbud that we would use to communicate. He left with, “I am literally risking all our lives on the plan that you came up with, Calliope. So no pressure.”
I smiled and said, “I always wondered about your sanity, Dr. A. But today, I am not Calliope, I’m Super Calli. For once, I am going to be the instigator in my own life!”
I put the gas pump away, and then sped off back home with a feeling of both fear and anticipation. I spent the rest of the day with my parents. I just wanted to give them a good last memory if the worst happened. It was a typical Edonides bonding afternoon. Dad and I watched sports, and mom read her novel. Thrace came over, and I think the normalcy of this moment actually calmed him down. He then asked me to go to dinner with him, Justin, and Spart as planned. I agreed, and we separated for me to go change and him to pick up his car.
So what is the best fight and flee wear for girls these days?
1.My most comfortable black yoga pants (doesn’t show dirt).
2.Violent Femmes t-shirt (get me in the right frame of mind)
3.Oldest pair of sneakers (might have to ditch them)
4.Hair up in half ponytail, half bun (less likely to get pulled out in a cat fight)
5.Overnight bag (cause I’m suppose to stay at Jazz’s house) which contains: earbud, fighting gloves, brass knuckles, and shin guards (the harpy does have an unfair advantage, so I am coming prepared this time!)
Thrace arrived promptly at 7, and we were quickly on our way. As he was driving, Thrace announced, “Calli, if something goes wrong and you have to choose between your safety and mine tonight, please, choose your safety. I can handle waking up feeling beat up, but I can’t handle you getting hurt.”
“Thrace, you have been one of my plane friends for over 10 years. I love you and will do everything in my power to protect you. If there was a way I could have stopped this, I would have.”
“Calli, this was all me. I was a complete mooooron. I truly don’t deserve you.”
We had arrived at the DUA headquarters as I replied, “And you didn’t deserve what is happening to you. You ready, Freddy?”
Thrace sent a regretful smile my way as he said, “As ready as I will ever be. I hope Rafe knows how lucky he is.”
“Don’t worry. I will tell him on a daily basis. Although I think you are assuming a lot, we only had our first date last night.”
Thrace looked relieved as he remarked, “Oh. It took him that long to make it through all your hoops?”
“We were both trying to get over really great ex’s, so we needed a little time to heal.”
We entered the GAR building and were met by Dr. A. He escorted us to the computer room where both Justin and Spart were already hanging out and playing online video games. Dr. A had me take the guys’ pizza and soda orders before I went to join the meeting. As I entered the study, the whole Plan A team was assembled, including Dr. A, Apollo, and Rafe. I gave them both a brief nod as Apollo walked us through his plan one last time. Since Apollo’s job was to trail Aglaea, he needed to leave at the end of his spiel. He walked over to Dr. A and said, “I’m entrusting Calliope’s safety to you, Admetus. Handcuff her to a chair if need be, but don’t let her out of your sight tonight.”
Dr. A just smiled, “I promise you I will keep her under my watch all night.”
Apollo assured me that everything would go as planned, then kissed me on the forehead.
I looked at him and said in a serious voice, “Behave.” Oh, was he gonna kick my eyas next time he saw me.
The pizza arrived, and Dr. A also brought us each a soda of our choice. Each of the guy’s soda was laced with the necessary drug. Hopefully, they would all take affect at about the same time. Dr. A suggested we each give a toast (so everyone would drink quicker). Justin and Spart toasted to this all being over with and not getting beat up anymore.
Thrace toasted me. “To my best friend and love of my life. Thank you for having my back, Calli, for one more time.”
Ok. Awkward. I gave a simple toast that acknowledged the past with Thrace and foreshadowed my future betrayal of Rafe, “To err is human, to forgive divine.”
Rafe seemed puzzled as if forgiving Thrace meant that I wanted to go back with him. He toasted, “May we speed through this night and forget about it soon after.”
Dr. A ended our toasts with, “Be safe. Be smart. Be sound. Believe.”
We had all taken a drink at each toast, so Dr. A asked if anyone needed a refill. We all said yes, and he went and got us another round. He gave the boys water because he wanted them to start hydrating even before the nausea started. He let Rafe and I have our caffeine though. I said I needed to go grab my phone from the study as planned. I sat down on the couch and leaned forward while I clasped my hands together and placed them on my forehead. I prayed silently for all my friend’s safety. I prayed for guidance, and I prayed for forgiveness. Rafe walked in and sat next to me.
As usual, he tried to tease me out of my worry. “You know I’m immortal, right.”
“You are definitely a force of nature. And you own first dates. They are going to have to update your Wikipedia page.”
He laughed and commented, “I’ll get on that. I take it that you and Thrace came to an understandment on the car ride over.”
“Yes, but not any different than before.”
Rafe replied in a slightly slow and drowsy manner, “I don’t think it is an understandment if he doesn’t accept it.” The drug was starting to work, and I needed to get to my confession.
I turned to face Rafe on the couch, and my intense gaze burned into his sleepy one, “I don’t want to talk about him. I want to talk about us. In this time, in this place, in this moment, you have my heart, Rafe Hermes.” I kissed him with the desperation that I felt. I leaned him back on the couch so he was laying with me half on top of him. I pulled away and looked down at him.
He barely got out a “What have you done?” before his eyes closed and his deep even breathing started.
I laid my head on his chest and pleaded, “Forgive me Rafe.” I rested on his chest listening to him breath for several minutes more before I got up. I moved his legs so they were laying on the couch as well, then leaned down and kissed him on the forehead as I whispered, “I’m soooo sorry Rafe.”
I went to the door, and one of the Plan B team was waiting outside. I announced, “He’s asleep. Please take good care of him and alert Dr. A if his breathing changes.”
I headed back toward the first floor loading docks where the guys were at their chosen van. As I walked toward them, I could see the vomiting had started. As I drew closer, one of the Plan B guys said, “We think they got most of the pizza out. I want them in the vans when they get the call, and we’re only about 20 minutes out.”
I walked toward Thrace as he said, “Calli, why didn’t you tell us about this part?”
“I didn’t want you to refuse to do it. If for some reason they find us and try to take you, you need to be sick so you won’t be worth anything to them.”
“Now we have to drive to make sure we keep you guys safe. Please trust me. We just needed that protection because I promised you that you would not wake up tomorrow b
eaten and bruised.”
Thrace nodded, and I led him to our van. Justin and Spart were already heading toward their van. Thrace was very confused when he was locked in to his compartment. It had a large trashcan as well as sprite and water. Thrace asked me, “Why is this necessary?”
I looked at him and said, “Just another precaution. They are going to have to pry you out if they want you.”
When all the guys were locked in and Team Calli stood in front of Dr. A, he smiled at us and said, “As some of you may know, one of my favorite actors is Gene Hackman. He was in a movie in the early 80’s called Uncommon Valor, which I think describes all of you very aptly. Right before his unit split up to go on their mission, he gave the following speech, which I thought summed up what I want to say.”
He looked down at the piece of paper in his hand for a second, then recited, “We'll that's it...it's game time. There are some lines from Julius Caesar: 'If a man were to know the end of this day's business ere it come; But it suffice that the day will end, and then the end is known. If we meet again, well then we'll smile, and if not then this parting was well made.”
He scanned the room and said, “We will meet again, and we will smile, and we will have another victory against those things that took our loved ones way!”
We all started shaking hands, hugging, and telling each other to be careful. Dr. A and his reinforcement team waved us away and headed off to the communication area at a secret site, so Apollo couldn’t track them down.
My van had four men, Thrace, and myself. We started to drive our planned route. We had to wait to go to our destination until we were sure that Apollo’s car was disabled by one of our watchers with a kill switch. The first communication we heard over the radio was that Justin was starting to act funny. He was trying to get out of his bonds, and he was demanding to be let go. Soon after, the same story was coming from the van with Spart in it. Thrace started the same antics as his friends. Luckily, the puking sort of took the steam out of some of his yelling and demands. The tension in the vans was high. After about 15 minutes, we heard that our two Plan B watchers had reported that Aglaea and her two sisters were on the move in separate cars. Luckily, we had all the cars, including the Graces, hooked into our GPS system. Next, it was confirmed that Apollo’s car wouldn’t start, and we were a go for our destination.
We were heading to Fisher Body Plant 21 on Piquette and St. Antoine. The building was a beautiful old structure with a half a million square feet built in 1919, and was yet another Albert Kahn designed building in Detroit. Factories back then were several stories high with countless windows so employees could enjoy the natural light while they worked. Fisher got absorbed by GM, and the plant was closed in the mid-nineties and has fallen to ruin. I am quite certain that the Fisher brothers, who started out by making horse-drawn carriages and ended up making 370,000 car bodies per year, would be rolling over in their grave to see their historic factory now. Because of the ground floor windows, ample space, location, and lack of security, it proved ideal for our purposes.
Home base kept us constantly apprised on Aglaea’s location. She definitely wasn’t too far behind us so we were going to have to move fast. I caught Thrace’s attention for a moment and told him we were going to let him out soon while the man sitting next to me got Thrace with a syringe to the arm. I was really hoping this knocked him out; otherwise we were going to have to do this the hard way. Luckily, Thrace was out like a light bulb. We were about to pull up to our destination, and our watchers reported that we were clear. We pulled the van directly behind a strategically placed dumpster that would hide the van from view of the window and street. We laid Thrace on a black carpet with his wastebasket if he had to hurl. I made sure to lay him on his side so he wouldn’t choke if he got sick while I was busy fighting Aglaea.
In two minutes, we had everything set up. The guys were ready to get into position. Addressing them, I said, “You are going to want to help me, especially if I am losing to the Graces. You need to know that ultimately they won’t kill me because I am a Muse, but they would kill you. So unless the Graces literally try to kill me before I can tell them that I am a Muse, you have to promise to stay put, got it?”
“We understand our job, Calli, even though we might not like it.”
“Even if I don’t get away clean and Ares finds out about me tonight, I will be able to get much more information if I am on the inside instead of staying safely hidden. It’s a win-win for all of us. By the way, understanding is not promising in my book Team Calli.”
In unison they swore, “We promise, Super Calli.”
“Excellent. Now get the flock out. She’s almost here.”
They departed quickly, and I put on my gear—earbud, gloves, brass knuckles, and shin guards. All there was left to do was wait, so I paced and memorized my surroundings. I heard through my earbud that she had arrived and that she made a phone call before she came in. I didn’t have long to wait before I heard her heading my way.
Aglaea spotted me and walked toward me cautiously. Once she discounted any additional threat, she asked in a curious manner, “What do we have here?”
I looked at her and almost snarled out, “I should have known.” I could hear Dr. A in my ear cautioning me to be a little less pissy. Easy for him to say, this was my part to play. I needed it to be convincing.
She came over and examined Thrace as I kept my distance. He wasn’t currently vomiting, but he was dry heaving in his sleep a little. And he had the nasty trashcan next to him as well.
When she was finally satisfied that Thrace was really sick and not just faking, she turned her attention back to me and demanded, “What is wrong with my lover?”
Whoaaaa…I think she wanted to goad me as well as pump me for information. I didn’t take her bait and remembered my role of confused friend. “I think it is food poisoning. We all went to get pizza tonight. Thrace, Justin, and Spart all shared a pizza and not soon after they all started hurling. I told them that seafood on pizza is probably not a good idea.”
Aglaea seemed to ponder my answer and the implications for her sisters as she asked, “Where are the two other boys, and why are you here?”
“I could only handle taking one puking person in my car, so I got Thrace. Just and Spart were taken home by some other friends. But Thrace didn’t want to go home, he insisted that I bring him here. I thought he was crazy, but he was desperate to get here.”
“How very inconvenient for both of us. Now I am a gladiator short tonight, so I think this is your lucky night. Thrace said you were a decent fighter; guess we will find out how good.”
She moved toward me with incredible speed and grace, but this time I was ready to do battle with the harpy.
Let me tell you, those fighting gloves and brass knuckles came in handy as well as the shin guard for a while. She was clearly better than me, but I would like to think that was due to her unfair genetic advantage rather than her fighting skills. We both landed some punches and kicks. However, when I landed something, it only made a small impact on her, whereas when she landed something I was knocked off my rocker. It was clear that she was about to go in for the kill, or bite, so to speak.
In between blocks, I finally said, “Did Thrace ever tell you what Calli is short for?”
Aglaea seemed confused at the sudden conversation and backed off for a second, “Why would I care about that?”
I dropped the bombshell on her then, “Calli is short for Calliope and if you are thinking of biting me, you might think again.”
Her momentary astonishment allowed me to land both a punch and a kick. As she recovered, she snarled, “Impossible. You are lying--you little slut. There is no way you are a Muse.”
“Are you sure, and are you willing to take that chance and bet your life on that? Somehow, I think even you aren’t that crazy.”
Unfortunately, she took my words as a challenge rather than a warning as it was intended because she attacked full steam again. She
was getting in closer and closer as I advised her one last time, “Aglaea, you don’t want to do this.”
“On the contrary, I am looking forward to kicking your ass then using you to kick someone else’s ass as you pay the price.” Time seemed to go in slow motion. Just as I was blocking a punch, she used her momentum to grab my arm and sink her razor sharp teeth into it, then I heard a sucking noise before I could stop her.
I screamed, “Aglaea, don’t do it.”
But it was too late. In mere seconds, she was clutching her throat as she looked at me with desperation glowing from her eyes. Then she fell at my feet. I was physically shaking, and I believe I probably went into shock for a minute until I heard Plan B team move in.
Two of the Plan B team started to lift Thrace out of the window, and the team leader checked Aglaea out. He seemed to think she was gone because he said good job to me, then he departed while telling Justin’s van to head this way. In a fit of anger, I threw my shin guards, gloves, and brass knuckles out the window. It was childish and Justin’s guards would have to bring them to me, but somehow this was not how I saw this going down. Had I made a mistake? I went to Aglaea to check on her before Justin’s team came and picked her up when they dropped him off. I made the sign on the cross as I recited from Psalms, “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever. Amen. Rest in peace, Aglaea. Be born again with a more charitable heart.” Then, I shut her eyelids so she was no longer staring at me.
As I stood back up, our watchers announced someone was coming into the building. I realized immediately that my prayer for Aglaea might have just cost me my life because I should have been outside waiting safely in the van. Approaching me at a rapid speed were too buff and angry immortals. They moved in quickly, one pinning me up against the wall and one going to Aglaea. I tried to fight him off, but he was too quick. I couldn’t see the immortal checking out Aglaea because I was facing the wall. I did here him ask, “Deimos, is Aglaea alright?”
Then, I heard the snarled replied, “No, Phobos, she’s dead.”
Phobos, I assume, put more pressure on my arm pinned behind my back and growled, “What did you do to her, human!”
It felt like my arm was going to come out of my socket any second as I stammered, “Nothing. She attacked me! I was here on Thursday with my Urban Archeologist group. There was just something about this place. I came back to check it out. And just as I was leaving this girl shows up and starts talking crazy stuff. Then she attacked me, and she even bit me. Who does that? I’ve heard of hair pulling and clawing during a girl fight, but biting? Look at my arm! Next, thing I know she’s falling back and passes out. I was checking on her when you came in.”
I heard from my earbud a very quiet, “Don’t tell them unless you think they are going to hurt you. We are moving into position now.”
Deimos commented, “There is something not right here, Phobos. I am going to alert Ares about our intruder. Be careful. One thing is clear. She’s dangerous, and we need to get out of here.”
That was the last thing I heard because Phobos, the eyas, hit me on the back of the head with his fist, and I was out like my dad in church. The next time I was awake I: 1) was not in Fisher Body Plant 21, 2) was chained to a wall with my hands stretched above me and my feet barely touching the floor, and 3) was most likely in mortal danger again with a rockin headache to boot. The only thoughts that I was capable of processing right now were: FLOCK! FLOCK! FLOCK! FLOCK! FLOCK! and STUPID! STUPID! STUPID! STUPID! STUPID! I hoped that they had not tried to attack Phobos and Deimos because clearly they had not succeeded if they did.
As I thought of Aglaea, regret swept over me. I remembered another wise saying that my grandma stole from Clare Boothe Luce, the first woman to be a congresswoman and ambassador-- “No good deed goes unpunished.” I finally got a clear demonstration of the meaning of that phrase. I cleared my head and started to survey my surroundings. I tested the chains on both my hands and feet. They had actually used old-fashioned manacles. The kind you would see in pirate movies, and there were two medieval torches suspended from the wall. I know they are immortal and all, but they really did need to realize they were now in the 21st century. As I kept working on the chains, I also checked out the room. I had no idea how long I had been out. I tried to test the defenses and contact my team by saying, “Hello? Is anyone there?”
I heard Dr. A come over my radio, “Calli. Are you alright?”
I quietly said, “Yes,” in a whisper.
“We lost them coming out of the building. We contacted Apollo with all the details now that you have been captured, and he is trying to find your location as we speak. Can you tell me anything about where you are being held?”
Under my breath I said, “Small room. No windows. Heavy door. Manacle chains on the wall holding me. Too dark to tell anything else. How are Rafe, Thrace, and Apollo?”
Dr. A quietly replied, “Rafe is still asleep. If we thought he could help, we would shoot him with adrenaline, but I think the farther away from this the better for him. He would blow your cover. The boys are fine and also asleep. We had to give Thrace and the boys something so they won’t remember tonight. We are still driving them around just in case though. Apollo is irate. He already threatened to kill me if you were dead, so thanks for waking up. I just hope he gets you out of there before Ares shows up. I’ll pass along the information.”
“Thanks. I will cough when someone comes in so you will zip it. Dr. A, I gave her a choice. Why did she do it?” I said in a confused voice.
“Aglaea thought she was invincible. She believed the Graces were stronger than the Olympians. I guess you could sum it up by saying she was the type of person who thought about her actions too little and her desires too much.”
“What time is it and are you going to take the guys home soon? Have Rafe call me when he wakes up. I’m sure he is going to be really angry. Please tell the gods that if they harm a hair on your slightly balding head that they will lose all contact privileges with me. Got it?”
Dr. A laughed softly and said, “Do you always ask 20 questions and make 20 statements at once?”
“Absoflockinutely. Now answer my questions.”
“It’s about 3:30am. It should be safe to drop them off before dawn. We have their keys, and it should be no problem getting them home. I hope the same can be said for you, my dear. Why did you stay to say that prayer?”
“I had to. I had to at least check to see if I could help. I had to at least say something to guide her home.”
Just then, I heard movement outside, and I coughed as I waited for my fate to walk in the door.