Seven
2541 Words
Skrillex & Diplo ft. Kai- Mind
"Mom got us Viking costumes," Silas let me know as he rolled his office chair over to me. I laughed.
"Not what I was expecting. Did you get the rap sheets I sent you?" I asked referring to the actual work we have to do.
"Yeah, they're due Tuesday. I'm more worried about the party tonight," he said looking down at his phone. My phone binged. I looked down to see that he had sent me a multimedia message. I opened it and an electronic flyer of Chris Hemsworth twerking popped up.
"Seriously?" I asked, showing it to him.
"Yeah,"
I got another message. This one is from my mom. It's a picture of the costume she had gotten me and I laughed. It's really skimpy. Since I became a recluse shut-in after being held hostage, she has been trying to get me back out there. She says I need to live more. Silas had brushed it off like it had been nothing. He was back out there the next night. He hadn't been the one who was slapped around by our kidnapper's father.
"Ms. Bourne, have you sent your brother the rap sheet you sent me? They're perfect. I'd like for him to get started on them as soon as possible. Our deadline is on Tuesday," our supervisor is walking in our direction.
"I got em. Doctor James," Silas called from his cubical. When did he roll away?
"Good. You're doing a great job sweetheart," he smiled and walked away.
"You hear that, sweetheart. You're doing a great job," I mocked once he was out of hearing range.
"Screw you," Silas laughed.
"Let me see what she got you," I suggested, leaning over the cubicle wall. He lifted his phone and I laughed. "I think that requires for you to be buff,"
"Shut up. I'm lean," he caressed his flat abdomen.
"If that's what you call being scrawny," I dodged the paper ball coming at me. Someone cleared their throat behind me. I turned around to see my dad and another man standing there.
"Dad. I mean, Mr. Bourne," I greeted him. He smirked.
"Working hard?" he asked in a playful tone. I nodded.
"Yes, sir," I answered without really looking at him. The man next to him caught my attention.
"Tobi, this is Edvard Bourne. He's head of the botany department. He's going to require your assistance," I stood up and offered him my hand. He took it firmly before he gave my whole arm a rough shake.
"It's an honor to meet you, Ms, Bourne. I've heard great things,"
"The honor is all mine. Although, I have to say. I don't know anything about plants," I admitted feeling my face flare. he smiled.
"It's a machine I will require your assistance with," he isn't very impressed with me. I nodded.
"Oh. Okay. Yeah, machines I can work with," they both laughed.
"Follow me," he said and turned the other way. My dad slipped something into my lab coat.
"Be careful. Use this if you need to,"
"What is it?"
"Wolf's bane in concentrated form,"
I looked down to see had placed what looks like an inhaler in my pocket. I followed behind Edvard Bourne. I remembered Professor Gallihad had asked me if this man had been my father. The way he moves reminds me a lot of the way Elijah moves. Predatory. Almost soldier-like. Lots of confidence. His massive fit body is hidden under the white lab coat. His large hand is holding an iPad and it kind of makes it look like a large phone.
There is a lot of hair. Lightly decorating the top of his hands and thickly groomed on what I can see of his exposed neck up to his cheeks connecting all the way to the perfectly combed slick back. Thick eyebrows peak from under his big framed glasses.
If my mom's story has any truth in it this man might be a freaking werewolf. My dad just handed me wolf's bane in a freaking inhaler. What is going on in the world? What did she say about botany? Plants. Coveners. People who think that nature always has the answer. What did she say about Lupine? Those who trust the spirit of the wolf. Oh, my god. He's a werewolf.
"You look nervous," his voice startled me. I looked at him.
"My first time doing something that doesn't involve paperwork for my dad," I lied coolly.
"You're not a very good liar," okay, not so cool. "Ask me whatever you like. I am free to speak as I wish,"
"What plan are you from?"
"Do you mean Clan?" he chuckled.
"Is that not what I said?" I asked just digging my grave deeper and deeper. He shook his head.
"You said plan," he chuckled. "I'm Lupine,"
"Lupine?" I squeaked.
"Yes," he laughed. "I am a werewolf,"
I'm pretty sure that quack noise had come out of me. He laughed as we entered the elevator. I'm in a freaking elevator with a freaking werewolf!!!!!!!!!
"Questions?"
"Do you turn into a giant wolf?" I rushed out. He laughed.
"No, some elders have that ability. That power is strict to the Gallihad's,"
"Gallihad's as in Professor Gallihad?"
"Yes, her name is Moon Gallihad," he smiled.
"I'm kind of scared and really intrigue right now," I informed him. He laughed.
"You have no trouble with speaking your mind, do you?"
"Not when I'm under stress," I tried to back away from him a little further but my back hit the elevator wall. I slipped my hand into my pocket and gripped the inhaler ready to spray away if I feel threatened.
"Don't be. The full moon isn't for another three weeks," it didn't help. It also doesn't help that we are in sub-basement three.
We got out of the elevator. I can't believe what I was seeing. It's like walking into a completely different world. The plants seem so... unreal. I followed behind Dr. Bourne as he led me deeper into the basement. I smacked right into him when he stopped. I flinched stepping back.
"It's okay," he laughed. "This place is something else. Here's what I need help with. Bruce said you were nearly an expert on crystals and lighting. I have no idea how a crystal would be used to make the kind of light I need to feed my plants,"
He placed a small box with four large clear quartz crystals. I lifted one and smiled at him. My dad's right. I love how each crystal has a different purpose. I discovered alchemy and crystals in our home library when I was twelve and I became a little obsessed with it.
"Do you know what these are?" I asked.
"Crystals?" he asked and I laughed.
"They're clear quartz. This specific crystal is believed to have healing abilities. You'll see those who believe in minerals wear these around their necks especially in the summer. The heat and the light against it are supposed to amplify its abilities.
"A few years ago a man names Trevor Halloway discovered that with the right measurement of electricity the crystal itself can be used to create a natural light over the artificial. Some asshole came in a tried to amplify it to try and make it into a weapon and it killed him and Doctor Halloway. His work was encoded in something we call the Engine's tail. It was invented in the Victorian Era and is used by Steam Punk inventors,"
"I've never heard of any of this,"
"That's because it was covered up. The blast didn't just kill the two doctors. It leveled a small town with a population of eight hundred. Whatever they tried to do, worked for that instant. Russia has been trying to replicate it for the past twelve years, but like you, they have no idea what these crystals are capable of,"
I disconnected the machine and began to install the crystals as carefully as I can because if they were to break, changing the form of the crystal, the light will dim or worse amplify and burn these out of this world plants. I shut the hatch securing the crystals after covering them in the protective gel that my dad had supplied. He does pay attention to everything I say.
"What is this for?" he asked holding up the gel.
"To protect both the crystals and your plants. Without this, the light will be too hot for the plants. It'll burn right through them. Go ahead and connect the plug," he plugged the machine back in and I pressed the button to start it. The light was guided through the room and into the lamps that feed the plants. "There you go,"
"How do you know about this? This is probably something that belongs to my world,"
"I tend to attract things that get me into trouble. I met this man at MIT who was kicked out for experimenting with crystals and chemicals. He taught me a lot about these. A lot of these are used to help and like most things that are made to help, they can be turned into something that can harm. Some of the chemicals in the A-bomb were originally intended to help cure cancer," I can't shut up when people get me started.
"This is called Monkshood," he said pointing at a beautiful purple flower. "There are eighteen different breeds of this. When my kind came to be, this was used to help pups with their transformation, it was used to help warriors heal faster, help pregnant women in labor. You have a little spray in your pocket that is now used to subdue us. The red one is used to kill my kind. I know all too well of what man can do with healing properties,"
"I'm sorry," I looked up at him a little ashamed of myself, taking the inhaler out.
"If you go back up the way you came you should be able to find your way back to your desk,"
"Dr. Bourne, why do you work here?" I asked my chest feeling tight. I don't see why he's here with hunters and not his own kind. It feels dangerous.
"I don't expect you to understand. I don't expect them to understand either. I am a traitor to my Clan. To my family, I was expendable. Your mother took me in after I lost control and killed one of the Ubiet. My mother handed me over to these people to keep the peace. She thought they were going to kill me and for that first year so did I,"
"You're alive,"
"I am if that's what you can call this. It was my enemy who taught me that I was more than just some dumb animal. We have it all wrong. All of it is wrong," his skin broke out in goosebumps and he twitched.
"Dr. Bourne?"
"Go," his voice wasn't the gruff sound it was seconds ago. It was more of a growl. "Walk. Don't run. It'll only make this worse,"
I turned away and began to walk in the direction I had come from. I jumped when the sound of fabric ripping apart erupted from behind me. I fought every instinct in me that's screaming out for me to run. I pressed the elevator button and it opened right away. I rushed into the box with my heart pounding in my chest. The growl made me jump. For an instant, I froze as the shadow of whatever Dr. Bourne turned into began to get up. Then, I was pressing the close button as fast as I could. It felt like an eternity for the doors to begin to shut. I looked up to see the giant monster he had turned into, looking directly at me.
"Oh, my god," I whispered.
I moved away from the doors as he came running towards me. I held the inhaler up and pressed the container just as the doors began to shut. The impact of his body colliding with the doors shook the entire elevator. The sound of its pain-filled growl echoed in the small box I'm hiding in. I reached over, my hands shaking as I pressed the button to go up. My legs gave out as the elevator moved.
"Tobi,"
I jumped at the sound of my name. I looked up at my dad.
"Why would you send me down there?" I asked, my voice breaking with the fear I feel beating inside of me. I threw the inhaler at him hitting him in the chest.
"You want to know, Tobi. Not everything you encounter will be as pretty as the Sterlings," he picked up the inhaler.
"So you put me in a basement three floors underground to prove a f*****g point?" I shouted pushing him away.
"Tobi," Silas ran over to me.
"You can't pick and choose what you want and don't want to see. This is the world you're looking into. There is no magical land here, Tobi. There are the truth and reality. This isn't one of your stories,"
"You're right. It's not one of my stories. In my stories, dad's aren't so full of s**t,"
"You will not talk to me in that manner Tobiana," he bit out angrily.
"Or what? What are you going to do, huh? Punish me? Take my allowance away? Timeout? Hit me?" I asked. He straightened up and for a second I think he considered the last one. Silas must have seen it as well because he pulled me behind him and took a protective stance in front of me.
"Get her out of here. We'll talk about this at home,"
Silas took my hand and took me in the direction of our cubical. We had drawn attention to us. Well, I had drawn attention to us. I grabbed my things or rather tried. My body still shook from what I had seen down there.
"I'll get it," Silas stopped me before putting my things in my bag. We were out of there with him still pulling me with him. "I thought he was going to do it,"
"Has he ever hit you before?" I asked. He looked at me without saying a word and I knew. "Why would he do that?"
"Our Clan. We're soldiers. There is no room for weakness in this,"
"Compassion is not a weakness," I said looking over at him.
"No, it's not. Dad isn't a monster, Tob. If our Clan was a country, dad would be the king. He has to make decisions none of us are capable of making ourselves. Like sending you down there. I don't agree with it but you have to know everything now. Edvard is a second-class being. Once she comes of age, even shortly after her transition, Cassidy Collins will be able to take that thing single-handedly and with her bare hands,"
"What?" How the hell did this become about them?
"It gets worse," he said looking down at the steering wheel. "I think we can really use a drink right about now,"
"Yeah," I said putting on my seatbelt. "Let's get the hell out of here,"
- Writer
