Chapter 23
Trust
I sat there at the Honky Tonk. Across the table sat Grace and Christopher. Grace was eating chocolate chip pancakes doused in syrup. Christopher lay his homework on the table and began to work on it.
How did we get here? How did I get here?
It wasn’t that long ago when I was on my own. It was just another day for me. Class and studying. But something happened. A strange phone call led me to an alley where I was attacked by an Affect. And only by Grace’s hand was I saved.
I ran from her, and she followed me. I pushed her away, and she followed me. I ran onto the subway, and she followed me. Another unknown call and another Affect. It knocked the train off the tracks, but Grace stopped it.
We went our separate ways, but I saw her in class the next day. It seemed I couldn’t get away from her. So we talked, and she told me all she knew: Affects and Aspects, but it wasn’t my fight. I didn’t want any part of this. I walked away. That was when there was another phone call. I didn’t answer. But an Affect came anyways. I’m noticing a pattern here. But it wasn’t Grace that saved me. A detective named Eason Schwind saved me.
Grace came by, and he told us more about Aspects and Affects. He works for a group known as the Crown of the Sun. Opposing them is the group known as the Children of Medea. He told us the Children want to help Affects purge humanity, and he warned us of Jack. He wanted us to join him, but we declined.
Grace then took me out to track and hunt Affects. It was technically successful. I didn’t track them. I summoned them. I didn’t realize that I acted as a beacon. Grace knocked me out to stop the summoning, and she eradicated the Affects.
She took me home, and I threw her out. My phone rang once more, but no Affects came to me. Instead, I found one chasing Grace. I called her but her phone was dead. I ran out into the night to find her, but I had no luck. I had to learn how to use my Aspect to track her down. It wasn’t easy. There was some yelling. But I learned, and I found her. Together, we defeated the Affect.
A few days later, we met at the mall. I insulted Grace, and she ran from me just as an Affect began to attack the people in the mall. She was one of them. It ate her shadow, and she fell into coma. I ran to Eason, and he trained me. Turns out, sound has physical properties as well. I went back to the mall and defeated the Shadow Eater.
I went and visited Grace at the hospital. I signed her out from the hospital, and on our way out, we were attacked by the man named Jack – a murderer who can’t die. He wants to kill me because I interest him. We were saved by an Agent of the Children and were brought to meet Anna. She told us of Remnants, Aspects that regained their human consciousness. Eason interrupted her speech and took us away.
I met up with Grace the next morning. Then, I met with Jack in the afternoon. He saved me from the Agent who had saved me from him the day before. The agent wanted to bring me to the other members of the Children. But Jack left e alone. He had his fill in decapitating the agent. He left. I felt sick. Grace took me home and stayed the night. A storm brewed that night, and I tried to find Jack using the sound of the storm. I found Eason and Anna instead.
The next day, Grace and I went to Zephyr Park where we met Christopher. My phone rang again to warn us of an impending Affect attack. A murder of crows dove down, but Christopher stopped them all. We then ran away and came to the conclusion that…
After Christopher decided that Grace and I were to babysit him, he called his parents. I disbelieved him. His parents came by and took us to dinner.
We walked into the restaurant. The hostess greeted us and then sent us to a table. We ordered our food and made some small talk. The night ended. That’s how it should have went. That’s what I expected.
They took us to their home – a two story duplex. Theirs was the one painted pastel purples and blues next to the brown and orange one. The sun was setting, but even in that orange glow, it remained firmly purple and blue.
We entered the front door. Inside, the walls were covered in lavender wallpaper – that is to say wallpaper with lavenders on them. Family pictures framed the staircase wall. Everything felt old fashioned – felt like that nostalgic memory of home everyone has, but that could possibly never be. But here it was.
I couldn’t remember the last time I sat down at a dinner table. Mr. Collins set the table. Mrs. Collins brought out a large tray of meatloaf, a bowl of mashed potatoes with the skin still in, a pitcher of gravy with mushrooms, and a plate of steamed vegetables. Grace ate three helpings not including dessert, which was cherry pie a la mode. That was an additional two helpings.
There were the formalities and the pleasantries of a dinner table conversation, but Christopher’s parents asked about us – even made fun of us. How long have you two been going out? Everyone but me laughed at that, which caused more laughter. They never asked us anything serious – why would an eight year old want to be around Grace? Be around me? They trusted their child at such an age. They even knew he had an Aspect, but that may have been why. Christopher is good at reading people. He can protect himself. And they trust that he can take care of himself. I could still hear some trembles in their voices. Parents will always worry.
After dinner, we went outside to Zephyr Park. The Collins’s lived on the other side of Zephyr Park. I was afraid someone might recognize us, but night and shadows obscure all. I didn’t even know why we went outside. Christopher sat us down in the grass and told us to look up. And then, I saw it. The city’s birthday celebration – one hundred years. We sat in the grass and looked toward that colorful night.
After that, Christopher went to sleep. Grace and I left. His parents drove us home. They dropped Grace off first, and on our way to my house, we talked.
“Christopher is different,” his mother stated. “But so are you, aren’t you?”
“Yes.”
“Maybe you can answer this then. What’s happening to my son, Hank?”
“I don’t know, Mrs. Collins.”
“He’s had these powers since he was born.”
“I haven’t had mine that long.”
“So you don’t have any answers either then?”
“No. I don’t.”
“Well, we don’t know much about you, Hank. All we know is that Christopher trusts you, and that, that’ll have to do. Promise us one thing though: you’ll keep him safe.”
I didn’t know how to answer, but an answer still came out.
That’s how I ended up at the Honky Tonk with Grace and Christopher.
My phone rang.
Eason calling…
