A Hidden Element (3 page)

"Yeah, okay. But not
at
anyone. I wanted to feel better. Not so…angry." He gripped the counter and bit his lip. "But Brian didn't take the bus either, he followed me. Him and his stupid friends. He hit me first, Mom."

"I believe you."

"I let him hit me. I told myself he's inconsequential, like you told me to think. I
did.
I tried to keep on walking and ignore him, but then the others started hitting me. It wasn't fair. Three of them against one." He clenched his fist, looked at it, and shoved it in his pocket. "I laughed at Brian and told him he's irrelevant."

Laura suppressed a smile.

"He didn't even know what it meant. What a dummy. So I told him to go find a dictionary. He hit me again and I hit him back. I tried to do it light, I swear, but—"

"But what? What did you do, Charlie?"

"I think I broke his nose." He blew out a giant breath. "Blood came out everywhere. I didn't know a nose had so much blood in it."

"Oh, Charlie." Laura stood up, pressing a hand to her back, and walked over to him.

"I hate myself." She took his strong hands. He stood tall over her with a child's heart trapped in man's body.

"Don't say that. I love you. Dad loves you."

"Why am I like this, Mom? I don't want to be
special
, okay?" He pulled his hands away. "I didn't want to hit him. I swear. You can have a doctor make me fingernails and toenails. Can a doctor make me normal, too? Take away these things I can't control?"

He jerked away from Laura and got a drink from the fridge. The phone rang. Laura sighed. It could only be one person.

Brian's mother.

Charlie snuck back out to the woods after his mom got off the phone with Brian's mom. His mom acted so cool and calm about what he did. He wished he could be more like her and not like her at the same time. Did that make sense?

She left then to do errands and his dad was still out on some wildlife photo shoot in the mountains. She didn't say he couldn't go out to the woods so it didn't feel like disobeying. He just needed to get out his frustration. No Brian and his stupid friends. Charlie replayed the moment again where he had embarrassed Brian. Pants down. Butt in the air. Girls laughing. Awesome. But he did feel bad about hitting him so hard. He really, really hadn't meant to.

He needed advice and he hoped Ghost Man would be there. He had called him that since he first saw him at seven. The man said he was Charlie's special secret. As Charlie got older he felt odd not telling his parents, but how could he explain he'd been seeing this guy all these years?

It would make him even weirder. His dad would think so. He never understood him. He wanted him to be normal. He wanted him to have the nail surgery.
I'll never be normal! Why can't he accept me for who I am?
Because I'm not good enough, that's why.
The main reason he didn't want the surgery was to defy his dad, even to spite himself, and so he remained the freak he was born to be.

His dad's words remained burned in his brain from that night a couple of years ago when he'd heard his parents talking
.

"If only he weren't the way he is," his dad had said. "He'd have a normal life. He'd be normal."

"Don't ever say that," his mom had said. "I love him just the way he is."

"I love him, too, but…it's hard."

"Love always is, Ben, but you don't ever give up."

"Sometimes I want to."

Charlie had turned back to his room then after those last words from his dad. He hadn't wanted to hear anymore. That day the wall grew between them. He would never be the son his dad wanted.

But Ghost Man treated him like a son. Charlie wanted to keep him all to himself. Ghost Man understood him and helped him figure things out. He said he should embrace his anger and be himself. Charlie felt conflicted about it, but sometimes it felt so good to be angry and destroy things. And Ghost Man helped him practice his destroying powers. But never on people. Or animals. He still felt guilty about Romeo. If he did such a thing then, what power did he have now? It scared him to think about it.

He walked deep into the woods on the narrow path. It used to be a deer path that became his path as he trudged over it through the years. He liked knowing the animals made it before he came along, and now he kept it going. Gloom settled under the tall pine trees. Their great branches shaded all below. These woods soon blended into the national forest.

He stepped out from the trees into a sunny meadow. Often, when he was drained from practicing his powers he stretched out on the soft green waves. He wanted to lay there forever and be invisible. Invisible was good. Then he couldn't be called a freak. If his parents saw what he did here they would think he was a freak, too.

He touched his cheek. It throbbed still. He sat down on the ground and waited. He hoped Ghost Man came today. The meadow had become their spot. It's where he first met him when he got lost in the woods at seven. His mom and dad had been terrified and called the police, but Ghost Man directed him back home. It was the first time he kept a secret from his parents.

"Had a fight, I see, Charlie-boy."

Charlie jumped up. Ghost Man shimmered before him.

"Yeah, jerks. Called me a freak."

"I saw. Nice work breaking that kid's nose."

"I didn't want to but—"

"You needed to. I understand. I can show you ways to hurt him without touching him yourself. No one will ever know."

"My dad wouldn't understand."

"Yes, well, your dad doesn't have your special abilities. He's ordinary. You don't want to be ordinary like him, do you, Charlie-boy?"

"I don't want to be like him, but I don't want to be me, either." He tapped his foot, frustrated at being stuck in his life. He had nowhere to go, no one to talk to, and no one who understood him—except Ghost Man.

"Your dad is ignorant to the kind of abilities you have. And in his ignorance lies weakness. He knows you're a stronger man than he'll ever be. It's why he keeps you down about yourself, Charlie. He's your biggest oppressor."

Charlie had heard these words before, seeping into him for years building the wall brick-by-brick between him and his dad. But now Ghost Man's words hit him in the gut—they twisted there and formed the truth inside him which all made sense now.

"My dad is jealous of me."

"Yes. You're more a man than him. Wait and see. Your life won't always be like this. Your time to shine shall come."

"Like showing those bullies?"

Ghost Man nodded.

Charlie squinted. The sunlight streamed through Ghost Man in waves. "I don't want to hurt anybody, though. I just want them to leave me alone."

"It's your destiny to be powerful, Charlie. Don't you want to know how you're supposed to use your abilities? No one will ever call you a freak again. Not bullies and not your father—for that's what he thinks you are, isn't?"

Charlie nodded, feeling miserable.

"You can control others," Ghost Man said. "I can show you how."

"Control others? Sounds scary."
And awesome.

Ghost Man moved closer. "Life is scary, Charlie, for most people. It doesn't need to be for people like you and me. I am a powerful being who others follow, and I can show you how to control that bully. I can show you how you can make him disappear. No one will ever know you did it."

Except my mom
.
She'll know.

"Your father can't show you such power, can he?'

Charlie shook his head and looked down, twisting his fingers in his pockets. He wasn't sure how to feel about controlling someone. His mom had taught him to control himself, not others, and to never hurt anyone. He had to be more responsible than other kids, she said. It wasn't fair. Ghost Man held out his hands to Charlie. His fingers flexed smooth and nail-less like Charlie's.

"I've been waiting for the right time to tell you. You're old enough now to understand. I come from Elyon."

"A made up place."

"No. A real place, where I belonged to a secret underground society. We planned to rule the world with our powerful genes. Others wanted to crush our dreams and almost did once. But we came back, more powerful than ever. We've come here to follow our dream."

"Is Elyon far away?"

"Further away than you can imagine."

"Tell me. Where?"

"In due time, Charlie-boy."

Charlie nodded, not pushing for more. He wanted Ghost Man to remain make-believe. The thought of him being a real person from a real place hung in his thoughts like an unwanted gift.

He held out his hand and touched the apparition before him. Tingling pulsed into his fingers from the fingers that mirrored his own. Rage filled him. He looked around. Alone. As usual. He picked up a rock and threw it hard with a shout. And another.

"You can do better, Charlie-boy." Ghost Man smiled at him.

Adrenalin coursed through him. He commanded his hands. Branches wrenched from the trees. They crashed together. He dragged rocks from the earth with his mind and pounded them into the ground. Sweat ran down his face. It stung the cut over his eye and that made him angrier. He screamed and flung his body about, inanimate objects battling each other. Drained, he sank down on the meadow floor. Ghost Man floated over him, smiling.

"Feel better?"

Charlie nodded.

"I can teach you how to make someone do anything you want."

"Anything?"

"Yes."

Charlie thought about this. "You mean I could make Brian do bad things to himself?"

"Yes."

"So it wouldn't be me hurting him but him hurting himself?"

"Yes. Do you trust me, Charlie?"

Charlie nodded. Ghost Man was his guardian angel. He watched over him and made him feel better. His dad made him feel worse. He didn't want to feel bad anymore about who he was.

Revenge filled Charlie with a sweet rush. "Yes."

Adrian's community leaders had begun pressuring him to bring the boy and woman in. The man would be eliminated, but Adrian planned some fun with him first.

He looked up. Eleven silent elders in gray watched him. He didn't know what they thought. They all held a closed lid on their thoughts, including his son, Caleb, who stared at him expressionless.

"We do not bring in the woman and her family yet, but we will keep watch over them."

"Brother Adrian, the woman is pregnant and near birth time," Tollen said. "We must bring her in now before the child is born."

The others nodded at Adrian except Caleb; he continued to stare at Adrian with an eyebrow raised. Adrian pushed his chair back and strode around the table. He walked to the window and looked down at the vast courtyard filled with his people. In seven years they had grown to over one thousand. Twins helped boost the count with chemical protein formulated to split the embryos. Twins…like he and Laura had once both been, each with a counterpart to their own. No more.

His people bustled back and forth to their work in the many wings of the community. Children played tag, while the women chatted as they shucked the last corn of the season for their community dinner, stopping every once in a while to admonish the children. Each child was raised with the intent to trigger their Destroyer gene. Every Elyon carried it. Tapping into their hate and rage brought it out. And tap into it he did. Some resisted. The weak ones. They were beaten down until they gave in. The defective Elyons who didn't succumb to their Destroyer destiny were lobotomized—or killed.

It had all been controlled until a few fled, but the majority of his people were loyal folks who followed him as their great overseer. They were his flock, his creation, and their community was insulated in this rural setting. People in the outside world were made to think of them as a closed cult-like community and left them alone.

How
benevolent
of these people of Benevolence. How wonderful of them to hand their money over to them when requested on town trips. The cash helped build a new Elyon community. How easy to manipulate human minds. They had no idea they financed their own destruction. It was time to spread their seed outside the compound. Plans were in place. He saw his people's future here and it was prosperous.

"Father?" Caleb's voice brought him back to the tasks at hand. Perhaps it was also time to bring Laura in before she gave birth. But first he wanted the boy.

Adrian turned back to the community leaders. "Yes, all right. We bring her in, and I know how to do it."

He outlined his plan. All nodded. They would follow him. He had selected them with care before defecting from Elyon. They did not want their cause crushed in another Destroyer Uprising like on Elyon. Only Tollen questioned his authority—and they both understood why. They had both been in love with Manta, both had affairs with her. But she chose Adrian over him, just as the Destroyer leaders chose Adrian to lead over Tollen. And Adrian gorged on Tollen's jealousy. It fueled his power. It's why he had selected him for the mission.

Caleb remained silent as they finalized the details. His son's weakness remained a constant sore wound in his side. That and the fact he looked like his traitorous mother and claimed impotency. What young man could be impotent at twenty-five? Satisfaction surged through Adrian over the fact he had snatched his son away from the boy's beloved uncle—and his hated brother.

In one night he had dashed his brother's dreams and taken his son away from the last person he cared about. Caring about anyone led to weakness. Manta flashed through his mind like a burning arrow, but he put the fire of her memory out. He had to if he was to remain a strong leader.

The community leaders left but Adrian motioned for Caleb to remain.

"I am sending a female to you tonight."

Caleb's shoulders hunched inward and he hid his hands in his robe. "No Father, it won't work."

"A pretty one. Young. Nineteen. Brunette. You like brunettes, Caleb. I hear she is very accepting and fertile. Three children in three years she has produced."

"No." It came out a whisper.

Adrian smashed his hands down on the conference table that had been crafted by their carpenters from one large pine found deep in the forest. "Stop this nonsense. You haven't bred for years now. This must stop. You must arouse yourself to produce or at least use your transference powers to pass your seed on. It is expected of all Elyons and you especially as my son—and a Madroc. Weakness is not tolerated.
Will
not be."

Caleb looked at Adrian with narrowed eyes. "Or what? I do your dirty work, isn't that enough?"

"No, it's not enough. It shows you are loyal but not strong. I am the one chosen to create our new Destroyer community here. Why can't you obey and do what we are all doing to increase our superior gene pool? You know what will happen to you. I cannot protect you from our laws."

"As our chosen leader you can change the laws, Father. And would you really lobotomize your own son?"

"If the leaders so decree it. Soon they will start to pressure me. I hear the whispers. And it makes me look weak."

"And I know
you're
not weak, Father." Caleb turned to walk away.

"I will have it done. Don't test me."

Caleb turned back to him. "I know you will."

Adrian's eyes widened. "Is this why you don't follow law? You
want
me to have you lobotomized? You want to lose your powers and work in a menial job forever?"

"It's better than living in this world. Don't you find it ironic that Destroyers were lobotomized after the Destroyer Uprising by our own Elyon community and now you're doing it to your own people here?" Caleb laughed.

"Do you prefer to live in the human world, Son?"

"Anywhere but here."

"You can't look to humans for help. Their greatest leaders fail."

"And happy is the man who has you as their god?" Caleb quoted back at him from the Bible. "Are you the god who keeps every promise and gives justice to the oppressed? I think not, Father."

Fury seethed through Adrian. His seed should be aligned with him, not throwing barbs at him. Adrian read the Bible every night since picking it up in that store on their first night in town. He had studied human religion before they arrived. Records were archived on the ship from Elyons' many trips to Earth via communication belts. They had watched and learned before choosing Earth as their people's final destination, and Adrian drank in human ways like an elixir.

He most aligned himself with Christianity, with God and his son. Someday, the entire world would see him as more powerful than their absent god full of empty promises. He had looked into the future and seen human kind replaced by Elyon Destroyers. He saw them overtaking the world in roles of power, crushing opposition with death and firepower. He saw himself as the American president at the White House—and he saw Laura at his side and all the sons they would bring forth. It filled him with power.

He locked eyes with Caleb. His younger children obeyed as willing learners. Never Caleb. Adrian wanted to see his son beg for pity, as he had once begged his own father.

Childhood memories overtook him—of cold, dark nights chained in the bottom of a well. His father had been an Underground Destroyer and deemed Adrian's weaknesses worthy of a night in the well.

Want to be lobotomized instead, Son?
His father had scowled down at him from above with the ultimate threat, as Adrian shook his head.

Then his father's face disappeared. The silence had been the worst. No one came to unchain him. Only his father twenty hours later. By then his skin had shriveled, his body imprisoned in uncontrollable shivers from the rank, stagnant water that covered him to his chest.

He remembered trying not to think about what lay beneath the black water. He tried to sleep hanging onto the rungs which climbed up the well wall, but every time he nodded off his body jerked up right. His only savior was the sky above his stone cave. The stars had floated overhead in the night, calling to him with hope. He had endured those nights, but he had not given into his Destroyer gene. Not then.

A simple answer came to him. Caleb could be replaced with the boy. His anger drained. Yes. The boy would be his new challenge. He had courage and darkness in him. He was born to lead the Elyon people into a new world. But Adrian would give Caleb one more chance.

"I'll send the female tonight. I'll be watching."

Caleb smirked at him. "I know you will. You like to watch."

"Make a good choice, Caleb."

"I've already made my choice, Father." Caleb looked at him as if in pain. "And now I have your dirty work to do." He flung his robe back and left the room.

Adrian sank into his chair. He was so tired of leading at times. If Caleb didn't use the female tonight he would take her. He prided himself on the most offspring within their community.

Tonight he might add another.