Chapter Nineteen

A Historic Day

      While his friends and neighbors took to the streets in cheerful celebration of the first black president in American history, Kenny sat in his bedroom the entire night into the next morning without any sleep. He just insisted on being left alone to write in his locked room with uncontrollable tears streaming down his cheeks. His brother just warned him about opening his heart up to fast and now the one person he felt would be different from everyone else in his past has turned out to be just like the others.

      Unavailable liars.

      There was a soft undertone of Abba’s Gimme Gimme Gimme playing from his radio while poetry flowed onto the paper in his green notebook from writing class;

 

      I’m gonna go back into my black shell,

      Into the void of darkness that covers the face of the deep,

      Longing to hear the voice whisper, ‘Let there be light,’

      But still there is no light.

      I will cradle into my black shell,

      Where the form of sound does not boom,

      Or the distress of sight does not focus,

      Against the agony of the rusted stained walls of life.

     

      He cursed and crumpled the page and tossed it on the floor and repeated this process for the next hours until his floor was a litter of crinkly paper balls. After agony and the self-inflicting guilt surpassed then he became angry again, completely stopping the writing all together. He slammed it shut and chucked it across the room, the pages flapping wildly as it clunked off the wall.

      Before the sun had risen, he had headed on BART toward San Francisco after stopping at 7-11 for a quick cup of mocha latte. The train was completely packed with more people pushing in and through a barrier of individuals heading to work in the City. Kenny sat at the very first car where it was less crowded but still crowded enough that he had to stand up while they railed into the Transbay tube. The screeching from the train against the rail faded from low to loud back to low again as they entered San Francisco.

      When he exited the first stop, he chucked his empty cup into the trash and walked to the ground level, the fog was thick in the air as the cable cars sailed through it. He traveled by bus over the Golden Gate Bridge into the first city and also off at the first stop after the bridge. He noticed that the area was desolate and full of foliage but a lone sign at the corner read that Sausalito and Marin City were to his right but the Marin Headlands/Rodeo Lagoon/Fort Cronkhite were to his left, on a scenic road with no sidewalks. After a huge huff, he trekked off in the morning twilight toward the west coast side.

      But he wasn’t walking very long while talking to himself about the situation he was in when a speeding black Ford Thunderbird rushed past him and then suddenly swerve to a stop. It immediately reversed and skidded to a halt beside him. When the tinted driver side window went down, Kayla was behind the wheel with a thermos in her hand. There was a chocolate mustache on her upper lip when she smiled and started talking.

      “Kenny, is it?”

      “Uh, yes. Kayla?”

      “Of course,” she flashed a smile into her rearview mirror before gasping and wiped her mouth quickly, “So what brings you over this way, cute guy?”

      “I couldn’t sleep.” Kenny blushed.

      “Get in the car, silly.”

      And before long, they were speeding toward the direction Kenny needed to go. Her driving remind him of Shawn’s driving the way she whipped around corners making him clutch the door handle. She slammed the car in park in front of a quaint little Dutch colonial style house with a bed and breakfast sign in the middle of the yard. It overlooked the Rodeo Lagoon which rippled out to the ocean and a nearby beach. The gambrel roofs had curved eaves along the length of the house with an obviously fresh coat of white and green paint. Even the shutters were either color.

      Kayla lead Kenny around the freshly manicured yard lined with daffodils and Asian bleeding hearts until they had reach the back of the house, which had a Jacuzzi built into the outdoor patio. Once they reached the edge of the lagoon, she turned and smiled sweetly to him.

      “I heard you are a very sweet person and I hope that whatever it is that makes you special that you hold on to it and never let it go.” Then Kayla stepped onto the bank of the lagoon and the waters receded creating an opening to a small tunnel. A torch hung at the opening and combusted into flame at the dryness around it. She grabbed the torch and led Kenny through a damp and mildew infested tunnel until shortly after, they reached an overhead door.

      “I’m off today, so here’s where I leave you here since I assumed you were in this part to get to the safe house?”

      Kenny blushed and nodded. Kayla giggled and raised the torch toward the door as it snapped open in an inanimate fear of getting burned. The muggy daylight brightened the spot they were in as she hugged him.

      “Thanks,” He broke from the hug and looked up, “How do I get up there?”

      “Oh,” Kayla looked behind her and brushed the dirt around on the ground till she found a rusted key. After a quick wink and jab to a random stop in the rock, a loft ladder sprung from the ground toward the top. They parted as Kenny climbed into a hilly green pasture with murky blue waters crashing softly down below the cliffs.

      The wind was light but cold as he made the hike over the hills but when he came to the junction of the palm trees, he stopped and looked around. He was sure that seeing Percy and talking to him about the issues and questions he had was the best option but something kept pulling him toward the waters.

      After a quick self-deliberation and a hard climb down the rocky dirty cliff, Kenny stood at the shore of the ocean and stared into the cloudy horizon. He swore he noticed a flashing light in distance but figured it was a ship or barge passing by. But the light never moved and the more he looked at its pulsation, the move he was pulled to come for it.

      Then he remembered seeing the same pulsating light in his training exercise in the same area but huffed a sigh of defeat realizing he had no way of getting over there. He had no way of conjuring his power or activate the gauntlets once he tried the obvious routes; he thought of his friends, he tried to let the anger toward Christian consume him, William, his health status but nothing charged any spark of power.

      He cursed and threw a nearby pebble into the ocean as he turned to walk away but the sound of rushing water and gaining wind startled him to turn around. Just as he turned, a wave of water jammed into him and took him in a current out to sea. His breath was becoming more difficult as the current gained speed and ejected him under the middle of the ocean. The top was too far to swim for air and fear of his life caused him to panic.

      His body was floating downward while he was frantically swimming forward and just when he was giving up and his lungs burning excruciatingly, he noticed the flash of light again as everything around him started to go dark.

      But before he drifted out of consciousness, an oblong oxygen mask was jammed onto his face and air gusted down his air pipe like water over a fire. Kenny gasped and looked over at Christian, wearing the same mask, pointing upward but he fervently denied and swam downward into the darkness. A suddenly rush of adrenaline and a baffling instant knowledge of how to swim took control of his body as he swam through schools of fish and krill, bypassing two hammerhead sharks and a pilot whale by a hair.

      The whale blockage gave his Protector time to catch up, seething with anger but Kenny followed the light further down until the water around him became walls of algae trenches and areas where the daylight couldn’t reach. But the pulsating light came into focus, stuck against the side of a trench was a long clip pointed blade, shimmering in the water.

      When the blade began to vibrate in place as Kenny got closer, he was yanked back by his Protector as a large black eel looking creature jolted up from the darkness, separating the blade from his reach. Once the large fish had swam out of sight, the blade shot out of the trench onto area of the gauntlets, which had brighten into view. The blades flickered and rippled as it cloned into three more blades, completely encircling his arm. Once the blades locked into place on the gauntlets, they retracted by folding down and fading into the white glow of the gloves.

      Then they vanished from sight. Christian grabbed Kenny’s wrist and swam upward, his palm burning with a blue light, and touched the top of the trench. Suddenly strands of plasma filaments waved out and yanked them into the glowing glyph on the rock. They were ejected onto the shores, both of them removing their masks, Christian still seething.

      “What the bloody hell is wrong with you? You could’ve gotten yourself killed in the middle of the f*****g ocean!”

      Kenny had already begun walking up the stone steps, trying to ignore Christian at all cost.

      “What were you doing here? Hello? So what, you’re ignoring me now?”

      “Yes! That’s what I was trying to do! I was here to see Percy but somehow I got pulled into that light! I didn’t ask you to save me and I sure as hell didn’t ask you to follow me out there! Shouldn’t you be at home f*****g your new, oh I apologize, current boyfriend!”

      “Are you doing to let me explain?!”

      “Explain what? How you’re a liar? ‘For all intents and purposes’, remember? Didn’t think to open your f*****g mouth to clarify to me about how the crazy ex witch you were cursed by is still engaged to you?!”

      “I didn’t think it was any of your business!”

      Kenny groaned loudly and stormed further away from Christian, toward the mansion that had become in view on the horizon.

      “Percy, isn’t home! He went to check an anomaly in the North Pole.”

      He stopped in a huff and cut along the path following the cliffs.

      “Will you stop walking away and talk to me?!”

      “No, because I have a date to get to! I’m sure you remember what those are!”

      “A date?! Look, I’m sick of going through this with your emotional a*s! Fine then, be a little pissy b***h!”

      Kenny abruptly turned on his heel to scream at the top of his lungs but there came a soft clearing of someone’s throat and Pierson stood a couple of feet away, dressed in a fur hat and coat. The two were face to face, burning with anger at each other, as the butler analyzed what he was seeing in front of him.

      “Is everything alright this evening between you two?”

      No one responded but looked away and toward the ground. Pierson sighed and walked closer.

      “Now is not the time for turmoil in the air with the world devoid of love. Master Percy has requested your stay, Master Archer, and is heading back this way shortly.”

      Christian nodded and tore off in a sprint over the hills and out of sight. But before Kenny could walk away, the butler had rested his hand on his shoulder.

      “Don’t let this bring you down, Young Master Whitley.”

      “Could you, um, sir, not call me that? I’d rather be called Kenny.”

      Pierson smirked and adjusted his monocle while nodding.

      “As you request. Now, be safe out in the world.” And he turned and blinked from view.

 

      Garison was waiting for Kenny in the back of a small bistro over by Lake Merritt. It was nestled between the Grand Lake Theatre and a Popeye’s Chicken while the tables sat around a miniature version of a Roman Fountain. He flashed his teeth showing a small gap between the two top ones as Kenny sat down, returning the smile. The bistro was packed and the staff seemed to be enjoying every minute of it of the rush.

      As they waited for their food to come, the two talked about each other’s interest and dreams; Kenny’s teacher eventually wanted to settle down in the mountains and grow a sustainable garden on his plot of land. He spoke of buying a house and continuing to teach wherever he moved to. Eureka was a choice but not set in stone.

      Kenny enjoyed listening while he ate, sometimes to his teacher and other times to the indistinct chatter behind him. A lady was scolded what he hoped was a child because he focused back on Garison, who was talking about interest in painting.

      “Sometimes I wish I could teach art instead but there’s nothing like getting lost in creative stories and poetry from students. It’s almost like a healing for some of them.”

      “You talk like I’m not one of them.” Kenny grinned, sipping on his iced water.

      “Yeah, that’s so true. But not for long, the semester ends in December.” Garison winked.

      They flirted a little more before finishing up and leaving. Standing a few feet away from the front of the bistro, Garison stood in front of Kenny with his back to the sidewalk traffic.

      “Do you like going to parks?”

      “Of course, I love the outdoors.” Kenny answered with a huge smile, “Which park?”

      But before Garison could respond, they were interrupted by a low pitch malicious sneering directly behind them. Clarkson leaned up against an emerald Ferrari in an expensive black suit with a striped tie and smoking what looked to Kenny to be an expensive cigarette with a golden butt. As he took a long hit and flicked the cigarette in the street, Kenny approached him with his heart beating faster with each step.

      “What do you want?”

      “Temper, temper,” Clarkson exhaled purposely in his face, “Just seeing how much of a power bottom you are living up to be. Plus, I came with a friendly warning, one which you won’t want to refuse.”

      Kenny snorted angrily and motioned for Garison to follow him as he walked away.

      “Big mistake walking away from me when your precious crush’s life is hanging on your very diligent ears.”

      Passing strangers and outside eating patrons started to confusedly look toward the deep booming voice.

      “What is he talking about?” Garison embarrassingly whispered but Kenny had already turned on his heel and pushed Clarkson off his car and abruptly pulled him to his face by his tie.

      “I swear to God,” his voice low and scary even in his own ears, “You really, really don’t want me as your enemy but I’d be glad to destroy everything you think you’re holding on to. That includes the little curse you put on Christian. So pre-tell, what is it you’re dying to warn me?”

      The snide smile was wiped from Clarkson’s face as he brushed Kenny from clutching his tie.

      “You think you know everything but I promise you that you know a very minute portion. I own anything that I want and that includes your lust for my fiancé. He’s mine and will always be mine but here’s my simple warning to you; stay away from him before everything you love is taken from you.”

      Kenny felt his blood boiling underneath his skin, burning his veins with anger and showing red before his eyes. But he kept his clutched fist by his side, feeling Garison softly grab his hand and pull him back.

      “I’m never going anywhere, Clark. Ever.”

      “You will call me Clarkson!”

      But Kenny was already walking away, smirking and flicking him off. He explained to his date who that man was as they traveled by taxi to Tilden Park in the Berkeley Hills. But he made sure to leave out the part of the curse that was on his Protector. Garison figured Clarkson was a jealous boyfriend who thinks everyone wants their partner. The sun began to lower in the sky and the cool breeze gently pick up as they walked down a dirt trail surrounded by thick trees that had a sign that pointed them in the direction of the lake.

      They were discussing the inaccuracies of the movie, The Other Boleyn Girl, when Kenny noticed Shawn and Ivan in the distance walking together. He hurried Garison to catch up and only Ivan was excited to see the added company.

      “Out of all the parks in the city, you chose this one?” Shawn huffed.

      “Look, I didn’t choose anything. My date did. This is Garison and Garison, my best friend Shawn. You know Ivan, I hope.”

      The three chuckled as Shawn half-heartedly shook Kenny’s teacher extended hand.

      “So, what are you doing here?” Kenny asked curiously but Shawn started to push Ivan away.

      “First, that’s none of your business and second, revisit reason number one.”

      “You’re on a date, aren’t you?!”

      “Yes, we are.” Ivan meekly replied when Shawn shot a glare at him.

      “Nothing to be ashamed of, we are too!” Garison smirked but Shawn rolled his eyes.

      “I don’t care. We need to be leaving.”

      But they didn’t get far on the trail before Kenny felt a rush of warm air go by him. He felt himself getting angry again as he turned slightly to see Christian strutting up the trail looking especially pissed off.

      “Oh, here we go.” Shawn muttered as Kenny walked to cut him off.

      “Who is that?” He heard Garison ask and Shawn answered in a low tone.

      “Why are you talking to Clarkson?”

      “What? Are you serious with that? He approached me!”

      Christian eyed Garison quickly and then looked back down at Kenny.

      “So that’s your date?”

      He scoffed.

      “Shouldn’t you be back at home with your soon to be husband?”

      “Oh, quit it with that! You know that I don’t have a choice in the matter!”

      “Okay, guys, let’s not make this look like high school.” Shawn interjected.

      “Oh, please!” Kenny ignored his friend, “How did you get away last time? You make it seem like it’s impossible. But I don’t give a damn about that anymore. You lead me on!”

      “Really?! I’ve told you over and over again that I wasn’t someone you wanted to fall in love with!”

      “How about actually saying, ‘Hey guess what? I’m actually taken...in a way.’”

      Christian hissed and stepped back from being in Kenny’s face.

      “What would that have done?”

      “It would’ve opened up a discussion on what was really going on! But I find out like THIS? F**k you!”

      Kenny turned to walk away, brushing past Shawn, toward a very confused date and classmate.

      “What did you say to me?” Christian said in a low growl.

      “F**k you! Did you hear that clearly?! F**K YOU! Take this s**t back!” And with a quick tug at his necklace, Kenny yanked it off in anger. Both Shawn and Christian screamed for him not to break it but it was too late. When the pendant hit the ground, a small shake grew into a violent quake before suddenly stopping. The sky flashed orange like the burning sun but darkened like midnight.

      Shawn had wasted no time removing his gun from his back and adding a silencer to the end of it while stepping in front of Ivan. Kenny had stepped closer to Garison but he was buckling in fear as an indistinct screaming surrounded them. Christian had tried to doodle on his hands but the blue flash kept dimming out.

      “W-what’s going on?” Ivan asked, swallowing in fright when sinister heckles rose out the dark foliage. But no one was able to answer. A black shadowy wire had rapidly snaked around Garison’s body and shredded him into a puddle of blood and small chunks of flesh.