Cul de sac, p.16
Cul-De-Sac, page 16
Calley nodded.
“Blood loss will do that. Right now, you’re running on drugs, so be ready for the crash in a few hours. You can pressure wash tomorrow. Work on the new program first.” She waved at the plumbing book.
“That might be a good idea. I might need help getting in. I don’t know if anyone is actually home, yet.”
A finger was held up, and after a moment, with some rummaging in a desk drawer, a key came out. That was passed over to him, sliding it on the wooden countertop.
“That’s a universal key, like the guards have. Technically you could go into any house here. So, you can work inside brown, or anywhere else, with permission. Abuse it and, well, you know the drill on that one. Don’t. You can use it as a house key, for now. There was a memo in my in-box that said you’ve been cleared. Not a top-secret level, but that wasn’t going to happen anyway. You need a radio, too. Unless you’re off base, out of Terrace Springs, you need to have it near enough to you that you can hear it. Keep it charged. For you this will be for trash clean up and emergency yard work, of course. Plumbing, too, which can come up in the middle of the night, so be ready for that.”
One of those was put on the counter, the woman putting numbers into the computer.
“Here’s the charging cord. Plug it in every night. It will work when it’s plugged in as well.”
After he took that, he was waved away, to go home. On his own. The walk was less than fun, making him glad that he didn’t have to go and do physical work just then. He might make it happen, but it wasn’t going to be easy or fun trying.
Not that it was a long walk to get home. The key, which looked strange, having sliding bits of metal along the edges, worked to open the door to gold four, with only a little jiggling. No one else seemed to be home. Before he started to read, he grabbed some cold Salisbury steak and potatoes from the fridge, not really wanting to eat, but knowing it was going to be needed.
Then, after slowly cleaning up, including washing himself carefully and putting sweats on, he started to study the art and science of plumbing. It wasn’t that complicated, once he saw it all laid out. True, he wasn’t actually doing it yet, but it was still kind of interesting. He read the whole book, almost straight through, which meant he was just finishing it when the garage door opened.
Closing that, he set in on the coffee table, and then moved to the kitchen, in time for Jim to come in, his face grim.
“Jacob. I heard you were in the mix, today?” The man looked at his left arm.
“Twenty-seven stitches. A clean cut, though. Not the bad guys. Just Sophie Lewis doing some magic. It worked, so I can’t whine too much. Not as long as it doesn’t get infected.” He grinned, which got a tired look back.
“Oh? Lewis... Over in lavender? I don’t think I’ve met her, yet.”
Jake shrugged.
“She seems nice? Intense. Steampunk is her thing, I think. That and blood magic. I’ll invite her over for dinner, once I learn to cook.”
That got a nod, as if it wasn’t going to happen. It was probably a good thought, really. Moving slowly, the drugs gone, Jake waved.
“Can you eat? I should make something. Is Laura coming home?”
There was a nod, and the man leaving the room, going upstairs. So, Jake got to work, making pizza, since they still had fixings left for that. He also made some breadsticks, working that out, since he knew how to make pizza crust and garlic butter.
That and a salad, since that was how it was done there. It was still in the oven when Laura got there, seeming more chipper than he did. Probably thanks to drugs. That or extra special augments. Either way, she didn’t seem to be dragging, even if she was still in the same clothing.
“Oh, food. My favorite. Jim is here?”
Summoned, the man came down the stairs, faster than he’d gone up them. Dressed casually, in jeans and a t-shirt, with soft looking loafers on his feet.
“Honey! I need to get up to speed about the ops that happened here. We handled the illusion. There were no demons, or bruja involved. It was literally drones with holoprojectors, if you can buy that. There was no way they could have made it here. They just didn’t have the range for it.”
Laura waved and nodded.
“Let me get cleaned up. I’m starving. I have some news, too.”
What that was, they clearly were going to have to wait for. Even if he’d made the food, it didn’t look that alluring to him, to be honest. It was fine seeming, but he just didn’t have any appetite, at the moment. That was probably exhaustion, or the drugs, but neither of those things were ones he was planning to mention. Instead, he waited, and when the food was done, brought it over to the table, making sure there were plates, knives and forks. Napkins, as well. Paper ones, since no one there had time for real ones. At least Jim mentioned that as a reason.
Fifteen minutes later, in shorts and a loose t-shirt, a gray and rust colored one that seemed old, Laura sat down at the table. She had shoes on, of course. That only made sense, really. Jake did too, in case he had to run out of the house. Really, he needed an extra pair. The slip-on kind that he could keep by his bedroom door and get on fast if he was woken up in the middle of the night for an emergency.
Possibly something with fireproof soles.
They all ate first, though seconds were taken by the other two people. Jake only had one slice and some breadsticks, with a little salad. It wasn’t much. No one noticed that.
Finally, Laura brushed at her hair, which was down and past her shoulders in the back. A strand kept trying to fall in front of her face.
“We lost four of the ten that attacked here, earlier. We have two prisoners and twelve dead, overall, in two different events. They were after the reality anchor, as we thought. We lost one of the houses here. Brown four.”
Jake cleared his throat.
“Um, brown six.” Then he shut up, since it was the annoying kind of correction that didn’t matter. No one lived in it.
Laura just nodded.
“Right. Thanks. Brown six. Faraday grabbed Lewis and put her in the secured bunker, under the Guard Shack.” She stopped then, taking a very deep breath and holding it. Then letting it out, slowly. “Jake pretended to take the anchor and went on the run, drawing the thief off. He was armed to the teeth, and in the best camo tech suit I’ve ever seen. Or, you know, not seen? Henry shot him, at the front gate, as he tried to follow Jake out. They were both in stolen electric mobile units.”
Jacob forced another bite of pizza.
“Borrowed? I mean, I didn’t ask, but that other guy was probably planning to abandon his, after he caught up to me.” The important part was that his was borrowed as well. Saying that would seem defensive. Not that he didn’t feel that way.
Jim looked at his wife, holding the gaze for a moment.
“How did he fake having a reality anchor? Pretending to hold it can’t work. No one can touch one. Not while the protector is alive.”
They both looked at him, like he actually understood it.
“I had the image of it hovering over my arm. That doesn’t feel great to do, by the way. Like hitting your funny bone, only ten times worse? It wasn’t really an illusion, being the actual image, only connected to me, using blood magic. My blood, for this one. So, you know, stiches. No big thing.” That part was something he meant.
That the magic wasn’t a big thing. Even if it was wild at the same time. Unexpected and interesting, not boring at all.
Plus, Sophie Lewis was kind of cute. More exotic than that, actually. The trick there would be making certain that blood mages weren’t all insane or something, before he bothered to be her friend. If, of course, she was actually the age she looked and wanted to bother with someone like him. That probably wouldn’t be the case, he knew. Still, not trying meant not having friends at all, probably.
Thinking like he was, he missed what Jim said, totally, and had to play catch-up, suddenly.
“What do you have planned for that?”
Blinking, he just spread his hands.
“I missed the last... Oh, two minutes of talking. Thinking about girls, not anything important. You know, how bad the dating prospects are around here? Clara from across the street literally warned me off. Which sounds real, so I’m not taking it as an insult. Still, other than that, she seemed cool. Sophie did too, at least in an emergency.”
Both his grandparents, looking too fit, too muscular and too young to be that at all, stared at him, as if he’d said something insane.
“What, I’m not gay. I know, don’t ask, don’t tell, but still... That’s a bit mean of you to think, isn’t it?”
Instead of taking the bait, Jim just nodded.
“We don’t do that one anymore. It didn’t really work. I was just wondering if you get to date at fourteen, that’s all. You can’t drive, so that makes it safer, as far as preventing unwanted pregnancy. Well, I guess that sounds fine. Just, you know, if you aren’t old enough to be responsible, you aren’t old enough to have a baby. Keep that in mind?”
The line of conversation had suddenly become embarrassing, but he nodded.
“Sure? I mean, in real life, I can’t get a date anyway, so that’s a pretty safe bet for you.” He waved at his face then. “You get me? The perfect birth control.”
That, for some reason, made both of them laugh. It didn’t seem mean, but still hurt, a bit.
Chapter eleven
Gasping, yelping without meaning to, Jake grabbed for his left arm. There was an ache there that was, if anything, two or three times worse than it had been the day before. When there had been a spell on it, to make the image of a glowing rock hover above it. It was dark in his room, as he sat up, the pain from the actual cut minor compared to the pins and needles feeling of his arm being pulled apart.
Thankfully, that stopped after a minute. It felt like longer, but he doubted it really was.
Looking out the window, he groaned.
“Daylight. I could sleep more...” That sounded like a wonderful plan, but the truth was that he doubted it would happen that way now. Not after being jerked awake like he had been.
From a dream of a man on fire, killing his parents.
Things that probably weren’t related, given that he had that kind of dream almost every night. It wasn’t just one thing, of course. Each night he had to fight, or run from, the being of flame and death. He kicked it, hit it and ran from it. Sometimes he dove out the window. At others, he went for the door. Once he’d tried to use the garden hose on it.
Sometimes he got there first, and died, trying to take it on or lure it away. In those dreams, he witnessed his parents trying to save him. They died when that happened. Every time.
Rubbing his arm, which was only hurting a little, suddenly, he knew that his own brain was giving him a message. A fairly simple one, in fact.
“I couldn’t have saved them. Not knowing what I did then. Not even now. It wasn’t my fault. Even if it still feels like it.” He felt like crap, as he sat up. Stiff, all over his body.
His middle hurt a bit, as well, where he’d been punched and zapped by what he could only think of as government paid insane people. The rest of the discomfort he felt was all him, though. It was just hard to separate it all.
Getting up, he took a quick shower, and put a new bandage on. There was a first aid kit in the garage and going there showed that both of the electric cars were still there. Dusty and with mud along the sides for Jim’s red one. Glancing inside, he noticed the keys were there, so, even if it was probably going to get him in trouble, he opened the garage door, and very slowly, moving almost silently, backed the vehicle out into the driveway, and collected a bucket and a sponge from inside. There was no soap for it, so he grabbed the bottle they used for dishes, hoping that it wouldn’t strip the paint off or anything like that.
It didn’t, of course. Even military augments seemed to only rate ordinary cars. Eco friendly, or at least conscious, ones at that.
It took half an hour to do a good job of things, moving stiffly and slowly, like he was. Then he had to let it dry. While that took place, he did the blue one. Hoping that stealing their cars by fifteen feet wasn’t a grounding offense there. It was the kind of thing that could go either way, of course.
No one was out walking a dog, or taking a jog, that morning. It was pretty early still, being before six, he thought. The grass still looked good, and the flowers watered themselves, or at least the sprinkler system did. That reminded him that he needed to learn more about plumbing, so, heading inside, getting a new shirt and tossing his now damp one in the dryer for a cycle, he settled in the living room to do that.
Not even turning the light on, reading from the glow that came from the window.
He didn’t hear anyone stirring up stairs until nearly nine. There were voices, and a tap on a door. After the second time it happened, he realized that it was his bedroom door.
“Oh! I’m down in the living room. Studying.”
It was his grandfather that came down, smiling at him.
“You didn’t sleep?” There was no condemnation to the words, as if that might just be the new order of things, given the world they lived in.
“No, I did. Over eight hours, before a crippling pain in my left arm woke me up. That went away, but... Well, it was like what I felt yesterday, when the magic was working. It could be all in my head, but it got me going for the day. Um, I washed your car? Laura’s too. In the driveway, so don’t freak when the garage is empty. I didn’t sell them for drug money. Yet. I need to let them dry first.”
That claim had the jacked tall man going to the front door and opening it to check. On closing it, he smiled.
“Thanks. I was all over the place yesterday. You have plans for today?”
That was true, so he lifted the plumbing book.
“I’ve read through this, now need to get some practice on various things. Then, if I have it right, I just need a two-year apprenticeship and I can get my license? More realistically, I can go over it a few more times and practice and then take the test, so I can help replace part of the underground sprinkler system, in August. Later I’m planning to get the backhoe out and see about starting the foundation for Mr. Prentis’s new altar. The sacrifices won’t be in for a few days, or the materials to actually build it, but having it dug and leveled won’t hurt anything.”
The man sighed.
“I’d tell you to go and do something for fun, but it’s a workday for Laura and myself, thanks to Russian attacks on American soil. That’s not a great thing. Also, they were after a reality anchor and probably the guardian, as well. It’s a mistake, having one family doing all of that, for the entire world. It can’t be helped.”
The man looked at the front door, which was closed, and after a moment, nodded.
“You... Can you work your way in with Sophie Lewis? The thought is that she might not tell us everything we need to know. I’m not asking you to spy on her, just make sure she has someone to talk to who isn’t really with the government?”
The words weren’t strained but held something inside of them. A feeling that wasn’t really about Sophie at all. That the man was just trying to get him to make a friend his own age. Which was a thing he used to do all the time, before everything had happened. He was a freaking extroverted people person, after all. It was why isolation had been so hard on him.
So, he waved a bit and didn’t confirm anything at all. Sophie was, clearly, far too good looking for him. Having a friend or two would be good, but there was a problem with going to girls for that kind of thing. The main one being that, eventually, he was going to want to date them and they, being sane and having options, would totally ignore him for that role. It had happened before a few times, so he understood his part in things.
They all did, of course.
Then, Jim wasn’t asking him to turn her to their side, using sexual spy craft. The man probably just wanted his grandson to stop acting like a freak. That or like he didn’t really have a place there, so was struggling to do anything he could to seem useful. Which, of course, what was actually taking place.
The man turned, to see Laura, dressed in fancy army clothes, complete with a skirt and a weird hat that was floppy and round. Walking over to her caused some hugging to go on, as well as kissing. Jacob ignored that part of things. They were married after all.
There was a wave at the front door.
“Jake got up early and washed both of our cars.”
That had the woman lighting up.
“Thank you! I was going to try and run it through a machine, on the way to work. We have to keep standards up, even in our personal lives. We’re observed, for signs of mental distress. Now, I have to run, since I need to be in the office by... Now, actually.” That seemed to be legit, since the woman didn’t say goodbye, just dashing to the front door, then back in, to grab some things from her room, a black case that reminded him of the day before.
This time she waved and took off. Driving a bit fast, for the cul-de-sac rules.
Then Jim hurried out of the room and came back dressed in similar military dress clothing.
“Only, you don’t get a cute skirt. Just boring trousers.” Those actually fit him perfectly, the man laughing.
“Right? There’s been talk at work about lifting that, so everyone will be in slacks. It’s a sign of the times changing, I guess. Anyway, I have no clue as to my schedule. You can have the guards let you in, later?”
Standing up, he reached into his right-hand side pocket, and fished the strange universal key out, to show off a bit.
“I’m officially a big boy now. Though, I’m supposed to keep a radio on me. That’s up in my room, charging, so... A fail, there. I might miss things, being this far away from it.” Shrugging he explained the real reasoning. “This way they can call on me to pick up trash and eventually for any plumbing emergencies. I’ll need to get a sack for it, for when I go running?”
