CHAPTER 5
The staircase wound down three flights into the earth, the whole length lit by antique wall sconces. Lush red carpeting on the steps muted our footfalls. Hilde, Mia, Kagura, and I stopped at the bottom of the staircase before a heavy iron door bolted straight into a fitted stone wall.
Mia knocked on the door three times, waited, then knocked once more. Heavy unseen locks clanked open to let the door swing wide. Kagura entered first, but Mia waved us through ahead of her, and though I didn’t like the idea of having potential foes at both my front and my back, the terminally-polite Hilde marched ahead quickly, so I followed.
The door led to a bare hallway with no offshoots, just sheer stone walls which ran for a hundred feet. We passed another security guard dressed much like the first, although this man had wiry brown hair sticking out in every direction like he was having the worst hair day of his life. He settled back into his seat behind his desk and shot a finger gun at Mia with a wink as she passed him, which made her laugh once more with that throaty chuckle.
The hallway led to one more iron door. Kagura turned the ornate iron knob and swung it wide, then stepped through. Hilde and I followed, and Mia closed it behind us.
We found ourselves in a wide hall which was practically a mirror of the entry hall above, and with the same number of archways spiraling off from it. But instead of standing mostly empty, this hall was filled with sumptuous leather couches and chairs gathered around low coffee tables, with overburdened bookshelves lining every wall. More electric chandeliers bathed the half-library, half-parlor in warm golden light.
I glanced over to see Hilde’s blue eyes sparkling with appreciation for the expansive collection of old tomes gathered in a book addict’s ideal reading spot.
An older man rose from one of the couches, almost as old as Niles up above but with black hair shot through with white instead of the butler’s slate gray. This man’s dark chocolate skin offset his gold velvet jacket with white formal shirt and burgundy slacks. A sprawling web of wrinkles lined his face not with laugh lines but with a roadmap to years of hard decisions. He limped with a cane across the hall to us with his hand spread wide in greeting, and when he spoke his voice was a rich bass that rumbled through the air like industrial machinery. “Welcome to my home. My name is Wyatt Tombstone. Niles phoned down and informed me that you are Hilde Becker and Edgar Salt. Is that right?”
Hilde and I nodded.
Wyatt peered at my face with intense scrutiny before smiling again. “I know your visit has not been under the best of circumstances, but I’ll strive to make it enjoyable and educational. Can I offer you some refreshment?”
Mia and Kagura strode past Wyatt and turned to flank him, looking at us from behind each of his shoulders. The lavishly-dressed man swept his hand over a nearby seating area and a coffee table laden with bottled drinks and wrapped sweets. “I know you may not trust my staff’s hygiene yet, so everything remains pre-sealed for your comfort.”
I eyed the offerings, seeing some pricey items on display. “You can’t sucker us in with candy. Polite or not, I’ve had enough.” I stood obstinately in the entryway and folded my arms. “I’m here for answers, old man, not treats.”
Mia frowned reprovingly at me, but Kagura’s dour expression turned downright hostile at my harsh tone. She took a menacing step forward and I wondered if she’d draw a weapon on me, but Wyatt held out a hand to stop her. He let out a weary sigh. “I forget the impatience of youth. Forgive me. Will you please have a seat while I answer all of your questions, or do you prefer to stand?”
His gracious demeanor undermined my desire to be nasty. Kidnappers or not, I’d been treated with nothing but kindness since I’d entered the household. I glanced at Hilde and she gave me a tiny nod, so together we walked across to the seating area and sat down on the same couch a foot apart. Kagura and Mia joined us, only sitting after Wyatt had seated himself with a hushed groan.
“That’s better,” Wyatt said, settling in. “Now, what do you want to ask me? Don’t hold back.”
I seized on the most pressing question in my mind. “How can you afford vaccinations and lung treatments? Even with money, how can you possibly get ahold of them?”
Wyatt Tombstone nodded sagely. “That would be the biggest revelation you’ve realized so far, wouldn’t it? The simplest answer to the vaccines is that my team once had the capacity to synthesize vaccines even without the help of Avalon Corp’s virology research. Regrettably, the doctor who could perform this miracle is no longer with us and our limited vaccine stock is dwindling. As for the lung treatment, that’s the invention of our current engineer, though the machines are incredibly costly. As you can see, we tend to attract the best and brightest.”
“And who are you, sir?” Hilde asked meekly. “As a group, I mean.”
“Ah.” Wyatt gave a small smile, spreading his hands wide to encompass the room and the castle above. “Welcome to Whisper.”
“Whisper?” I asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Because that’s all we’re meant to be,” Wyatt answered. “Where others tread with iron boots upon the destiny of mankind, we seek to free humanity from secret threats so they are not even aware of the intrusion. We believe humanity will reach their best only when all are free to rise above the forces of tyranny which enslave them. We are no utopian group, we don’t believe humans will ever create some perfect paradise without suffering. Indeed the pursuit of such has caused many atrocities.” He looked grim for a moment, but the passing expression flitted by. “Still, there is a balance between blind utopianism and wanting freedom from evil. Whisper exists to allow humanity to find that balance by removing all obstacles in the way.”
“Obstacles like the ogre that almost killed me?” I asked. “And that killed Jonathan, I guess. I’m sorry about your loss, I really am. Look, I don’t want to seem callous, but your story just sounds insane. If I hadn’t been stuck with this burning scale,” I raised my right hand to display it for his viewing pleasure, “and if I hadn’t met Blossom myself, then had my lungs punctured by a corporate experiment gone wrong, I doubt I’d even entertain your wild tales.”
“Blossom is a delicate matter with her own unique personality, so I’ll let her explain herself in due time.” Wyatt leaned back in his seat and clasped his hands in his lap, gazing at me with a speculative look as the seconds crawled by. I stared right back at him, refusing to drop my gaze. He must have liked whatever he saw, because he nodded and drew a deep breath. “What makes you think that ogre was a corporate experiment?”
“What the rust do you mean? We hear about that sort of thing all the time on the news, right? A rival corporation screws up and their creation escapes, crosses the overworld, and reaches Milheim, then descends into Midcity and starts preying on the folks down here. Most of them move on through into Undercity, which is what makes it such a living hell down there, but occasionally one of them will kill a person or two on their way through to the bowels of the earth, and Avalon Corp has to send out their Hunters to put it down.”
“Ah, yes.” Wyatt nodded shrewdly. “Avalon Corp, the savior of Milheim. Of the surviving world, really, with all their medical advances and glorious new technological marvels. They built and maintain the bullet trains that connect our districts, though few ever travel out of the district where they’re born, and they operate the great sunlamps which give us light as the occupants of Midcity toil in endless service to those above.”
“Your peaceful words mask a cynical undertone. Or maybe that’s just my own natural paranoia about authority. Either way, make your point, old man.”
Kagura bristled at my lack of respect, but Wyatt waved her down again. I’d guessed right, he intended to keep us calm and at peace for the entirety of this conversation, not just as a pretext to get us seated.
Wyatt smoothed one leg of his burgundy slacks, then looked up to meet my gaze with calculating eyes. “What if I told you Avalon Corp wasn’t sharing the truth? That they were deliberately misleading you?”
“About what?” Hilde asked. I looked over to see her rapt attention fully on Wyatt. She was eating up what he said, so I hoped he wasn’t selling us a load of crap.
“About everything,” Wyatt answered her. “About the corporate experiments that kill people. About their Hunters. About the nature of sickness and life in the dark, and what they can actually offer us but choose not to in order to keep us dependent and compliant. About the very nature of this world and humanity’s place in it.”
I decided to pick at the easiest part of his story. “So if the ogre who carved me up wasn’t a corporate experiment from one of Avalon’s rivals, what was it?”
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“A Proto,” Mia answered. “A previous dominant species from before the advent of modern humanity, a species we cast down on our rise to power and forgot about through the ages until they became nothing but myth and legend. Now that the world is burned, we’re shoved in close proximity with them again, and they’re preying on us.”
I laughed aloud. “You’re trying to tell me fairytales are real?”
Mia just nodded.
“Nah,” I said. I glanced back at Wyatt, but the old man looked somber. Kagura looked graveyard-serious. My guts clenched to see them all so certain. “It just sounds too insane. You’re pulling our leg here, or you’re some kind of confused cult.”
Wyatt gave me a long look, then turned to Hilde. “I understand you manifested a fire gift tonight.”
His words sent a jolt through my body. Even Hilde started at the frank statement, and she leaned forward eagerly. “Yes. Eddie was dying, but I healed him with these flames that came out of my hands. Why did that happen?”
“You’re a Weaver,” Wyatt told her. “A human born with the gift of magic. It manifested at a moment of dire need, and you’re going to need to learn to control it. I can teach you that.”
“Magic?” I spluttered. “Are you serious right now? You expect us to believe this crap?”
Wyatt nodded sagely. “Magic is just a fancy name for scientific principles which we don’t fully understand. There’s a rhythm and dance to magic, the same as there is to any other physical law. You’re going to have to learn to weave that rhythm if you want to harness it without being consumed.”
“Can I just… forget it?” Hilde asked quietly.
Wyatt shook his head sadly. “Once awakened, the gift reacts to your desires. Unbridled desire may bring great disaster upon you and those you love unless you learn to harness it and retract those deadly claws. It’s not to be feared, but you must respect magic or it will bite you.”
“Who’s keeping who dependent now, old man?”
“It appears that way, doesn’t it? Apart from free training for both of you, what would set your mind at ease?”
“For both of us? I’m no Weaver.”
“No,” Wyatt agreed, “but you bear the silver scale. That won’t come out unless Blossom rejects you or you die, so you’d better learn to use the power you’ve been given. She can also make your life a living hell if she chooses, and I’ve seen previous Silver Dragoons bear the brunt of her frustration. It’s not something you’re going to enjoy.”
Somewhere inside my head, Blossom laughed like that was the funniest thing in the world.
“So you want me to believe in magic, and in mystical creatures from old fairy tales.” I sighed. “Ogres, vampires, unicorns, leprechauns, that sort of thing, right?”
“No leprechauns,” Mia said. “At least, our records don’t contain any proof of their existence.”
“But unicorns, right?” I asked with a sarcastic laugh. “That’s totally reasonable.”
“Records show that myth originated out of real sightings in—”
I slammed my fist on the table, cutting off Mia and plunging the room into silence. “We’re not little babies here for bedtime stories! Give us the truth, or let us go!”
“You’re free to leave whenever you wish,” Wyatt told me calmly. He hadn’t even reacted to my anger, which frankly pissed me off more. “But Avalon’s deception is real. So are the Protos, and specifically the ogres who are moving into District Thirty-two and attempting to purchase many restaurants by force.”
My blood ran cold. “What do you mean?”
“Just what I said. Avalon lies to humanity about the world we live in, trying to keep people blind to the truth and suppressing the existence of magic, Protos, and a great many other things. President Avalon’s goal is to stamp out all competing species once and for all and secure humanity’s spot at the top of the food chain. The ogres are just one species sweeping into Midcity. They act as the forward scouts for Apex, a Proto organization run by a dark emperor who is now attempting to form a foothold right under Avalon’s noses. The ogres are his personal troops.”
Mia picked up the thread of conversation. “The new ogre in charge of your district is named Garthak, Legatus rank, something like a lieutenant overseeing a local group. Apex runs on the old Roman rank system. Garthak’s goons were hassling a family restaurant in the area where they almost killed you. Jonathan was supposed to get the drop on them. He killed the two weaker ogres, but the third turned out to be a lot more powerful than we thought.” She averted her gaze as her eyes softened with sadness.
Hilde looked at me. “The ogres want to take your restaurant, Eddie.”
“They can try,” I growled, tightening my hands into fists. “They can absolutely try.”
Wyatt gazed speculatively at me. “Your restaurant, you say? Our research indicates a family of three runs that diner. If you want to defend your home and protect your family, I suggest you learn to harness the power of the Silver Dragoon. I also suggest we teach you,” he indicated Hilde with a nod of his head, “to harness your gift before tragedy strikes. The ogres will return. One minion’s death won’t deter a veteran Legatus like Garthak. There’s a reason the Apex Imperator selected that beast for the infiltration job.
“There’s also one other matter.” Wyatt drew a deep breath as he looked at me. “It concerns your mother.”
My guts twisted up, half from pain and half from sudden rage. “Careful what you say next, old man. My mother’s been a dead a long time, but I’m not about to sit here and let you insult her.”
Wyatt nodded. “I would never insult one of our order’s most decorated members.”
The floor dropped right out from beneath me. Hilde gasped.
“Now how am I supposed to swallow a whopper like that? My mother never hunted fairytales or fought shadowy corporations. She worked as a farming consultant and traveled between the city states. And she died when I was still a toddler, so be real careful when you make stupid jokes about her.”
“Your name is Edgar Salt, correct?”
“Yeah. What of it?”
Mia reached into one of her jacket’s inner pockets and drew out a brown leather wallet, opened it, and rifled through it. She plucked out a tiny picture and held it out for me to take, which I did with trembling fingers, because I could already see my mother in the photograph. She wore a black leather bodysuit much like Kagura had on under her long trench coat and stood flanked by a much younger Mia, somewhere in her late teens but still recognizable, and a younger Wyatt with jet-black hair and smooth skin. All three of them were smiling like old friends.
“What the rust is this?” I demanded. “Who are you people?”
“We are Whisper,” Wyatt answered quietly. “And your mother was one of our finest Hunters. One of the strongest warriors ever to receive the Gift of Bones. She didn’t travel to consult about farming, Edgar. She traveled to kill the strongest Protos who threatened humanity. And her fierce blood runs in your veins. We aren’t strangers here to harm you. Joining us would be you coming home to your mother’s people.”
My head reeled. I wanted to deny what they said, but there was photographic evidence right in front of me. I supposed the photograph could have been altered, but pictures weren’t especially common down in Midcity. My father only had the one wedding picture of him and Mom which Evie and I used to spend hours staring at it, which is how I’d recognized her at all. There weren’t images of her just lying around to be altered on a whim.
The simplest answer is that they’re telling the truth, as insane as it sounds.
My breath came in ragged gasps. Hilde stared at me with deep concern etched across her beautiful face. I handed back Mia’s picture, sat back, and forced myself to calm down as she returned the photo to her wallet carefully like a personal treasure.
“Who were you to my mother?”
She looked away, her face etched with sudden grief.
“We were her family, of a sort,” Wyatt answered for her. “We can be your family, too.”
“This is a lot to take in.”
“I understand,” Wyatt said. “I truly do. Apprentices for the silver scale are usually carefully selected and groomed over years to take on the responsibility. Even then, many die young, as Jonathan did. He’d only been with us for a couple of months since he and his master, the previous Silver Dragoon, arrived in the city to setup Jonathan in a safer location than their previous home in another city state. For you to receive the scale with no training at all is a hardship most have not had to bear. I am truly sorry for your suffering, Edgar, and the struggles yet to come. But if you allow me, I will help you learn to bear it with greater strength.
“And I vow to help you learn to control your gift,” he told Hilde. “I myself am a Weaver of some power, though my abilities run toward ice. We share many overlapping features, temperature control among them, and I can show you how to branch from pure flame into other realms which will astound you. You also are welcome among us, young lady, if you choose to become one of us.”
I bristled as I listened to him working to persuade her. He had no idea what her family was like, what anguish she’d already endured. His intrusion raised the hackles on the back of my neck as I felt myself growing angry.
Kagura noticed my reaction and her black eyes sharpened as she shifted in her seat.
Wyatt heard her move and followed her line of sight to see me. Surprise crossed his face for the first time since we’d met. His eyes flicked back and forth between me and Hilde, and brief realization flickered across his face before he raised his hands in a placating gesture. “I’m sorry if I’ve crossed some line. I only intended to offer my assistance.”
“It’s fine,” Hilde said quietly. She stretched out a hand to me, but pulled it back just before contact. I looked at her and saw concern in her blue eyes.
“My family will be wondering where I am,” I said, changing the subject and rising to my feet. “We need to get back.”
“Of course,” Wyatt said. “Mia will see you out.” All three of them rose, Kagura still glaring at me through narrowed eyes, but Wyatt and Mia smiling. The old man held the back of his hand out to me and after a moment I pressed mine against his, just for one second, long enough for relative strangers but short enough to give offense as a guest in his household if he chose to make it an issue.
He didn’t. Instead he nodded at me in acknowledgement and turned to Hilde, offering his hand. She pressed it for two seconds and he smiled. “Consider my offer. The gift of magic is wonderful indeed, so long as one knows how to control it. Learn to harness it before it harnesses you, my dear.”
“I’ll think about it,” Hilde promised.
“I’ll walk you to the train station,” Mia said. “It’s just two blocks away.” She led the way as we trekked in silence back through the iron door, through the hallway, up the stairs, through the main hall, and to the front door.
Niles stood waiting for us at the front door as he held it open, somehow knowing it was our time to leave. Either that or he just hung out by the front door, but I somehow doubted a man so professional had nothing better to do. He bowed at the waist as we passed on our way out, and Hilde said something quiet to him which I didn’t catch but which made his mustache poof up in a smile.
We pulled up our face masks and followed Mia back out the main courtyard doors, which from the inside looked ready to be barred and fortified with a dozen heavy bolts. The three of us tromped down the street in the dark toward the promised train station two blocks away.
As we walked, my mind boiled with confusion over the host of revelations, most startling of which was that my own dead mother had hunted monsters.
What am I supposed to do? I asked my image of her I’d kept inside my heart since childhood. What would you want me to do, Mom?
Instead of answering, her image just smiled the same smile I’d seen in Mia’s photograph.