Aegis: Catalyst Grove (2 page)

He focused in on the middle aged man behind the couple in a brown overcoat, bending down to tie his golden retriever to the nearby lamp-post.
 
I wonder who this guy is?
 
I haven’t seen him here before.
 
Once the leash was firmly knotted, the man sat down to a cup of steaming black coffee.
 
He then removed a small gold coin from his pocket, tucked it in-between his first two fingers, and proceeded to let it cascade down his knuckles like a waterfall.
 

This can’t be him,
Graham thought to himself
.
 
He does’t fit the description I heard Ms. Winstone giving.

After another five minutes or so, Graham gave up on looking through Collins Cafe & Bakery and decided to work his way down the line of shops leading East.
 
There were so many people to sift through, his mission seem almost impossible.
 
A bit overwhelmed yet undeterred, he made his way down the road, looking far enough past his own building to where he could begin searching in a zig-zag pattern between the stores on each side of the street.
 

He shifted over to the store with the Bengal Tiger and monkeys at the front of the store.
 
He was so entranced with watching at the animals move around, that he nearly forgot what he was doing.
 
Blinking his eyes a few times to re-focus, he looked again for people around the animals, only to notice that there weren’t any.
 
How does this guy stay in business?
 
I have never seen him sell a single animal
.

Getting back on track, Graham looked next door to the leather-smith.
 
Maybe that’s how he stays in business
, he chuckled.
 
Looking into the store, he quickly saw there was nothing and nobody.
 
He continued to profile every person walking through all 60 buildings of the entire market, but after hours of searching, he was forced to admit that there was absolutely nothing worth his attention.
 
No one matched the description.
 
No strange happenings.
 
Not even a quarrel broke out at the pub.
 

Mumbling under his breath,
Graham’s heart sank at the thought of another wasted morning.
 
I have to find this guy.
 
I have to
!
 
He threw his binoculars down and tightened his grip around the ball.
 
In his frustration, Graham slammed his fist down hard on the ledge in front of him.
 
As he did, a burst of light sparked around him, shooting outward.
 
Small pieces of gravel and trash defied gravity as they hovered around him for a brief moment before being hurled through the air with the dispersion of light.
 
Graham immediately panicked and plopped down behind the ledge, rubbing the hand he had slammed against the stone.
 
Get it together, Graham.
 
You have to get it together or people will get hurt.
 
He closed his eyes as the memory took over.
 
He was in the woods with two other people.
 
He felt an overwhelming sense of fear and anger.
 
Screams filled the darkness followed by a blast of bright light.
 
Graham’s eyes opened and his head jerked in reaction to the light.
 
He was sweating.
 
My God, what did I do?

Graham let a few minutes pass, in case anyone below saw the burst of light.
 
He wanted to stay for a while longer, but he knew he had to get back before Ms. Winstone noticed that he was missing.
 
With a half-hearted sigh, Graham put the binoculars back in the pocket, picked up his backpack and made his way back to the rusty stairs.
 

As Graham grabbed the railing of the ladder, he looked up to the field separating the market from the edge of the forest.
 
A bolt of adrenaline rushed through his veins, causing him to freeze.
 
A figure in a long coat holding a thin walking cane in his right hand stood in the middle of the field about 100 yards away and was staring directly at him.
 

Graham started to panic again at the thought of his un-natural abilities being discovered, but he forced himself to keep calm.
 
He slowly let his backpack slide off his shoulder so that he could retrieve his binoculars as his mind kept cranking out questions.
 
Maybe this is him.
 
Could this be Cavaness?
 
He doesn’t look huge to me.
 
No, this guy doesn’t match the description.
 
It can’t be him.
 

A thousand questions reeled around in his mind upon seeing this stranger in the field.
 
Graham glanced down for the zipper, but as soon as he looked back to the man, he had vanished as quickly as he had appeared.
 

What the…he was right in the middle of the field!
 
He couldn’t have gone anywhere.
 
Graham grabbed the binoculars and swept the field with his eyes.
 
He wasn’t quite sure if he wanted to find this guy or not, but part of him couldn’t shake the hope that if he did, he would finally find answers.
 
After a few moments had passed, he let out his breath and relaxed a little.
 
After giving it some thought, Graham’s sensible side began to kick in.
 

Maybe it was just my mind playing tricks on me, or maybe I am getting a little lightheaded from not eating this morning
.
 
There is no way a person could have just disappeared.
 
The field was too wide for anyone to have run to the woods or the market that fast.
 
He kept his inner monologue going until he was convinced that it was nothing.
 
Trying his best to shake it off, he put the binoculars back into the side pocket and lifted his backpack onto his shoulders.

Putting his foot on the top rung, he could see the roof of Greenwood Orphanage towering over the sea of maple trees surrounding the Market.
 

Home Sweet Home.

The Greenwood Orphanage was the only home Graham had ever known.
 
Established in 1773, it was one of the oldest and most respected Institutions for abandoned children in the Northeast.
 
Their highest priority was education.
 
Going beyond the physical needs of the children, skilled tutors were hired to help them in each subject they were currently studying in school: Mathematics, Science, Literature and History, in which they were currently learning about Portfield’s famous contributions to the Underground Railroad.
 

The building itself stood three stories tall, the exterior peppered with arched rectangular windows stretching uniformly across the outside.
 
The green ivy crawling up the walls was just finishing its climb over the final row of windows.
 
The Orphanage was an architectural delight to look at, though the beauty had faded with time.
 
The main entrance was 25 feet wide with a steep gable roof setting it apart from the two wings that expanded at a slight angle on both sides.
 
Over the ridge-line of the wings, you could see chimney stacks standing tall every so often with three black pipes protruding from the top of each stack.
 
Though the paint cracks were visible through the thick ivy coat and the walls seemed as though they were trying to escape from one another, it was a relatively cozy place to be.
 

The inside the building was set up with two main wings, one for the boys and one for the girls.
 
Holding the two wings apart were the dining room, kitchen and main living room area called ‘The Commons.’
 
It was the most ornate room in the entire Orphanage, featuring a massive stone fireplace as the main centerpiece, holding a large portrait of the Founder overtop the wooden mantel.
 

Graham always had a hard time going back.
 
It was so crowded there all the time.
 
Maybe that was one reason he always came out to the Market on the weekend.
 
He could be alone, with all the room in the world, just him and his thoughts.
 
He could take solace in his withdrawal to the rooftop without having to worry about hurting anyone.
 

Jumping from the next to last rung, Graham’s feet hit the ground.
 
Looking up again towards Greenwood, he finished his train of thought.
 
Home sweet home.
 
Just me and my 87 brothers and sisters.
 
Now, walking back towards the edge of the forest, Graham shook off the feelings of disappointment, forcing optimism to the surface.
 
“Next week then, Cavaness. I will find you next week.”

C
HAPTER
T
HREE

Back At The Orphanage

Graham walked back through the woods, until he came to a large stone arch covered in moss.
 
He stopped for a moment, running his hands along the large chunks of rock.
 
He remembered being lost in the woods as a child and finding this structure.
 
It was his beacon of hope.
 
It was his sign that he was not going to die in these woods.
 
It was also his little secret.
 
Orphans did not have many personal belongings, and this was one of the things he could call his own.
 
Although he longed to stay there, Graham knew he had to keep moving.
 

Now back on Greenwood property, he slowly made his way up the steep gravel road and past the three ancient willow trees in the front lawn of the Orphanage.
 
As he crested the hill, Graham noticed a thin and wiry boy stealthily making his way out of the side entrance of the Parlor Room.
 
Weighing in at 85 pounds soaking wet, 5’3” tall with jet black hair, greenish-hazel eyes and small button nose, Damien was Graham’s best friend.
 
Since leaving Peru as a small child, he never seemed to lose the golden, South American tan.

“Que haces? Porque eres tan descuidado!”
 
Ms. Winstone has been looking for you for over three hours!” said Damien, trying to yell as loud as he could while still whispering in his Latin-Spanish accent.
 
“You never stay gone this long. What is going on?”

“I know, I know…..it takes a while to search all of Wellington.
 
I was going as fast as I could,” replied Graham.
 
“Now let me by, I need to get back inside.”

Graham had already lost control once today; he was not going to do it again, especially in front of Damien. He had to get away.

“Hey wait!”
 
Damien grabbed Graham’s arm and pulled him back.
 
“I don’t know how much longer I can be your watchman, Graham.”

“Look Damien, you and I both want to find out what is going on.
 
Both of us cannot go to Wellington, and I know my way around the woods surrounding the market much better than you do.
 
This is what we agreed on, right?”

“Yes,” Damien murmured as he rolled his eyes.
 

“Good, it is settled then.”
 
Graham pulled his arm from Damien’s hand and continued quickly towards the door.

Damien wasn’t going to let Graham walk away again.
 
Sprinting after him, Damien again stopped Graham with a hand to his chest.

“Listen, I don’t know what your deal is right now, but we need to talk.
 
How about you try talking to me for once instead of avoiding me like the plague.”

Graham took a deep breath to hide his frustration.
 
He knew Damien was getting tired of being pushed to the side, but over the past few months, his unexplainable power had become increasingly more difficult to control and hide.
 
He was only trying to protect his best friend, but he recognized that Damien was not about to let him walk away without some answers.
 

“Fine.
 
Maybe when Ms. Winstone’s friend comes over again, we can find out more about this mystery person.
 
Her last conversation didn’t exactly give us much to go on.
 
It is like I am looking for a ghost.
 
The only thing I have to go on is the fact that there is a huge guy in town named Cavaness, who can do things normal people can’t.”

Glad that Graham was finally talking to him, Damian tried to concentrate on what Graham was saying, but the fear of being reprimanded by Ms. Winstone kept him on edge.

“We both need to be in on the conversation, so we don’t miss anything, ok?” whispered Graham.
 
“We need a plan.
 
I only got the final part of their conversation last time.”

“
Sí
” replied Damien.
 
“Now,
vamos
, we need to get back inside. I don’t want you to get in trouble.
 
Why don’t you go to the West Wing and act like you have been hiding there.
 
If I see Ms. Winstone, I will tell her that we have been playing hide-and-seek.”

“Hide-and-seek?
 
What are you talking about?
 
We are
fifteen
, Damien.
 
We don’t play hide-and-seek.”
 

“Hey, its the best I’ve got right now.
 
You have any better ideas, amigo?”