Acceptance of the Self

Book 1: Attunement of the Hearts

Chapter 32.e - Making Calls

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Ellie

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[ - Sunday, September 15, 2019 - 11am - Dawn’s House - ]

 

“Alright so, here’s the plan,” Aiden starts as we all gather around Jay’s study table, “Ellie, Dawn and I are going to call Audre Somberset again so we can play her that audio clip from Sky and, hopefully, get some answers. Maddie, you’ll go contact Anne and see if she has any magic that can help us. And Jay, you’ll stay up here listening to the rest of the eleven hours of audio on high speed and analyzing the first part of that clip to see if it caught anything else interesting.”

 

There are nods all around, including Maddie in headspace. 

 

You sure you want to go? I ask for the fifth time.

 

Positive cutie, I’ll be fine, they reply.

 

“Sounds good,” Jay says, drawing us out of our head, “And once you get Audre up to speed on everything we’ll need someone to order lunch for five, since Claire will be joining us relatively soon.”

 

“I can do that,” Dawn says, “any idea what this witchy college friend of yours likes to eat?”

 

Jay crosses his hairy arms and looks thoughtful while Aiden quirks an eyebrow at him. 

 

“Do you think she’d go for deep dish still?” the cyan haired dad asks.

 

Jay’s face breaks into a grin. “Oh absolutely, Claire loves that stuff and she’s not one to branch out often in the foods department.” 

 

Dawn nods and taps out a short note on her phone. I can’t make out the text but I recognize the app. I’m standing a little behind her and to the right, beside one of Jay’s bookshelves.

 

“Alright,” Dawn announces, “I’ll get some Giordana’s or something. But first we gotta go make that call.”

 

Internally, I poof! myself into headspace to give Maddie a goodbye hug.

 

Bye cutie, Maddie thinks as we embrace.

 

Goodbye Madelaine, love you, I think back. 

 

Then we pull apart. They spin around on their heel and take off with superhuman speed out the viewing tree and towards Anne’s side of the bridge. I maintain focus on them as they zoom out onto the black wood of the root structure and disappear face first into the mists. 

 

I’m left staring at Anne’s bridge, alone in the sand. I notice that the root seems to have grown a little further up the beach since the last time I was here, the tip now buried deeper in the sand.

 

Dawn nudges me back in reality, and I startle back to the front. “Wha?” I ask. 

 

“Come on cuties, let’s get going,” Dawn says. 

 

I nod. “Right. Also Maddie just left,” I announce, “Hopefully she’ll have news before long.”

 

“Here here,” Aiden says. He leads the way out of Jay’s office.

 

That’s the end of our little meeting, and I file out the door after Aiden. Dawn follows behind me, and the three of us troop downstairs, around the corner, and back into the main hallway, where the last door on the left is Aiden’s private office. 

 

The door is a soft auburn color, one of Aiden’s favorites, and it enters into a large room with soft beige carpeting on one half and brown hardwood slats on the other. Aiden’s desk is a flat black affair with buttons to move it up and down as the need to stand or sit arises, it’s centered against the far wall on the side of the room with hardwood flooring. Beneath the desk, there’s a humming custom-built desktop computer on the right side and a waste basket on the left. Shelves line the room and are filled with model space ships of all kinds: real and fictional. The ships take to the skies as well, with a menagerie of them hanging from the ceiling in various states of combat or exploration.

 

Aiden’s already raising the desk up to about chest height for Dawn and I as I take in the room. I don’t often come in here, and it’s always a treat to see Aiden’s collection. I give a particularly appreciative glance towards a new addition that I’ve never seen before, a Normandy SR-2 from the second Mass Effect game. It sits on a shelf above and to the right of Aiden’s desk, and is angled so it looks like it’s taking off from the stand.

 

“Okay,” Aiden starts, causing me to startle slightly, “Dawn, can you have the audio clip ready to play on your phone? We’ll call her from mine since she’s already answered my number once.”

 

Dawn nods firmly and taps away at her blue smartphone while Aiden sets his black one down on the desk. I come closer and see the phone app’s already open with a call to ‘Audre Somberset’ dialing.

 

She picks up on the third ring, and a tense feminine voice says, “Yes Mr. Anderson?”

 

“Mrs. Somberset,” Aiden begins, leaning down a little closer to the phone, “I have reason to believe that our children have been kidnapped by an unknown third party. We have an audio recording from Sky that I think you need to hear.”

 

“Seriously?” Audre asks with a mixture of dread and disbelief. We can hear her take a deep breath, then she says in a more measured voice. “You found Sky’s phone then?”

 

“Yes,” Aiden replies, “It was in an old abandoned lot across Belmont Avenue, and it sure sounds like our children were taken from there last night around nine pm.”

 

There’s a steadying breath from the other end of the line. “Very well, you said you had an audio clip?”

 

“Yes, here it is now,” Aiden says, nodding to Dawn.

 

Dawn taps ‘play’ on her phone’s media app, and the sounds of running footsteps and gusting wind fill the air. Sky curses repeatedly, then gives their short, bitter report, ending with the accusation against BPI and their phone clattering to the pavement. The gruff voice of the BPI agent threatens Sky, and Eve’s faint voice cries out in warning as a fainter, gruffer voice berates her. Then there’s that line again: “We’ve captured a V and are on the way back to base. Got a kid too, a collaborator, in case the freak gets snacky.” 

 

I wonder for the umpteenth time just what the hell is going on here. Why call Eve a ‘V’ and a freak? It sounds like a lame code word for vampire or vetala or something. I’m really hoping Audre can enlighten us here.

 

Instead, as we listen to the sound of the car that took the kids drive away, there’s silence from the other end of the line.

 

I look at Aiden to see him staring down at the phone, his cyan eyebrows furrowed. Dawn looks similarly frustrated on the other side of me, her tousled light brown hair catching the overhead fluorescent light as she tilts her head to the right. 

 

After maybe a minute or two of silence, there’s finally a quiet, “...fuck,” from Audre.

 

“As you may imagine,” Aiden says quietly, after another few moments of silence, “we have some questions for you about your daughter. Specifically anything you know that might tell us why she was apparently targeted by this unknown group.”

 

There’s a deep intake of breath from the other end of the line. “You’ve put me in a difficult position, Mr. Anderson. There are things I’m under oath not to speak of,” Audre replies cautiously. 

 

Aiden seems prepared for this answer. “What if we asked you some questions, could you answer yes or no?” he inquires.

 

“Maybe, maybe not, depends on the questions.” 

 

Aiden nods. “I see. Do you know who these BPI people are?”

 

“I know of them,” comes the answer. ”They’re suspected of abducting upwards of forty people in my community and others thus far.” 

 

Aiden’s cyan eyebrows rise as he strokes his similarly colored goatee. “Gotcha. Do you know where our children are being taken to, and/or for what purpose?”

 

“No and no, but by the gods are we trying to figure it out,” Audre says. “The first disappearance was over two years ago now, but they’re getting bolder, taking more people at once.”

 

“Understood,” Aiden says, disappointment and dread written across his face. He takes a steadying breath, then asks, “Will you help us find them?” 

 

“As long as I live, I will be looking. You can be assured of that. If you’re able to help in any way, I’d greatly appreciate the assistance. My wife may not be so keen to trust you all, but I know Eve spoke highly of you and your husband.”

 

Aiden smiles sadly. “Sky also spoke highly of you and yours, for what it’s worth,” he says.

 

“I’m glad,” Audre replies.

 

“Another question, do you know why they referred to Eve as a ‘V’?” Aiden asks.

 

There’s a pause.

 

“I can guess, but that’s part of what I’m sworn not to discuss,” Audre says.

 

“Ah, understood,” Aiden says.

 

There’s another short pause, during which I feel Dawn’s fingers snake into mine and grab tight. I grab back just as hard, then we both let our grips relax into a comfortable hand hold.

 

“How familiar are you with the supernatural, Mr. Anderson?” Audre asks carefully.

 

My eyes dart to Dawn’s. Oh shit, I think. Dawn’s looking back at me with alarm and interest written across her face.

 

Aiden’s eyebrows are all the way up. “I have a passing familiarity with a lot of it, thanks to my esoterically inclined husband,” he responds diplomatically.

 

“Then I will tell you this: should you try to investigate Sky and Eve’s disappearance, you’re likely to run into dangerous characters, non-human ones. If you’re not prepared to deal with that kind of peril, you will sorely regret it.”

 

Aiden raises an eyebrow. “Cryptic and vague, thanks,” he replies. “Unfortunately, I can’t not investigate the disappearance of my youngest child and their best friend.”

 

“I figured as much,” Audre says, “I wouldn’t be able to stay away in your position either, hence the warning. Now I need to go contact my wife. I suspect we’ll want to meet you at the spot where you found Sky’s phone as soon as possible, but I’ll contact you later to hash out those plans.”

 

“Very well,” Aiden says, “I’m not sure what good that will do, but we can certainly make the arrangements once you’re ready.”

 

“I assure you, it’s the best way for us to get a lead on where they went and who took them,” Audre replies.

 

Aiden exchanges a glance with Dawn and I. We’re all looking puzzled and fascinated by Audre’s request. 

 

“Sure thing,” Aiden says. “Just call me when you’re ready.”

 

“Will do, goodbye Mr.--”

 

“Wait!” Dawn cuts in, stepping closer to the phone, “Before you go, do you have access to any way of tracking Eve’s phone?”

 

“Hmmm,” Audre hums, “I doubt that it will do us any good, our enemy seems too sophisticated for that, but I can certainly check it out.”

 

“Thank you, that’s all,” Dawn says.

 

“You’re welcome, and you are?” Audre asks.

 

“Dawn Anderson, at your service,” Dawn says.

 

“She’s my eldest daughter,” Aiden supplies.

 

“Thank you Dawn and Aiden, I’m sure we’ll talk again soon,” Audre says with finality.

 

Then the line goes dead. 

 

Aiden lets out a long sigh, it’s clear he’s taking this news hard. Dawn looks pensive, and her worry is mirrored on my own face. 

 

I don’t like this one bit, I think. 

 

me neither, thinks someone else in my head. They’re faint, but they’re definitely there.

 

I beg your pardon? I think back with mild panic, Who are you?

 

But as soon as my attention shifts to them, as soon as they realize they’ve been heard, they disappear into the depths of my mind. Trying to follow them is like chasing after the memory of a dream; they jump from scene to scene, place to place, blending into the background so well I can’t even be sure they were there in the first place.

 

“Well that sucks,” Dawn says softly, pulling my attention back to the waking world. 

 

I blink back to reality, shaken. Apparently Anne wasn’t kidding when she said there’d be others in my system, I think to myself quietly. 

 

“Yeah,” I echo out loud, “it sure does.”

 

“Indeed,” Aiden says, “but we can’t give up. Sky’s in trouble, and by the gods we’re going to help them out of it.”

 

“Oh absolutely,” Dawn replies, squeezing my hand tight.

 

“Hell yes we are,” I affirm, holding Dawn’s hand just as firmly.

 

“Interesting that Audre’s sworn not to talk about the V-word, yet she gave us the warning about supernatural enemies,” Dawn remarks with a raised eyebrow.

 

“Audre clearly cares about her daughter,” Aiden says, stroking his goatee, “And she cares enough about us to put us on our toes immediately, rather than let us stumble into a situation we aren’t prepared for. I can respect that. Hopefully once she’s reunited with Deirdre they’ll both be more forthcoming with their secrets.”

 

“Mmhmm,” Dawn says, “we can hope.”

 

“Let’s go see how Jay’s doing?” I suggest.

 

“You two go on up, I’m gonna stay down here and order the pizza,” Dawn says, unlacing her fingers from mine. I let her go reluctantly, and start to follow as she leads the way out of Aiden’s tidy office.

 

“Sounds like a plan,” Aiden says a few steps behind me. 

 

I give one last fascinated glance to a model of the Deep Space 9 station from Star Trek that’s hanging by fishing line from the ceiling just inside the office door, then duck under it and out of the office.

 

“That’s one of my favorites,” Aiden says, grabbing my attention and causing me to glance back to him. He’s gesturing towards the circular space station above him with a knowing smile.

 

Dawn wastes no time in marching into the kitchen and beginning the ordering process using the family’s landline phone, so Aiden and I are alone as we contemplate the model space station through the door to his office.

 

“It’s beautiful,” I say with reverence.

 

“It is,” he replies after a moment, “thank you for reminding me of that. I’ve had it for so long I look right past it most of the time.”

 

“I get that,” I say.

 

He nods, looking at me with a keen eye. 

 

“If you don’t mind my asking, how does it feel when Maddie’s gone like this?” the tall dad asks me with interest.

 

I blink up at him. “It feels uh, lonely,” I say, grabbing my left arm with my right hand and looking away. “And at the same time,” I add sheepishly, “not quite as lonely as I was expecting. I know there are others in my system, I just met one briefly a few minutes ago.”

 

Aiden’s eyebrows rise. “That’s fascinating, do you know anything about these other, um, personalities?”

 

I shake my head. “Not really. I know Maddie and I have caught some of them messing with our headspaces, but that’s about all we have to go on. I’ve no idea why they haven’t come to the front and introduced themselves to us. It feels like they might be really shy? Or hiding from something.”

 

Aiden nods, his face serious. “Gotcha. Well, I hope you get to meet them soon, if they want to be met.”

 

I smile at him uncertainly. “Me too,” I say.

 

After that awkward little exchange, we go into the kitchen, around the corner and up the stairs to Jay’s study.

 

We find the shorter chesnut-haired dad sitting at his desk with his large laptop open to an article with the headline “twenty three missing since 2017”.

 

“Hey pops, what’s cooking?” Aiden asks, sidling up beside Jay.

 

Jay startles when Aiden touches his shoulder, and then takes an earbud out and asks, “What? Also hello.” 

 

“I said what’s cooking?” Aiden asks with a little smile. 

 

Jay rolls his eyes. “Oh I see. The only thing cooking is my body from how anxious I am about this. Please tell me you have good news?”

 

Aiden hesitates, as do I, and Jay deflates as he looks from one of us to the other. 

 

“It’s not all bad news,” Aiden says a little defensively, “We talked to Audre and she’s going to talk to Deirdre and hopefully they’ll be able to tell us just what the hell is going on sooner rather than later. But the bad news is there have been upwards of forty people taken and none of them have come back yet,” he says grimly. 

 

Jay’s face looks ashen as he processes that news. “Fuck,” he says quietly.

 

“Yeah,” Aiden says sadly. 

 

“Audre also warned us about supernatural, nonhuman dangers that we need to watch out for,” I say, drawing both dads’ attention.

 

“Really?” Jay asks, leaning forward in his chair so he’s a little closer to me.

 

I nod, standing awkwardly in front of his desk. 

 

“She wasn’t specific,” Aiden says, off to my left, “but those are details I’ll press for harder later.”

 

“How the hell can they just be kidnapping children in the middle of the suburbs?” Jay asks tersely, lacing his fingers together and resting his elbows on his desk.

 

“I don’t know, did you find anything else while we were down there?” Aiden replies.

 

Jay shakes his head. “Not really, most of the rest of the audio is monotonous background noise with a few bird songs and bikers blaring music going by.”

 

“Damn,” Aiden curses, “I’ve got to believe we’ll see them again soon.”

 

“Of course we will,” Jay says, “We’ll do everything in our power to make that happen.”

 

We spend a few more minutes discussing Jay’s findings online about recent disappearances. Most of it amounts to ‘people are gone and no one knows who took them’.

 

Eventually I excuse myself to go check on Dawn. I take the stairs slowly, thinking about Sky. 

 

When I reach the bottom I find Dawn in the kitchen pacing back and forth and staring at her phone.

 

“Hey,” I say softly, "how's it going?" 

 

Dawn startles a little bit, glancing up at me. As soon as she registers it’s me she seems to calm down

 

"It's going about as well as can be expected with a missing sibling, cutie," she says with a lopsided smile.

 

I wince. “Yeah, fair enough.”

 

“How are you hun?” she asks with care, “I know they’re your friend too. Hell they probably consider you family.”

 

I wiggle my hand back and forth. “Así así, I’m feeling their loss for sure, but I’m kinda holding strong because I know how hard this is hitting you all.”

 

She looks at me with compassion. “You don’t have to put on a brave face here hun, bottling it up is only gonna backfire in the end, but I appreciate the thought.”

 

I smile. “Sometimes peeing in a bottle is the only option.”

 

She gives me a flat stare. “Be that as it may, we’re currently at a rest stop. So tell me what’s up?”

 

I sigh. “Can I have a hug?” I ask.

 

“Of course,” she says immediately, her face softening as she opens her arms wide. 

 

I step inside her personal space and my arms wrap around her middle as hers encircle my shoulders and squeeze gently. I rest my head on her shoulder and she mirrors me, and we softly collapse against each other like that in the middle of the kitchen. We hold each other for several long moments, before we’re startled by a knocking that sounds far too close to be the front door. 

 

We separate quickly, and I twirl around to find a tall, muscular woman-looking person in red and black clothing standing at the threshold of the kitchen with a bemused smile on their face. Their eyes are a mesmerizing red color that matches their crimson blouse, and I feel like they’re staring straight into my soul with them. Then their gaze flicks to Dawn and I can breathe again. 

 

“Uh, Claire, I presume?” Dawn asks with a slightly strangled voice as she endures the full might of that red stare.

 

A corner of the intruder’s mouth turns up. “You presume correctly. I’m Claire, she/her. And you’re Dawn?” 

 

Dawn blinks in surprise. “Yes, how did you know that?”

 

“Your dads texted me about your transition when they asked for help, so congratulations on that,” Claire says. Her voice is low and melodious, and she speaks with an undercurrent of mirth. Then she turns to me and continues, “And who might you be?”

 

I gulp. “I’m um, Ellie, Dawn’s... girlfriend?” I say, looking at my girlfriend questioningly. She nods with a wide smile.

 

“Yeah! Ellie and I have been friends for ages, but now we’re girlfriends!” she adds enthusiastically. 

 

Claire looks even more amused. “You’re both adorable, it’s a pleasure to meet you. Now, where might I find your parents, miss Dawn?”

 

“They’re upstairs in Jay’s study,” Dawn explains, walking towards the stairs with me in tow. Then she pauses and I nearly run into her. 

 

Dawn looks back at Claire. “By the way, how did you get in? I didn’t hear the door at all.”

 

Claire’s eyes sparkle with what appears to be suppressed glee. “I came down the chimney,” she says.

 

I glance down the main hallway towards the front door, and can see plainly that it’s locked and deadbolted. But something else catches my eye: there’s a black leather-looking matrix-like trench coat hanging up in the hallway that definitely wasn’t there before.

 

“Hardy har har,” comes Aiden’s voice from the stairwell in response to Claire’s declaration. There are two sets of descending footsteps coming down towards us. Claire, Dawn and I wait patiently until Aiden appears at the bottom of the stairs, followed shortly by Jay.

 

“I thought I heard you down here, Cladiator” Aiden says, smiling at Claire. 

 

“One of my godschildren is missing, I’m not about to let the trail go cold,” the tall woman says evenly.

 

“Of course of course,” Jay says, “Thank you for coming so quickly.”

 

Claire smiles at Jay. “It’s good to see you again blue, your husband too I guess, though I do wish this was under better circumstances.”

 

Aiden looks mock wounded. “It’s been seven years! And yet still you deride me for one little mistake.”

 

“Little eh? We’ll see who’s laughing at who when I put baby pictures of you up in lights for all the world to see,” Claire says.

 

“It was only our friends and family,” Aiden says defensively, “you don’t even know half of them!”

“Maybe, but the handful who do know me haven’t let me live it down,” Claire says.

 

“I really thought apology email #169 would solve this little issue,” Aiden replies with a sad expression.

 

Claire smiles. “I admit those have been cute to wake up to every couple weeks.”

 

“Oh c’mere you both,” Jay says, spreading his arms wide, “stop sniping at each other.” 

 

The three of them engage in a warm-looking three way hug. Between Aiden and Claire’s over six feet statures and Jay’s 5 feet 5 inches it’s a little awkward, but it’s clear they’ve had practice.

 

I stand beside Dawn, watching all this play out with a bemused expression on my face. 

 

Once the adults break up their embrace, Aiden gets down to business. “The parents of the other child that was taken, Eve, have requested to meet us at the abandoned lot where we found Sky’s phone. Are you ready to go Claire, can you handle tagging along with us mundies for a bit?”

 

“I keep telling you, y’all are less mundane than you think you are. Ordinary people don’t let a known witch into their home with open arms,” Claire says.

 

“Ordinary people are a myth,” Jay declares. “Everyone should let witches into their houses, it’s always sure to be an enspelling time.”

 

Claire makes a sour face at him and crosses her arms. “Boo for you and your puns, bluejay.”

 

“Back to the topic at hand,” Aiden says with a long-suffering air, “We need to be ready to meet the Sombersets in an hour.”

 

“Yes yes,” Claire says, waving a hand at him, “I’ll join you on your expedition, ground zero is exactly where I want to go anyway. What’s the situation with this other family though, do I need to hide magic from them?”

 

I stare at the side of her face, astonished that she talks about it so casually. Just how much magic can this witch throw around? I ask myself.

 

“Probably not but use your own discretion, we’re pretty sure their child is supernatural in some way, which means they may be as well.”

 

Claire blinks. “Right, the one they called a ‘V’ or whatever?”

 

“Exactly,” Jay answers.

 

Claire nods. “In that case let’s come up with a plan for what we’re going to do moving forward.”

 

“Sounds good,” Aiden says.

 

“Let’s do it,” Jay adds.

 

And we do.

End of 

Chapter 32.e - Making Calls