The Sound of Wind by Raegan Millhollin
Chapter Twenty-Two - It's Just Not Fair
Hugo’s cell phone was ringing when he opened his eyes in his bedroom. He fumbled for it blindly, glancing at the caller id before quickly opening it. It was CJ and it was 8 in the morning.
“Hugo?” CJ’s voice was a stage whisper.
He immediately sat up at her panicked tone, “What is it?”
“He’s here. I’m in the kitchen, there was a lady tied up, come-” she stopped talking because he was already there. She was cutting the last of the ties on the gurney in her father’s kitchen. Mary, the freelance teleporter, was on the table, completely still. CJ kept throwing glances over her shoulder at the back door that led to the shed.
Hugo quickly opened another portal to the medical wing of Gideon Enterprises as he tried to be both hasty and careful as he wheeled the stretcher through, “CJ, don’t-” he began, but she’d already become lightning and charged through the door, “Shit!” He finished wheeling the gurney through and ran out the door, down the hallway, and to Dr. McFadden’s office. She was in there, looking over some chart, “There’s someone in room 301,” he immediately began as he burst into the room, “Look after them, I’ll be right back, I promise.”
Before she could answer there was another burst of wind and he was back in the kitchen. He ran up to the screen door, throwing it open. The shed was completely lit up, the sound of crackling filling the air. And then it dulled, fading to a single column of light. Not considering how bad of an idea it was, or that he was still in his pajamas and had no shoes on, Hugo ran through the backyard to the shed, opening the door. The lightning monster was standing over the body of her father. His clothing was slightly smoking, but he was still breathing.
CJ wasn’t turning back. She just crackled, bobbing there, sparks leaping away from her, towards the tools lining the walls.
“CJ?” He said carefully, but she didn’t turn back to respond. She was scared, and he needed to get her to change back before she considered running away a viable option. He hadn’t wanted her to handle this alone. He walked towards her, she’d either have to fry him or turn back. The electric shape moved back a step, but gave up no additional ground, and still he walked towards her, completely calm.
Just as the sparks started to raise the hair on his arms, she turned back into a girl, eyes wide and wild, her hair more chaotic than normal. She was shaking.
Hugo rested a hand against her shoulder, “Let me handle this now.” She continued to stare at him, her mouth frozen slightly open, “I’m going to take care of this, ok?” Slowly, hesitantly she nodded. “I’ll be right back, don’t go anywhere, understand?” She nodded again, but he was not confident of his chances that she’d still be there when he returned for her. He would have to be quick.
Hugo opened a portal to one of the rooms at the Phoenix Foundation that he knew wasn’t being used for anything yet, and dragged CJ’s father through, shutting the portal quickly behind him. He stared down at the unconscious body, watching the slight rise and fall of the man’s chest. He was a monster, even before he’d gotten whatever abilities had turned him into a cannibal. Well, maybe he wasn’t a cannibal, it wasn’t clear what he’d been doing, but it didn’t matter, he just needed to be stopped. Would CJ hate him if he killed her father, or would she be glad that she hadn’t needed to do it herself? They could keep him on the inhibitor, locked up at Gideon Enterprises, but that in-and-of itself was still a temporary solution. Fine, if CJ needed to hate him that was alright, this man wouldn’t hurt her anymore.
The air left the room for many seconds, and then came whistling back. Hugo checked the man’s pulse, he was dead. Now he needed to do something with the body so that no one would ever find him. Well, if there was no body to find…
A small burst of wind filled the room and it suddenly got very warm as the body dropped downwards. Hugo peeked over the edge of the portal, down into the mouth of the volcano far below, watching the body tumble through the air, rapidly changing into a little black dot and then completely disappearing.
He continued standing in the room for several seconds, unable to force himself to move. Had he done the wrong thing? He didn’t really want CJ to hate him, but she probably would a little for taking the decision away from her. But he’d never want her to have to make that kind of choice; that would be his job.
That was a problem for later though, he had to make sure CJ was all right. The portal opened back to the backyard, but it was barely recognizable. Only the foundation of the tiny house stood, the rest a smoldering wreckage. CJ was squatting amongst the brief flicker of flames, the monofilament blade out. She was carving ‘CJ WAS HERE’ in what was left of the foundation. She was covered in soot, it was smeared across her cheeks, her face was damp.
A crowd was gathering along the street; he needed to move CJ. Hugo squatted down beside her, careful not to walk through any of the small burning remnants of her home. He hoped it would rain soon, he didn’t want anything else to catch fire, “Let’s go.” He helped the girl to her feet and guided her out of the wreckage in the opposite direction of the street, trying not to hurry her even though they needed to. When he felt they were a decent enough distance away, he opened a portal to an alley several blocks away; CJ stumbled through it without even noticing. Her eyelids were drooping and she was weaving slightly.
“I’m going to take you back to your room,” he announced as he opened the portal, but the girl stumbled to a halt before they entered it.
“No,” she said firmly, even though her voice was soft and drowsy, “I don’t want to go there. I want to go to my secret hideout, but I’m too tired to change.”
“I can take you there. Where is it?” She gave him street names and a distance down. He had to open a few portals before he found the fridge he’d modified for her in a corner of a small room, cut off from the rest of the sewers by a collapsed wall. He guided her to the mattress and she immediately fell asleep. He pulled the blanket that looked like it had come from a little boy’s room over her. He watched her breathing even out. She wouldn’t be waking up any time soon, so he opened another portal to the medical wing of Gideon Enterprises, and immediately braced himself against the wall, blinking several times.
“Hugo?”
He looked up to find Dr. McFadden approaching him, a concerned expression on her face. She had a company sweatshirt bunched in her hands, “I’m alright, just a little tired,” the concern didn’t leave her face, “What happened to Mary?”
“She was poisoned, so I healed her. When she woke up she immediately disappeared. I didn’t have a chance to find out what happened from her.” The doctor tilted her head slightly, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, “Sit down.” She handed him the sweater. He pulled it over his head, sighing a little as the action somehow made him feel a little bit more normal. “What’s going on?”
Hugo dropped into one of the chairs in the waiting area outside of the room, “CJ’s father, he is…he was a monster.” He sighed, tugging at the edge of the sweatshirt, “He abused CJ after her mother left, maybe before, I don’t know.” He shook his head slightly; it was all too easy to imagine CJ crying, tucked in a corner of her room, and his brain was so scrambled that he couldn’t tell if it was a vision or just his imagination. Crysta sat down next to him, her lips turned down, but her voice silent. “I think he got powers soon after CJ left. He could….well…I’m not sure actually, but I think it required eating the heart of a person. Maybe gained their memories, their powers?” Hugo shook his head.
“That’s not important,” he waved his hand dismissively, but the movement felt so difficult that he just let his hand drop back in his lap, “He was torturing then murdering people. I…saw….” Crysta put a hand over his, “CJ wanted to know what he was doing, so I…looked.” Hugo sighed, staring down at their hands, “She shouldn’t have had to face him alone. It’s not fair. It’s not…”
The long pause before Crysta spoke told him that he’d forgotten to finish the
Hugo looked at her, trying to force the words past his lips, it suddenly seemed important that he confess what he’d done to her. Her brow furrowed and she pursed her lips together, her lipstick faded from the day’s events. “I killed him,” his breath caught in his throat, “I killed him for her. And then I put her to bed.” Crysta simply nodded. Hugo shivered, “I didn’t ask, I should have…she’s going to hate me now isn’t she?”
Crysta shook her head, “No, she won’t,” her voice was filled with a calm certainty he wished he felt.
“Why not? He was terrible, but he was her father. And I didn’t ask, I just…”
Crysta squeezed his hand, “You did it to protect her. You did it to protect us. She understands that. Would she have asked for your help if she didn’t want it?”
He could find no other argument and the gentleness of her voice removed the last of his doubt. Hugo blinked several times slowly, feeling the exhaustion riding in on the tail of resolution.
Crysta pat his hand, “Find one of the empty apartments and take a nap. CJ will be asleep for quite a while; you’ll have some time to yourself.”
Hugo nodded slowly, but was wobbly when he stood and had trouble focusing his vision. Silently Crysta slipped an arm underneath his and guided him to an apartment. She didn’t say anything until she’d set him down on the soft bed and had walked out to close the door. “Sweet dreams, Hugo,” then she closed him in the dark.