Anansi's Web

The cell slid open with a sharp creek that pierced my dreamless sleep. I opened my eyes, and looked at the person who opened the wall of grey bars. Walking into the cell was the man from yesterday. There was an even more serious looking man standing behind him who looked like my dad. Two others were beside him, examining me. There was a tall, muscular girl with dark skin, and black hair. Beside her was a scrawnier man, with blonde hair, and pale skin. Both of them had silver badges on their clothes, meaning that they were members of the real MOD.

The officer woke me and Vince up, and got us to walk out of the cell. I dragged my feet, muttering one good morning for each person. Vince just nodded.

They opened the cell next to us, and I saw that Ember had been sleeping there as well. We were all together again. I wished I could sleep longer, but as I walked from the back of the station to the front, slowly I got more energy.

In the front of the station, sunlight competed with the bright artificial light in the building. The coldness of the station prickled on my skin, but I tried to ignore it.

All eight of us stood in front of the room. The smell of coffee made the place feel more natural, but there was still an uneasiness that bounced around my stomach. One of my friends had gotten in trouble with the S-MOD once, and I remembered him telling me about how scared he was, and how scary the officers were, but that was back in Othal, so far away from here.

“You four will be staying in a house, and will be provided with anything you need until we have made sure it is safe for you to leave.” The man who reminded me of my dad said. “You will be escorted everywhere you go, and these two MOD officials will be staying with you. You seem capable of handling yourselves, but it seems you could still use some extra protection.”

“That’s very kind of you” Ember said. She must have recovered from last night. She looked a lot better.

The man nodded, “It’s the least we can do for the trouble you’ve been in. Well, it seems you should be setting out. We’ll check on you every now and then. I wish you the best.” The man turned and walked away, and the officer from last night left with a nod.

“Hello, my name is Tracy,” Said the girl MOD member. She extended her hand to Ember with a kind smile.

“Hello, my name is Ember, and this is Angelo, Cara, and Vince.”

The man shook our hands too, and we went outside. The streets were lively, and the buildings were still tall, and intimidating. I tried to take everything in, but it only made me feel more isolated from the bustling city.

We got into a shiny black car with tinted windows. Inside there were black leather seats, but an air freshener hung from the mirror, along with a small decorative necklace of purple, and yellow flowers. The inside smelled like fresh coffee, and old leather with a hint of pine.

The girl was in the driver’s seat, and we began to head off down the street, towards our new place. The thought of what it would look like passed my mind, but mainly I was thinking about my parents, and how I would sneak away to see them. I had been planning on doing that, but with these people watching my every move, and dangerous Fervan people spread throughout the city, seeing them might be dangerous. I would have to move quietly.

“Angelo.” Cara said.

“Yeah?”

“Now that we’re back in the city, maybe you could get some contacts for those eyes of yours. They’re still creepy.”

I rolled my eyes. “Fine, whatever.”

“I’m just saying…” Cara said softly.

I expected someone to reassure me that I didn’t look like a freak, but no one came to my aid. I looked out of the window, resting my head in my hands watching the city.

We went through a large gate, with a sign that said that we were entering the heart of the city in red cursive letters. There was a little plaque in front of the sign that I couldn’t read, but people were parked in a small parking lot to read the plaque, and get pictures of it. People were sitting out in the sun, picnicking in a small park off to the side.

“What’s so special about the heart?” Cara asked.

“This was the original city until it was made larger. The city was the first place civilians ever lived during the battle with the Siribi.” Ember explained.

The house was in a pretty average neighborhood. The house was blue, with a white door, and a small front lawn that held a single bare tree with very small stick branches that stuck out from the very short trunk. The dull, cracked driveway was slanted downhill, and there were paw prints engraved into it.

“This is the place” Said the girl in the front with very thin enthusiasm.

We all got out, and walked inside. The house was average; it had three bedrooms, and one playroom. The kitchen was small; with a dining table just a few steps away from the oven.

Cara rushed down the hall, and examined each of the three rooms carefully. I followed her, and we settled on the room to the right of the hall, it was small, but there were no curtains on the small window, so it got the most light. There was only one bed there though.

When everyone had sorted out which room we got, Ember slept in the biggest, and darkest room, while Vince got the room at the very end of the hall. Cara shared the room with Ember, and I slept alone in the room on the right. Of course, Vince, Cara and I knew that we wouldn’t be here for long.

We all met up in the living room to talk as the two MOD agents walked around the house.

Vince told Ember his plan, and she looked thoughtful, saying, “I think we’ll be safe here, but you never know who could have seen us by now, or how many people might show up. I don’t want to go back to the mountains either.”

“Nowhere is safe though. I don’t know what our best bet is.” Vince said.

“There’s a chance that if one of the Fervan spies sees us they might call the others, and all show up at once. It might get messy. But, we have two experienced MOD members, three if you count me. And we have a smart, strong pirate, and an experienced young alchemist, and I could teach Angelo some better magic.”

I looked at Ember with disappointment that I didn’t get any sort of title, but I didn’t feel like beating myself up right now.

“We could be safer in the mountains. We could wait until this blows over.” Vince said.

“But who knows when it will, it could last for years.” Cara said, crossing her arms.

I spoke almost in a whisper, “or we could stop the Director before he gets what he wants, and when his spies hear about it they could stop searching for us.”

Vince looked like he might consider the idea, Cara looked nervous, and Ember huffed, like she was tired of me saying that.

“How many times do I have to tell you that war isn’t a game?” Ember said.

“We’re the only ones who know what the director wants. I don’t think the MOD can stop him in time, if we left soon we could stop him easy.”

“I’ve been to Fortri. It’s called the island of black sand. My entire band made it out of the island alive.” Vince said in my defense. I was happy that he was coming around.

Ember’s face got red, and her eyes began to glow. “Don’t hex us.” I said.

She turned to me, and seemed to be grinding her teeth. “I just want you safe, why can’t you understand that?”

“We won’t be safe unless we stop the director.”

The skinny, pale MOD member passed by, nodding as he sat down in an empty spot next to Vince. “What’s going on?” He asked.

“Nothing, we were just talking about how hungry we are.” Ember said. I could tell she wasn’t using magic. Even without hexing, she was a good liar.

“Well it’s a little past lunch time. I’m sure you want to rest. We could order something here, or I could go and pick something out. Just tell me what you want.”

I actually wasn’t that hungry, but I guess I could eat something.

“Alright we’ll look for something. Do you have a phone we can use?”

He handed us his phone, and let us look through a list of places to eat nearby.

When he left, Ember set the phone aside, and turned back to me. “I’ll think about it.” She said slowly. That settled the argument, and things calmed down a bit as we tried to decide where to get food from.

I wanted to see my parents, but how? Maybe one of the MOD would let me go out with them, but if I asked and they said no, I would have to sneak off.

The man left, and the woman, Tracy stayed in the living room with us as we watched TV.

After we ate, I was in my room with only the street lamp shining dull light into the carpet floor. The door opened, and Cara stepped inside, followed by Vince. I sat up, wondering what they were doing here.

Cara spoke, “Angelo, remember the man who was gonna be attacked by the Ecrealt society? Vince and I wanted to make an official plan with you about when we’re gonna go and find him. The paper says where he is, and Vince is going to see him tomorrow. I’m going, and I want to know if you want to come too.”

“Ember won’t know, and neither will the MOD.” Vince said, sitting on the end of my bed, a silhouette in the darkness.

I rubbed my eyes, “How?”

“The guy lives in an abandoned building, we’re gonna have the MOD take us. They won’t know about it ’til it happens, ’n they’ll help us stop it.” Vince said.

“But won’t they monitor us closer after that?”

“I’ll think of something later, but I want to do this tomorrow. Are you in?”

I thought it over, and decided I could use the practice. “What time tomorrow?”

“Before two o’clock, when he’s set to be killed.”

I nodded, still wondering what this would mean afterwards. How would we escape the MOD long enough to go back to the mountains, or how would I be able to see my parents? Maybe Vince could help me with that, but I would have to ask him tomorrow.

I was alone with my thoughts, and schemes. We’ve really gotten ourselves into a mess haven’t we? I pushed aside the stress that tied its thin cord around my body, and tried to relax long enough to get some sleep.

I had the dream with the gemstones, and the female silhouette again, that was followed by the dream of the fire, and the voices talking to me. After those two, I dreamt of a beach, but the sand was black, and it was surrounded by murky green water. The sky was grey, and on the island there was a small ball of light on the ground. The light got bigger, and called out to me, tugging my body closer to it. Then, the dream was consumed by black smoke, and I saw two blue eyes watching me. In those eyes I saw my face reflected back, and then I woke up.

The sun had risen, and was covering me like the ball of light in my dream. I looked around, and listened, but it seemed like no one was awake yet. I pulled off the covers, and walked into the living room, where the girl was sleeping on the couch, and the guy was sitting fully dressed in the kitchen, eating some cereal.

“Morning.” He said after finishing his spoonful of small, bland looking pieces of cereal.

“Good morning.”

I looked for some stuff in the fridge, but I felt a bit awkward, and tried to make conversation. “Why did you decide to be in the MOD?”

“I don’t know. It just felt right.” He said after another bite.

I closed the fridge after pouring a glass of milk. “I want to be in the MOD someday.”

“It’s a lot of work to get to where I am. You start out in the S-MOD, and some people don’t move forward, they just stay there.”

“My dad was a member. He just recently quit and now he just goes into the woods every day.”

“Well, that happens sometimes. What can you do?”

I frowned, and walked back to my room. When I finished the milk, and was getting tired of over thinking the plan, and how it was going to happen, there was a playful knock on my door.

When I opened it Cara was standing there, with a big smile on her face. “Are you excited?” She said when she invited herself in, kicking the door closed behind her.

“Yeah, I guess.”

“You don’t sound happy, what’s up?”

“Nothing, I just, have a lot going on right now.”

Cara flopped onto my bed next to me.

“Like what?”

Cara looked as happy as ever, despite everything that’s happened. This was the one time I found myself wanting to just go back to Othal. “My parents are in the city, and I want to go see them.”

Cara made a face of realization. “Ooh. I get it. When are you going to go and see them?”

I shrugged. “Who knows? When does Ember even plan to leave? I just feel there’s a lot happening right now.”

Cara was quiet for a moment. “If I was you, I’d go see them. Do you know exactly where they are?”

“Maybe…I don’t know. They were kind of close to where Ember’s shop was, but I don’t know exactly. I wish I did…or maybe I could ask them where they are.”

“How are you gonna do that, magic?”

“No, Ember said I can’t… I don’t think I have my phone. I think I lost it when we crashed in the mountains, do you still have yours?”

Cara nodded, “Yeah. I don’t have a charger for it though. You could use one of those MOD member’s phones.”

“Yeah, and I could ask them where they are, and I could go see them.”

“Fantastic, sounds like a plan.” Cara said with a smile.

“Yeah…”

“Oh come on, what’s wrong?” Cara asked, sitting up, and putting her hand on my shoulder. “Are you nervous about the war?”

“Aren’t you?”

“Yeah, but there’s not much we can do about it is there? You’re the one with magic; I thought you would be excited. You were the one who wanted to go in the first place.”

“It wasn’t because I wanted to go.” I said, clenching my hand into a fist, feeling my face get warm. “I wanted to stop him from hurting us again. Now I just wanna go home, but I can’t, I still think we have to stop the director.”

“We will stop him, thanks to you. I’ll help you see your parents any way I can, I’ll lie, and I’ll go with you, whatever you want. I’m your friend, you can trust me.”

I felt a little better when I knew that I had Cara’s help. There was so much stress coiling around me like a huge snake. Cara made me feel that maybe something good might actually happen.

Cara hugged me, and I waited a few seconds before hugging her back. When we let go, she gave me a little smile, and I tried my hardest to be positive. I would see my parents somehow, but before that I would help Vince, and then we would all go to the island. I thought back to my dream, and decided to take it as a good sign.

“Don’t feel so stressed ’kay?”

I nodded, and Cara walked to the door. “We can chill in the living room with some breakfast.”

When she was gone, and I didn’t hear her footsteps, I felt some tears fall from my eyes, and I quickly wiped it away with my arm. Everything was fine, I told myself as I walked into the hall.