“No time like the present,” he declares. “Give me five minutes and then join us. I’ll leave the door open so you can listen in.”
I nod again – no response necessary – and go to the kitchen to grab a beer. I think I’m going to need something stronger, but I need a clear head more. I take my drink and hover outside Callie’s room, listening. Tex has been calming her, and now they’re laughing softly about some memory or other.
“Do you remember the day we went to that Thai restaurant?”
“Yeah!” She sounds much brighter.
“How did you feel when we went for dinner?”
“Happy. So happy.”
“Why were you happy?”
“Because I’d been out with Devon.”
“Where did you go?”
“To a country pub by a canal.”
“How did you get there?”
“On...oh! On Dev’s bike!” I peek through the crack in the door. Callie is staring wide-eyed at Tex. He smiles softly at her and encourages her to lie back and close her eyes again. Of course she follows his instructions. New Callie is much more malleable than old Callie ever was. Tex beckons me to enter, which I do quietly, sliding up to sit beside him on the floor.
“And how did you feel?”
“Free. Exhilarated...Confused.”
“Why were you confused?”
“Because Devon kissed me.”
“Why was that confusing?”
“Because I liked it. I wanted him to. But he wasn’t the only one I wanted to kiss.”
Interesting. I file that away for later. I know Dev kissed her. He was worried when she vanished that it was because of him.
“Then what did you do after?”
“Came home, watched a film. I fell asleep. You woke me to say you all had to go out on an urgent job. The plumbing was broken at the hotel in town or something.”
“That’s right,” Tex confirms.
Yes, Callie doesn’t know what we do. She never has. We let her think that we’re plumbers with our own business because it gives us a decent enough excuse for disappearing in the night. Yes it’s shit, but it's necessary to lie to protect her. She wouldn’t have been happy before, it would break her now. I’ve seen the way she looks at us: like we hung the fucking moon in the sky and we’re whiter than snow. No-one wants to be responsible for shattering that illusion. Besides, the rules of The Order state we can’t say a word to anyone who isn’t inducted.
“What did you do after we left?”
“I went back to sleep, until a noise woke me up.”
“What noise?”
“A motorbike engine.”
“Was it Dev’s?”
I watch as she cocks her head to the side, considering. Her eyes have remained closed, but I can see them moving behind her eyelids.
“No. It sounded different.”